Operation Management Business Proof Reading Services

Operation Management Business Proof Reading Services

Introduction

The important factors which determine the success of the company and ensure the effective management of the business are its structure and the strategies. The structure of the company consists of different hierarchies. The structure of an organization is determined by a number of factors like the expansion of the business, the type of the operations in the organization and the geographical distribution of the products etc. The restructuring can also be done with the changes in the demands (Business, 2015). The second factor is the strategy of the business. The strategy of the business can be defined as the plan which aimed at achieving the goals of the company for which the company was established in the first place. Strategy is the unique plan of the company which provides it a competitive edge and makes it move forward. The strategy can be of many types like the corporate strategy, the team strategy and the business unit strategy etc. (Gluck, 2015). However the aim of every strategy is to achieve the long-term benefits (Tools Team, 2015). It is aimed at sustainability of the organization (Actelion, 2015). The assignment is focussed on the structure and strategy of the company Coles and what are the leadership styles of the company.

Company’s Structure

The Company Coles is a leading retailing company of Australia. In the Australia alone the company has around 2300 outlets (Wesfarmers, 2015). The company is famous for providing low cost product to its suppliers (Chanthandavong, 2013). There are four divisions of the company:

• Coles: The Coles is the supermarket retailer which is present throughout the Australia. There are around 762 supermarket store of Coles in Australia.
• Coles Online: Coles Online is an online website where the customers can shop the groceries at a single click.
• Coles Liquor: Coles Liquor is a retailer and hotel operator. In Australia around there are around 800 above Coles Liquor stores and hotels available.
• Coles Express: Coles Express is concerned with the fuel business strategy. The company happens to have a strategic alliance with the Shell Company and thus expanded its operations to energy sector (Wesfarmers, 2015).

Organizational Structure

The structure of the organization may be defined as the setting of the jobs and hierarchy in the company. The company is divided into various departments, there are a numbers of jobs and functions on the organization all these small units combined form the structure of the organization. The structure of the organization is thus refers to the framework of the activities and operations of the business which is divided for the better organisation of the company (Community Tool Box, 2015). The structure of the organization is determined according to the operational needs of the company (Friend, 2015).

The Structure of the Company ‘Coles’

As the company Coles expanded its business the need started to arise to organize the activities of the business according to the differentiated products it offer and this is how the company adopted the ‘Divisional Organizational Structure’. The divisional organizational concepts of the organization refers to the divide the larger units of the business into small groups in order to gain the precision of the operations. This organizational Structure enables an organization to have a narrower approach with the aim of focusing on the identical units. (Gillikin, 2015)

M= Marketing

F= Finance

P= Production

R&D= Research & Development

The structure of the Coles Company is divided into four units i.e. Coles, Coles Online, Coles Liquor and Coles Express. This structure is further divided into four units according to the functions performed into each division (Chand, 2015). These functions are further divided according to the positions in the company. (O’Keffee, 2011)

Reason of Following Divisional Organizational Structure: The companies adopt the divisional organizational structure because of the following advantages:

• Accountability: In the ‘divisional organizational structure’ it is easier to hold the concerned division accountable. If all the operations of an organization and all the business will be measured as a whole it would not be possible to find the loophole. The division of the business makes it easier to assign the responsibility to the concerned authority.
• Competition: The competition is cut throat in the market. The divisional structure makes an organization able to recognise the competition of the local market and then adapt to the changes accordingly. The same strategy might not work everywhere thus division helps to recognise the identical features of the market.
• Local Decisions:Sometimes the need of the market is to take the local decision making and this is made possible only when there is decentralization of authority through divisional organizational structure.
• Multiple Offerings: The divisional organizational structure is adopted where there are a range of different products to be offered to the customers. The different products in the same unit is just going to create a chaos in the company the divisional organizational structure helps in eliminating this chaos by dividing the multiple offerings into identical offerings.
• Speed: The speed of the decisions is also improved through the divisional organizational structure because it makes the companies to respond to the local market conditions quickly. (Accounting Tools, 2015)

Company’s Leadership Styles

There are basically four types of leadership styles which are adopted in the organization. However different situation needs a different leadership style but the overall attitude of the employers determine the way of the leadership. The different leadership style may be defined as:

• Autocratic Leadership Style: In the autocratic leadership style the leader of the company remains indifferent to what his employees feel. He makes decisions on his own without even thinking the possible impact of that decision on the employees. In the today’s era this type of style is most criticized.
• Participative Leadership Style: In the participative leadership style the employee relation  take a part in the decision making but the ultimate power of taking the decision remains with the leader.
• Laissez-Faire Leadership Style: In the laissez-faire leadership style there is no interference of the leader and the employees because of their experiences and skills are entrusted to take the decisions.
• Transformational Leadership Style: In the transformational leadership style the leader motivates the employees in a manner so that they can achieve their individual goals along with the organizational goals. (Johnson, 2015)

The Leadership Style of the Company Coles

The style of leadership of Coles Company is ‘Participative’  as the employees are ask to present their views on the decisions being taken. This is the reason that the leadership at Coles is referred to as ‘Group Leadership.’ (Gigi, 2014). However the company is still waiting for the transformational leadership style where the small efforts of the employees are count and they feel motivated. (Glassdoor, 2014). Due to the involvement in the decision making the workforce of the Coles Company is positive. (Pirraglia, 2015)

The Strategies of Coles Company

The strategies of the Coles Companies are aimed at expanding the business Australia as well as outside Australia.  There are different types of growth strategies like:

• Market Penetration Strategy: The market penetration strategy is being adopted by Coles. In the market penetration strategy the company decides to grab a large market share by growing the existing market share. The company Coles is trying to capture the large chunk of market by simply providing the discounts to the customers. (Mitchell, 2015)
• Market Expansion Strategy: The Company Coles is also adopting the market expansion strategy. Whereas in the market penetration strategy the market remains same the market expansion strategy focuses on the new markets but one thing is to be kept in mind that in the market expansion strategy the products of the company remain same. Coles is offering its same products in the new markets i.e. the markets of Australia as well as overseas.
• Product Expansion Strategy:In the product expansion strategy the market remains the same but the company offers new product within the existing market. As a part of the product expansion strategy the Coles Company is offering a wide range of products in the same market. In the retail store of Coles there are a numbers of products available viz. groceries, meat, bakery products, meat etc. (Coles, 2015)

Conclusion

Operation management assignment gave me the practical implementation about the various structures of the companies. Coles is an Australian company having the divisional organization structure. The reason behind following the divisional organizational structure is that the company has a wide range of the products offerings. Thus the different products are distributed to the identical units makes it easier to control the operations and making the strategies for that division. After completing the assignment I also got to know about the different leadership styles that a leader has to adopt. These styles are adopted according to the situation. In the company Coles the participative leadership safety is adopted. This style makes the employee feel that they have a say in the company’s policies. Although the final decision is taken by the leader but the employees get to present their views. This makes a great difference in the attitudes of the employees.                                                               

References

Accounting Tools, (2015), Divisional Organizational Structure, [Online], Available: http://www.accountingtools.com/divisional-structure [Accessed 21 September 2015]
Actelion, (2015), Company Strategy, [Online], Available: http://www1.actelion.com/en/our-company/company-strategy/index.page [Accessed 23 September 2015]
Business, (2015), Business structures and types, [Online], Available: http://www.business.gov.au/business-topics/business-structures-and-types/Pages/default.aspx [Accessed 20 September 2015]
Chand, S., (2015), 8 Types of Organizational Structures: their Advantages and Disadvantages, [Article], Available: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/8-types-of-organisational-structures-their-advantages-and-disadvantages/22143/ [Accessed 20 September 2015]
Chanthandavong, A., (2013), Coles overhauls merchandising structure, [Article], Available: http://www.retailbiz.com.au/2013/08/09/article/Coles-overhauls-merchandising-structure/ENUGXRCHPB [Accessed 24 September 2015]
Coles, (2015), In-store, [Company Website], Available: https://www.colescareers.com.au/retail-stores [Accessed 23 September 2015]
Community Tool Box, (2015), Organizational Structure: An Overview, [Online], Available: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/organizational-structure/overview/main [Accessed 27 September 2015]
Friend, L., (2015), What is the Meaning of Organizational Structure?, [Article], Available: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/meaning-management organizational structure-3803.html [Accessed 28 September 2015]
Gigi, A., (2014), Group Leadership, [Online], Available: https://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/ch-1-group-leadership-coles-7-steps/deck/6884186 [Accessed 29 September 2015]