Application of Management Functions at Sevidoc Company Limited - Case Study Example

Application of Management Functions Student’s Name: Course: Instructor: Date: Application of Management Functions The five management functions have been accepted as the summary of what is generally accepted from manager of any organization. Their application date back to the time Fredrick Taylor and his system of scientific management. Since then the functions have gained acceptance and application in both formal and informal ways of work (Haiman, 2000). It is almost impossible to ignore their application and thus the thesis – the management practices are the guide to successful management. This paper tries to analyze how each of these functions is applied at Sevidoc Company Limited. This is a medium sized private company that manufactures toothpaste and toothbrush. The Planning function Planning entails deciding ahead of time what is the best direction an organization should take and the methods to be applied in getting there. It involves setting the goals and objectives that an entity wishes to achieve and devising means of reaching them (Taylor, 2001). The challenging part in planning is probably, knowing how to deal with the unforeseen future occurrences sometimes called states of nature that might have effect on the anticipated operations. The managers therefore have to make a forecast of what is likely to occur in the environment and tamper with implementation of their plans (Adler, 1991). This enables them to decide ahead of time on ways and means of mitigating the effects of such calamities. At the planning stage also, the members of the think tank must keep their views open to new future opportunities that might arise and prove more profitable that the initial plan. This usually calls for creating a plan that is flexible or rather one that has room for prudent changes (Taylor, 2001). At Sevidoc, the top management that comprise of the managing director and the Heads of Departments initiate the new strategic plan that they wish the company to adopt. The plan is included in the agenda items of their monthly meetings. The product manager, who is mainly the think tank, identifies opportunities and devises means of capitalizing on them. Once it has gained approval by way of debating and voting, the management board allocates funds for any further research on the area. Such a research was conducted in the year 2009, when the company was expanding from production of toothpaste to include production of toothbrush. The study by then had showed that more than eighty percent customers who used company’s toothpaste would be willing to use its toothbrush as well should it be availed in the market. If the research shows that the plan is viable, as it was the case in 2009, the product manager prepares circulars for perusal by employees at all levels. The employees then air out their views and the same is documented. A committee is then set to formulate the plan in the light of all the information that is available. The committee comprises of representatives from all departments and is chaired by the product manager. The committee then prepares a comprehensive report to the management board for approval. If it passes e date is set for launching the plan. The major aim of having this day is to communicate the details of the plan to all the employees and create awareness to customers. It is therefore an open forum for all stakeholders and outsiders. After this the implementation process begins. Another team is created to oversee the progress and reports monthly to the management board. The Leading Function Leading involves giving direction on what should be done and how it should be done. Managers have been observed by scholars to be the organs that give the organization its motion. They can think, act, inspire, motivate, facilitate or even coerce (Edwards & Wright, 2001). The managers have a great influence on how the rest of the workers go about their business. Many employees see their boss as a figure head that they would like to be identified with. Also, the powers vested to their positions enable them to have great influence on how duties are executed in their areas of administration. Due to this great influence, managers need to treat their subordinates as treasured resources by involving the in the process of decision making (Adler, 2003). By this, they will feel valued by their manager and are likely to be more willing to comply to his/her directives more comfortably. This is exactly the case at Sevidoc Company limited. Leaders at all level ensure that their subordinates are well aware of what is expected of them. The lines of communication are so open that a worker is never required to book an appointment before meeting with his/her boss. Workers can seek clarifications whenever they are in need from their bosses. When a new strategy is being adopted, such the one on diversification, managers explain clearly, to all employees of their specific duties and their expected contribution towards its realization. During the introduction of the toothbrush production line for example, the marketing manager personally conducted a three day seminar to the marketing representatives to enable them understand their added roles of creating customer awareness of the new product. As a company policy at Sevidoc, departmental heads hold weekly meetings with the workers they supervise to discuss matters of concern. This is done to ensure that the leaders and the subordinates have a shared assumption in an attempt to make the operations more efficient and smooth. In the absence of the head, the meetings are still conducted where workers select one of them to chair the meeting. This has worked massively really well since it has acted as a training ground for Sevidoc workers to becoming future leaders. It is interesting to note that majority of departmental heads at Sevidoc were junior employees of the company at some point and this is a compliment. The organizing Function This practice is majorly involved in putting together related functions of the organization. These departments are then charged with specific responsibilities. It is common practice to put the department under a head who is a specialist in that area (Hofstede, 1998). The system of organizing promotes the concept of specialization and division of labor. These concepts are desirable because when applied appropriately, they result to a learning curve effect as a result of a worker doing the same assignment again and again. This scenario results to high quality products and minimizes chances of rework hence lowering the cost of production (Taylor, 2001). Sevidoc limited is divided into five departments namely: production, product, marketing, Finance and Human Resource departments. Each of these is headed by a departmental manager who report to the managing director. The departments have different and specific duties as follows: The production department is sub-divided into two sections. One that manufactures tooth paste, and another that produces toothbrush. Each sub-section is under a head called assistant department manager. Generally the production department is charged with production of the two commodities that Sevidoc specialize in. The marketing department on its part takes over from the production department. It sources market and distributes the products to the target customers. It does the branding and pricing roles. Here, it has the discretion to undertake discriminatory pricing if it deems fit. Besides this, the department collects useful information from consumers. This is with regard to packaging, pricing and other matters of their concern. In this capacity the department has the duty of maintain healthy relationship between the company and the customers. The product department is charged with the duty of product development and other areas of creativity. Its main duty is to initiate programs that would benefit the company depending on the prevailing situations. The department undertakes product development and crafts the best branding methods. It keeps the entire company update on all areas; from new business laws and regulations by government to new opportunities and threats in the market. The Finance department deals with all the revenue and expenditure management. It maintains the accounting records of the company and provides periodic reports to the management for decision making. It also ranks performance of other departments with regard to revenue contribution, cost minimization and other measurable attributes. It advises the management on prudent methods of investment. The head of this department doubles up as the deputy to the managing director. Finally is the human resource department. It is charged with handling the welfare of the employees across all departments. It handles the hiring, training and proposes the appropriate remuneration package for each employee. The department handles all the grievances of the workers and is required by the company policy to ensure that all employees are satisfied with their input to the company as well as what they are getting in return. The Staffing Function Majorly this is the function that involves selecting from a pool of many willing and capable candidates the best people to carry out specific duties. From then on, efforts have to be made to ensure that the workers get proper on the job training. This is aimed at ensuring that the workers professional and technical attributes are integrated to organization action areas. Finally the function must ensure that the workers are reasonably compensated for their services (Haiman, 2000). This is the practice that involves the most important organ of any entity - the human resource. The function is made sensitive by the fact that human beings are subject to emotions and therefore cannot be controlled like machines (Edwards & Wright, 2001). Staffing basically refers to all those activities that aim at ensuring that the organization has employees with the right skills for specific duties. Furthermore it has to ensure that the workers are motivated, enjoy their assignments, feel at ease with the policies of the entity and enjoy considerably high sense of esteem (Haiman, 2000). At Sevidoc, all new vacancies are advertised both internally and externally. The Company usually makes use of the print media to reach out to the outsider candidates. Applications are invited from willing persons, and upon arrival, the Human Resource officials peruse them and make a short list based on qualifications. A date for initial interviews is set and shortlisted applicants are contacted through their phones. The interviews are conducted in stages whereby, are eliminated at each stage until the required number is reached. The successful candidates are then recruited having agreed on remuneration and other personal terms. Their engagement starts with a two week induction process that orientates them to the company policy and procedures. The company arranges for programs for further studies where by each year one employee from each department gets a vacation for learning. The selection of beneficiaries is based on merit. The company puts a fifty percent waiver on fees on selected learning institutions. Salaries of beneficiaries are adjusted upon successful completion of their courses. The company’s promotion policy is based on performance, time spent in the company and capability. The company has a policy against cross departmental promotion. This means that a worker can only benefit from promotion if the position has arisen from the department he/she works for. As a sign of appreciation, the company has annual awards for the workers of the year for each department and overall. There is also another category for the casual worker of the year award. The Controlling Function This practice involves three major attributes. One is to establish the performance standards that the company wants to attain. Mostly, the standards are those that were set at the planning stage. The second one involves measuring the actual performance and comparing the same with the set standards (Emmanuel & Merchant, 2000). Finally, corrective actions are taken to address any deviations from standards. Sevidoc sets performance targets for each department at the beginning of the year and the same is reviewed at the end of the year. Each department has a monitoring team that works to evaluate performance standards in that particular department. It is supposed to identify any deviations from standards and possible causes of the same. It also suggests possible corrective measures to the head of the department. At the end of the year each department files a report to the management board of its yearly performance. Each of these reports is tabled for discussion by the board. Adverse deviations are highlighted and a select team set to evaluate possible causes. This select team is supposed to give an opinion whether the deviations resulted from internal causes or they were just chance occurrences propagated by environmental factors. Where the causes are termed as having a dimension from within the company, a further probe is made to prevent similar scenarios in future. Where specific individuals are pointed out to have been neglect on execution of their duties appropriate punitive measures are taken. This may involve demotion, transfer or at the worst case firing. Early this year, the assistant manager in the production department in charge of toothpaste line was sacked after the company was made by court to compensate customers, who had used defective toothpaste. In conclusion, it is safe to state that the management practices of planning, leading, organizing, staffing and controlling is the foundation of the whole field of management. It is no doubt that they set the framework on how organizations should be ran and are standards of resolving operation problems and conflicts in both private and public sector. This prompts the assertion that the management practices are the guide to successful management. References Adler, N. J. (2003). International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior: Belmont, California: PWS-Kent Publishing Company. Emmanuel, C., Otley, D. & Merchant, K. (2000). Accounting for Management Control. London: Chapman and Hall Edwards, P. & Wright, M. (2001). High-involvement work systems and performance outcomes: the strength of variable, contingent and context-bound relationships. International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 12(4); 568-585 Haiman T. (2000). Managing the Modern Organization: Houghton: Mifflin Harcourt Hofstede, G. (1998). The Cultural Relativity of Organizational Practices and Theories. Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 3(2); 78-101 Taylor F.W. (2001). The principles of scientific management. New York:Harper & Brothers Read More