Discussion
Management refers to the process with a social element. It is one of the important aspects of a business which does not have the same specific responsibilities and duties that some of the other parts of the business have (Rosemann & Vom Brocke, 2015). In this scenario, the duty of the manager would be to oversee a team of ten supervisors and ninety packers and would also oversee the entire operation of the warehouse. In order to do this work effectively, a manger must have a broader set of knowledge and skills associated with the tasks related to the businesses. However, in order to do this role of overseeing the entire warehouse, the give functions of management shall be applied. This paper shall be elaborating on those five functions of management and the roles that the manager shall play in order to ensure that he is playing his roles and responsibilities in effective manner.
The five functions of management include planning, organising, staffing, leading and controls (Berry, Boradbent & David, 2016). All these five functions of the management have gradually become some of the most cited terms. Planning is the very first managerial function. It is all about creating a well detailed plan for attaining a specific organisational objective. In this function, one identifies a task that is required in order to achieve the desired objective or goal and outline how the task is to be performed. The second is the function of organising. It is all about making use of the plans that are set in order to bring in the financial, physical and all the other relevant available resources and then use them for achieving the specific organisational objective and goal. The third function of management is staffing (Stanton et al., 2017). It is to note that this function is the increasingly important function of management, though many a times it is left out in the discussion of the core functions. This function is very closely linked with organising. For this function, the main focus in on the people and their respective labour in regard to the organisational goals. The main aim of this function is to make sure that the organisation always has the correct people in correct designations and that the structure of the organisation is not hindered by excess or lack of manpower. Moreover, the fourth function of management is directing. It is basically about the process of actuation of the methods in order to work effectively for achieving the desired organisational objectives. This function has a very strong link with leadership and it is a very important role in an organisation because it helps in strengthening the operational capability of the very company. The last but not the least is the function of controlling. This function makes sure that the other four functions are been considered and followed correctly as well as to ensure that the work flow is continuous in the organisation towards the objectives that it has set itself. As stated by Becker et al. (2016), the function of controlling is the process of checking whether proper progress has been made or not towards the goals and objectives and that correction is made if necessary. It helps in examining the objectives in measurable way.
1. Planning
Hence, as I have been promoted to a manager from a mere employee working in the Amazon warehouse, I have now many duties and responsibilities to follow. I shall be applying the above mentioned five functions of management in the following ways:
1.Planning- I shall plan in a way to gain better understanding and knowledge regarding the issue that Amazon is facing and shall assess the organisational objectives as well as the different components that they involve. I shall determine those objectives and identify the detailed goals and specific objectives which are necessary in order to attain bigger goals. I shall also focus on the organisational structure and shall create more flexible structures if necessary. In order to build an effective and culture, I shall ensure that there is transparency and open communication into the organisation and that the staffs are getting sense of freedom.
2.Organising- At present, the function based groups are the most powerful characteristics of the organisational structure of Amazon. The organisational structure of this company enables an extensive control on the worldwide e-commerce operations. As because of the fact that Amazon is one of the leading global business, it should maintain an organisational structure which adequately support the ever expanding market reach. The three most significant characteristics of the corporate structure of Amazon are global hierarchy, geographic divisions and global function based groups. It is to note that the present structure that the Amazon has set up is been working efficiently. However, in order to make it more effective and efficient, the company could implement an evolving corporate structure which could benefit it as it adds more products and eventually diversifies its business. Departmentalisation or grouping will be depending on many factors, especially on the type, size and scale of the organisation. As it has been already said in the case study that there will be two teams in the ware house, the packers and the supervisors. Hence, I shall departmentalise them under the category of senior supervisors, junior supervisors, supervising manger, and small pack packers, medium pack packers and large batch packers.
3.Staffing- I shall plan about manpower as it can be changed from one season to another. I shall also think about the process of training and development of the packers so that to ensure that they are always on the top most level of the latest knowledge and skills in their position and the warehouse as well. I shall also be looking after the matter of remuneration. The remuneration of the staffs, the packers and the supervisors is fundamental in terms of attracting the correct talents and that too without damaging the finances of the company. I shall be offering them a competitive remuneration package in order to ensure that these staffs do not leave the organisation and go to our competitors. I shall also motivate them through rewarding them with enough opportunities. Increment in salaries shall be applicable to the workers who are appointed on the basis of permanent terms.
2. Organizing
4.Leading or directing- I shall be supervising or overseeing the works that the employees and the workers are doing. I shall keep a watch on them and monitor their performances but with the same, I shall also support and guide them when things are not working as they are planned. I shall be using evaluation reports and examining the quality of works. I shall also conduct team meetings. As a manager, I shall also create an environment which would support the different communication methods right from passing the information to exchanging the opinions in between each and every departments within the warehouse. With the same, I shall be occasionally motivating and inspiring them by setting an example. The leadership style that I shall be following in order to ensure that the above things happen is that of transactional leadership. This is due to the fact that this styles focuses on the role of organisation, supervision as well as group performance (Birasnav, 2014). This style is more concerned about daily progress that is taking place within the organisation towards the desired goals. It shall be also concerned with the maintenance of normal flow in the warehouse operations. Just like the transactional leaders I shall be using a wide range of incentives in order to motivate my employees in order to give their best. It is also to note that a transactional leader does not look forward in way of strategically guiding a company to a position of the market leadership. It instead is often concerned with ensuring that everything is flowing smoothly.
5.Controls- For the process of controlling to be effective, I shall take the following four steps of this function of management and they are:
- Establishing the standards of performance- I shall first establish some standards of performance that I am aiming for. I shall be setting with keeping the organisational objectives in mind.
- Measuring the actual performance- After setting the standards, I shall be start monitoring the performance. This process shall depend on the standards as well as the ease of measurement. Some of the parts of this process would be performance reviews or actual quantifiable data etc.
- Comparing the actual performance with the expected standards- After collecting the performance data, I shall be starting with making a comparison in between them and the set standards. It shall help me in identifying the problem areas which are working more significantly.
- Taking corrective actions- With the presence of data and information about the performances, I could take other necessary corrective actions. If I find that the performance is not up to the mark, I shall then look for ways in order to boost the performances.
Conclusion
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that all the five functions of management are interlinked with each other. In order to make use of any one function, I need to follow the other as well. If any one of the function is missed, then it is to consider that the management is operating ineffectively and insufficiently and hence, the efficiency of the organisation might suffer then. As a good manager, I need to keep an eye on all these five functions and that too, often at the same time in order to guarantee profitability and productivity.
References:
Becker, J., Delfmann, P., Dietrich, H. A., Steinhorst, M., & Eggert, M. (2016). Business process compliance checking–applying and evaluating a generic pattern matching approach for conceptual models in the financial sector. Information Systems Frontiers, 18(2), 359-405.
Berry, A. J., Broadbent, J., & Otley, D. T. (Eds.). (2016). Management control: theories, issues and practices. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Birasnav, M. (2014). Knowledge management and organizational performance in the service industry: The role of transformational leadership beyond the effects of transactional leadership. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), 1622-1629.
Rosemann, M., & vom Brocke, J. (2015). The six core elements of business process management. In Handbook on business process management 1 (pp. 105-122). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Stanton, N. A., Jenkins, D. P., Salmon, P. M., Walker, G. H., Revell, K. M., & Rafferty, L. A. (2017). Digitising command and control: a human factors and ergonomics analysis of mission planning and battlespace management. CRC Press.
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