Organizational Structure and Operational Problems †Free Samples

Question: What Is the Organizational Structure And Operational Problems? Answer: Introduction An organization uses accounting package, which processes and records the accounting transactions. It also helps organizations to function some module such as trial balance; payroll, general ledger, accounts receivable and accounts payable. These packages also help in the making of effective and quick decisions (Albrecht, etal, 2010). Therefore, this research paper defines about the usefulness of accounting software package for an organization to manage the accounting information systems as per the need of the organization and external business environment. To attain this paper, Queensland Rail is selected because it is a leading organization in Australia from public sector, which is involved in various types of the business functions. This first part of this report describes the organizational structure and problems faced by the company in the context of the sales and other types of control systems. The second part of the report discusses about the accounting software packages used by Queensland Rail and its advantages to the company. Finally the paper presents the recommendations that can assist the company to fill the performance gap with the help of accounting software packages. Structure of Selected Organization According to Baligh (2006), the structure of an organization describes the way of the internal and external communication between the management and operational staff along with the contractors of the company because it describes the role, responsibilities, accountability and involvement of the people. Following is the organizational structure of the selected organization: The existing business structure of the organization is built on the functional structure. It means each department has different requirements in the term of the accounting and sales of the services. With the help of this, the organization addresses its customers, suppliers and vendors. With the help of such business structure, the company manages more than 8,000 KM long railway networks along with the daily passengers. Organizational Structure and Operational Problems The functional structure of the organization defined that the organization is led by one person and each department head work under that person. It is also known as the centralized organizational structure that does not only help the organization to achieve the targets timely but also help to ensure collectives involvement of people in decision making process. However, the nature of the business of Queensland Rail is more complicated. For example, there are more than 600 mobile workers who work for the company at different route. On the other hand, the company gives work orders to the employees regular basis. Therefore, the efficiency of the railway operators is much important for the company (Caldwell, 2017). The centralized structure of the company creates the issues in the quick decision making which may impose the adverse impacts on the performance of the workers and other railway operators. In this context, Drury (2004) says that functional structure facilitates the organization to transfer the responsibilities of the operational departments but it needs the involvement of managers and top management in the decision making process. On the other hand, Gaspar, et al, (2005) say that functional structure improves the efficiency of the organizational people but the lack of team work affects the productivity of the organization. Research o f Baligh (2006) presents the similar issues in the context of the centralized organizational structure and says that such business structure creates issues related to decision making, allocation of the resources and distribution of the tasks. Process for Selection of System Acquisition In the word of According to Collier Agyei-Ampomah (2008), an organization either can purchase the system from the open market through the buyer of the accounting packages or can develop the accounting information systems through the help of the application developers within the organization. For the selection of an effective system, the strategy of the business and business structure both are most important. Queensland Rail needs the on-budget and on-time implementation. Due to this, the organization also required the more automatic and dynamic way to ensure the effectual dealing with the work order process. The organization also wants to build an effective and efficient system that can help the in planning for outages, maintenance, and repairs that can help to replace the manual process that is used by the company in daily practices. Due to this, the company purchases a SAP work manager solution from the supplier Oxygen, A DXC Technology Company (Oxygen Business Solution, 2017). Th e research of Digital First Pty Ltd. (2016) and Hossain, Patrick Rashid (2001) says that the SAP facilitates the organization to use the data management process in more efficient ways and runs a business through the help of quick decisions. System Flowchart for Work Order Marley Pedersen (2015) defines about the advantages of the flow charts for an organization because it defines each possible steps and what have to do by the employees. With the help of this, the organization can reduce the possibilities of error. To describe the step related to the involvement of the management, employees and other staff members to complete a task, following is following chart of the work order that is formed by the organization to ensure the regular services of the organization to customers. Control on Problems and Frauds Flow chart facilitates the management and other decision makers to replace the possibilities of errors in the every decision making process to ensure the efficiency. In the context, the flow chart related to the work order helps the company to divide the entire workforce on the different task without dividing the management for every task. As per Smith Hawkins (2004) work order flow chart helps the companies to give a proper road map to the operational employees. With the help of this, the organization can achieve the expected results in the term of the efficiency and effectiveness in every operational process. The flow chart system does allow the users to put control on the working process that ensures the expected results. Accounting Software Packages Research of Lau (2005) and Ahmed (2008) describes that the accounting software packages that are developed by the third parties may help the organization conduct the business processes with efficiency and efficacy. On the other hand, these packages do not only allow the organization to work as per the effective allocation of the budget but also monitor the expenses, labour cost, and the execution of the financial strategies etc. Accounting software packages has also changed the way of communication by providing real time data which help the management to use analytical decisions making process in every decision that will not lead the possibility of the business failure. SAP makes positive impacts on the productivity of the organization because it does not need for redundant entry in the data within different applications related to data management. SAP also reduces the communication struggles between the different departments because it increases the corporations among the entire department that is also effective for the functional organizational structure based organization (Oxygen Business Solution, 2017). Queensland Rail has implemented SAP to manage its huge workforce at different routes and conduct the daily activities without any issue. The traditional methods of the company cause the various issues in the running of the rail network on the new routes. In this context, SAP allows the company to make an effective balance between the 600 mobile workers and its management that allow the company to reduce the operational cost and increase operational efficiencies (Oxygen Business Solution, 2017). SAP also allows the company to implement the on-bud get and on-time, which was not possible before the use of SAP or the implementation of SAP. The company has more than 8000km rail networks that need which needs the timely reporting, recording of the information and preventive and corrective maintenance (Oxygen Business Solution, 2017). With the SAP, the management of the large rail network is not an easy task to the organization especially than when the organization is still facing issues related to the customer services and less effective management of the work. Application Market The software industry of Australia offers various types of the accounting software package to the companies on the basis of their needs and wants. Among these software, SAP, Xero, Open System, Intuit, and MYOB are some leading applications that are in demand because of their business operations. These companies offer application to the companies without considering their size, which is also a reason behind the sales of these accounting software package (Heber, 2015). As per the report, it can be stated that SAP is leading software that is offered by the SAP itself and through the help of its suppliers. In the market of Australia, Oxygen, a DXC Technology Company is a main supplier of SAP Solution (Oxygen Business Solution, 2017). This company also provides assistance to the companies related to the implementation of the system and training the employees to handle the Sap technology in most aggressively. SAP is "IT" based application that is in demand because of the growth in the soft ware industry of the Australia. Research of Kiernan (2016) defines that the accounting software industry of the company will cross $10.6 bn AUS after 2016. The main reason behind the growth is the increment in the cloud based systems which are attracting the companies to adopt the accounting software applications. Leaders and Competitive Advantages Accounting software industry has various players which offer their solutions to the customers to manage and maintain the accounting related functions of an organization. Research of Lau (2005) says that SAP is an offline based application that needs time, cost and workforce to ensure the successful implementation. It does not affect from Internet Protocol or the cyber attack or any other issues that makes it safer in the comparison of its competitors. On the other hand, the SAP can be used through an operating system of the computer that does not need huge changes in the structure of the workplace or the systems of the workplace. SAP allows the businesses to align business strategies within one page that is not possible through the use of other accounting packages related to accounting information system. Gaps and Challenges According to Hossain, Patrick Rashid (2001) and Lau (2005), the implementation of the SAP is not an easy task because it requires the budget to prepare the workforce to use it. This is because SAP is related to the IT skills (Oberstar, 2015) of the employees that mean the poor performer may not be able to use it effectively. Hence, it needs the training to ensure the regular use of the application without any issue. Therefore, it is recommended that the organization should have to implement the SAP within the organization after making a proper analysis of the workforce, required budget and the period of time for the implementation (Hossain, Patrick Rashid, 2001). Through the help of this, the organization will not face issues in the successful adaptation of SAP because the analysis related to the workforce will help the organization to know either the current workforce may handle the system after providing training to them or the organization should have to hire the new employees. Further, the organization should select SAP when the all departments of the organization want to associate otherwise the company cannot get more benefits from SAP (Lau, 2005). Conclusion On the basis of above discussion, it can be stated that accounting software packages provides an errorless services to the companies that give the reason behind its selection by different business organizations. The example of selected organization also defined the advantages of the SAP; an accounting software packages to its functioning power. Above discussion describes that SAP improved the mutual communication between the departments and also ensured the flawless allocation of tasks to each end of the organizational operations. SAP also helped to manage the implementation of the allocated budget through the help of real time information and also helped to reduce the whole operation cost. This report also described that how an organization can use the SAP and its advantages in the daily business practices to get competitive success. References Ahmed, N. (2008) Financial Accounting. India: Atlantic Publishers Dist. Albrecht, W.S., Stice, E.K., Stice, J.D. Swain, M.R. (2010) Accounting: Concepts and Applications, 11th ed. USA: Cengage Learning. Baligh, H.H. (2006) Organization Structures: Theory and Design, Analysis and Prescription. USA: Springer Science Business Media. Caldwell, F. (2017) Queensland Rail culture problems highlight opportunity for innovation. [Online]. 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