Coronavirus Pandemic-Related Management Issues

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Problem Definition

The COVID-19 pandemic affected people economically, socially, and emotionally by creating discomfort in conducting their normal day-to-day lifestyle activities. The pandemic disrupted employment facilities by limiting productivity as people could not interact to prevent the easy-to-spread virus among themselves. The normal business spacing required extension to allow room for employees to function freely without fear of contaminating the virus. Therefore, the majority of the organizations could not extend their space to accommodate the new requirement from the government and health practitioners to identify new ways to complete the work without necessarily having employees work physically from their offices. The demand for spacing resulted in the identification of working-from-home ideas that could facilitate employees to perform their duties from the comfort of their houses. Then, online working became a common phenomenon among many businesses whose employees conduct tasks that do not require them to be physically present in the offices. An extension of intensive internet spread in the country favored letting employees work from home, reducing unwarranted physical interaction between employees. This aided in controlling the pandemic and spreading it to most of the population.

Coronavirus Pandemic: Management Issues

The management issues raised in this problem include the need for managers to identify strategic means to continue organizational operations within the pandemic error. On the other hand, the organizational concern raised in the case study is the demand for continuity of operations to meet organizational goals and objectives as the pandemic continues to extend. Conversely, embracing new technological inventions was another concern in the case study where businesses had to accept the developments and incorporate them into daily operations, provided there were internet connections for the users.

Working from home has impacted the organizational approach to completing tasks that do not require manual force and robust facilities to produce the desired item. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced many management, organizational, and technological concerns in businesses. It required managers to make critical decisions to ensure business sustainability and employee retainment as the pandemic forced many businesses to demote employees. Therefore, businesses that could manage to shift into online working and meetings needed to be more active in these strategies. Managers had to conduct meetings through online media platforms that facilitate such operations, such as Zoom and Microsoft Skype.

The pandemic witnessed a rise in technological inventions to facilitate working from home. For instance, people could videoconference through different platforms such as Skype, Skype for Business, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Amazon Chime, BlueJeans, Cisco’s WebEx, GoToMeeting, and Google Meet. Some business people use the same communication tools, such as FaceTime and Facebook Messenger. Therefore, the pandemic played a critical role in influencing managers to accept these forms of technological inventions as a formal means of passing information and interacting with both employees and clients. These information technologies were successful in aiding businesses to conduct their operations since many facilitated continuities of operations in various businesses such as Reed Smith, Twitter Inc., and OpenText Corp., among others.

The Future of Working from Home

Working from home has been accommodated in many businesses. It is possible for most people in the United States because more than 80% of the population is connected to home-based internet. However, several employees have no access to broadband internet connectivity; hence, it is difficult for them to accommodate home-based work. In addition, most of the permanent employees are in remote areas and hence cannot propagate online working. Furthermore, online communication, texting, and emailing are not as effective as physical communication since they lack emphasis on essential information. Therefore, it is evident that working from home will be a long-term achievement for many industries but will not be fully efficient.

Management, Organization, and Technology Factors Affecting Adoption of Internal Corporate Social Networks

Most firms are not prepared to motivate their employees, which is one of the managerial issues preventing the adoption of internal corporate social networks.

Additionally, most social software users do not think the technology is important, and businesses think it hinders employee productivity and does not advance the business. Last but not least, some workers are accustomed to traditional business practices and are unfamiliar with social networks; as a result, they do not want to modify their practices and want encouragement. The organizational issues preventing the adoption of internal corporate social networks include the realization by companies that it is highly challenging to overcome the company’s inactivity while attempting to implement social networks. Organizations also believe that workplace social networking technologies do not foster employee collaboration and have little effect on decision-making speed, employee retention, and meeting abandonment.

The material on the networks, which must be current, easy to access, and important, is the technological barrier preventing internal corporate social network adoption. Since adoption rates for social networks are modest, IT professionals rank their internal social networks as average or below average. Additionally, the network should not be overly complicated and simple enough to use to connect with others.

Experiences Implementing Internal Social Networks of the Organizations

Standard Bank, a business operating in over 33 countries, 19 of which are in Africa, has managed to utilize social platforms to market its operations effectively. The bank initially wanted a site where they could engage their target audience by communicating conference logistics and posting content such as PowerPoint presentations. Yammer social network was a perfect platform for the company to run its operations and finally engage in over 400 groups within the site. Standard Bank drew on expertise provided by Yammer and Microsoft to identify key strategies to help them effectively utilize the platform to run operations hence accounting for its success. According to Northward’s Head of Business Effectiveness and Communication, Steve Finegan, executive backing was essential to the network’s expansion. The Northwards CEO frequently participates in debates, offers links to interesting news topics, and writes a blog. The company’s executive directors, who initially had doubts about Yammer’s advantages, now often submit material and respond to comments. Therefore, using social platforms to share information benefits organizations since it facilitates effective communication between various stakeholders and ensures a quick response to the complaints and complements made through the interactions promoting the corporate image.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Global Supply Chain

The supply chain has helped many businesses to control costs by finding alternatively cheaper methods of sustaining their projects. A supply chain is a networked system of businesses, people, information, and assets created to locate, produce, and transport items from their point of origin to their final destination, which is from a supplier to a consumer (Remko, 2020). The cost of logistics is expected to increase dramatically, which might have an effect on small firms in the U.S. In comparison to your rivals, you could be able to lower your distribution expenses by using fewer channels of distribution and logistics experts, which would support you in maintaining a better cash flow and profit.

Reduced inventory requirements can save overhead expenses for storage and security by reducing the need to keep inventory. An extremely low inventory, however, puts more strain on distribution systems and makes them less resilient to supply chain shocks. Determining the ideal inventory level is crucial for firms since it determines many aspects such as costs. A company’s liquidity can be greatly enhanced by improving cash flow by operating an effective supply chain that is built on strong supplier relationships, upholds strict quality and stock control, and keeps a close eye on costs and prices.

Using conferencing platforms, shared dashboards, and mobile phone apps, business managers can stay in constant communication with their suppliers. Software tools can also be used to efficiently manage stock levels, track distribution routes, and keep tabs on business performance. When you have real-time data analytics at your fingertips, you can create backup plans that will help your company weather storms and seize opportunities as they present themselves.

Subcontracting is driven by increasingly sophisticated components, specialized manufacturing methods, and companies’ desire for more adaptable capacity that can be switched on and off in response to demand. Deeper tiering in supply networks is the end outcome. In multistage manufacturing networks, suppliers rely on their suppliers, who in turn rely on their own networks of suppliers. Four or more levels of suppliers are becoming more typical. It is quite challenging for businesses to have visibility into the identities of all of their suppliers due to this amount of complexity. Without this insight, big disruptions often catch many businesses off guard.

Measures to Mitigate Supply Chain Risks

Businesses should first stop relying solely on a single supplier, area, or nation for their sourcing needs. They ought to build backup supply channels and raise their safety stock levels. Costs will rise as a result of these changes, but supply networks will become more robust. However, the availability of a supply may be influenced by a vendor’s special skills or the proximity of particular resources. A company may be able to operate with less safety stock if it can quickly identify and collaborate with a different supplier. Businesses that must be certified and have complicated production processes may require more. For instance, Novo Nordisk, which produces half of the world’s supply of insulin at its plant in Kalundborg, Denmark, has a five-year reserve due to the fact that insulin is such a crucial diabetic treatment.

Second, businesses should think about regionalizing manufacturing even more, and if possible, localizing suppliers. In the 1970s, Toyota helped establish lean production in Japan by setting up shops close to its suppliers. Toyota still prioritizes localization above many of its rivals. Over 100 of the more than 350 suppliers for Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky manufacturing is situated in the state of Kentucky. Due to its localized production, Coca-Cola was well-positioned to withstand pandemic supply chain disruptions. Drinks that are sold in the US are made there. Drinks are produced in Germany. Drinks are produced in Kenya. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses have decided to use global networks for just-in-time and lean manufacturing, putting more emphasis on cost than supplier variety.

A company should maintain a global supply chain when it saves more from the operations and has a strategy simultaneously working with the process to ensure there is a reduction of losses in case of global misfortunes that prevent continued supply. These include having alternative sources of resources.

Reference

Remko, V. H. (2020). Research opportunities for a more resilient post-COVID-19 supply chain–closing the gap between research findings and industry practice. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 40(4), 341-355. Web.

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