ST PAULS UNIVERSITY

CAMPUS : LIMURU

FACULTY : COMPUTER SCIENCE BUSINESS & COMMMUNICATION

STUDIES

UNIT TITTLE : CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN MANAGEMENT

UNIT CODE : BMA 415

LEC NAME : MARION WANGUI

TASK : GROUP WORK II ASSIGNMENT

DUE DATE : 3RD AUGUST 2020

ADMN NO CLARE MANG’OLI -BCOMMLMR270518

MARGARET NJOROGE -BCOMMLMR255917

FREDRICK MWANIKI -BCOMMLMR175319

PETER KABU NJAU -BCOMMLMR189319

DIANAH CHEBET -BCOMMLMR194819

SYPROSE OTIENO -BCOMMLMR172219

MAKENA JOY ABEL -BCOMMLMR103418

KIMANI MUNGAI -BCOMMLMR2190/18

INSTRUCTIONS

Read the following case study and answer the questions that follow

FREDRICK.W. SMITH-FEDERAL EXPRESS

Three decades along, Federal Express, also known as FedEx, remains the market leader in an
industry it helped create. The name FedEx is synonymous with overnight delivery. To
position itself for the 21st century, FedEx is now composed of seven major companies.
Thirty-four years later, CEO Fredrick W.Smith remains the head of FedEx, providing
leadership continuity during the company’s rapid expansion and change. FedEx has expanded
beyond what Smith started with back in 1971. FedEx has continued to strengthen its industry
leadership over the past 34 years, and has widely acknowledged for its commitment for total
quality service

With growth comes difficulties of coordination, maintaining efficiency, meeting customers’

expectations, and managing employees. Smith realized that a rigid hierarchy of command-
and- control groups would only magnify these difficulties. To give his employees the
flexibility and freedom they need to move quickly and help FedEx remain the dominant
overnight delivery service in the world, smith decided to restructure FedEx by emphasizing
the team approach to getting work done. He directed his leadership team to empower these
groups by giving them the authority and the responsibilities to make the change needed to
improve productivity and customer satisfaction throughout the FedEx system.

An example of the successful implementation of this new FedEx approach to organizing

work can be found in spring field, Virginia. With strong support from its managers,
employees formed the Quality Action Team to overhaul their packing-sorting techniques. The
improvement they introduced put couriers on the road 12 minutes earlier than before, and
halved the number of packages they delivered late. The success of teams at departmental or
local levels encouraged Smith and his leadership team to also assign employees teams to
countrywide projects. Facing growing competition from united Parcel Service, the U.S.
Postal Service, and Airborne Express, FedEx organized its 1,000 clerical employees into
“Superteams” of up to 10 people. These teams operated as self managed teams with little
direct supervision from managers. One team cut service glitches, such as incorrect bills and
lost packages, by 13 percent. Another team spotted - and worked until they eventually solved
–a billing problem that has been costing the company $2.1million a year.

FedEx teams have worked so well because Fred Smith sets standards and reinforced them. He
spearheaded the concept of “the golden package” the idea that every package FedEx handles
is critical and must be delivered on time. Whenever there’s a crisis, whether due to
competitive pressure or to Mother Nature threatening to ground the company’s planes, the
team with golden package takes charge to figure out how to make the delivery on time. Smith
reinforces group performance by presenting a monthly Circle of Excellence award to the best
FedEx station. He encourages innovative thinking by creating a “job-secure environment.”
He takes the position that “If you hang people who try to do something that doesn’t quite
work, you’ll get people who don’t do anything.”

Managers are by no means obsolete at FedEx. Smith has redefined their roles. There has been
a shift in mind-set from the traditional leader –cantered to the team-cantered leadership
approach. Managers are expected to formulate clear, attainable goals for their teams, to solicit
employees’ ideas, and to act on the best employee suggestions. FedEx managers perceive
their role as facilitators and sometimes they’re players

REQUIRED

Team approach involves use of groups. These groups are formed within an organization and
each group formed are expected to work together. It a is recommended step to any
organization facing growth difficulties. Its significance in the organization include; In light
of the current political, economic, social and technological challenges that most organizations
are facing in Kenya, analyze three management/leadership practices at FedEx which you
have learnt in this unit which you would recommend to organizations illustrating the benefits
they are likely to bring in the organizations. [15 marks]

1. Team work Approach

This is the cooperative effort of a team of people to achieve a common goal. This has been
greatly applied by FedEx management whereby the CEO directed his leadership team to
empower the groups by giving them the authority and responsibility to make the change
needed to improve productivity and customer satisfaction the FedEx system.

Advantages of team work:

I. Division of labor.

When each team in the organization is assigned work, the work is done faster and
finished on time and there is also reduced cost. In FedEx, one team cut service glitches,
such as incorrect bills and lost packages by 13%. Another team spotted and worked until
they eventually solved- a billing problem that has been costing the company $2.1million a
year. This helps in reducing organizations cost.

ii. Employees ownership.

Teamwork gives employees a sense of accomplishment and ownership of their role in the
team's success. This encourages greater job satisfaction. In FedEx, teams operated
as self-managed teams with little direct supervision from managers.

iii. Increased creativity.

Teamwork increases creativity and come up with new ideas that gives them advantage
over their competitors. In FedEx, Fredrick Smith spearheaded the concept of ‘the golden
package. ‘ the idea that every package FedEx handles is critical and must be delivered on
time.
 iv. More enthusiasm.

Employees are more enthusiastic about working on a project with teams such that with
the support of managers, employees formed the quality Action team to overhaul their
packing-sorting technique. It gives the employees the authority and the responsibility to
make the changes needed to improve productivity and customer satisfaction throughout
the organization. It gives employees the flexibility and freedom they need in delivering
their services in the organization. Fosters creativity and learning which thrives when
people work together.

V. Promotes a wider sense of ownership.

vi. Diverse perspectives help one come up with winning innovations.

vii. Sharing the workload eases the burnout.

viii. Dividing work leads to growth of skills of team members

2. Time management

This is the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time between specific
activities. Good time management enables one to work smarter and not harder, so that they
can get work done in less time even when time is tight and pressures are high. Good time
management at FedEx enabled them to put couriers on the road 12 minutes before time this
ensured no delays were experienced. Good time management comes with the following

Advantages of time management

I. Leads to more productivity and efficiency

II. Delivering of work on time
III. Much less procrastination
IV. Producing quality of work.
V. Less stress and anxiety.

3. Division of labour

This is dividing the work load to different individuals easing the workload on some
employees.

Importance to the organisation

I. Increased productivity- assigning employees as the company grouped ten employees

and send sent them to carry out different project helps to increase the productivity of
the employees which would not be visible if they were working all together.
 II. saves on time- similarly in the reference to the case study, time that could be used
moving in some areas is minimised as a group is sent to undertake a different task in
different regions.

Maximum utilisation of labour force- this ensures that all employees take part in the day to
day activity and it’s a key feature to every successful organisation as stipulated by Adam
Smith in his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations

4. Setting employee standards and reinforcing them.

- setting employee standards should be present in any organization as it involves setting goals
in respect to organizational objectives. These goals should reinforced to employees either in
the groups or individually to make sure that they are achieved encouraging efficiency of
employees. It is an important tool to every organization as it facilitates organizational
operation to be smooth. Reinforcement can be achieved through either; awards to the best
team or individual, and encouraging innovative thinking i.e creating a `job-secure
environment' to employees.

Advantages

I. Efficiency in use of employees output to the organization's operation

II. Motivates employees in their daily activities

5. Defining roles i.e. managers

- defining of roles involves I.e. by managers involves formulating attainable goals to solicit
employees ideas, and to act on the best employee suggestions. Managers are involved in
definition of roles and as well as facilitators. Managers are the facilitators of the roles.

Advantages

I. Employees abide to organization's rules and regulations in performing their

roles.
II. Facilitates easy decision making in the organization and encourages utilization of
employee skills as well as promote job specification.

6. Encouraging innovation

Innovation is essential for any organization if it wants to keep its business moving forward
and on top of the market. In FedEx, this is done by creating a ‘job- secure environment’.

Advantages of encouraging innovation

I. Increased engagement. Employees are engaged in finding new ideas whether they
work or not since the leadership encourage that. Smith in FedEx takes the position
that If you hang people who try to do something that doesn’t quite work, you’ll get
people who don't do anything When this quote is taken into consideration, and
innovation and creativity is encouraged there will be:
 I. Increased motivation
II. Collaboration within organization to be innovative
III. Solutions to problems will be easy to find
IV. Interaction among employees when sharing their ideas.
REFERENCES

Bloom, N., Kretschmer, T., & Van Reenen, J. (2011). Are family-friendly workplace
practices a valuable firm resource? Strategic Management Journal, 32(4), 343– 367.

Bloom, N., & Van Reenen, J. (2007). Measuring and explaining management practices across
firms and countries. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(4), 1351–1408.

Delfgaauw, J., Dur, R., Proper, C. and Smith, S. (2011), “Management practices: are not for
profits different?”, CMPO working paper 11/263.