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Olivier surveying company
Case study: Olivier surveying company
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Case study: Olivier surveying company
Introduction
Olivier Surveying Company (henceforth OSC) is a private entity dealing with surveying work for building and construction. Surveying work essentially deals with measuring land, elevation, and angles. It is the responsibility of the surveyors to provide precise information about the land like the topographical information before the construction begins. The surveyors need to be proficient in using precision tools.
OSC, based in Prahran, in Melbourne’s inner south-east, was founded in 1995 by Larry Olivier who is also the owner and the managing director of the company. Larry and his wife Vivien work as the directors in the company, a major source of decision-making. The company started with a single employee and it has managed to grow into a business with 19 employees. OSC’s success is based on its culture and reputation for high-quality work and reliability. ( ) found that it is essential for the growth of any company from its inception to offer quality and be reliable and have an organized structure of working, decision making, and control mechanisms that ensure all the qualities needed by the client. The high standards that have been set by OSC have already made it possible for the company to bid and acquire other larger contracts, something a majority of firms in the construction industry are unable to achieve. As a direct consequence of the performance of the company in the construction industry, the management through its founder is able to charge a premium for its services.
The objective of this case study is to apply theories to analyze the company’s organizational structure, its decision-making processes, and control mechanisms applied. Specifically, the report is interested in comparing both the pre-2015 and the post-2015 organization, looking at the reorganization that led to company-wide changes. The changes will then be observed against theories relating to the company’s organizational structure, its decision-making processes, and control mechanisms applied.
Overview of Roles
Larry Olivier is a competent surveyor, one whose name is well known in the construction sector. His skills in the field have made the company grow gradually from a startup to a well reputable firm. His main work policy and culture are built on a culture of reliability and high-quality work. These qualities have now emerged as the main competitive advantages of OSC in its industry against rival organizations. Larry handles almost every aspect of the organization, including client relationships to contractual negotiations, staffing, work assessment, employee performance reviews, pay allocation, discretionary bonus decisions, administrative arrangements, frequent site visits, and almost every other aspect of the company.
Organizational Structure
Organizational structures are one of the most important elements of an organization in its quest to achieve its objectives and goals. ( ) defines an organizational structure as a framework outlining the way different activities are directed so as to attain the organizational goals including responsibilities, rules, and roles, and the reporting format. Essentially, an organizational structure enables the flow of information between various levels of the company. OSC, by 2015, had 19 employees. ( ) found that an organizational structure is put in place to ensure that an organization retains focus and efficiency. Successful structures define the job of every employee and describe how it fits within the whole organization’s system.
Organizational structure basically takes either a centralized or a decentralized overall structure. Conventionally, organizations use a centralized leadership system that defines the chain of command ( ), for example the military as an organization where every role is clearly stipulated and a hierarchy of subordinates and superiors being very specific and well enforced. The roles of each organizational member is clearly defined and the subordinates responsibilities default to a guiding structure from the superiors ( ). In contrast, a decentralized system delegates decision-making and daily operations decisions amongst the top, middle, and lower-level management. The role of such a structure is to help an organization’s top executive to focus on major decisions.
Organizational Structure Pre-2015
Except for the administration assistant, every other employee (including the senior registered surveyor, two senior project surveyors, CAD specialist, three junior surveyors) reported directly to Larry. Ideally, the company was run as a small company. According to ( ), the organizational structure chosen by a business creates a reporting hierarchy that aids in the increasing of effectiveness and efficiency of business operations, including decision-making, daily running, customer relations, and every other job related to an organization. While different small organizations operate in variant methods, research conducted by ( ) found that there is no one-size-fit-all strategy that can be applied to create efficiency and effectiveness. OSC’s organizational structure runs through Larry as the focal point of every activity, decision making, and includes some technical aspects that would traditionally be left out to niche experts.
OSC’s structure aligns with a centralized functional organizational structure. In this structure, ( ) mentions that a more bureaucratic framework is employed to break up an organization based on the workforce and its specialization. This system applies to a majority of the small and medium sized companies. The firm, in the functional/bureaucratic framework, is divided into small departments based on specialization. The functional structure is intended to create focus for employees since they have a common goal to work towards. Larry’s leadership uses a centralized and bureaucratic system of decision making that divides employees according to their specialization and role. Due to the small size of the company with a total of 19 employees, the structure is yet to be fully defined. However, it is already clear that every decision is run through Larry, including issues that could easily be solved by senior surveyors in the firm.
Post-2015 Reorganized Structure
After the 2015 reorganization, Larry changed from having all the 19 employees directly reporting to him to have on 5 direct reports. As part of the reorganization, two new roles of supervising surveyors were formed in order to assist in overseeing daily surveying work. All surveyors in the field reported directly to the supervising surveyors. Additionally, each supervising surveyor had a responsibility to schedule junior surveyors to projects, handling emerging enquiries from the staff and liaising with clients. They also continued with their technical work on their projects. Noel, a senior licensed surveyor’s role was shifted to the provision of technical support to the supervising surveyors and the junior surveyors. He also gained a new advisory role with Larry in decision making regarding the new markets. The new structure chosen by OSC is as presented in the chart below.
After the reorganization, OSC employed a hierarchical organizational structure. In this structure, employees were grouped and assigned to a supervisor. OSC’s new structure grouped employees together using their functions and roles and the services they provided. ( ) terms this structure as a pyramid because of the multiple levels it has and the authority levels displayed. The pyramid thins the higher it goes as more employees report to only a few managers at various levels. The benefits of this structure to the top management is that authority was more clearly defined, enabled Larry to free up more time to work on other projects, and solved the issue of reduced delegation caused by Larry’s involvement in every major firm activity. The new structure changed the reporting format at OSC leading to better teamwork and increasing trust on employees to do the right thing. The reorganized structure changed how employees handled problems, reducing the need to always consult Larry in every situation to foster the development of other employees and increased promotion opportunities.
Introduction and Primary Plan of Action
Case Study 2: Credit Card Payment System
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CSIA 412
Introduction and Primary Plan of Action
Creating a credit card payment system that is compliant with federal standards is not something that a physician should enter into lightly as there are various standards and requirements with which they must comply. This compliance ensures privacy of consumer data, consumer protection, as well as protection for the business from unauthorized access. In addressing the needs of the physician who has once again hired my services, I would first educate them on the various advantages and disadvantages of such a system, walk through the system requirements as outlined by the federal government, and then provide him with recommendations that would make the network compliant. All of this would be discussed before any action is taken and I would also provide a report written in laymen’s terms describing the needs, the process, price points, and a page for signed consent to move forward with the process.
Payment Card Industry (PCI) and Data Security Standards (DSS) advisement
As provided for the physician
The payment card industry (PCI) data security standards (DSS) were developed in order to enhance the security of cardholder data while also creating a standard level of security globally (PCI, 2010). When used in a PCI-compliant environment, payments made by debit and/or credit cards face much less risk at exposing private consumer data than when used in a non-PCI compliant environment while simultaneously offering security to the company processing the payment. There is a lot to take into consideration, however, when deciding to implement a credit card payment system (CCPS).
The first consideration is whether or not the payment data will be stored in-house or if a third party will manage it. Each method requires a different mode and level of security. In light of the fact that your business would be considered a Level 4 merchant under PCI Compliance because you complete fewer than 1 million single card transactions annually and/or fewer than 20,000 online transactions, I would recommend using a third-part to manage your data (PRWeb Newswire, 2009). In the present moment, you do not have the manpower or the resources to ensure compliance of data security and compliance with PCI/DSS and so it would be beneficial to use a service such as TrustKeeper 3.0 in order to perform daily inspections of stored data, firewalls, anti-virus software, and file integrity (PRWeb Newswire, 2009). By employing the use of such software, you provide an added sense of peace to your business and are better able to focus on servicing your patients without the added threat of their confidential information being attacked at any moment. My first recommendation would be to look over and strongly consider the benefits TrustKeeper 3.0 has to offer and make a decision on whether or not you would like to use it (I highly recommend going this route). Your other option would be to host the data in-house. This method requires hiring a trained, in-house, technology specialist who is not only versed in the area of network management but also in the area of financial point of sale systems, PCI/DSS compliance, and how to configure and maintain a system that is in compliance with federal standards. This can become costly as this individual would need to be full time and may require a team of additional individuals in order to ensure around-the-clock monitoring of your system.
The second consideration to undertake is the use of firewalls and data encryption. Even though an outside company will be handling the storage of your data, you will want to ensure that the transmission of the data from your office to the third party is secure and undetected by an outside party. In addition, you want to ensure that even if an unauthorized party is able to gain access to the information that they will not be able to use it. The first step to ensuring that this information is not intercepted is by creating and maintaining a secure network firewall that filters and monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic. These firewalls should limit inbound traffic to the payment card system, should not permit unauthorized outbound traffic, should deny direct connection between the internet and the cardholder data system, should not disclose personal IP addresses, and should be installed on any personal/private devices used by any employee of the organization (PCI, 2010). In conjunction with all of the above, the encryption used to protect consumer data should employ the use of resilient cryptography and security protocols, should ensure that wireless networks through which data is sent is encrypted according to industry best practices, and that permanent account numbers (PAN) are never sent unprotected through email, text messages, etc. These security measures ensure that consumer data is protected and unauthorized access to your payment network is not granted to outside parties.
The third, and final, initial consideration to undertake is that of the antivirus program you plan to use. While the program currently in place is great for scanning every day correspondence, and ensuring that your system is not overtaken by malware, you will want to purchase and anti-virus software that detects not only Trojans, worms, and malware but also that identifies and removes adware, spyware, and rootkits, while also detecting breach attempts and attempts at unauthorized access (PCI, 2010). Also, as with the firewalls and encryption methods, you will want to ensure that this software is installed and activated on any private system that is used by an employee to perform company business. An inexpensive, yet efficient effective, anti-virus program that can be used is Trend Micro Titanium. This software not only detects for the aforementioned threats but also hosts a running log of scans, detections, and removals (which is needed for audit) and provides a web filter which makes it much more different to happen upon harmful websites (Rietta, 2014). This type of anti-virus software is sufficient for your small business but powerful enough to keep you out of harm’s way while providing added protection for your clients’ data.
Security Considerations
Even with all of the above in place, there are various other security standards that must be adhered to in order to be in compliance with PCI/DSS according to PCI (2010). Those standards include, but are not limited to, the following:
Guarantee a current and secure system by installing all software patches and upgrades
Establish an identification and ranking system for network vulnerabilities and threats.
Restrict cardholder data on a need to know businesses basis
This includes employees and third parties
Assign rights and authorization access according to user IDs
Ensure removal of authorization and account upon termination of employment/contract
Ensure authenticity of authorized parties
Create and maintain unique user IDs
Enforce strong password combinations through the use of an 7+ character password that includes all of the following:
1 number
1 capital letter
1 symbol (such as &, #, =, or +)
Does not include any portion of the users name
Require a change of password every 60-90 days
Require reentry of password after an idle phase (15 minutes or less)
Require two-step authentication processes for remote access
Restrict physical access to cardholder data
All of these security requirements allow for an optimal environment in which to host a payment card system, but only if it is actively monitored. The enforcement of a few simple procedures can lead to the securement of a significant amount of data and the savings of a significant amount of money for any company. By ensuring these standards are in place on the front end, as well as hosting monthly staff trainings on required tasks, duties, and expectations, you are not only setting yourself up for compliance but are also creating a culture of responsibility, efficiency, and client safety.
Conclusion
A payment card system has the potential to provide ease and efficiency in completing business transactions to both you and your customers if implemented correctly. PCI-compliance is a great place to start in terms of providing a safe and secure mode of payment for your customers, but it should not be the place that you stop in order to provide your customers with the highest standard of service, as it is just the starting place. It is my recommendation that you seriously considering hiring an outside company and incorporating the use of a third-party software to host secure cardholder data, employ the use of strong firewalls and encryption, and install a comprehensive, automatic anti-virus software that detects issues within the system as well as potential threats on the web. In addition to all of this, I recommend a solid security plan that outlines the expectations of employees as it pertains to passwords, user IDs, data security, confidentiality, and required authentication processes. Though seemingly time consuming on the front end, the time and money saved in the long run is well worth the up-front effort.
References
PCI Security Standards Council, LLC. (2010). PCI DSS requirements and security assessments procedures (2.0). Retrieved from: https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/47852/viewContent/2363939/View
PRWeb Newswire. (18 December 2009). Element payment services partners with trustwave for level 4 PCI DSS compliance program. Business Insights: Essentials. Retrieved from: http://bi.galegroup.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/essentials/article/GALE%7CA222821771/fba5f6a2d2e80822af5a8451c548af53?u=umd_umuc
Rietta, F. (2014). Anti-virus for mac PCI compliance. The Rietta Blog [Weblog]. Retrieved from: https://rietta.com/blog/2014/01/23/anti-virus-for-mac-for-pci-compliance/
The Broadway Cafe Competitive advantage
Case Overview
The Broadway Cafe was recently inherited from a family member. The cafe is strategically located in downtown, and it offers a wide variety of foods from different kinds of tea, coffee, sandwiches, salads, soups, and different products from the bakery. Once, the cafe was a local hotspot. It was opened in 1952. However, since the café was passed on from its first owner, it has been performing poorly. It seems that the approaches being applied to run the cafe are outdated as they are the ones that the former owner used since the 1950s.as it follows, the store does not have any form of technology including computers. The former owner had an excellent memory and, as a result new all of his customers by first name. It is unfortunate that this information was not recorded anywhere including the recipes, inventory, marketing coupons and the payroll of employees. The cafe probably has been dropping its sales because of the fact that it does not have any website, or any form of effective marketing other than word of mouth, and because it is essentially run in the same way as it was in the 1950s.
This paper, thereby, will show how the cafe can be operated and owned successfully through the use of some beneficial business practices that can be used to increase the profitability of the cafe. Some of these practices include; the use of technology to enhance the competitive advantage of the business, to create an e- business strategy, to establish a collaborative online community, implement a customer’s wireless network, to utilize CRM for the implementation of sales strategies and campaigns for marketing, address challenges resulting from different information and ethical problem. Establishing management activities for projects, and understanding how technology can be useful in running a business.
Competitive Advantage
The Five Forces Model by Michael Porter is an essential tool that can be used by organizations to come up with effective strategies and decisions when entering a new industry segment. These Five Forces can be used to determine the attractiveness or profitability of an industry or company, and they include; buyer power, threat provided by new entrant, threat produced by substitute services or products, supplier power, and rivalry among existing business (Porter, 1979). There are a number of aspects that are making the Broadway Cafe unsuccessful. These are despite the facts that the café has existed since the 1950s and that the business remained a hot spot for an extremely long time. Some challenges that the company has been facing include; sales have been declining, the system used to run the cafe is outdated, things are done manually, systems are not computerized, prices have not been reviewed for years, the business does not offer any reward program to its customers, and there are no hot spot or website connections for the business’s customers. By using the Five Forces Model by Porter, one can analyze the performance of Broadway Cafe.
When it comes to supplier power, the café has been increasing the number of suppliers leading to an increase in cost. The business can reduce the number of suppliers and still maintain quality, and reduce operating costs. To address the challenges brought about by threat of substitute services and products, the cafe will have to change its products such as teas, coffees and soups, and the prices of these foods so as to match with the needs of the changing market (Porter, 1979).
The buyer power of the company has been declining for the last five years. To deal with this challenge, the cafe has to engage in numerous promotions and campaigns so as to attract new customers, as well as, old ones. New entrants are also giving the café a substantial amount of competition. The business has to reinvent itself and offer its market new services and products so as to increase its business. To solve challenges brought about by the rivalry that exists between competitors, the business has to update its systems like computerizing its ordering systems, inventory, and the payroll system to make the operations of the business efficient, and eventually reduce operation costs and increase sales (Porter, 1979).
Of the Three Generic Strategies by Porter, differentiation can be used to rebuild the café and improve its performance and profitability. It is essential to differentiate businesses from other similar businesses since prices of the offered services and foods must reflect competitiveness (Porter, 1979). The customers of the cafe started decreasing because the business practices practiced by the business are outdated. Today, people need to meet, relax and conduct business with wireless devices, services that the café cannot offer for the moment. So as to rebuild the café, the business has to remain competitive while at the same time offering value for its customers.
E-business
Broadway Cafe must take advantage if strategies in e-business for it to remain competitive in the market. B2B is an e-business strategy the café can deploy. This strategy can allow the business to buy supplies and access shipping and delivery data. It will increase the efficiency of the business in the company. An e-business strategy can have other numerous benefits. It can increase the innovativeness of a business, increase its value and provide essential information to existing and potential customers. Conversion is another benefit which can help the cafe track its sales, track payment and employee information, and store data. These are things that can increase the efficiency of a business. The above advantages can also attract new customers and increase sales (Baltzan & Phillips, 2009).
E-business strategies can also allow a business to establish a website that can allow customers to interact online, that can also enable existing and potential customers to access information about the cafe, and allow the cafe to review the feedback of its customers about the service. The business should, therefore, put such metrics on its websites as the services and foods offered, the prices of these foods, the location of the cafe, pictures of the cafe, and other essential features that can attract customers to the business. E-business strategies can also be essential in partnering with suppliers. This is because it will allow the café to stay in touch with its suppliers through Extranet. Through this feature, it will be possible for suppliers to view what orders are required without having to contact the cafe physically. This can save a lot of money and time (Baltzan & Phillips, 2009).
Portals are also other features of e-business that can be used by employees to monitor and manage discussion boards the cafe is planning to implement. This will act as an added advantage which will help the business measure the views and opinions of potential, younger customers. A kiosk will also be useful in the cafe. A kiosk will be established with two or more laptops for use by employees and customers. This is an extremely beneficial e-business strategy as it will differentiate the café from its competitors. The cafe will be current and trendy. It is assumed that many customers and employees will get the word out that the café has become a fashionable, trendy and current spot. This will attract more customers, and increase sales (Baltzan & Phillips, 2009).
Networks, Telecommunications, and Wireless Computing
Broadway cafe can entice and attract the younger customers through the use of mobile phones. They can try offering them coupons for free meals or coffee by use of mobiles. One of the advantages why mobile coupons are more effective than normal coupons is that they have a higher redemption rate as they cannot be forgotten. Their use can, therefore, reduce costs associated with delivery and redemption, and they can also be a good trigger of impulse buying. The café can, hence, benefit immensely from such coupons. There are, however, several risks associated with mobile coupons. The coupons are based on the internet, and their concept is new. As a result, certain restrictions can affect the usability of mobile coupons like privacy policies, protocols and disclosures. Privacy issues might also arise as a result of the wireless technologies the system is based on. Some of these issues include the increased ability for the café to gather information that is personal, the ability to track and find out who visited to the site, and the ability to identify the locations of the customers (ACP, n.d).
There are several advantages the cafe can get from tracking and gathering rates of responses from mobile coupons as such activities can provide the business with information that can be analyzed about the performance of the business and the performance of the cafe. Such analysis could assist a business in correcting mistakes and enforcing positive activities. Tracking a mobile coupon that has been forwarded to another customer can be as beneficial as tracking other mobile coupons. This is because forwarded coupons still increase the customer base of the café (ACP, n.d).
Customer Relationship Management
Customer relations management can be advantageous for Broadway especially because it has implemented new espresso machines that the customers do not seem too familiar with. In addition to this, the café also has four new employees who are not experienced and are causing delays during peak hours. It has been noticed that this frustrates the customers. YouTube can be used to communicate the customers and address their concerns. The manager of the café can attach clips of videos and pictures on YouTube showing customers how the new espresso machines are used. The new employees can also access these videos and use them to sharpen their skills and to serve the customers efficiently without causing unnecessary skills. The manager can also attach a video explaining about the new employees and explain that they will be trained as soon as possible to improve efficiency. Though this feature can be extremely beneficial, it also has a number of cons. Some have to do with education. Technology needs some substantial amount of training and education. If customers do not have these basic tools then they cannot access what you are trying to tell them. Other disadvantages have to do with permissions and privacy. There are several alternatives to YouTube incase the café feels that it is not an effective tool. These include facebook, twitter, blogs and other social networks (Nichols, 2008).
Systems Development
There are various advantages and disadvantages of using an employee to build your business a custom system. One advantage is that they possess the basic information about the operations of the cafe, its customers, and employees. So if there is anyone better to develop the café a system it would be someone who works there. A disadvantage is that the employee might not possess the best skills and education to develop such a technological system. The café can opt to buy a COTS application, outsource custom development, and buy an attendance application. One of the advantages of doing this is that these developments are designed by professionals, and therefore the chances of them being correct and appropriate, and making the café efficient and productive are high. A disadvantage is that they can be awfully expensive for a café that is strained like Broadway. The new system would not be readily accepted especially by the old employees. Change is always hard and it would be beneficial for the older employees to be engaged in training to ensure that they know what benefits the new system can bring, and to make the transition easier through offering them knowledge about what the new system is about (Beynon-Davies, 2009).
References
ACP. (n.d). Internet coupons guidelines and overview from the Association of Coupons professionals (ACP). Retrieved from http://www.couponpros.org/resources/Internet_Coupon_Guidelines_and_overview.pdf
Baltzan, P. & Phillips, A. (2009). Business driven information systems. USA: McGraw Hill Companies Inc.
Beynon-Davies, P. (2009). Business Information Systems. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Nichols, S. (2008). YouTube as a corporate communications tool. Go Articles. Retrieved from http://goarticles.com/article/YouTube-as-a-corporate-communications-tool/1267054/
Porter, M.E. (1979). How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy. Harvard business Review.