Table of Contents
Introduction
Challenges form part of the daily activities of an organization. Every organization in the business world, regardless of their capacity, faces unique challenges to their daily initiatives. The increased trend of globalization has been responsible for the flourishing economies across the globe, as it leads to the strengthening of entrepreneurship, innovation, and talent in the engagements made in the business world. However, the most evident challenge for the increased growth is the need for ensuring that the growth is sustainable and responsible. Managing responsible growth usually presents a major challenge for most organizations. The purpose of the paper is to identify the major responsible management challenge of the business of focus, develop recommendations that can be helpful for designing better methods for managing those issues, and further outline the company’s strategic aspirations and the resource constraints it faces.
The case company
The case company of interest to the paper is C&A group, which is a private retailing company that specializes in selling apparel and footwear (About C&A. c-and-a.com, 2017). Some of the outlets of the company include Germany, France, Italy, Spain, China, and Russia. The company is currently a leading producer of organic cotton, which will enable it to maintain its influence in the market for the maintenance of its market share and the realization of the targeted revenues (About C&A. c-and-a.com, 2017). It is also one of the leading organizations in the production and sale of cotton, with its revenues being on an increasing trend for the past decade.
Major responsible management challenge
The major responsible management challenge faced by the organization is global warming and resource scarcity. Global warming is a major issue in the current society, with no solid solution established over the years since scientists discovered that the earth was warming up because of some of the activities practiced by humans on the earth’s surface. The United Nations highlight that the increase in the number of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is the main reason behind the warming of the planet and the resultant change in the climate (Dai, 2013). Greenhouse gases usually exist naturally in the atmosphere in specific amounts. However, human activities such as the clearing of forest lead to the increase in the quantity of the greenhouse gas composition in the atmosphere, which further leads to an imbalanced nature of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Urry, 2015).
Relevance of the human resource management in addressing the challenges
The human resource management team of the organization can play a major role in addressing the challenges of management. The human resource management initiatives that will help the organization in managing the challenges highlighted involves the recruitment of the workforce, training the stakeholders of the organization, and managing the workforce. For the realization of the perfect solutions for addressing the challenges highlighted, the HRM team needs to ensure that they recruit competent individuals who have a vast knowledge in regards to the issues concerning environmental sustainability (Sustainability.c-and-a.com, 2017). When the HRM team recruits people with vast knowledge on how to manage issues concerning global warming, the organization can have an effective team to manage the issues noted.
The HRM team can also focus on training the organization’s stakeholders as a way of addressing the issues highlighted (Pagell and Shevchenko, 2014). Farmers are one of the main stakeholders of the organization considering that they are the ones who have the responsibility of producing the raw materials needed by the organization. Through training the farmers on the best methods for producing the raw materials needed, the HRM team will play a major role towards the organization’s handling of the challenges highlighted. For instance, the HRM team can organize workshops whereby the farmers learn more about organic farming and the best ways for incorporating organic farming in the organization. Reducing the barriers between the management and the farmers can also be a great move by the organization since it can help in developing effective relationship and understanding, which is necessary for the management of the challenges. Finally, the training can also involve educating the farmers on the dangers of global warming, and encourage them to adhere to best practices of agriculture to minimize its effects.
The other way in which the HRM team can help the organization to address the challenges is through managing the workforce effectively. Effective management of the workforce will involve understanding the competencies of the employees and realizing the specific areas where the skills of the workforce can fit appropriately. For instance, through managing the workforce, the HRM team can identify the best employees who can spearhead the organization’s change initiative and realize the desired results in regards to addressing the challenges presented. Further, through offering incentives, the HRM team can improve the motivation level within the organization, which can be important in the increase of innovations made towards the realization of solutions for the challenges experienced.
Recommendations
Addressing the management challenges highlighted is important in ensuring that the organization operates in a manner that is sustainable, and can guarantee the efficient use of the available resources. When an organization concentrates on the sustainable management of resources, it will be able to guarantee its success on the business front. In line to the Laasch and Conway’s view, one of the recommendations that can be of use for the organization in the management of the challenges is the adoption of better farming practices. Better farming practices would help in the reduction of the number of greenhouse gases emitted in the atmosphere, and further lead to the reduction of the effects on the climate. Considering that fertilizers are the popular contributors of carbon in the atmosphere, reducing the use of fertilizers can be a good way for the organization to reduce the environmental effects of their operations.
The other recommendation that can be of importance in helping the organization manage its challenges is educating the farmers on the best practices for farming. It can be hard for the organization to achieve its goals regarding the challenges underlined without involving the farmers considering that they play an important role in the production process. Educating the farmers and ensuring that they understand the best methods that they can use in the production of cotton can be of great importance to the organization since the initiative can help the organization in realizing the best methods for minimizing the challenges that they experience in regards to climate change and global warming.
Innovation is an important practice that organizations should adopt to better manage their challenges. The third recommendation that can help the organization in the management of the challenges it faces is the adoption of more sustainable ways for irrigating cotton without impacting negatively on the environment. There exist new strategies and irrigation systems that are more efficient than the traditional methods used. Through implementing the new strategies, the organization can ensure that their practices can help in guaranteeing land use efficiency, which can further help in ensuring that the soils remain as productive as they can be regardless of the changes of the weather patterns (Liu et al., 2015). There are new researches that prove that cotton is a drought-resistant crop. Thus, through following up on those studies, the organization can understand better ways for managing cotton without the need for using the amount of water it is currently using in the growing of cotton.
Another recommendation that can help the organization in the management of its challenges is the adoption of green energy. The adoption of green energy can help the organization in reducing its contributions to the increase in the number of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and further, observe their environmental responsibilities. One of the initiatives that the organization can consider is the adaptation of the use of solar panels for the generation of electricity considering that it is a commended source of clean energy. The other initiative that the organization can adopt is the use of wind turbines for electricity generation since it is also another source of clean energy. The impact of the adaptation of the use of green energy is that apart from assisting the organization in observing its environmental responsibility of reducing emission of greenhouse gases, it also helps the company to strengthen its brand as an “organic” cotton producer.
Corresponding management function
The organization is currently on the right path in the implementation of the recommendation given, as they already engage in more organic practices for the growth of the cotton. The benefit of engaging in organic farming is that organic soils store more carbon, and ensures that they do not become released into the atmosphere (Biermann, 2017). The recommendation is quite feasible and in line with the aim of the organization concerning the achievement of sustainable use of agriculture by 2020.
The organization is also in a good direction regarding the recommendation given since one of their practices is the engagement of farmers in understanding their methods of farming and encouraging them in initiating better methods for growing the produce. However, the organization needs to involve the use of technology as a way of improving the standards of farming employed by the organization. For instance, the organization can help the farmers in implementing the use of carbon capture and storage technology, which can help in reducing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by the farming methods implemented (Kaiser et al., 2016). The feasibility nature of the recommendation highlighted is quite positive and achievable considering the revenue stream of the organization and its market influence. There is a readily available workforce needed for the realization of an effective implementation of the recommendation highlighted are also readily available, which makes the initiative quite manageable in regards to the financial resources needed for its implementation.
The feasibility nature of the recommendation highlighted is that the recommended action is manageable as per the financial capacity of the organization. Engaging in new projects or initiatives means that there is a need for the availability of resources that would help in managing the new initiative (Doppelt, 2017). Analysing the organization’s financial capabilities is important for the realization of how effective the organization can be in regards to the implementation of the recommendation highlighted. In view of the revenues realized by the organization over the past three years, it is quite clear that the company has the financial capabilities that can guarantee the successful implementation of the recommendation highlighted.
In regards to the profit margin of the organization, the net profits of the organization have been improving since the organization’s inception. The gross profit of the organization in the fiscal year 2016 was 645 million dollars with the net profit before tax and the net profit after tax being 428 million dollars and 409 million dollars respectively (c-and-a.com, 2017). The organization uses its profits in empowering the farmers and teaching them on better farming methods. They also use the profits to pay the shareholders their dividends and divert other funds into supporting the operations of the organization. The major concern of the shareholders is the improvement of the profit margins of the organization. However, they can be willing to get fewer dividends for the increment of the profits needed for developing the recommended projects.
The recommendation highlighted can also impact positively on the profit margins of the organization in the long run. During the first years of implementing the recommendation, the profit margins might not be appealing considering the high cost incurred in purchasing the solar panels and the wind turbines and their installation. However, after some two years, the organization will start realizing good profit margins because of the low costs of energy production.
We can do it today.
Strategic aspirations of the organization
The strategic aspiration of the organization focuses on two major areas; governing sustainability and stakeholder engagement. In regards to governing sustainability, the organization believes that accountability helps in driving performance, which is the main reason why it is a major part of the company’s strategy. The main strategic aspiration of the organization is to use their global reach to drive positive impacts for the workforce in the organization, the supply chains of the organization, and the consumers (Sustainability.c-and-a.com, 2017). The organization’s strategic aspiration in regards to governing sustainability also encompasses guaranteeing that the company has a watertight decision-making process that can be efficient in the realization of the best methods to employ for a specific situation. The organization plans to engage 135 employees in full-time responsibility for the sustainability of the organization’s interests (Sustainability.c-and-a.com, 2017). Further, the organization also plans to establish a global sustainability board that would also help in the supervision of the decision-making processes of the organization, particularly those touching on the global front.
In regards to stakeholder engagement, the strategic aspiration of the organization is to ensure that they maintain an active dialogue with the key stakeholders of the organization to assist in the driving of change. The organization aims at continuing to engage the stakeholders in understanding the perspectives of the organization in regards to the major issues that are affecting the apparel industry. The organization further employs that their engagement initiative will involve six major steps that include identifying the stakeholders, prioritizing those who are of major importance to the organization, analyzing each stakeholder, maintaining an active dialogue, incorporating their feedback, and including the stakeholders in the implementation process (Trenberth et al., 2014). The organization believes that the strategic aspiration underlined can be of great help for the organization to maintain its reputation in its key markets, and the areas where it is planning to expand.
Resource constraints
Resource constraints are a major issue for organizations interested in engaging in developing new initiatives. C&A is not an exception, as it also suffers from resource constraints that appear to hinder the success of the strategic aspiration of the organization, and might further affect the implementation of the recommendations outlined for the organization. Resource constraints can range from a number of elements including finances, employees, and specific skills for a particular initiative (Sachs and Santarius, 2014). Considering that the organization is making revenues in billions of dollars, finances cannot be a resource constraint faced by the organization. However, the major resource constraint faced by the organization is the availability of skilled employees who can help the organization in the realization of the recommendations highlighted. The shareholders of the organization are also a source of concern for the organization. The possible concern regarding the shareholders is their unwilling nature to support the initiatives employed by the organization, which hampers its productivity levels.
Conclusion
The major responsible management challenge faced by the organization is global warming. Cotton production is not only strenuous to the nutrients available in the land, but also to the water, both its quality and quantity, which is the reason why developing nations find it hard to maintain the production of cotton. One of the recommendations that can be of use for the organization in the management of the challenges is the adoption of better farming practices. The other recommendation that can be of importance in helping the organization manage its challenges is educating the farmers on the best practices for farming. The third recommendation that can help the organization in the management of the challenges it faces is the adoption of more sustainable ways for irrigating cotton without impacting negatively on the environment. The strategic aspiration of the organization focuses on two major areas; governing sustainability and stakeholder engagement, while the resource constraint faced by the organization is the low availability of skilled labor. Thus, to realize its strategic goals and manage its challenges, the organization will have to address its constraints.
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