Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd - Report Example

Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd Name Institution Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Company Background and Information 3 Organisation’s Cross-Cultural Awareness Policies and their Impacts on Management 5 Company’s Strengths and Weaknesses 6 Analysis and Discussion 8 Recommendations 11 Enhancing Organisational Culture 11 Investment in Technology and Innovation 11 Training and Development 11 Improvement of Customer Value 12 Performance Review System 12 Motivating and Rewarding Employees 13 Challenges Faced during Research and Solutions 13 Lesson Learnt 14 Conclusion 14 Introduction Management has four chief functions it is expected to perform in order to ensure operations run smoothly in an organization; planning, organizing, leading and controlling (Blazey, 2009). However, in order for an organisation to be successful, it requires to have some set of management principles which are aimed at offering a framework whereby decisions and behaviour can follow a consistent standard. When an organisation lacks management principles, it is impossible to achieve its objectives and goals (Blazey, 2009). A mission statement is used to define a desired goal, but is not enough to guide employees’ behaviour and decision making process. Principles of sound management are enablers of behaviour and steer an organisation towards achieving objectives. It is evident that the companies that have succeeded in today’s competitive and ever-changing business environment are those that have acknowledge the importance of a common set of principles (Bezrukova et al., 2012). This report is based on the case study of Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd. It will highlight the background information of the company and the cross-cultural awareness policies implemented and their effects on management. In addition, the report will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the company in relation to the 14 principles of management and the recommendations required for improvement of management principles and practices. Finally, it will highlight the challenges faced in gathering information and lesson learnt. Company Background and Information Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd was established in 2006 in Belmont, Australia. It is registered as an Australian Private Company with about 45 employees (Linked In, 2016). The company offers professional, inclusive as well as cost effective services for all asset management requirements. AME is considered industry leading provider of Plant Risk Assessments and Training to Gas and Oil and Mining industries (Linked In, 2016). The company also offers Plant Inspection Services as well as Asset Management Consulting to its clients. The purpose and aim of the company is to enable clients maintain compliance in relation to Health and Safety Regulations and Quality Standards set in Australia (Linked In, 2016). The core business of Asset Management Engineers is Plant Management and Inspections (Linked In, 2016). The company has established a strong relationship with Department of Mines and Petroleum which has enabled it to be the market leader in Classified Plant Management and Training. In addition, the company offers inspection mining inspection services to ensure that mining activities meet the Australian Standards. Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd is known to deliver consistent, comprehensive and high quality reporting on inspection needs (Linked In, 2016). In order to differentiate itself from the competitors, the company ensures that its inspection team undergo some training and development program. As the inspections done by the company are a legal requirement, strict discipline is strictly followed by all the employees (Linked In, 2016). Clients prefer AME due to their cost-effective inspection and asset management services. Survey Result Organisation’s Cross-Cultural Awareness Policies and their Impacts on Management Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd acknowledges and respects the value of cultural diversity in the work place and has adopted and implemented cross-cultural awareness policies in order to ensure cultural respect between employees. Some cross-cultural policies of the company include equal opportunity policy, teaching and training plan, and language and literacy policy. The equal opportunity policy has been put in place to ensure that there is equal employment opportunity for people from different cultures (Gberevbie, 2011). The company is exploring ways in which it can expand the employment of indigenous people. Indigenous people are given a priority when it comes to employment opportunities in order to increase their number in the workplace. To some extent Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd ensures that decisions in the company are made with input from staff from diverse backgrounds. In addition, teaching and training plan policy ensures that training and teaching programs relevant to cultural diversity are conducted when need arises in order to create cultural awareness (Shanker, 2012). Language and literacy policy ensures that only one language is used in the workplace to instil respect for cultural diversity and to establish one organisation culture that is respected by all. The policy also ensures that all employees are sensitive to the needs of employees whose first language is not English such as Indigenous people. The purpose of the policies is to give acknowledgement to cultures of Indigenous people and to recognize the multicultural nature of its workplace. The policy is also aimed at offering diverse and flexible work environment that values cultural diversity (Gberevbie, 2011). Cross-cultural awareness policies implemented by Asset Management Engineers have influenced management practices, operations and activities. The number of indigenous employees in the company has increased significantly due to equal employment opportunities. In addition, conflict between employees has minimized ever since the policies were implemented (Gberevbie, 2011). There is better communication between staff members and employees work as a team regardless of the cultural differences. Cross-cultural training has enabled the employees to acquire factual knowledge about different cultures and has created respect for different lifestyle, attitudes and background. In addition, through cross-cultural awareness policies, employees are able to work with different clients from different cultures (Gberevbie, 2011). However, although Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd has implemented cross-cultural awareness policies, they are rarely practised. For instance, the company introduced cultural training programs recently but it has not covered all the employees. The company should ensure that all the new employees pass through cross-cultural training before joining the team (Gberevbie, 2011). In addition, in order to enhance effective cross-cultural communication and relationship, the company should once in a while hold social functions for employees and their families in order to enable them share their culture amongst themselves. The company should also ensure that the top management position is occupied by different people from different cultures in order to enhance cultural equality (Gberevbie, 2011). Company’s Strengths and Weaknesses The results of the strengths and the weaknesses of Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd were retrieved from the analysis of the company in terms of the 14 principles of management. One of the strengths of the company is its ability to balance work load. Each work contain expected deadline and AME has done a good job at balancing workloads to ensure deadlines are met. Also, AME is a time based company. When the company complete an inspection ahead of schedule, it receives a bonus and when a task takes longer time, it suffers a loss. Therefore, the company endeavour to ensure that inspections and reports are finished ahead of schedule. This means that one of the reasons for the success of the company is its ability to work under tight schedule. The quality of its services is maintained even with short time work periods. In terms of discipline, AME has taken the top position. As an inspection company, AME is legally required to adhere to strict discipline. The company is considered the best inspection company in West Australia due to its ability to adhere to the strict legal requirements. Discipline is number one mandatory requirement for all the inspection officers and the entire team. All the requirements for inspection services is maintained at all levels of the company’s operations. The Company utilizes an integrated management plan to ensure that they maximize their management potential. However, Asset Management Engineers Ltd does not have learning focus. Inspection teams are often faced with challenges since they have to refer to Australian standards in all their operations. Training of employees has not been implemented properly as employees are expected to learn on their own. The company does not promote a learning culture in the company. Managers also do not undergo training to prepare them for their tasks and this is a problem. This is damaging for the company due to lack of knowledge transfer that has the ability to enhance its performance. Since AME is majorly based on carrying out statutory inspections with respect to Australian Standards, there is no room for adopting new strategies. Although the company offer other services, the inspection team have little knowledge on this which is detrimental to the company. The inspection team is only prepared to handle inspection work and does not have the ability to take care of any other task. This is a problem to the company since it would not be able to adapt to the changes of customer’s needs and preferences. In addition, for an organisation to be effective, it should have the ability to measure different non-financial and financial parameters. Successful companies measure parameters like productivity, performance, quality and safety to order to identify the areas that need improvement and those that are fairing well. The use of measurement reporting systems ensures that an organisation is prepared to act on deficiencies recognized. AME has an extensive measurement plan to ensure that all the key factors its business are monitored. However, this plan in inadequate and the company is in the process of implementing new systems of measurement and reporting. Thus, this information has not been communicated to the employees, which can lead to resistance. In addition, AME operations thrive on customer value. Nevertheless, the company has failed to ensure that its employees undergo training and development in order to gain the understanding of what customers need. In addition, the company has failed to promote customer value during their site visits which can negatively impact its future operations. In order to achieve competitive advantage, there is need for companies to invest in key capabilities. One of the strengths of AME is its ability to create core capabilities. When the company was established in 2006, it only started with Classified Plant Inspection and was considered the best in West Australia. Due to large number of competing companies, the company decided to develop additional services such as Contracting Services, Asset Management Consulting as well as Plant Risk Assessment among others. As a result, the company now serve many clients from West Australia, Tinto and FMGL and has been able to gain competitive advantage. In successful companies, employees are aware of their contribution to the success of an organisation. In addition, each manager is aware of how the employee’s effort contributes to organisation success. In the Asset Management Engineers Ltd, employees are unaware of how they contribute to the company. They are little unsure of their performance reviews. However, the company is in the process of changing this through a new system that adopted soon. The new system will allow the employees view reports on their performances based on quotes and sales figures. Analysis and Discussion Generally, with regard to the 14 principles of smooth management, the contact gave the company a total score of moderate. Principles 1and 2 were allocated a score of 4. This means that the company has done well in ensuring that there is an alignment between employee’s values with those of the business. AME have established a team of employees who really want to be part of the company. This ensures that the company gains competitive advantage (Gberevbie, 2011). In addition, the company has a distributed leadership. Employees are involved in decision making process and senior management has less to do with operational issues. Principle 3 was given a score of 3 since AME has not yet establish a performance appraisal or a culture that supports openness and information sharing. In addition, one of the company’s biggest strength is “up-front”. AME is considered a company that acts with integrity in all their operation activities. Principle 6 and 7 were given a score of 4 out of 5 which means that Asset Management Engineers Ltd has huge efficiency. Nevertheless, there is a lot to be done in order to improve the efficiency through the app design planned for the future. The plan of the company to develop an app to assist both the employees and clients will be a good step towards enhancing productivity and improving quality of work. With regard to principle 8 of management bias for action, the contact ranked the company moderate. AME is expected to carry its operations by adhering to the Australian Inspection Laws and Regulation (Linked In). And as a result, the company lack some ideas of its own. The company is not good at executing and formulating new ideas and strategies (Shanker, 2012). Managers are seen to lack the enthusiasm to implement new strategies for improvement of operations due to Australian restrictions. Learning focus principle was scored moderate. The company has implemented a two-day program as well as non-destructive testing. However, these are not enough to transfer enough knowledge required for enhancement of performance. There isn’t enough training for employees and therefore this can be dangerous to the company as it can lead to poor customer service and quality delivery (Shanker, 2012). There is therefore more training and knowledge sharing that is required for inspection officers and the entire employee team. According to the contact, the company has strict discipline and get a score of 4. The company has made an effort to hire the best trainer in West Australia to ensure good delivery of services. This shows its commitment in following the country’s set standards. The discipline possessed by the company assist it get a clear vision regarding its industry and set its objectives and goals (Shanker, 2012). The measurement and reporting principle of management was given a score of moderate. Although the company has a system in place to measure financial and non-financial parameters, there are some improvements that need to be done to ensure effectiveness (Shanker, 2012). The measurement and reporting of parameters need to be done in a timely and accurate manner (Cohen, 2014). The company is in the process of implementing new improved system that will be effective in reporting financial and non-financial parameters. The system will ensure that employees can track the progress of thier work and can be awere of the contribution they offer to the company. Customer value may be understood differently, it could refer to affordable and high quality products, treatment of clients and offering desired services (Shanker, 2012). Customer value can be defined as a customer’s preference for product’s features and attribute performance that ensures achievement of desired goals and purposes. The contact elusively mentions the services offered by AME, however, the lack of understanding between the customer and employee means the company is missing an opportunity to show off the value of what they are offering. The company need to ensure that they can communicate to the customers about the values they offer in order to enhance its performance. This can be done through improving its marketing and promotional activities to ensure the message of thier services reaches as many consumers as possible. One of the strongest principles of Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd is capabilities creation. Capabilities are the combination of resources and competences of an organisation (Bezrukova et al., 2012). Capabilities should meet the needs of the customers, if they don’t even to a threshold level, a firm cannot survive. Some capabilities have the ability to produce customer value and higher performance. Reduced capabilities of an organisation therefore lead to low customer value. Capabilities have the potential to enable an organisation survive and be a market leader in the long run (Bezrukova et al., 2012). The contact gave the company a score of 5 with regard to this principle. It seems like the company is coherently moving in a clear path not just in an internal capabilities but in its strategic direction to keep its clients at their service. Creation of capabilities is required in order to achieve and sustain competitive advantage (Richards and Media, 2005. With strong capabilities, AME has been able to create value for customers and deliver quality services. AME is lagging behind in terms of micro to macro principle and is waiting for a new system to be adopted, which is why it was given a score of 3. Recommendations Enhancing Organisational Culture Every organisation introduces to the employees the values, objectives and norms that make up the organisational culture (Bezrukova et al., 2012). Organisational culture assist employees get familiar with the operations and practices of the organisation. Effective organisational cultures are able to encourage effective delivery of quality products and services to customers. The performance of employees and delivery of customer value in AME relies on the level to which the norms and values of the organisational culture are shared (Bezrukova et al., 2012). Implementation of effective organisational culture enhances performance and productivity. Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd should ensure that its culture supports and promotes enjoyable and positive working environment. This will motivate the employees to be committed to the organisation and this will boosts its competitive advantage (Bezrukova et al., 2012). Organisation culture should also emphasize on training and development of employees in order to enhance customer value. Investment in Technology and Innovation The organisations that have succeeded over the years are those that are the most creative and innovative (Blazey, 2009). A company’s ability to come up with new ideas and innovate quickly is often the key to its success. Application of creativity and innovation to business operations enables an organisation stay ahead in the existing competitive and changing marketplace. As mentioned earlier, the company lags behind in terms of implementing new ideas and strategies. AME should work at differentiating itself from the competitors by being innovative and by managing change in an effective way (Blazey, 2009). Although the company is governed by Australian regulations, it should improve its efficacy by investing new technology and innovation. For innovation to bring success to Asset Management Engineers Ltd, managers should establish the technological needs of its business and ways that these needs can be met. Technology and innovation will provide new ideas that will lead to the success of the organisation (Blazey, 2009). Training and Development In order to improve customer value and learning focus, AME should invest more in training of employees (Shanker, 2012). Putting emphasis on training and development has the potential to enhance the workforce skills in order to meet the demands of the customers and to improve the quality of services. Training and development can be able to affect employee’s attitudes, expertise and skills to enhance individual, team and organizational effectiveness. There are different training methods that can be used by AME in order to increase employee engagement and knowledge (Shanker, 2012). One example of training method is on-the-job-training. On-the-job training entails a number of training methods that are used when employees are performing their work such as coaching, job rotation and apprenticeship. In addition, training will give the employees a feeling that the company values them and cares for their safety (Shanker, 2012). Improvement of Customer Value Successful companies offer more than customers’ requirements (Cohen, 2014). They ensure that they are able to deliver customer value through all of their activities. In order to improve management activities and principles, Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd should focus on improving customer value. The company should create awareness of what its customers’ value and attempt to improve it (Richards and Media, 2005). This can be done through establishing effective leadership. An effective leader is able to aspire for productivity and change in employees towards a desired objectives and goals. In addition, he or she can identify the current and potential customers’ values and what can make customers seek its services rather than the competitors (Richards and Media, 2005). Performance Review System The company should come up with a strategy to measure performance parameters in order to ensure that employees are motivated to achieve organisational objectives (Blazey, 2009). The company is in the process of designing an app for the company’s employees and clients in order to bring positive competitiveness between the employees. In addition, another way to enhance measurement and reporting of performance parameters is through implementing performance review system. Performance review system will improve the effectiveness of AME by taking part in ensuring there is a well-motivated and competent workforce (Blazey, 2009). Performance review system will include discussion of performance achievement which will ensure that employees are motivated to assist in achieving the goals of the company (Blazey, 2009). The company will be able to review performance progress of the employees in order to increase the company’s productivity. Motivating and Rewarding Employees Asset Management Engineers Ltd is faced with the challenge of employees not knowing their contribution towards employees (Gberevbie, 2011). This may be affect their performance due to low motivation rates. In order to solve this challenge, AME should enhance its performance by motivating and rewarding the employees. The company should aim at creating motivation factors for employees in order to achieve success. When employees are motivated, the company will have the ability to deliver customer value and there will be integration of effort (Gberevbie, 2011). According to theories such as Maslow hierarchy of needs, there are a number of factors areable tomotivate employees. For instance, for AME to motivate its employees they should encourage praise and recognition when employees do good job which can boost their self esteem thus motivating them. Although AME encourages distributed leadership, there is need for managers to invite employees to take part in making critical decisions. Rewarding the employees is another way of motivating and increasing empoyees performance (Gberevbie, 2011). Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd should implement incentive remuneration systems and pay for performance strategy in order to increase employee productivity. The incentive remuneration system should be fair in order to increase the proportion of employees’ performance contributions (Gberevbie, 2011). Challenges Faced during Research and Solutions Acquiring of the company’s information and the requirements of the report was not an easy task. To start with, the company was established recently and finding any information about it in books and internet was not an easy task. In addition, since the survey form was required to be filled with a contact from Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd, there was a need to get access to the company which was also very difficult. Accessing the company required a lot of formalities such as booking of appointments. The company is a very busy business since the managers and employees rarely find time to communicate to an external party. We had to wait for a couple of weeks before meeting with my contact. Getting the contact to accept to fill in the survey form was very difficult since it meant offering extensive information about the company. The employees of the company tend to distrust external people and there was a need for the director to sign a letter of presentation in order to authorize our research about the company. In addition, the validity of the responses from the contact cannot be verified due to lack of enough information about the company in other sources. In order to overcome these challenges, we had to establish a trusted relationship between ourself and the contact. We ensured that we dressed and behaved professionally during the interview and survey and we had the contact check the data we collected to guarantee validity and correctness of information we wrote down. In addition, we clearly communicated my objectives and the reason for the research of the company. Also, to ensure information collected from the contact is correct, we did my homework about the company and the industry before the interview. Lesson Learnt From this report and from my research, there are many lessons that we learnt. For instance, when collecting primary information about a company, it is important to ensure that you have adequate information about the company in order to validate the survey and interview responses of the contact. Also, one should avoid asking sensitive and personal questions in order to create trust and comfort. Research and data collection should aim at minimizing non-responses and misreporting. This can be done through the establishment of trust and confidentiality assurance. It is also important to book an appointment in advance in order to give adequate time for data collection and eliminate any last minute rush. Effective data documentation is also important to prevent misinterpretation and pertinent data omission. In addition, when going to collect information about a company, one needs to acquire the necessary skills such as communication capabilities in order to relate well with the contact. Also, during interviewing and information collection, there is a high chance of facing cross-cultural challenges. To avoid this, an individual should be aware of other people’s culture for ensuring success. Conclusion For an organisation to succeed it needs some set of management principles that determine decision-making criteria and behaviours of the employees. Lack of such management principles may deter the ability of a company to achieve its objectives and goals. Principles of sound management are enablers of behaviour and steer an organisation towards achieving objectives. Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd is an Australian inspection and asset management company that was established in 2006. The biggest strengths of the company with regard to the principles of management is capabilities creation, up-front and discipline. Creation of capabilities is required in order to achieve competitive advantage. AME has strong internal and external capabilities that create value for customers and deliver quality services. IT ensures that all its inspections meet Australian standard and discipline is strictly followed by the workforce. Also, the company’s operation is open and honest and activities are done with integrity. The weaknesses of AME include lack of training and knowledge sharing for employees, inability to develop and implement new ideas and strategies, and inability to create customer value etc. To enhance the management principles and activities, AME should adopt innovation and technology, train and develop employees, implement performance review system, enhance organisation culture and improve customer value. References Bezrukova, K., Thatcher, S. M. B., Jehn, K. A., Spell, C. S. (2012). The effects of alignments: Examining group faultlines, organizational cultures, and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(1): 77-92. Blazey, M. (2009). Insights to performance excellence, 2009-2010 : an inside look at the 2009-2010 Baldrige Award criteria. Milwaukee: Asq Quality Press. Cohen, P. (2014). 8 Ways to Improve Your Company’s Efficiency. Viewed 20th Oct. 2016 from lifehack: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/work/8-ways-improve-your-companys-efficiency.html Gberevbie, D.E. (2011). Putting people first. Development and Learning in Organizations. Emerald group, Vol. 25, no. 1 p.25-27. LinkedIn (2016). Asset Management Engineers Pty Ltd. Viewed 20th Oct. 2016 https://www.linkedin.com/company/asset-management-engineers Richards, L., & Media, D. (2005). Macro & Micro Marketing Planning & Strategies. Viewed 20th Oct. 2016 http://smallbusiness.chron.com/macro-micro-marketing-planning-strategies-3239.html Shanker, A. (2012, February). The value of training customer-facing staff in sales. Viewed 20th Oct. 2016 http://timreview.ca/article/525 Read More