Organizational Management Research Paper

Introduction

Now, all the leading organizations are flexible and adopt the change in the market rapidly. The business environment in the market and operational strategies, according to it, change gradually. This process is continuous and runs according to the trends of global and local economies with the advancement in technology. This provides guidance and awareness to the organization to design and change accordingly with the exceptional skills of management. The change will not involve only the business nature but also the system, process and continuous change in strategies. This helps the organization retain its position in the competitive market and provides the supportive infrastructure to win the competitive edge over the competitors.  The change process can be related to simple examples in order to understand simply and broadly that, like organization eve in the small room in which one moved first, will design for the first time and maintain the design during the time one is living there. The design needs the skills to implement, which can be achieved through management skills, and after some time, the changes will be adapted from time to time. The exact same thing happens with the organization, which is done by careful planning and execution for the design and the change management.

The concept of managing change refers to the continuous process, not just the one time. That’s why emphasizing management is critical. Several important points are being taken into consideration while designing and changing the organization. This consideration involves those plans which should be aligned with the goals of the organization. Then it comes to the effects and impact, which is going to happen through this process, and strong communication will make it work; the communication needs the best strategy for designing and changing. The change and design process leaves a deep impact on the resources, which are employees, because employees will have to look for those management programs for change and design. Bringing these points into consideration is the need for best practices, and his area includes every aspect of the organization. Change and design agents will have to be vigilant throughout the process of change. It is a traditional approach which gives the organization the idea of following new trends and needs in the market, so they only direct the people to work on it, which lacks understanding and involvement. These two understandings and involvement lead to the best possible understanding and insight towards the road to success. But here, this assignment will cover all the aspects of this organization, including the start of the business process and the economic impact on both the organization and the country. There are several other benefits which can be obtained from managing the organization’s redesign and change. It focuses on customer service improvement, increased profit, lower cost of operation, efficiency, committed work culture and growth of the business. Effective design and change ensure that all the aspects of the organization are covered and can prevent suffering, such as a less efficient workflow, lack of knowledge, delays, and lack of trust among workers and owners (Yüksel, 2012).

Discussion

Section 1: Exploring Organizations (Answer All Three Questions)

Question: What are Organisations?

• What are organizations?

An organization is a set of individuals who work among each other to achieve a shared goal or goals. Several theorists and researchers, on the basis of observation and research, define organization differently, but few as follows are the common concepts which can be seen in all the definitions:

1. Organizations are based on the composition of individual basis and the group of individuals.
2. In the organization, all the groups and individuals aim towards one shared goal or set of goals.
3. Those individuals working in the organization work on the different functions in order to provide support for achieving the goals.
4. In the organization, the functions which are being conducted should be done with the proper coordination.
5. Regardless of the number of people and the coming and leaving of the individuals, the organization never stop working because of the separate entity.

There are several types of organizations that more or less work under the concepts stated above by following and conducting their assigned functions. A few of the known types are:

• Government and on-government.
• Armed forces.
• Not for profit.
• Sole partnership and cooperation.

The study of the organization also emphasizes the structure, which helps understand the internal forces working and influences on the functions and culture.

• Committees the structure in which members are being selected through proper voting and assigned different tasks to be done. They are the decision makers’ of the organizations new move.
• Matrix is the type of structure in which each individual employee is answerable to two bosses. The one boss works alongside the employee in the matter of functions of the organization. The second boss uses the expertise of that employee on the specific project.
• Ecologies are the type of structure that focuses deeply on the inside of the organization. They follow the rule of getting the work done by those who are willing and pay according to the amount of work done by any set of individuals.

Hierarchies or Pyramids go from one leader who assigns tasks by providing directions, and those who follow the leader under the hierarchy do their share of work to achieve objectives, which collectively contributes to achieving the vision of a higher leader (Tapinos, Dyson & Meadows, 2005).

• What do organizations do?

The reason for the existence of the organization is that efficiency and effectiveness can only be achieved through group work. When the individuals work separately, the collective goal cannot be achieved because they don’t share a common value under one vision. For example, if a man wants to take the piano on the top floor, he will take the whole day to achieve his motive alone, but when the number of people increases, the effort will be shared, and they will conduct this task effectively and efficiently with less time and less resources. Even if people are working on different tasks in an organization, the goal they want to achieve will be supported by those tasks. The coordination among individuals under the umbrella of one organization is the fundamental thing, and this set-up is called the management, which is the backbone of the organization.

The benefit of an organization can also be determined through cost efficiency. When every individual who is working on the same goal but in a different setup costs more than those who are working under one house and sharing the cost. After industrialization, all the skilled workers, especially craftsmen and artists, worked alone away from each other, which was not only costly for them but also low in productivity. The organization provides to the society when working together whether goods or services, the importance of work determines when the work is being done in an organization, it provides inspiration and motivation to people working together, it provides a sense of responsibility to people working there because of the environment creates the importance of work and the most essential role organizational play is to give them opportunities to employees working there because ideas are being shared to each other (Tapinos, Dyson & Meadows, 2005).

• What are they composed of?

The composition of the organization is based upon the structure through which the organization’s nature of work can be determined. These are the strictures which help in defining the responsibilities and roles of workers in the organization and also the departments, groups, or the work is determined. The structure of the organization is the system which divides the tasks and the reporting policies, which are assigned to individuals according to the work. The efficient and good structure can be recognized by the effectiveness of work and overall ethics followed by the workers. There are four general structure types which determine the composition of an organization and also serve as the elements that build the organization (Bryson, 1988). Those structures are:

• Project-based.

The first structure which is known as functional, describes the nature of tasks which are being conducted by the individual or collective task in the organization. These tasks or skills are determined as the functional structure. There are several advantages of this structure which an organization uses to serve the purpose and achieve goals. The first advantage is quick decision-making with effective communication among workers. These structures provide continuous learning to workers, which they can acquire through each other because of the collective skills and tasks.

The next structure is the divisional structure; in this type of structure, the organization creates the sub-group as the division, and each group serves the same role by facilitating the customers. The coordination among groups or teams is effective because all of them serve the same role but in different places.

The third one is matrix structure, in this structure each individual is answerable and support two bosses. One will work with the employees on a functional level, and the other one will work only on the projects. The advantage of this structure is that it increases the productivity of the organization because the employee is working on a diversity of works, and the second benefit is decision-making because all the employees working on different levels of tasks give them exposure.

The third structure is project organization; in this structure, a specific number of individuals are designated to work on a specific project. This type teaches the workers to work collectively by using limited resources and time to complete assigned tasks and to meet the objectives of the organization. The objectives are always clear in this type of structure.

• How are organizations organized?

The organization is organized through the different departments which perform the functions to run the organization and collaborate with each other in order to meet the requirements of the goal. The function of those departments is clear and according to nature. Workers who are performing their tasks in those departments have clear objectives, resources and tools according to the nature of work and defined time (Bryson, 1988). The collaboration between those departments organized the organization. The following are the main departments of a simple manufacturing organization:

• Human Resources Management.
• Research and Development.
• Account and Finances.

The first department is the core purpose of serving the organization. This department executes necessary activities that provide the organization with all the services and goods that fulfil the organization’s goals. There are some universal tasks and responsibilities which are performed in this department. Those tasks include the planning of the production and the scheduling of the arrangements through which production will take place. The next task is controlling the workforce which is working under this department and providing supervision. Quality control is the core which is conducted in these departments because it serves the vision of an organization, and the quality takes place by controlling and monitoring how the task is undertaken, which material is being used and meeting the timeline. The next task is regarding the maintenance, not just the equipment and plant which is being used but also the workforce from whom the task will be done. They also control the incoming and outgoing inventory and mark the progress by it. The organization also provides them with authority for continuous design and change, which means the authorities working in this department continuously improve themselves by adopting effective and efficient methods through which tasks should be done, including cost-saving and maximum output (Peng & Nunes, 2007).

After understanding the functions of this department, their collaboration with another department will provide the necessary knowledge that serves the organization overall. The close and necessary collaboration of production done with other departments are as follows:

• The collaboration with Research and Development is regarding implications concerning the design and method through which production design takes place. The Research and Development provide necessary requirements if any problem comes up, and the production also provides their concern regarding each task because they have complete insight into the production department and its requirements.
• The marketing department instructs the production department to include specific functions, quality, appearances and durability so that they can meet the demands and needs of consumers.
• Between finance and production, the collaboration done regarding the funds which are being used for the task of production involves purchasing tools and equipment.
• Human resource departments provide a force and serve as the motivator force so that the task will not stop in the production department.

The next department is the research and development department of the organization, which shares equal importance in the organization among other departments. Their aim is to provide insight into methods of how the task will be done to produce new products and processes. They work as the continuous improvement force of the organization. They conduct research for marketing as well to provide them with information on the market situation and position of the organization. Research and Development is the key force for higher management, which serves as the insight into economical and effective ways.

The other department that helps organize the organization is the purchasing department. This department serves as the provider of the tools and equipment to all the departments, which serves as the supporting tools so that the organization can continue the work assigned. This production includes the tools and equipment for the production department and also the raw materials which will be used in the production department. They provide necessary goods not only to the production department but also to other departments. The office equipment, computers and stationery also come under this department’s role. While conducting their task, this department takes into consideration the purchasing mix, which includes quality, delivery, quantity and price. Managers should be efficient with all of these mentioned (Yüksel, 2012).

The role of organizing the organization by the marketing department is to serve them with income and profit. They also serve the purpose of facilitating customer needs and wants, satisfying them and retaining them with their marketing skills and campaigns. Their strategy follows the rules of the 4 Ps. The product, promotion, price and place.

The human resources department serves the organization by providing work force and serve the employees regarding the needs of those employees. Their core functions are recruiting, training, employee relations and health & safety.

The last department, according to the list mentioned earlier, is accounting and finances. Their function is to track the finances of the organization and keep the inflow and outflow of the cash. They organize the organization by preparing income and cash flow statements along with a balance sheet, payroll management and the information accounts of the organization (Yüksel, 2012).

• Are they all the same, or are there differences?

All the organizations are the same when it comes to their major purpose, which is to serve the customers and earn profit. The nature of organizations is different from that of each other, and so is the structure through which they conduct their tasks.

• If they are different, in what way do they differ?

Nature includes the project-based organization that works whether to provide services or to provide manufactured goods. The structure of the organization also defines the differences between them.

• What are the reasons for the differences?

The reason behind the difference is the scope of the organization. Some organization only provides one project at a time, some organization serves with long agreements, some organization works on their own to manufacture goods and some organization’s scope is to provide services (Ho, 2014).

Question: Organizational Context

• Why is understanding the context within which an organization operates important?

Context refers to the circumstance in which any work or event happens. When it comes to an organization and the context in which it conducts business, it refers to the environment in which it operates. This environment is external and influenced by external forces. Strategic planning requires taking the context under consideration when it comes to planning and conducting business while building up the organization. When an organization start establishing the information regarding the context, they should take into consideration all the factors from the environment which affect them directly or indirectly. These factors are the risks for the organization and to use that risk in their favour. These factors include customers, competitors, stakeholders, suppliers, market conditions, technological aspects, political surroundings, rules and regulations, stakeholders, financial resources, laws regarding the agreements and the changes in the environment (Babatunde & Adebisi, 2012).

Context is an important force through which organization set their moves and priorities and address the concerns of all the stakeholders. The planning helps in the building of sustainable systems and procedures, which makes the organization able to reach the place in regards to its goals and vision. There are several ways in which part of the policies when it comes to addressing the context in which the organization is conducting the business. The external environment affects the operations of the organization. Even how they will conduct business and it moulds the direction of decisions. These external factors are considered to be the macroeconomics of the organization and leave a direct impact on the failure and success of the organization. Following are some of the factors described and how to address those contexts:

• The first and most important factor is customers. The organization’s main focus is always to attract and retain the consumers of its products and services. Satisfying the needs and wants will help them grow. Customer perception about the organization decides whether they are going to retain the position in the market or not.
• The next factor is the supplier, which provides and transfers both the raw material and final goods to the market. Even if the suppliers are outsourced sometimes, they are still considered to be the most influential asset of the organization. The services of the suppliers shape the progress of the organization. The quick and qualitative performance of the supplier helps meet the demands and needs of the market. The threat is when a supplier delays or when the relationship between the supplier and organization is damaged; then the organization will suffer.
• The next contextual factor in the external environment is the competitor of the organization. Organizations, from time to time, ask questions about their good quality and services’ worthiness because whether they are good or bad, comparing with customers matters to the customer and their priority. Organizations, while doing their own work, should also monitor what competitors are up to and what they are doing in the market. This monitoring shapes the priority and decision-making. Sometimes, the organization that ignores the competitors’ progress suffers loss and stays behind in the market.
• The other factor, which is stakeholders, also affects the organization. Stakeholders include employees, investors and shareholders. All of these entities are concerned about the progress of the organization, so they have to look after the concerns, including all the other factors. Shareholders are the people who have invested in the organization, not on a higher level, but still, the number of shareholders matters to the organization. The employees are the workforce who work together in order to maintain the organization’s progress and are the only contributors to the goal and vision of the organization. Facilitating their wants and needs should be the priority. Investors are those who have invested in the organization’s plan with the confidence that they will earn back the profit. When they invest, the organization is answerable to those investors, and they will have to take into the confidence of those investors before making the decisions.

The other factor is the market; it’s the place where they are going to work. Market conditions will let the organization know what their next move should be and what needs to be done to stay in the market. The market has different conditions sometimes; it focuses on different things that the organization is creating. The overall customer priorities can only be known in the market. This factor includes technological factors and social trends as well. The emergence of technology is continuous, and organizations have to look for it. As mentioned earlier, organizations also have to track customer demands and needs, which is a social factor (Ravanfar, 2015).

Question: Strategic decision-making and strategic frameworks

Strategy is the planning through which an organization wants to achieve its goals. When it comes to strategic decision-making, it means the organization desires to change the direction of the organization or make big decisions. These big decisions are mostly related to launching of new product or changing the market of any current product. The other reason is when an organization desires to merge or acquire another organization. Starting any new project also requires a strategic decision (Gallo et al., 2017).

When an organization needs to tackle extreme competition or to meet the change in the market, it gives the organization a competitive edge. The following are major benefits which organizations can get from strategic decision-making:

• The strategic decision helps in shaping the future the way an organization desires. The difference between being reactive and reactive is when the organization makes the proactive decision by strategic decision; it helps them to grow with the pace rather than a reactive decision, which affects them even for a short time and makes them left behind in the market.
• The next benefit is it helps establish the direction. A clear decision means definite goals and objectives. The consisting work can only be done when these goals and objectives are clear, and the direction of those goals is provided by the management. The workers will know how the work is contributing to those goals. Organizations can evaluate and monitor their progress toward the higher achievement they are aiming for.
• Strategic decision-making helps the organization make wise decisions that will only give benefits rather than risks of loss. A focused and wise decision will not only provide financial benefits because time can be saved but also people’s skills can be used wisely.
• Strategic decision-making will provide the organization with a clear path to the future so that the organization can have the future and the work which needs to be done to survive in the future.

There are several decision-making strategic frameworks designed by the researchers to help the organization, but selecting any one of them is hard for the organization. These models are simple and complex which varies from the nature of the organization. There are many strategic decision-making frameworks which depend on the organization, what the organization is trying to do, and what decision they are taking, which needs a proper and appropriate framework (Bhatti, 2011). There are three important steps which should be taken by the organization to help them select the best framework for them:

• Selecting the right framework requires clear decision-making regarding the organization’s decisions and whether those decisions are related to which part of the organization.
• The second step is to apply the frameworks to the goals the organization is trying to achieve. Two things will happen: one is that the goals are fitting to all the steps of the framework, or the other thing is that the framework will not be filling the demands of that decision.
• The third step is to review the plans. When selecting the framework, the goals of the organization should be balanced on the steps of that framework.

There are three frameworks that are best and common when it comes to decision-making.

• The first one, SWOT, swot analysis organization, focuses on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the product or the organization.
• The second most famous framework is Porter’s five forces; in this framework, the organization conducts evaluations of major resources. The first one is supplier, the second is rivalry, the third is a threat which comes from the substitutes, the fourth force is the threat which comes from the new businesses, and the last force is being analyzed in this framework to understand the fundamentals of the industry.

The third framework is PESTEL, this framework provides the insight and the forces which greatly influences the organization. Those forces include political, social, economic, technological, environmental and legal forces. It focuses on the external factors to give an understanding of all the forces which should be taken into consideration before making a decision (Bhatti, 2011).

Section 2: External Analysis

Question: PESTLE Analysis

• Critically evaluate why organizations perform PESTLE analysis.

The pestle analysis is the concept of the marketing principles that an organization uses to evaluate and analyze the external market if they are planning the launch of a new product, project, or service. Pestle analysis contains the following factors:

These factors and their analysis help the organization to consider all the possible outcomes before the project, product, or service goes into the market. Each factor is a different factor which can possibly affect the organization and its product.

• In the political factor, the government influences the economic system of the country. If the government impose a new tax, which will affect the prices of the goods the organization is offering, it will eventually affect the overall profit.
• In the economic factor, the organization will take into consideration the people and their purchasing power before launching the product and what range the product should lie in.
• The social factor influences the trends of the market and customers. For example, when it comes to some special occasions, the customer buys more than they usually do. The other example is there are products which get influenced by the preferences of the customer depending on the cultural factor.
• Technological factor affects in great amount. The example of phones can give the understanding that in the market, competition between companies is based on advanced technological features. Organizations should consider updating and adopting new technologies coming into the market.
• The legal factor is based on external and sometimes internal. There are laws which can affect the organization. Those laws include consumer laws and labour laws. The consumer laws are that the product should give what the organization is stating in the marketing. The Labour law focuses on employee well-being and health or safety.

Environmental factor influences the organization on the basis of weather or geographical changes. For example, clothes are seasonal, and the launch of new products should focus on the weather or the geographical factor (Ward, 2005).

• Carry out a PESTLE analysis of a manufacturing organization of your choice.

The PESTLE analysis of Nestle will help identify how the external environment influences the organization’s policies.

1. Political factors influence Nestle: The political factors that influence Nestle are the standards of food and their marketing actions. The other effect will be the stability of the economy of any country, depending on the government policies. There are several rules regarding food and beverages, and those laws are not in every country because of the adaptation preferences of any ruling political group.
2. Social: It depends on the trends which people follow. If their preferences change according to the trends and that is going to a healthier diet will affect Nestle. The other factor that comes under social is the change in lifestyle if people’s preferences change to more home food rather than artificial flavoured.
3. Legal: Nestle will be affected by the legal factor if any country starts to impose taxes on food items, and every country has different regulations.
4. Environmental: The rise in the awareness to protect the environment will affect Nestle because of their packaging. Climate change has changed the thinking of people, and they are concerned about plastic packaging, which badly affects the environment.
5. Technological: The rise in the use of social media has introduced e-commerce, and people find it easy to buy with just a click. This will affect Nestle because they are not doing e-commerce.

Economical: The economic condition changes the preferences of people’s buying behaviour, and they have to look for purchasing power. Every country has different prices for the raw material (Ward, 2005).

• Discuss the results of your analysis and any conclusions you can make concerning the organization’s mid to long-term future.

The PESTLE analysis helps in making the decisions which will affect the organization in both way short and long term. After thoroughly going through all the steps and all the factors which can influence Nestle, the conclusion remarks that the organization must take into consideration these forces which affect the organization’s working and objectives. Regarding the short-term goals, these forces, when taken into consideration, help the organization to know that in the current market, they are working; the forces will influence them little, but in the long term, they influence greatly because it takes hard decisions when it comes to the international market. Every country has different scenarios and conditions; the progress and failure of the organization depend upon these factors (Thakur & Workman, 2016).

• What trends might be useful to monitor as a performance indicator for strategic actions the organization might take?

The Balance Score Card is the most famous and effective way to set strategic indicators to measure performance. Strategic planning needs continuous monitory and evaluation, and by using a balanced scorecard, organizations can measure the following:

• The first one is the communication between all the teams about what is the aim to achieve.
• Aligning the activities according to day-to-day.
• Giving priorities which need to be done first.

Measuring the progress and monitoring what is achieved and what is next to be achieved (Bharati & Chaudhury, 2015).

• You are expected to use the PESTLE grids we used in the seminar and include them in the appendix section to support your answer.

PESTLE Grid in the Appendix.

Section 3: Internal Analysis

Question: McKinsey 7S Analysis

• Critically evaluate the McKinsey 7S model.

McKinsey’s 7s model is used by the organization to analyze the design of the organization by implementing 7s. The tools in which the 7s are being used are strategy, shared value, systems, staff, style, structure and skills. This 7s tool is divided between hard S and soft S. The hard S includes strategy, structure and systems. Whereas, Soft S includes style, staff, skills and shared values. It was developed by the McKinsey consultants and now it’s been widely used by many organizations (Sammut‐Bonnici, 2015). It focuses on all aspects of organizations, including the staff. The use of this system helps organizations in the following points:

1. Provide facilitation in change.
2. Implementing new strategy.
3. Insight in the future changes.
4. Provide facilitation in the mergers.

• Applying a real-world example – discuss how it could be used in an organizational change programme after a PESTLE and 5 Force Analysis had been completed.

Following is the McKinsey’s 7s model applied on the Tesco:

1. Shared Value: This S tells what are the values and objectives of the company and what they believe. Tesco’s shared value is increasing the management skills, which are sophisticated and provide manufacturing companies with value which will be of high standard and align with the supply chain.
2. Strategy: Strategies are the methods and plans which an organization applies. Tesco applies the balanced scorecard method for all the strategies.
3. Structure: It tells what is the management style and hierarchy of the company. Tesco doesn’t believe in one leader and provides leadership power to all the employees.
4. System: It describes how the task is being done from start to end. Tesco has a steering wheel method to conduct the tasks. This provides the skill which is helpful for the staff in future.
5. Staff: Tesco has more than 400,000 employees working on different tasks.
6. Style: Tesco achieves its objective by using the steering wheel method, which focuses on finances, operations, customers and the performance of employees.

Skill: It describes how capable staff is when conducting tasks and achieving objectives. Tesco emphasizes the transfer of knowledge to its employees, and training is provided to them with the necessary skills (Roa & Suárez, 2015).

Question: Product & Service Portfolio Analysis

• When considering the Boston Matrix, explain what causes products and services to be ‘cash users’, ‘cash neutral’ or ‘cash generators’.

A real example of an organization that provides maximum and easy facilitation to shareholders is Microsoft, which is the only organization that provides maximum facilitation. Microsoft had this reputation when starting the operation because the market growth started slowly, but now it has grown to the biggest organization. Customers of Microsoft are loyal because it’s a reliable company and has a high percentage share in the market. Microsoft now don’t need any further capital to boost the product because of their position in the market. This is the reason Microsoft keeps on providing their products and services in the market (Groen, Wilderom & Wouters, 2017).

• Explain why an organization might decide to keep providing a product or service long after it has reached the decline and low return stage of the life cycle.

The reason behind some services and products staying cash users or cash users is the major cost of production has already occurred, and additional profit will come. They have earned the profit margin which was planned and now another cost. For instance, Apple, even after the launch of a new model, keeps on sharing the old product because the profit margin is achieved, but additional supply fills the market, and the possibility of sale of every product stays (Van Der Aalst et al., 2016).

Question: Value chain, Porter’s value chain

• Critically review value chain analysis?

Value Chain analysis is the procedure in which an organization analyses the activities which are primary and supportive for the production, and after that, it helps reduce the cost and increase the differentiation. Looking at the internal activity and critically analyzing it helps the organization to figure out the reasons behind their current position and how they can benefit by adopting effective and efficient ways. Making changes in old ways to conduct activities helps in saving the cost. M. Portal has introduced this model, and it is known as the name of the Portal Value chain model (Roghani, Macciotta & Hendry, 2015).

• Produce a generic value chain model for the sector/industry of your organization and provide a short description of each value-added stage.

Porter’s value chain model consists of two types of activities. One is primary activities, and the other is supportive activities. These activities help strengthen and sustain the organization. Each product has to go through all the activities from start to end, which covers its whole production.

The following are five primary activities which play a role in the production of the product:

1. Inbound logistics: This activity involves acquiring the raw material which will be used in the production of the product. This organization needs to look for quality raw materials and how much they cost.
2. Operations: After getting the raw material, the production of the product started with the help of tools and machines. The value to the customer is provided in this activity by manufacturing a quality product, which includes all the aspects which a customer is expecting.
3. Outbound logistics: When the product is ready, it goes out to retailers and distributors. In this step, the organization needs to take care of the quality of the transportation so the customer can get the product in its original shape.
4. Marketing & Sales: When the product is in production and has not yet reached the market, the marketing activity gives information to the customer about the product, and the sales activity involves when the product is going out in the market. The sale activity enforces the maximum sale through which the organization can cover the costs and earn accepted profit.
5. Services: This activity involves the services given to customers after the sale of the product. The warrant and guarantee are the domain of this activity.

Following are the secondary activities which provide support to primary activity:

1. Procurement: This activity involves dealing with vendors who are providing the raw materials and making sure the need is fully fulfilled by the production department.
2. Technology development: This activity keeps the technology updated, which will be used in primary activity so that it can cut costs and work effectively.
3. Human Resource: This helps in providing the needed workforce, providing training and dealing with their matters.

Firm infrastructure: It provides support of all kinds to primary activity. The support is legal support, administration support and financial support (Lozano, Nummert & Ceulemans, 2016).

• Now, produce a detailed Porter’s Value Chain of your chosen organizations, clearly identifying key ‘primary and support’ activities.

Coca-Cola value chain model:

1. Inbound logistics of Coca-Cola: They have built a very strong relationship with all the suppliers, and that’s the reason the products of Coca-Cola have never been absent from the market worldwide.
2. Operations of Coca-Cola: the operation of this company is two types: the first one is done in the headquarters, which makes the flavour, and the second part is done in their regional branches, in which only the filling is done because they value the customer and never took a risk in which the quality decreases.
3. Outbound activity of Coca-Cola: Coca-cola distributors and suppliers are many in numbers in each region. They have outsourced this part of their organization according to cost-cutting techniques.
4. Marketing and Sale of Coca-Cola: The Company don’t need marketing, but still, their focus on marketing is active. Their logo is recognized all over the world. They have the business in more than 200 countries worldwide.
5. Technology of coca cola: Their focus on technology and R&D is recognized all over the world. They have partnered with many universities and tech start-ups to conduct research and business analysis for them.
6. Human Resources of Coca-Cola: They emphasize young and talented resources, and that is why they conduct career fairs in reputed universities and also have a renowned management training program to get the best employees for them.

The firm infrastructure of Coca-Cola: Containing all the key departments like HR, finance and management, they believe in knowledge and education sharing not just to employees but suppliers as well (Lozano, Nummert & Ceulemans, 2016).

• Make some suggestions on how to improve the cost-effectiveness of some of the value chain ‘primary’ and ‘support’ activities.

Organizations should focus on the ways in which costs can be reduced, and the tasks should be effective and efficient. The focus should be on the new technological adaptation. In the overall activities, the organization should see if the inbound and outbound should be their own or if they should be outsourced depending upon the size of the products. Some organizations outsource both activities, and some keep it to themselves. The suggestion is to make sure that sometimes these activities should be outsourced because it will help cut costs (Pollack & Pollack, 2015).

Section 4: Exploring Strategy

Question: Strategic Choice and Development

• Critically review strategic drift and what are the issues for managers when preventing strategic drift?

It’s a concept which also refers to strategic management; strategic drift happens when the organization starts to deal with the changing of the environment. During this time period, organizations have to face different situations and challenges which are unexpected. When the organization is driving and developing the strategic change, it will have to face different difficult aspects. While facing those challenges, the organization sometimes fails to get what the expected result is, and this is what strategic drift can be referred to.

The difficulties that managers face during these strategic drifts include losing focus and giving priority to these problems rather than focusing on the actual plan. Sometimes, the problem which the organization identifies, which is crucial and needs urgent solutions, becomes secondary, and the managers stop paying attention to that problem. Strategy is the reason for the change in priority, which is a problem because urgent and crucial problems need attention (Buckingham & Goodall, 2015).

Section 5: Exploring Quality And Organizational Change

Question: Quality Performance and Organizational Change

• Research the academic literature to find an article or paper that describes how an organization uses one (or more) of the quality concepts, tools or techniques.

Due to globalization, market competition is increasing, and customer awareness is also increasing by getting to know the variety of products and services available in the market. That’s why manufacturing organizations should give priority to quality products. This is the only way through which an organization can gain a position in the global market. The use of quality products to satisfy the customer by implementing cost-efficient methods, tools, and techniques gives the organization success. That’s why management focuses on quality methods, and the focus on managing these methods is essential. There are several tools and techniques through which the organization can monitor and evaluate that it’s achieving the goals of providing quality products. The problem organizations face is implementing these tools because of a lack of commitment or sometimes a lack of resources. The other force which requires total quality management is employee commitment and the skills which the organization should teach them by training and making them aware of the importance. Total quality management is the approach management uses to gain long-term success by gaining the satisfaction of the customers. This management requires the involvement of all the staff and all the activities, including processes, services, products and culture (Singh, Khan & Grover, 2012).

There are a few of the primary principles required to achieve total quality management:

1. The first principle is a customer, in which quality should be gained in order to satisfy the customer. The feedback and requirements of customers should be one the priority.
2. The next principle is total employee involvement, organization should involve all the employees by training and awareness regarding its importance. The only way to get total employee involvement is by valuing the employees.
3. The next principle is process-centred, in which the organization maintains the primary activities of manufacturing so that quality can be maintained.
4. The next principle is the integrated system, which focuses on the integration of the system so that collaboration and communication can be efficient and effective.
5. The next principle is using the approach of strategic and systematic. In this principle, organizations do proper planning to gain vision and objectives with high-quality products.

Now, the next principle is important and continuous, which is improvement. This principle emphasizes continuous improvement in all activities (Singh, Khan & Grover, 2012).

• Write a summary of the article or paper and critically comment on it.

The research paper emphasized on the vital component which gives the success to the achieve quality for manufacturing organization. The only benefit to the organizational quality is by giving the employees the necessary training. The weak point is the support by the higher management. The article provides a brief of the tools and techniques, but it requires the cost, and the confidence of the stakeholders is missing. The manufacturing organization, when implementing the quality methods, is strategic planning, but these tools should also add strategic drift management. The commitment and consistency of the organization are the core to achieving quality goals. The cultural factor should also be focused and the employee’s attitude towards the work and objective influence the total quality management (Singh, Khan & Grover, 2012).

Section 6: Exploring Performance And Organisational Change (Answer All Question Tasks)

Question: Performance Management Systems and the Balanced ScoreCard

• What is performance management?

Performance is the procedure in which the organization focuses on the feedback, documentation and accountability regarding the performance of the employees and organization. It helps in the integration of the employee’s talent and skills with the goals of the organization (Hoque, 2014).

• What is the Balanced Scorecard?

The balanced scorecard is the system used by the organization to set the tasks according to goals. It also helps in monitoring the staff performance and comparing it with the standards, which helps in recognizing the outcomes of the actions. The main aim it serves is to make sure that the organization is meeting its goals through the task being done (Tjader et al., 2014).

• Why is a balanced scorecard different to traditional performance management systems?

The difference between traditional performance management and a Balanced score card is that the traditional system only focuses on the financial performance and how much an organization is earning, whereas the Balanced scorecard focuses on the overall performance of the organization and its employees (Rojon, McDowall & Saunders, 2015).

Conclusions

The change will not involve only the business nature but also the system, process and continuous change in strategies. This helps the organization retain its position in the competitive market and provides the supportive infrastructure to win the competitive edge over the competitors. Several important points are being taken into consideration while designing and changing the organization. This consideration involves those plans which should be aligned with the goals of the organization. It focuses on customer service improvement, increased profit, lower cost of operation, efficiency, committed work culture and growth of the business. When the individuals work separately, the collective goal cannot be achieved because they don’t share a common value under one vision. The coordination among individuals under the umbrella of one organization is the fundamental thing, and this set-up is called the management, which is the backbone of the organization. The organization provides to society when working together whether goods or services, the importance of work determines when the work is being done in an organization, it provides inspiration and motivation to people working together, it provides a sense of responsibility to people working there because of the environment creates the importance of work and the most essential role organizational play is to give the opportunities to employees working there because ideas are being shared to each other. The efficient and good structure can be recognized by the effectiveness of work and overall ethics followed by the workers. Their aim is to provide insight into methods of how the task will be done to produce new products and processes. They work as the continuous improvement force of the organization. When an organization start establishing the information regarding the context, they should take into consideration all the factors from the environment which affect them directly or indirectly. These factors are the risks for the organization and to use that risk in their favour. Considering all the factors and forces which affect the organization, it’s important to look for ways. Managers are often advised to follow the tools and methods which are being designed through years of research. Organizations need to change not just now but also since industrialization and the technological revolution have changed the whole working style and procedures. This assignment has stated several concepts which can give the understanding that the design and change in the organization is a must thing. The process should be rapid and continuous, or the organization will be behind. Keep in view the examples from the past who showed resistance to adopting change are no longer remembered, and even the names come. The reason is to give examples of how mistakes can take you out of the market.

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