Business Systems (Reflection of Management Practices)

Project Management
Name
Institution of Affiliation
Date
Introduction
this report, shall focus on a case study on how the ABC (name disguised) gets the concept of Information Systems quality and how it is implemented in practice. This case study was by Olayele Adelakun of Turku Centre for Computer Science. The study was aimed at finding out the factors behind the ABC’s success and if these factors were in line with the organization’s business quality. The report shall also highlight a few management techniques adopted by the organization and evaluate their effectiveness. This report will also evaluate the leadership theory and principles of management that have been utilized by the ABC. Lastly, a synthesis and assessment on the limitations of technology that related to computer-based systems will be presented. The relationship between business functions and information systems in accordance with the stipulated objectives of the project shall be presented CITATION OAd00 \l 1033 (Adelakun, 2000).
The Case
ABC is a manufacturing company based in Finland. It has a high market position in Finland and the Baltic Sea. The company’s annual net sale is approximately USD 130 million and has employed a workforce of about 800 people and also has operating plant locations and sales offices in around 12 countries in Europe. The ABC company has three major clothing lines of product and a lot of product ranges along each line of product CITATION OAd00 \l 1033 (Adelakun, 2000).
The ABC company is a functional organization and recently it has been more process oriented. Significant changes have also been undertaken in the IT department to ensure that the Information System is up to date including the replacement of a system that even used the Cobol programming language. Also, a few changes in the organizational structure have taken place to ensure simplicity in maintenance CITATION OAd00 \l 1033 (Adelakun, 2000).
Management Principles
The Theory of Leadership` that can account for the authority in this company is the strategic contingency theory. Everyone is believed to have a leadership trait hence they are given certain roles CITATION Lea11 \l 1033 (Leadership-Central.com, 2011). The groups that were allocated the task to undertake the structural changes in the company were experts in Information Communication hence they conducted their works and made the correct decisions on behalf of the management board with a lot of expertise. The proponent of this theory focused on the tasks that had to be done in the form of problems to be solved hence de-emphasizing on personality (Hickson, 1971).
The principles of management that are shown by the company leadership include;
Division of labour – The company made tremendous changes to its organizational structure whereby the Information Systems department was made to work in groups of four. This system was aimed at replacing a system that was old and sophisticated. These groups could share work among them whereby some groups could work on product identification and others on definitions to ensure a similar ID in every plant. Henri Fayol in his principles of management recommends that work of all kinds must be subdivided and allotted to different people according to their expertise CITATION MSGde \l 1033 (Experts, Management Study Guide).
The Unity of Direction- Fayol also states that related activities should be grouped together so as to enable them taking place under the charge of a particular manager. The groupings undertaken by ABC company have ensured the application of this principle as the company has used groups of similar expertise to ensure the best performance of related tasks at a go CITATION MSGde \l 1033 (Experts, Management Study Guide).
The party of authority and responsibility – The ABC company allocated each group to perform tasks and enact decisions on behalf of the executive committee to ensure a fast performance of tasks. The teams could evaluate vendors of their choice and select a few of whom they could test. They would also offer resolutions that would review and modified to suit the stakes of the company. These groups determine the workforce and leadership team be elected by major stakeholders CITATION MSGde \l 1033 (Experts, Management Study Guide).
Project management techniques are undertaken by the project
On the initial stages, the project team was established, and the members organized themselves to carry out the initiation activities. Four groups were given the task to ensure the works were well undertaken. Also, the induction plan was enacted whereby the activities to be undertaken including prototypes were sketched, and groups were organized to accomplish specific objectives and the scope of the project. Also, the environment was established, and it focused on collecting and organizing tools that could ensure enhancement of the systems built. Management procedures were also critical to ensuring team communication and proper reporting procedures, assignment of jobs and roles, project change system and handling of funds CITATION Mas02 \l 1033 (Maserang, 2002).
In the planning phase, the scope was described to specify the problem of complexity in handling the system, the results to be achieved which was mainly a flexible organizational structure, what to be done as stipulated with the or...