Case Study on Business Activity Management

Understand the importance of business processes in delivering outcomes

There ia an interrelationship between different processes and functions of ABC ltd. There are number of functions performed by the cited recruitment firm and they are directly or indirectly linked with procedures performed by the firm. Some of the functions and their linking with process of the firm have been explained below :

Job design and development :In order to recruit or hire candidates, whose profile suits business, it is important for recruiters of ABC firm to prepare and develop a design of job (Burgstahler and Eames, 2006). As a result, only those candidates will apply whose qualifications matches’ requirement of job. Here, a process is to be followed by recruiters after receiving application of job proposals. They have to select the best alternatives out of many. Proper inspection of resumes applied by applicants is done and recruiters of the cited firm selects limited number of individuals whose qualification is best suited to vacancy.

Interview :It is the most important function of recruitment department of ABC limited to conduct interviews of selected candidates. Numbers of questions are asked to them regarding their background, educational qualifications, past experience and any other additional information which can be useful for the firm (Ulrich, 2013).

Business process modeling

Business process modeling is the set of activities performed to understand the nature of business, roles and responsibilities of employees working within the firm, various standards that are used to complete business processes so the success of business processes can be determined. The main purpose of using business process modeling is to aid business organizations in becoming much more efficient. When a firm keeps clear information about its business process maps or diagrams, other competitive firms can have a deep look in activities of business management and to decide whether improvement can be made in their own operations or not (Cherbakov and et. al., 2005).In order to measure performance of activities performed by employees of the firm, ABC limited can use business process modeling tool to evaluate action plans taken by recruiters to hire new candidates. Sometimes, it happens that due to wrong selection of employees, working performance gets and affected and managers has to bear loss. Therefore, it is very crucial for the cited firm to use this mapping model to achieve goals or objectives.

Output of business mapping model and the quality gateways

Business process modeling assisted ABC firm in most advantageous manner. After implementing this tool in business, achievement of goals and objectives looked simpler. Through adopting this tool in business activities are inspected in more cautious manner, as a result, improvement has been observed in current performance (Anderson, 2003). Through enhancing recruitment and selection process, human resource management of the cited firm has gained qualitatitive employees in very less times period. Human resource management after identifying better understandability of all the activities performed in ABC firm has gained good knowledge about type of employees required to be recruited.On the other hand, quality gateway is the process which is performed to for testing or identifying need of requirement. Here, in this situation, ABC Recruitment Company is not working with full potentiality due to which it is suffering from loss in financial terms. In other words, due to inappropriate selection of unqualified or unsuitable employees, they are not being able to work with criteria set by the firm (Figge and et. al., 2002). Therefore, tool of gateway is used in order to revise or perform a thorough analysis of need or requirement of right kind of candidates.

Be able to develop plans for own area of responsibility to implement operational plans

In order to promote goals and objectives of own area, it is very important to look over various factors such as :

Internal and external customers :Internal customers are those people who are working within the firm itself. In other words, people who are engaged in activities and operations of the firm are known as internal customers (Ritter, Wilkinson and Johnston, 2004). These customers almost similar to that of employees. For example, sales people who are linked with their external client if does not place orders properly, it impacts on firm. Therefore, internal customers are of very high significance for the firm. They are required to be highly skilled and knowledgeable. On the other hand, external customers are the people who buy products and services directly from the firm. Here, understanding of their needs and preferences by the firm is very important so that sales and productivity can be increased.

Principles and methods to short-to-medium term planning :It means that ABC firm if wants to improves its overall performance, human resource managers and recruiters of the firm should make planning for limited time period so that they can judge variations in needs and preferences of their external customers in effective manner (Anderson and Anderson, 2010). The cited recruitment firm should use such techniques and methods that can be very handy to plan for short term objectives. For example SMART objectives are the best method to plan for achieving goals and objectives for limited time period.

SMART objectives of ABC recruitment firm

In order to assign short and medium term goals, the cited recruitment firm uses SMART objective criteria in such a manner :

Specific :This recruitment firm is facing financial loss from recent time period, therefore, one of the specific objectives of ABC recruitment firm is to raise funds of business through hiring right kind of candidates whose qualifications and personality exactly matches requirement of the firm (Jeston and Nelis, 2014).

Measurable :The objective set by the firm indicates that recruitment managers and human resource managers have desired to recruit minimum of 500 highly skilled and qualified employees at the end of three months.

Achievable :Hiring such a huge quantity of employees is not a simple task; therefore, it is required by the recruiting department to set only those objectives that can be achieved appropriately.

Realistic :Many a times, it has been seen that due to targeting impossible objectives, firms often fail to achieve them till the end (Mentzer and et. al., 2001). Therefore, it is very crucial for ABC firm to plan for recruiting 500 employees if they have adequate amount of resources and funds.

Time-scale :Objective of employing 500 employees must get completed within three months only to get those employees in action as early as possible.

Appropriate systems to achieve objectives in most efficient way

In order to achieve objectives in most desired manner, it is very significant for ABC limited to use certain methods or techniques which can assist recruiters, human resource managers and top level management in achieving goals. Some of the methods are as follows :

Risk management :Managing risk in today’s world is not unusual because every company take some sort of risks in every activities or procedure (Leymann, Roller and Schmidt, 2002). Therefore, the cited firm also has to take certain type of risks so that their objective of hiring numerous candidates can be achieved.

Alignment of resources with objectives :This is another method through which achieving objective of recruiting 500 employees become easier. It is because, the cite recruitment firm possess adequate amount of resource because it is a large firm, and for recruiting such a huge number of employees, managers of the firm can use their resources like financial resources, human resources and external resources like advertising agencies, promoters and remaining stakeholders (Gebert and et. al., 2003). All these resource can be effectively used by the firm so that objectives can be achieved in desired manner.

Activities meeting out operational plans through monitoring and control

There are number of ways in which operational plans can be achieved through different monitoring and controlling techniques. Some of the tools and techniques are as follows :

Just-in-time :It is a technique that can be used by mentioned recruiting firm which assists recruiters to analysis which type of employees are required at a specific times. This technique is very useful when the firm has limited number of resources.

Statistical quality control :It is a method of quality control which uses various kinds of statistical methods (Becken and Simmons, 2002). The main advantage of using this tool is that it helps to monitor and control a process and here the main objective of this firm is to recruit large number of employees and if proper maintenance and control over the activities is not kept, firm may have to suffer losing conditions again.

Working with organizational constraints and limitations :It is very difficult to keep control over activities when firms has limited amount of resources. In this scenario, ABC recruitment firm is already underperforming and objectives which are defined has to be achieved in such limited financial resource only (Tsai, 2001).

Be able to monitor appropriate systems to improve organizational performance

There are number of standards used in business organizations to manage and monitor their standards of quality, some of them which are used in ABC firm are as follows :

Total quality management :Total quality management is a technique or tool used to for getting continuous improvement in procedures of the firm (Lönnqvist and Pirttimäki, 2006). In this recruiting firm, this tool can be effectively used for improvement of employees and recruitment process. Not only that, but TQM is very effective in saving huge cost or expenditure. Another main advantage of this tool for ABC firm is, it helps to resist turnover of employees and in this scenario, this has been one of the biggest problem, ABC recruiters and managers are facing.

Quality circles :In this process, a group of employees comes together to analyze over a particular situation. In other words, a team is employed for inspecting quality of activities. For example, in production of goods and services, products passes through different member of quality team and each member checks the quality of product individually.

ISO 9000 :It is an international standard of quality management which is used by every large and small firm in the world for inspecting quality of their procedures and activities (Uotila and et. al., 2009). The main benefit of such standard is that, it helps to reduce huge costs expended in operational activities and also improves internal communication. In the current scenario, ABC requires both good communication as well as reduction of operation expenditure, so this tool can be very effective in bringing improvement in quality of ABC recruitment firm.

Demonstration of quality culture to ensure continuous monitoring, evaluation and development of the process

In order to maintain quality for continuous improvement in performance of operations, Abc recruitment firm uses different methods such as :

Cost/benefit analysis :It is a systematic approach that is used to identify strengths and weaknesses of activities performed by business organization (Hult and et. al., 2004). In this scenario, ABC firm should use this tool in order to understand or identify effectiveness of their implemented changes or activities. This analysis is used to determine alternatives that avails the best procedure to be adopted and practices for benefit in labor, time as well as cost saving etc.

Risk analysis : Such an analysis helps to identify dangers or uncertainties that are likely to arise against employees as well as managers of the firm. This analysis helps the cited firm to prevent those factors which impacts on success of business (Kuemmerle, 2002). After identification of risk, analyzing team make efforts to mitigate that risk so that it does not make adverse effects on firm.

Recommendations for improvement

In order to bring improvement in performance of ABC limited, several recommendations have been given :

Planning :For betterment in performance of the firm, management officials have to make continuous planning so that each and every step taken can be measured. Current conditions of ABC limited are so weak because employees of the firm are underperforming. Therefore, it is advisable for the firm and its human resource management to bring more focus on their human capital (Kimberling, 2015).

Proposing :It refers to involvement of employees in decision-making process in order to receive their proposals. Many a times, it has been seen that employee’s suggestions adds great values. Therefore, it is crucial to participate employees in each and every decision making program.

Implementing and evaluating changes :The cited firm has to make necessary changes on regular basis in order to balance situations in firm’s favor. Necessary changes are very necessary due to alterations in customer’s needs and preferences, technological changes and environmental changes (Wheelen, 2008).

Wider implication of proposed changes

Business Process Reengineering : It is a business management strategy which is based on analysis and design of workflows and business activities. This model assists firm to rethink about their operations and activities in order to implement changes required for reducing cost of operations and increasing profitability. ABC firms can gain increment in satisfaction of their customers as well as top level management. And another major benefit of business process reengineering is, [it provides flexibility in activities of business. This model also helps cited firm in gaining competitive advantage over long time period (Dwyer and Tanner, 2002).As a result, confidence level of employees as well as employers increases in order to strengthen their power. More improvements can be seen pin activities of business if proper maintenance is kept upon activities of ABC limited. This model enables the firm to realize quick improvement in business operations and provides benefits in desired manner. With the implication of BPR tool, lot of time can be saved by the employees and as a result, some more meaningful works can be performed by staff workers which can provide them long term benefits.

Be able to manage health and safety in the workplace

Controlling of risk at workplace is known as risk assessment. It is an assessment of managing health and safety of people who are engaged in business activities (Melnyk, Sroufe and Calantone, 2003). It is not just about creating planning but sensible measures are taken by management regarding avoidance of hazardous situations from the workplace. According to Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, enacted by parliament of United Kingdom, it is the general duty of employers to take responsibility of health and safety of employees working under them. According to this Act, employers must provide a safe workplace to employees where employees are free from any hazardous situation.

Application of health and safety legislation within the workplace

ABC firm’s human resource managers have made organizational policies regarding health and safety of employees. They have provided emergency exits for employees at their workplace. Employees are given special suits which are protective during fire situations. Life insurance of each and every employee is conducted in order to compensate staff workers in case if they suffer from loss (Davenport and Short, 2003). Effective policies have been made regarding health and safety of employees. Tools and equipments provided to employees are totally free from risk. All these policies are evidence that the cited firm has made policies in regard of their employees in context of Health and Safety Act 1974.

Review of health and safety measures

The cited firm has made certain organizational policies regarding health and safety of their employees. Employees are given training for protecting themselves from hazardous situations. Earlier in the firm, such kinds of policies were not introduced, as a result, huge turnover could be observed. But now, new employees are seeking for their health and safety at workplace (Uotila and et. al., 2009). On the other hand, the firm also organizes risk assessment in order to avoid any kind of risk within the workplace. These measures ensure that ABC firm has taken various measures for health and safety of employees.

Practical application of health and safety policies and procedures

Practical applications of health and safety policies and procedures can be seen in change in attitudes of public or external customers. Health and safety measures adopted by the firm impact people who reside outside the firm as well. Their behavior and attitudes can be seen positively after implication of changes made by the firm. Employees of the firm also seem satisfied with the workplace because they are ensured for safety by their employees (Hult and et. al., 2004). Improvements can be observed in performance of the firm. Managers seem to be happy with changes in activities of the cited firm.

Conclusion

With the help of about report, it has been concluded that ABC recruitment firm has made good efforts in order to improve their activities. Initially, top level management of the firm was not happy with the performance of the firm but later on, the firm adapted numerous changes in its policies and procedures which resulted positively. Apart from that, the cited firm used various models such as business process reengineering, total quality management and just in time techniques. All these techniques provided good results for the firm and as a result performance of the firm got improved in desired manner. Along with all these changes, the firm implicated number of health and safety measures to safeguard their employees and that also resulted positively in improvement in performance of the firm.

References

• Anderson, D. and Anderson, L. A., 2010. Beyond change management: How to achieve breakthrough results through conscious change leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
• Anderson, D. J., 2003. Agile management for software engineering: Applying the theory of constraints for business results. Prentice Hall Professional.
• Dwyer, F. R. and Tanner, J. F., 2002. Business marketing: Connecting strategy, relationships, and learning. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
• Jeston, J. and Nelis, J., 2014. Business process management. Routledge.
• Smith, H. and Fingar, P., 2003. Business process management: the third wave(Vol. 1). Tampa: Meghan-Kiffer Press.
• Ulrich, D., 2013. Human resource champions: The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Harvard Business Press.
• Wheelen, T. L., 2008. Concepts in strategic management and business policy. Pearson Education India.
• Becken, S. and Simmons, D. G., 2002. Understanding energy consumption patterns of tourist attractions and activities in New Zealand. Tourism Management.
• Burgstahler, D. and Eames, M., 2006. Management of earnings and analysts' forecasts to achieve zero and small positive earnings surprises. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting.

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