Introduction
My experience as a follower came when working with Miwani distributors which a company responsible for distributing soft drinks. I happened to be one of those responsible of packing soft drinks and ensuring that stores were ever in good condition. In this position, I happen to experience numerous challenges as at times the company would incur loses in terms of shrinkage as well as some soft drinks going missing within the stores. All the lose that occurred within the store were directed to us where our salary would be deducted to cater for them. This made our life harder though it also helped us learn a lot of management skills in an effort to ensure that we do not cater for expenses we could have prevented from occurring. Eventually, the experience helped me gain managerial skills that later led me to be promoted to the level of store supervisor.
Main body
As the store supervisors, I had the responsibility of ensuring that all soft drinks were received on time and stored well. I also had the responsibility of ensuring that all products leaving the store were accurately accounted for. Having worked in the store before helped me improve the store operations. This is because I already had an idea on some of the challenges experienced there. Some of the changes that I implemented in the store included the introduction of an automated system that helped in ordering products from suppliers on time thus reducing expenses on inventory management that the company used to incur. Together with my subordinates, we changed the order in which goods left the company’s stores by allocating all our clients specific days when they would be supplied with products. In the end, my contributions in the organization helped not only in reducing costs but also brought about some sanity with respect to reduction in congestion of customers who came to correct products.
Being better followers within an organization can help us become better leaders in different ways. For instance, being a better follower helps one understand all the activities that takes place within his or her department. By participating in different activities within the organization, one learns numerous skills not only with respect on how to conduct these activities but also with respect to ensuring that the activities are well conducted (Bennis 2010, para. 3-6). Consequently, when such a person is elevated to management position, he or she can be in a position of ensuring that every activity is effectively conducted within an organization.
For an organization to effectively achieve its objectives there must be an effective communication between all the participating parties. This is one of the problems that affect our company. There are varied departments that work together towards ensuring the ordering and distributing process works as required. These include the store and the finance department among others. A problem arises where the store management fail to notify the finance department on time when there is need for ordering of products. Eventually, some products end up reaching the company late. This significantly affects the organizational efficiency.
Conclusion
This has led to the organization learning about the vital role played by effective communication in attaining organizational objectives. Without good communication, the varied departments within an organization are found not to collaborate in realizing organizational goals. Each department works independently leading to some vital processes being assumed or going unattended.
There are numerous remedies that can be used in enhancing communication within an organization. There is need for the company’s management to evaluate the affected departments to identify what causes the break down in communication among them. This the time when the management ought to be very alert and address all employees and departmental concerns that may be leading to a breach in the communication process. The management need to ensure that all employees are aware of how information is supposed to flow within the organization so as to facilitate in improving its efficiency (Smith 2003, para. 3-7). Introduction of communication infrastructures such as information management systems may go a long way in ensuring that there is effective communication between the different departments.
Reference List
Bennis, W., 2010. Concepts of leadership. Web.
Smith, S., 2003. Remove your workplace communication barriers: they are costing more than you think. Web.