42755049 Principles of Management Assignment MBA Annamalai University First Year Assignment

8/2/2019 42755049 Principles of Management Assignment MBA Annamalai University First Year Assignment

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Q1. Discus between delegation and decentralization. Cite some of

the important obstacles to effective delegation?

Answer:

Delegation is the process by which authority passes from

manager to his subordinate. Delegation is the only solution to

cope with the increasing work load of managers as the

organisation grows. Because of the constraints of time and ability,

a manager cannot perform all the tasks himself. So he delegates

certain of the tasks to the subordinate and gets them done.

Delegation and decentralization of authority are closely related.Decentralization is an expansion of delegation of authority.

While in delegation authority is transferred on one to one basis

from the superior to subordinate, decentralization of authority is

broader in scope and involves the transfer of authority in the

organisation context from top to lower levels of management in

the hierarchy. Thus the greater amount of authority delegated

throughout the organisation, the more decentralized theorganisation is.

Basic points of difference are as below:

Basis of

Difference

Delegation of Authority Decentralization

1. Nature Delegation of authority is

inevitable for every

organization becausemanagers have to

delegate authority to their

subordinates in order to

get the work done. Thus

work cannot proceed in

its absence.

It is not necessary to be

found in every

organization because it isnot essential that senior

officers distribute their

authority throughout the

organization. Thus, work

can proceed in its

absence.

2.

Freedom

Less Freedom

Under this even after

More freedom.

Under this most often,


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in

Action

delegating

authority,delegator has

full control on his

subordinate.

the delegator looses the

control on his

subordinate.

3. Status This is a process done as

a result of division of

work.

This is a result of the

policies framed by higher

officials.

4. Scope Delegation of Authority

depicts limited

distribution of authority

that is why its scope is

limited.

This depicts broader

distribution of authority

that is why its scope is

broad.

5. Purpose The purpose is reduction

of the workload of an

officer.

The purpose is expansion

of the authority in an

organization.

The advantages of decentralization are similar to the advantages

of delegation. Unburdening of top management, improved

decision making because decisions are made closer to the scene

of action, better training, morale and initiative at lower levels and

more flexibility and faster decision making are some advantagesof decentralization.

Importance of delegation

1) Effective Management: Effectiveness means successful

accomplishment of an objective. Delegation of authority

reduces the workload of a manager. Managers who practice

delegation of authority are definitely better decision makers

than those managers who do not delegate authority. The

former ones get the benefit of the skills of their

subordinates. This situation eases the attainment of

objective. As a result, the effectiveness of managers is

improved.

2) Employee Development: The mental growth of a persontakes place only when he has authority to take decisions.


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The process of delegation of authority provides the

authority to take decisions to subordinates. With the given

authority, managers take decisions contingent to the

situations. As a result, in future they become more able totake extra responsibility.

3) Motivation of Employee: In the process of delegation of

authority, both authority and responsibility are delegated to

the subordinates. This situation provides liberty to work and

take on part of subordinates. Gaining through this, they

exhibit their talent and skill. With better performance the

subordinates create a niche for themselves in the

organization. Consequently, they get job satisfaction and

feel motivated to perform ever better.

4) Facilities of Growth: Delegation of authority does not only

develop only one person or division but facilitates the

development or organization as a whole. As adequate

number of able employees is available in an organization totake decisions Expansion, Modernization and

Diversification of a business can be done with full

confidence.

5) Basics of Management Hierarchy: Management hierarchy is

inevitable to run a business organization successfully. Only

because of this hierarchy, the superiors and subordinates

they come in contact with each other and get an opportunity

to understand one another. This hierarchy is established

through the process of delegation of authority. Under this,

authority flows from top level to the bottom level. As a

result, senior and subordinate links are established from top

to bottom.

6) Better Coordination: Delegation of authority is a process toestablish relation among responsibility and accountability.


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Through this, employees get clarification with regard to

their powers, duties and accountability for work

performance. Thus, a clear picture is delineated for all the

jobs performed at various levels, which automaticallyestablishes better coordination, the advantage of this is that

neither duplicity nor overlapping of work takes place

Importance of Decentralization

1) Develops Initiative among Subordinates: Under

decentralization, authorities are delegated in large amount.Authority is a kind of power which compels a person to

think/contemplate or to do something new. This inculcates

in him the ability to take initiative.

2) Develops Managerial Talent for Future: Under

decentralization, decision making authority is given even to

the lower level managers. In this way, by getting

opportunities to take decisions. Knowledge and experience

of all levels of managers increases. This develops talent in

the managers to bear extra responsibility in the future.

3) Quick Decision Making: The burden of all managerial

decision is no more confined to some limited people but is

distributed among many people. This not only leads to

quick decision making but also results in better decisionmaking. All the people are well awared of the problems

faced by their unit or division and for this reason they are

capable of taking the best possible and quick decisions.

4) Relief to Top Management: Under decentralization authority

related to take monotonous decisions is delegated to the

subordinates. As a result, top management relieves itself

from trivial affairs and consequently the workload is quite


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reduced. This saves their valuable time which is then

utilized to brighten the future of the organization and to

establish coordination.

5) Facilitates Growth: Under decentralization, full liberty is

given to the subordinates to take decisions. This situation

inculcates a sense of responsibility among the subordinates.

Thus, they make effort to achieve/show better results. This

thinking gives origin to department competitiveness. In

such a situation, everybody tries to perform better than the

others. As a result, development of an organization is made

possible.

6) Better Control: Decentralization helps to decisively

evaluate the work performance at all levels and even makes

possible to fix accountability. Contribution of every

department for the attainment of an objective can be

ascertained. This situation is just like a challenge for every

department. Management adopts a good controlling policyto face this challenge

Factors influencing decentralization are as below:

1. The cost and impact of the decisions: The greater the cost

involved & greater its impact on the organisation, the more

likely that the decision will be made at the upper levels.

2. Company Size and rate of growth: As company size

increases, need for decentralization increases.

3. Philosophy of top management: Some firms are highly

centralized whereas others are highly decentralized

depending on the character and philosophy of the

management. The attitude, leadership style and belief of the

top management have a bearing on the degree of

decentralization.


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4. Philosophy of the subordinate manager: The desire by the

subordinate managers for independence and their

willingness and initiative to assume increased responsibility

can make the higher level think of decentralization.

5. Organisation Environment: The type of technological

developments, market competition, socio cultural and

political factors plays a dominant role in deciding the

structure. In fast changing environments as of today,

companies are easily choosing decentralised structures that

facilitate quick responses to the environment.

Obstacles in effective delegation are as follows:

A. Superiors resistance to delegationi. The I can do it myself fallacy: some managers

always suffer from a feeling that they alone can do the

job better. Consequently two things happen. First

spending time on a task that his subordinate could

perform means the manager may not have enoughtime for other duties like policy formulation &

supervision. Secondly unless the manger allows

subordinates to attempt new tasks, they will not be

able to develop their skills. Thus by insisting on doing

things themselves managers often fail to meet their

responsibility for training and growing subordinates

for promotions for higher levels

ii. Lack of ability to direct: some managers become soinvolved in day to day operations that they neglect the

broader picture. Unable to understand the long term

perspective of the work flow, they do not fully realise

the importance of distributing work among

subordinates. Some managers deliberately do this due

to their lack of confidence in their supervisory

abilities.


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iii. Lack of confidence in subordinates: lack of trust and

confidence on subordinates abilities and skills make

the manger reluctant to delegate. As a result,

subordinates lose initiative and frequently seek the

guidance of the bosses to know whether they are

doing the things correctly.

iv. Aversion to risk: Superiors fear that his subordinates

may outsmart him and eventually the latter may

become a potential threat to his position.

v. Absence of selective controls: when certain duties are

delegated to subordinates, the superior has to ensure

proper controls in the form of feedback about

performance. It gives the superior the security ofknowing the problem before much damage takes

place. If controls are not adequate and efficient,

manager has good reason to avoid authority

delegation.

vi. Lack of time: Delegation is time consuming. In

particular significant time may be sent in:

Identifying what is to be delegated

Establishing appropriate control/selective

procedures

Briefing and training the subordinates

Delegation is like a capital investment; time spent

setting it up may achieve substantial dividends-

only in future. If the managers dont carefully

think through the pattern of delegation, it may

backfire and discourage them from further

attempts.

vii. The indispensable employee: Sometimes managers

want to deliberately seek to make themselves

Indispensable. This may be a means of managers

dealing with their fear of job security. The effective

manager should have developed systems and staff

abilities so that people can cope in his absence. A


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poor manager may be even glad that things did not go

well in his absence and may even publish that fact.

B. Subordinates Resistance to delegation

i. The subordinates find it easier to ask the boss what to

do rather than taking the initiative themselves

ii. The subordinate fears criticism for mistakes. Since

greater responsibilities increase the chance of making

mistakes, the subordinates for the sake of security

avoid additional responsibilities.

iii. The subordinate may lack the information and

resources needed to do the job successfully .So theyend up being in confusion. Sometimes subordinates

are given responsibility without authority.

iv. The subordinate believes he or she has more work

than he or she can do. For fear of over burdening

himself he may not show any interest to accept new

responsibilities.

v. The subordinate lacks self confidence. Added to that

the fear that they will get into trouble in the event offailures puts them in a still worse situation

vi. The subordinate is not offered any incentives or

benefits in the terns of pay rises, importance and

status for assuming additional responsibilities.


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Q3. Construct a diagram depicting the formal organisation of an

enterprise or activity with which you are familiar. How does this

organisation chart help or hinder the establishment of an

environment for performance?

Answer:

Attached is an organisation chart of a company XYZ Ltd. which

is a distributor of Audiovisual and Hospitality Systems.

Responsibilities of each are as follows:

Management

A. Chairman:


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a. Determine the company's vision and mission to guide and

set the pace for its current operations and future

development.

b. Determine the values to be promoted throughout the

company.

c. Determine and review company goals.

d. Determine company policies

B. Director:

a. Review and evaluate present and future opportunities,

threats and risks in the external environment and current

and future strengths, weaknesses and risks relating to thecompany.

b. Determine strategic options, select those to be pursued, and

decide the means to implement and support them.

c. Determine the business strategies and plans that underpin

the corporate strategy.

d. Ensure that the company's organisational structure and

capability are appropriate for implementing the chosen

strategies

Marketing Department:

Marketing Manager:a. Market & promote company products & services through

direct marketing & meeting potential clients.

b. Establish Marketing Plan with budgets on yearly basis

c. Participate in achieving Company sales target

d. Responsible for developing and maintaining marketing

strategies to meet organizational objectives

e. Oversees all marketing, advertising and promotional

activities

f. Bring the company closer to people and raise public

awareness of its products & services.
http://www.corporatedirector.co.uk/facilitation_for_board_retreats.htmlhttp://www.corporatedirector.co.uk/facilitation_for_board_retreats.html


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g. Supervise website, brochures, pamphlets company profile.

h. Proactively establish and maintain effective working team

relationships with all departments

Marketing coordinator:

a. Back Office support for Marketing Manager.b. Managing submittals and correspondence with customers

Accounts Department:

Finance Manager:

a. Manages the organizations financial administration

b. Developing complex finance models and forecasting;

c. Responsible for the accounting team

d. Assessing the financial implications of new or existing

ventures;

e. Preparing accounts and reconciling balance sheets;

f. Overseeing budgetary control;

g. Ensure proper and healthy cash flow;h. Negotiation and relation with banks and other financial

institutions to arrange finance requirements and ensure

timely settlements;

i. Take measures to reduce overall outstanding with

customers by improving collections

j. Managing the cash centrally and supplying the needs of

various departments without keeping idle cash at many

points.k. Investment of funds available


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B. Chief Accountant:

a. Responsible for day to day finance and accounts operation.

b. Preparation of monthly management accounts, including

profit and loss and balance sheets.

c. Responsible for timely monthly consolidated financial

statements, payments, cash-flow management reporting.

d. Review & approve payment vouchers & journal entries

e. Perform cash flow forecasting, budgeting and working

closely with the operations and project teams in analyzing

margins, variances and cost analysis.

f. Issue project cost reports for review and approval.g. Develop and maintain internal control and effective

accounting system and policies.

C.Accountant

a. Maintain the Financial Accounts of the company and to

present the true P&L Statementb. Maintain the Accounts Payable & Receivables

c. Arrange finance for various projects

d. Financial software data administration and entry

e. Follow up of payment collection

f. Preparing salary sheets

g. Implement company quality system

h. Prepare reports (monthly, annual etc.)

Procurement Department

Procurement Manager

a. Place orders with suppliers for all required

products/ services.

b. Prepare material status reports.


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c. Prepare projects requirements & secure the needs

for each project.

d. Establishing foreign and domestic suppliers.

e. Negotiating the lowest prices

f.Review and check on inventory levels and maintain

minimum needed stock

g. Prepare projects drawings/submittals/correspondence

h. Coordination with freight forwarders, courier

agents etc in ensuring economical and speedy shipment.

Procurement Asst. will assist the procurement manager to

accomplish all the above

Customer Relations Department

a. Receive customer complaints and co-ordinate with the

concerned staff to resolve the problem.

b. Contact clients after every service provided to measure

satisfaction.c. Arrange meetings with unsatisfied clients and coordinate

suitable remedies

d. Prepare and carryout customer satisfaction surveys and

statistics accordingly.

e. Implement Company Quality Management System.

Operations Department:

A. The Operations Manager:

a. Follow-up & Supervision of administrative operations.

b. Follow-up of logistics and warehouse operations.

c. Follow-up of HR activities.

d. Internal auditing of company accounts.

e. Follow-up of the Quality Management System.

f. Administer the Company ERP software


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B. HR Coordinator

a. Employment(Induction& Orientation, placement,

recruitment & selection )b. Internal Mobility (Transfers, promotions, demotions).

c. Compensation (job evaluation, wage and salary

administration, incentives, bonus, fringe benefits).d. Social security measures (compensation to those employees

who involve in accidents, retirement benefits, medical

benefits).

e. Provide training and developmental programmes

Asst. HR coordinator will assist the HR coordinator in

accomplishing the above tasks.

C. Admin HR coordinator

a. Responsible for Employees affairs

b. To maintain the timesheet for the employeesc. Monitor the attendance system and update the database

d. Follow up staff problems and propose remedies

e. Manage deliveries

f. Arrange medical/health insurance for staff

g. Arrange Duty mission for external training

h. Implement Company Quality Management System

D. Secretary

a. Responsible for company correspondence.

b. All travel arrangements, booking of tickets, hotels and cars

for staff & directors

c. Answering of telephone calls

d. Dialing of international calls for staff

e. Preparation of meeting agenda, timing and minutes.


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E. Warehouse Supervisor:

a. Ensure accurate coding, labelling and recording of materials

and equipment and their movements.

b. Proper arrangement of stocks.c. Security arrangements to ensure stock safety against

damage.

d. Only accept and store materials inside the warehouse that

have conformed with the correct specifications from the

Purchase Order and are in good condition.

e. Supervise all warehouse employees.

f. Identify items no longer useful and arrange it to be

segregated in one area and they must be visibly marked o(i.e. Non-Inventory Defective, Damaged, Obsolete

etc.)

g. Coordinate with Project Engineers about the reserved

materials that need to be delivered.

h. Ensure that materials are being received by authorized

representative of the customer through evidence of duly

signed delivery notes.

i. Verify the warehouse stock ledgers by performing periodiccycle counts throughout the year or as instructed by the

Inventory Controller.

F. Inventory controller/Asst. Inventory Controller

a. Supervises, instructs, and trains clerical office and field

employees in the use of a computerized inventory system.

b. Maintain a well-kept warehouse inventory stock ledger onERP system and organize well-kept and duly authorized

inventory-related documents. The specific duties in ERP

system involve but not limited to the following:

Enter and post purchase receipt of materials.

Enter and post delivery of materials for projects.

Enter and post stock transfers between internal

locations.


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Enter and post items requested for demo.

Enter and post inventory adjustments for missing,

obsolete, damaged or stolen items.

c. Coordinate & follow up the item discrepancies with the

Procurement Manager, Payable Accountant and Senior

Project Coordinator until all issues are closed or resolved.d. Coordinate with the Warehouse Supervisor about the

physical inspection for quantities, models, and condition of

the ordered materials being received.

e. Send to Accounts Department all copies of duly signed

Purchase Receipt along with suppliers invoice and other

shipping documents of received materials for value entry on

ERP system.

f. Send to Accounts Department all supported and duly signed

delivery notes for verification and billing purposes.

g. Review and reconcile warehouse stock ledgers by

performing sampling techniques through periodic cycle

counts or also known as test counts, in assistance of the

Warehouse Supervisor, throughout the year rather than by a

complete annual stock count of the entire inventory.

Hospitality Department

A. Manager, Hospitality systems

a. Manage all aspects of the projects done by the Hospitality

Division.

b. Supervise if necessary some installations to ensure thesmooth running of the project.

c. Plan along with clients resources required by each project.

d. Train the division staff on selected topics.

e. Promote and encourage team work within the division.

f. Coordinate all Projects executions, material ordering,

project scheduling, internal/external resource booking, co-

ordination with clients and maintain all projects

documentation.


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g. Receive and direct all support calls and maintain Job Card

Records for small problems, carry out first-line support

over the phone.

h. Ensure invoicing and payment collection with Accounts

Review all quotes related to Hospitality systems

B. Sales Manager:

a. Sell and Marketing of Hospitality products.

b. Supervisory responsibility of the Sales Executives.

c. Specify company product and services in projects with

clients and consultants

d. Bring in new types of low current business to the company

e. Ensure proper and adequate market segment coverage byemploying the right number of Sales Executives.

f. Prepare sales figures and statistics

C. Sales Executive

a. Sell and Marketing of Hospitality products.

b. Follow up with major account activities between clients on

the quotation given.

D. Head of support

a. Manage all aspects of the service done by the Support team.

b. Supervise if necessary some installations to ensure the

smooth running of the project.

c. Set-up maintenance plans, strategies and routine visits

d. Establish service contracts with clientse. Ensures availability of spare parts & place request for order.

f. Manage support calls & issuesg. Supervise support technicians & Support Engineers

h. Manage workshop and tools

i. Train clients representatives on installed systems.

E. Sr. Support Engineer


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a. Installation and support of hospitality software and

hardware Engineer

b. Attend to clients support calls and resolve system faultsc. Train clients on the usage of product.

d. Train other staff members on selected topics

e. Implement company Quality Management System

F. Support Eng/ Asst. Support Engineers

a. Set-up maintenance plans, strategies and routine visits.

b. Establish service contracts with clients.

c. Ensures availability of spare parts & order themd. Manage support calls and issues

e. Manage workshop and tools

f. Install & program systems

g. Train clients representatives on installed systems.

G. Technicians

a. Troubleshooting of electronic equipment(software/hardware).

b. Installation & Maintenance of Hospitality products.

c. Keeping stock of all different product spare

d. Attending to customer service call within 24 hours.

Audio Visual Department

A. Manager, Audio Visual Systems:

a. Manage a team of sales & technical staff of Audio Visual

systems.

b. Sell & promote company products & services through

direct marketing, specifying the products in various

projects and meeting potential clients.

c. Build a strong team of Sales and Design Engineers.

d. Ensure payment collection if a problem exists.


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e. Propose new activities & products.

f. Implement Company quality system.

g. Train Company staff on selected topics.

B. Sr. Design Engineer/ Design Engineer:

a. Prepare designs, quotes, and proposals of AV systems.

b. Prepare projects BOQ and cost calculations

c. Prepare submittals and systems binders

d. Prepare projects documentation, manuals & drawings

C. Sales Manager:

a. Sell and Marketing of Audiovisual products.

b. Guide the Sales Team to prepare quotes, designs, proposals,

and submittals depending on the type of project/client., in-line

with the company formats & professionally.

c. Specify company product and services in projects with

clients and consultantsd. Bring in new types of low current business to the company

e. Guide Sales Team to follow up quotes with clients.

f. Ensure proper and adequate market segment coverage by

employing the right number of Sales Executives.

D. Sales Executive

a.

Sell and Marketing of Audiovisual products.b. Follow up with major account activities between clients on

the quotation given.

E. Sr. Project Coordinator:

a. Follow up and monitor the progress of all company projects

from start to completion & ensures optimized projects

implementation.


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b. Maintain & file complete documentation for every project

including drawings & software programs.

c. Confirm projects progress through site visits.

d. Prepares project requirements and planning.

e. Implement Company Quality System.

f. Prepare reports (monthly, annually etc).

g. Train Company staff on selected topics.

F. Project Engineer

a. Site supervision and co-ordination before, during, and after

installation.

b. Request to order required equipment/systems for projects.c. Program and commission installed systems.

d. Supervise Technicians.

e. Prepares project requirements and planning.

f. Train clients representatives on installed systems.

g. Implement Company quality system.

h. Train Company staff on selected topics.

i. Prepare projects documentation, manuals & drawings

G. Site Technicians:

a) Installation & Maintenance of Audiovisual, Security

& Control Systems.

b) Troubleshooting of electronic equipment

(software/hardware).

c) Implement Company quality systems.

d) Prepare reports (monthly, annual etc).

This organisation chart enables the employees to understand:

Chain of Command: As organisations activities are divided

into departments, coordination becomes necessary for

integrating individual and group efforts so as to achieve the

goals. Such coordination is achieved through systematic

placement of position and duties. This type of arrangement


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of various positions in an orderly way is called chain of

command. It defines the authority of the people. It also

suggests the routes through which information flows in the

organisation.

Unity of Command: The organisation chart clearly indicated

who should report to whom and who should give orders to

whom.

Span of control: Span of control refers to the number of

subordinates that report directly to a manager.

Organization chart provide both employees and individuals

outside the organization with a "snapshot" picture of it's

reporting relationships, divisions of work, and levels of

management.


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Countersigned :

Signature of the faculty concerned:

42755049 Principles of Management Assignment MBA Annamalai University First Year Assignment

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