Challenges in the current working environment are regarded as the drivers of innovation and implementation of adaptive management practices in order to increase their survival, competitiveness, and differentiation advantage. The technology industry is rapidly changing requiring application of the core management concepts optimally to ensure that the unpredictable fluctuations do not cause detrimental implications to their respective long-term strategies. Companies that are not flexible to the situational conditions have been known to undergo ultimate failure due to their lack of competitiveness and the subsequent market losses. Hence, it is fundamental to evaluate how companies apply the management principles to their advantage in the intensely competitive and dynamic working environment.A classic example of the companies that apply the four core management principles studied in the classroom environment is Cisco systems. This American multinational corporation is involved in the design and manufacture of networking equipment. Since its formation, the company has grown to cover large sections of the global market depending on the client specifications particularly when dealing with the transmission of information with minimal errors and security concerns. It is from the management perspective that the organization has increasingly become popular in the networking industry due to the quality of products, services, and reflection of the prevailing market conditions.
Most of the information is derived from an interview with one of the middle-level management personnel in the company. The interviewee is part of the business management aspects that help in the transformation of customer specifications to production designs that are cost effective irrespective of their requisite resource allocations. As explained by the management practitioner, it is important to evaluate all the provided specifications from a business perspective so that their overall outcomes include sustainable profit margins. Sometimes, it means additional research and application of redefined strategic options to ensure that the allocation of resources is optimal, cost effective, and reflective of the existing market situation.
Planning is the basic element in the technology company within all the constituent departments based on their designated roles. In the management section, planning is regarded as the process of having forethoughts so that activities are organized in the best mode of achieving their intended outcomes. Most of the time, the management applies this core function in creating conceptual plans, maintenance, and market control because the customers are always concerned about their system efficiency, security, stability, and resilience to failure in spite of the load factors. It is the role of the management to come up with strategies that define high performing, professional, and expert workplace whose performance is reflected in the products and services being sold.
In Cisco systems, planning has played a major role from market analysis, management protocols, design phases and production systems to the sale of products that meet the specific customer needs. The company has implemented management processes that allow workers to choose destinations, evaluate alternative options, and decide specific courses that optimize their mission objectives. On the other hand, there are master templates that must be followed as they have been formulated from the long-term strategic options that define the future growth and development of the technology company. In other words, this concept can be summarized as automated, operational, financial, and architectural planning since they are the core functional requirements.
The interview also highlighted the leading function, as well as its role in the successes of the company since its inception within the technology industry. Managers in Cisco systems are supposed to handle several complex and interrelated responsibilities depending on their designated tasks. Their roles include organizing resources and tasks within the workplace to ensure that their results contribute to the long and short term strategic goals. Such outcomes are the result of the management function of leading in terms of motivating workers, introducing accountability, planning work processes, and managing group dynamics for the effective achievement of the defined goals.
Performance of the complex requirements has been a critical aspect of the corporate management aspects wherever networking market is involved. In fact, this function has been used by the involved individuals to lead people through organizational change and adaptation of core industry changes that have continuously made Cisco the top provider of networking equipment throughout the global market environment. Over the years, the managers have used their leadership skills to shape their group dynamics towards futuristic visions, ensuring that their operation is efficient, and making sure that their products evolve according to the dominant industry specifications.
Leading, performance, and planning are subsequent outcomes of the organization as a management function. This function has been used to structure, integrate, and coordinate resources and activities to attain the defined objectives. In this case, the interview outlined the entire philosophy of Cisco systems where it is centered on the concepts of division of labor, specialization, and orientation towards the specified objectives and purposes. The organization has goals, and the existence of this function ensures that groups and individuals work harmoniously for continuity since the feature company is defined by the nature of relations.
In fact, organizing follows planning because it involves grouping of departments, assignment of tasks, and resource allocation throughout the organization. The middle level manager in Cisco Systems has corroborated these aspects where the company uses methodical structures to organize, divide tasks and coordinate departments. Due to the nature of functional requirements, Cisco has developed a framework that assigns tasks to departments and individuals, creates formal reporting relations, and specifies the nature and extent of work delegation. It is through organization that Cisco has been able to achieve its defined strategic goals, optimal usage of resources, and performance of the other management functions.
This means that directing and controlling cannot work without the application of the organizing function. Due to its effective application, control in the company has taken effect leading to the resultant successful outcomes in the networking industry of specialization. From the control perspective, there exists a chain of command whose purpose is to implement structures that promote overall accountability and responsibility. This means that the achievement of the stated objectives is based on the provision of clear orders and compliance reports in all defined directions within the management matrix. Control is therefore important for coordinating lines of organization, compliance, and functioning direction.
The control function is composed of elements such as authority, accountability, and responsibility within and outside the working environment. Control has provided the managers at all levels with the authority to make formal decisions, issue intrusions, and apportion resources in order to achieve the desired company outcomes. In addition, employees have the responsibility to perform their assigned tasks inasmuch as they are accountable, responsible, and compliant with the specified organizational rules. Otherwise, the function of control would not have it efficacy in control and regulation of the company depending on the types of authorities and responsibilities.
In summary, Cisco Systems has grown to become a multinational corporation due to the effective application of the four core management functions. Over the years, organization, control, planning, and leading have played a major role in developing high performance, responsible, and innovative workforce. Moreover, these functions have been applied proportionality to ensure that departments, employees, and their managers work harmoniously to achieve the overall organizational goals in the long and short term projections. This means that the four functions are codependent, and none of them can be disregarded for organizational success.
