MANAGING PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS

 

Introduction

         This assignment discusses some issues on managing people and organisation. This assignment presents the Saudi Telecom (STC) as a case study. Specifically, the assignment covers the people and organisation within the Telecommunication Network Operations (NO) - Centralised Operation and Management (COM) Department. This paper provides a background to the company; description of the company’s business environment including the task and macro environments; description of technical core and work processes, structure, culture and management systems; and how the people are managed. Moreover, this assignment assesses performance and effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation; analyses the factors listed above; and provides recommendations for changes.

 

What is the Organisation?

            Saudi Telecom (STC) provides timely integrated telecom solutions that provide optimum value to all stakeholders. Moreover, it enriches people's personal lives and contributes to their business success by offering high quality communication services that reflect their true needs. STC is determined to deliver results on its journey to become a customer focused and competitive company. The company is confident of its large market share and believes that investors are confidently investing in the company.  Saudi Telecom is a company that people will be proud to work for.

 

            Saudi Telecom was established in 1988 and, since then, has delivered a range of positive results that have delivered a better service to more customers. This has been achieved through an ambitious transformation & restructuring program compound with an extensive expansion of our network and infrastructure.

            As part of corporate social responsibility, the Saudi Government announced that by the end of 2002, 30% of Saudi Telecom shares will be released for sale to Saudi citizens & organisations: Saudi citizens (20%), General Organization of Social Insurance (GOSI) (5%), and Pension Fund Organization (5%). By the end of the subscription period, requests for shares exceeded the number offered by 3.5 times. This move clearly indicates that Saudi people are confident of STC’s success and trust in its future.

 

            The author works in the Telecommunication Network Operations (NO) - Centralised Operation and Management (COM) Department. Under this department, the author belongs to the OSS COM Support division. Our job includes carrying out operations and maintenance of COM applications that support STC-NO users to perform centralized operation and management of remotely sited Network Elements efficiently and with minimum service outage. We make sure that the existing COM systems and tools are efficiently and accurately managed to enable full resources utilisation, to get optimise performance, to minimise service outages and to help in expediting service restoration of STC Network.

 

            The author finds it necessary to write about the organisational culture, performance and management within the Centralised Operation and Management Department. This is because the author is familiar with the structure and culture of the organisation. The author has been working in the department for ___ years.

 

External Environment      

            The COM department has a complex environment. Due to this complexity, the department is considering all the factors that affect its task environments. Some factors such as political-legal and economic climates are encouraging to the growth of the department. However, the sociocultural climate is posing a challenge. Nevertheless, COM is generally having a stable environment.

 

            The political-legal climate of corporations in Saudi Arabia has been generally encouraging. This is especially for STC in which it reciprocates the government’s trust on the company by sharing 30 percent of its shares to the government. Likewise, the economic climate in Saudi Arabia has seen the growth of systems of wealth production, distribution and consumption. However, inflations and recessions affect the operation of COM. These are the factors over which we have little control.

 

            The sociocultural climate represents the attitudes, values, norms, beliefs, behaviours and associated demographic characteristics of the population within which an organisation operates (Daft 1997, p. 78). As Saudi Arabia is a melting pot of other Asian workers (especially workers from the Southeast Asian Region), we are particularly faced with the problem of sociocultural differences between countries. In operating and managing COM applications that support STC-NO users, we have to consider our customers’ values and beliefs. To do this we conduct studies to identify the concerns of our customers.

 

            The technological climate includes scientific and technological advancements in the production of goods and services (Daft 1997, p. 77). Technology for COM is of particular importance because it has been and continues to be the main source of increases in productivity, which means it can either provide a competitive advantage to organisations that can use it effectively, or pose a threat to those that lack it. To remain competitive therefore, it is important that we need to understand current technology developments affecting their ability to offer desirable products and services.

 

 

 

Organisation Structure

            The directors in the COM have a "functional" responsibility, that is, they are also ultimately responsible for the development of staff in a particular discipline. In the execution of this second responsibility, they are assisted by corporate functional discipline heads, who — like the directors — generally have dual role that combines functional with line-management responsibilities. The department introduced the team-leader in its structure to improve the company unit’s productivity and efficiency.

 

            The organisation is largely based on asset management principles and provides a structure which is geared towards growth and value creation. It is focused on technical integrity of product flow assets, infrastructure and business processes. Moreover, single-point accountability for the day-to-day management, performance and development of all assets has been introduced and a number of management layers has been removed. The organisation is based on “single-point responsibility”, and it has fewer layers then pervious structure.

 

            COM structure is mainly functional as well as team-based. Span of control is narrow and specialized; jobs are grouped according to resources used or output; promotion is within specialization; differentiated horizontally from other functions; and communication is vertical. Moreover, the organisational structure at COM is temporary. Jobs are grouped according to project objectives and are differentiated from other teams. It is the team which links members’ departments. Rewards are based on team success/failure

 

Organisational Culture

            The working environment and organisational culture within COM is generally one of trust. Unlike the other departments under STC, staff members of COM are having a high job satisfaction. The department director makes sure that human resource practices are clarified and harmonized and that human resource policies and procedures are applied consistently. There are space for ideas and new concepts within as well as outside of the COM.

 

            An interesting characteristic that reflects the culture of the COM organization is ‘games’. In organizational theories, games are defined as the systems of influence of an organization which are distinct from the administrative power structure or hierarchy. Among the games that have been observed in the organisation are sponsorship games which are played to build a power base by using a superior. Another is the alliance-building games which are played amongst peers to build a stronger power base. I have also witnessed management versus staff games and whistle-blowing games which are played by a lower level employee who ‘blow the whistle’ on questionable behaviors. Although these cases are very few.

 

            The culture within COM organisation suits the work processes and organisation structure. A structure with a few level is suitable in an organisational culture where staff are working as a team. Through this structure, blatant hierarchy and power play are avoided in the department. A structure with many levels, on the other hand, would seem to heighten the games being played in the organisation.