Subject: Management in Organisations

Read the article given below and answer BOTH questions.

Management in organisations challenges of Covid-19 By Arti Mehta, Editor, TM Forum May, 2020 The current Covid-19 global health crisis is unpredictable and evolving quickly, and businesses worldwide are scrambling to manage the impact not only on people but also on their future. With normal transformation programs, firms are generally in control of the timeframe, but Covid-19 is forcing transformation, with the spread of the disease setting the timeline and driving the agenda. Just recently somebody sent me a survey asking: Whos driving your digitalization: One, your CEO; two, your CFO; three, Covid-19, said Bjrn Menden, Managing Partner, Detecon. As well as restructuring client business models for Detecon, Menden is part of a new TM Forum collaboration project called Digital organisational Transformation (DOT), which helps companies realize the full potential of transformation by addressing organisational and cultural change. The project is instrumental in facilitating organisational and cultural change in companies by using the TM Forums Digital Maturity Model (DMM) to set the change agenda, then focusing on the processes and capabilities needed to address issues and implement changes. Key tools include OrgVues workforce modelling platform, Detecons consultation and integration, and The GC Index organimetric (organisation metric). I spoke to Menden, and two of his project collaborators Mike Smith, Telco Client Director, OrgVue, and Nathan Ott, Chief Polisher, The GC Index about the organisational impact the Covid-19 pandemic is having on businesses. All three were instrumental in developing the DOT project, which has grown out of an incubated Catalyst proof of concept. Covid-19: Survive before you thrive There are two stages, both are going be on the mind of every single CEO, says Ott, The first is survival mode: Employees and companies trying to pay bills and stay afloat. Then they move into when and how to become productive, indeed competitive, in the new normal. In Smiths conversations with clients, specifically in their response to Covid-19, he describes seeing a similar three-step journey: Emergency response using data to understand current status and well-being of the workforce Crisis management how to maintain the provision of critical products and services Focus on the future thinking ahead about how to accelerate post-crisis recovery Menden, Ott and Smith all agree that in line with digital transformation and the DOT project, there are two crucial areas communications service providers (CSPs) should focus on: people and business. People: How and where is everyone? Where people are working disparately and in unusual conditions, companies require an overview of employee data including physical health, mental health, dependencies, location and infrastructure. There are a myriad of newly formed distributed workforces and remote workers across organisations that are under a new level of stress that can manifest negatively on the wellbeing of our people, explains Ott, adding that given the sudden forced changes in their workplaces, it is more important than ever before for people to feel connected to and valued by the business by being able to individually and collectively make a contribution. Historically, this kind of focus on well-being and mindfulness has been regarded as intangible and complex by more commercially focused individuals, Ott says. But organisations are learning this people-impact data is key in monitoring and enabling a potent workforce during this pandemic. When he says potent Ott means individuals who are not merely engaged with a company but are making a valued impact: If youre not making an impact and youre not valued, it starts to manifest in different ways, whether it be disengagement, depression, anxiety or however else. This is where The GC Index can help by connecting the impact on people to business outcomes, looking into areas such as employee well-being, the environments theyre working in, open communications, whether the right people are doing the right work, if theyre actually energized by that work and if theyre making a contribution. Business: Providing critical services This global health emergency has highlighted the important role CSPs play in such scenarios beyond simple connectivity. With this role comes increasing pressures. To address them, operators should focus on providing critical services and products. Specifically they need to: Identify critical functions and roles Determining how to keep critical functions running Tracking the health status of employees especially those performing critical functions Menden says that to maintain these critical services, CSPs must bear down on the processes that enable them. One of the most mission critical infrastructures at the moment is telecommunications, he explains. [CSPs] need to digitize their processes, safeguard their processes and take maintenance of those processes into account. Propelled by data All these suggested responses to Covid-19 are essentially data-driven approaches, and they are entirely dependent on whether organisations are geared up to collect the necessary data. At the moment, people, businesses and governments are figuring out which way is up, says Smith. Theyre starting to think about what they do and very much looking at How do we collect data?. He adds that while in the past lack of data and quality concerns have sometimes been a barrier, data is now a necessity and he is encouraged by how ably and quickly businesses are gathering and utilizing the essential information. Im not suggesting people go out on this big data hunt because theres probably not enough time, but people who have got it are using it, he says. The key thing to getting the data they need fast is using the technology they already have, to meet these people and business challenges. Smith asserts that at the end of the day, the health crisis represents a different set of business challenges, where data is key: The devils in the details, like which roles are critical, who is available to work and so on, and then being able to bring all of that together. Looking forward CSPs and their business customers need to plan for recovery, and the DOT team has suggestions for questions operators should be asking themselves: What kind of recovery are we expecting: V shaped, U shaped, W shaped or any other type? What are the key measures we will use as scenario indicators and triggers? What is the financial impact going to be? Where are we overstretched? Where are we quiet? How can we redeploy? What will be our new normal? How do we model future business scenarios and corresponding organisations from where we are today? How will we manage workforce supply and demand? How do we align our people for the positive impact they can all make to this transformational change? How are our disparate teams and distributed workforces contributing to the changing demands of the organisation? How do we ensure that our workforce feels potent in their roles/teams as the changing conditions of the pandemic play out? The sense of a structure Emergency response is driving businesses to gather data, implement modelling and make changes because they have to, but according to the DOT team, its all a bit ad hoc. They agree that this work could ultimately be more manageable and deliver more strategic ongoing organisational benefits if delivered through a more structured framework. Says Ott: I think what I am seeing so far is that organisations have three core streams of activities as they move from survival to new normal to future opportunities (at their own pace for their respective journeys): Business as usual; incremental change like improving working practices; and transformational change such as changing business models that were never previously thought possible. With the right data and organisational modelling capability, organisations can best adapt and address each stream either separately or concurrently using a DOT-style approach. First utilizing the Forums Digital Maturity Model by assessing the companys maturity in the area of Culture, People, and organisation to identify where transformation or improvement is needed and where focus and investment is required. The project then takes a data-driven and technology-enabled approach to graphically model the as-is and to-be organisations, their people and costs for various departments and processes, and assesses the impact of any changes. OrgVues workforce analytics platform designs the resulting new organisational structure, manages the transition and then propels ongoing organisation effectiveness, complemented by the GC Index which can work out whether the team contains the full range of skills required to be effective and successful. Despite the current crisis, organisations have the power to make their people feel potent and deliver a transformational culture that can adapt and thrive not just when we get back to the new normal, but in any further uncertain times the future holds. Source: https://inform.tmforum.org/insights/2020/05/conquering-the-organisational-chal lenges-of-covid-19/

Question 1 Based on the above article and from your own research analyse FIVE (5) challenges of Covid-19 to management in your organisation or an organisation of your choice. (50 marks)

Question 2 With reference to your own organisation or an organisation of your choice recommend FIVE (5) strategies for effective Covid-19 management in the organisation. (50 marks)