Improvement Plan for Advent Savings and Investment Company
Improvement Plan for Advent Savings and Investment Company
Introduction
Our group is a called Advent Savings and Investment Company. Our company was formed in the year 2003 and has experienced a growing trend for the year 2007. The company is managed by a general manager who is in charge of the daily administrative functions of the company. In addition, our company has a board of directors who are always appointed and need to serve for a period of three years: thereafter, the renewal of their term is subject to the evaluation of their performance. The board of directors is concerned with the responsibility of policy formulation and implementation: these delays decision making processes for they often meet once after every two weeks. However, after an analysis of our company’s structure and functionality, we came up with an improvement plan that will enable our group to improve on its effectiveness. An in-depth analysis of these aspects is intently presented in this report.
Communication
Communication is a process of passing information. Communication can be done through messages, thoughts, brainstorming, and group discussions amongst others. In order to have an effective communication between two people or parties, there must be a well defined channel of communication (Guffey, 2000). Our company has over the years adopted a vertical communication channel. Under this channel, the orders are given by the top management and flows through the middle level management and finally to the subordinates. This has severally delayed the group’s decision making process since all vital decisions should be made by the general manager in consultation with the board of directors. For instance, when an issue that requires an urgent response crops up, the management of the company has to convey a meeting with the board of directors to respond to the raised issue in totality. Due to this, we have always lagged behind when it comes to cases of meeting close deadlines.
Secondly, the organization has only one channel of conveying information. It is the company policy for those high in the hierarchy to give orders to their subjects. This has proved to be very difficult and unhealthy to our organization. Employees always feel out of place and have got no sense of belonging in the organization. All employees want to be involved in the running of the organization and when this is done, they often give their very best input to the organization. Therefore, the management of the company should consider reviewing their communication channel and initiate a matrix form of communication where there is free flow of information from all the involved parties. This will help our company deal with issues of boredom and improve our employees’ motivation.
Diversity at workplace involves having a varied range of workforce. Diversity can be in the form or experience, age, race, mentality and different fields of study. This is crucial in bringing together all sorts of important factors that are necessary for continuous growth of the firm (Brief, 2008). As the management of Advent Savings and Investment Company, we have never taken this aspect seriously. For instance, all the senior managerial positions are filled with the older people with greater years of experience as compared to the middle management. Further, the information technology department is full of a youthful workforce of those who are well informed of issues of computing and internet.
Diversity at workplace should be taken seriously and reshuffling process be commenced with immediate effect. Firstly, this will help the company to secure employees who have got divergent skills and experience. The current business world is very dynamic and companies need to be at par with the current trends in order to compete favorably in the market. Further, employees drawn from different backgrounds have different views in life: these will give the company a wider ground for decision making. For instance, human beings have different personalities such as egocentric, extroverts, and introverts amongst others. These personalities are not self-sufficient and they need to complement each other for proper functionality of an organization.
Power Structure
Power entails the ability to influence employees in an organization to carry out given tasks in a particular way (Tracy, 2013). Every organization has a power structure. In our organization, much power is held by the top most management and it is divided into a descending order to the lowest employees in the hierarchy. For efficient functionality of an organization, task allocation should always be accompanied with equal authority to accomplish the allocated tasks effectively.
In order to improve our efficiency, the company should improve on its criteria of delegation of duties (Becker & Wortmann, 2009). In as much as the departmental heads are responsible for all the things happening in their departments, they should perfect the art of delegation by assigning duties with equal authority to their subjects. This will enable them to carry out their duties efficiently because they will be totally responsible for every decision they take in the organization. In the long run, the company will breed a series of self-sufficient and responsible employees who will be responsible for growth and management of the company. Additionally, a company that does not involve itself in the empowerment of its human resource is a dead company. Our company should also offer platforms for growth for its effective employees by recognizing their efforts by awarding them scholarship awards and training that enables them to sharpen on their skills.
Decision Making
Decision making is the process of coming up with solutions to any given problem. Decision making process is an important factor in determining the success of every organization (Adair, 2010). In our company, the decision making process is entirely left for the top level management. This has helped us make a milestone in our revenue growth since we have a highly experienced board of directors. However, this has also come with some negative consequences to the company. First being a delayed decision making process, the company is unable to comply with short deadlines since they meet after every fortnight. To solve this, the company decision making need to be reviewed to accommodate many other employees at the round in charge of the daily operations.
Progress/Stage
Often evaluation of organizational processes needs to be evaluated so as to know the company’s progress towards the achievement of its objectives. The evaluation of a company’s processes is not sufficient to measure its progress. Employees’ performance should also be considered by the management of the company. This is because these two factors are interrelated since the employees are the once responsible in overseeing the functionality of the processes. Our company does not have defined monitoring and evaluation criteria for its workforce. Further, it does not have a reward scheme for its effective and hardworking employees. When this is done, the employees will be motivated and will always strive to give their best whenever they are carrying out their duties.
Conclusion
When the management of Advent Savings and Investment Company correctly implements the above discussed issues, it is likely to improve on its effectiveness. Effective communication and proper decision making process are the major important factors in determining a company’s success.
References
Adair, J. E. (2010). Decision making and problem solving strategies (2nd ed.). London: Kogan Page.
Becker, E. F., & Wortmann, J. (2009). Mastering communication at work: how to lead, manage, and influence. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Brief, A. P. (2008). Diversity at work. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Guffey, M. E. (2000). Business communication: process and product (3rd ed.). Cincinnati: South-Western College Pub..
Tracy, B. (2013). Delegation. New York: American Management Association.
