The Defence Forces Canteen Organization - Admission/Application Essay Example

 Contents 1.0 Executive Summary 2 2.0 Introduction and Global Overview of the Issues 3 3.0 Company Background 5 4.0Description and Analysis of Options 6 4.1 Adapting a decentralized management technique 6 4.2 Training of Employees on E-Business Suite System 7 4.3 Database System Maintenance Services 8 5.0 Estimated staffing, timeline and budget 8 6.0 Request for Authorization 9 7.0 Conclusion 9 8.0 Recommendations 9 9.0 Appendices 10 10.0 References 10 1.0 Executive Summary The Defence Forces Canteen Organization (DEFCO) is regarded as the main official trading organization that aims to provide services to the members of the Armed forces. Being its own financial provider DEFCO has managed to increase its operations in various military bases. At present there are around 29 defence forces shops that are spread across various military camps [4]. With an increase in its operations and an unexpected increase in both profits and sales the ICT department of DEFCO has resulted into embracing a centralized system as well as an E-Business suite. However, as a result of using a centralized system and the E-Business suite DEFCO has been faced with a number of challenges. To this effect it is important for the management director who is given powers by the DEFCO board of management to look into ways that will help the organization to mitigate the current problems. Therefore, the aim of this report is to present alternative options that will assist DEFCO in dealing with the problems. A thorough analysis will be provided regarding the various options that will propel a positive direction in the operations of DEFCO. To start with the ICT department should try to adapt a decentralized system. This will be quite effective in dealing with various problems from different shops faster. Secondly, the E-Business suite is a concept that is quite new to many and thus if an organization decides to adapt it into their operations, they should be keen enough to ensure that proper training is accorded to its staff. If employees cannot familiarise themselves with the E-Business suite then it will be difficult for them to effectively execute their operations. Another challenge that needs to be evaluated is that of the database system. The database system often fails to update the records and as a result all the transactions of the organization come to a standstill because it is a progressive procedure whereby the next transaction cannot be recorded if the preceding transaction has not yet been updated. The proposed option for this problem is that DEFCO management should ensure the database system is maintained frequently to prevent any delay in updating the transactions. To this effect, my partner and I will critically evaluate the options listed above in order to try and present an approach that will assist DEFCO in curbing the current problems as well as improving the effectiveness of its operations. 2.0 Introduction and Global Overview of the Issues DEFCO as the official trading organization for the armed forces solely operates in a manner that ensures the benefits of its members are catered for effectively. Any profits made from all the retail outlets are usually plunged backed into the operations of the organization [4]. However, with an expansion of the organization’s operations into numerous shops in distant places there is a lot of strain that DEFCO has been subjected to with regard to management. The sole responsibility of foreseeing the daily operations of the organization is accorded to the management director who is supposed to work with various chief officers to achieve the goals of the organization. For DEFCO, their expansions into different military camps have stiffened their daily operations based on the fact that the management needs to cater effectively and efficiently for every shop regardless of the location there in. With regards to this, the first major problem facing DEFCO is that of the ICT department adapting a centralized system in its operations. A centralized system entails a management practice whereby all the control, authority as well as responsibility decisions of an organization are made in one central location [7]. With this in mind it is clear that based on the expansion of DEFCO reach in various locations the centralized system cannot be able to solve the entire problems presented to the central office. This is a clear indication that the current technique used for management in the ICT department is not the right one for solving problems. The second problem revolves around the concept of E-Business suite. An E-business suite mainly involves business functions that are incorporated by using various softwares on an online platform [3]. With the use of an E-business suite DEFCO can be able to expand its operations even beyond its set boundaries. However, for an organization to fully embrace the E-Business suite the management employees need to have proper training regarding how it operates. Currently, employees at DEFCO are not conversant with the E-Business suite system and as a result majority of the employees tend to make mistakes while operating the system. Rectification of the mistakes made on the system take a long time frame thus it is important that employees are educated and trained on how to work with the system. Maintenance of a database management system in any organization is very important. If an organization does not maintain its database system then it is evident that the transactions of the organizations will be jeopardised. Currently, DEFCO is unable to update its record due to the fact that the database system is not frequently maintained. Transactions are brought to a standstill due to the slow nature of the database system. This is one of the problems that also need to be looked at for DEFCO to be able to maintain its long time goal. 3.0 Company Background DEFCO is the trading organization for the military affiliates. Its inception is dated decades back and ever since its benefits to the military affiliates and their families have been widely recognized. Being formed under the recommendation of a government committee, there is no shareholder who can claim ownership for the organization. All DEFCO goods are free from VAT and any corporate tax thus making it easier for the organization to provide quality services to its members at a fair price without the expectation of any valuable return. As its stands the aim of DEFCO is to offer services to its members without any profit expected [4]. DEFCO can be classified as a medium chain of supermarkets as it has 29 shops spread across each of its military camps. It has a board of management which has accorded the management of the daily operations of the organization to the managing director. With an expansion of its operational bases DEFCO has had a major increase in both its sales and profits over the years. Based on this the organization has been forced along the way to adapt approaches that can be able to assist it in carrying out the daily operations. 4.0Description and Analysis of Options 4.1 Adapting a decentralized management technique In order for DEFCO to be able to mitigate the challenges facing the organization, my partner and I are proposing three main options that will effectively work if embraced. The first option is the adaption of a decentralized management system that will focus on addressing problems of shops that are in distant places. A decentralized management system best suits an organization that has grown larger thus making its operations to be quite complex [1]. It basically refers to a system which allows an organization to have a mutually coordinated decision making process among all its sub-branches. In this context a decentralized management system demands that an organization divides its self into various decision-making units and allocating powers to the units so that they can be able to address various problems that may arise in each unit. In a decentralized management system efforts are usually channelled to solve the slightest problems that are encountered in an organization even at the lowest levels. This is in contrast to a centralized system where all decisions are made at the central point of the organization, implying that it is only the headquarters of an organization that can solve the problems faced in its sub-branches [7]. The ICT department of DEFCO is operating on a centralized management system and from the results the organization is facing a great challenge in solving problems in their shop branches especially those that are located in distance places. The advantages of using a decentralized system are quite attractive. To start with a decentralized management system assists in improving the quality of decision making that are made by an organization in solving problems. Secondly a decentralized management system facilitates the diversification of activities. For instance, in a case where DEFCO will be introducing a new activity in their operations it will be easier for it to be channelled into the daily operations of the organization. Thirdly a decentralized system opens up opportunities for the employees to be able to learn effectively what they are to do. The concept of decentralization mainly provides a platform whereby employees can be fully trained about the functions of the organization [2]. However, a decentralized management system also has some disadvantages. A decentralized management system may cause inconsistencies in the organizational levels of command when it comes to making a unified decision in all the various organizational units. Additionally, it is quite costly to manage a decentralized system as compared to adapting a centralized one [1]. 4.2 Training of Employees on E-Business Suite System The second option is the proposal of training to all the employees regarding the use of the E-business suite system. If DEFCO chooses to embrace this option, a group of five staff members will be responsible for educating and training the employees about the E-Business suite system. An E-business suite may appear to be a complex technique for the employees that are not familiar with it. It mainly involves the management of business processes using technology [3]. These processes include internal management processes such as administration, financial and human resource as well as external processes such as supply of goods and services, customer relationships and sales and marketing. With the use of an E-Business system the way in which a business is managed does not change the only difference is that a new technology is adapted in the operations [6]. To maintain the performance of the organization after the inception of an E-Business suite system it is important that the employees are taken through a step by step process of how they will conduct their operations with the new business technique. DEFCO must strive to set up a training base that will help curb the existing problem as well as improve the performance of the organization. 4.3 Database System Maintenance Services The third option entails regular database maintenance to ensure that records are updated with no delays. Thus my partner and I have proposed that a group of five staff members will be responsible for maintaining the database to ensure that it will not fail to update the records. DEFCO is experiencing some challenges with its database system mainly as a result of lack of maintenance services. This problem has resulted into the transactions of the organization coming to a standstill due to lack of prompt records updates. Having regular database maintenance services ensures that information on the database is carefully reviewed and any threat that may be detected in the database is dealt with. It is technological threats that mainly affect the functioning of a database thus interfering with the transactions of an organization. Data maintenance ensures that there is data integrity, data conformity as well as data security [5]. If DEFCO embrace this proposed option they will be able to do away with the issue of delays in updating of records. 5.0 Estimated staffing, timeline and budget Once the proposed solutions for solving the current challenges at DEFCO are approved, a team of ten staff members will be needed in order to complete the task within a time frame of 28 days. Additionally, the estimated budget for the task is roughly around $500. The ten staff members will be further divided into two groups each group with five members. One group will be responsible for training and educating employees about the E-Business Suite system. This will improve their performance and familiarity with the functions of the E-Business Suite system. On the other hand the second group will be responsible for maintaining the database to ensure that the system does not fail to update records. DEFCO will also need to adapt a decentralized management approach whereby it will need to spread its management services to its various branches to be able to speed up the process of solving any issues. 6.0 Request for Authorization Based on the thorough analysis my partner and I have conducted regarding the proposed options, we would like to present them to the Management Director of DEFCO so that he can be able to present them to the board of management as a strategy in improving the performance of DEFCO. 7.0 Conclusion In conclusion, DEFCO is an organization that has managed to expand its operations to various locations, thus making it to be a complex organization. It is based on this assumption that the organization needs to embrace approaches that will enable all its shops in the military camps to conduct their daily operations with ease. With a decentralized management system, proper training of employees on how to use E-Business suite system and regular database maintenance DEFCO will definitely overcome its current problems. 8.0 Recommendations Based on the current problems that DEFCO is facing my partner and I would like to propose the above options to the Management Director. Which are the adaption of a decentralized system, training of employees regarding the E-Business suite and regular database maintenance. In accordance, to the research we have conducted it is evident that the proposed options will help DEFCO achieve its set goals. 9.0 Appendices Fig 1: A Table showing the estimated budget for the measures to be undertaken Measures Estimated Cost Training programs for Employees $100 Maintenance services for the database $65 Branching of management services $125 Other employees (10) $210 Grand Total $500 Fig 2: A chart showing the estimated cost for the measures to be taken and the salaries for the additional staff 10.0 References [1] C.Joseph, The Advantages of a Decentralized Organizational Structure, Digital Media, 2014. [2] D.Siljak, Decentralized Control of Complex Systems. Boston: Academic Press, 1991. [3] G.Colin, Assessing the Benefits from E-Business transformation through effective enterprise management: European Journal of Information Systems, vol.12, pp.297-308, 2003. [4] P. Reade, History of the Military Canteen, S.1: Book on Demand Ltd, 2013. [5] R.Raghu, Database Management Systems.USA, McGraw Hill, 2003. [6] T.Gracelyn. “E-Business and Its Advantages.” The Ecommerce Authority (July 8, 2012). [7] V.Osmond.Centralized Vs. Decentralized Organizational Structure. Internet: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/centralized-vs-decentralized-organizational-structure-2785.html , 2014. Read More