Types of Resource that Support Managers in Achieving Firm Objectives - Coursework Example

Name Tutor Course Date Practices of Resource Management Introduction The effective identification and use of resources is an integral function of an organization. It ensures institutional objectives are meet thus culminating to the success and prosperity of the firm (Andresen & Nowak 23). Each departmental manager is therefore expected to identify and plan for his or her department’s annual resource requirement and oversee its effective utilization. My organization has three significant resources that it employs for the day to day running of the business. These resources include human resource, physical resources, and financial resources. Human resource entails the use of personnel skills to advance the growth of the business. It is fundamental for resource managers to plan appropriately for the recruitment, deployment, training, remuneration and subsequent retirement, dismissal or exit of employees from the firm. This facilitates the optimum utilization of human skill (Andresen & Nowak 25). Likewise, the acquisition, hire, maintenance, and proper use of physical resource should be well managed. Most importantly, the financial resources should be planned for elaborately, with the use of feasibly studies, adequate planning, and budget allocations. Types of resource that support managers in achieving firm objectives The human resource officer in my department is charged with the obligation of aligning labor force with the organization’s objectives. Employee recruitment aim to identify staff that have a passion for the firm’s mission and vision (Andresen & Nowak 35). This means that the workforce recruited by my firm is examined through a rigorous exercise of interview. The human resource manager ensures that other than remuneration as a motivator, the personnel add value to the institution by conforming to firm’s short term and long term objective. Through induction and continuous on-the-job training the human resource management ensures that staff meets the day to day objectives of the firm. In addition, my department prefers to promote from within as opposed to advertising and hiring new staff. By so doing, the HR manager identifies workers with aptitude and natures them through staff development and mentorship to take up higher level positions when the opportunity presents itself. This measure ensures my department is continuously profitable. Furthermore, my department conducts periodic staff survey to establish employee satisfaction. Suggestion boxes are also available for employees to continuous inform management on ways to improve operations. Lastly, the HR management carries out yearly evaluation of employees through perform contract reviews. Physical resources entail tangible items used in the running or trading of an organization. Items such as building, fixtures, fittings, furniture, stock, motor vehicle, machinery and other assorted assets, constitute physical capital (Andresen & Nowak 38). This resources are important for the routine running of the business and in the case of stock, useful for trading. My department manager is tasked with overseeing the purchase, leasing, hiring, renting, and acquiring of assets. An important aspect to consider when acquiring assets and stock is the quality, durability, and maintenance of such assets. In addition, my department manager critically considers storage and safeguarding of assets and stock before stocking. For continuity, measures are in place for provision of buffer stock and purchase of inventory during shortages. Notably, physical resources are costly to acquire. In this regard, my departmental manager engages in a series of consultation and competitive bidding before acquiring such assets. When physical resources are acquired, my departmental manager considers the asset’s or stock ability to bring in a return on invest and subsequent profit. In my department financial resource is equally important in facilitating business operations. Once the finance team has prepared the fiscal year budgets, the board of directors approves or recommends cuts on the financial plan. Budget financing is sourced from reinvesting the company’s retained profits. Additionally, the firm also acquires loans from financial institutions to fund the budgets. My department manager confines to the outlined budget for financing and implementation. He rarely deviates except to cater for contingencies such as significate hike in the prices of commodities and asset. Additionally, during boom periods, the manager has in the past opted to outsource for personnel on temporal bases, to cope with the increase in work load. Annual Plan for Human Resource The following is a tabulation of my department’s human resource plan for the fiscal year 2016. Table 1 ITEM DESCRIPTION QUANTITY COST 1 Recruitment: advertisement / interviews 2 Persons $ 5000 2 Remuneration: Salaries/Allowances 6 Persons $ 45,000 3 Remuneration: New employees 2 Persons $ 15,000 4 Remuneration: Promotions 3 Persons $ 15000 5 Employee development: Training 6 Persons $ 20,000 6 Welfare, Health and Safety 8 Persons $ 100,000 7 Disciplinary N/A $ 10,000 8 Compliance 8 Persons $ 10,000 Total $ 220, 000 Annual Plan for Physical Resource The following an outline of physical resources plans for the fiscal year 2016 in the department that I work in. Table 2 ITEM DESCRIPTION QUANTITY COST 1 Rent 12 Months $ 30,000 2 Machinery Annual $ 40,000 3 Motor vehicle Annual $ 70,000 4 Furniture Annual $ 10,000 5 Inventory Annual $ 200,000 6 Running cost Annual $ 50,000 Total $ 400,000 The human resource management is tasked with aligning the staff members with the organization’s short-term and long-term goals (Andresen & Nowak 40). In this regard, the firm has decided to recruit one senior staff member and a support service staff as outlined in table 1 above. The HR has also planned for adequate remuneration and promotion for this fiscal year. This year the HR plans to accord each employee at least one training course relevant to their working environment. In addition, senior staff member participate in an international exchange program with a firm running a similar successful business, to that of our organization. This is essential to adopt best practice from firms that have more experience and are making higher margins in profits. These trainings targets to improve staff perform, create better awareness, and increase the firm’s profitability. This will be achieved by managers adopting best practices in our firm and employing implementing lessons learnt from training. Our firm has made plans to improve employees’ health care. This follows a staff union negotiation which pushed for a better insurance cover terms for all staff. In the next fiscal year the firm has also put plans in place to increase safety in the work place and has budgeted for safety garments, gears, and equipment to meet these objective. Lastly, to motivate and to keep staff forecast on achieving the company’s goal, the next fiscal year budget has included an improved welfare plan for staff members. A case in point is where our firm intends to create a facility for staff members who have just returned from maternity leave. This holding area will be used for the work place breastfeeding program for new born. The facility will be equipped with trained baby care personnel. With this, the mothers will reduce the anxiety associated with worrying about a young infant at home. In addition, this will ensure that breastfeeding is not interrupted because of work obligation. The physical resource management intends to acquire additional assets in line with the vision of the firm to expand and increase profitability. The manager intends to provide adequate and proper maintenance on all assets and machinery to curb high rates of wear and tear. The department intends to embrace e-commerce to increase sales and in line with this, it has planned for increased stock in order to increase sales and profitability. Sources of supply Our organization policy outlines that the firm should invest in high quality products. To achieve this goal, the firm carries out competitive bidding each fiscal year. Through advertisements, suppliers are invited to bid for supply and to submit their proposals as well as résumé. Selections of supplies is done based on reputation and experience of the bidding firms, quality of their supplies and reasonable prices as opposed to cheap prices. Creditors are remunerated on a monthly bases. Details of the suppliers are maintained in the e-procurement database. In my firm, vendors are eliminated from the chain of supply. The procurement officers rely on certain institutions to identify qualified suppliers. Firstly, the telephone directories issue vital contact information for existing sellers. Apart from the contacts, the directory has physical addresses of the said traders. This information is sourced from national, classified, and regional directories. Other than the directory, my firm relies heavily on the internet to conduct searches that inform on merchant operations and contacts. Unlike the directories, the internet has a wider range of information on the suppliers including, branding, physical address, rating of suppliers, firm’s year of establishment as well as a list of customers who source for the dealers products. Further the firm relies on government or private institution which deals with traders and manufacturers. This institutions include industry relations, Thomas register of American manufacturer, the Industrial purchasing guide – both regional and national. The firm also sources for information from the manufactures themselves through firm catalogs as well as sales literature. Other institution includes industrial, trade and professional associations. Another important source of trader information is from periodic magazines published by the producers as well as private firms. This magazines offer latest information on the firm’s performance and rating, in addition to firms records such as balance sheets and profit and loss accounts. Another important source of information on potential suppliers is established from attending trade product exhibitions and shows. In my organization, procurement personnel monitor inventory using an automated system. The computerized system informs the procurement officers on when to restock. Subsequently, it monitors stock movement and utilization. An area of concern has been the issue of stock shortages in the market on a seasonal basis. To ensure continuous supply, the procurement manager ensures there is buffer stock to utilize during such shortages. During extreme shortages, the firm has budgeted for contingencies in order to maintain stock level. The firm policies allows for stock to be acquired at market value even though they are higher during peak seasons. Further, the firm also allows for cash purchases during such shortages seasons, to ensure business continuity and profitability. In my firm, measures are taken to safe guard stock and maintain quality. The buffer stock is stored in available storage facilities at the firm. On other occasions, the firm opts to hire warehouses to store the bumper stock. The selected warehouses sign contracts that stipulate their storage facilities will not alter the quality of our stocks. The damages anticipated on goods include breakages, dirt, mold, embezzlement to mention a few. If such damages occur, the warehouse is expected to compensate my firm. Countering contingency in the event of supply failure My firm is keen on delivering customer satisfaction by providing quality and continuous supply. Despite putting measures in place to counter supply failure and discontinuation of trade, there are instances that the firm is faced with the dreaded supply failure. This is caused by inadequate planning on the side of the firm’s suppliers and shortages prompted by seasonal changes. Other reasons for supply failure may include, budget reviews and cost cuts, cutbacks on orders and failure to have in place policies that address risk mitigation (Andresen & Nowak 47). In the case of the human resource department, staff shortages may be occasioned by employees opting to take early retirement due to health reasons. In addition, a big number of female employees may apply for maternity leave at the same time. In other instances, disciplinary actions could lead to dismissal of a member or members of staff. When this takes place, the firm may find itself facing acute shortage of labor force. To mediate such circumstances, the firm has in the past opted to outsource staff as well as hire staff on contract bases. This gives the human resource manager time to plan for recruitment and related costs. Equally the physical resource manager always wants to ensure that the organization’s operations run without interruptions. When supplies run low due to shortages occasioned by acute seasonal dynamic, the manager goes to any length to ensure supplies are not interrupted. Deficiencies have been caused by firm’s suppliers being in breach of their contract and failing to supply required quantities. In the past, my company has been forced to order for goods from other states or import from other countries. At the time, the firm had to forego profits and trade at a break-even point, in order to maintain customer satisfaction. Similarly, there have been shortages of machinery and other firm assets due to employees mishandling the assets. Poor maintenance, mishandling of equipment, and accelerated wear and tear have caused inadequate availability of physical resources. To resolve this, my firm has invested in staff training programs to improve performance. Unfortunately, disciplinary action is also taken against staff misconduct and misuse of apparatus. This actions include dismissal in the case of using equipment without proper authorization. In addition, laborers may be suspended from work or required to pay for damaged apparatus in instalments. Forecasting model used to predict potential disruptions Many analyst have come up with models aimed at helping traders to mitigate the issue of stock failure and disruptions. Regrettably these models have proved futile in addressing the balance between supply and demand in an uncertain and dynamic world. They include production resource planning, Just-In-Time stock system (JIT) and quick-response which have not adequately address the production scheduling system (Andresen & Nowak 70). This has resulted to understocking of fast moving inventory or overstocking of slow moving goods. However forecasters believe that traders stand to benefit greatly from the new model known as ‘accurate response approach’ (Andresen & Nowak 72). They are advising producers and retailers alike to adopt this new model in forecasting, production, and planning processes to minimize losses that result from inaccurate forecasts. It entails identification of unpredictable dynamics in relation to supply and allowing decision managers to post-pone decision making until such a time at which they get a signal from the market. For instance, early peak season sales can be used to indicate the supply requirement. At this point the manager can then place orders for inventory. This approach takes into consideration two important aspects in predicting inventory supply forecasts. First it analyses missed sales opportunities and related losses resulting from price cuts. Secondly, they separate predicable sales or supplies from the erratic ones. Subsequently by using historical data and skilled decision making they predict market dynamics in relation to volatile supply and sales. Armed with these knowledge and expertise of accurate response technique, manufacturers, and traders then stocks less of the volatile products while monitoring the progress of the market. In a timely manner they then restock or increase production of unpredictable goods by using market indicators. With this insight producers reduce lead time by holding raw material and using indicators to determine timely and correct quantity production (Andresen & Nowak 81). Likewise traders can reduce lead time by selecting a mode of transport warrants that goods reach on time such as planes. Recording and tracking of resources Company records are strategic and operational assets with very high value. Records have got legal, competitive, economic, and planning significance. Similarly, they are used to focus and mitigate in risk management. Most important, records are used to comply with the different regulatory bodies such as Internal Revenue Service tax regimes. It is therefore imperative for organizations to have policies that direct the procedure of capture, control, and safeguard of record information. In the human resource center, records are kept physically or electronically in form of personnel files and confidential files. The content of personnel files include employee’s basic information, staff development, performance and training as well as compensation. On the other hand confidential records contain restricted information such as medical records, compensation claim, harassment investigation, and other related sensitive issues. This records are used to track employee remuneration, performance goals, agreements, and contracts, leaves of absence and disciplinary history. This records are important during retirement and termination of contracts to determine benefits. The records can also be used to support mitigation in case of termination of contract and dismissals arising from disciplinary action. Financial records can be captured electronically or by use of hard copy, physical records. This records should conform to financial reporting standards and best practice of record keeping (Andresen & Nowak 97). They include cash books, sales records, employee remuneration, bank accounts records, assets records, payment records, purchases records, capital gain records, and firm’s expenses records among many more. Physical resources records can also be automated or physical files. They are useful for tracking, security, retrieving information, storage, identification, and classification of assets. Records are also used to monitor budgets and how the actual expenditure may differ from forecasts. If the economy is performing well actual expenditure maybe lower than predicated due to reduced product prices and issues of demand and supply. Advertisements and elimination of competition also impacts on sales in a positive way and increases resource thus bring about disparities with budget forecasts (Andresen & Nowak 117). In addition, favorable market prices could also lower expenditure and form a variance. When the actual budget exceeds the forecast budget, it is a source of concern. The variables that occur between actual expenditure and forecast budget can be alleviated by using available forecast theories that relate to budgets. This theories require historical information as well as costing. This methods include time series analysis, causal model, quantitative techniques, and projection models (Andresen & Nowak 160). This models use expert opinion, historical information, and patterns to determine the forecast of a budget. Quantitative technique is used to determine forecast for products that are new in the market. Human judgement is used to tabulate quantitative information to quantitative estimates. Conclusion In order for any organization to achieve set objectives administrators should manage resources effectively. Assets such as financial resources, human and physical resources are vital for the running of a business in the short and long run. Resource managers should undergo continuous training in order to make operative decisions using relevant theories. Annual plans, forecast and budget assessments should be prepared by skilled personnel. Unskilled forecast can be costly to the firm when actual expenditures vary from budget estimates. In addition, other disparities can be experienced in the supply of physical resource. If annual plans ignore market dynamics it may lead to overstocking of inventory. The excess stock could lead to losses if the stock becomes obsolete and prices are marked down. Work cited Andresen, M., & Nowak, C. (2014). Human resource management practices: assessing added value. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1966991. Read More