Fleets: Examining Employee Schedules Essay

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the attempt to identify parameters and considerations that are essential to take into account while planning employee schedules at Fleets. Based on the provided scenario, it was discovered that the company encounters multiple human errors in such fields as inventory and stockouts. In this connection, it was suggested to resort to the most relevant management tools, including total quality management, just-in-time strategy, and others. The analysis of the existing situation showed that the implementation of special software might considerably improve the issues with human errors. By tracking working time and designing employee schedules, such software has the potential to organize the workflow and minimize challenges. It is also important to note that both the company’s interests and those of employees should be taken into account while preparing schedules.

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Introduction

Schedules of employees are rather important as a supply chain manager is expected to meet the business requirements and comply with those of workers. In the given case scenario, it is revealed that Feets, a company operating in the field of retail athletic wear, faces problems with inventory due to human errors. In this regard, this paper will analyze parameters and considerations that should be taken into account while planning employee schedules, focusing on just-in-time (JIT) management, total quality management (TQM), and the point of sale (POS) system software.

Parameters and Considerations: Employee Schedules

The case shows that the main obstacles occur when employees at Feet miss some issues with packing, picking, or selling. One may suggest that this may be caused by improperly designed shifts and overload on workers. In this connection, the first parameter that affects employee schedules refers to seasonal peak sales periods. Consistent with Chopra and Meindl (2013), one may suggest that the application of the JIT approach may improve the current situation. Firstly, it is assumed that orders of customers should be met not by previously accumulated reserves but by production facilities ready to process products. As a consequence, the number of production reserves classified as frozen capacity is minimized.

Secondly, in the conditions of minimum stocks, continuous rationalization in the organization and management of production is necessary since a high volume of stocks eliminates errors and shortcomings in this area. It may include improper production, unsynchronized operations, unused production facilities, as well as unreliable work of suppliers and intermediaries (Chopra & Meindl, 2013). Thirdly, to evaluate the efficiency of the production process, in addition to the level of costs and productivity of funds, it is necessary to take into account the term of the application, the so-called duration of the full production cycle. Short deadlines are likely to facilitate the management of the company and contribute to the growth of competitiveness due to the possibility of prompt and flexible response to changes in external conditions. The transition to it requires a new approach to planning and regulating employee schedules since it is based on customers’ orders in JIT. It is also necessary to analyze the need to expand the staff and functions of operators to work with customers, changing the location of equipment.

One more consideration that should be discussed in terms of employee scheduling is the potential benefit of TQM. As a business strategy aimed at improving the quality of all organizational processes, it is inherently focused on quality, customer orientation, and effective teamwork (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). The main benefit of TQM is the systematic achievement of the tasks set for the company through continuous improvement of work. At the same time, Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II), a method based on the use of demand planning, warehouse management, supply, sales, and production, should be noted (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). As it allows for the inclusion of accounting and financial management in a system, its role in employee scheduling cannot be overestimated.

Along with the traditional approach to the topic discussed, there is an alternative that targets individual employee scheduling. The essence of this method is that the assignment of employees with the necessary knowledge and skills to the necessary work at the right time should be accomplished. A set of parameters determine such an approach to scheduling. For example, forecasting needs allows for understanding how many employees and what skills and abilities the company will need in the future, while time tracking promotes accurate accounting of working hours of employees (Cohen & Roussel, 2013). The parameters of analysis and monitoring identify if the current situation corresponds to the plan of the company, and, in case of any deviations, it is possible to quickly and effectively make adjustments.

Currently, the software market for employee scheduling is quite representative, and the total number of proposals from various companies is estimated in dozens. One may, for example, mention Ultimate software that provides business solutions to ensure employee performance tracking and scheduling (“Time, attendance, and scheduling,” 2018). The application of technology for planning schedules leads to several positive consequences. First of all, it allows for reducing the cost of the personnel because the planning of unnecessary labor is excluded, while unproductive downtime and unnecessary overtime disappear. In addition, improper payments to staff due to errors in calculations are excluded since the records of actual hours worked are constantly kept. Second, the growth of labor productivity and staff motivation compose one more advantage as employees are involved in the planning process, taking into account their preferences regarding schedule (Parisio & Jones, 2015). More equitable distribution of tasks and working hours should also be stressed as this process is the result of open distribution of working hours and tasks according to regulatory requirements and contractual obligations.

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In general, a human resource information system consists of a set of activities, the purpose of which is to organize effective management of the company’s employees and, accordingly, to achieve the best quality of human resources management. With the necessary number of professional staff in the organization, the automated personnel management system ensures the speed of achieving the business goals of the enterprise without additional financial expenses (Mohan, 2015). At the same time, all laws, local agreements, and labor contracts with every employee should be observed. When planning work on schedules, the qualifications of employees, individual preferences regarding working hours, and staff availability are taken into account as well.

Conclusion

To conclude, planning schedules is a complicated process as it is critical to resolving various contradictory tasks. There are several parameters and considerations that should be taken into account, including the existing problems, business needs, employee expectations, seasonal selling peaks, JTM, TQM, and MRP II. In this regard, information technologies targeting management systems ensure the unification of the whole information field, its simplification, and making the work of employees more productive and cohesive.

References

Chopra, S., & Meindl, P. (2013). Supply chain management: Strategy, planning, and operation (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Cohen, S., & Roussel, J. (2013). Strategic supply chain management: The five core disciplines for top performance (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Mohan, A. (2015). Application and usefulness of management tools—Human resource information System (HRIS). International Journal of Management and Social Science Research Review, 1(11), 94-97.

Parisio, A., & Jones, C. N. (2015). A two-stage stochastic programming approach to employee scheduling in retail outlets with uncertain demand. Omega, 53, 97-103.

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IvyPanda. (2021) 'Fleets: Examining Employee Schedules'. 19 June.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Fleets: Examining Employee Schedules." June 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/fleets-examining-employee-schedules/.

1. IvyPanda. "Fleets: Examining Employee Schedules." June 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/fleets-examining-employee-schedules/.


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IvyPanda. "Fleets: Examining Employee Schedules." June 19, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/fleets-examining-employee-schedules/.

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