Business Operations at Microsoft - Case Study Example

Running Head: Business Analysis OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT OF BUSINESSES BY: PRESENTED TO: UNIVERSITY: CITY: STATE: DATE DUE: INRODUCTION There is need for a well organized system of operation management for businesses to achieve their set goals. The products provided need to be of high quality and all the stakeholders are to be involved in the management process. This will lead to consumer satisfaction and smooth supply network. Various companies have been analyzed to ascertain there operations management systems and control systems. An example of one company is Microsoft that has been leader in product provision (Alphonce 2006, P. 345). Microsoft specializes in computer technology; the company is situated in Redmond in the United States of America. The company deals in the manufacture licenses and software for computers and electronic appliances. The company has been in the lead in the production of software all over the world. Their product has remained acceptable in all the decades until present. Microsoft has always made sure all their customers are aware of their potential. All over the globe software to hardware and many times they provide knowledge on users of their products. Products provided by the company include but not limited to operating systems and applications. All knowledge for IT professionals and developers is provided including devices (Borton & Warren cited in zurn 2004). Christy and Crendon (2006, P. 54) confirms that the company has always geared to new heights in the economy, to allow for new players in the sector to flourish. The use of a new division called applications and operations has made the company achieve its goals. Recently the company has made use of another division called online network division which has enabled users of the division to access the internet irrespective of where they come from. Outstanding and loyal workforce for all projects are employed, they have enabled the company objective become a reality. The diverse workforce which comprise of minority, women and men work together in harmony. Through the issuance of stock purchasing all the employees perform according to the stipulated rules and regulations. This has enabled cultural differences to be minimized by more than 50 countries. The introduction of smart software called Neptune has led to a high growth of new products and their supply network has increased. Over the years the company has recorded high profits from all its subsidiaries. This has been made possible because of the products that have been produced. All the company products have had consumer acceptance and appraisal. All the products have features that are used in all household activities (Kirby 2008, P. 76). This is because they are always cost effective and are integrated easily. This has led to proper standardization and advantage of competitiveness. The company has been known for the best in windows series with a market share of 88%. Its latest innovations have made the company to be among the leading name recognition as its name still stays high. Many individuals and organizations have always opted to work and give services to the company. Apart from all its achievements the company failed to anticipate and change the need for internet users. This changed from 1995 – 2000, where there was development of internet interphone. After the inception of the internet the company’s chief architect has not come up with a new line of products for consumers. This has led to dependency of hardware providers to do the initial installation of all operating systems. Hence the need for a new product is most required for the company to achieve its goals (MacNamara 2005, P. 76). The issues of product downside have led t to a high employee burnout in the company. Employee turnovers have risen by 1.5% for a period of almost ten years. This has affected the total sales in all the operating systems and server software equipments. All this has made autocratic atmosphere evident in all sectors of operation, leading to loss of important personnel. Due to loss of these personnel the company needs to get new chilling for improved innovations. There is need for the company to have wireless systems; this will enable a bigger consumer base to be served. This will allow a big portion of the products in the internet space and other applications available for consumers. This will allow the company to be way ahead of its competitors in all sectors of production (Gay 2010, P. 387). Another important improvement that should be included is the modes of payments for the products that have been purchased by customers. All types of payment for services and products should be included. This enables the customers decide which method they are going to use. In the window preview a portion of after sales services is encouraged. This includes all delivery services, products and their amounts (Paul 2008, P. 456). Finally the company should make test of all the techniques of advertising. This they should do by sending to management the mails they use for advertisements. Most of the managers have confirmed opening the mails. This is because they were appealing and well thought. The subject lines need to be chosen after a random survey is done. Hence satisfaction is met by all who visit the company for products. This is because all the services advertised are provided just as they are advertised. Another company that has made considerable profits is Macarthur Coal Limited which produces coal which is used for steel making. The company exports most of its products around the world. The company operates its mines in Queensland Bowen Basin. The company produces seaborne product which is transformed to steel. The seaborne is mined at the Coppabella and Moorvale mines. The company has developed another mine called Middle mount (Borton 2008, P. 36). Alphonce and Kell (2006, P. 378) confirm that around four hundred and forty five people are employed directly, and three hundred and eighty through contracting. The input of all its employees is taken into consideration for the company to achieve its present and future goals. More emphasis is always placed on the health and safety of all the stakeholders. Through training better talents are created which enhance the overall objective of the company. The company’s corporate governance total structure enhances its vision. Its shows the company as being focused, independent and delivering all the shareholders needs. This necessitates the government framework to be transparent of the company’s performance and operations. The company’s customers are mostly steel producers. Since steel is essential to modern life, the product has a high demand. Their products are mostly used for construction, housing and other modern equipment (Christy 2006). All the steel produced in the world is dependent on coking coal. This is used to make coke which a key component in making steel. Coal is usually used in two ways during the production of steel. It is used to make the coke that is placed in the blast furnace. Macarthur developed the Coppabella brand coal. Production of Coppabella brand and its sales account for 30% of the world seaborne market. The company holds contracts with majority steel producers in the world. This is for the main reason of achieving its sales goals. Company’s contribution to economic and social development has been felt by the people. Through charities, educational initiatives and programs for children, the company has made an impact in the society. All the funding is made only to the organizations where its donations are minimal. These are done to make certain that they are in harmony with the statutory requirements. The company is committed to manage all its operations in the environment. This is done by employing best standards in mine. And reducing the energy consumed in accordance with management plans. Mining operations at all mines are carried out in accordance with plans of overview. All these documents are approved by the government (Ibarra 2003, P. 87). Any changes made to those documents are subject to the departments in charge. All the environmental activities at the mines are managed by manager Macarthur Coal. He has together with his team the task of making sure all the government standards are followed. The manager ensures that all plant and equipment are installed, operated and maintained. Environmental manager has the functions to oversee the day to day running of the company. All the managers are always urged to ensure compliance of all stipulated policies. Any report on environmental performance is reported to the Board of Management. They are also given the task of setting objectives and reporting compliance to the management. They do these by identifying corrective implications on the organization. Macarthur Coal ensures that all stakeholders are aware of their contractual obligations (Borton 2008, P. 76).  Usually all the workers are trained to be aware of environmental issues. This covers areas like waste limitation, water and weed management. All the above ensures a safe working environment. Hence safety is central to all stakeholders of the company. Due to this undertaking its performance has increased over the years. The safety performance of the company is usually measured periodically. The measuring tool gives the total actual safety results of a company. Macarthur Coal gave the best results in 2010. It also recorded its first all year free of lost time in damages. The company has always aimed to operate in compliance with all legislations. This has ensured that all the bodies for monitoring and reporting perform their functions well. There has been the need to increase research and production in the company (Christy 2006). During the years this goal has been achieved. The production of clean coal has been evident as funding is given by the federal government. The coal mining industry has always given directions and funding to the company too. In the year 2006 the government gave half a million dollars. These funds were to be used for demonstration purposes. The government has set up a Clean Coal Technology Board. Another important service provider is Armidale hospital. Health care system in Armidale hospital is of key importance in improving overall health of patients. Operations management is essential to any health care system. The hospital has overcome problems through proper implementation of operations management planning processes. A deeper understanding has been created over the role of those processes. High quality of health care has been their main objective hence management of services provision is usually desirable (Borton 2008, P. 765). New policies are developed to achieve better health care in all the departments in a healthcare institution. Attention is always focused on planning and control of all departments in the hospital. This is because investment decisions in Armidale hospital are generally irreversible. When it comes to health, human resources are clinical and non clinical staff, taking care of health intervention. For all those individuals to work properly they all need knowledge, skills and motivation (Zurn 2004, P. 387). Product and process design processes are maintained to allow for a balanced workforce and for all of them to work effectively. The ability to hire is sometimes affected because of the funding system of the hospital. The processes allow equal distribution of health care workforce. In Armidale hospital the variation of size, of its working practitioners is of great concern. This is because the hospital always checks delivery and intervention measures using these indicators. All the workers are always trained to ascertain skill categories of all the workers. To meet the hospitals’ future and current needs all the workers are trained. Hence competence is always maintained in all the departments of the hospital. Workforce movements usually create imbalances in the hospital hence the need for better planning processes. Health professionals are given incentives in addition to housing and infrastructure. They are retained and others recruited as part of job rotation (Alphonce 2006, P. 276). Outsourcing of services has always been made use of. This has made conversion of fixed labor expenditures into variable costs possible. Other measures like contracting out and performance contracts are other measures that are employed. In the move to increase equity and fairness human resource planning processes have been employed. These included the introduction of financial protection mechanisms. This allows the human resource professionals to use other measures that are available to increase equity. Patient’s satisfaction has been on the top list agenda of the hospital and its human resource management team. To improve and distinguish health care, Armidale hospital has differentiated between techniques affiliated to quality and their social impacts. The available technical qualities refer to results of health care to the population. Socio-cultural measures the patients satisfaction to the services provided. The hospital professionals at times find problems while delivering services to the hospital (Kirby 2003, P. 4650). These obstacles hinder the smooth implementation of all the designed policies. The obstacles include budgets, high rates of turnover and lack of congruence between different stakeholders. Better coordination of patient services has been employed as part of policies to provide quality services. Since people are involved in the ultimate working in the hospital, human resources planning processes play a vital role in the success of the hospitals’ overall policies. Human resources professionals have in the past examined and shaped the hospitals’ structure. These were done to improve the standards of service delivery. Gay and Simnet (2010, P. 645) confirm that all professionals desire to work in places where their families will get all they desire. Hence the many policies of Armidale hospital resources department ensure the comfort of all its workers is achieved. All the issues raised above are very common to other hospitals too. But the approaches taken to address them are very different. Example Armidale hospital has taken into account the importance of all its workers and their families. All the factors discussed represent health care issues surrounding the level of economic development. In Armidale the level of economic development has greatly increased. Lastly institutions have ensured their planning and control systems are able to meet the customers’ needs and their own objectives. University of New England’s most important resource is its employees, most of its staff very loyal. The employers have a high level of integrity and honesty. All of them work together to achieve the total University goals. To enable all the workers work together for the institution the staff need clarity of direction, professional development and rewards (Zurn 2004, P. 675). Strategic workforce paneling is where the employers come with strategies to enable the university achieve its goals. Planning and control is made use of under the strategic directions of the University of New England. The university knows very well that its future is determined by its entire staff. The human resources planning process enable them to meet their priorities (Butt 2003, P. 98). The overall leadership of the university work actively towards full employee engagement. Employee population and experience are declining than the number of positions. Through these statistics many years to come demand for trained and capable workers will rise. There are strategies that have been employed by the human resource planning department to oversee the expected rise. The team suggested that it was better to maintain the existing people to meet future employment needs (Butt 2003, P. 100). All the changes and flexibility has allowed innovation to be evident. Such that all the projects and plans are straitened and completed in shorter periods. This has allowed them to respond to the demands and opportunities of other markets. The main results of this plan include managing and specifically addressing the structure of the organization. Achievement of these outcomes has enabled the University of New England to meet its strategic objective. Kirby and Paul (2008, P. 765) state that the successful completion and usage of the planning and control strategies depends solely on the leadership of the human resource planning team. The other aim of this plan is to create safe and friendly work environment that is conducive. To achieve all the desirable results all the staff is required to be accountable, more so they are to take responsibility and ownership for outcomes. All the staff members are to be committed to the university’s values and its strategic agenda. Conclusion In conclusion all businesses exist in a competitive environment. This is done with a view to being the best provider in their various industries. They also strive to provide the most suitable range of product to their consumers. They have made it to be the best in the world because of the policies implored. Being in the best location strategically the companies have enjoyed a wide range of customers from all over the world. The companies in accordance with legislations set forth have always put all its stakeholders at the top (Christy 2006, P. 465). Bibliographies List Alfphonce, Kell 2006, Modern businesses, 6th edn, McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, Canada. Borton, Warren 2008, planning Principles: unconventional strategies for reinventing your career, 5th ed, Harvard Business Press, Athens. Butt, P 2003, customer satisfaction in today’s world, Perth researcher finds’, ABC online, viewed 10th April 2004, . Christy, Crendon 2006, Basic Guidelines to investment planning, Philosophical research online, vol. 2, no. 3, viewed 19th April 2006, < http://investment.orgintroductiontoinvestment>. Gay, Simnet 2010, customer equipment and objectives” 4th edn, McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, Australia. Kirby, Paul 2008, The supply reforms, 6th edn,McGrawHill Publishing Company Limited, India. Ibarra, Herminia 2003. Working identity: unconventional strategies for reinventing your career, 5th ed, Harvard Business Press. Zurn, P 2004, Imbalance in health workforce, Perth researcher finds’ , ABC online, viewed 10th april 2004, . McNamara, Carter 2005, Basic Guidelines to Human Resource planning, Philosophical research online, vol. 3, no. 3, viewed 19th Aril 2005, < http://management.orgWorld Health Organization Read More