Words: 7786
This chapter gives an overview of the Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited. It covers the history, nature of business, size, mission, vision, core values and products. 1. 1 BRIEF HISTORY Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited was incorporated in 1996 as a joint venture between Waltersmith and Associates Limited, a Nigerian company and Petroman Oil Limited of Calgary, Canada to operate as an oil exploration and production company. In 2001, Walter Smith Petroman Oil Limited became a wholly owned Nigerian company with the divestment of Petroman Oil Limited.
The company subsequently participated in the Marginal Oil field licensing round for indigenous companies and was awarded the Ibigwe field located in Oil Mining Lease 16 by Federal Government of Nigeria in 2003. The award was on a joint interest basis with MORRIS PETROLEUM LIMITED and WALTERSMITH as the operator. WALTERSMITH executed a farm-out agreement with Shell Petroleum Development Company and its Joint Venture Partners including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 2004 to effectively takeover the field for development.
In June 2008 WALTERSMITH commenced production and crude export from the concession area. 1. 2 THE NATURE AND SIZE WALTERSMITH is an organisation operating in Nigeria Oil and Gas Upstream sector. The organisation which is committed to producing crude oil for the benefit of mankind is led by a board of Directors and a Management team. The company Head office is situated in Ikoyi Lagos Nigeria while its Oil field is at Ibigwe a community in Imo State South- East Nigeria. 1. 3 PRODUCTS The main product that the company produces is crude oil which is being exported to other nations of the world. . 4 VISIONS AND MISSIONS Vision: WALTERSMITH’s vision is to become a world class independent integrated oil and gas company Mission: WALTERSMITH’s mission is to responsibly developing hydrocarbon resources for the benefits of mankind. 1. 5 CORE VALUES ?Best business Practice ?Good Governance ?Strong commitment to social and environmental responsibilities for the benefits of humanity. 2. 0 PLANNING This chapter focuses on goal setting, study plan, difficulties to be encountered in data collection and plan to mitigate and overcome these difficulties. . 1 OBJECTIVE OF THE ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS The objective of the organizational analysis is to analyse the functional units and the interface relations and also recommend ways of improving the interface relations. 2. 2 GOAL SETTING Goal setting can be defined as establishing specific, measurable and time-targeted objectives. Figure 1 below is the structured project plan for the organisation analysis. ActivityTime line 19/0621/0623/0625/0628/061/074/077/0711/0712/0714/0415/0717/020/7 Review of BSN course material Data gathering Data compilation
Report writing Draft report review Sub-set meeting review Update review Draft submission to set adviser Correction and final submission 2. 3 PROJECT PLAN ?Review of the BSN course materials and EBSCO database to learn and understudy theory on organizational structures, data collection methods and research report writing techniques. ?The objective of the data gathering stage of the project is to gather relevant and accurate information, get the buy-in of the relevant target population and to analyse data collected from the target population.
The target population includes staff of the functional units (department), functional unit’s heads and some member of the top management team. This will be achieved by using, personal interview, questionnaires, telephone interview with some member of the targeted population e. g. staffs that are on the oil field. All sensitive questions will be handled through personal interviews. The questionnaires cover the functions of the functional units, interface relations and recommendations for improvement of the interface relations.
The personal interview will cover issues on organizational structures and culture. ?Data compilation stage will include analyzing data collected and reviewing ? Information from subset meetings and research report writing. ?Report writing stage would involve applying understanding gained from various materials and extractions of information from WALTERSMITH policy manuals. It would also require structuring the data collected from the survey and preparing draft copy. 2. 4 EXECUTION ?Reviewed responses from questionnaires Send copy to subset members for review, criticism and comments. ?Discussed difficulties encountered with Set Advisor at subset meeting and via phone calls. ?Update and revised documents with comments. 2. 5 CHALLENGES TO BE FACED IN DATA COLLECTION ?Data collection from the Oil field might be difficult ?Time constraint and the busy schedule of staff will be a limitation ? Reluctances of some target audience in filling the questionnaires because of fear of being implicated ? Insufficient time due to researcher’s official duties. 2. PLAN TO OVERCOME THESE DIFFICULTIES ?A questionnaire send by mail was designed for staff on the oil field to make data collection easy. ?Personal interview and telephone interview will be conducted for staff with busy schedule. ?All sensitive questions will be handled through interview and not by questionnaires ? The researcher will ensure proper time management. 3. 0 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND CULTURE This chapter focuses on the theories of organizational structure and organizational culture. 3. 1 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE The structure of the organization can be defined simply as the sum total of the ways in which its labour is divided into distinct tasks and then its coordination is achieved among these task”(Mintsberg 1983a, p. 2). Other writes argue that Mintzberg’s definition only covers part of what organisational structure amount to. Daft(1989) claims that organizational structure is not only about the division of labour and its coordination but also about(formal) relationships among members of the organization, the way individual are grouped together, the way they communicate and so on. BSN Phase 1 Course Notes, module IX, p. 575) Mintzberg was well aware of these human aspects. In his popular book “Mintzberg on Management”(1989) and he described the formal structure as just bones that need to be infused with human spirit- with energy, ideology, and culture if it must survive. Mintzberg also agree with Handy (1985, p. 197-198), that “decision making on the underlying bone is first priority”. In the beginning there should be a skeleton, then there should be flesh, blood and spirit. (BSN Phase 1 Course Notes, module IX,p. 575)
The idea of seeing organization as system was introduced in the 1950s and 1960s by writes such as Boulding (1955), katz and Kahn (1966, 1978) and Thompson (1967). All writers proposed to see organizations as bounded entities that receive input, process this input (“throughput”) and generate output. The boundary marks the distinction between the organization and the environment. If it is to survive in this environment, the organization should somewhat retain its boundary. Open system interact with their environment and must engage in this kind of interaction if they are to survive.
A closed system on the other hand, does not interact with the environment. WALTERSMITH operates an open system that interacts actively with the environment for its survival. It takes people, information, natural resources and finance from the environment as input and processed same through crude oil exploration and production to render energy resources to its various customers as output. Subsystems are the ‘building blocks’ (Davis & Olsen, 1985, p. 277) of the entire organisation’s system. The sum of all the subsystems constitutes the entire system.
The departments and divisions shown in figure 3 below are subsystems of the WALTERSMITH’s organizational structure. The boundary spanning subsystems that are close to the organisation’s boundary are directly responsible for the interaction with the environment e. g. the crude oil production subsystem charged with the production of crude oil from the oil well. The researcher agrees with Mintzberg definition of organization structure as it conforms to researcher’s organization structure. 3. 1. 1 ORGANISATIONAL CONFIGURATION
Mintzberg mention that organisation is made of five basic elements, or group of individuals, any of which may predominate in an organization. The design parameters determine individual positions: ? Operating core: Employees who perform the basic work related to an organisation’s product or services ? Strategic Apex: Top-Management responsible for running an entire organisation. ?Middle Line: Managers who stand in a direct line relationship between the strategic apex and the operating core. ?Techno structure: organizational specialist responsible for standardizing various aspects of organisation’s activities ?
Support Staff: Individuals who provide support to an organisation outside its operating workflow. Mintzberg identified five organizational configurations: ?Simple Structure which heavily relies on direct supervision and finds its key part at the strategic apex. ?Machine Bureaucracy which relies on standardization of work process with its key part in techno structure where the planners of the organisation reside. ?Professional Bureaucracy which deals with standardization of skills and has the operating core. ?Divisionalised form on standardization of outputs.
Units are given the power of autonomy to deal with entire product line allowing the top management to focus on strategic decisions. The middle lines are a key to this configuration. ?Adhocracy, a highly informal organic organisation in which specialists work in teams, coordination with each other on various projects. WALTERSMITH adopt the divisionalised form of Mintzberg’s configuration as most of its activities are done by the middle line managers, department heads or unit heads. They coordinate the output, acting between the operating core and the strategic apex.
The structure design in WALTERSMITH is determined by the strategic apex, through the HR department, stating units and individual key responsibilities and the reporting lines. The final structure is approved by the strategic apex. The organisation makes the policies available on its Local INTRANET, which is updated as organizational changes are made 3. 1. 2 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE- EFFECTIVENESS & EFFICIENCY Effectiveness of a system is about doing the right things. In measuring organizational effectiveness the relevant question would be: is the organisational system doing the right thing for its survival?
Efficiency of a system is about the inputs the system uses in order to produce output. In case of organisations, the relevant question would be, is the organisation doing thing right? Is it economising on its resources? David and Olsen (1985) argue that organizations tend to be narrowly focused on efficiency, because it is easier to measure and control. WALTERSMITH has achieved some level of effectiveness and efficiency in terms of where we started and where we are today, but there is need for improvement.
We invest in solutions to manage our production process, employ the services of oil servicing companies and also invested in human resources but, we are still not producing crude oil to the level of the potential of the reservoir of the company oil field. The top management has to regular review what the company is doing in terms of its operating cost if they are the right action for the current state of the oil field bearing in mind that efficiency alone will put the company on the road to bankruptcy. . 1. 3 DESIGN PARAMETERS The designer uses particular “building blocks” with which he builds the system. Organisational designers, Mintzberg (1979, 1983) claims deliberately use so called “design parameters”. Mintzbergs argues that these design parameters should be seen as the “knobs that influences the division of labor and the coordinating mechanism, thereby affecting how the organization functions” (Mintzberg, 1983a, p. 25). Mintzberg identified nine of these building blocks or design parameters.
By using these parameters the organizational designers can influence the way individuals are positioned in the organization, the way group or department are formed, the way this group are linked to each other, the way decisions are made. (BSN Phase 1 Course Notes, module IX,p. 583) The design parameters are Job specialization, Behavior formation; Training and indoctrination; Unit grouping; size; Planning and control systems; Liaison devices; vertical and horizontal decentralization. The design parameters predominant in WALTERSMITH are: Job Specialisation: WALTERSMITH encourages specialization of functions in most department e. information technology department, geology department and finance department which all has staff trained in their various fields. Training and Indoctrination: Training ensures that the employee has the knowledge and skills needed to do the job, and in line with the career path of the staff. The human resource unit is responsible for the training plan for all staff. Waltersmith indoctrination is conducted by the human resource unit to enable staff understand the culture, core values, visions and policies of the organization.
The Unit grouping: Waltersmith creates a system of supervision in which each unit/department is appointed a head of department or unit head who is responsible for managing the unit actions, and report to the group head or divisional head. Mintzberg (1983, pp 48-54) goes into consideration details in order to explain the way designers (can) plan grouping. He concludes that the entire basis for grouping can be”compressed” into two essential ones: market (or product) grouping (which is based on output, client and place) or functional grouping (which is based on knowledge, skills, work process, functions).
WALTERSMITH adopts the functional grouping. Vertical decentralization: Mintzberg (1983a, p. 99) defines vertical decentralization as the “dispersal of former power down the chain of authority”. In decision making process WALTERSMITH adopts limited vertical decentralization where heads of department/units are delegated the power to control most of the decisions concerning their line units, this is efficient because it speed up decisions. 3. 2. 0 ORGANISATION CULTURE
Peter and waterman (1982) in their book “In search of excellence” argued that successful organization differed from organisations that were lagging behind not because of their structure but because of their culture. Organisation culture has therefore been defined as a “collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of the organization from another (MBA Phase1, module X) “Without exception, the dominance and coherence of culture proved to be an essential quality of excellent companies.
Moreover, the stronger the culture and the more it was directed towards the marketplace, the less need was there for policy manuals, organization charts or detailed procedures and rules. ” (Peters and Walterman, 1982, pp. 75-76) Arogyaswamy and byles (1987) defines strong cultures in terms of agreement among people working for an organization about the importance of certain values. In this respect, consensus about what should count as the most important values indicates the presence of a “strong culture, disagreement (lack of consensus) indicates; on the other hand a “weak” culture.
Schein (1999) says that organization culture is developed over time as people in the organization learn to deal successfully with problems of external adaptation and internal integration. It becomes the common language and common ground. 3. 2. 1 WALTERSMITH CULTURE Organisational culture is a means of coordinating and influencing the behavior of organizational members. WALTERSMITH culture revolves around our core values listed in chapter 1 of this OA, but they have not been fully exhibited by the employees and the management team inclusive, it implies that WALTERSMITH culture has not properly aligned with organizational values.
Considering the features of strong culture as proposed by the normative approach which divided culture into two: Strong (Homogeneity, Transparency, Consensus, predictability, leadership) and weak (Heterogeneity, Ambiguity, Conflict, Unpredictability, Management) WALTERSMITH culture will be said to be weak. The question is then should WALTERSMITH have a strong culture? The answer is yes. The normative approach reveals that if any organisation would only establish a “strong” culture, the benefits in terms of performance would be nothing less than superb. BSN Phase 1Course notes, Module X, pp. 617) Deal and Kennedy (1982, pp. 195), in his view argued that “strong” culture creates meaning for people in the sense that” they teach people how to behave”. 3. 2. 2 CULTURAL TYPES Handy (1985, pp. 188-196) distinguishes between four type of organisational culture: power culture, role culture and person culture. They are briefly explained below: Power CultureA power culture is found in many small entrepreneurial organizations, which fully depend on one central person (the “boss”) who has gathered a small group of loyal people around him.
In a power culture, there are not too many rules and regulations, people trust each other’s capacities and there is a lot of self –confidence. Role cultureA role culture is typical for what Mintzberg described as a machine bureaucracy. The organisation hinges on rules, procedure and rationality with no other aim than making event predictable. Task CultureA task culture is “job or process oriented”. Problem solving is seen as the major task for management. Emphasis on performance, task groups are formed for specific jobs and can be abandoned or reformed after the job has been done.
Presumably this is the most popular culture nowadays as it seems to be particularly suitable for dynamic and turbulent environments. Person cultureIn a person culture the individual is the “central point”. The organisation’s raison d’ctre is the individual. There is no distinction between managers and employees; management is regarded as something which, unfortunately, needs to be done. Typical examples of person cultures are hippie communes, social groups, small consultancy firms and the like. Table 1 (BSN Phase 1 Course Notes, modules X, Ch 1, pp. 620)
From the analysis in table 1 above, the “role culture” and “Task culture” best describe researcher’s organization culture as results are predictable and outcomes are based on guiding principles and due to the nature of the organization an ad hoc committee are formed to solve particular problems and once this is achieved the committee or consultants are dissolved. Deal and Kennedy (1982; pp. 108-123) describes four cultural types The tough-guy macho culture is characterized by willingness to take risky decisions. Feedback on these decisions generally comes very soon.
The work hard/play hard culture has high risk aversion. The avoidance of risks is even seen as a prerequisite for success. Feedback on decisions generally comes soon. In the bet your company culture, people take very risky decisions but they have to wait a longtime before they get feedback Process culture is characterized with low risks and slow feedbacks. Members of an organisation with process culture are indeed hedged in by rules and regulations. The Deal and Kennedy’s the tough-guy macho culture best describes reseachers’s organisation culture.
Comparing this culture with Hendy’s role culture and task culture, it is obvious that WALTERSMITH is an organisation with high risk decision making as regards to the company oil production operations and follow policies and procedures as regards its internal process and relating with external regulatory bodies. 3. 2. 3 THE METAPHOR APPROACH “A metaphor is created when a term is carried over from one system or level of meaning to another, thereby illuminating some central aspects of the latter (and shadowing other aspects).
A metaphor allows an object to be perceived and understood from another object”. (Alvesson, 1993b, pp. 116; see also: Alvesson, 1993, pp. 9). The metaphors: “Culture as clan”, “Culture as compass” and “Culture as a social glue” will be use to describe WALTERSMITH below: Culture as clan: This metaphor stresses that organisational cultures create groups of people who share a particular understanding of the world. During the recruitment process WALTERSMITH ensures that candidate with the right skills and also share organization values, mission and vision are employed.
This is very crucial in order for proper alignment of employee with the organization strategic goals and objectives. Culture as compass: Organisational cultures do have “direction-pointing capacity”. This compass metaphor stresses that values can serve to guide people’s behavior. In WALTERSMITH company policy manual states the company values, and the minimum standard expected of all employee in dealing with others in the company and other external bodies that deals with the researcher’s organization. The manual serves as compass that affects the behavior employee within the organization.
Culture as social glue: is seen as something which prevents the organisation from falling apart. WALTERSMITH personality is: ?Social responsibility: WALTERSMITH is committed to adding values back to the environment where it is operating by providing infrastructural facilities to the community. ?Best business practice. Commitment to the guiding procedures laid down by the petroleum regulatory bodies in the country. ?Commitment: Is about self actualisation alongside company goals and objectives. 3. 2. 4 THE PROCESSUAL APPROACH
Following Alvesson’s recent work on organisational culture, a new sensitivity towards organisational culture has developed. This new sensitivity assumes that first, organisational culture should be understood as open systems which interact with other culture and second, that cultural aspects are only interesting as long as they clearly pertain to the “social-material” circumstances which surround the work e. g. the working condition of staff, reward system. It would be much more interesting to see culture in terms of work-related values, norms and social practices. . 2. 5 ENVIROMENTAL FACTOR THAT INFLUENCES WALTERSMITH CULTURE One of the factors that influence WALTERSMITH culture is the demand from the community in which it operates as an oil exploration and producing company. Due to the varying degrees of youth unrest and agitation from the oil producing communities, WALTERSMITH is responsibly providing basic amenities for the community such as roads, electricity, school classrooms, community town halls and scholarships for the community indigenes. 3. 2. 6 MULTIPLE-METHOD APPROACH TO ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE (MAOC)
Kirkbridge (1993) states, that organisations can’t be separated from their environment and that since environment is continuously changing, the organisation is expected to adapt by changing with the tides of time. Morgan (1988) also stated that “organisations should ride the waves of change” People have different attitude towards change. Some people love it and want to initiate change merely for the sake of change; others cling to the status quo because they are afraid of what might result from the change.
The MAOC, advocated by Bate (1990) and explained by Kirkbridge (1993) acknowledges that change is a multifarious phenomenon which requires different types of strategies. The strategies are briefly explained below: ?Conciliative approach: Soft style, bottom – up direction. This approach involves consultation, collaboration, teams and participation. It is useful when the changes to be carried through are not drastic. The opponents of this approach argue that it is slow and expensive. ?Aggressive approach: Hard style, top – down direction.
This approach connotes clear messages, clear lines of authority and a no nonsense mentality. It is useful in crisis situations and as such is the last resort for organisations. Its major drawback is that it is inflexible. ?Indoctrinative approach: Soft style, top – down direction. This involves training, socialisation and indoctrination. It is much more subtle than the aggressive approach while retaining the clear message necessary. ? Corrosive approach: Hard style, bottom – up direction. This involves task orientation, work unit and structure.
It argues that behaviour cannot be so easily changed by indoctrination. It is not advisable to stick to one approach for change to take place. WALTERSMITH most time use the Indoctrinative approach. 4. 0 ANALYSIS OF THE FUNCTIONAL UNITS AND THE INTERFACE RELATIONS This chapter focuses on how the functional units are structured, the interface relation with the researcher’s functional unit and recommendations for improvement of the interface relation. The problems and recommendations given below were based on the views of the people mention in the research plan.
Departments/Units in WALTERSMITH are group based on knowledge, skill, work, process and function. They are clearly defined with unique roles and responsibilities. Refer to figure 3 – WALTERSMITH organogram. The researcher’s functional unit is Information Communications Technology (ICT) department in the Finance and Corporate Services group (FCS) of the organisation. The department has the responsibility of driving the information technology and information systems management of the organisation using an enterprise IT infrastructure and standard applications.
The researcher is the head of the information and communications technology department and charged with the responsibility of managing the company wide information technology infrastructure and providing solutions that help make transference of data and information within and outside the organisation possible. The researcher interface with all the units and departments in the organisation by providing the necessary solutions in terms of software and hardware that help making each unit operations produce maximally.
For example the ICT provides accounting solution for finance, payroll and HR solution for Human Resources, Oil field management software for facility unit and also geological software for the geology department. The researcher also interfaces with all the unit by providing help desk and support center to administer and solve various users’ needs across the enterprise infrastructure. Figure 2 – ICT organogram Fig 3. Waltersmith Organogram 4. 1 HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT Managing Human Resources is one of the key elements in the co-ordination and management of work organisations.
The objective of the HRM unit in WALTERSMITH is “to develop a highly capable and motivated workforce with core competence that will ensure the success of the business strategy, by aligning human capital strategies and policies with WALTERSMITH business strategy”. 4. 1. 1 Analysis of the HRM Unit Recruitment, selection and placement: Recruitment is the process of searching for and attracting the right candidates with the right skills to apply for vacant positions so that the goals and objectives of the organisation can be achieved. Selection is the process of choosing the best candidate for the position from the pool of available applicants.
When people are placed into jobs, through promotions or transfer from within the organisation, this movement is called placement. WALTERSMITH has a recruitment policy that spells the organisation’s recruitment process: ?The Company shall employ based on its annual manpower plans which shall be derived from approved manning levels and projections for the business and or to fill unplanned vacancies due to promotion, transfer, resignation, termination, retirement or other unanticipated disengagements. ?The Company shall fill all vacancies internally in the first instance.
External recruitment will be considered only when there is no suitable internal candidate to fill the identified vacancy. ?The Company shall recruit only persons that meet the basic minimum qualification as defined for a job position or grade at any given point in time. As with best practice, WALTERSMITH is an Equal Opportunities Employer (EOE). Therefore, the recruitment process shall ensure there is no discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic origin, and state/country of origin, religion, political ideology, sex or non-disqualifying physical disability. ?The Company shall not employ relatives.
A relative is defined here as husband and wife. One of the affected staff must be asked to leave within three months after the establishment or declaration of such a relationship. ?HRM has the overall responsibility for the administration of the company recruitment and selection process in conjunction with line supervisors who shall be required to interview the candidates for consideration. Any recruitment not routed through HRM shall not be valid. Each prospective candidate must submit his/her curriculum vitae along with an application for employment to the Human Capital Management department for processing. ?HRM hall maintain database of suitable candidates in order to have a ready pool from which vacancies can be filled on short notice WALTERSMITH Recruitment categories: ?Full-time/Regular: these are staffs that are expected to work during the normal business hours or overtime as required. ?Contract: these staff work normal business hours or overtime as required, but are temporary staff of the company, and may be disengage after a particular operation is completed. E. g. drilling process ? Term Staff: these staff work normal business hours or overtime as required, but the employment in the company is not more than 12 months.
For instance National Youth Corps members, Interns etc. Recruitment Interviews: 1. HRM shall be responsible for initiating contact with short-listed candidates. This contact may be by regular mail, hand delivery, phone conversation, and email system or through any other means deemed appropriate and suitable. 2. All candidates will be required to produce the original copies of their certificates for sighting prior to the screen interview. Candidates who are unable to provide their certificates shall not be considered for interview. 3.
Line managers will be expected to interview short-listed candidates for their departments. Other line managers may also be co-opted into the interview panel as deemed appropriate. 4. There will be three to four different levels of interview for each grade level being considered. These levels of interview include aptitude and/or psychometric test (testing personality and values), assessment centre, follow-up interview and selection interview. 5. Each interviewer will be required to document his/her comments and recommendations on the various interview documentation formats and submit to HRM department.
By way of emphasis, the following particulars must be duly completed by each interviewer: Name of interviewer, candidate’s name, job position interviewed for, recommendations/comments, observations, other relevant comments and recommendation. 6. No candidate shall attend a selection interview without HCM confirming that the candidate has met the relevant minimum recruitment criteria, all previous steps have been taken and candidate has been recommended at each stage. 7. By definition, selection interviews will be the last stage of the interview process where a first (verbal) offer is made to the candidate. 8.
Selection interview will be made taking cognizance of the documented interview assessment recommendations of previous interviewers. In an ideal situation, selection decisions as to the suitability or otherwise of the candidate for the job position and grade interviewed for will be based on general consensus among all line heads/interviewers. Staff Induction Induction is a very important part of the employment process in WALTERSMITH. When the employee has been selected and placed, an induction programme is structured to welcome the employee into the team and made competent to perform his job in the least time possible.
In WALTERSMITH induction is the process of introducing new employees to their: superiors, work teams, objectives and standard for their job. Induction is usually at organisational, team and individual levels. Induction into the team requires an understanding of the mission and values of the work unit, functions of the unit and how the unit interacts with other units The line managers and the human resources department are responsible for the induction programme for the new employees.
The complexity of the induction process will be influence by the level of the job and the new employee’s previous experience in a similar job. For new employees that are fresh graduate without experience, they are placed under a team lead or unit head of the career path of the individual for mentoring and development. Staff Development In WALTERSMITH, after the new employee has been selected, placed and inducted, they are placed on a career plan based on the feedbacks from the interview. This is very important so as to improve their technical & interpersonal skills.
In-house trainings are conducted at least once in a month for staff to share knowledge among their team members, for those who attended trainings outside the organisation, they are required to organise a knowledge sharing session within one week of return from the training and this is reported to the human resource unit. Trainings are also recommended based on skill gaps discovered after a performance appraisal . Coaching and mentoring plans are put in place for staff development. Performance Appraisal
Performance appraisal in WALTERSMITH is a structured and planned discussion between the manager and individual employee about the person’s performance over a period under review. It is an opportunity to assess the employee’s performance during the period and it is conducted annually. Performance appraisal document is filled during the meeting, the employee is given time to read through the document prepared, comment on the document and sign on the document to indicate his agreement to its content. The document is then forward to the group head for approval.
This is finally deliberated on by an Appraisal Review Committee and approved by the chairman/CEO. Promotions, commendations and recommendations for training etc are recommended during this period. The company does currently does not have a good performance management system. 4. 1. 2 Interface Relation between HRM and ICT ICT is no doubt the department that drives most operations of other departments in the organisation. Human Resource Information System (HRIS) and Enterprise Payroll Management system (EPMS) used by HRM is technically managed by ICT department and the servers resides in ICT.
The HRM informs the department on employment of a new staff to the organisation and ICT is responsible for the creation of mail boxes, updating the active directory domain server and procurement of technology related tool to ease the integration of the new staff to the workforce. ICT liaise with the HRM in preparing the staff salary monthly via the enterprise payroll management system. 4. 1. 3 Recommendation for improvement of Interface relations. Problems Recommendation Poor performance management system.
The criteria for reward with respect to performance are not well spelt out. Design and implement reward system for exceptional performance. This should be unit specific and reward should be tied to an agreed and measurable target. Poor grade structureNeed to improve the company grade structure in order for employee commitment and aspiration to higher grade level. Poor condition of serviceNeed to develop a better pay structure in line with what is obtainable in the oil industry. Improvement on the recruitment and selection process.
Some staff that is recommended for employment is employed based on Management recommendation, not necessarily because the staff is qualified. The company recruitment policy should be strictly adhere to. 4. 2 MARKETING AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT. Marketing is so fundamental that you cannot consider it as a separate function. Marketing covers the whole enterprise, seen from the point of view of the final result of that enterprise that is to say from the client’s point of view. Peter Drucker, “The Practice of Management” (BSN Phase 1 Course Notes, module V, p. 337). . 2. 1 Analysis of the marketing and strategic unit. Crude sales and export unit is in charge of marketing the company product. Marketing mix This aspect looks at the accumulation of marketing instruments that a specific organisation uses in order to meet its objectives within a certain market. The core marketing mix consists of five kinds of marketing instruments: Product: A product can be defined as anything we can bring to the market to satisfy a need. In WALTERSMITH from a product perspective, our goal is to make crude oil available for the benefits of mankind.
We have setup and in house technical team who is in charge of oil development, exploration and production. Their responsibility is to see to it that the company produces crude that meet international standards and in accordance with the regulatory bodies. Price: For an organisation the stipulation of the correct price has become an important matter, because the price might ultimately influence whether the buyer decides to buy a certain product or not. WALTERSMITH as a crude oil producing company does not determine the price of its product.
The price is determined by the market force in the international community. WALTERSMITH sells its product based on the current price in the international market as regulated by OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) Place: This aspect looks at the distribution channels for the organisation’s products. This process ensures the product reaches the consumer. In WALTERSMITH the distribution channel of the product is done by pumping the crude into shell petroleum flow station who is a strategic partner of WALTERSMITH.
The crude is loaded into vessels from this flow station for export to Belarus and other nations of the world. Promotion: A good product, an attractive price and a good distribution channel are not enough if an organisation wants to be a frontline player in its line of business. The organisation must communicate with its present and future clients. For these products to be sold properly, the consumers have to be well informed. The message or information that is passed across must be clear & concise to the potential clients.
The message is to convince the consumer that the offer is the most attractive as well as motivate the client to carry out the desired act, which is purchasing the product. In WALTERSMITH since our product which is crude oil is exported to other nations of the world. Our promotions are majorly done through the e-business network making use of the web and communication through network conference of oil marketers and producer’s conference. Personnel: The sales and marketing personnel that must sell WALTERSMITH product and services are specially trained and well motivated.
They are trained to manage relationship with the various regulatory bodies, attend curtailment meetings where allocation are being made to each company on the number of barrels of crude oil they are allowed to lift within a particular month. They are also to communicate with the respective partner e. g. shell petroleum on the means of exportation and the lodgment of money to the company bank after each crude lifting. SWOT ANALYSIS OF WALTERSMITH PETROMAN OIL LIMITED. STRENGTHWEAKNESS ?Crude oil production focus ?Good relationship with regulatory bodies ?Strong management team Strong strategic alliance with major oil producing multinationals.? Current level of capitalization limits the opportunities that can be pursued. ?Limited oil block(marginal field) ?Over dependence on oil servicing companies for operations. OPPORTUNITIESTHREAT ?High demand for crude oil globally ?Strategic alliance with local and international partners. ?Opportunity to acquire more Oil blocks.? Competition from other Oil producing companies for asset acquisition. ?Kidnapping within the oil producing areas ?Youth unrest and agitations in the oil field region. Unending demands from the communities where the company currently produce. 4. 2. 2 Analysis of interface relation with marketing and strategy unit. The relationship between ICT and Marketing/strategy unit is more of support, ICT provides the marketing unit with the infrastructure they need to get their job done. E. g. computers, Internet access, access to production management solution and blackberry phone. 4. 2. 3 Recommendations for improvement of the interface relation PROBLEMSRECOMMENDATIONS Lack of better and faster communication equipment.
Provision of faster internet, e-mails that handle large attachments Slow response time to resolution of issuesQuick response to resolution of issues. Knowledge gap of marketing staff in using applicationsAdequate and continuous training of staff on using applications and software’s. 4. 3 OPERATION MANAGEMENT The Operations function of an organisation consists of all of those activities that produce what the organisation produces. It is the function that produces the value that its customers seek. It can be usefully thought of as using resources to transform input into the goods and services, which are consumed by customers.
Conceptual Model of Operating System ICT INFRASTRUCTURE/PEOPLE/FINANCE TECHNICAL SERVICES GROUP OIL The operations division of WALTERSMITH consists of the following. Head of Technical Services: He supervises and coordinates all operations within the oil production field and ensure seamless running of operations with optimum service delivery to customers and also make sure that all activities align with WALTERSMITH overall strategy and objectives. Geology Unit: This unit which is being headed by the senior geologist is responsible for the following: • Identifying and evaluating prospects Preparing wells correlation and volumetric calculations for prospects evaluation • Evaluating core and log data to support reservoir geological studies • Coordinating well plan, logging sequence and contributed in operations decisions • Preparing and presenting drilling prospects to the management for approval • Providing data analysis, operational support and daily reports during drilling • Generating well proposals, well completions and evaluation reports • Generating integrated reservoir studies report Facility/reservoir Unit: This unit is responsible for proper maintenance of ll company assets on the production field: well/reservoirs, gas lift compressors, pipelines, storage tanks e. t. c. Health, Safety and the Environment: This unit is charged with the responsibility of ensuring proper safety for all the following in the company. People (Staff, Visitors, Suppliers, Contractors), Processes (Finance, Administration, Human Resource), Property (Machinery, Equipment) and the surrounding Environment Production Unit: This unit is responsible for the daily production of the crude oil from the well into the storage tanks and ultimately pumping the crude into shell petroleum flow station for onward lifting for export.
The operations function in WALTERSMITH contributes to increasing its competiveness through the following basic ‘Performance Objectives Speed: The Company ensures there is an agreed turn-around time for all project delivery so as to avoid operation cost overrun. Dependability: WALTERSMITH ensures our delivery services dependable by trying to meet up with the production allocation given to the company by the regulatory bodies for lifting on a monthly basis. Quality: WALTERSMITH believes in doing it right the first time.
WALTERSMITH ensures proper training of all personnel handling the various machines and production process in order to produce quality product at a reduced cost. Flexibility: They say to every rule there is an exception. At WALTERSMITH we try to stay flexible, bending but not breaking the rules. Exceptions to the policy offer flexibility and have to be based on compelling business reasons. This enables the development of new contingency plans, in case there are any proposed changes to the original plan of action. 4. 3. 2 Interface Relation between Operation unit and ICT
The interface relationship between ICT and operations management is more of support for business processes and information flow, to ensure efficient service delivery to our customers. ICT renders technical support on the geological, oil field management (OFM) applications, resolving all IT related issues and also ensures that the application servers and the network links are operational. The OFM application was developed by schlumberger for supporting management of oil field data. 4. 3. 3 Recommendation for improvement of the interface relations ProblemsRecommendations
Poor network link between the field and head-officeICT to develop a strong wide area network between the field and head office Knowledge gap on application usage for operation staffOrganize in house training for all operation staff Lack of communication equipmentProvision of faster internet link, intranet, fast e-mail and IP-phone for better communication 4. 4 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT The importance of Information management in organisations cannot be over-emphasized. This section analyses the ICT department of WALTERSMITH, its interface relations and recommendations for improvements. . 4. 1 Analysis of the ICT Unit Information Communications Technology (ICT) is a department in Finance and Corporate services group that has the sole responsibility of driving the information technology and information systems management of the organisation using an enterprise IT infrastructure and standard applications. The department is subdivided into 3 sub-units with each having defined and standardised job roles. The sub-units are: Enterprise Infrastructure, Enterprise Applications and the Help Desk. Enterprise Infrastructure unit is charged with the responsibility of managing all IT infrastructures of the company inclusive of the system units, servers, networks and disaster recovery sites. ?Enterprise Applications unit manages and administers and support all enterprise applications that are used by the operation division and finance department. ?ICT Helpdesk unit receives and logs all ICT requests from users. The unit updates these issues specifying their status at all time. They represent the department’s first line of support for all ICT issues.
The objectives of the Information & Communication Technology Department are: to develop information capabilities in the company; to optimally use ICT to enhance staff productivity, reduce cost for the company and proportionally increase revenue; to render support services in achieving the strategic goals of the company; to continually manage and administer all enterprise applications and solutions of the company 4. 4. 2 Analysis of the Interface Relation with ICT Unit This section is supposed to analyse how the researcher’s functional unit interact with ICT unit.
The researcher’s functional unit is ICT and hence there is no need for the analysis. 5. 1 MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP Leadership is about guiding, developing, and being a model for people in order for them to reach their goals. Management on the other hand is working together with others or through others, in order to realize the goals of the company/organisation (BSN Phase 1Course Notes, module I Ch 3, p. 31). After solving the exercise in BSN Phase 1Course Notes, module I Ch 3, p. 31 – 37 and analysing the result of the self test, the researcher realized his leadership styles and the area that needs improvement.
This is shown in the table 2 below. Preferred StyleSupporting Support StyleCoaching Style Flexibility18 Style Effectiveness20 Table 2- Leadership Style Plan for Improvement on Delegating Style The analysis shows that the delegating style of the researcher is underdeveloped and needs improvement. The plan for the first few weeks is to correctly evaluate the level of competence and commitment of all employees that reports to the researcher and then apply the appropriate leadership style in the appropriate situations. The delegating style will be applicable to employees who have both competence and commitment for the appropriate situation.
Competence means the willingness and the ability to perform a certain task. Commitment is a combination of confidence (feeling able to do the task well without much supervision) and motivation (a person’s interest and enthusiasm for doing the task well). The researcher now delegates the responsibility for taking and implementing decisions to employees with competence and commitment and in exchange the employees save him a lot of time. The researcher also plans to re-evaluate his delegating skills in another one month to see if he has improved. Plan for improvement on Directing Style
The analysis shows that the directing style of the researcher is underdeveloped and needs improvement. The plan for the first few weeks is to correctly evaluate the level of competence and commitment of all employees that report to the researcher and then apply the appropriate leadership style in the appropriate situation. The directing style will be applicable to employees who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed. The researcher will teach the employees the necessary skills needed to do the job and consistently supervise the employee until the right competence is developed.
The researcher plan to re-evaluate is directing skills in another one month to see if he has improved. 5. 2 DECISION MAKING AND CREATIVITY Strategic and organisational decisions are made at the higher management levels of an organisation, whereas operational decisions are made at the lower levels. It is important to know in advance who to involve in the decision-making process. The probability of an effective decision increases when the right persons are at the right time involved in the decision-making process. The result of the exercise in BSN Phase 1 Course Notes, module II Ch 1, p. 5 – 98 on decision making is shown in the table 2 below. The researcher’s approach in decision-making is democratic. An approach is democratic when the team leader allows the group to be involved in the decision-making process, while an approach is autocratic when a team leader excludes the members from the decision-making. Approaches12345 Total Score22343 Plan for improvement on Decision making skills The researcher will need to study situation and know when to be autocratic in decision making rather than being democratic. The researcher will re-evaluate his decision making skills in another one month to see if he has improved. . 3 INTERPERSONAL SKILLS After completing the behavioral checklist on all the interpersonal skills (Listening, Setting Goals, Giving Feedback, Performance Evaluation, Delegating, Persuading, Coaching, Running Meetings, Handling Conflicts, Negotiation etc) in the BSN Phase 1 Course Notes, module III, the researcher discovered that he needs to improve on his listening skills as a manager. Plan for Improvement on Listening Skills ?The research has to ensure that questions are asked at the right moment, because this leads to further clarification. Maintaining good posture as well as making eye contact ?Always concentrate on what the speaker has to say and not interrupt the speaker or attempt to finish his sentences. ?Paraphrase what the speaker has said. ?The researcher will re-evaluate his listening skill in another one month to see if he has improved. 6. 0 BIBLIOGRAPHY Business School Netherlands. Action learning MBA: phase 1, module I-X Bodley, J. (1996) Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield A fascinating introductory to anthropology Cameron, K. & Quinn, R. 1999) “Diagnosing and Changing Organisational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework” Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences. 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage The updated classic. Kaplan, R. S & Norton, D. P. (2006) ? How to implement New Strategy without Disrupting Your Organisation” Harvard business review, Vol. 84, No. 3, pp 100-109. Mintzberg, H. (1983) Structure in fives: designing effective organisation. Prentice-Hall. Peters, T. J. and Waterman, R. H. (1982). In search of excellence. New York: Harper and Row. Schein, E. (1999). The corporate culture survival guide. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.