General Business of Suncorp Group Limited - Assignment Example

Management Name Institution Management 1. Three levels of management are as follows; Administrative, Executive and Supervisory level (Dam and Marcus, 2007). Administrative level deals with formulating policies and making plans in a company. Most of their work involves planning and thinking. Examples of managers in this level are Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officers. Secondly, the middle level accentuates on implementation of the plans and policies formulated by the managers in the top level. They always make sure that all the activities in the institution are well coordinated. Examples of managers in this level are Head of Departments and Branch Managers. Finally, the lowest level of management is Lower Level (Robbins et al., 2006). They deal with directing the works in the organization. They are also in charge of maintaining good connections between the workers and the managers in the middle level. They are also responsible for maintaining morale amongst the workers. Examples of managers in this level are Foremen and supervisors (Robbins et al., 2006). 2. Managers have four chief functions they have to perform in order to ensure operations run smoothly in an organization. They are as follows; planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Planning as a function of management ensures that managers properly define goals and objectives of an organization and at the same time defining effective plan of action required to reach the goals in an organization. Organization involves controlling the overall configuration of the organization which is considered the foundation of the company. Leading entails motivating and inspiring employees in the company as well as communication in order to ensure productivity (Robbins et al., 2006). Example of activities include connecting with employees and motivating them. Finally, the last function is controlling. This function institutes performance standards as well as monitoring the progress of employees in order to ensure their performances are up to the required standards. Example includes employee standard control. 3. The three main skills managers have to develop include; decision making, communication and goal setting. Decision making involves the ability to scaling up two or more options, making a solid decision and carrying out suitable action. This trait is important for it develops their judgment capabilities keeps them credible in their role. Second, they should have proper communication skills (Robbins et al., 2006). They need to be well spoken as well as well written. They should have the capability to put across a point in the most vivid way possible to their bosses, peers and employees. They should also be able to clearly understand and decipher the objectives of an organization to their employees in order to maintain productivity. It is important for it aids the managers identify the impacts on their individual team. It also helps them relate better with their team. Thirdly, goal setting involves communicating a vivid path to his team (Robbins et al., 2006). It is important for it helps manager achieve the desired outcomes. Business Environment 4. Main forces that affect a business are; political, legal and global forces. Political forces controls economies and decides how to market center of gravity for example, Increase or decrease in tax. Whereas legal forces move the restructuring of businesses (Canzer, 2006). On the other hand, global forces decides whether and how a business interrelates with customers and how it reacts to competition. Political forces has affected McDonalds by introducing policies that discourage people from eating fast foods from their chain of restaurant. McDonalds has been affected by legal forces for it leads to reduction of the company’s revenue due to health regulations imposed on their foods in both workplaces and schools (Canzer, 2006). 5. Two specific environment forces are political and legal forces. It is very important to monitor political forces because businesses require stability in terms of politics in order to function otherwise they may not rake the desired profits. On the other hand, it is important to monitor legal factors for they focus mainly on matter pertaining product safety and rights of the customers. In order for a business to run successfully, they should have the knowledge of the rules and regulations as well as follow them. Decision Making Process 6. Steps of decision making are; defining problem, analyzing the problem, developing alternative solutions, selecting best alternative, implementing decisions, following up and finally monitoring and feedback. Problem in the business is researched on due to lack of computers (Health and Health, 2013). Visualization whether the computers will help solve the problem should be undertaken. Comparison between two or more brands should be done on which fits better. Decision is then made on the best type of computer that fits his/her needs. Monitory funding should be put in place to purchase the computers chosen. Training should then be offered to employees on how to use the computers regarding the business. Finally, an expert should be hired to make sure they run smoothly accomplishing the goals of the business effectively (Health and Health, 2013). General Business 1. Suncorp Group Limited 2. Suncorp Group Limited is a leading company in Australia that deals with general insurance, life insurance and also superannuation of brands to mention the least. It has a total of about 15.000 employees and a wide range of customers of about nine million customers (Carr, 2009). It has been listed among the top 20 companies with about 98 million dollars’ worth of assets. Suncorp Group deals with a number of products such as personal insurance, Suncorp Life, Commercial Insurance and also Suncorp Bank. Suncorp General Insurance provides services to personal customers and also medium sized companies. They are sold via brokers. Suncorp Bank provides services with over 200 branches and more than 2000 ATMs (Carr, 2009). They also provide internet and mobile banking to its customers. Suncorp Life provides insurance on life and income and this is done through independent financial advisers. 3. The insurance company delivers products and service to target market ranging from personal customers, small to medium businesses and corporate clients (Carr, 2009). It educates community in road safety and thus one of the target customers are young people. In addition, the insurance company assists farmers and businesses in achieving their dreams. It generally targets the farmers, young people with cars, small businesses, and corporate clients. The insurance company also targets middle-class individuals who are affected by accident, illness or injury. 4. With this rise in interest rates, there might be fewer projects that might come up in order to generate high rates of return. Therefore on this case, we might suppose that aggregate investments in business might be reactive to various changes in the interest rates. Investment in the company highly relies on the economic cycle which in turn might affect the demand for the company’s products and services and also the cash that is readily available for investment from their profit. The company might also be faced with is the cash flows. It might be affected in such a way that there might be a decline in the company’s investment due to the tight squeeze on cash flows. Failure to look onto these problems would lead to the downfall on the investment of the company hence I would recommend that they are looked in to very carefully. 5. Using Dr. Edward de Bono’s PMI method, I was able to single cash flow as the most critical problem. The following are solutions to these problems. Cutting cost is the most important method which in turn reduces cash flows. Secondly, cut stocks. This can be done by reducing the money tied by offering discounts for products and services to encourage the customers to continue buying. Moreover, reducing customer credit period offered. This can fasten cash inflows by prompting customers to pay for their products and services quicker. Forth, cut backs also do the trick. By doing this cash can be well-maintained in the short period. Also accepting credit cards is a solution to cash flows. Accepting credit cards from the customers may be able to speed up cash flows. In addition, reducing overhead expenses can help recover from a terrible cash flow. Moreover, reviewing commercial client credit before making the decision of extending the terms of payment might solve the issue of cash flows. 6. The four criteria to be used in assessment of the above solutions starting from the most important are Plus-Minus-Interesting, analysis, evaluation and judgment and finally facilitation of solutions. In addition, the solutions are also mentioned in order of their importance staring from the most important to the least important and they are as follows; first, cutting cost is the most important method which in turn reduces cash flows. Secondly, reducing overhead expenses can help recover from a terrible cash flow. Thirdly, reviewing commercial client credit before making the decision of extending the terms of payment might solve the issue of cash flows. Forth, reducing customer credit period offered. This can fasten cash inflows by prompting customers to pay for their products and services quicker. Fifth, cut backs also do the trick. By doing this cash can be well-maintained in the short period. Also accepting credit cards is a solution to cash flows. Accepting credit cards from the customers may be able to speed up cash flows. Finally, cutting stocks can also do the trick. This can be done by reducing the money tied by offering discounts for products and services to encourage the customers to continue buying. 7. From my evaluation, cutting costs was considered the most important solution to cash flow problems. Reason is because it directly affects how the company utilizes its cash. Cutting costs helps the company save a bit of its cash by eliminating unnecessary expenses incurred in the company hence saving the company a large amount of money as it seeks solutions. 8. First, by giving every staff the desired attention. Always give credit where it’s due and offer feedback. Also by leading by example. Always encourage your staff to take regular breaks. In addition, offer incentives that help encourage the staff to work even extra hard. Also by taking ownership to one’s team (Dam and Marcus, 2009). Introduce a blameless culture where everyone owns their mistakes. Always keep the team communicating for communication is key. Adapt a flexible character. Finally, make sure that all the little things are done properly and in the right manner for it is deemed very influential within a team. 9. Offering them praise works out very well. Synchronize ones ideas with theirs. Correct politely whenever there’s a problem and avoid criticism. Making everyone in the team a leader. Having a lunch date with employees once a week. Giving gratitude to any small work. Having company parties every year. Sharing both the rewards and the pains. Always making the staff members feel needed and appreciated. Finally, ask for assistance from the staff to aid in particular ways. 10. With the 5 stages of the model, making everyone a team leader helps the staff member in self-actualization. Asking for assistance raises their self – esteem. Having a lunch date and introducing company parties helps the staff socialize. Encouraging them to take regular breaks aids them in maintaining safety. Finally, giving gratitude to any small work helps them psychologically. References Canzer, B. (2006). E-business : strategic thinking and practice. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Carr, J. (2009). Major Companies of The Far East and Australia2009/10 Volume 3: Australia and New Zealand. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. Dam. & Marcus, J. (2007). Organisation and management : an international approach. Groningen etc: Wolters-Noordhoff. Heath, C. & Heath, D. (2013). Decisive : how to make better choices in life and work. London: Random House Business. Robbins, S., Bergman, R., Stagg, J. & Coulter, M. (2006), Management, 4th Edn, Pearson Education Australia, French Forest, NSW. Read More