str/581 week 6

Implementation, Strategic Controls, and Contingency Plans

STR/581

July 09, 2014

Introduction

Before an organization starts carrying out its activities, it has to come up with a strategic plan. This will help it in effectively and efficiently carrying out its activities. Before coming up with the plan, the management should carry out both an internal and external analysis. This will assist it in identifying the organization’s strong and weak points. (Jackson, 2006).

Implementation plan

Objectives

Before an organization comes into operation, the management has to come up with various objectives that they want the organization to achieve. The objectives may be both long term and short term, depending on the mechanisms that would be put forward to achieve them. Objectives determine the path that the organization will take in implementing its plans. The management should not come up with objectives that will only favor section of the members of the organization, (Carrin, 2009). Our organization, Delta Chicken had the following objectives: to increase our financial earning within the next two years up to 35%, to come up with new products that will attract new customers, to improve the quality of our products through training of our employees and to reduce the number of complaints received from customers and by the end of this year, we should have accessed Asian market.

Functional tactics

Most organizations usually use the functional tactics strategy in order to achieve the short term objectives. This will give the management a good platform of coming up with new ideas, aimed at streamlining the organization’s activities. Workers’ empowerment is one of the functional tactics that Delta Chicken should use. This can be achieved through creating various channels that will give the workers an opportunity to express their ideas to the management. Adding more responsibilities to the workers can also do this. Outsourcing is also another functional tactic that Delta Chicken will use in order to improve its operations. This will enable the organization to get access to a lot of resources for example new technology in the production of poultry products. Employee rewarding and will also improve our organization’s performance. This is because the rewarding will improve the employees’ morale, hence making them to give their best to the organization (Carrin, 2009).

Action items

For Delta Chicken to fully achieve its stated goals and objectives, it will have to ensure that all the action items are done. The organization has various items which the management will have to ensure that they are fulfilled within the stipulated time. The first item will be to generate revenue of around $3.5million at the end of this year. This will be achieved through the improvement of means of production for example, using new improved methods in hatching of chicks. Improving customer care services is the next action item that the management wants to achieve by the end of this year. This will be achieved through creating better communication channel and it will take five months. The other action item will be to develop the product online, so as to attract more customers, and it will take four months.

Milestones and a deadline

For the organization to function effectively, it has to ensure that its tasks are performed within the stipulated time. Achievement of $2.5million at the end of this year will be Delta Chicken milestone. Besides the realization of $2.5million revenue, online development of the product will also be given more attention; this will be done through online advertisement of the organization poultry products. The management should ensure that the organization’s structures are in good form, for example the chicken meat processor. These will ensure efficient production, hence a reduced operation cost and the production of quality products. Decisions regarding the milestone should be well considered. This is because they can adversely change the organization’s structure if changed in the future.

Regarding the deadline, all tasks must be completed within the stipulated time frame. The management should not carry forward tasks, as they might hinder others from taking place. The Delta Chicken management team will have to ensure that the deadlines are performed within the stipulated time, so as to ensure efficiency in the organization.

Tasks and task ownership

The management should ensure that tasks are performed in accordance with the organization’s set rules. This will ensure that workers perform their duties effectively and efficiently. To ensure its achievement, the organization should formulate and implement standardized and fair task allocation among the employees. Allocation of tasks should not be based on the person’s race, religion or age. Task allocation should instead be based on the person’s skills and abilities. There are various task allocation methods which the management should use in order to achieve equality in task allocation. Evaluation method is the best method of assigning tasks according to many scholars. In this method, a task is allocated to the worker that is well fit for the job. The task is first evaluated before assigning to the worker. The job is analyzed on the basis of its safety, impact on the worker both physically and socially and the task’s time frame.

In order to ensure that the tasks assigned are done efficiently, the management should use the concept of task ownership. This gives the workers the morale to execute their duties efficiently as they personalize the task. Apart from performing the tasks efficiently, the employees also become satisfied with their work. This makes them to stay on their jobs even if the same tasks are available in another place with even a higher pay. This will enable Delta Chicken to obtain employee loyalty, hence keeping its skilled workers.

Resource allocation

Resource allocation should be done in the most economic, effective and competitive way. Resources are usually limited. As a result of this, Delta Chicken management should come up with the most appropriate way of allocating the available resources. It should scrutinize the various projects that require the allocation of resources in order to ascertain their viability. Resources such as capital, technology and human labor should be allocated with utmost efficient. Inappropriate allocation of resources can have serious consequences on the organization. The effect can be very tough and in some situation can lead to the organization becoming bankrupt (Aarts, Korst&Verhaegh 2004).

Organizational changes that may enhance effective implementation

Organizational change is something that is irresistible if the management wants to fully implement its policies. However, these changes should occur in a manner that will not negatively impact on the running of the organization. One of the changes that are likely to occur in the organization is the change in its decision-making policies. Technological changes are also some of the changes that we want our organization to embrace. By the end of this year, Delta Chicken should change from manual operations to digital operations. For example, it should create a digitalized supply chain management. In order to fully achieve its objectives, it will have to change its vision statement. This will act as a motivating among the members of the organization. There are some employee behaviors which also have to change. For example, there are some employees who always report late to work. The management should ensure that punctuality is highly regarded.

Key success factors, budget and a break-even chart

The management should critically analyze the key success factors of the organization. For Delta Chicken, there are several success factors, which the management will have to ensure that they are given full attention. Customer satisfaction is one of the success factors that the management will have to pay attention to. This is from the fact that in order to know how the business is doing, the business has to analyze the views of its customers. Employee satisfaction is also another success factor. For Delta Chicken to fully achieve its objectives, the workers will have to be highly motivated so as to give in their best. Maintenance of the plant’s premises is also another factor that is likely to bring success into our organization; this will ensure the product are efficiently produced, and in top quality.

The budget

In Delta Chicken operations, it expects to use $1.2million as our operation cost. 35% of this amount will be used to pay our workers, whereas 45% will be used in the acquisition of new hatching equipment. The remaining 20% will be used as company’s overhead expenses such as paying the electricity and water bills. At the end of this financial year, we expect to receive around $2.5 million as our net revenue. From this, it is likely to get a net profit of $0.97million. 50% of this profit will be used in acquiring new machines. 25% will be used in paying dividends to the stakeholders whereas the remaining 25% should be channeled to other development projects.

Break-Even Charts

These charts are usually used when it comes to making decisions regarding the profits earned and the production cost. The graphs are usually drawn with an aim of analyzing the profit earned and the cost incurred, to the number of units produced. (Cafferky& Wentworth, 2010). Delta Chicken management will have to come up with these charts in order to fully ascertain the cost of carrying out their operations in relation to the profits earned.

Risk management plan

In the running of an organization, there are various risks, which usually come about. The management therefore has to come up with appropriate ways of handling and eliminating these risks. There are various risks that our organization is likely to face. Political risks such as the destruction or the closure of the company’s premises during periods of political turmoil, economic risks such as inflation and financial risks such as low liquidity of the organization’s assets. There are also market risks such as price fluctuations leading to unstable revenue.

Contingency plan

There are various plans, which the organization will have to come with in order to minimize risks. On the case of the political risks, the organization management will have to insure the organization from all the losses that are likely to be incurred during political turmoil. In the event of inflation, the organization will have to come up with a plan that will ensure that the production is kept low. This can be achieved by streamlining the production units; the organization will also have to look for buffer, or borrow money from lending institutions in case inflation will lead to the company needing a lot of funds. The organization should also use hedging during inflation so as to overcome the fluctuations in the foreign exchange markets.

Conclusion

As seen from the text, an organization’s success depends on the strategic plan that the management comes up with. With an effective strategic plan, the organization is likely to be successful. This is because it will be able to analyze all risks that are involved in the running of the organization and hence coming up with ways of dealing with them. (Jackson, 2006)

References

Aarts, E. H. L., Korst, J., Verhaegh, W., & Symposium on Intelligent Algorithms. (2004). Algorithms in ambient intelligence. Dordrecht [u.a.: Kluwer, Acad. Publ.

Cafferky, M. E., & Wentworth, J. (2010).Breakeven analysis: The definitive guide to cost- volume-profit analysis. New York: Business Expert Press.

Carrin, G. (2009). Health systems policy, finance, and organization. Amsterdam: Academic Press.

Jackson, P. M. (2006). Nonprofit risk management and contingency planning: Done in a day strategies. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley