The Concepts of Efficiency and Effectiveness in Organisations - Example

PART A: Draft This report analyses two functions of management, that is, planning and organising. Analysis of these functions of management has indicated the various ways in which Hewlett Packard Company can maximise it efficiency and effectiveness in the organisation. The report has also summarised the background of the company, analysis of the company, conclusion and recommendation that need to be implemented so that the company can achieved its objectives. The report also gives the main products and services which are offered by the company, the structure of the company and the advantages of implementation of the proposed plans in the company. Some of these products offered by the company are also offered by other companies such as IBM Company. This shows the intensity of competition in the market and the report has analyzed the strategies which the Hewlett Packard Company have been using to overcome this competition in the market. The report also analyses by the structure of the organization which the company is using and the advantages of this structure. The report gives the proper way implementing the plans which has been proposed by the board or the planning committee. It shows the advantages of selecting officials which will be monitoring the implementation process in the company. These officials should be keen so as to identify the actual results from the plan results. The officials or the implementing group should drop those plans which are not working and be replaced with other plans which will enable the company to achieve its objective. Executive summary The main purpose of this report is to identify and briefly describe the concepts of efficiency and effectiveness in organisations. The whole report will be focusing on the functions of management i.e. Planning and organizing so as to increase efficiency and effectiveness in Hewlett-Packard Company. The content of this report has been obtained from various sources such as books, journals, company magazines and internet. In addition, this report analyses effective ways that managers should adopt when planning their business and key steps to be taken and various ways of leading and motivating employees in the company. Besides, the report also explore ways in which planning and organizing affect the image of the company either positively or negatively and how it can be used a tool of attracting and retaining customers. This is very important as it is expensive to attract new customers than to maintain. Human resource manager should address ways of motivating employees and organizing them in the company so as to achieve the objectives of the company. Apart from this, this report has been used as guideline on how training can be used as a motivating factor to employees in the company. Finally, the report offers conclusions which highlight the best way managers can maximise efficiency and effectiveness in the organisation. This report has considered the problems that are likely to be faced by the implementing authority and the possible way of overcoming such problems in the company (Kurtz, 2008). This report has highlighted various recommendations which need to be implemented by the organisation/manager. Some of these recommendations comprised of training program of the employees in the field of software development for the purposes of succession plan in the company. Also the company should also address the issue of developing customer care to attend and solve the problems of the customers in the company Table of contents PART A: Draft 1 Executive summary 2 Table of contents 3 Introduction 4 Discussion 5 Planning 5 Organizing 8 Organizational designs 9 Constraints 11 Conclusion 11 References 14 Introduction Background The primary objective of this report is to identifies, discusses and evaluates the main ideas concerning function of management. These functions of management which will be analysed by this report include the planning and organising. It further clarifies ways in which managers can use these functions to increase efficiency and effectiveness in the company (Kintrya, 2010). Hewlett Packard is a reputable company that is well known as HP. It is an international company specialising in information technology issues. The head office of the company is based in Palo Alto, California, USA. Due to its competitiveness the company has grown to be an international information technology company. They operate in all corners of the world. The main business of the Hewlett Packard is developing and manufacturing computing, storing of large volumes of data, developing of various software to be used in computers and delivering of services such as hardware networking. The company also offers key products which comprised of personal computing devices, latest advance printers and enterprise servers. The company also specialises in manufacture of storage devices. Hewlett Packard uses various marketing strategies so as to compete effectively in the market. They focus their marketing efforts to households, all ranges and classes of businesses and enterprises, they use online distribution. The company also deliver electronics and technology vendors. The meet the set objectives, managers of PH ensures that the benefit of all ranges of stakeholders is address Discussion Planning According to Deng (2009) planning can be defined as the continuing process of developing the mission of an organization so as to achieve its goals and objective. He further emphasise that the mission of an organization can only be achieved by implementing the vision statement which are set. Most literatures define vision as the strategies used by an organization to achieve the mission or long term goals of the company. The managers of the Hewlett Packard Company acknowledge that planning is the main determinant of the success of every company. Other functions of management cannot work effectively without planning. This means that planning is the key pillar in an organization and the main function of management which supports other functions such as organizing, leading, staffing and controlling The managers of Hewlett Packard Company can utilise strategic planning to maximise the importance of various employees in the company. They can use planning to ensure that the employees are assigned to work in their talented field. This is necessary because the company deals with technological issues ranging from software to hardware. Specialization is very important because the products and services delivered by the company will satisfy the customers needed beyond the expectation of the customer. This will influence the customer to trust the company in term of quality product and can even offer referral to other customers. The company will also benefit from this because of the customers loyalty which will be developed. There will be cross selling in the company because of new customers who will be eager to know the kind of the business which the company has involved in. Planning will also help the company to grow because it will address the main strategies which should be used in order to obtain a large market share. The human resource manager of the Hewlett Packard Company should plan how to address the problems facing employees and means of solving them. Employees are very important tool in the company because they deal directly with the customers. It is more important for the Hewlett Packard Company because employees interact with customers a lot especially when they are demonstrating how to use computers or any other storage devised offered in the company Planning can be used by the Hewlett Packard Company to increase efficiency and effectiveness in Hewlett-Packard. This can be done by planning on how the employees will be train on how to developed and manufacture computers, how to network computers which are indifferent places and networking hardware. Furthermore, the human resource manager should identify employees who will be trained on software and computing services only so that employees who are dealing with software are different from those dealing with hardware. Such planning will increase efficiency and effectiveness of the employees in the company. Scientific managers such as Fredrick Fayol had also named 14 principles of effective way of managing an organization. From these 14 principles, planning was one of them. This scientist had believed that planning is very essential in any company regardless of the structure which the company has adopted. Since Hewlett Packard Company is well known in manufacture and sale of personal computers and computer accessories, they need to plan on how to deal with competitors in the market. According to Kintrya, (2010) the main competitor that competes with the Hewlett Packard Company is IMB Company which is also an international company serving international market just like Hewlett Packard. To deal with such a problem effectively the human resource manager with other top official should plan and strategise on various ways of making their products known. They will need to plan on how to carryout promotion which will differentiate the company from other companies offering the same products in the market Some of the key strategies is planning on how to establish customer service in the company. Since the company is offering technological equipment, they should ensure that they are online 24 hours so that they can attend the customers at anytime anywhere. The company serves international market and therefore, they should attend the customers’ problem from all over the world. The human resource should plan for the training programme for the customer care person in the company. This planning should be attended by other managers from different department such as the finance department. The reason for this is because training programme will require some finance to be set a side. The next step after planning is implementation. Management of the Hewlett Packard Company should ensure that strategic plans are implemented and monitored closely so that they can reduce the misuse of the resources in the company. Implementation process is very important in the company and it is advisable that proper communication be put in place so that everyone in the company could know what is expected of him or her. Likewise, managers should release the required funds to finance the implementations of the set plans. At such moments the managers needs to work with the employees as a team irregardless of the position so that employees will feel appreciated and valued. In such situations, employees will be free to air their views, comments and compliments on the activities going on in the company. Lastly, the officials should be appointed to monitor the implementation process to ensure that the objectives of these plans are achieved. These officials should be professional in that field so that they can be giving out their opinion in case of any problem. When the implementation process is over, official should measure the results and compare with expected plans so that they will know whether the objectives were achieved. In case the plans fail to meet the expected standards, then the managers should be very flexible to adopt other strategies which will meet the planned result. The managers can also interview the employees concerning the results of the implemented plans so that they know what the employees are thinking regarding the same issue. Organizing According to Kintrya, (2010) organizing is defined as a process of developing the internal structure of an organization. Management scientists have also recognised organizing as one of the most important function of management in an organization because the managers are in a position to identify the employees who can handle delegated work. Delegation is an important practise because it makes all the employees to know what the company is doing and avoid the act of depending on one employee. Delegation is also important because it prepares the future leaders in an organization. This will also ensure a smooth succession plan in case the top managers will retire or move to other companies Most literatures have view organizing as an important function of management because it focuses on coordination and control of work in the company so as to ensure that the company’s objective are met. As a result of organizing employees effectively in the Hewlett Packard Company, the company will benefit in the following ways. Firstly, HP will use organizing as a basis for dividing work into units and departments. This will be done basing the ability and the professional background of the employees (DuBrin, 2009). This will result to specialisation and the employees within the company will be in a position to deliver quality services because everyone will be doing what is best talented in. Secondly, organising will reduce the mishandling computers in the company because he or she working in the field is best talented. Thirdly, managers of HP will be in a position to identify the hardworking employees for promotion and training using organizational structure as the benchmark. HP will also benefit from this function of management because involve organization of employees in terms of the duties they will performed and thus reducing the problem of confusion or rises of job ambiguity. The management of Hewlett Packard Company needs to increase efficiency and effectiveness in their organisation by having competent employees who are cable of carrying diverse work of the company. The board of Hewlett Packard Company should organized refresher courses for managers who have served for a longer period in the company so that their management skills can be refreshed and the modern ways of managing the employees. Organizational designs Organizational designs are very important for every organization because it determine many things such as delegation of duties in the company. These can be divided into two types with different characteristics. The first type is the organic designs. This organic organizations are characterised by central place of making decision and it is only top managers are participating. This mechanistic form of an organisation is completed and can cause some work in the company to delay because there are no delegations of duties. Traditionally, such organizations are characterized by the bureaucratic nature of an organization. The second type of an organizational design is the mechanistic organizational designs which the Hewlett Packard Company has developed. Mechanistic structures are very flexible which means that changes can be made to suit the needs of customers. In addition, there is a lot of delegation in this kind of structure because it is not being run in the central point. Managers believe that the employees are capable of handle issues without being controlled (Dewey & Bowker, 2010). From the analysis of these two types of structures, mechanistic structure is the most effective because of it flexibility and can function well if these functions of management are exercised. Mechanistic structure will enable the managers to implement their functions without any difficulty since the system is flexible. It is also believe that the system will be beneficial to Hewlett Packard company because there will be understanding between the managers and the employees. This kind of structure is very important than the organic structure which restrict the employees from participating in most of organizational issues such as decision making. Mechanistic structures alloy employees to review the planned decision and to comment on them either positively or negatively. Besides, the human resource manager should know that all employees do not have leadership qualities and therefore group of employees who are learned be selected so that they review the decision made (Dewey & Bowker, 2010). Psychologist such as McGregor commented on the behaviour of the employees. He believe that employees characters will never be the same and it is therefore important for the human resource manager to study his employees so that he can established the best way of dealing with them. Constraints In every company, there are common problems such as the additional cost which is caused by the getting specialist to appraise the company’s performances. The human resource manager of the company should also plan for the training of employees so as to equip them with the necessary skills. This is very important when it comes to handling of customers in the company. It is for this reason that the company should strategies on how to implement the proposed plans without facing the listed problems in the company. The implementation process should be taken seriously because it is undertaken for the benefit of the company (Pride, 2009). Conclusion Hewlett Packard Company should develop an effective human resource manager which will implement the two functions of management so as to increase efficiency and effectiveness in the company. The company had already developed effective strategies that had boosted the company’s performances and positioning the company well in the market. According to Kurtz, (2008) motivation is the key factor which will stimulate the employees to work extra harder than before. The managers should therefore consider all the proposed plans so that the necessary funds will be set aside. This will help to reduce the cases of shortages of funds during the implementation process. Furthermore, funds which will be used to train employees should be set aside to ensure the success of the program. This training of employees should be done together with the training of the supervisors and the refresher training for the managers. This is an expensive program and the company needs to plan for in term of funds and duration which will take to train the employees. Lastly, the company needs to evaluate the major goals and the strategies which will be required to be used so as to achieve these goals. Recommendations To achieve the company’s goals and objective, the company needs to implement the following recommendation. First, the company should plan for the training program of the employees in the field of software development for the purposes of succession in the company. The company has been, in the past, suffering with the problem of succession whenever the manager quits the company. The second recommendation is the organizing the duties of every department i.e. department dealing with the software and the other dealing with the hardware issues. The company should also address the issue of developing customer care in the company. This department will be attending and solving the problems of the customers in the company. For effective delivery of services and products, the company needs to develop a mechanistic structure which will emphasize safe working practices are maintained in the company. Lastly, Hewlett Packard Company should create a system which the customers can suggest or comment on the way they were served. This will help the company to know whether they services are appreciated by the customers or not. References Busch, P. (2008).Tacit Knowledge in Organizational Learning. Idea Group Inc (IGI). Dewey,M., & Bowker, R.(2010). “Planning and controlling” American Library publication, Library journal, vol 122, p 23 DuBrin, A. (2009).Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Cengage Learning Pride, M. W. (2009). Business. Cengage Learning Kintrya, D. (2010).‘Functions of management’ The National Association of Corporation Training and American Management Association, Volume 7, p 36 Kurtz, D. L. (2008). Contemporary Business 2009 Update. Cengage Learning Pearce,. (2009) Strategic Management 10E. McGraw-Hill Education (India) Pvt Ltd “Planning function of management” Retrieved on 14th April, 2010 from Read More