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Please view explanation and answer below.Hello, please find the attached solutions for both Task 1 and 2. I have also attached a little elaborate outlines for each task. I will be happy to clarify if any answer is unclear or incorrect according to your review. Again, if you review and find my answers to be good quality, I request you can always invite me to answer your future questions.Thank you,
Outline
Examples of business-related systems include a records management system such as the
electronic document records management system and a careers platform portal on a company
website. Examples of business-related processes include using a records management system
to manage company records and using the careers platform portal on a company website for
recruitment purposes. According to Syed Ibrahim et al (2019), for companies to excel and be
competitive, they need to perform better than their competitors, and this involves finding
better ways of doing things in ways that do not affect their bottom-line. By adopting and
utilizing the above systems and processes, companies can save costs that would initially go to
managing paper records and hiring a recruiter or paying for job advertisements ads in media
companies, thus improving their business processes. Kaniški and Vincek (2018:3) acknowledge
that "well-defined business processes accelerate work, increase inner order, decrease
expenditures, and support the increase of the products/services quality as well as the general
organizational activities and skills".
Organisations today have a wide array of continuous improvement methodologies to choose
from to improve their activities while advancing quality within them. Among the existing
continuous improvement methodology is the Six Sigma whose focus is on minimizing defects or
errors. The core concept of the Six Sigma is that a firm cannot produce "more than 3.4 defects
per million opportunities", a defect being any deviation from customer specifications
(Smętkowska & Mrugalska, 2018). As a strategy, it ensures that quality is maintained and that
firms can improve their market position due to continuously offering quality products. Another
continuous improvement methodology is the Total Quality Management, commonly referred to
as TQM which aims at ensuring that quality is respected within all processes of a firm,
irrespective of its nature (Dihardjo & Ellitan, 2021. TQM has been widely considered a hallmark
in continuous improvement because of its advocacy for quality in all business processes and
systems, including the personnel involved. This implies that there is no one person in charge of
ensuring quality but everybody involved in producing a product (Dihardjo & Ellitan, 2021).
To ensure the adoption and implementation of continuous improvement methodologies,
continuous improvement methodologies should be integrated within business processes and
systems. Syed Ibrahim (2019) recommends making continuous improvement an integral part of
a company's vision. This implies that continuous improvement should become vital to an
organisation and be integrated with its company structure, culture, corporate responsibility and
daily activities. Another strategy is to design a continuous improvement plan guided by
continuous improvement methodologies which outlines the scope of continuous improvement
and corresponding responsibilities of the stakeholders involved (Syed Ibrahim, 2019). Lastly,
given that continuous improvement methodologies are many, organisations have to take
caution on choosing the right continuous improvement methodology that addresses their
quality challenges. However, it is recommended to integrate all methodologies so that other
methodologies fill in the gaps that others present to achieve total continuous improvement
(Smętkowska & Mrugalska, 2018).
Group dynamics are some of the challenges associated with failure to follow and adopt
continuous improvement methodologies. According to Dihardjo and Ellitan (2021), total
involvement of the whole team is essential as it facilitates the utilization of all the capabilities of
involved stakeholders. In the context of decision-making systems, everybody involved in a
process or project is able to contribute something and is given a chance to work with other
people which promote a collective way of solving issues, identifying emerging challenges,
improving systems and processes and working towards customer satisfaction (Dihardjo &
Ellitan, 2021). In continuous improvement methodologies such as Total Quality Management,
involving the entire team is one of the pre-requisites to decision-making and achieving quality,
and therefore, it is indispensable.
According to Kozioł-Nadolna and Beyer (2021), one of the important things in organisations is
the way decisions are made. This is because decisions affect the progress of a firm. Some of the
steps of the decision-making process include: identifying the decision to be made, reviewing
information to gain understanding about the decision and thinking of other alternatives. For
example, a company like McDonalds may have an issue with packaging which is not ecofriendly. In this case, the company may desire to adopt eco-friendly packaging. This would
result in learning more about eco-friendly packaging, including where to source it from and the
costs involved. However, before coming up with a decision, it is expected to identify other
alternatives, for example, what if what is considered eco-friendly is not actually eco-friendly,
are there other alternatives? In that regard, identifying the decision to be made is very
important because it is the hallmark of the decision-making process, however, a good decision
cannot be made if the decision-maker is basing on scanty information or wrong information,
and the possibility of the presence of alternatives means that the decision-maker has options to
consider before coming up with a decision (Kozioł-Nadolna & Beyer, 2021).
Kozioł-Nadolna and Beyer (2021) observe that different factors influence actions. In relation to
negotiating, resolving conflicts and de-escalating incidents, one of the best strategies is to be
informed. Being informed about a situation gives one an upper hand which they can use to
negotiate or resolve conflicts and de-escalate incidents. Another strategy is promoting
teamwork. Group dynamics are some of the causes of conflicts and may make negotiation
futile; therefore, ensuring that teams work harmoniously is vital in negotiating, resolving
conflicts and de-escalating incidents. Lastly, Dihardjo and Ellitan recommend improving the
quality of leaders since leaders steer the company and provide direction to their followers. This
implies that good leaders are able to negotiate, resolve conflicts and de-escalate incidents
within their respective organisations.
Kaniški and Vincek (2018) note that each continuous improvement system is part of the wider
organisational system. This implies that the organisation itself is a system composed of
different sub-systems, such as meetings, aimed at achieving one common purpose or goal.
Therefore, meetings as a continuous improvement system work in tandem with other systems
and requirements such as knowledge management, performance management, quality and
sustainability. In this context, meetings may be an enabler to discuss, propose or implement
different components of the systems and requirements above or to modify or do away with
them. Without meetings, another system would have to be adopted to ensure that the above
are achieved. Therefore, all the systems work as sequences, dependent of each other and as
part of a larger interrelated system (Kaniški & Vincek, 2018).
According to Kaniški, I and Vincek (2018:3), the sustainability principles which must be met
upon the implementation of change and improvement processes include: "the competency
model, the principle of consistency, the principle of originality, the principle of systematization
and the principle of rationality". All these principles serve different purposes and therefore,
they all have to be adopted to guarantee that the expected outcomes are achieved upon the
implementation of change and improvement purposes. Some of the reasons why these
principles should be followed include the fact that uncertainty exists and therefore, unexpected
and expected risks or challenges may arise, which may affect the outcomes of the change and
improvement processes; the change and improvement processes are new and thus require a
certain structure or way of implementation to be successful; the change and improvement
processes may not work well with the structure of the organisation which may require quality
managers to make adjustments; the change and improvement processes may not fit into other
subsystems or the entire system; and lastly, the change and improvement processes may not
be reliable. Therefore, following these principles ensures that the challenges stated are rectified
to enhance successful implementation of change and improvement processes.
References
Kaniški, I., & Vincek, I. (2018). Business processes as business systems. Tehnički glasnik. 12. 5561. 10.31803/tg-20170808183458.
Dihardjo, D., & Ellitan, L. (2021). Total Quality Management: A Review of Recent Trends.
ResearchGate. 2394-9333.
Kozioł-Nadolna, K., & Beyer, K. (2021). Determinants of the decision-making process in
organizations. Procedia Computer Science, 192, 2375–2384.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2021.09.006
Smętkowska, M., & Mrugalska, B. (2018). Using Six Sigma DMAIC to Improve the Quality of the
Production Process: A Case Study. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 238. 590596. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2018.04.039.
Syed Ibrahim, M., Hanif, A., Jamal, F. Q., & Ahsan, A. (2019). Towards successful business
process improvement – An extension of change acceleration process model. PLOS ONE,
14(11), e0225669. https://doi.org/10...