Resource Integration And Management Practices In Fletcher Construction Essay.

Discuss about The Redox of Cognitive Consistency Thesis.

The Fletcher Construction (FC) Company Limited is a business organisation which is engaged in the construction division of Fletcher Building Limited, publicly listed on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges. It has almost 20,000 employees and a market capitalisation of $9 billion. This company is structured into four business units which are managed by the General Managers and their senior leadership teams (Fletcher, n.d.).

Fletcher Construction works with the customers to build the better communities and economies. Fletcher construction conduct different activities, and some of these things are stated below:

• FC conducts their operations with the local government, central government, and private clients for developing the building environment and for creating vibrant and livable cities.
• It also involves the activities of transport and utility infrastructure
• Develop infrastructure and buildings in the south pacific such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa and American Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, and FC also engaged in the business of Roading (Fletcher, n.d.).

This paper discusses the theories and models which is related to resource integration management practices and also discuss their validity and reliability for general adoption. This paper further evaluates the vital strategic factors which provide guidance related to planning, policy development, implementation and management of resource integration in Fletcher construction.

It should be noted, resource integration is the process which creates value, and this is the critical aspect of the discussion in this paper. Majority of the research pays attention to the theory and models of the resource integration in the context of Fletcher construction. After that, we examine vital strategic factors which provide guidance in planning, policy development, implementation and management of resource integration. However, this research includes tangible, intangible and human resources, but it is not limited to these resources only.

Results of this report can be used by the organisations engaged in the construction industry for managing their resources effectively and efficiently. Through resource integration model, organisations can frame accurate plan related to the resource management and create value for their organisations.

Please note; this paper is a qualitative paper which only discusses theoretical part related to the resource integration, and limited to the brief description of theories and models. This report does not include any numerical content because of which results of this report can be varied. As stated this paper is qualitative because of which it is a time constraint. Because of the high volume data, it is difficult to

Lastly, the paper is concluded with a brief conclusion which highlights key findings of the paper. 

As stated by Vargo, all the social and economic factors related to the organisation is considered as resource integrators, and they also recognise the role played by other factors in the networks. They further stated that it is necessary to understand the commodities of the activities of actors that constitute the market, and also the nature of network which is linked together in the context of competence, relationship, and integration (Vargo and Lusch, 2010).  

Resources

Resource integrators utilise the resources to achieve the fundamental source of competitive advantage (Vargo and Lusch, 2008). S-D logic focuses on the resources provided by all the factors related to the organisation such as customer, suppliers, and other stakeholders which fall within a network of relationships. On the other side, with the help of established resource-based view, they focus on the resources of the supplying organisation and also on the way through which these resources are developed to ensure sustainable competitive advantage.

Integration mainly referred as process and form of collaboration. It is necessary to understand the practices related to integrating resources, and how to design and configure the integration process. There are two theories which offer insights in the resource integration process, and these theories are effectuation theory and configuration theory.

Effectuation theory raises questions related to the predictive rationale for organisational behaviour, and it suggests collaboration which occurs through commitments between networked actors. This theory considers the role played by the different actors related to the organisation and also evaluates the collaboration between them. On the other hand, Configuration theory explains the process through which organisations configure their resources, and respond to the environmental issues through the agency of their people. This theory deals with the challenges thrown by configuration theory and also provides guidelines to deal with these challenges. The organization uses both the theories to ensure adequate resource integration and for creating value for the organisation.

Above stated graph provides the framework through which organisation can ensure efficient resource integration process and ensure value creation for business. This framework stated that different actors use the resources to integrate these resources. All resources are evaluated for creating value for the business.

Integrated resource management (IRM), is a planning and decision-making process which mainly coordinates the resources to get long-term sustainable benefits, and it also deals with the conflicts among users are minimised. IRM brings all the resources groups together instead of each group working separately to the different balance requirements of the society in the context of economic, environmental and social areas (Peters, 2014).

The process of IRM includes various stages, and all these stages are stated below:

(All factors described below)

• resource planning
• Development of policy
• Implementation of resource integration and resource planning 

Good construction managers are considered as unsung heroes of construction projects, and because of their skills, diligence, and efficient practices, construction projects are delivered without delay. Efficient management of resources ensures that right people are working with the right equipment for the right job and at the right time (Burger, 2015).  Resource management is the process which ensures the effective and efficient development of the resources used by organisation whenever required. Different type f resources fall under this category such as financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or information technology (IT).

Integrating Resources

Resource management and project management are two concepts which depend on each other in the construction industry, but both the concepts reflect different aspects. The primary purpose of resource management plan is to identify and reserve resources to meet long term and short term goals of the organisation. However, this process sounds straightforward, but in practice, it is involved in nature because different things are interconnected. A resource plan must:

• Management must ensure availability of the resources which include both workers and equipment, and also identifies any conflict related to resources and resolves such issue before time. For example; a cement mixer cannot be on two buildings at the same time.
• Process related to the resource planning must be quick and efficient at the time when the building construction teams make efforts for meeting project objectives (Hillerbrandt & Meikle, 2006).

While conducting the activities related to the construction project, it is necessary for Fletcher to consider whether they like to work with their equipment or like to take these resources on rent. Fletcher does not take equipment’s on rent because this company worked on large scales and preferred to make investments in these equipment’s (Fletcher, 2016). Therefore, the primary purpose of resource planning is to design, develop and evaluate a service given by another person for ensuring efficient management and resource allocation between different departments. There are some resources which can be shared such as equipment, human resources, buildings, and warehouse space. It is necessary for the user to describe the tasks they need to achieve and resource management ensure efficient supply of resources for this purpose (Simon, Snow & Read, 2004).

It is suggested, resources are selected from a shared resources pool which involves all the necessary resource required by the organisation. To describe a specific set of resources, and an extensive number of parameters which measure these resources, it is necessary for an organisation to set the framework which is useful. Therefore, a pre-requisite for the resource management is the availability of an integrated resource description model which met above-stated requirements.

The primary factor of development of the integrated resource model in the resource management process was an analysis of standards and procedures related to construction equipment’s, construction tasks, and qualification profiles to select the most detailed and general content models (Menzel, n.d.).

This evaluation can be conducted in tow subparts. Firstly, management analyses content information related to equipment’s and tasks and also qualification profiles related to construction industry. In the second step, specifications of content are compared with the existing strategies of the organisation to define the existing scheme to manage and maintain resource information. This evaluation process was conducted in close cooperation with the partners of the industry and also with the potential of end users (Katranuschkov, 2001).

The primary purpose of integrated resource type model is to provide an appropriate method to manage different categories of resources and also generates a harmonised set of descriptive attributes and proper relationships (Menzel, n.d.). Therefore, mapping and merging strategies related to the resource management provide support to the integrated use of the existing, standardised, and singular models. Policies related to the resource management contribute to the development of a similar description of the integrated e-Sharing resource model.

Resource Integration Framework

Resource planning provides support to the leasing concepts also on a cross-sectoral, and finally, it results in improved business opportunities. In this manner, it becomes easy for SME’s to share their services more efficiently. Services provided by ICT sector or any other sector, are readily available for the construction sector (Simon & Holyoak, 2002). Bellow stated figure describes stated model:
The primary objective of this graph is to provide an appropriate method to manage different categories of resources, and also for generating a consistent set of descriptive factors and appropriate relationships. Therefore, within the e-sharing project mapping and merging strategies, this model develops the enabling and supporting of the integrated use of the existing, standardised, singular models and content descriptions. This strategy will contribute to the development of the homogeneous description of the integrated e-Sharing resource model (Menzel, n.d.).

Valuations of Assets are considered as another important part of the resource planning, as it helps the organisation in determining the availability and requirement of resources in the organisation. Generally, in resource planning, it determines the cost of plant and equipment. Undervaluation of assets, the organisation, determines the actual value of the land, buildings, plant and machinery, fixtures and equipment (Siltaloppi & Vargo, 2014). In case of Fletcher, a value related to property plant and equipment includes the cost needed to acquire the asset and another related cost such as cost occurred in bringing the asset to the location and maintenance cost. 

Fletcher also considers the cost related to self-constructed assets, and this includes cost related to the material used in a construction project, direct labour related to the project, site preparation, and installation cost. All these costs must be considered while making the policy (Fletcher, 2016).

Some of the resources of Fletcher building are stated below, and this section also stated how these resources are valued by the organization:

Tangible assets- tangible assets of the organization are property, equipment’s, self-constructed assets. For considering the value of these assets organization conduct fair value adjustments. Currently, organization has total 2214 million tangible assets (Fletcher,2017).

Cost related to the self-constructed assets include, cost related to the all the materials used in construction such as direct labor related to the project, preparation and installation costs of site, costs of obtaining resource consents, financing costs attributable to the project, variable and fixed overheads and unrecovered operating costs incurred during planned commissioning. It must be noted that feasibility cost are expensed as incurred

Resource Management

Leases are another tangible assets in which group stated that all the risks and rewards of ownership are considered as finance lease, and these leases are measured at lower than their fair value or at the present value of the minimum lease payments at the beginning of the lease. Land, buildings, plant and machinery, finance leased assets and fixtures and equipment are valued at cost after reducing the depreciation. Development cost in context of sites for the purpose of initiating extraction is capitalized in the form of resource extraction assets. Assets related to the resource extraction are held at historic cost and depleted over the shorter of the life of the site or right to use period.

Intangible assets- currently organization has 609 million of intangible assets which does not include goodwill(Fletcher,2017). An intangible asset can be recognized as an asset apart from goodwill that is derived from either contractual or other legal rights. Other form of intangible assets Fletcher owns trademarks, Internet domains, advertising, construction permits and contracts, employment contracts, patented and unpatented technologies, and secret formula (Foster. P. Benjamin et al.,2003).

It must be noted that intangible assets in fletcher group acquired separately, and these assets are measured on initial recognition at cost. Subsequently, these assets are carried at cost after reducing accumulated amortization and accumulated impairment losses. Intangible assets with the indefinite useful lives are not amortized, but these assets are tested for impairment annually, either at individual level or at CGU level.

It must be noted that, definite lived intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis. Expenditure related to research activities is recognized in earnings as incurred. Important development related to the expenditure is considered as an asset if particular framework related to the technical feasibility and future economic benefits are met. Other developed expenditures are recognized in the income statement as they incurred. Brands related to which all other necessary factors indicate that there is no limit on the foreseeable net cash flows which are considered to have an indefinite useful life, are held at cost, and are not amortized but are subject to an annual impairment test.

Human Resources- Fletcher has approx. 20,000 employees working the company and its subsidiaries (Fletcher,2017).

Goodwill- goodwill of the organization amounted to 1069 million and for calculating this organization assign Fair values to the identifiable assets and liabilities of subsidiaries and associates of the group at the date they are acquired (Fletcher, 2017). At 30^th June 2017 this group holds and carried the goodwill and other intangible assets at $1.7 billion. The recoverable amount of goodwill and other assets of intangible nature are determined in each reporting period in context of valuations prepared by using discounted cash flow models. These models contain reliable judgments for the purpose of forecasting and estimating future cash flow, discount rate and terminal growth rate assumptions. Changes occurred in assumption can result in the assessment of the recoverable amount. 

Resource Planning

A policy is considered an action which is predetermined by the organisation, and which is established to provide guidance related to the accepted business strategies and objectives. It can be said that policy is the direct link between the vision of the organisation and the daily operations. Policies are considered as a forward step of resource planning.

Policies not only identify the essential activities of the organisation and also provide standard strategy for the decision makers for guiding then how to deal with the issues arise in future. The policy provides the limit to the reader and also provides different choices which are used for guiding the decision-making process (Weise, 2014).

After understanding the meaning of policies, it is necessary to understand the importance of policies in the organisation:

• It helps the employees in understanding their job contracts without taking the help from ‘trial and error’ approach because all the necessary points are stated in the policies.
• It also helps the workforce to understand their responsibilities as both individual and team, which means it saves time and resources of the organisation. Everyone is working on the same platform in the organisation, and employees get help related to his or her tasks and projects.

 (ALL THEORIES LINKED WITH FLETCHER CONSTRUCTION, points and policies stated below.)

It is necessary for an organisation to manage these projects with limited time, cost, and resources. Therefore, it is essential for the organisation to maintain strict control and efficient cost. It also controls the over budgeting of any project and wastage (Edvardsson, Tronvoll & Gruber, 2011). Fletcher construction develops different policies and procedures to ensure that all the projects related to construction are conducted efficiently. Some of these policies are stated below:

Fletcher is one of the largest construction company in New Zealand; it works on big projects. As stated above, Fletcher works on both government and private projects. Therefore, there is need to conduct proper planning, organising, and supervision in the context of resources. Resources of fletcher include raw material, equipment’s, technology, and human resources. All these resources are considered as most essential resources for conducting day to day operations of the business, and for this purpose, Fletcher ensures effective and efficient planning for all these resources. It is necessary for Fletcher to hire skilled staff and must take care of existing employees of the organisation.

Human resource planning of the organization is very active, as they hire skilled staff, who works hard for achieving goals of the company Planning related to human resource management includes programs and training sessions which build the capability of the employees through ongoing recruitment and employee development, and also ensure that vision of the employee is linked with the vision of the organization. They develop the plan after discussing with their staff about every aspect of their projects to get more output from their employees. Therefore, human resource plays a most crucial role in company development (Fletcher, 2013).

Fletcher organised various programs such as Step Up, Leader’s Edge, and Branching

Out and Leadership Insights and these programs are implemented to improve the engagement of the employees in the organisation. Fletcher conduct training and development

Programs for their employees for prepare future leaders (Fletcher, 2016).

Fletcher provides support to the concept of improving safety and technical competencies for those managers who are involved in dangerous operations (Smith, 2017). However, the issue arises when these specific competencies are required for all the construction activities which also involve tunnels and shafts. These standards and qualification are specific, and this is the reason which causes a delay in the critical operations. Management can share roles. However, to avoid higher staffing levels, creative roles are necessary for the construction industry (Fletcher, 2017).  

To provide support to the health and safety activities, Fletcher developed high-quality resources in the year 2017 related to the health and safety. These resources include the tools which ensure a reduction in the variability of basic standards of safety. The organisation also develops technological resources such as joint health and safety electronic reporting system and a health and safety intranet site. Various guidelines and resources have been produced to ensure that hazards are managed more efficiently.

As stated above, resource plan is created at the time of resource planning. Any person who is responsible for the resource management of the organisation must create an efficient resource plan to ensure that all the resources are present for completing the project. Implementation of resource integration is the last step of the resource management process, and it is considered as the most crucial step of the complete process. In other words, the implementation plan is the most useful and practical management tool which is the ultimate result of the complete process.

Implementation plan breaks down each strategy into small tasks, and assign these tasks to different individuals and teams in the organisation and also guide and complete each task, for example, to complete any Housing project, organisation divide the complete project into small tasks and assign each task to the related parties (NRCS, n.d.). This process is considered essential the resource management because it is not possible for one person to implement the complete plan, and there is need of different employees who possess expert knowledge in the different fields. Therefore, it is necessary to handle the part of work to that person who possesses expert knowledge related to that work.

There must be an effective method to implement the resource plan, and if there is an efficient method to carry out the resource plan, then there are chances of confusion and chaos, and in some cases, it can result in failure of the complete project. In construction industry where scarcity of resources is always considered a big issue, it is necessary to use these resources effectively.

However, implementation of the resource plan is considered a difficult task, and it required continuous monitoring to ensure that all the resources are used at the right place by right people. It also requires that planner of the strategy identify every step which is required for the purpose effective implementation of resource plan. Implementation of the plan is the last stage of the management process and considered as a most crucial stage (Olsen, n.d.). In Fletcher, management decides the task in different department and frame groups for the same and this group be led by the team leaders.

Employee engagement- Fletcher conducted global engagement survey, and as per this survey, there is pleasing overall engagement score of 79 percent in the organisation, an organisation committed to holding 81% score in the context of employee engagement (Fletcher 2016). The organisation further committed to making extra efforts to score high number in this context. This score is considered as an ultimate result of the effective planning and implementation of the human resource management policy. As stated human resources are considered as most important resources of the organisation, and any resource planning of the organisation must include this factor on a priority basis (Fletcher, 2011).

Conclusion:

Key findings are considered a summary of the essential facts already described in the paper, and this summary is revolving around the research question. The primary purpose of this paper is to analyse the resource integration model and discuss theories related to resource integration. This primary objective of the paper is fulfilled with the help of different sources such as thesis conducted by universities, peer-reviewed journals, publications, etc.

 The primary purpose of this research was to understand how resources of the organisation such as tangible, intangible, and human resources are developed and shared within business organizations for conducting day to day operations. After considering the above facts, it can be said that integration of resource is a planning and decision-making process which mainly coordinates the resources to get long-term sustainable benefits, and it also deals with the conflicts among users are minimised. For this purpose fletcher conduct valuation of assets continues basis such as value related to property plant and equipment includes the cost needed to acquire the asset and another related cost such as cost occurred in bringing the asset to the location and maintenance cost. Fletcher also considers the cost related to self-constructed assets, and this includes cost related to the material used in a construction project, direct labour related to the project, site preparation, and installation cost. All these costs must be considered while making the policy.

Mainly, this report examined how contingent factors such as social integration mechanisms, power, and regimes influence the willingness and ability of organisations to generate resources. In this report, we applied a cognitive theoretical approach which understands the models and theories related to resource integrations at every level of the organisation. Management analyses content information related to equipment’s and tasks and also qualification profiles related to the industry. Specifications of content are compared with the existing strategies of the organisation to define the existing scheme to manage and maintain resource information.

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