Functions Of Managers, Control Systems, Environmental Influences, Strategic Planning, Organizational Structure And Design, And Motivational Strategies

• Identify key functions of managers within organizations.

• Identify control systems used in management.

• Research environmental influences that managers encounter.

• Analyze elements in the strategic planning process.

• Analyze elements of organizational structure and design.

• Examine motivational strategies used by managers within organizational settings.

Environmental Constraints

Reliable suppliers- This strength of reliable suppliers of raw materials will provide an advantage to the company Magna to overcome any bottlenecks in the supply chain.

A strong community of dealer- The Company has built a culture among dealers and distributors (Burns & Dewhurst, 2016). This will help Magna to get their products promoted by the dealers and also they will also invest in the sales team training so as to explain that how the maximum benefits can be extracted from different products.

Weakness

Improper and inefficient financial planning- The ratio of liquid assets and current asset of the company Magna shows that the company can use its cash in a more efficient way than it is doing at the present time (Burns & Dewhurst, 2016). The company can protect the organization from this weakness by creating effective financial plans for every manufacturing project.

Attrition rate is higher in the workforce- It has been noticed that Magna International Inc. has more attrition rate as it spends a lot of money in the development and training of employees as compared to its competitors. The organization can be protected from this weakness by employing more professional and experienced workers.

Opportunities

The new emerging trends in consumer behavior can develop a new market for the company Magna (Mariotti & Glackin 2015). This will build new streams of revenues for the organization and will help on diversifying the new categories of the products.

The opportunity of new taxation policy will significantly impact the working way of business which will automatically increase the profitability of the business.

Threats

The company may confront with the lawsuits in the various markets. The company can be protected through this threat by working as per the laws and legal standards of different markets.

Development of new manufacturing technology is another threat to the organization. The company Magna can be protected from this threat by conducting marketing research on a regular basis so as to enable the employee to think for fresh ideas.

Environmental factor: The economic factor of Magna International Inc. involves environmental pollution and laws regulating, recycling, attitude for ecological products, water, and air pollution, climate change, etc (Gupta, 2013).

Legal factor: The legal factor of Magna will cover discrimination law, employment law, data protection, safety and health law, anti-trust law related to auto parts industry, e-commerce and consumer protection, etc.

Economic factor: The economic factor of Magna will cover unemployment rate, inflation rate, business cycle, kind of economic system for operating in different countries, exchange rates, labor costs, etc.

Technological factor: The technological factor will cover the impact of cost structure related to Auto parts, technological diffusion rate, the impact of technology on product offering, technological developments by its competitors, etc (Gupta, 2013).

Political factor: The political factor of Magna will include trade regulations, taxation, pricing regulation, property protection, risks related to military invasion, political stability, etc.

Social factor: The social factor of Magma will include demographics, population skill level, class structure, education level standard in Magma International, leisure interests, attitudes related to health and environmental consciousness, etc.

Stakeholders

The company Magna International Inc. is facing the influence of environmental factors because Magna needs to improve its sustainable reputation so as to create a promising brand image and increasing the interest level. The company is currently addressing these environmental constraints by developing new cost-cutting and feasible plans. The company is also trying to understand the true value of achieving different constraints. Also, it is addressing these constraints by understanding the impact of each factor (Gupta, 2013).  The environmental and legal factorsare the biggest challenge for Magna International Inc. The understanding of economic and technology constraint will create more opportunity for the business. The technological constraint will help the business to keep their employees updated about new technologies used by the competitors and economic elements will help the company in developing each stage of the business cycle more efficiently.

Customers: The most important stakeholders of any company is customers. The customers will increase the sales of auto and truck parts of Magna International and will increase the profitability bar (Crilly & Sloan, 2012). The customers are important for the sustainable activities of the business as if there will be no customer, the company will get shut down.

Business partners: The business partners are also considered as an important stakeholder because they invest into the different operations of the business partially. Also, they are important for investing in new technologies and products in the company.

Employees: The employees are the most useful asset and stakeholders of the company Magna (Crilly & Sloan, 2012). The employees are important for carrying out regular business activities and it will enhance the productivity of the company by increasing the production and cutting down the cost.

Suppliers and manufacturers: The suppliers and manufacturers are important for playing role in the automotive value chain and for delivering the transportation solution.

Government agencies: The government agencies are also the main stakeholder of Magna as it enables the company to carry out its business activities as per the legal standards and is important for expanding the business activities across the different countries.

The organization Magna International must focus on managing employees and customers and must be given highest priority because employees will play an important role in carrying out manufacturing process and customers will increase the profitability of the company along with sustainability.

The organizational structure of Magna is mainly authorized by shareholders and then by the board of directors and directors. The structure has been divided into different departments and each department has its own diverse managerial areas. The different departments have been allotted different tasks (Cameron & Green, 2015). Yes, the company uses more mechanistic structure because the tasks have been divided under different departments so as to bring specialization and framing a proper hierarchal mechanism.  The organization addresses the accurate or relevant organizational structure or designs by dividing one department into various specialization areas and each area is headed by a specific team manager. For example, investment department has separate research, planning, and engineering teams.

Organizational Structure and Design

The company Magna is using Maslow's need hierarchy theory for motivating and encouraging the employees within the company. Apart from this, the company is using career advancement strategy so as to enhance the employees' motivation and performance. The Maslow's need hierarchy theory is based on the needs of the human. The needs of the employees are divided into five levels that are self-actualization, esteem needs, social needs, safety needs, and psychological needs (Cameron & Green, 2015). The company follows this pattern in a hierarchal manner for motivating the employees. Furthermore, use the career advancement strategy by motivating the employees ensuring that there are opportunities and avenues have been designed so as to enhance their work and career.

Firstly, the company Magna must focus on updating its technology as per market advancement. This can be done by doing better market research in a specific area.

Secondly, the company Magna must divide its marketing department more specifically as it will help in gaining the understanding of market and trends more deeply (Yudhvir & Sunita, 2012). This can be done by hiring the specialized marketing analysts belonging to different areas.

Lastly, the company must spend less money on the training of employees. This can be done by hiring more experienced employees.

The plans and activities of the business Magna can be monitored by using an appropriate tracking system and by coordinating marketing and business plans. The change management plan will be used to correct and deal with the changes in plans.  The feedback control system will be used to monitor the activities because it will enable the system in adjusting the performance as per the desired output response (Yudhvir & Sunita, 2012). The concurrent and feedforward will be more effective to measure the progress and effectiveness of recommendations. The employee involvement will be implemented under feedforward control and market control will be implemented for concurrent control (Hill, et. al., 2014). The accomplishment of goal will be checked by comparing the current position with the pre-standard budgets and plans.

Feedforward method- It is a term that describes a pathway under a control system which passes a controlling signal from a specific source in the external source so as to load it somewhere else in the external environment.

Concurrent method- This is a technique which is used for monitoring the behaviors and processes so as to ensure that standard and regulation are followed.

Feedback control method- It continuously examines the processes so as to make the changes that can enhance the efficiency of output.

These methods will be effective in measuring the recommendations as it eliminates the impact of measured disturbance on the process output (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). Moreover, it helps the company like Magna to monitor and carry out a smooth manufacturing process. It also ensures the execution of compatible operations.

References

Burns, P., & Dewhurst, J. (Eds.). (2016). Small business and entrepreneurship. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools, and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.

Crilly, D., & Sloan, P. (2012). Enterprise logic: explaining corporate attention to stakeholders from the ‘inside?out’. Strategic Management Journal, 33(10), 1174-1193.

Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.

Gupta, A. (2013). Environment & PEST analysis: an approach to external business environment. International Journal of Modern Social Sciences, 2(1), 34-43.

Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning.

Mariotti, S., & Glackin, C. (2015). Entrepreneurship & small business management. Pearson.

Yudhvir, M., & Sunita, M. (2012). Employee’s motivation: theories and perspectives. Asian Journal of multidimensional research, 1(2), 56-64.