Managing Processes, System and Project

4. Part 2: Recommendation

4.1 Action needed and reasoning with analysis

Third component of the ADO (Align-Deploy-Operate) model of MPSP-Implement: We are familiar with the model. We also have an outline of the possible remedy that can solve this workforce diversity. Going with the SAP R/3 module, the company would need to follow a certain course of action so that SAP R/3 module or any other ERP module of similar structure can be used to resolve the purpose of automation of workforce diversity. This course of action has been defined as follows:

From the different functions of this ERP module, we can see that personnel management solves the purpose in context. The major reason for the same is that it is also linked to the other ERP modules that are used in the company-Financial Accounting, Controlling, Production Planning and Business Workflow.

Personnel Management can be performed initially by dividing each of the employees in different classes, no matter what diversity they belong to (Radnor & Barnes, 2007) . This way, the company would have to manage a smaller domain. This can be fed into the SAP system, so that a direct link with the payroll system can be established. This way the existing automation would not be tampered. In fact, based on the costs that are being encountered in managing, the HR system can now be handled by the CO module after this integration. The financial implication of this ERP module can easily be controlled in this manner. Now, handling works force diversity comes into the picture. Every employee is assigned a work center which has a direct connection with the production planning. This means that for all the classes of employees defined, the company can adopt the most feasible manner to link different people together for work. This way, positions can be assigned and reporting relationships can also be established within the system. This is used in the business workflow to cater to the different organization functions, starting from purchase requisitions to approval of a certain strategy. Depending on the company that is chosen by Dhiraagu, the HRs can also maintain a direct link with the customers through the partner company that is giving this ERP solution (Edwards, 2009).

Assigning different classes to different employees would mean that the ERP system would have accessed all information about the different employees, including the diversity they belong to. This in turn would mean that once the managers feel that they require leading a project, they would simply have to feed in their requirements to the ERP-personnel management system. Once this is done, the ERP system itself would find out the possibilities and offer the best possible solutions to be used. This can be seen in the form of an illustration. If the company requires a dedicated sales team for a certain area, it would simply have to enter its requirements with the area of sales, team size, duration of the project etc. From this information, ERP system would find out the different possibilities from which the company management can make selections. This shows that even a diverse workforce can easily be managed using an ERP system of automation.

Next, one would see the application of the fourth component of MPSP module. This is in the form of deliver.

4.2 Outline planning to improve organizational performance

Operation Strategy Decision Areas

Basically, for this HR workforce diversity management, the company would have to take two major types of decisions. They are structure and infrastructure decisions. According to Britt, and Kreyer (2011), structural decisions mainly deal with the capital investment of the company which can’t be reversed easily. On the other hand, infrastructural decisions are those that are related to the systems, policies, practices, procedures and organizations that become essential for the company to ensure that their roles are fulfilled. In this context, structural decisions in favor of workforce diversity would have to be taken by the company’s management while the infrastructural decisions would be taken care of by the ERP system used for automating the entire process. In the above chart, we can see that the major area in context with workforce diversity where the company needs to take decisions is with respect to process technology. In this case, it is advisable to use ERP system that is integrated with the other functions of the company as well, so that it makes all the processes simpler, effective and finally in alignment with the company’s organizational goal. Once the process technology is provided, its operational function of workforce management starting from recruitment within the system to selecting a team for a particular project can be used. Also, it can be seen that if the company has enough capacity to integrate all its branches and facilities into the ERP system, the result would be even better. In this case of telecommunication industry, it may be advantageous for Dhiraagu to integrate some of its work centers in different Indian sub-continental countries and neighborhood in order to adopt better quality of management. Furthermore, the ERP system would have a larger domain to choose from, hence increasing the chances of a more synchronized team to carry out a certain activity.

Facility location and focus would also have to be controlled by the management as a part of the course of action. This is because it decides the availability of employees for carrying out the purpose of production planning and control. Wagner and Monk (2008) argue that, with vertical integration, the company would be able to use a suitable organizational design where the company can also control distribution, rather than giving it away to agents. If this can happen, the organizational structure and design would be controlled by the ERP system. This way, a larger degree of diversity can also be managed by the company with a larger domain of service.