Question

IMPORTANT NOTE*****Read the following scenario, and write one or two paragraphs to answer each of the sub-questions below:

Consider a small, but growing, company that distributes kitchen supplies. The customers are primarily small retailers such as kitchen specialty stores, hardware stores, and other types of home retail stores. Managers currently keep track of all customers, orders, and inventory information using a spreadsheet.

a.Describe how a TPS would help the managers of this company keep track of orders and inventory.

b.Identify and discuss two Managerial level Decisions, and Two strategic decisions that can be made within this company. Explain your reasoning

c.If a TPS was set up to automate the order entry and inventory system, provide two examples of reports that could be produced at the Managerial Level, and one example of a report that could be produced at the Strategic Level. Explain and describe the reports.

Answer 1

a) TPS will help the managers of this company to keep track of orders and inventory in this way:

The TPS (Transaction processing systems) are the basic business systems that serve the operational level of the organization. A transaction processing system is a computerized system that performs and records the daily routine transactions necessary to conduct business.  At the operational level, tasks, resources, and goals are predefined and highly structured. The decision to grant credit to a customer, for instance, is made by a lower-level supervisor according to predefined criteria. All that must be determined is whether the customer meets the criteria.

In several restaurants, orders are recorded on a paper check and hand-carried back to the kitchen by a waiter. The waiter periodically visits the kitchen to determine whether the order is complete. This method is inefficient and time-consuming.Some restaurants use walky-talkies to communicate orders to kitchen areas. Orders must still be entered manually in a terminal device.

b) Two Managerial level Decisions:

The managerial level decisions for the specified type of company are identified as below:

(1) identifying the range of responsibility for each level of management

(2) identifying the degree of involvement for each level of management.

Two strategic decisions:

(1) Strategic Implementation:

  It is imperative to recognize that when altering the technology of work of any organization, one must understand that there is a direct impact to the outputs and outcomes of that organization. If the technology is not driven with the strategic direction and expected outputs and outcomes in mind there is little opportunity for success.

(2) Strategic Evaluation:

The decision maker should create it during the process of determining the direction and implementation of the strategy. When developing the implementation plan, it is paramount for the team to define the process for evaluation as well. This evaluation directly links implementation to the results of the strategic direction setting. The desired organizational outputs and outcomes must be defined and it must be determined how measurement of those outputs and outcomes will be completed.