The Management Services Department of BELCO is facing a serious problem of identity. The department does not really get the due credit for its contribution to the overall support function to the organization.
Of the many reasons responsible for the identity crisis, one important reason is the lack of work planning at the department. Employees do not know even the simplest possible sequence of operations involved in the routine and special “information systems” required for the different functional areas.
Ironically, it has been set beliefs that the management services department does not really require its own ‘work plans’, because all it has to do is to support the functional work plans.
Absence of work plans have obviously caused absence of optimal productivity required for this department. Productivity being not defined has promoted the misconception of ‘no performance measurement’ leading to the further consequences.
Another element contributing to the ‘identity crisis’ is ‘no physical identity’ of the department as such. This has led to an excuse available to the employees of this department complaining that work plans cannot be designed due to the absence of a centralized monitoring system.
The department soon became a neglected baby and the possibility of it losing its overall utility could not be avoided.
Questions:-
1) Define the features of an optimal work plan.
2) Design a work plan (on an annual basis and also on a long-term basis) for the “Management Services Department”.
3) Are the factors like ‘organization structure’, ‘work culture and responsibility identification’ etc. to be considered while assessing the suitability and success of the work plan?
4) What are the special features of the work plan in this department?
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