Organizing Function of Management - Case Study Example

Managers distribute responsibility and authority to job holders in this function of management" The physical resources contribute to the greatest part of the balance sheets of the FedEx Kinko's Inc. Thus, the physical resources must be organized carefully. The division of those resources must be planned, coordinated and above all, inline with the organizational goals of efficiency and effectiveness without compromising the customer satisfaction. In the words of their ex Chief Executive Officer, the centre of FedEx Kinko's are organized in the pattern of hub and spoke.

Just like all the spokes are connected through each other using the hub, likewise, in a region, all the braches are connected through a 'hub'. These branches, each being the integral part of the network, work in close coordination with the hub to form the setup in totality. Hub locations are opened round the clock and have greater domain of services to offer, thus containing greater number of products, services and equipments. Spokes, the local branches, offer self-serving and full-serving capabilities, but forward higher-volumes to hubs for over-night or specialized production.

In order to determine that which stores should be the 'round the clock' stores, they have used a '15 minute rule', the rule used by most of the round the clock businesses. According to this rule, the store which is made the 'hub' must be accessible to the customer within the drive of 15 minutes. On one hand, this ensures the efficient use of the existing resources, while on the other hand, this also ensures the increased customer satisfaction and targeted use of the round the clock hubs. While on one hand, this service will attract a great number of individual customers, this will also enable FedEx Kinko's to attract those corporate clients who have bulk of production demand, with complex specifications.

To make the customers aware of any changes in the locations of the 24/7 stores, customers are notified through signage, with bag inserts and by FedEx Kinko's team members. If a store is no longer a 24/7 one, the next closest locations are indicated through the signage. Their website is also very useful in providing those information regarding the locations of the stores.Thus, it this way, FedEx Kinko's has maximized the use of its physical resources beyond the traditional store hours, in order to create a value addition.

(FedEx Kinko's website, press release)ORGANIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES:In today's rapidly changing world of information technology, knowledge management is one of the crucial issue for all the organizations, since the appropriate amount of knowledge sharing to the appropriate person at appropriate time with appropriate frequency is essential, besides the collection and filtering of the 'knowledge asset'.At FedEx Kinko's, two information systems are being used in order to properly organize the information, related to core as well as support functions. Both the