Free Custom «Enterprise Resource Planning Implementation: A Case Study of Almarai Company» Essay Paper

Introduction

Management is a term that encompasses all the activities happening in an organization with the goal of integrating and automating numerous functions such as planning, leading, organizing, staffing, and controlling. Proper coordination of these functions is a relatively easy step towards streamlining the operations of an organization. It is important for a firm to take note of the managerial functions that are critical to its success and base their operations on the effective execution of these tasks. Health care institutions in particular have to implement the managerial functions in all their sectors to meet the needs of the clients. This paper aims at analyzing management practices and exploring their practical application at a particular institution.

Planning Function

To work in a hospital as a bill manager requires integration of all five management functions. With changing business and economic environment accompanied by technological advances, it has become crucial for a hospital to plan and use new and more creative methods of operating if the medical facility plans to remain relevant in the market (Baack, Reily, & Minnick, 2014). One of the ways in which a hospital can achieve such a goal is by adopting more efficient business systems for selecting and implementing the right billing system is one of the most recognized ways of assuring that an organization survives. Planning is critical to avoid mistakes which can negatively influence the commercial activities of an organization. If this happens, the organization will be surpassed by its competitions and lose its share of the market. Some of the factors that cause the failure of projects in a hospital include inability of the management to own the project, changes in management, or implementing projects that do not comply with the goals and systems of the organization. New management or systems often cause changes in an organization which could be in the manner in which operations are undertaken, the nature of roles in the organization, and the flow of information. Such change is anticipated and therefore, should be planned for. If change is not managed, then it is likely to have a negative impact on operations. As such, change management is one of the problems faced in the planning function. In addition to this, the applicability of the goals and alterations to an organization raises an issue that has to be addressed in the process of planning. Basically, this is a question of whether the company is expected to adjust to the changes, or the existing policies can be customized to the needs of the organization (Baack, Reily & Minnick, 2014).

Leading Function

Implementation of any project, system, or change in a hospital requires the management to set goals and provide directions for the employees. Failure of the management to encourage initiative to the organization is one of the barriers to the successful implementation and development of strategic objectives. Every hospital faces the challenges of applicability to the organization, the willingness of the management to offer support to the process of implementing the project, and the stability of the leading role which can result in the failure of the implementation of several enterprise resource planning projects (Baack, Reily, & Minnick, 2014). Top management support is critical to the success of the tactical and corporate strategies. The executives should be involved in the implementation of the strategies and goals. The most popular way of doing this is through a steering committee consisting of the company’s chief executive officer, chief finance officer, and other members of the top management. Furthermore, a manager’s competence is an important critical success factor in the implementation of tactical strategies. In essence, this means that the team of people in charge of the project implementation should be capable of doing all the tasks necessary (Seval & Caner, 2015).

The cooperation among various departments and leadership is another critical success factor crucial to the successful implementation of goals in a hospital. For instance, when the IT department needs to set up a billing system then the accounting department can perform the task. However, leadership permeates every aspect of an organization. As such, there is a need for efficient communication between the departments in the hospital. With the help of effective communication the information flows easily, clarifications made on demand, problems detected on time, and immediate measures undertaken to correct them. Without good communication in the organization, the implementation of any goal or project would be a tough thing to do and the likelihood of failure would be higher than average (Baack, Reily, & Minnick, 2014). 

Training staff on leadership skills is an importnat factor in the achievement of objectives in an organizational system. Better and more efficient systems and changes might be successfully introduced in the healthcare centre but its success will depend on how the staff accepts it.  Failure to educate the personnel on the new changes in the market is similar to giving a person a car they cannot drive. For this reason, training is a factor that determines the success or the failure of the strategic plan (Vladutescu, Budica, Dumitru, & Stanescu, 2015).

Organizing Function

The organization of operations and resources is an important aspect of management. Managers traditionally specialize in organizing people and resources to achieve the set goals. Therefore, in a hospital, the management will need to build relationships that allow them to accomplish the tasks at hand effectively. Implementation of set goals is dependent on the managerial role. If managers change, this is likely to result in complications that introduce a threat of failure to the strategic plan process (Hans, Van, & Hulshof, 2012).

An organization requires top management support, project team competence, interdepartmental cooperation, clear goals and objectives. Additionally, it is necessary to have in place project management, steering committee, user training, change management, business process reengineering and education on new business processes to guarantee success. An efficient organization requires proper interdepartmental communication, management of expectations, project champion, vendor support, careful package selection, dedicated resources, data analysis and conversion, minimal customization, architecture choices, vendor tools and use of consultants (Baack, Reily, & Minnick, 2014).   

Controlling Function

Controlling is an important element in a hospital. There is a need for the staff to be aware of the organizational and reporting structure as well as of the means of communication. This is important in running the organization effectively. Through controlling function, the culture of the organization is formed and hence, it determines the reputation of the hospital and its governance. The hospital engages its stakeholders in workshops and seminars to ensure that they are prepared for the roll out of the organizational projects or strategic plan. This prepares the staff for anticipated changes to reduce resistance.

Enhancement of interdepartmental coordination and communication is done to ensure proper implementation of planned goals. The expectations of the company with respect to the strategic plan are managed to prevent disappointments that would lead to the whole process (Baack, Reily, & Minnick, 2014).

Controlling helps to manage change in the hospital that is a normal aspect of the life cycle of an organization. In some cases, change is considered by the management in order to improve the performance of the organization. In other cases, economic forces over which the organization has no control encourage changes. An alteration introduces new ways of doing things in an organization, redefines the relationships between the departments that constitute an organization and modes of operation (Baack, Reily, & Minnick, 2014). If controlling function is properly utilized, and employees respond positively to change, then it is likely that through them the positive attitude will spread to other stakeholders. Controlling helps in planning of resources, scheduling, and implementing with time and cost constraints in mind.

Staffing Function

Staffing is the major function in an organization. Implementation of goals and objectives heavily depend on the people the firm employs. It is the role of management to ensure that the hospital has enough of qualified and well-trained staff to assign to the roles and tasks in different departments.  The personnel should be well remunerated, educated, and motivated to deliver the set objectives and work as a team (Baack, Reily, & Minnick, 2014). The management should encourage junior associates to work towards the successful implementation of the strategic plan. Additionally, the senior executives should have a good command of language, exceptional social skills, required technical skills and qualities of a leader. In addition, staff support contributes the successful accomplishment of strategic plan (Hans, Van, & Hulshof, 2012).  Although the management has all the required technical skills, there are still aspects of the program that are best understood by the staff working on a particular task. The support of the staff comes in handy since they can offer solutions to the problems that arise and advice on the best way to configure the system to the needs of the organization. Ensuring that all the employees understand clearly goals and objectives is an additional critical success factor in the implementation of corporate strategies (Baack, Reily, & Minnick, 2014).  The goals and objectives provide a framework within which the activities of the hospital are structured. The hospital has specific goals and objectives the existence of which guides the implementing team on what the process is meant to achieve and as such, they can perform their tasks more precisely.

Conclusion

To summarize, implementation of organizational goals and strategic plan is important for an organization to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage in the market. For a hospital, it is evident that the use of the management functions cannot be understated. Some of the recommendations for hospitals to incorporate the management functions are to train their staff on the set goals and targets, have the full support of top-level management who form a steering team aimed at enhancing the implementation of the goals and setting of clear goals and objectives.