Table of Contents
Introduction
In the business environment, companies can operate for either profit purposes or non-non-profit activities. In this case, enterprises they usually have different management structures. Also, while organizations undertake their operations in the marketplace, they have the role of exercising social responsibility as well as ethics to allow them build their reputation. Companies that fail to practice social ethics end up failing within the marketplace. Additionally, based on the different activities that businesses undertake, they need to ensure that the management is effective in terms of driving the organization to success. Thus, the management should have the right managerial skills as well as understand the goals, objectives, and culture of the business to allow them emerge successful in their diverse operations (Rothschild 2). Thus, the paper discusses the case of Dell Inc., which is an international business in terms of social responsibility, ethics, and nature of management hence understands the forces behind its successes.
Milestone 1a: Organizational Choice
Company Description
The company identified in Dell Inc., which operates as a profit business.
Profit Business versus Non-profit
For-profit businesses and non-profit organizations differ based on the ways in which they founded. A profit business is created with the goal of generating revenue for entrepreneurs as well as their workforce. Nonprofits are established with the goal of serving environmental and humanitarian needs. For-profit enterprises provide services and products, which fetch value within the marketplace, and choose to distribute profits among employees, owners, shareholders, and the business as well (Patti 55). Regarding nonprofits, they direct their income to services and programs for meeting the under-met or unmet needs of people including shelter, water, food, and education, or other issues, including endangered species and deforestation.
Dell is a company whose purpose is to specialize in the provision of different kinds of computer products. It offers desktops, laptops, servers, workstations, monitors, gateways, printers, storage, software, as well as networking products. The organization serves the needs of customers from different parts of the world. The company charges for the different kinds of products and services it offers, hence leading it to be regarded as a for-profit organization (Farfan). It mostly sells its products to individual consumers, businesses, and government organizations among other institutions.
Products and Services
A major difference exists between products and services mostly owing to tangible and intangible forces. Products are the goods or objects that need manufacturing, storage, transportation, and selling. By contrast, services refer to individuals’ output, which can be individualistic or collective action, or a person’s performance. Therefore, the difference between products and services revolves around tangibility (Farfan). Services are intangible while products are tangible. Regarding Dell, one major product it offers comprises of Desktop computers.
Competition
In economics, competition refers to the rivalry that each seller exercises in order to get what the other sellers are getting simultaneously, including profits, sales, and market share through providing ideal combination of quality, price, and services. In the event of a market where information flows in a free manner, competition plays a critical role in balancing the forces of supply and demand (Farfan). The major companies that Dell mostly competes with comprise of Lenovo, and Hewlett-Packard Company. It also competes with other firms, such as Apple, and IBM among other related firms.
Demand
Demand refers to a principle applied in economics to describe the desire of customers as well as the willingness they portray for paying for certain goods and services. When all other forces remain constant, a rise in a service or product’s price leads to a drop in demand and vice versa. Thus, demand refers to the willingness of individuals to go out to purchase certain products or services (Patti 56). In determining demand for its products, Dell employs several strategies. For instance, it can evaluate past records of sales to understand how the products performed in the past, thus make future predictions (Farfan). The other way the firm can determine demand is estimating the sales for recent performance or laying emphasis on the sales data of competitors to determine whether a product would realize increased sales once released to the market.
Milestone 2a: Social Responsibility, Ethics, and International Business
Social Responsibility
Social responsibility refers to the practice whereby an enterprise should focus on balancing between its profit generating initiatives with initiatives that benefit the entire society. It entails developing organizations that establish a beneficial relationship with the society whereby it operates. The reason for this is that the relation to the environment as well as the society where a company undertakes its operations plays a critical role in allowing the business to keep operating in an effective manner (Idowu and Filho 5). It also facilitates in measuring a business’s overall performance.
For Dell Inc., it realizes the need of operating as a socially responsible business unlike the case of many other firms of a similar size as well as scope of activities. The diverse activities that depict Dell as a socially responsible enterprise comprise of empowering and educating its employees, minimizing energy, water, and CO2 emissions in line with supporting recycling activities (Kotler and Lee 15). The company also offers considerable support to local communities through participating in volunteer activities while at the same time enforcing gender equality as well as minority, such as through uniting female entrepreneurs.
Code of Ethics
Code of ethics (ethical code or code of conduct) is a practice that sets the ethics, values, responsibilities, and objectives of a business. For a well-developed code of ethics, it serves various purposes. Firstly, it guides employees on the various ways in which they should deal with different ethical situations. Secondly, each code of ethics should define the values, ethos, and style of a business (Farfan). Nonetheless, it is essential to note that certain codes are short since they set out typical guidelines whereas others are big manuals that encompass various situations in a business.
As for Dell Inc., it sets out a code of ethics that applies to all its employees globally. It comprises of written standards, which aim at eliminating wrongdoing while at the same time promoting ethical and honest conduct. It entails the following. Firstly, the Code of ethics advocates for ethical handling of apparent or actual conflicts of interest. Secondly, it requires the workers disclose and communicate to the public in an accurate and fair manner in issues related to financial reporting. Thirdly, the code entails that the business and employees adhere to applicable rules, laws, and regulations (Kotler and Lee 45). Finally, it also requires that any code violations be reported while all stakeholders remain accountable to the code.
Going International
In undertaking operations in the global environment, businesses employ different strategies, which play a critical role in determining its successes. They can take part in international business activities via practices, such as licensing, exporting, acquisitions, mergers, and franchising among other approaches.
In the present global business environment, Dell is laying significant emphasis on acquisitions to allow it grow its global operations. The company is acquiring companies in Asia-Pacific region, Europe, as well as has insights on India and China. The international strategy by the company aims at integrating the foreign companies it acquires mildly, while permitting them to operate as independent units in order to safeguard the culture as well as cycle of product development in these regions (Idowu and Filho 65). This way, Dell is showing the capacity for standardizing the services and products to ensure they remain similar globally.
Milestone 3a: The Nature of Management
Management Functions
Effective management entails six major functions. These comprise of organizing, planning, coordinating, staffing, controlling, and directing. In organizing, it to control the entire company’s structure through developing the structure in line with the command chain within the organization. Planning revolves around defining organizational goals as well as determining the ideal action course to attain the goal. Coordinating aims at controlling all the planning, organizing, and staffing initiatives in a firm while making sure that they function together. Staffing regulates the personnel and recruitment needs of a company by ensuring that appropriate people are hired for specific jobs. Controlling function makes sure that all activities in a company are in place as well as operate in a successful manner (Marquis and Huston 5). Lastly, directing is a managerial role that actuates the methods of working efficiently in an organization to realize the purposes of an organization. It serves as an enterprise’s life-spark since it usually sets in motion the activities that people undertake, since planning, staffing, and organizing serve as just minor preparations of undertaking work. In directing, the management is able to deal with the employees directly by guiding, influencing, motivating, as well as supervising subordinates so they can achieve the goals of the organization (Bolton and Bolton 32). The specific and measurable goals that Dell needs to implement include reducing the energy intensity of its products by over 80 percent through ensuring that it sources its packaging form sustainable elements. It should also ensure that its products are compostable and recyclable by 100 percent by using recycled content as well as other sustainable materials in its products (Kotler and Lee 24). Thirdly, Dell should emerge as the top employer by making sure it hires around 30 percent of employees from universities.
Levels of Management
In most organizations, the key management levels comprise of top-level, middle level, and low-level managers. To-level managers comprise of president, CEO, vice-president, and board of directors. They oversee the overall organization and develop strategic plans. Middle level managers consist of branch, general, and department managers. They are responsible for executing plan, defining policies, and offering guidance to low-level managers. Low-level managers comprise of section heads, supervisors, and foremen. They usually assign tasks to employees and guide the daily activities of employees (Bose 22). In the case of Dell, the levels of management it should use are as follows. The CEO should rank at the top together with the advisors’ board to give advice concerning various issues. The vice-chairman should come in second to manage the diverse worldwide operations of the company. The third level should comprise of the various heads of departments to handle the diverse activities taking place in the different departments.
Management Skills
Being a manager needs certain key skills to allow individuals work in a responsible manner. Therefore, for people interested in being managers, they need to ensure that they employ the skills that would allow them to deal with their management positions in a more effective manner. In being a manager, one of the vital skills is good organization. The manager has the duty of organizing departments, implementing various processes, as well as outlining what the employees should do effectively (Behr 44). Secondly, managers need to be good at managing time. They are anticipated to complete their duties within the given deadlines hence indicating that they should ensure they manage their teams’ time as well as themselves while at the same time prioritizing work to make sure that the projects are completed in a timely manner. Thirdly, managers should have god relationship-building and interpersonal skills. For instance, in the case of managers, they usually work with their team members by assigning them certain duties while at the same time making sure they offer them sufficient training in doing their jobs. In line with ensuring that the staff remains motivated, the managers also hire as well as fire them meaning that in order to realize all these, they should be compassionate, approachable, diplomatic, as well as possess good skills of communication to allow them listen as well as reward their staff effectively. Lastly, delegation is a skill that managers need. For instance, it is essential to note that doing job alone is tempting to think that it would be quicker rather than assigning to a different person (Bolton and Bolton 35). Nonetheless, managers need to note that delegating work is essential to facilitate in sharing accountability and responsibility.
In terms of the skills I believe am strong in as a manager, they comprise of effective communication skills as well as problem solving skills. In communicating with my colleagues as well as subordinates, I consider myself as the first contact line in such a way that I ensure I exercise the responsibility of ensuring that each person remains informed. Moreover, concerning problem solving skills, I deal with all the problems that emerge in my work effectively. In am able to think on my feet while at the same time solving problems whenever they emerge. In doing this, I embark on all activities that can allow me to emerge as an experts in my field while at the same time remaining focused and calm while solving the issues. Nonetheless, regarding my weak skills, they comprise of financial skills as well as leadership. As for finances, I encounter challenges while setting budgets, managing them. In improving these skills, I need to focus on computer literacy as well as numeracy to deal with any financial issues. Also, regarding the leadership challenge, I usually fail to involve other people in following the direction I desire. Therefore, I believe I need to improve my leadership skill by leading via example while at the same time setting anticipations of my staff members to emerge as an excellent persuader (Griffin 12).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the business environment is realizing various changes in the marketplace. For instance, there is a growing need for businesses to exercise corporate social responsibility to allow them to build their reputation among their stakeholders. In addition, ethical operations by organizations allow them to realize notable recognition in line with effective operations. Also, when companies embark on effective management practices, they are able to meet their obligations, which is a major driver toward success in the marketplace. In the case, of Dell Inc., it has followed effective management practices, exercised social responsibility while at the same time encouraging ethical practices, hence allowing it to emerge as a dominant player in the international business environment.
- Behr, Ronny. Management Styles, Management Techniques and Management Methods Learned Easily. New York: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.
- Bolton, Robert and Dorothy Bolton. Social Style/Management Style: Developing Productive Work Relationships. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 2013.
- Bose, Chadra. Principles of Management and Administration. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt Ltd., 2012.
- Farfan, Barbara. Dell Computer Company Profile: Mission and History. The Balance. 15 Aug. Web. 6 May. 2017.
- Griffin, Ricky. Management. New York: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
- Idowu, Samuel and Walter Filho. Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility. New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2008. Print.
- Kotler, Philip and Nancy Lee. Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print.
- Marquis, Bessie and Carol Huston. Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009. Print.
- Patti, Rino. The Handbook of Human Services Management. New York: SAGE, 2008. Print.
- Rothschild, Steve. The Non Nonprofit: For-Profit Thinking for Nonprofit Success. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print.