Tag: Management

Change Management of Toyota

Change Management
Change Management

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Change Management

Abstract

Management accounting is also commonly denoted as managerial accounting. It is in practice the process of handing over accounting data belonging to the firm to its board or executives so that they can make progress reports and quality decisions for growth. How well-kept books are determines the success in the projects a company sets out to do and often results in the growth of the business or empire.

Consequently, accountants and other persons in the finance department are mandated with the task of ensuring that management accounting is properly done and that all records are and neatly kept. In line with international accounting principles, management accounting must ensure that accounts are audited before they are brought for review and analysis by management.

This practice of audit is crucial to the sanctification of erroneous accounting data in order for there to be accountability and credibility. The information computer in management accounting portfolio is often done with the aid of computerized management information system. It draws data from smaller transaction processing systems and often affects the way activities are performed in an organization. Here is a look at how the Toyota Company applies management information to conduct management accounting and how that benefits the company moving forward.

1. Introduction

1.1 Background on Change Management at Toyota

The Toyota Motor Corporation is a leading automobiles manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Japan. The company boasts of the largest fleet of automobiles in the world with the brand even splitting to accommodate space entities affiliated to the mother plant. Toyota manufactures virtually all sorts of vehicle; from cheap salon cars to low consumption SUVs, Toyota even has a luxury automobile; the Lexus.

The company was founded by Japanese engineer Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 and from its humble beginning; the company has grown over time to become the most successful in the automobiles industry. The Toyota brand currently sells its products in a host of nations outside Asia, especially Africa, Europe and the Americas. Due to her success in manufacturing, Toyota has grown internationally renowned. As shall later be discussed, the Toyota Production System is known as one of the most efficient systems globally (Yang, Yeh & Yang, 2012).

1.2 Why Toyota invests in change management

The fleet of cars under the Toyota name is all made in a unique way that takes advantage of low fuel consumption and comfort. Toyota is extensively involved in research and often releases models every few years. This is, however, as subject to consumer demand for its products. It is necessary to note that the company manufactures a large fleet of models and keeps remodeling and reselling to profit from every successful model. For this reason, every Toyota model in the past has had improvements.

The company encourages renovation and development as it incorporates the sleek and beautiful outline of its vehicles within a well-designed package that sees the consumer fork out less money but for more commodities. Fuel efficiency and concern over the environment are other factors that have made the company favorite among most Non-governmental organization (Helper & Henderson, 2014).

1.3 Factors that promote change at Toyota

Toyota’s motto is; ‘always a better way’. There indeed is a better way in the way Toyota conducts its policies and manufacturing processes. The company is very crucial on its need to cut waste. Using its esteemed Toyota Production System, the company ensures that they cut losses and always register a profit margin. Save for the time of the global recession, the company has consistently made profits.

That said; there need be mention that the company is sufficiently geared towards consumer satisfaction. The company has a declared aim to; “ever have better products ….To achieve our goal we design parts with good features, and standardize these for each region, spanning different platforms. This provides better efficiency and cost reduction, with the resulting savings used to improve products further.

This virtuous cycle for building better cars leads to sustained growth.” This is the working principle behind the production system that looks to cement the Toyota values into its work force. The company maintains a highly industrious work ethic that sees its employees always take their work with utmost seriousness and pride (Becker, Carbo & Langella, 2010).

2. Literature review

2.1 Employment culture and practices at Toyota

Toyota is aware of the need to maintain high credibility standards in its work force. This calls for the vetting and rigorous interviewing of its work force. However, the same hardly calls for bureaucracy and other measures than instigate discrimination. The company ensures that they get the qualified staff to undertake all the activities and functions required of them. This creates an industrious staff that is committed and dedicated to its role at the company. The success of Toyota has taken years of history, investment in product development and a strong culture.

What is more important is that the company has always learned from its mistakes and done better to improve an unfortunate situation. According to Sui Pheng & Shang (2011); even with challenges in testing that have led to the recalling of some of its major brands, the company has ultimately managed to maintain its customers. The Toyota brand keeps growing among its competitors due to the ability to utilize human labor and machine efficiency in a completely effective model.

Toyota’s work force has over 300,000 employees. This has made the company especially get great popularity and prominence across the world. Management accounting enables employees to justify their actions and often account for excesses every once in a while (Abdel-Maksoud, Cerbioni, Ricceri & Velayutham, 2010). Management thus takes advantage of the fact that most of the activities undertaken in the firm can be accounted for. Employees have to be accountable to management for their actions and activities in a company.

To achieve this in the best way, companies that have methods such as performance contracting often finds themselves on the receiving end with most employees being resistant to this form of accountability. However, as employees become used to their efforts and how to exercise their efforts towards growth, the company grows substantially. This leads to an increased appreciation for the management accounting practices and principles.

According to Yamao & Sekiguchi (2015); employees are often resistant to management accounting. This is because most persons are unable to account for the use of miscellaneous resources. Processes such as auditing and the confirmation of accounts can be really scary and thus often, they are afraid of them. Managers thus ensure that the systems in a working environment are enough to ensure that employees essentially account for their work.

Managerial reports, transaction processing systems, as well as registers, are some of the key areas of accountability in a firm. The use of these extensively can ensure that no single employee is complacent in their work. Toyota especially practices this form of accountability to have all employees reporting to a higher authority and that failure to prove productive can lead in dismissal. While employees may work under pressure due to such constraints, they need to be as practical as possible in what they do.

2.2 The Manufacturing process at Toyota

According to Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri (2013); the manufacturing process at Toyota can be underlined by one singular word; Monozukuri. Basically, the word stands for ‘manufacturing things’. It is a Japanese principle that decries complacency and advocates for consistent innovation. Toyota has been on the forefront of manufacture in Japan. The company has continued to uphold the Monozukuri culture thus verily coming up with new models and designs every financial year.

The investment in research and development is quite large. This allows for there to be consistency in development and innovation throughout the entire automobile industry. With time, accelerated development has lessened cost of production since the templates have grown in volumes. The expertise and experience of the engineers have also augmented. That is why the Monozukuri culture is not only for Toyota, but for Japan.

According to Helper & Henderson (2014) manufacturing at Toyota is one of the most efficient waste management practices ever developed by the organization. Indeed, the company is very particular about the lean manufacturing model. Toyota prides in manufacturing for the larger market. With very few luxury car models and brands; the concentration is on developing products for the larger consumer market without having to minimize on quality.

The balance between quality and volume is achieved by precise designing. The design process takes consideration of change factors such as engine capacity, steering capability, brake system improvements and the development of better safety measures with each model. All these changes are made without necessarily affecting the cost of the vehicle to a point that may make the vehicle unaffordable.

2.3 Lean Manufacturing Strategy

Toyota has redefined Monozukuri as the art of translating design data into finished products. This has been necessitated by the development of these designs through research. The company prides itself in understanding the market well. Researchers go to extend of even hiring houses around the target areas so as to monitor their movements, their taste as well as what would suite them best. Toyota car designers and engineers work together to put the beautiful car designs into perspective.

This is so as to have a great final product that is as well feasible to manufacture and importantly, leave room for improvement (Prakash & Kumar, 2011). While there may actually be little room for this improvement, the company has often written records with new inventions that have suited the market, against a tide that was not on their side. In essence, pulling market forces towards it has been a result that inevitably happened as a consequence of proper planning and implementation of the Monozukuri culture and principle.

The Toyota Production system is a designed working system that seeks to eliminate; muri, mura and muda. Muri is the overburdening of personnel with redundant work. It is singled out as one of the activities that lead to inefficiency in a firm. Mura, on the other hand, is the waste that accrues from activities that are done in excess. The system seeks to reduce these wastes in a number of ways as shall be later identified in this paper. Muda is the process of eliminating waste.

The system identifies seven types of wastes; waste due to overproduction, waste due to time on hand (wastage of time), waste due to inefficient transportation, waste that occurs in the processing itself, waste due to unutilized stock or property at hand, movement and defective products. Having identified these wastes, the system proposes methods to ensure that they are eliminated; therefore, the company can become more productive. The rest is a look at some principles that help in waste reduction and proper utilization of resources (Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri, 2013).

2.3.1 Kaizen

The Kaizen is a Japanese principle for continuous improvement. Toyota production system uses the Kaizen to eliminate wastes that result from time wasting, defective products and unutilized stock. Indeed, the kaizen is a very crucial value for most Japanese companies. Those who abide by it work with deadlines to ensure that they have products ready for a waiting market. Knowing that the desire for new and better automobiles is insatiable, Toyota invests in the redevelopment of models of very kind each year.

It is only inevitable that as this practice continues, the company finds it easy to come up with a new product to compete against other market leaders. There is indeed no market front that Toyota cannot venture. This is because they do not just enter the market to produce a similar product; they offer cheaper yet better products thus entirely convincing the consumer. With the spirit of Kaizen, the company always scales new heights in automobile development (Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri, 2013).

In the company’s hiring practices; Kaizen is also practiced. For instance; Toyota is very efficient in the company’s interviewing. Eliminating non-valuable processes in an organization is crucial to the growth and development of an institution. This is because; the non-value-adding processes are costly just like the operational expenses incurred by any other process in the organization or business. They impose an extra cost to the business yet do not offer any benefit. For instance, the process of hiring new employees is very elaborate. It includes vetting, sifting through applications and choosing the most appropriate candidate.

However, it may be unnecessary to have four or five interviews. Minimizing the interviews to one often makes the interviewing process effective. For efficiency, a company would choose to have aptitude tests to minimize the number of applicants to interview. Value addition thus does not have to have a lot of bureaucratic processes that may not be necessary. It is all about saving time and minimizing cost, effectively leading to efficiency (Senge, 2014).

2.3.2 Just in Time

Just-in-time policy ensures that products are delivered to the consumer on demand and within a specified period of time. Toyota believes that if a product is delivered late, then it is as good as not delivered. The same applies to all departments within the company; no one is allowed the luxury of time. Employees are consistently on their toes trying to meet very strict deadlines and often do so in order to live by this principle. The just-in-time policy ensures that the waste of time is eliminated for good.

It involves aspects of punctuality in job reporting, delivery of goods, development of new designs and even the completion of the manufacturing process (Prakash & Kumar, 2011). Essentially, these time limits are set even before the employee embarks on the task. Working to meet deadlines is a great policy that ensures that work is done in a convenient time. The result is that the company is successful in its undertakings and pushes the employment to higher limits. Even for the employees, the just-in-time policy makes better employees out of them as they continue to observe punctuality.

2.3.3 Jidoka

Jidoka is the intelligent automation of automobiles. As much as possible, Toyota cars are made to accept easy human instructions using levers and gears. With the introduction of the auto cars from the use of the manual cars, Jidoka was extensively applied. Indeed, the issue of intelligence in automobiles is a grey area, as cars are just machines. However, with time, these machines have evolved to understand danger situations, accident safety and haptic response.

In the process of troubleshooting erroneous machines and defective system, four steps are applied using the Jidoka principle; detecting the abnormality, stopping the entire production process, fixing the problem and finding ways to ensure that the problem never recurs. This ensures perfection to a great extent but mostly, it leads to elimination of the waste due to production errors that result in defective products (Prakash & Kumar, 2011).

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2.4 Quality challenges at Toyota Corporation

Toyota has been on the center stage of quality development using its Production System. The Jidoka principle of continuous manufacture ensures that with time, the company masters the art through practice. Toyota has however its fair share of quality issues and strategy failures has. These emanate from circumstances that the company has ever been challenged with dealing.

The most pressing of the company’s major quality concerns has to do with the product testing bit. Toyota has thus been on the receiving end of most critic auto magazines and general media over faulty brake systems and air bags. This has often led to the recalling of her products from the market. Only in 2010, the company has to recall volumes of its SUV models for the faulty brake systems. The company has since made efforts to rectify their manufacturing and testing errors with little success.

According to Dedoussis & Littler (2010), strategies put in place by Toyota to deal with her challenges have been communicated by the management on the various occasions the company has been called upon to account for their weaknesses. Mr. Akiyo Toyoda did mention in 2010 that the company was making plans to increase its testing facilities in order to accommodate larger volumes of test cases.

The company also thrives in the fact that it is market specific thus most of its problems hardly affect the entire market. This has been a contributing factor to the company’s growth over the years. Aside from that, the fact that the company has a great consumer appreciation and compensation policy makes it achieve great success with regard to popularity ratings. The company has thus dealt with all its suits and managed to ensure consumer satisfaction even with the defects and challenges with its models from time to time.

With the myriads of success and milestones covered by the company, it would be argued that the company would relent and bask in the glory of her successes. However, there are no limits to what the Japanese auto dealer can achieve. Indeed, with the introduction of relatively cheap automobiles, other manufacturers thought that the practice would be unsustainable. On the contrary, Toyota has continued to prove critics wrong. Not only has the company grown to be more successful, it has consistently led the way in automobile innovations.

Over the last decade, the car that was initially thought of as low class has continued to attract favorites across the globe. Toyota demonstrates that, with proper management accounting principles, any company can achieve success, even with the least amount of time possible. This success nonetheless gets addictive as it sets the benchmark for the next target. As long as the company continuously invests in bettering its products, there are no limits to the amount of income that can be accrued from the same (Zubir, Habidin, Conding, Jaya & Hashim, 2012).

3. Concepts of Change management at Toyota USA

3.1 History of Toyota USA

The Toyota Corporation maintains a subsidiary in the United States dedicated to North American sales. This subsidiary is refered to as the Toyota Motor Sales, USA Inc. The company was founded as an offset of the Toyota Corporation in 1957, and headquartered in Torrance, California. Initially, the American motor market had been controlled by three major market players, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Toyota as an entrant began by attempting market domination with a fleet of luxury cars under the brand ‘Lexus.’

The Lexus model was however not as successful in the United States as it had been in the United Kingdom. Sales for many Toyota brands were also low. The company had to come up with a strategy to guarantee market penetration. This was however not a significant challenge to the mother company as the models from Japan were more popular in Asian and European markets than any other Auto manufacturer. Capturing the United States market would mean a little more investment in research (Bunkley, 2016).

In the early 2000s, the USA subsidiary of Toyota Corporation released a new model into the market. The model dubbed ‘Prius’ to target a different market segment; the young drivers. The sleek design and the fairly low cost gained a lot of traction among American teenagers. The fleet of ‘Prius’ vehicles was so successful that Toyota leased the brand to a subsidiary manufacturer to work on developing the brand; which Toyota still owns to date.

The company (Toyota USA) managed to penetrate the American market using lean management and the incorporation of the concept of economies of scale. Although Toyota did not capture the high-end market and still does not make the most revenue out of the United States market, the company continues to research further and is driven by the principles that drive the mother company; Jidoka, Kaizen and Monozukuri. Toyota USA C.E.O; Jim Lentz has on various occasions hinted on the research into the next generation cars ongoing at Toyota USA. However, not many models have been presented by the company (Undercoffler, 2015).

3.2 Lean Management at Toyota USA

Toyota USA has continued to thrive and achieve unprecedented success due to its management accounting practices. The company has consistently devised new ways to improve productivity thus hardly make any wastage. Toyota can be praised for the great turnaround after the recession of 2009. The company posted a net loss of $4.2 billion but was soon able to emerge successful the following year. The management has been interchanged successfully every few year, but that has not changed the company’s management system.

Consistency in the management of resources and basic management accounting has enabled the company to be efficient in spending and utilization of resources. The trickle effect has been the growth of the company to have subsidiaries and affiliates. However, there has been a consistent focus on development more than management policies. Nonetheless, the management has been on the forefront in driving development agenda for the company (Muller, 2016).

Toyota can well manage its fleet as it ensures that no management wastes are recorded. Fleet management is important since it helps the company know how to maintain a consumer base as well as a consistent demand and supply ratio. The gap in demand is always met by supply. With time, the company has increased fleet production to a record high of 10.1 million in the 2013 financial year. In the automobiles business, mistakes cannot be condoned in the development of vehicles as they have to attract a particular design.

The company has a policy to get it right the first time. There is thus little if any room for improvement. The consequence is that the company develops a highly competitive model every time it releases the same onto the market. These models thus have very high demand even years after they have been released. This is very essential as it certifies that its models can often be recalled and resold to other markets if they do not meet the threshold demand for a particular market (Truett, 2016).

3.3 Impediments to Change management in America

While it is necessary to improve a system or process, this improvement does not come automatically. There is need to identify areas where the change process or areas to make the organization better can be isolated for investment. Opportunities for improvement are not easy to identify. There are many factors that impede the identification of the opportunities to improvement. However, two main factors impede the identification of opportunities for improvement.

The investment in these opportunities is first impeded by the financial cost of changing processes. There is significant financial investment involved in making processes efficient. There is also need for research to identify these areas for improvement. Such research desires that there be funds to actualize the same. This is why it is necessary to consider financial implications (Cummings & Worley, 2014).

The second impediment which is a major concern to the process of improvement is the presence of bureaucratic laws and procedures. Many organizations have very rigid structures that seem to be difficult to change or alter. This is why investment in the change process or identification of change areas may be unnecessary or impossible. Where the change process is impeded by a lengthy process, it has time constraints that may not be in the interest of the organization.

It is thus important review organizational processes and laws in order to ensure that they do not affect the organization’s ability to change. Change is important and as such, should be encouraged within the realms of company law and constitution (Senge, 2014).

3.4 Defects and quality problems at Toyota Motor Sales

3.5 Justification of the case study

Toyota indeed presents a lot of challenges to other corporations not only in the automobiles industry, but the rest of the world economy, as well. Toyota being a leading brand; it would suffice that some of the practices that the company boasts of be borrowed elsewhere. This has been demonstrated by the vast acknowledgement of the Toyota Production System as an international standard in management and overall production. The company prides itself in virtues that have seen it grow over the years.

The management and the staffs are indoctrinated into a tradition that appreciates the significance of hard work, determination and progress in everything they do. This has been the cornerstone behind the company’s success. The leadership style is impeccable, and the management has always been accountable for its decisions. Even when there are numerous complaints due to defects, the management never shifts blame to the production teams but instead owns up and cleans its house internally.

In management accounting, the only success that can be derived from the same has to be tangible evidence of growth in the area of concern. In production and automobile development, Toyota continues to set the pace among other leaders in car and motor developers. The central positioning of the company in a highly industrious economy; Japan also gives it an edge over the rest.

The company consistently manufactures models that fit a particular market. Toyota has specially been credited with the development of cheap brands to suit a low income economy, as well as suffice for the third world markets. Toyota’s efficiency in manufacture has enabled its brand of vehicles to be sold cheaper in comparison to other models, at the same category. This has especially popularized its brands for there is always value for money in the same and more so, the re-sale value for most Toyota cars still remains high.

Toyota is a great case study topic. It has been deemed one of the most successful companies of our time and continues to set the pace in automobile development. Aside from being a corporation that upholds high ethics and moral standards, the company prides itself in being the pioneer behind low energy consumption vehicles. This was achieved by development of electron fuel injection model that allowed the vehicle to run on the battery while the fuel maintained the battery charged.

Toyota models are thus mostly manual and affordable despite the effort in the technology used. Toyota has thus essentially lowered the production through consistent management accounting. This has with time been extended to the consumers who have in turn enjoyed reduced prices and affordable cars for them. It is the greatest illustration of proper application of management accounting principles.

The choice of the case study could not have been better. Despite the numerous challenges Toyota faces, it has proved to the world that none of these is insurmountable. With regular changes being made to their production process, the testing bit has often proved to be a challenge. This has especially occurred due to the sampling methods used in the testing process that have often been unfruitful.

This has led to the development of faulty fleets of models from the same plant. Toyota has nonetheless often taken responsibility about the matter and the company Chief Executive; Akio Toyoda has often come under fire, even as far as the company being accused of being ‘lazy’ in its testing policies. Nevertheless, the company has been ranked the 14th most successful corporation in the world as far as revenue development is concerned (Horngren et al, 2012).

It, therefore, should not come as a surprise that this would be the company to base the study on. Being that only a few companies across the globe match up to the prowess and success record of Toyota, it was an inevitable choice that would be inherently natural. More so, there is a need to appreciate that the company has ever been on an upward trend with its management seeing that no one has entirely exclusive executive powers for an entire decade. This has formed the basis for proper management accounting in the company thus pushing the corporation higher the success ladder.

References

Abdel-Maksoud, A., Cerbioni, F., Ricceri, F., & Velayutham, S. (2010). Employee morale, non-financial performance measures, deployment of innovative managerial practices and shop-floor involvement in Italian manufacturing firms. The British Accounting Review, 42(1), 36-55.

Becker, W. S., Carbo, J. A., & Langella, I. M. (2010). Beyond self-interest: integrating social responsibility and supply chain management with human resource development. Human Resource Development Review, 9(2), 144-168.

Bunkley, N. (2016). Carter: Toyota’s bullish on U.S. sales. Automotive News, (6720).

Dedoussis, V., & Littler, C. R. (2010). Understanding the Transfer of Japanese Management Practices. Global Japanization?: The Transnational Transformation of the Labour Process, 4, 175.

Helper, S., & Henderson, R. (2014). Management practices, relational contracts, and the decline of General Motors. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(1), 49-72.

Hibadullah, S. N., Fuzi, N. M., Desa, A. F. N. C., & Zamri, F. I. M. (2013). Lean manufacturing practices and environmental performance in Malaysian automotive industry. Asian Journal of Finance & Accounting, 5(1), 462-471.

Horngren, C. T., Datar, S. M., & Rajan, M. V, (2012). Cost accounting: a managerial emphasis (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall

Muller, J. (2016). Toyota Recharges. Forbes, 197(7), 50-56.

Prakash, D., & Kumar, C. (2011). Implementation of lean manufacturing principles in auto industry. Industrial Engineering Letters, 1(1), 56-60.

Senge, P. M. (2014). The dance of change: The challenges to sustaining momentum in a learning organization. Crown Business.

Sui Pheng, L., & Shang, G. (2011). Bridging Western management theories and Japanese management practices: Case of the Toyota Way model. Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 1(1), 1-20.

Truett, R. (2016). 5 minutes with … Ed Laukes, vice president of marketing, performance and guest experience, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Automotive News, (6712).

Undercoffler, D. (2015). Toyota targets big leap in U.S. sales for RAV4. Automotive News, (6702).

Yamao, S., & Sekiguchi, T. (2015). Employee commitment to corporate globalization: The role of English language proficiency and human resource practices. Journal of World Business, 50(1), 168-179.

Yang, C. C., Yeh, T. M., & Yang, K. J. (2012). The implementation of technical practices and human factors of the toyota production system in different industries. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 22(6), 541-555.

Zubir, A. F. M., Habidin, N. F., Conding, J., Jaya, N. A. S. L., & Hashim, S. (2012). The development of sustainable manufacturing practices and sustainable performance in Malaysian automotive industry. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 3(7), 130-138.

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Management Accounting at Toyota

Management Accounting
Management Accounting

Management Accounting

Abstract

Management accounting is also commonly denoted as managerial accounting. It is in practice the process of handing over accounting data belonging to the firm to its board or executives so that they can make progress reports and quality decisions for growth. How well-kept books are determines the success in the projects a company sets out to do and often results in the growth of the business or empire.

Consequently, accountants and other persons in the finance department are mandated with the task of ensuring that management accounting is properly done and that all records are and neatly kept. In line with international accounting principles, management accounting must ensure that accounts are audited before they are brought for review and analysis by management.

This practice of audit is crucial to the sanctification of erroneous accounting data in order for there to be accountability and credibility. The information computer in management accounting portfolio is often done with the aid of computerized management information system. It draws data from smaller transaction processing systems and often affects the way activities are performed in an organization. Here is a look at how the Toyota Company applies management information to conduct management accounting and how that benefits the company moving forward.

1. Introduction

1.1  Background on Change Management at Toyota

The Toyota Motor Corporation is a leading automobiles manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Japan. The company boasts of the largest fleet of automobiles in the world with the brand even splitting to accommodate space entities affiliated to the mother plant. Toyota manufactures virtually all sorts of vehicle; from cheap salon cars to low consumption SUVs, Toyota even has a luxury automobile; the Lexus.

The company was founded by Japanese engineer Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 and from its humble beginning; the company has grown over time to become the most successful in the automobiles industry. The Toyota brand currently sells its products in a host of nations outside Asia, especially Africa, Europe and the Americas. Due to her success in manufacturing, Toyota has grown internationally renowned. As shall later be discussed, the Toyota Production System is known as one of the most efficient systems globally (Yang, Yeh & Yang, 2012).

1.2  Why Toyota invests in change management

The fleet of cars under the Toyota name is all made in a unique way that takes advantage of low fuel consumption and comfort. Toyota is extensively involved in research and often releases models every few years. This is, however, as subject to consumer demand for its products. It is necessary to note that the company manufactures a large fleet of models and keeps remodeling and reselling to profit from every successful model. For this reason, every Toyota model in the past has had improvements.

The company encourages renovation and development as it incorporates the sleek and beautiful outline of its vehicles within a well-designed package that sees the consumer fork out less money but for more commodities. Fuel efficiency and concern over the environment are other factors that have made the company favorite among most Non-governmental organization (Helper & Henderson, 2014).

1.3 Factors that promote change at Toyota

Toyota’s motto is; ‘always a better way’. There indeed is a better way in the way Toyota conducts its policies and manufacturing processes. The company is very crucial on its need to cut waste. Using its esteemed Toyota Production System, the company ensures that they cut losses and always register a profit margin. Save for the time of the global recession, the company has consistently made profits.

That said; there need be mention that the company is sufficiently geared towards consumer satisfaction. The company has a declared aim to; “ever have better products ….To achieve our goal we design parts with good features, and standardize these for each region, spanning different platforms. This provides better efficiency and cost reduction, with the resulting savings used to improve products further.

This virtuous cycle for building better cars leads to sustained growth.” This is the working principle behind the production system that looks to cement the Toyota values into its work force. The company maintains a highly industrious work ethic that sees its employees always take their work with utmost seriousness and pride (Becker, Carbo & Langella, 2010).

2.  Literature review

2.1 Employment culture and practices at Toyota

Toyota is aware of the need to maintain high credibility standards in its work force. This calls for the vetting and rigorous interviewing of its work force. However, the same hardly calls for bureaucracy and other measures than instigate discrimination. The company ensures that they get the qualified staff to undertake all the activities and functions required of them. This creates an industrious staff that is committed and dedicated to its role at the company. The success of Toyota has taken years of history, investment in product development and a strong culture.

What is more important is that the company has always learned from its mistakes and done better to improve an unfortunate situation. According to Sui Pheng & Shang (2011); even with challenges in testing that have led to the recalling of some of its major brands, the company has ultimately managed to maintain its customers. The Toyota brand keeps growing among its competitors due to the ability to utilize human labor and machine efficiency in a completely effective model.

Toyota’s work force has over 300,000 employees. This has made the company especially get great popularity and prominence across the world. Management accounting enables employees to justify their actions and often account for excesses every once in a while (Abdel-Maksoud, Cerbioni, Ricceri & Velayutham, 2010). Management thus takes advantage of the fact that most of the activities undertaken in the firm can be accounted for. Employees have to be accountable to management for their actions and activities in a company.

To achieve this in the best way, companies that have methods such as performance contracting often finds themselves on the receiving end with most employees being resistant to this form of accountability. However, as employees become used to their efforts and how to exercise their efforts towards growth, the company grows substantially. This leads to an increased appreciation for the management accounting practices and principles.

According to Yamao & Sekiguchi (2015); employees are often resistant to management accounting. This is because most persons are unable to account for the use of miscellaneous resources. Processes such as auditing and the confirmation of accounts can be really scary and thus often, they are afraid of them. Managers thus ensure that the systems in a working environment are enough to ensure that employees essentially account for their work.

Managerial reports, transaction processing systems, as well as registers, are some of the key areas of accountability in a firm. The use of these extensively can ensure that no single employee is complacent in their work. Toyota especially practices this form of accountability to have all employees reporting to a higher authority and that failure to prove productive can lead in dismissal. While employees may work under pressure due to such constraints, they need to be as practical as possible in what they do.

2.2 The Manufacturing process at Toyota

According to Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri (2013); the manufacturing process at Toyota can be underlined by one singular word; Monozukuri. Basically, the word stands for ‘manufacturing things’. It is a Japanese principle that decries complacency and advocates for consistent innovation. Toyota has been on the forefront of manufacture in Japan. The company has continued to uphold the Monozukuri culture thus verily coming up with new models and designs every financial year.

The investment in research and development is quite large. This allows for there to be consistency in development and innovation throughout the entire automobile industry. With time, accelerated development has lessened cost of production since the templates have grown in volumes. The expertise and experience of the engineers have also augmented. That is why the Monozukuri culture is not only for Toyota, but for Japan.

According to Helper & Henderson (2014) manufacturing at Toyota is one of the most efficient waste management practices ever developed by the organization. Indeed, the company is very particular about the lean manufacturing model. Toyota prides in manufacturing for the larger market. With very few luxury car models and brands; the concentration is on developing products for the larger consumer market without having to minimize on quality.

The balance between quality and volume is achieved by precise designing. The design process takes consideration of change factors such as engine capacity, steering capability, brake system improvements and the development of better safety measures with each model. All these changes are made without necessarily affecting the cost of the vehicle to a point that may make the vehicle unaffordable. 

2.3 Lean Manufacturing Strategy

Toyota has redefined Monozukuri as the art of translating design data into finished products. This has been necessitated by the development of these designs through research. The company prides itself in understanding the market well. Researchers go to extend of even hiring houses around the target areas so as to monitor their movements, their taste as well as what would suite them best. Toyota car designers and engineers work together to put the beautiful car designs into perspective.

This is so as to have a great final product that is as well feasible to manufacture and importantly, leave room for improvement (Prakash & Kumar, 2011). While there may actually be little room for this improvement, the company has often written records with new inventions that have suited the market, against a tide that was not on their side. In essence, pulling market forces towards it has been a result that inevitably happened as a consequence of proper planning and implementation of the Monozukuri culture and principle.

            The Toyota Production system is a designed working system that seeks to eliminate; muri, mura and muda. Muri is the overburdening of personnel with redundant work. It is singled out as one of the activities that lead to inefficiency in a firm. Mura, on the other hand, is the waste that accrues from activities that are done in excess. The system seeks to reduce these wastes in a number of ways as shall be later identified in this paper. Muda is the process of eliminating waste.

The system identifies seven types of wastes; waste due to overproduction, waste due to time on hand (wastage of time), waste due to inefficient transportation, waste that occurs in the processing itself, waste due to unutilized stock or property at hand, movement and defective products. Having identified these wastes, the system proposes methods to ensure that they are eliminated; therefore, the company can become more productive. The rest is a look at some principles that help in waste reduction and proper utilization of resources (Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri, 2013).

2.3.1 Kaizen

The Kaizen is a Japanese principle for continuous improvement. Toyota production system uses the Kaizen to eliminate wastes that result from time wasting, defective products and unutilized stock. Indeed, the kaizen is a very crucial value for most Japanese companies. Those who abide by it work with deadlines to ensure that they have products ready for a waiting market. Knowing that the desire for new and better automobiles is insatiable, Toyota invests in the redevelopment of models of very kind each year.

It is only inevitable that as this practice continues, the company finds it easy to come up with a new product to compete against other market leaders. There is indeed no market front that Toyota cannot venture. This is because they do not just enter the market to produce a similar product; they offer cheaper yet better products thus entirely convincing the consumer. With the spirit of Kaizen, the company always scales new heights in automobile development (Hibadullah, Fuzi, Desa & Zamri, 2013).

In the company’s hiring practices; Kaizen is also practiced. For instance; Toyota is very efficient in the company’s interviewing. Eliminating non-valuable processes in an organization is crucial to the growth and development of an institution. This is because; the non-value-adding processes are costly just like the operational expenses incurred by any other process in the organization or business. They impose an extra cost to the business yet do not offer any benefit. For instance, the process of hiring new employees is very elaborate. It includes vetting, sifting through applications and choosing the most appropriate candidate.

However, it may be unnecessary to have four or five interviews. Minimizing the interviews to one often makes the interviewing process effective. For efficiency, a company would choose to have aptitude tests to minimize the number of applicants to interview. Value addition thus does not have to have a lot of bureaucratic processes that may not be necessary. It is all about saving time and minimizing cost, effectively leading to efficiency (Senge, 2014).

2.3.2 Just in Time

Just-in-time policy ensures that products are delivered to the consumer on demand and within a specified period of time. Toyota believes that if a product is delivered late, then it is as good as not delivered. The same applies to all departments within the company; no one is allowed the luxury of time. Employees are consistently on their toes trying to meet very strict deadlines and often do so in order to live by this principle. The just-in-time policy ensures that the waste of time is eliminated for good.

It involves aspects of punctuality in job reporting, delivery of goods, development of new designs and even the completion of the manufacturing process (Prakash & Kumar, 2011). Essentially, these time limits are set even before the employee embarks on the task. Working to meet deadlines is a great policy that ensures that work is done in a convenient time. The result is that the company is successful in its undertakings and pushes the employment to higher limits. Even for the employees, the just-in-time policy makes better employees out of them as they continue to observe punctuality.

2.3.3 Jidoka

Jidoka is the intelligent automation of automobiles. As much as possible, Toyota cars are made to accept easy human instructions using levers and gears. With the introduction of the auto cars from the use of the manual cars, Jidoka was extensively applied. Indeed, the issue of intelligence in automobiles is a grey area, as cars are just machines. However, with time, these machines have evolved to understand danger situations, accident safety and haptic response.

In the process of troubleshooting erroneous machines and defective system, four steps are applied using the Jidoka principle; detecting the abnormality, stopping the entire production process, fixing the problem and finding ways to ensure that the problem never recurs. This ensures perfection to a great extent but mostly, it leads to elimination of the waste due to production errors that result in defective products (Prakash & Kumar, 2011).

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2.4 Quality challenges at Toyota Corporation

Toyota has been on the center stage of quality development using its Production System. The Jidoka principle of continuous manufacture ensures that with time, the company masters the art through practice. Toyota has however its fair share of quality issues and strategy failures has. These emanate from circumstances that the company has ever been challenged with dealing.

The most pressing of the company’s major quality concerns has to do with the product testing bit. Toyota has thus been on the receiving end of most critic auto magazines and general media over faulty brake systems and air bags. This has often led to the recalling of her products from the market. Only in 2010, the company has to recall volumes of its SUV models for the faulty brake systems. The company has since made efforts to rectify their manufacturing and testing errors with little success.

According to Dedoussis & Littler (2010), strategies put in place by Toyota to deal with her challenges have been communicated by the management on the various occasions the company has been called upon to account for their weaknesses. Mr. Akiyo Toyoda did mention in 2010 that the company was making plans to increase its testing facilities in order to accommodate larger volumes of test cases.

The company also thrives in the fact that it is market specific thus most of its problems hardly affect the entire market. This has been a contributing factor to the company’s growth over the years. Aside from that, the fact that the company has a great consumer appreciation and compensation policy makes it achieve great success with regard to popularity ratings. The company has thus dealt with all its suits and managed to ensure consumer satisfaction even with the defects and challenges with its models from time to time.  

            With the myriads of success and milestones covered by the company, it would be argued that the company would relent and bask in the glory of her successes. However, there are no limits to what the Japanese auto dealer can achieve. Indeed, with the introduction of relatively cheap automobiles, other manufacturers thought that the practice would be unsustainable. On the contrary, Toyota has continued to prove critics wrong. Not only has the company grown to be more successful, it has consistently led the way in automobile innovations.

Over the last decade, the car that was initially thought of as low class has continued to attract favorites across the globe. Toyota demonstrates that, with proper management accounting principles, any company can achieve success, even with the least amount of time possible. This success nonetheless gets addictive as it sets the benchmark for the next target. As long as the company continuously invests in bettering its products, there are no limits to the amount of income that can be accrued from the same (Zubir, Habidin, Conding, Jaya & Hashim, 2012).

3. Concepts of Change management at Toyota USA

3.1 History of Toyota USA

The Toyota Corporation maintains a subsidiary in the United States dedicated to North American sales. This subsidiary is refered to as the Toyota Motor Sales, USA Inc. The company was founded as an offset of the Toyota Corporation in 1957, and headquartered in Torrance, California. Initially, the American motor market had been controlled by three major market players, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Toyota as an entrant began by attempting market domination with a fleet of luxury cars under the brand ‘Lexus.’

The Lexus model was however not as successful in the United States as it had been in the United Kingdom. Sales for many Toyota brands were also low. The company had to come up with a strategy to guarantee market penetration. This was however not a significant challenge to the mother company as the models from Japan were more popular in Asian and European markets than any other Auto manufacturer. Capturing the United States market would mean a little more investment in research (Bunkley, 2016).

In the early 2000s, the USA subsidiary of Toyota Corporation released a new model into the market. The model dubbed ‘Prius’ to target a different market segment; the young drivers. The sleek design and the fairly low cost gained a lot of traction among American teenagers. The fleet of ‘Prius’ vehicles was so successful that Toyota leased the brand to a subsidiary manufacturer to work on developing the brand; which Toyota still owns to date.

The company (Toyota USA) managed to penetrate the American market using lean management and the incorporation of the concept of economies of scale. Although Toyota did not capture the high-end market and still does not make the most revenue out of the United States market, the company continues to research further and is driven by the principles that drive the mother company; Jidoka, Kaizen and Monozukuri. Toyota USA C.E.O; Jim Lentz has on various occasions hinted on the research into the next generation cars ongoing at Toyota USA. However, not many models have been presented by the company (Undercoffler, 2015). 

3.2 Lean Management at Toyota USA

Toyota USA has continued to thrive and achieve unprecedented success due to its management accounting practices. The company has consistently devised new ways to improve productivity thus hardly make any wastage. Toyota can be praised for the great turnaround after the recession of 2009. The company posted a net loss of $4.2 billion but was soon able to emerge successful the following year. The management has been interchanged successfully every few year, but that has not changed the company’s management system.

Consistency in the management of resources and basic management accounting has enabled the company to be efficient in spending and utilization of resources. The trickle effect has been the growth of the company to have subsidiaries and affiliates. However, there has been a consistent focus on development more than management policies. Nonetheless, the management has been on the forefront in driving development agenda for the company (Muller, 2016).

Toyota can well manage its fleet as it ensures that no management wastes are recorded. Fleet management is important since it helps the company know how to maintain a consumer base as well as a consistent demand and supply ratio. The gap in demand is always met by supply. With time, the company has increased fleet production to a record high of 10.1 million in the 2013 financial year. In the automobiles business, mistakes cannot be condoned in the development of vehicles as they have to attract a particular design.

The company has a policy to get it right the first time. There is thus little if any room for improvement. The consequence is that the company develops a highly competitive model every time it releases the same onto the market. These models thus have very high demand even years after they have been released. This is very essential as it certifies that its models can often be recalled and resold to other markets if they do not meet the threshold demand for a particular market (Truett, 2016).

3.3 Impediments to Change management in America

While it is necessary to improve a system or process, this improvement does not come automatically. There is need to identify areas where the change process or areas to make the organization better can be isolated for investment. Opportunities for improvement are not easy to identify. There are many factors that impede the identification of the opportunities to improvement. However, two main factors impede the identification of opportunities for improvement.

The investment in these opportunities is first impeded by the financial cost of changing processes. There is significant financial investment involved in making processes efficient. There is also need for research to identify these areas for improvement. Such research desires that there be funds to actualize the same. This is why it is necessary to consider financial implications (Cummings & Worley, 2014).

The second impediment which is a major concern to the process of improvement is the presence of bureaucratic laws and procedures. Many organizations have very rigid structures that seem to be difficult to change or alter. This is why investment in the change process or identification of change areas may be unnecessary or impossible. Where the change process is impeded by a lengthy process, it has time constraints that may not be in the interest of the organization.

It is thus important review organizational processes and laws in order to ensure that they do not affect the organization’s ability to change. Change is important and as such, should be encouraged within the realms of company law and constitution (Senge, 2014).

3.4 Defects and quality problems at Toyota Motor Sales

3.5 Justification of the case study

Toyota indeed presents a lot of challenges to other corporations not only in the automobiles industry, but the rest of the world economy, as well. Toyota being a leading brand; it would suffice that some of the practices that the company boasts of be borrowed elsewhere. This has been demonstrated by the vast acknowledgement of the Toyota Production System as an international standard in management and overall production. The company prides itself in virtues that have seen it grow over the years.

The management and the staffs are indoctrinated into a tradition that appreciates the significance of hard work, determination and progress in everything they do. This has been the cornerstone behind the company’s success. The leadership style is impeccable, and the management has always been accountable for its decisions. Even when there are numerous complaints due to defects, the management never shifts blame to the production teams but instead owns up and cleans its house internally.

In management accounting, the only success that can be derived from the same has to be tangible evidence of growth in the area of concern. In production and automobile development, Toyota continues to set the pace among other leaders in car and motor developers. The central positioning of the company in a highly industrious economy; Japan also gives it an edge over the rest.

The company consistently manufactures models that fit a particular market. Toyota has specially been credited with the development of cheap brands to suit a low income economy, as well as suffice for the third world markets. Toyota’s efficiency in manufacture has enabled its brand of vehicles to be sold cheaper in comparison to other models, at the same category. This has especially popularized its brands for there is always value for money in the same and more so, the re-sale value for most Toyota cars still remains high.

Toyota is a great case study topic. It has been deemed one of the most successful companies of our time and continues to set the pace in automobile development. Aside from being a corporation that upholds high ethics and moral standards, the company prides itself in being the pioneer behind low energy consumption vehicles. This was achieved by development of electron fuel injection model that allowed the vehicle to run on the battery while the fuel maintained the battery charged.

Toyota models are thus mostly manual and affordable despite the effort in the technology used. Toyota has thus essentially lowered the production through consistent management accounting. This has with time been extended to the consumers who have in turn enjoyed reduced prices and affordable cars for them. It is the greatest illustration of proper application of management accounting principles.

The choice of the case study could not have been better. Despite the numerous challenges Toyota faces, it has proved to the world that none of these is insurmountable. With regular changes being made to their production process, the testing bit has often proved to be a challenge. This has especially occurred due to the sampling methods used in the testing process that have often been unfruitful.

This has led to the development of faulty fleets of models from the same plant. Toyota has nonetheless often taken responsibility about the matter and the company Chief Executive; Akio Toyoda has often come under fire, even as far as the company being accused of being ‘lazy’ in its testing policies. Nevertheless, the company has been ranked the 14th most successful corporation in the world as far as revenue development is concerned (Horngren et al, 2012).

It, therefore, should not come as a surprise that this would be the company to base the study on. Being that only a few companies across the globe match up to the prowess and success record of Toyota, it was an inevitable choice that would be inherently natural. More so, there is a need to appreciate that the company has ever been on an upward trend with its management seeing that no one has entirely exclusive executive powers for an entire decade. This has formed the basis for proper management accounting in the company thus pushing the corporation higher the success ladder.

References

Abdel-Maksoud, A., Cerbioni, F., Ricceri, F., & Velayutham, S. (2010). Employee morale, non-financial performance measures, deployment of innovative managerial practices and shop-floor involvement in Italian manufacturing firms. The British Accounting Review, 42(1), 36-55.

Becker, W. S., Carbo, J. A., & Langella, I. M. (2010). Beyond self-interest: integrating social responsibility and supply chain management with human resource development. Human Resource Development Review, 9(2), 144-168.

Bunkley, N. (2016). Carter: Toyota’s bullish on U.S. sales. Automotive News, (6720).

Dedoussis, V., & Littler, C. R. (2010). Understanding the Transfer of Japanese Management Practices. Global Japanization?: The Transnational Transformation of the Labour Process, 4, 175.

Helper, S., & Henderson, R. (2014). Management practices, relational contracts, and the decline of General Motors. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(1), 49-72.

Hibadullah, S. N., Fuzi, N. M., Desa, A. F. N. C., & Zamri, F. I. M. (2013). Lean manufacturing practices and environmental performance in Malaysian automotive industry. Asian Journal of Finance & Accounting, 5(1), 462-471.

Horngren, C. T., Datar, S. M., & Rajan, M. V, (2012). Cost accounting: a managerial emphasis (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall

Muller, J. (2016). Toyota Recharges. Forbes, 197(7), 50-56.

Prakash, D., & Kumar, C. (2011). Implementation of lean manufacturing principles in auto industry. Industrial Engineering Letters, 1(1), 56-60.

Senge, P. M. (2014). The dance of change: The challenges to sustaining momentum in a learning organization. Crown Business.

Sui Pheng, L., & Shang, G. (2011). Bridging Western management theories and Japanese management practices: Case of the Toyota Way model. Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 1(1), 1-20.

Truett, R. (2016). 5 minutes with … Ed Laukes, vice president of marketing, performance and guest experience, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Automotive News, (6712).

Undercoffler, D. (2015). Toyota targets big leap in U.S. sales for RAV4. Automotive News, (6702).

Yamao, S., & Sekiguchi, T. (2015). Employee commitment to corporate globalization: The role of English language proficiency and human resource practices. Journal of World Business, 50(1), 168-179.

Yang, C. C., Yeh, T. M., & Yang, K. J. (2012). The implementation of technical practices and human factors of the toyota production system in different industries. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 22(6), 541-555.

Zubir, A. F. M., Habidin, N. F., Conding, J., Jaya, N. A. S. L., & Hashim, S. (2012). The development of sustainable manufacturing practices and sustainable performance in Malaysian automotive industry. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 3(7), 130-138.

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How Organizational Structures Support or Impede Innovation

Organizational Structures
Organizational Structures

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How Organizational Structures Support or Impede Innovation

Organizational structures acts as the main guideline of how to run activities like supervision, coordination and task allocation. Also, it defines the flow of information in diverse levels of management (Swan, 2007, P. 177). On the other hand, innovation entails changing the organization’s processes or coming up with new ideas to improve the company’s performance.

Therefore, for change to take place, the organizational structures should be active to avoid confusion. Moreover, the management should have a positive attitude to embrace changes which occur as a result of the transformation process. Innovation depends on the employee’s flexibility, adequate information and communication systems and proper project management.

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For change to be effective, people should have knowledge about various matters. According to the epistemology of possession, knowledge is a personal property of an individual, who interprets the meaning of data according to perceptions, experiences, and previous understanding. Various people with different past experiences are likely to draw different conclusions from the same information. Since knowledge is based on an person, what individuals agree on as true is driven by those in power since their justifications often have a lot of weight.

For instance, in western medicine, clinicians who claim about the best treatments, basing their knowledge on scientific research override the competing claims which come from less powerful groups applying alternate therapies (Newell et al., 2009, P. 15). The sales persons can use support innovation by sharing ideas from customers because they are in a position to understand the customers’ needs. These thoughts help the organization to come up with better products to suit the market’s needs.

Additionally, the firm tries hard to maintain a fairly flat organizational structures to avoid many rules and regulations. Moreover, the firm did not have a human resource department, and would employ its workers formally through the word of mouth. These features help in recruiting the most competent workers because recruitment considers a person’s ability to apply his knowledge in diverse areas. Moreover, the organization ensures that there are adequate resources for implementing in all technologies to facilitate project implementation.

Organizations use ICT to carry out knowledge work. However, the human agency, physical properties of some ICTs and institution within which the people make their work influence the effect of ICT on education. Research shows that technology determines the type of organizational structure.

The organizational structures have the ability to support or impede innovation in some ways. Change starts with the management of awareness that different people possess. If workers conduct the improvements appropriately, people will learn to embrace and apply the change correctly (Camison & Villar-Lopez,204, P. 100).

References

Camisón, C. and Villar-López, A., 2014. Organizational innovation as an enabler of technological innovation capabilities and firm performance. Journal of Business Research, 67(1), pp.2891-2902.

Swan, J., 2007. Managing knowledge for innovation. In Rethinking knowledge management (pp. 147-169). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

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Establishing an effective POLC Framework

POLC Framework
POLC Framework

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Establishing an effective POLC Framework

Introduction

Outdoor recreation or activity refers to the pursuit of leisure activities that appeal to the lovers of natural or unnatural activities in remote village settings or towns. These are largely team sports that attract hardened individuals who are risk takers and love challengers. The sporting activity maybe canoeing, waterskiing, rock climbing, surfing, fishing, hunting, sailing or even horseback riding among other sports events.

The management of such an event provides a complex test of organization skills and a web of complicated decision-making that stem from clear understanding of business operations. The complex situations demands for skillful and competent managers who have clear business strategies and vision for successful business operations (Davidson & Stebbins, 2011).

The management of Outdoor Adventure Paintball Park (Outdoor Adventure) and as per the wishes of the three family members, who own the company but are not experienced on handling complex outdoor sporting activities, seeks to establish an effective POLC framework. The company strategically resolved to:

1). Reaffirmed the need to develop and share a strong and motivating mission statement.

2). Change the personnel in charge of resource organization

3). Implement new measures to ensure effective training of manpower, recruitment and development of sound employment policies and job descriptions (Miska & Mendenhall, 2015).

4). Find new ways of improving leadership and motivating employees to work hard.

5). Enumerate the critical aspects of adopting measures of standard performance, balance score cards and effective feedback systems that reflect the company’s vision and mission.

6). To implement the POLC framework and weigh its impact on organizational growth.

Planning

Mission and Vision

The mission of the outdoor facility is to provide fun activities that are safe and which are designed to enhance rich outdoor experience for children, teenagers, young adults, team building work groups that target relaxation and also holiday making. The vision of the facility is to provide unrivalled Outdoor experience that would be an entertainment destination for thousands of professions throughout the country and other fun lovers. The number of visitors currently visiting the facility out-numbers the resources available and mishandling of customer bookings have been noted severally due to staff incompetence and lack of clear operations structure. The result has been loss of potential customers and sales.

Goals, Objectives and Strategy

The company seeks to develop and set goals that are consistent with the management strategies as espoused by the company’s mission and goals. The operations of the company have been organized to develop targets that would ensure that the goals of the company have been achieved. The Outdoor Adventure’s management team has ensured that the operational strategies that had been earmarked to improve performance have been fully implemented in an effort to increase sales and improve customer experiences. The strategies are addressed during the initial POLC framework planning to ensure that the crucial concepts are also captured in the POLC framework.

Organizing

Organization Culture

Outdoor Adventure was established b three owners who shared a dream of developing a first class outdoor facility that would provide memorable experiences to all its customers. However after several years in existence the owners are not on the same page regarding the management of the Outdoor sports center. The management wants to institute a new organization culture that would enhance more team work and create more production and sales.

Organization Structure

The organization lacks a clear organization structure which is making the company to be ineffective in its role as a first class facility. The current structure provides no job definitions or roles. The company needs to adopt a clear organization structure that has clear hierarchy order as depicted below. The major advantage of hierarchal organization structure is that it provides an appropriate centralized structure that is consistent with the nature of the business that needs a strong management presence in most of its operations.

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Job Profiles, Descriptions and Responsibilities

John Thomas oversees most of the company’s general operations and is also responsible for making key organizations changes and business operations. Carl Thomas is also responsible for general business operations together with Joe.

Phillips is responsible for daily operations at the company while also coordinating and assigning duties at the park. Roberts is in charge of sales and marketing and works directly under the three directors. Finesse is in charge of the human resource and is responsible for hiring competent staff. The stores department is manned with Smith who also oversees the work of other store’s supervisors while also controlling the inventory. She reports to Phillips. The concepts of POLC are meant to equip the organization with qualified personnel who can steer the company in the right direction.

Leadership

The lack of a clear organization structure in Outdoors Adventures led to ineffective leadership which also trickled to other departments and eventually affected the customers (Miska & Mendenhall, 2015). Poor communication among the owners resulted in ineffective business operations. To promote innovation at the park, the management ought to consider knowledge-based leadership as a way of promoting innovation (Doh and Quigley, 2014).

Knowledge based leadership would provide better and well informed judgment on the part of the three owners given that some employees are concerned on what are the real objectives of the park from the owners perspective. Leadership skills form one of the major components or pillars of POLC framework (Conway, n, d).

Control

Balanced Scorecard

The best way to implement strategic controls in a company is through the use of balance scorecard that has aligned the four major functions with the company’s strategy that has also incorporated the company’s mission and vision. The balance scorecard (BS) translates a company’s vision and strategy into reality.

The BS identifies the relationship between a company’s operations control and the strategic controls of a company. What the customers are exposed and what the management wants the customers to see. How the company’s financial resources match the shareholders expectations and the best way to grow (Kaplan & Norton, n, d).

Strategic Human Resource Management

The human resource management plays a critical role in POLC framework. The HR department must hire competent employees to ensure that the services provided by the company are above the average standards and qualities of all the company’s services are universally acceptable and are consistent with the company’s objective.

References

Conway, C. (n, d) Leadership Skills Approach retrieved July 11, 2016 from http://users.jyu.fi/~naabouck/paper/Leadership_Chapter3.pdf

Davidson, L., & Stebbins, R.A. (2011) Serious Leisure and Nature: Sustainable Consumption in the Outdoors. Hound mills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Doh, J. and Quigley, N. (2014) Responsible Leadership and Stakeholder Management: Influence Pathways and Organizational Outcomes. Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(3), pp.255-274.

Kaplan, R.S. & Norton, D.P. (n, d) Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work, Harvard Business Review, retrieved July 11, 2016 from https://web.archive.org/web/20140202115133/http://www.theclci.com/resources/5HBR-PuttingTheBalancedScorecard.pdf

Miska, C., & Mendenhall, M.E. (2015) responsible Leadership: A Mapping of Extant research and Future Directions, Journal of Business Ethics retrieved July 11, 2-16 from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-015-2999-0

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Strategic Planning Management in an Organization

Strategic Planning management
Strategic Planning Management

Strategic planning management

Strategic planning management is a process that aims to predict future events and plan for them. Strategic planning management is faced by many problems including frequent criticism, skepticism, poor leadership, lack of consensus, over ambition, and lack of momentum in the long term. In this paper, we will discuss the common challenges that face strategic planning (Brassard and Ritter, 2010)

Poor leadership is one of the problems that face strategic management teams. If the leaders in an organization do not support the strategic planning management process cannot succeed (National Center for Healthcare Leadership, 2009). Some key leaders show little interest in the strategic planning management process after the strategic planning process has taken off. Sometimes these leaders may fail to show up for important meetings. Other times, leaders fail to provide a mission to guide the strategic planning process. If leaders fail to provide ongoing leadership and a vision for the project plan the process is bound to fail.

Lack of consensus is one of the other challenges that face strategic planning. Most members of the strategic planning team have different ideas about what should be done (O’Dea, de Chazal, Saltman and  Kidd, 2006). Disagreements are likely to occur on the appropriate course of action to achieve the strategic objectives. Unfortunately, the strategic planning process cannot succeed if the planning team fails to reach a consensus.

Setting unrealistic and over ambitious strategic goals is also a major problem in the strategic planning process. Often, the people charged with strategic management are often young, bright, visionary, highly motivated (Rollof, 2009). In most case, these fertile minds often end up coming with over ambitious and unrealistic goals. Getting these over ambitious individuals to abandon their goals can be a cause of tension among the strategic planning team. Overly ambitious goals may overstretch the organizations resources.

References

Brassard, M., & Ritter, D. (2010). Memory jogger 2: Tools for continuous improvement and effective planning. (2nd ed.). Salem, NH: GOAL/QPC. ISBN: 9781576811139

National Center for Healthcare Leadership. (2009). Health leadership competency model. Retrieved from: http://www.nchl.org/static.asp?path=2852,3238.

O’Dea, N. A., de Chazal, P., Saltman, D. C., & Kidd, M. R. (2006). Running effective meetings: A primer for doctors. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 82(969), 454?461. Retrieved fromhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563767/

Rollof, J. (2009). Creative meetings. Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice, 11(3), 357?372. Retrieved fromhttp://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/pqdweb?did=1968726121&Fmt=2&clientId=70192&RQT=309&VName=PQD

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Workflow Management

workflow
Workflow

Workflow

The only way that knowledge can be implemented is by using the information available, to tackle the problems or even scrutinize the available opportunities. In a global market, creation and management of knowledge are done through bringing out the distinctive characteristics between mediocrity and competitive superiority (Gimlin, 2012). 

The ability to manage the complicated systems of information and communication that usually come together to build up knowledge in an Organization that is dynamic is a difficult assignment. For this to comprehend, one needs first to understand the flow of information and communication in the diverse areas and activities that take place in an organization, including its processes or workflow (JDA, 2013).

    Workflow management encompasses various factors including, the utilization of a minimum amount of   available resources, maximizing the value that is built for customers, ensuring that all the measures concerning total quality management have been met and re-engineering (Gimlin, 2012). When workflow has been well managed, it steers an organization in attaining its objectives and the goals set for the identification of problems and establishing decision- making processes that eradicate those problems (JDA, 2013).

    Going’s manufacturing division, so as to streamline its workflow, it requires monitoring process planning and scheduling. Therefore, the organization is to ensure that there are comprehensive harmonized, possible responsive solutions to tackle, balance and assign across all the operations spectrum of the firm. Perfect solution for Going Inc.  production planning needs should incorporate all of the above.

Thus acquiring a customizable functionality that helps in providing the required support for all of its precise needs (JDA, 2013). Production planning offers solutions to the problem of poor relationships with its unions.  Putting in plans the right programs to allow employees air out their opinions and grievances is part of production planning. Thus enabling the organization to optimize performance and ensure its desired results are achieved and provide an appropriate responsiveness to the market (Gimlin, 2012).

Going’s Inc. can solve the problems involved in production planning process through drawing a workflow diagram. It helps conceptualize how tasks and activities will follow between resources whether they are people or machines and provide the conditions that allow a smooth flow of these activities. It can be adopted for the purposes of documentation and implementation because it gives a complete over view of a business process (Gassmann, 2012).

Going Inc. workflow can be streamlined if it focuses on its capacity and the problems associated with how much airplanes they produce and deliver to their clients. One efficient way of streamlining work log is the use of technology and control systems in the production process so that the human element is reduced and machines are embraced. In Going Inc. there is a problem of work backlog.

The number of planes produced, is low than the demanded ones. For this problem to be corrected, the company can adopt the time study measurement of all activities and study on line balancing, study of re-work/scrap dollars as the immediate methods of improving the problem of backlog encountered in the production of planes. A time study measure helps establish a bottom-line from which to direct the improvement efforts.

It also helps in assisting on setting the work standard to regulate performance (JDA, 2013). It is very difficult to know whether there is improvement in work or differences in performance in a unit if there is no time study measure. Line balancing on the other hand levels the workload across all the processes in a unit or value stream so as to eliminate bottlenecks and excess capacity. Any problem slows the process and capacity in excess yields to waiting and usually there is no absorption of fixed costs.

Inventory management is a system within a company that controls the ordering process of plane components required for production, it also ensures that these components are stored property without damages and finally that they are used in the right scale in the planes already manufactured and ready for sale. Inventory department in Going Inc. also ensures quality check and quality of the final products.

Going basically has 10,000 parts going into the models of planes under production. Her inventory and stock taking is done once a year and it is done by an external firm. Of those 10,000 components, 30,000 are stored at Goings assembly point in hanger (JDA, 2013).

Through a critical analysis Going’s inventory, it is evident there exists a gap. Inventory and stock taking is a sensitive area and it should not be solely left to an external firm. Heavy losses could be incurred in case of a go slow leaving Going with completely no parts to go into production. Considering that only 30% of these parts are stored in Hanger, queue/moving of the remaining 70% should possibly occur more frequently leading to exposure of these delicate parts to hazards such as accidents and carjacking.

As a recommendation, Going should come up with a department within the company to help in inventories and also expand the warehouse at Hanger to accommodate more parts.

References

Burrows, R. (2012). a revolutionary model for sales and operations planning in the new on-demand economy. . New York: Amacom.

Gassmann, H. (2012). applications in finance,energy, planning and logistics. london: world scientific. london: world scientific.

Gimlin, R. J. (2012). Optimization of SKU creation process and adherence improvement through use of workflow management. Massachusetts : Massachusetts Institute of Technology,.

JDA, s. G. (2013). Production Planning & Scheduling. journal of Streamlining Supply and Manufacturing With the Innovative capability to power supply chains, 1-4.

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Self-management in the Workplace

Self-management in the Workplace
Self-management in the Workplace

Self-management

Management refers to the people who are tasked with the responsibility of setting the strategy of organizations and coordinating the efforts of employees so as to achieve set objectives. Primarily, their plans depend on the use of available organisational resources. Therefore, to be a manager, there are various factors that one has to understand. Moreover, one has to learn continually so as to improve their skills and abilities in leading their organisations. This assignment involves reflecting on five different activities that are related to management.

Each activity is a learning process for learners, I included. Therefore, the knowledge gained is vital for improving my skill levels, understanding class discussions, and enhancing my experiences. There is a reflection on each topic highlighting the various lessons I learned and the importance of that particular study. The reflection is based on the class activity experiences, personal knowledge, and researched findings. Moreover, vital information was obtained from activity reflection sheet, which I used to fill after each topic.

Primarily, information contained in the reflection write up of each event includes; the importance of the activity study at the workplace, importance of concepts studied during each task, ways in which I used the knowledge covered in carrying out the excercise, and lastly,  what I learned personally from the activities. Also important to note is that that I perfumed different tasks in different topics. However, I took the initiative of learning other activities that were assigned to other group members or other groups.

Elements of Effective Self-Management in the Workplace

Self-management involves personally taking up the responsibilities of organizational functions (Whetten, & Cameron, 2012, 21-29). Tasks associated with management such as directing, controlling, staffing, organizing, and planning become a responsibility of one’s self. As a result, self-management helps to spontaneously bring an organisational structure to a business establishment.  Self-management is, therefore, an alternative to the more familiar hierarchical organizing method.

Various elements need to be understood at the workplace so as to establish effective self-management. This includes understanding the competencies of individuals in an organization, knowing the existing intelligence levels of the workforce and understanding the boundaries that govern one’s freedom to communicate and interact with other people regarding their teams (Cheung, & Cheng, 2016, 17-29). These factors have to be clearly identified so as to understand the nature of organization duties as to whether they are urgent, important, not urgent, not important, or not urgent and not important.

Through this activity, I managed to learn the various self-management levels that a manager has to cope with beginning from my own self to my personal relationship with the business. Moreover, I was able to learn the three different types of intelligence that apply to businesses. This included the IQ, the EQ, and the CQ (Thomas & Adams, 2015, 99-114). From the study, it is clear that for effective self-management, one has to possess both the intelligence and be able to combine them well according to situations.

Another key lesson was learning about various competence areas. There are technical related competencies, human, business, and personal traits competencies. The activity also involved understanding the core requirements for effective self-management. For instance, there are particular qualities such as likeness for solving problems, understanding client’s needs, and being able to work virtually that are crucial for those who want to manage themselves.

The concepts involved in self-management are vital at the workplace. For instance, they help in proper prioritizing of activities to be carried out. Moreover, they are important in dealing with fragmentation, change, or ambiguity. Personally, I was able to self-evaluate myself regarding my self-management abilities. Moreover, I have thoroughly evaluated myself regarding self-awareness and stress management. Borrowing from Johari’s window explanation, I was able to identify and group business information regarding what is known to myself and what is known to others.

Individual Strategies and Techniques for Self-Development

The course description of self-development is that it is a range of activities that are undertaken with an aim of bettering one’s self.  It involves learning new and better skills while doing away with bad habits (Garman, et.al, 2012, 219-222). In this activity, I participated in the identification of needs, priorities and choosing options. This was one if the five activities that are important for self-development.

Self-development involves various concepts which are all kick-started by carrying out a self-assessment on yourself. After that, one has to identify their needs, be able to prioritize them and chose the best options. Moreover, self-development requires that one sets smart goals and identify areas of weakness that they can enhance through training and development.

My task involved identifying various personal needs that motivated me towards perusing my career.  I had tothink about some other things that made me chose to study for this career apart from financial benefits, recognition, and the ability to afford. I realised that some internal needs led to my preference of my current career choice aside from others.

This included factors such as satisfaction, career recognition, and passion, among others. Moreover, I discovered that it was important to prioritize needs (Joy, et.al, 2012, 17-23). This is because all needs however insignificant they may seem may affect a person’s decision-making and the process of personal development in many ways. Needs have to be prioritized in order of their importance and urgency. However, one needs to be careful with needs that seem to be urgent because in most casesthese needs are less significant to a person’s self-development.

The other two self-development concepts; goal setting and conduction of a needs analysis, are also vital. This is because the goals a person sets goes a long way in defining the skills one might choose to better through training and development. On the other hand, a needs analyse is important as it indicates the areas a person needs to improve on.

In my task, I depended majorly on carrying out my personal needs analysis, assessing myself and going back to evaluate the goals I had set earlier which led me to peruse this career. These activities were important as they helped me complete my task and identify what means more to me between job satisfaction and financial benefits.

Elements of Effective Interpersonal Relationships in the Workplace

Interpersonal relationship refers to a deep, close, and strong association between two or more individuals. The period which the interaction lasts may be brief, or enduring. In this concept, the interpersonal relationship is based on business interactions. However, as per the topic, the relationship needs to be formed in various contexts including cultural, social, and economic influences.

Effective interpersonal relationship is influenced by certain abilities. I was able to understand that communication is crucial for forming and maintaining relationships. This is because people who are in a relationship need to communicate and understand each other. As a result, communication skills have to be enhanced for effective management. The course was very wide and as a result, it enabled us to be introduced to reaction time as a critical factor in communication. This is the time taken for one communicating party to respond to the other party after being spoken to (Steiner, 2011, 153-156).

At the workplace, interpersonal relationships are imperative.  As part of my activity, I was able to learn that the relationship that exists between working individuals in an organisation influences the output that comes from such people. For instance, a junior employee is likely to give his or her best if he has a good relationship with his supervisor or manager. Moreover, I felt that strong interpersonal relationship at the workplace helps to maintain workplace or rather professional ethics. Consequently, this goes a long way in creating an enabling environment for business operations (Adams, 2014, 327-330).

My task during this activity involved assessing various conflict management approaches. According to my Adams (2014, 340-343), conflict arises when individuals fail to understand each other due to the existence of a bad relationship between them. Using individual elements of effective interpersonal relationships, I was able to comprehend how one can be able to manage conflict in the workplace.

As per my findings, having good workplace relationship helps in minimizing conflicts that might arise in the workplace.  On the other hand, good and efficient communication between disputing parties helps in managing already existing conflicts (Byrkjeflot & Jespersen, 2014, 448-451). These discoveries were important to me because they erased my initial beliefs. 

This is because I used to think that interpersonal relationship, especially at the workplace, has no influence on conflict. Moreover, I used to believe that only professional relationships existed at the workplace. However, this is contrary to the activity studies as both interpersonal and personal relationships can exist at the workplace

Personal Leadership Approache Qualities and Their Impacts on Others

Personal leadership simply refers to the leadership of the self. It involves personally taking the responsibilities of all life aspects affecting you and leading them towards a direction that best suits you. Various qualities of personal leadership were discussed in this seminar. However, the qualities were not presented directly but were put forward in the form of theories. These theories include; leadership trait theories, leadership behaviour theories, contingency leadership theories, leadership transformational theories, and charismatic leadership.

For the theories to apply and be effective, certain influencing tactics have to be put in place (Donsophon, Jhundra-indra, & Raksong, 2015, 59-76). I was able to understand that tactics are means through which individuals who hold leadership positions transform bases of power into various specific actions. Moreover, the topic expanded my knowledge of personal leadership by describing the meaning of each of the nine influencing tactics.

Primarily, these tactics included; legitimacy, reciprocal exchange, rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, personal appeals, consultation, coalitions, pressure, and integration. To add on that, I was able to learn about three specific responses to personal leadership that influence tactics.

This are resistance: comes about when the target to be influenced repels the request, compliance: comes about when the target of influence obeys a request unwillingly, and commitment which comes about when the target of influence agrees and supports a request (Joyce, Nga, & Mun, 2013, 505-519). Lastly, I was able to understand the most efficient influencing tactics and the least effective tactics as well as the direction of influence in an organisation.

My primary activity involved analysing and assessing charismatic leadership.  As per my findings, this type of leadership involves having the ability to motivate and inspire. According to Thomas (2014, 335-337), Charismatic leaders are able to achieve excellent outputs by inspiring and motivating their juniors to be committed to their organizational course and be able to perform at the topmost levels.

I was able to understand that motivation achieves this through use of the knowledge gained in studying influencing tactics (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2013, 56-61). Moreover, I was able to comprehend that the choice of a leadership theory or style is mainly influenced by factors such as sequencing of tactics, the ability to use a tactic, and the relative power of a tactic. Overall, the seminar was very educating especially on ways to effectively lead others well and be able to obtain optimum outputs.

Engaging with others in the workplace

There are various factors which govern the level of engagements at the workplace. This seminar revolved around enhancing professionalism through workplace engagements. This means that irrespective of the engagements carried out at the workplace, professionalism has to be observed and fostered through them (Heller, 2012, 307-315).

Various terms and concepts come into play regarding workplace engagements. These concepts include ethics, diversity, cultural stereotypes, and CV evaluation. Through the study of this course, I was able to understand the meaning and importance of these terms and other factors as explained below.

Ethics refers to the generally accepted code of conduct. Different workplaces have distinct ethical requirements. However, most of these requirements are closely related as they are all aimed at enhancing professionalism. As I discovered through studying the topic, ethics is the chief influencing factor regarding an individual’s professional development (Holden, et al., 2012, 245-254). This is because it ensures that one sticks to the right behaviour so as to uphold the organization’s morals and values.

On the other hand, diversity refers to accepting another person as they are. In this concept, the seminar involved enlightening us on how to accept other people irrespective of their ethnicity, origin, gender, or skill levels. I was also able to understand the relationship that exists between diversity and stereotyping. Stereotyping can be said to be a product of diversity in which people develop certain thoughts about individuals with certain traits (Steiner, 2011, 150-156).

My activity during the study of this topic involved analysing diversity and ways in which people are different. These are the tasks that were assigned to group three. In handling my task, I relied on the concepts stated to be important regarding engagement of people in the workplace. For instance, in understanding diversity and how people are different, I considered various stereotypes that are associated with my culture and those of my group members.

Diversity and ethics are crucialin the workplace. Ethics helps maintain professionalism and ensure good working relationship between juniors and their supervisors and among employees (Kalbers, & Fogarty, 2015, 64). On the other hand, diversity helps an organization to have a broad range of skills. This is because people from different backgrounds and cultures offer different and unique skills. Moreover, an organization is able to enjoy a broad view of options from a diverse workforce.

Conclusion

Efficient management is essential for the success of an organisation. Therefore, individuals tasked with the duty of managing have to possess various vital skills in order to achieve desired organisational objectives. From the study, there are different ways of managing. This is because; there exist many theories which explain different modes of leadership. For instance, charismatic leadership is different from traits leadership theory. However, a choice of a leadership theory might not be sufficient to steer an organisation to success; it needs to be accompanied with other abilities.

Having self-management qualities, effective leadership qualities, and high level of professionalism with the capacity to self-develop helps one become a good manager. In the assignment, I was able to use the knowledge and skills I gained during the class discussions to carry out my own activities. This means that various management concepts can be grasped easily if one has interest and the desire to learn.

Regarding self-management, one has to learn to differentiate important and urgent factors from the non-insignificant. This is vital as it will help the management in prioritizing organizational activities. On self-development, managers have to understand their needs and choose the sections that they can improve through further skill acquisitions through training and development.

On the other hand, leaders have to be able to choose good leadership styles that will be effective. This is important as it will help them to appropriately use the leadership influencing factors to motivate employees and be able to obtain optimum results. The exercise was very educating; I was able to learn many new concepts relating to management and how to use them.

List of References

Adams, K. F. (2014). The discursive construction of professionalism: An episteme of the 21st-century*. Ephemera, 12(3), 327-343. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1269463418?accountid=45049

Buchanan, D.A., & Huczynski, A.A. (2013). Organisational Behaviour: An introductory text (8th ed). London: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.

Byrkjeflot, H., & Kragh Jespersen, P. (2014). Three conceptualizations of hybrid management in hospitals. The International Journal of Public Sector Management, 27(5), 441-458. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1662675378?accountid=45049

Cheung, W. M., & Cheng, Y. C. (2016). A multi-level framework for self-management in school. The International Journal of Educational Management, 10(1), 17-29. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/229220696?accountid=45049

Donsophon, K., Jhundra-indra, P., & Raksong, S. (2015). A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF MANAGERIAL PROFESSIONALISM STRATEGY AND FIRM SUCCESS. Allied Academies International Conference. Academy of Strategic Management. Proceedings, 14(2), 59-76. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1764885668?accountid=45049

Garman, A. N., Evans, R., Krause, M. K., & Anfossi, J. (2016). Professionalism. Journal of Healthcare Management, 51(4), 219-22. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/206729065?accountid=45049

Heller, J. C. (2012). professionalism, revenue enhancement, and self-interest: An ethically ambiguous association. HEC Forum, 24(4), 307-15. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10730-012-9198-5

Holden, M., Buck, E., Clark, M., Szauter, K., & Trumble, J. (2012). Professional identity formation in medical education: The convergence of multiple domains. HEC Forum, 24(4), 245-55. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10730-012-9197-6

Joy, Gemini V, MBA, M.Phil, & James, P. S. (2012). Do prestige goods enhance self-esteem and professionalism? A study on users of luxury-branded shirts. Marketing Review St.Gallen, 29(1), 17-23. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11621-012-0106-9

Joyce, K.H. Nga, & Mun, S. W. (2013). The perception of undergraduate students towards accountants and the role of accountants in driving organizational change. Education & Training, 55(6), 500-519. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ET-07-2012-0074

Kalbers, L. P., & Fogarty, T. J. (2015). Professionalism and its consequences: A study of internal auditors. Auditing, 14(1), 64. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216737943?accountid=45049

Steiner, C. J. (2011). How important is professionalism to corporate communication? Corporate Communications, 6(3), 150-156. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/214190914?accountid=45049

Thomas, M. (2014). Marketing paradise: Citizen professionals on the road to paradise (via damascus). Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 18(6), 321-327. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213125705?accountid=45049

Thomas, M., & Adams, J. (2015). ADAPTING PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES TO THE MANAGEMENT OF SPECIAL EVENTS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 4, 99-114. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/215099782?accountid=45049

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2012). Developing management skills (8th ed.; Global ed.). London: Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Anderson, L.E., & Bolt, S.B. (2014). Professionalism:  Skills for workplace success (3rd ed.; International ed.). Harlow, UK: Pearson.

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Transactional Leadership Theories

Transactional Leadership Theories
Transactional Leadership Theories

Transactional Leadership Theories

Leadership theories include transactional leadership theories and transformational leadership theories. Transactional leadership theory deals with maintaining the operation flow, using disciplinary powers and an array of incentives as ways of ensuring employees perform as expected (Redman, 2013, p 33). Transactional leadership is tailored towards ensuring that everything is running smoothly.

Conversely, transformational leadership involves going beyond the day to task to come up with strategies that would make the organization performance improve and achieve the intended objectives. Some of the activities conducted by transformational leaders include promotion of team building, motivation and employee collaboration to accomplish the expected change (Redman, 2013, p 41).

On the other hand, emotional intelligence theories emphasize on the ability to comprehend and effectively manage individual emotions and of others. The objective of a leader is to accomplish the set task keeping in mind the team to ensure that everything runs as expected. The four elements of emotional intelligence include self-management, awareness and social skills (MacFarlane, et al, 2011, p 69).

Task 4.2

Transformational leadership mostly encourages teamwork and motivation of employees to work together to accomplish the set objective. As a transformational leader, it is important to set goals and incentives that push employees to perform to the best of their abilities at the same time providing opportunities for personal and professional growth.

On the contrary, transactional leadership can be applied through formal authority and responsibilities. Employees will obey the directives that result in expected performance. Transactional leadership can be applied by using both incentives and punishment to enhance performance behaviors (Stainback and Tomaskovic-Devey, 2012, p 74).

Espinilla et al., (2013, p 227) highlight that emotional intelligence theory can be applied by coming up with a strategic plan. Understanding emotions in this process entails perceiving, and managing them. For instance, perception of emotions can be done through surveying to understand customers’ feelings about a specific product. Understanding emotion involves documenting the impact of various market plans by paying close attention to emotional aspects and financial implication. Managing emotion deals with understanding how to be a leader and encouraging desired emotional reaction that will generate positive outcomes.

Task 4.2

At Hounslow tasks should be allocated equally to promote good working relationships and easy management. Every staff needs to comprehend and be made aware of their job description and additional responsibilities. Some of the attributes and features that can help in improving work relationship include trust and honesty.

Additionally, reliable individuals can easily provide constructive feedback and share experiences with other colleagues to impart knowledge and the relevant skills to other colleagues. Effective communication and interaction skills are necessary to manage working relationships (Stainback and Tomaskovic-Devey, 2012, p 77).

Strategies that improve team building also enhance intrapersonal work relationships. Building a conducive environment where communication is open and clear goals are stipulated will results to efficient performance. Team building makes every employee feel valuable in the organization.

Organization structure refers to infrastructure and human resources and how they are utilized to achieve the specified goals.  The overall organization structure needs to be designed to motivate employees to work to the best of their abilities. Work coordination, general operation, employee function and the organization culture need to be conducive to create innovative cultures that foster the competitive advantage of an organization (MacFarlane, et al, 2011, p 76)

Task 4.3

Managing working relationship requires that leaders should trust employees to carry out their duties to high standards. According to CITATION an effective leader is required to respect their employees, be considerate, honest and value their employee’s opinions. Leaders are required to enhance the culture of openness within their teams and put a lot of effort to understand the different values, backgrounds and perspectives of each team members.

Stainback and Tomaskovic-Devey (2012, p 143), explain that working as a team requires effective communication because teamwork focuses more on collaborative efforts to achieve the goals of the organization. Constructive feedback is a process where individuals facilitate a conducive environment to acquire additional skills using appropriate communication strategies. Communication skills require a good understanding of employee perspective on certain issues hence developing a good teamwork.

My own development is primarily influenced by management and leadership approach. As such, I will utilize performance appraisal to help me identify my areas of weaknesses and strengths. I will focus on improving on my weakness by undergoing training or improving myself using self-directed reading to improve my management knowledge.

I will also acknowledge other managers approaches and try to learn from successful managers and leaders. However, I consider the use of team target setting and task allocation to be the most effective management approach. The reason is because I have learned that task allocation not only benefit an individual but a team as a whole.

Bibliography

Department of Work and Pensions. (2013). Making the labour market more flexible, efficient and fair. Available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/making-the-labour-market-more-flexible-efficient-and-fair accessed 14 October 2014.

Espinilla, M., de Andrés, R., Martínez, F.J. and Martínez, L., 2013. A 360-degree performance appraisal model dealing with heterogeneous information and dependent criteria. Information Sciences, 222, pp.459-471.

Gale, T. C. E., Roberts, M. J., Sice, P. J., Langton, J. A., Patterson, F. C., Carr, A. S., & Davies, P. R. F. (2010). Predictive validity of a selection centre testing non-technical skills for recruitment to training in anaesthesia. British Journal of Anaesthesia, 105(5), 603-609.

Johansson‐Sköldberg, U., Woodilla, J. and Çetinkaya, M., 2013. Design thinking: past, present and possible futures. Creativity and Innovation Management, 22(2), pp.121-146.

MacFarlane, F., Greenhalgh, T., Humphrey, C., Hughes, J., Butler, C., & Pawson, R. (2011). A new workforce in the making? A case study of strategic human resource management in a whole-system change effort in healthcare. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 25(1), 55-72.

Redman, T. (2013) .Performance appraisal, in Wilkinson, A. and Redman, T. (eds) Contemporary Human Resource Management. London: FT Prentice Hall.

Stainback, K. and Tomaskovic-Devey, D., 2012. Documenting desegregation. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Tay, K.J., Moul, J.W. and Armstrong, A.J., 2016. Management of Prostate Cancer in the Elderly. Clinics in geriatric medicine, 32(1), pp.113-132.

Taylor, P. (2013).Performance Management and the New Workplace Tyranny. A Report for the. Scottish Trades Union Congress .Retrieved from http://www.stuc.org.uk/files/Document%20download/Workplace%20tyranny/STUC%20Performance%20Management%20Final%20Edit.pdf  

Townley, B., 2014. Selection and appraisal: reconstituting. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), p.92.

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Recruitment and Planning

Recruitment and Planning
Recruitment and Planning

Recruitment and Planning in Health care

In health and social care, recruitment and planning refers to a process that deals with identifying appropriate individual to help in the organization’s care needs. Recruitment and planning in these settings need better staffing which is achieved through filtering strategies. Planning should also include retention strategies. The first factor to consider is the overall aim of the recruitment exercises in relation to the organizational goals and objectives (Redman, 2013, p 16).

On the same note, an organization should also consider availability of potential workers who meet the job requirement. The management can consider recruiting from employees who are already in the organization or from potential employees who reside in the area. If such employees with the required job requirements are not available, then management must consider the cost that they may incur in training individuals to meet the required standards or providing incentives to motivate potential employees relocate  from other areas.

On the same note, an organization should consider the strategies required to attract the right potential employees to work in the organization (Espinilla et al., 2013, p 222.). For instance, the organization may consider using the internet to advertise in order to reach the potential employees.

The issue of the cost of recruitment and financial implications are important factors, training and career progression strategies need to be part of planning and recruitment process. Other factors to be considered during recruitment and planning include applicant’s practical knowledge and skills and the general behavior rating and attitude .Qualification and the experience are important factors in this sector.

There is the need to consider internal recruitment process as a motivation, and a retention strategy which is a common feature in Human resource policies in health and social care settings. Failure to identify the right candidate advertising is the best option a candidate can be identified. The organization can use several advertising approaches including the internet, jobs centers, and newspapers (Gale, et al, 2010, p 609) Recruiting agencies is one avenue of attracting suitably skilled workers.

Task 1.2

Nations across the globe have implemented their own legislative and policy requirements that are likely to influence the identification, recruitment and employment process. It is important for an organization to pursue the set legislations. For instance, in many European countries, government regulations emphasize on equal rights and opportunities for everyone despite the individual religion, gender, race and ethnic background.

Some of the main legislations that guide the process of recruitment and employment include; the discrimination Act of 1975, the race relation Act of 1976, employment policy and legislation employment relation Act of 2004 and Employment Act of 2008 (Department of Work and Pensions, 2013, p. 5).

The sex discrimination act of 1975 protects individuals from being sexually harassed or wrongful dismissal due to protected characteristics. The law also protects potential candidates from discrimination of employment opportunities, rejection and refusing promotion or being given antagonistic working conditions due to protected characteristics.  In most organization discrimination takes place when procedures, policies and practices do not favor those who share specific protected characteristics (Townley, 2014, p. 92).

Some of the protected characteristics recognized by law include age, disability that is unfair treatment of a disabled person, gender reassignment this is to treat people in the process to change their gender, marriage, and civil partnership which include married individuals, pregnant women, race, religion, sexual orientation and sex (Stainback and Tomaskovic-Devey, 2012, p 42).

The employment and policy legislation Act of 2004 entails conflict resolution processes in workplaces .The laws recognize the employment tribunal’s rules that include equal wages.  The sex discrimination Act of 1975 protects individuals from all types of discrimination. Individuals seeking employment face several challenges; the sex discrimination Act of 1975 covers discrimination including dismissal due to protected characteristics, decisions not to hire individual, and rejection of an individual for training and promotion based on protective characteristics.

The employment Act includes conflict resolution process and implementation of minimum wages and employment standards that need to be adhered to by the employers (Department of Work and Pensions, 2013, p 19).

Task 1.3

The main selection and recruitment approach is the use of interviews. Carrying out interviews, evaluating potential candidates and using tests mostly conducted at the assessment centers can be ideal in ensuring that the best candidate is selected.

Interviews can be the first process of selection, where an individual meets a selection committee comprised of different stakeholders for interviews. Interviews will reveal important traits of candidates. Interviews can provide opportunities to determine employee weaknesses and certain drawbacks. Confident candidates are considered to have strong leadership personalities (Gale, et al, 2010, p 607).

The second approach s the use of assessment center: Potential candidates can be selected and recruited through assessment centers. Assessment centers can administer tests; the results of the tests can help predict potential employee attitudes.  Several measures can be used to measure candidate’s performance. Behavior evaluation, IQ tests, psychometric assessment tests are among the commonly used methods of assessing individual capabilities (Gale, et al, 2010, p 605).

Reference

Department of Work and Pensions. (2013). Making the labour market more flexible, efficient and fair. Available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/making-the-labour-market-more-flexible-efficient-and-fair accessed 14 October 2014

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