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10/6/2011 Katarna McPake

Table of Contents
Strategic Decisions .................................................................................................................................. 1 Operational Decision ........................................................................................................................... 1 Office Manager.................................................................................................................................... 2 Delegation ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Signs of poor delegation: ................................................................................................................. 4 Process of delegation ....................................................................................................................... 4 Leadership ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Index ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 References ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Books ............................................................................................................................................... 8 Internet............................................................................................................................................. 8 Notes................................................................................................................................................ 8 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 9

Tutor Assignment
Strategic Decisions
Strategic decision making is for top-management. They set long term goals and objectives. They are concerned with external influences such as stock market, politics and competition; but customers and suppliers as well. Their decisions includes expansion, merging, introduction of new products, development and any improvements or serious changes in companys policy in order to maintain a future for the company and raise performance and companys profit. Their source of information is qualitative, graphs and reports. Their decisions are unstructured, long term and high risk. Our company, House Rentals 4U, could recruit new staff in order to cover for absenting employees, so work is still done and quality of services is maintained. It is a strategic decision as recruitment and selection requires time for introducing new staff, training and time to adapt to a new environment. This decision is serious and high risk as it involves paying out more salaries, being responsible for more bodies and still all policies, laws and all needed administration have to be followed.Having an extra outlay in these poor economic times can work against the company. If recruitment of new staff would be unsuccessful; it could have a huge impact on companys reputation and overall performance.

Operational Decision
Operational decision includes bottom management. They plan and manage day-to-day routine operation of the office. This includes, for example staffing, immediate resources, work-schedules and workforce. Decisions are short-term decisions, and are aimed to keep operations running smoothly and consistently. Decision and operational staff make sure absenteeism and stock levels up to date and that policies, practices and procedures are up to date and fully followed. Information, which operational level requires is quantitative, that means exact values and numbers. Data is detailed,.low risk and structured. House Rentals 4U is missing procedures which should be followed to do tasks such as answering phone calls. This is an operational decision as it is done daily; it is part of daily routine during dealing with customers. Operational decisions are structured as certain structure has to be followed, as in this example where the procedure would have a structure which had to be followed as a guide. . They are short term decisions, as standards and requirements can be changed from day to day or month to month. All these decisions are low risk decisions, so if in this case they are unsuccessful or dont follow the procedure, they can be easily changed without any serious harm or damage. Customer mat complain and this needs to be dealt with sensitively to improve the company image but it would not result in serious harm.

Office Manager
The Office manager at operational level is responsible for routine operational tasks and decisions. He helps with creating operational plans following all procedures and policies. He also follows SMART planning and decides on budgeting; is responsible for introducing, monitoring and evaluation of the operational plan and overall performance of the operational level of company. House Rentals 4U suffers from issues such as staff absenteeism and no set house style. Both problems could be resolved by an operational manager. Staff absenteeism could be resolved by hiring more people, but meanwhile, notices of being absent in the future could be introduced to prevent the situation when nobody is able to do required, daily work. The notice could include an exact date, time and reason for being absent. With enough time to arrange a replacement, quality of services could be maintained, as absent worker would be replaced by other appropriate member of staff with the same training as absentee has. Issue of no house style has to be resolved as the correspondence of company creates companys image and reputation. It could be solved really quickly and effectively, by hiring specialist or consultant to help with creation of the house style. Ideally, present staff could be given an opportunity to show off their skills and to help with creating companys image. Award or extra money could be considered. Financial Planning Financial Planning helps to forecast future costs; to have quite a bit of control over the companys finances and allows the addition of new products and expansion. Financial planning makes clearly visible if a future business will or will not be successful. It highlights periods of time when extra budget is needed and it helps to spot future possible problems, so the company can set aside money for solutions to this.

However, financial planning is time consuming and employees or anybody in the company can have problems with its interpretation. Process of creating it can be expensive as an accountant and financial adviser are usually required. It can discourage managers to go ahead with planning, as current performance of the company could be far of any desired results. The process of financial planning starts with the manager asking for consent for financial planning, Strategic management has to consider all possible factors, objectives and outcomes. Then it allocates finances at the operational stage. Finally, all progress and developments are controlled monitored and any feedback received. Bottom up and top down communication is essential during this process. In the case of our company, House Rentals 4U, financial planning will help to divide a budget. Money could be set aside for extra payments to reward employees, as they have never been paid for overtime. Staff can feel de-motivated, stressed
The Financial Planning Process 1

and underestimated. All these factors affect their performance and the companys profits as well. Extra money would motivate them and would make them feel that the company cares about them and that they are truly needed. Their work performance and results will improve and even overtime work will be of better quality and still up to standards, because a motivated employee is a great resource for company. The operational plan would then be achieved.

Budgetary Control
Budgetary Control gives the manager control over finances, helps with planning and setting objectives and motivates staff. It helps to supervise a financial situation such as the goals set for the operational plan, for example in case the cost of goods is too high, then the manager can cut or change supplier; if sales are too low, more money can be invested in advertisement. If the expenditure and goals are supervised the enough finance will be left to complete projects and the operational plan. The budget is expected income and expenditure in the future. The difference between the budget and final numbers of financial results is called a variance.

Budgetary control is a process during which the budget is managed, monitored and supervised. During budget control all objectives must be set and SMART planning must be followed, as it helps overcome possible troubles and problems.

However, the manager has to be competent and possess the required skills to be able to follow budgetary control and it is a time consuming process. All information provided for the control must be up-to-date as mistakes could be made in the future. Budgetary control could help our company to make decisions about promotion and advertisement as profit of Houses Rentals 4U is decreasing, interest of customers is lowering and fewer new customers use our services. Managing our budget and setting money aside and consequently investing them into a new website, flyers or television adverts could market services better and overall profit could increase.

Delegation
Woodrow Wilson stated, I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow.
Delegation is a process during which tasks and challenges are given to appropriate persons. The manager may have a lorge workload and has to delegate tasks responsibly, as he is the person responsible for all results. He has to provide constant feedback and support as finished work has to reach certain standards. Advantages of delegation are: manager can concentrate on much more important tasks staff feel motivated and trusted, consequently they are more useful for the company skills of members of the team slowly develop

Barrier to effective delegation:

low staff morale bad communication bad relationship, lack of respect and trust Not having correct skillsteam is confused work overload too many questions about delegated tasks

However there are tasks which should not be delegated such as dissmissing hiring, teambuilding,giving promotion etc.

Process of delegation
The task has to be defined and the Manager has to consider strengths and weaknesses of all staff and pick the most suitable employee. The Manager has to be sure that the person with all needed skills and attributes is picked. Otherwise, tasks will not be finished up to standards and the whole delegation process is wasted time and has affected the companys performance. Deadlines and objectives have to be set. The Manager has to make sure that the employee has enough support and information to accomplish the task and the Manager has to monitor development of the tasks and reply to any feedback and questions from the employee, who still should be given enough space to add their ideas solutions and innovations. The whole delegation process should be supervised and have regular consultations. Communication is very important. At the end of the task, all employees have to be given credit for accomplished task, even in the case of a small job. Providing needed material and explaining given task

Assignment of duties to employee

Giving authority

Monitoring and controlling

Evaluation and closing

Process of Delegation 1

House rentals 4U had experienced a poor quality of delegation, as manager did not discuss changes with staff and made all decisions according to his own ideas. Relationship between the office manager and staff was bad, and the Manager lacked the employees respect, who were demotivated. If tasks were delegated, the Manager did not make sure that the picked person has required skills and training. The best solution would be to hold meetings, make a training analysis survey to summarise who has what skills, so the manager will be sure and fully informed about the abilities of all staff. Employees should be informed about any changes via email or weekly meetings. Obviously, only information which they need will be distributed. They could be involved in making procedures. This would improve communication, internal relationship within company and staff performance as well.

Leadership
Mullins stated that; leadership is a relationship throught which one person influences the behaviour or actions of other people. 1 There is several kinds of leadership based on a function of personality or behavioural category. Our company has adopted authoritarian or autocratic style of leaderhip. In this case, all power is held by the manager, who does not discuss any changes or any decisions without consulting with employee, only managers.Decisions are made really hastily and they are wrong sometimes. This model makes staff fully dependent on the leader. Employees act according to Theory X, which is a theory about human behaviour at work enviroment. This theory states that staff has negative attitude towards work,; they are lazy,trying to avoid responsibility; they are not ambitious. Consequently, staff must be permanently supervised and directed.

This theory applies to House Rentals 4U, as the atmosphere on workplace is bad, the relationship between staff and management is unfriendly and overall results and productivity of staff is low because staff motivation is low.Organisational effeciency is low and the operational plan may not be on target due to this. Our company should adopt a democratic model of leadership which is what the management style was at the beginning. This model is based on encouraging staff to work, interaction within the team. Decision making power is shared and managers and leaders are equal members of the team. All members ideas have an equal power over decision-making, policies, inovations and procedures. Democratic Leadership can be consultative and persuasive. Consultative democratic leadership is when all decisions are consulted with staff, before any changes are implemented. Persuasive democratic leadership is when leader persuades other members of team to accept decision, which have been already made. Democratic Leadeship is connected with bnehavioral Theory Y.This theory states that staff seek responsibility, opportunities for promotions; they have positive attitude towards work and they are ambitious and self-motivated. The manager is opened, highly supportive and under less pressure. Staff are given as much possibilities for learning and development as possible. Tasks are sucessfully delegated as employees are wiling to work.Employees feels motivated and happy to work. The results are satisfying, companys productivity is high and objectives are reached.

Mullins L.J. (2007), Management and Organisational Behavior, Edinburgh: Pearson education Limited, page 363

Index
A absenteeism ........................................................... 2 B bad communication ............................................... 4 Budgetary Control ................................................. 3 D Delegation .......................................................... 4, 5 Democratic Leadership .......................................... 6 F Financial Planning .................................................. 2 L low staff morale ..................................................... 4 M motivated ....................................................... 2, 4, 6 O Office manager ................................................... 2, 5 Operational Decision .............................................. 1 unstructured .......................................................... 1 W work overload ........................................................ 4 P Process of delegation ............................................. 4 profits ..................................................................... 2 S satisfying, companys productivity......................... 6 SMART planning ..................................................2, 3 staffing ................................................................... 1 Strategic Decisions ................................................. 1 structured .............................................................. 1 T team is confused .................................................... 4 Theory X ................................................................. 5 Theory Y ................................................................. 6 training analysis ..................................................... 5 U

References
Books
Mullins L.J. (2007), Management and Organisational Behavior, 7th Edition, Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited, page 812 Mullins L.J. (2007), Management and Organisational Behavior, 7th Edition Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited, page 363

Internet
Samo Education(2011), The Art and Act of Delegation [online],October 2011, Available from: http://www5.semo.edu/pscouncil/proftips/DELEGATION.htm [Accessed 05.10.2011] Budget Mussing (2011),The Financial Planning process-Simplified [online], 2010,Available from: http://calendarbudget.com/wordpress/the-financial-planning-process-simplified/ [Accessed 05.10.2011] The Advantages and Disadvantages, http://www.startrungrow.com/information/business/1,2327,theadvantages-and-disadvantages.htm Think Exist.com (2011), Quotes [online],Available from: ttp://thinkexist.com/quotation/i_not_only_use_all_the_brains_that_i_have-but_all/227315.html [Accessed 06.10.2011]

Notes
Lamont J. (2011), Office Management- DE1X-35, Outcome 1 Notes, Coatbridge College, main Building, Room 2.04, 5th October

Bibliography
Books
Dr.Singla K.(2009-2010), Business Management Semenster-1,1st Edition, Delhi: Princes Print Process Clark P. (2009), Business Management: Course Companion,1st Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press Burnett J. (2011), Getting Into Business & Economic Courses, 8th Edition, Richmond: Trotman Publishing

Internet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delegation http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art5.html http://www.infed.org/leadership/traditional_leadership.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11730685