Work in the automotive business requires not only the availability of a specific stock of goods and a sufficient financial base. It is essential to have a competently built system of management that can control the activities of all departments of a particular company. When the whole process is organized in accordance with a well-conceived strategy, the risk of monetary losses will be minimal, and the profit can be significant. The analysis of one of the automobile dealerships’ work can help to understand how the management system in such a company is organized, and also to determine what changes can be made to improve the current situation and correct mistakes.
Information about the Organization
The company under analysis is a local car dealership of the world famous brand “Ford.” The director of the concern was quite pleased with the request for a ten-minute interview and agreed to a meeting at his office. It is worth noting that he asked at what time it was more convenient to hold a conversation and did not appoint his time.
The head of the dealership answered questions about the structure of the organization that was subordinate to him and told how the process of control over all his departments was built. According to him, in some of the structural units, there are quite a few employees, not less than fifteen, and each of them is a competent employee. When asked about the structure of the departments, the director replied that their salon consisted of four main units, each of which was managed by a separate responsible employee. It was also noted that many important decisions coming from the headquarters of the concern were considered together with department heads, where people discussed the best way to introduce this or that innovation or increase sales. The director claimed that the company that was entrusted to him worked quite successfully and had not a very big but stable profit; therefore, the activity of this automobile dealership could be regarded as well organized.
Organizational Chart
As practice shows, most car sales centers have a clear organizational structure. Thus, according to Healey (2016), some departments must necessarily be present in the company involved in the automobile business. In the automotive dealership under investigation, based on the answers of its director, the following segments can be distinguished:
Judging by this structure, it is possible to conclude how the management and sales system is arranged in the car dealership under investigation. As Isaenko and Tarasov (2014) note, this format is quite typical and standard in the process of any enterprise’s organization. In order to assess the effectiveness of such a structure, it is necessary to study its work in the context of the modern market and try to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Any judgments can only be of a recommendation nature; however, possible ways to improve the state of business may be helpful for the director and his colleagues.
Evaluation of the Organization’s Structure
The current organizational structure has an utterly logical system that is used in many other enterprises. If it is a car dealership selling Ford products, it is necessary to have a good advertising system to not only interest the consumer but also achieve the highest possible sales level. From the point of view of specialization, this department is present in the dealership, and it closely cooperates with the sales department, whose primary purpose is to directly contact customers and make orders and purchases.
The accounting department has nothing to do with customers. Nevertheless, its staff carefully calculates all financial transactions and ensures that the organization has sufficient income and could rely on financial assistance from the central office if necessary. In case the work of this department is stopped, there is a threat to the whole enterprise.
Employees of the service department are engaged in monitoring the technical condition of cars, controlling all necessary repair operations, and checking the state of the goods. Perhaps, to improve productivity and efficiency, it is essential to reconsider the structure of this department. The algorithm of reasoning can be as follows:
- Too many people are involved in its work, and the activities of some of them are invisible and almost useless.
- It is possible that some employees should be redirected to the advertising department as in this unit, on the contrary, there are too few people.
- If the management decides to take such measures, it is likely that the company will be able to achieve higher success compared to the current indicators.
From the point of view of decentralization, the activities of the enterprise are organized competently. All the structures of the company are subject to their immediate superiors that, in their turn, are controlled by the director. According to Lim, Alpan, and Penz (2014), this management system is in demand in the modern market and justifies itself because the control process is established quite clearly, and one person does not have to monitor all the operations.
Conclusion
Thus, the analysis of one of the automobile dealerships’ work is rather useful to assess its management system and make proper conclusions regarding its perspectives and successes. The work of the whole enterprise largely depends on its departments’ performance. Modern structural schemes can be reconsidered if necessary to achieve higher profits and establish good advertising campaigns.
References
Healey, T. (2016). A guide to dealership structure. Web.
Isaenko, E. V., & Tarasov, A. S. (2014). Automobiles selling organizations’ marketing communications assessment directions. Life Science Journal, 11(9s), 239-242.
Lim, L. L., Alpan, G., & Penz, B. (2014). Reconciling sales and operations management with distant suppliers in the automotive industry: A simulation approach. International Journal of Production Economics, 151, 20-36.