Background of the organization
Organizational behavior refers to the “study of human behavior in an organizational setting, interaction between the organization and the human behavior and the organization itself” (Pinder 2014). Organizational behavior involves the study of the organizational members at micro- level, work groups at meso- level and the behavior of the organization on a whole at macro- level. Individuals often tend to behave in a different manner within the organization and outside an organization (Miner 2015). Organizational behavior aims at identifying and analyzing the behavior of the organizational members in their organizational roles in order to reframe the organizational theories and improve the organizational life (Gelfand et al. 2017).
Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd (FAE) was founded by Jean- Jacques Bely in the year 1990 and deals with the sourcing and distribution of FMCG products from Asia to Africa (Francoasia.com, 2018). The company has grown by an annual growth of 35% and has diversified its product lines and the countries while maintaining the same business model, which was based upon the principles of “mutual trust and exclusive distribution”. The organization has been successful in retaining its management team over the years. This has enabled the organization to maintain successful long- term relationship with the organization’s business partners. With the help of the extensive distribution network, the organization has been able to become an ideal business partner of a majority of the Asian suppliers, who wish to explore the African and European markets. FAE has strong relationships with major distributors and importers in approximately 30 countries in Africa and Europe. The company’s knowledgeable management team also offers several marketing, financial, legal and technical support to its major distributors. The company has its headquarters in Singapore and provides employment to more than 75 people across the globe. The company majorly targets Africa and aims at developing its brands by introducing new product lines. The company has successfully operated its business in European and French markets while dealing with stationery and paper products. The company aims at further developing its present distribution channel and strategy for expanding its range of products and the markets (Francoasia.com, 2018).
Strengths · The organization is a leader in importing and exporting FMCG products mainly from Asia to Africa. · The company also has a strong hold on European and French markets. · The company has established successful long- term relationships with the organization’s business partners. · The organization has become the ideal business partner of a majority of the Asian suppliers. · The organization has strong relationships with major distributors and importers in approximately 30 countries in Africa and Europe. · The company offers several specialized marketing, financial, legal and technical support to its major distributors. |
Weaknesses · The organization has some issues in its internal environment related to maintaining the departmental headcount. · The organization pays less attention to the satisfaction of the needs and wants of its stakeholders. · The organization also faces issues in terms of improper marketing expertise. |
Opportunities · The increased use of internet in business operations. · Available of new markets that might offer increased profits. · Favorable market conditions and absence of a large number of competitors. · Advancements in the technologies might provide additional advantages to the organization. |
Threats · The eventual rise in the number of competing firms is a potential threat to the organization. · Price wars with the competitors · Changes in the government laws related to exports and imports in the countries involved. |
The major strength of the company is that it has gained reputation and confidence of the suppliers and distributors by establishing strong relationships with them. This has enabled the organization to become the market leader in its field and expand its operations in more than 30 countries across the globe. The major strength of the organization lies in the fact that the organization has become the favorite business partner of a majority of the Asian suppliers. The organization provides additional benefits to its major business partners in the form of offering several specialized marketing, financial, legal and technical support to them. However, the organization faces several weaknesses in terms of its internal strategies and organizational structure. The company shall pay extra attention to the stakeholders and involve them in the important business activities in order to remove the weaknesses (Luthans, Luthans and Luthans 2015). On the other hand, technology and internet has provided adequate advantages to the organization for expanding its operations in different countries across the world. However, the increase in the number of competitors and the frequent changes in the government laws and policies highly affect the business activities of the organization and act as threats (Wagner III and Holle 2014).
SWOT analysis of the organization
Political: The political condition of a country largely determines the success or failure of an organization. An organization is able to run its business operations successfully only when there is proper political stability in the country (Cyert, and March 2015). Frequent changes in the government and the policies, largely affects the functioning of the businesses located in that nation. Singapore has quiet stable political conditions that reduce the amount of political risks on the organizations operating therein. Singapore is also considered to be the Asian country with lowest political instability. This has helped Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd to grow and sustain in the country along with the other organizations in the export- import organizations.
Economical: Singapore is a free- market economy and is still developing at a great speed. The economical condition of the country is better than the other ASEAN countries, which provides ample opportunities to the local businesses to flourish. The country has high per- capital income, which indicates that the population of the country has better spending capacity. This has provided opportunity to the export- import industry to flourish in the country. The government of the country also invests huge amounts in the economic development of the country, which encourages start- ups. However, there are certain constraints that hamper the economic development such as shortage of labor, rise in the cost of labor and decline in the productivity (Hogg and Terry 2014).
Social: Since Singapore is an Eastern country, it believes in traditions and values. A majority of the population of Singapore believes in working hard for fulfilling their desires, which increases the productivity of the country. This thinking has resulted in a higher purchasing power of the residents of Singapore and the organizations expect higher value business from them. Several reports have also shown that the population of Singapore prefers white collar jobs and refrain from blue collar jobs. Additionally, Singapore has a high rate of literacy, which provides the opportunity to the businesses to flourish (Tremewan 2016). The population of Singapore is well- educated and aware about the products and services available in the other countries, which provides opportunity to Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd.
Technological: Technology plays a vital role in the quality of life of a person and the changes in their lifestyle. Singapore is a technologically advanced nation and has proper communication and connectivity. All these factors help the businesses to conduct their business in lower cost and time duration. Technology has enabled the population of the country to easily connect with the other nations. This has helped the export- import industry to easily connect with the rest of the world and conduct their business smoothly.
PESTEL analysis of the organization
Environmental: Singapore has proper regulatory bodies that control the environmental pollution and ensure that the environment is safe for the residents. However, the country has considerably lost a huge portion of its mangrove area, which has put several species on the verge of extinction. The businesses in Singapore are required to comply with all the environmental rules and regulations. However, this does not impact the import- export industry much as the business activities do not cause much pollution (Chatterji 2016).
Legal: The government of Singapore believes that the growth of the businesses largely depends upon the favorable rules and legislations of the government (Yihan 2015). The country has several strict legislations that govern the business activities of the organizations. These laws affect the business activities of Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd and the entire export- import industry in the country.
The Mc Kinsey’s 7s framework is a management model that was developed by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, which included the seven crucial internal aspects of an organization, which the organizations are required to align properly in order to remain successful. This helps in enhancing the performance of an organization and aligning the departments and functions during merger or acquisition. In this report, the departments of Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd (FAE) are being merged. The 7 s model is divided into hard elements and soft elements. The hard elements comprise of strategy, structure and system whereas, the soft elements comprise of super ordinate goals, skills, style and staff. The hard elements are easier to be determined by the management and the management can exercise a better control over the hard elements (Mitchell, Fredendall and Cantrell 2015). On the contrary, the soft elements are difficult to be determined by the management and the management usually does not have much control over the soft elements. The soft elements are mainly influenced by the culture and are less tangible.
- Strategy:
The current strategy of Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd is that it emphasizes mainly on the Africa and considers it to be the core market. The major aim of the organization is to develop its relationships with its existing business partners and increasing its product line with the help of its business partners. In this manner, the organization intends to achieve its objectives (Szeto 2017). The organization deals with the competitive pressure by creating its goodwill in the market to such an extent that it is able to maintain its position as the market leader. The company has also explored the French and European markets in order to diversify its business while maintaining its current distribution strategy. However, the company shall attempt to explore markets in other areas and keep its business functions flexible in order to deal with the changes in the demands of the customers.
- Structure:
7-s framework
The present structure of Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd comprises of the Director, Sales Director, Sales Manager and Assistant Manager. At present the shipping assistants report to the executives Sarena and Jesline and the executive assistant (Devi) reports to the sales manager (Nur Hariyati) and Sales director (Celine Orefici). The warehouse assistant (Thar Lin) reports to the warehouse supervisor (Rosman), and he in turn reports to Nur Hariyati). Sarena and Jesline report to the assistant manager (Siti). Lastly, Nur Hariyati and Celine Orefici report to the director (Jean Jacques Belly). However, the organization is required to make a few changes in its structural hierarchy in order to maintain the headcount in the department (Shiri, Anvari and Soltani 2015). For this purpose a merge of the departments is suggested in order to make the line of communication simpler and less complicated. As a result, in the new hierarchical structure, the shipping assistants shall report to the executives Sarena and Jesline. The executives shall report to Assistant manager (Siti). Siti shall report directly to Nur Hariyati and sales director (Celine Orefici). There shall be an additional HR director (Julie) and a Finance director (Catherine Neo), who shall directly report to the Director (Jean Jacques Belly) along with Nur Hariyati and Celine Orefici.
- System:
The system refers to the HR systems and the financial systems present within an organization along with communication and storage system. Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd has proper sales department, HR department, warehouse department and finance department that ensures the proper functioning of the organization. The shipping assistants are responsible for preparing the shipping documents and ensure that the shipping activity is completed within time. The executive assistant is responsible for ordering non- warranty spare parts. The executives are responsible for booking shipments, procuring sales and purchase order, checking shipping assistant’s documents and ensuring that all the documents are as per the standard of the part of discharge (Zentner 2015). The assistant manager is responsible producing the purchase and sales order for getting confirmation. The sales manager is responsible for sending e-mails to the customers and suppliers for obtaining and providing quotations, ensuring that the electronic products are accompanied by with proper manuals and preparing purchase reports. The sales director is responsible mainly for developing and maintaining relationships with the customers and the suppliers, produce sales from the new suppliers and discussing the details about the new suppliers with the directors. Lastly, the director is responsible to oversee the entire organization and the activities of the managers, who directly report to him.
- Super ordinate goals:
Super ordinate goals of an organization comprises of the core values of an organization and its culture. It represents how strong are the values of an organization and the fundamental values on which the organization was built. The basic value on which the company was built upon was exclusivity and trust. The organization chose to work exclusively with its business partners and has been successful in building an attractive portfolio comprising of major well- known brands (Garcia 2016). This has enabled the organization to provide long- term benefits to its business partners. With the help of the extensive distribution network, the organization has been able to become an ideal business partner of a majority of the Asian suppliers, who wish to explore the African and European markets. FAE has strong relationships with major distributors and importers in approximately 30 countries in Africa and Europe. The company’s knowledgeable management team also offers several marketing, financial, legal and technical support to its major distributors.
- Style:
Style refers to the leadership style followed by the leaders and managers of an organization. The success of an organization largely depends upon the leadership style adopted by the organizational leaders and the level of effectiveness of the leadership style. The leadership style of the organizational leaders determines the level of cooperation and coordination among the team members along with their level of efficiency. Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd has proper organizational structure and the roles and responsibilities of the organizational leaders and managers are properly delegated. The most appropriate leadership style for the organization shall be transformational leadership style wherein the leaders work in coordination and cooperation with the subordinates and motivates them by acting as a role model to them (van der Hoeven, Maltes and Rogers 2016). Therefore, the organizational leaders are required to identify the necessary changes required, create the vision and implement the change within the organization by inspiring the other organizational members.
- Staff:
Staff refers to the existing positions within an organization and the required positions to be filled. This helps in analyzing the gaps in the present and required competencies. Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd provides employment to more than 75 individuals across the globe. It comprises of the Director, Sales Director, Sales Manager and Assistant Manager. The organization shall additionally have a HR manager and a Finance manager to manage the human resources and the finance of the organization respectively. The responsibilities and duties of all the managers are clearly defined along with the sequence of reporting (Ravanfar 2015). The managers of the organization have clearly defined duties and responsibilities beyond which they cannot act. For instance, the shipping assistants are responsible for preparing the shipping documents and ensure that the shipping activity is completed within time. The executive assistant is responsible for ordering non- warranty spare parts. The executives are responsible for booking shipments, procuring sales and purchase order, checking shipping assistant’s documents and ensuring that all the documents are as per the standard of the part of discharge. The staff is efficient in performing their duties and responsibilities therefore; there are no gaps in the required competencies within the organization.
- Skills:
Skill refers to the abilities of the organizational members to perform a task or activity. Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd provides employment to more than 75 individuals across the globe. With the contribution of the organizational members, the organization has been able to maintain its position as a market leader in sourcing and distributing FMCG products and consumer electronics products over the last twenty years. However, the organization is required to improve the skills and abilities of the organizational members in order to ensure that their diversification strategy remains successful and the organization is able to become market leader in the areas to be explored in future (Spaho 2014). The company has been successful in maintaining the same management team over the past twenty years and therefore, it must emphasize upon ensuring that the management team comprises of the required skills and qualities.
Therefore, it can be concluded from the Mc Kinsey’s 7 s model that Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd is required to bring some changes in its structure and style of leadership in order to remain successful in its upcoming ventures. The organization shall require appropriate change management strategies in order to maintain its position as a market leader and diversify its business successfully into the new markets. Proper organizational structure and implementation of transformational style of leadership shall enable the organization to remain successful in its future ventures and successfully implement change management within the organization.
The major targeted problem is to sustain the department headcount and to improve the behavior in terms of the given perception on the presentation or objective of the division that involves Director, Sales Director, Sales Manager, and Assistant Manager. This was not able to be proven at the level of Executive Assistant, which resulted in the reduction of the headcount. In order to solve the issue, a merge onto other department was suggested as it had become a small division now. However, this method did not turn out to be fruitful as it failed to sustain the headcount. This happened due to the lack of resources and the desired results competed with the organization rather that challenging the organization in terms of involving the business units (Francoasia.com, 2018).
The major solution to the issue is change management, which shall involve transformational change along with structural changes. In this particular case, stakeholder involvement and setting the consideration of the stakeholders in the mind along with working with a sense of maturity are the most suitable change management (Hayes 2014). Transformational change shall help the organization in solving its issues by ensuring maximum engagement of the stakeholders and encouraging the employees to consider intrinsic things about the organization rather than considering only the structure of the organization. This fundamental change shall be appropriate for the organization (Doppelt 2017).
Strategy refers to the plan of action that is designed in order to achieve a long- term goal or objective. The strategy shall involve implementing transformational leadership within the organization in order to solve the business issues (Cameron and Green 2015). Transformational leadership refers to the style of leadership wherein the organizational leaders or the team leaders’ work in coordination with the subordinates in order to determine the changes required, creating an appropriate vision by inspiring others and finally implementing the change with the help of the subordinates. Transformational leadership aims at motivating others and boosting their morale by acting as a role model to them. Transformational issues are the critical issues faced by the organizations, which have a direct link with the attitude and behaviors of the organizational members. These issues require deep analysis and proper leadership skills. Transformational leaders do not get involved in the process of decision- making and establishing strategic plans. Instead, they indulge in proper communication with the major stakeholders that helps them identify a more appropriate vision, which acts in the best interest of the stakeholders. Therefore the strategy shall involve the following:
- Personalizing management style: The leaders of the organization shall have to change their present style of leadership and adapt transformational style of leadership.
- Intellectual stimulation: The leaders of the organization shall be involved in continuous communication with the subordinates in order to ensure that the organizational environment is safe for having proper communication and the organizational members are free to share their opinions. This shall help in creating an environment of trust and cooperation (Kuipers et al. 2014).
- Individualized consideration: The leaders of the organization shall ensure that the organizational members are treated well and they shall adapt their style of working in accordance with the skills and abilities of the subordinates.
- Inspirational motivation: The organizational leaders shall act as a role model for the subordinates and shall motivate them in several ways. This might involve both monetary and non- monetary motivational techniques such as rewards and recognitions, incentives, promotions, and several others.
- Idealized influence: The leaders of the organization shall set themselves as an example in front of the subordinates in order to influence them in a positive manner (Goetsch and Davis 2014).
- Perseverance through conflict: It shall be known to the organizational leaders that change management might result in several conflicts, which they shall have to handle in a proper manner. The leaders shall communicate with the subordinates in order to resolve any conflicts arising as a result of the change.
Strategy implementation refers to the conversion of the strategies into actions in order to accomplish the goals and objectives of the organization (Pugh 2016). The implementation of the strategy is more important than formulating the strategy and the organizational leaders must be very careful while implementing the strategy within an organization. Strategic management refers to the manner in which the organizations define their strategies. Strategic management is a continuous process wherein the organizational leaders decide which strategies to be implemented within an organization. Strategy implementation is a part of strategic management, which is the action stage of the process. In case, the existing organizational structure does not support the implementation of the strategy, then the necessary structure is required to be installed at the beginning of the step. It is necessary to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the organizational members before implementing any strategy so that the organizational members are ready to execute the plan or adapt the change. In case of Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd, some changes are required to be brought in the organizational system so that the change is implemented successfully and the organization derives benefits from the change strategy. In the new hierarchical structure, the shipping assistants shall report to the executives Sarena and Jesline. The executives shall report to Assistant manager (Siti). Siti shall report directly to Nur Hariyati and sales director (Celine Orefici). There shall be an additional HR director (Julie) and a Finance director (Catherine Neo), who shall directly report to the Director (Jean Jacques Belly) along with Nur Hariyati and Celine Orefici (Francoasia.com, 2018).
Strategy implementation is an important step of strategic management and it comprises of the general principles and the proper techniques to be used. Strategic management involves decision- making regarding the future processes and implementation of those decisions within the organization. Strategic management is divided basically into two parts namely strategic planning and strategic implementation. It emphasizes upon formulation of appropriate strategies and implementation of these strategies, which helps an organization to achieve its strategic goals (Matos Marques Simoes and Esposito 2014). The quality of the strategy of an organization is largely determined by the planning and implementation of the strategy. The gap between the strategy formulation and strategy implementation is required to be filled by the management process. Change management acts as an instrument for the implementation of strategies within an organization. In case of Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd, change management shall act as an instrument for strategy implementation. The change to be brought within the organization is in terms of the structure and the leadership style and this change shall act as an instrument for formulation of the appropriate strategy for the organization and the implementation of the strategy. Therefore, it can be concluded that change management acts as an instrument for strategy implementation.
The vision of the company is to sustain the department headcount and to improve the organizational behavior so that the organization can maintain the position of market leader in its field.
It is necessary to communicate the vision to all the stakeholders and inform them prior to the implementation of the change management strategy as the stakeholders are most likely to be affected by the change. In case of Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd, the change shall be formally communicated to the stakeholders and their suggestions shall be obtained in order to avoid any future conflicts. Communicating the vision to the stakeholders shall ensure that the stakeholders are satisfied with the change management strategy (Creasey and Hiatt 2014).
The major obstacle in the process of implementing change within an organization is resistance among the stakeholders. The other obstacles are as following:
- The organization might not identify the strategies that shall be appropriate or realizable. In such a case, the organization must involve the stakeholders especially the organizational employees in the change process and obtain ideas from them.
- There might be lack of compatibility between the long- term strategic goals of the organization and the departmental goals. In such a case, the organizational leaders must involve the departmental heads before deciding the organizational goals.
- There might be lack of proper communication within the organization and absence of a feedback system. In such a case, the organizational leaders must communicate the proposed change to the stakeholders and obtain proper feedback from them in order to avoid future disturbances (Lines et al. 2015).
It is necessary to create short- term wins while implementing the change within an organization. The short – term win must be created by ensuring that the success is unambiguous. The organizational leaders must make the short- term win visible within the organization and must be properly related to the change effort in order to keep the organizational members motivated. Short- term wins helps the organizations to keep the organizational members satisfied with the organizational changes (Gollenia 2016).
Conclusion:
It can be concluded that organizational behavior involves identifying and analyzing the behavior of the organizational members in their organizational roles in order to reframe the organizational theories and improve the organizational life. Change management is an important aspect of strategic management that helps an organization to improve its internal processes in order to remain ahead of the competitors. In case of Franco- Asian Enterprise Singapore Pte Ltd, some changes are required to be brought in the organizational system so that the change is implemented successfully and the organization derives benefits from the change strategy. These changes are basically changes in its organizational structure and leadership style. The changes in the organizational structure and implementing transformational leadership style shall enable the organization to maintain its position as the market leader in its field and help the organization in diversifying its business operations successfully in to different markets.
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