Essay on Process Improvement Strategies: Strategic Objectives & Analysis

Question 1

For an organization to maintain a competitive edge in the market, viable principles for process improvement strategies are necessary. The first principle is strategic objectives and analysis. In this principle, the strategic objective defines the vision, values, and mission statements of the organization. Additionally, the analysis of external business environment factors called PESTEL and organization's internal factors analysis regarded as SWOT is done to evaluate all factors that could hinder the organization from realizing its market expectations (Hodgkinson & Sparrow, 2002).

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The second principle is the strategic formulation process. With this principle, the information obtained from SWOT and PESTEL analysis becomes useful to rationalize targets regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. Moreover, the organization evaluates if there is a need to find supplementary inputs and how to attain them. The last one is the strategic execution. At this stage, the actions embody implementing the plans, which start with the engagement of the management in reminding employees on their responsibilities, offering them extra training, and allocating funds to meet the goals set out in the plan (Hodgkinson & Sparrow, 2002).

Question 2: Explain ethical failure costs

Typically, ethical behavior in business is about critical decision-making based on certain morals and principles. Hence, the observation of corporate ethics is fundamental to organizations' management and overall growth. According to Business ethics (2020), any unethical behavior may lead to adverse consequences, which will affect the organization negatively. To recover from the impact caused by ethical failures, organizations have to incur extra costs to redeem their status and public image at large. Therefore, it is mandatory for leaders to be aware of these consequences for them to maintain societal interests and organizational trajectories (Business ethics, 2020). The consequences of ethical failures affect both employees and organizations. While workers lose their job and status, organizations' credibility and productivity decline, leading to significant financial losses (Bowes, 2020). According to Bowes (2020), Arthur Andersen's accounting firm was forced to submit its practicing license due to its unethical conduct to its clients. Eventually, the courts had to declare the firm bankrupt for engaging in unethical business.

Question 3: Reasons for using benchmarking as a control approach in the management

Benchmarking is the evaluation of an organization's internal developments and comparing them with those of related firms. Through this, the organization obtains a better knowledge of how to improve. As such, by studying and scrutinizing related companies, an organization manages to identify skills, competencies, and processes that contribute to success and apply them. Additionally, performance benchmarking enables companies to compare their products in terms of quality, prices, design, features, and customer satisfaction, and hence, apply them equivalently (Delayne-Stroud, n.d). Therefore, the role of benchmarking involves obtaining the best practices in the industry such as the marketing trends and pricing of commodities. By so doing, benchmarking fosters continuous improvement through incorporating new technologies and better employee training techniques obtained from companies with identical interests. By incorporating emerging trends in production, high-quality goods are produced, hence enabling the organization to meet the customers' expectations and needs as well as maintaining its competitive frame in the market (Delayne-Stroud, n.d).

Question 4: Importance of work measurement techniques in documenting and evaluating processes

Work measurement is crucial in determining organizational goals and objectives. Typically, work measurement enables organizations to plan and determine the efforts put by individuals in production, hence leading to an increase in productivity by determining the amount of time required to complete a unit of work (Durisova, Tokarcikova, Virlanuta, & Chodasova, 2019). Through work management, organizations can prepare budgets, do initial staffing, and compare substitute methods for production. Also, work management enables in the determination of machine effectiveness as well as in obtaining balance in production lines for the latest products. Work management is vital in promoting work behavior and productivity measure among employees (Durisova et al. 2019). Notably, the motivation of workers becomes a reality through the provision of incentives such as promotion and financial rewards for delivering high performance and meeting targets. Moreover, work measurement leads to the evaluation of employees, and in other instances, it can help in the determination of bonuses, layoffs, disciplinary actions, and pay rises. Additionally, it helps to achieve necessary supervision goals and determination of competencies.

Question 5: Roles of process strategy

Process strategy is crucial in developing an organization's vision and mission. As such, the process strategy highlights the purpose of the organization's existence in conjunction with the plan for future growth. The growth of an organization focuses on constant innovation through the identification of new products and new geographies to maintain an edge in the market. As such, through industrial analysis, the company manages to assess its position relative to peer companies as well as determining various financial factors that affect its market (Hodgkinson & Sparrow, 2002). Additionally, the process strategy enables the company to maintain its brand position by defending, sustaining, and strengthening its market identity. Also, the process strategy increases working in coordination between departments, and other business segments where ideas from all departments get incorporated in final decision making (Hodgkinson & Sparrow, 2002). Finally, process management ensures that the PESTEL and SWOT analysis helps to identify new opportunities and risks that exist in the market. In such a way, course correction is seamless in case the business starts performing poorly.

Question 6: what is the bureaucratic control approach, and what does it rely on?

Bureaucratic control involves the application of policies, written documents, and hierarchy and reward systems to influence employees' behaviors and evaluate performance. It is useful in ensuring proficient operation of organizations, especially where inter-personal communication is impossible; hence, strict monitoring, documentation, and measuring of workers is applicable (Pyszczek, 2019). Therefore, bureaucracy includes introducing a segment whose sole role is to gather information, maintain order, and create a link between top management and junior employees. It primarily relies on a complex set of rules and protocols to control the actions of workers in the organization as well as computer software to operate effectively (Pyszczek, 2019). In this case, bureaucratic control is applied as a tool for information handling by superiors. As such, the middle-level managers can observe the performance of the subordinates and determine the prospects of the workers. However, even though the measure offers great goals and responsibilities, it is costly and leads to a reduction of creativity and innovativeness.

Question 7: describe a r-chart and when it is used

A p-chart is a control chart for analyzing data of nonconforming samples of fluctuating sizes. It is applicable in statistical quality measures for proportions of defective samples. They indicate the nature of process changes over different times. Based on the distribution of the items, the change characteristic is described by two possibilities in a pass/fail or a yes/no form (PQ Systems, n.d). The items for charting include gadgets from the manufacturing line, staying times, and delivery times. In its application, an initial sequence of items is used to approximate the number of nonconforming samples. The estimated quantity is then used to create control limits of the quantities (PQ Systems, n.d). These control limits are used to monitor the number of items. The chart is useful in measuring the stability and evaluating systems before and after a significant change, such as productivity levels when training workers. Additionally, it is applicable when evaluating the need for organizing employees into subgroups in an organization.

Question 8: What mechanism would a manager look at to ensure a process meets a design specification for a product or service? Why?

Managers focus on quality control procedures to ensure that the process of product designing is free from errors, which affect the quality of the final product. These measures help to normalize the production of commodities by limiting the chances of involving inexperienced workers in the design and production process of products. Managers should prioritize testing of items to ensure that they are in line with the specifications of the finished products. Therefore, testing is vital in determining errors that must be corrected during the production process (Hayes, 2020). As such, better quality control mechanism enables organizations to convene to consumer needs for quality products. The testing process starts with testing of inputs and checking every step all through to the examination of final commodities. Managers use the stepwise production testing technique to check for and correct any production problem occurring in the corrective measures to prevent it from affecting the quality of the final products (Hayes, 2020).

Question 9: What are the three key elements required for a reengineering approach?

The process of reengineering involves reinventing ways of performing daily tasks. The key elements for inventing change through reengineering include consideration of the organization's vision and mission. The review enables the management to remain focused on the vision of the organization throughout the transition period. By so doing, the organization preserves its primary targets and mission (Vorkapic, Cockalo, Dordevic & Besic, 2017). The second element is the emphasis on meeting consumer needs and expectations. As such, the organization's competitive edge in the market is maintained. To re-think new measures of doing daily operations enables employees to gain additional knowledge, hence leading to increased production as well as improving the quality of products (Vorkapic et al. 2017). Lastly, training and introduction of new working techniques to employees increase the reengineering process as the employees get equipped with the relevant knowledge necessary for the re-invention operation. In the process, the organization's brand is maintained throughout the process of reengineering leading to maintenance of the old clients.

Question 10: How can value stream mapping (VSM) helps a manager eliminate waste?

Value stream mapping (VSM) is a visualization tool used for tracing a commodity's history of usage. This tool enables managers to create a prospective state plan for implementing a value addition mechanism in the production and planning of products. By comparing the current VSM and the prospect VSM simultaneously, managers get equipped with a valuable mechanism of eliminating waste in the organization (Gill, 2012). In the case where a manager visualizes a future that will fail to add value to the customer or slow the rate of production, prior measures will be engaged to control losses for that particular period. Alternatively, if the future predicts an increment in profits, then managers plan on increasing competence and an increase in product flow (Gill, 2012). Notably, VSM ai...