Management of a department is a complex issue because of the existence of multiple challenges that might occur during the working process. For this reason, the core responsibility of an effective leader is the implementation of the five basic functions of management with the primary goal to organize the work of a certain unit in an acceptable way that guarantees high-performance levels and excellent outcomes. For the department that includes 100 employees (10 supervisors and 90 packers), there is an essential need for the implementation of specific skills to create conditions beneficial for the future rise of the unit. That is why the proposed plan of action includes interventions in the most critical spheres to consider all significant factors and eliminate issues that might deteriorate results.
Planning
Planning is the first important function of management that should be discussed. As a new manager of the given department, it is critical to ensure that people, as the most important resource in any business, feel comfortable and have all conditions that are needed for their effective functioning. In accordance with the modern approach, a positive climate is a key to improved collaboration and better results (Baack, Reilly, & Minnick, 2014). For this reason, it is fundamental to plan activities aimed at the development of teamwork and cooperation skills among employees. These will include
- The first meeting with all staff to get acquainted and understand the current needs
- Regular meetings with supervisors to discuss problematic issues
- Meetings with staff members to remain informed about their state
- Creation of positive and achievable goals that would be rewarded
- Provision of support to employees experiencing hard times or facing some problems
As it can be seen from the set of planned activities, the primary goal for the first stage of working as a department manager is the establishment of a positive atmosphere in the collective and cultivation of the appropriate organizational culture that will help workers to become more effective. Research shows that 85% of individuals accept the importance of the climate within a collective and recognize its strong influence on performance (Baack et al., 2014). That is why, via the planning function, it is critical to ensure that all needed alterations to preserve or improve the functioning of the unit are covered and added to the current schedule with the primary goal to create the basis for future growth. It becomes a critical activity for the initial period of working as a manager as this phase helps to establish relations with the staff and recognize their problems.
Organizing
Application of the organizing function of management helps to bring all resources together to guarantee the highest performance levels and achievement of tasks and goals outlined in the planning section. Any firm has such resources as materials, finances, facilities, and people (Kotler & Keller, 2015). For the manager of the selected department, personnel remains the most valuable resource that should be governed in an appropriate way (Baack et al., 2014). At the moment, Amazon has an active organization and aligned cooperation between various departments, which helps to work fast and meet clients’ requirements. However, some changes can be added to improve relations within a given unit without any reconsideration of the work of the whole corporation.
Departmentalization can be selected as a potent option for the organization of resources and their practical distribution. It presupposes grouping people and activities into departments that can accomplish specific and narrow goals faster and with better results (Baack et al., 2014). In such a way, groups consisting of 2 supervisors and 18 packers can be created and used to work with different types of orders. The urgent and fragile orders should be given to the department consisting of the most experienced employees; moreover, they should be provided with all the resources needed to meet clients’ requirements in the first turn. Other groups should be delegated to different tasks regarding their preferences and skills.
It is expected that the given approach to the organization might help to improve the work of the unit and achieve better results. First, better distribution practices will help to work with a higher level of performance and satisfy customers (Metz, Piro, Nitowski, & Cosentino, 2019). Second, grouping regarding skills and preferences will contribute to the reduction of the level of stress and mistakes rate, which is critical for the work of any collective. In such a way, this approach to the organization should be utilized to achieve a positive change.
Staffing
Staffing is another fundamental component of the work of any top manager as it guarantees that the collective has the desired amount of workers to accomplish existing tasks. It also helps to ensure that the right workers do the right job and have no difficulties with their understanding (Kotler & Keller, 2015). It is also closely related to the organization as a delegation of tasks is impossible without the existence of skilled and experienced specialists who can perform activities demanded at the moment. To succeed in the given sphere, it is important to introduce manpower planning presupposing searching and choosing appropriate persons to replace members that leave or are promoted. It will ensure that there will be no understaffing and problems with some tasks (Kotler & Keller, 2015). Additionally, this function presupposes monitoring of the current state of the staff to consider individuals’ levels of skills, their experiences, and successes to introduce rewards or additional training to prepare members of the collective for more complex tasks.
That is why there should be a pool of potential workers who can be hired to replace members that leave. It can consist of specialists from other departments, companies, or the employment market who are attracted by an opportunity to work in Amazon. Second, human resource management is a core activity of any unit, regardless of its size. It is critical to utilize effective HR practices such as rewarding, motivating, and supporting, to ensure that workers will stay in the department and engage in additional training to demonstrate outstanding performance and positive outcomes (Kotler & Keller, 2015). The application of these methods will help to solve the majority of problems with the staff and, moreover, contribute to the establishment of the desired organizational culture, which is one of the main goals of any effective manager.
Leading
Leading is the next core function that should be taken into account when organizing the work of the department. Regarding the nature of Amazon, which is known as a positive, innovative, and continually growing brand, it is critical to utilize approaches and practices that are related to these attributes and contribute to the future cultivation of the company’s image. For this reason, the transformational leadership style seems an appropriate choice to cope with the challenges and create the basis for the effective work of the collective (Baack et al., 2014). Thus, this leadership style presupposes that top managers encourage, inspire, and motivate all employees to drive positive change and use innovative approaches to improve results and create the basis for the future success of the company (Andersen, Bjørnholt, Bro, & Holm-Petersen, 2018). The use of this approach presupposes that a leader should become an active actor who works with all specialists and realizes their current needs and problems.
Effective supervision and motivation techniques should be employed. It presupposes feedback from all members of the collective and discussion of current challenges. Additionally, regular meetings can be needed to offer innovative or unusual solutions to some problems and methods that can be used by employees at their workplace (Kotler & Keller, 2015). At the same time, transformational leadership presupposes that there are rewarding practices showing that specialists move in the right direction and contribute to the success of Amazon by their actions (Sayyadi, 2019). Innovation should be taken by people as a positive aspect of the work of any member of the collective and emphasized to motivate other ones to use similar approaches.
Control
Finally, control is another critical function that should be used to organize the work of the department and achieve outstanding results. Any leader should remain informed about the real situation in the unit and its ability to cope with all tasks. For this reason, there is a need for the introduction of several tools that can help to perform the control function. First, a standard performance should be established to introduce a specific milestone that should be critical for all employees (Baack et al., 2014). They should realize the need to follow some rules and comply with the existing demands. Second, effective measurement of actual performance is essential to notice problems or drawbacks in the current approaches and eliminate them via the use of new instructions, methods, or additional training. In this regard, corrective action also becomes an important element of control. It can be realized via the discussion of problematic areas with supervisors or the whole collective to formulate a practical solution and use it in practice.
It is also vital to ensure that controlling function is not taken as a sort of punishment by the staff. On the contrary, in modern organizations characterized by extreme sophistication and complexity, activities belonging to this sphere are critical to eliminate problematic areas and guarantee that there will be all conditions needed for future growth. For this reason, employees should be explained benefits that can be associated with the improved measurement of performance and the introduction of standards. A leader should emphasize their role in the achievement of positive results, the formation of appropriate organizational behavior, and sustainable development.
Conclusion
Altogether, the work of a leader of the discussed unit presupposes the employment of the five basic functions of management such as planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and control. Their practical use can help to establish effective organizational behavior patterns and ensure that workers will benefit from the current conditions and demonstrate outstanding performance levels. The changes in all five spheres are critical for the alignment of the work of the unit and its ability to promote the rise of Amazon, the growth of clients’ satisfaction, and their devotion. That is why the correct understanding of these elements is fundamental for any top manager.
References
Andersen, L. B., Bjørnholt, B., Bro, L. L., & Holm-Petersen, C. (2018). Achieving high quality through transformational leadership: A qualitative multilevel analysis of transformational leadership and perceived professional quality. Public Personnel Management, 47(1), 51–72. Web.
Baack, D., Reilly, M., & Minnick, C. (2014). The five functions of effective management (2nd ed.). Chandler, AZ: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2015). Marketing management (15th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Metz, S., Piro, J. S., Nitowski, H., & Cosentino, P. (2019). Transformational leadership: Perceptions of building-level leaders. Journal of School Leadership, 29(5), 389–408. Web.
Sayyadi, M. (2019). How effective leadership of knowledge management impacts organizational performance. Business Information Review, 36(1), 30–38. Web.