Online Sales and Services on Electronic Items - Electro One Company - Case Study Example

VBD Report – Decision Making Business: Electro One Company Product: Online Sales and Services on Electronic Items Assessment Item 3 BSB115 - Management [Name] [Student Number] Word count: 1506 Mission To provide high quality electronic products to support both personal and business systems for both the domestic and international markets at the most competitive prices and guarantee. Strategic and Tactical Goals To be a reliable and trusted provider of all electronic products, sales and all supportive services, to generate a minimum 15 % return on investment (ROI) and pursue a gradual annual growth rate of 18.50% through exploration and coverage of new markets, To provide the most favourable and motivating environment for the employees and therefore curtail staff turnover and achieve high employee retention, To forge cohesion with the local communities around the company installations by supporting charitable community initiatives around the company’s installations. Introduction Electron One is an electronics company that sells its products and services using the online platform “www.electrone.com”. Its head office is in Sydney. However, it has branches all over the world that interconnect through a network of powerful servers and PCs, the host being at the head office. Currently, it boasts of a clientele base of over 1 million. Recently, there has occurred a spate of resignations of line managers at the Brisbane branch, who accuse the branch management of little inclusion in the decision making process. Line managers are low-level management staff who supervise selected staff and work and report to middle-level managers in their respective departments. In small organisations, line managers may form middle-level management and report to senior managers. According to Cengage (2014, p. 8), they include departmental managers, office managers, supervisors, and so on. Their main responsibility is to manage entry-level employees who directly produce the organisation’s goods or services. Cengage (2014, p. 7) sums up the responsibilities of line employees as employee supervision, induction of new employees, training employees on different aspects of their work, creating detailed schedules of operation based on recommendations of senior management (p. 8), facilitating employees in completing their daily workload by providing their requirements, and projecting new staff hiring needs as more work emerges (p. 9). The University of Edinburg (2014) exposes some other responsibilities which include managing finances and other resources such as time and people within their departments, promoting diversity and equality among employees, and leading and developing the employees. The Issue: Participation in the Decision Making Process Line managers thus provide direct contact between employees and the management. Their responsibilities as described above determine the success of the organisation in providing goods and services to the satisfaction of the customers. Their inclusion in the decision making process is of paramount importance. Their exclusion, as witnessed in the case of the Brisbane branch of Electro One Company, will mean that the decisions made by higher level managers will not reflect the needs of the users (employees) and the customers. Besides poor output on the part of the line managers as a result, they may also feel alienated and will not own the decisions handed down by senior management. They may also feel like they are not part of the organisation. That may evoke conflict, resistance, inefficiency, and even resignation by line managers and employees as seen in the case of Electro One Company. This effectively compounds implementation of policies or guidelines received from higher levels of management. Cengage (2014, p. 7) argues that members of the senior management have the noble duty of building responsibility in employees and generating pride in their work. That way, they are able to do their work correctly and efficiently. This will only be possible if the lower level managers are involved in the decision-making process. The University of Edinburg (2014, p. 6) argues that one of the key missions of Line Managers is personal development. This includes enhancing performance, and developing both managerial and leadership skills, so that they are also able to experience upward mobility in their careers. When these managers are denied participation during decision-making, this works actively against their personal development agenda, and tramples on their ambitions. They would view this as blocking the upward movement in their careers, perhaps another reason that made line managers resign. Analysis The four management functions outlined by Cengage (2014, p. 5) include planning, organising, leading and controlling. Planning identifies the objectives of the organisation and the means to achieve them, thus enhancing employee performance and spurring growth. Organising identifies where decisions are needed, outlines the management structure or organisation chat, and spells out responsibilities for every employee. Leading is directing employees to their responsibilities and motivating them to achieve set objectives. Controlling is the process of monitoring the organisations progress towards its goals within set time frames, and taking corrective measures where performance is sluggish. Decision-making in this Brisbane case falls squarely on two management functions i.e. organising and leading. The responsibility of planning remains with the senior management. Lower-level employees cannot determine the objectives of the organisation because it is only the senior management who can determine the direction the company will take. Again, controlling is the docket of the senior management because it monitors the performance of all other employees. On the other hand, lower-level management such as line managers must have a hand in organising. This is one of their responsibilities as previously discussed. In their departments, they need to make decisions such as apportioning responsibilities to individual employees. Sometimes they may be able to do this even without consultation with the senior manager. For example, a line manager can change shift hours for an employee on request without the consent of the senior manager. Attempts by senior managers to control how line managers run their departments is equivalent to infringing on their tuff, and denying them leadership and authority at their level. Recommendations It is the responsibility of the line manager to lead his or her team, share out responsibilities, and motivate them to achieve their goals. A senior manager must not attempt to usurp the powers bestowed upon a line manager because that would be both humiliating and de-motivating. According to the University of Massachusetts (2014), decision-making is the process through which manager make choices when confronted by important situations at the workplace. They do this by setting goals which outline the desirable outcomes of any actions, gather information surrounding the situation, and assess alternatives in order to identify the most appropriate choice in the circumstances. A senior manager must do the following in order to arrive at good decisions; 1) Identify the situation that requires a decision and the nature of the decision. This may be prompted by information from a lower-level manager. SBA (2014) cautions that the manager needs to evaluate whether that decision is within his jurisdiction, otherwise he or she would need to forward it to the appropriate manager. 2) Gather information that is relevant to the situation. The manager may get this information from sources such as books, other managers, and so on, and also from knowledge within himself or herself. Friends and family may also come in handy. 3) Identify available alternatives or create desirable ones. 4) Weigh evidence against the situation and shortlist the alternatives that best solve the problem at hand. 5) Choose the best alternative or a combination of alternatives. 6) Begin to implement the choice made in step five i.e. take action without delay. According to SBA (2014), decisions are always reversible. Procrastination only serves to build stress, and even worsen the problem at hand. 7) Perform a post-implementation review as you begin to experience the effects of the actions taken in step (6). If the effects are positive, then fully implement the decision but if the effects are negative, re-evaluate the decision and probably implement a new course of action. Clearly, decision-making is an intricate process where the manager clearly requires the input of other people and sources. Most of the information needed to make decision originates from lower-level managers, who definitely have a better understanding of the processes at the lower level, out of hands-on experience. A decision that favours the organisation, its employees and customers emanates only from inclusion of other players such as line managers. That is the only way the viewpoint and the feelings of other employees find accommodation in senior management decisions. SBA (2014) exposes some serious mistakes that cause managers to make improper decisions. A balanced manager must avoid; 1) Underestimating the value of information received from people we consider inferior such as lower-level managers, low-status groups, and so on. A manager may prejudice some people by virtue of his or her position. Probably, this was the cause of resignations of line managers at Brisbane. The experiences and perceptions of the seemingly inferior groups can only enrich the manager’s experience. To avoid such negativity, a manager must identify the reason for discarding information. 2) Overreliance on expert advice. This causes managers to ignore information from other sources and thus narrows their scope. This may also cause the manager to disregard information from other sources. 3) Overestimating the value of information that we receive from people we hold in high regard such as experts, parents, other managers, and so on. A manager may avoid this by seeking how much knowledge or experience that person really has in the subject area. 4) Personal prejudice and personal feelings. A manager ought to make decisions based on evaluation the situation and all available information, not sticking to pre-set personal opinions aimed at wasting other people’s opinions. 5) Ignoring warning signs and gut feelings. Personal experiences are sources of information that may help the manager to make a good decision. Senior managers at Bribane must therefore allow line managers to execute their mandate without undue interference, enabling them to make some decisions independently within their area of jurisdiction. Inclusion in the decision making process is key to a happy and loyal workforce. References Cengage Learning. (2014). Introduction to Management. Management. Retrieved 31 March 2014, from, http://www.cengage.com/management/discipline_content /mgmt_demo/0324656521_ch01.pdf The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). (2014). Making Decisions. Leading Your Company. Retrieved 2 April 2014, from, http://www.sba.gov/content/making-decisions The University of Edinburg. (2014). Information for Line Managers. Retrieved 2 April 2014, from, http://www.docs.csg.ed.ac.uk/HumanResources/Policies/ Information_for_Line_Managers_Managing_Staff.pdf University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. (2014). Decision-making Process. Retrieved 1 April 2014, from, https://www.umassd.edu/fycm/decisionmaking/process/ Read More