Network Rail Business and Business Issues Evaluation
Introduction
A large part of Britain uses railway transport as their main means of mobility from one point of the nation to the other, from their homes to their workplaces and the various destinations. Network Rail, is among the major players in the Railway transport helps 3 million people travel from one day to the other every day. The company hails from a background that was almost dying. It took over the company that was running the public transport in Britain, during a time when its reputation had been fully destroyed and the people had lost trust in the company. Ever since the company was tasked with the obligation of ensuring that the people regain confidence in the transport system and continue their activities normally.
This has not been an easy task. It calls for both investment and strong strategies to get through the harsh competition in the industry and still serve the customers sustainably. In the last ten years, the number of travelers using the services of Network Rail has increased by over 40%. This is a very high increase with future projections having it that the numbers could even double in the near future (Business case study, 2017). This means that the organization has to work on its strategy to increase both capacities in terms of personnel and the trains. This requires a strong strategy to ensure that the capacity is achieved for the future.
Currently, the organization is among the leaders in the railway transport industry. The various efforts made by the company ever since the acquisition are evidence that the company is capable of achieving even more. With resilience and focus on the future, the company is projected to achieve greater numbers. The organizational management has been incorporating strategic moves to ensure that the need for numbers and expertise is satisfying. Among these moves are employee training and development moves. One of the noble duties of a human resource manager is career development for its employees (Barley, Bechky, & Milliken, 2017). Everyone wants to work in an environment that values their contributions and could do anything to get them to the next level. Network Rail is in the frontline to train the employees and develop them to the end.
Employee retention is also an important step in ensuring that the strategies by the company work (Balogun & Rouleau, 2017). After going through the organizational development schemes, the employees need strategies for retention to have them stick to their various areas of specialization. The company has tried all it can to provide opportunities for the employees to express their leadership skills and to learn to make them better in the various fields. This makes the employees more willing to stay in the organization. More on that, the employees have been allowed the freedom to exercise their expertise in the various fields as it concerns the conduct of the organization and the running of the various businesses and projects.
The growth and development journey of the organization has not gone without a few challenges here and there. The beginning of the organization was a bad one. Picking up from a company that had lost in the game poses the biggest challenge to the organization (Business Case Study, 2017). Tis among other issues and strengths of the organization are going to be evaluated in this paper. The report provides a look at the inside organization’s management structure, the strengths and the weaknesses of the organization, and yet the issues the company has faced since it took over operations. The paper looks at a deep analysis of the possible opportunities available for organizational growth and the competition in the industry.
Description of Organizational Issues
Every great organization has a couple of challenges it has to deal with. These challenges could either be internal or external. Managing through the various challenges is among the biggest tests that organizations may have to face in their development process. Network Rail faces a myriad of issues in the attempt to run their daily activities. Some of the issues facing the organization are issues with the maintenance of rails and restoration of the operations of the traditional railway lines, competition from other companies in the industry, keeping the deadlines, and customer service.
It calls for a strong management policy to achieve what the company has achieved so far. Looking back, the company has been able to restore 90% punctuality to their journeys. This is a very great move. This could not be achieved without restructuring the rails and the trucks among many other basic operations. Maintenance of the rails and the equipment is among the biggest issues. Times are changing and the need to be flexible enough increases too. The company needs to be flexible enough to handle the current need for automation of practices and the various activities. These operations are costly and require lots of funds to make sure they are successful. In the process of maintaining the rails and the processes, the company has canceled travel at some points which have caused lots of losses to the people. The railway lines have also decreased in number, compared to the distances covered in the 1960s. This is an issue that the company needs to check on to reach optimal service delivery. The services at some points are also still lagging.
Competition is also a big issue in the industry. There are many other companies in the railway transport industry that are posing a huge competition for the company. Some of the companies have better resources than Network Rail and this could be a big challenge unless the organization maintains a better position in the market. Among the strategies that the company could use to fight the high levels of competition are increasing the number of service packages while reducing the costs associated with the various journeys. Cost reduction is among the biggest strategies the organization could use to remain relevant in the industry. Customer relations are also an integral part of the development plan. If the company needs to continue growing, there is a need for checks in the customer relations and management of their expectations. People have had bad experiences with customer service and accidents with the company. There is a need for restoring the public trust and ensuring efficient communication for feedback and to ensure customer loyalty. Customer relations and management of the customer expectations and experiences are an important element that the organization needs to put a close eye to.
Knowledge of Academic Theories
Management is among the major fields that have received a close focus in the recent past. The issue of human resource management and development had not gotten into the minds of the people until the industrial revolution took place. The impact of human resources on organizational development has been realized ever since and its potentials have been explored the more. The employees are often the face of the organization. This is because they interact with the customers daily inside and outside of the organization. This means that proper management of the employees is a very important move if any company has to retain its customers or if it has to grow its customer base.
Organizational culture and structure are also two important and integral parts of an organization. Organizational culture is the way of conduct within an organization or how the organization conducts its business (Barley, Bechky, & Milliken, 2017). It is passed on from the management or among the employees through the years. Changing the culture of an organization could mean a great deal in changing the entire organization. An organization cannot be separated from its culture. Organizational structure, on the other hand, is the structure of leadership and the distribution of power through the organization. Various people are given roles and responsibilities in the organization. The chain of command stems from the organizational structure. The rigidity of the organizational structure tells a lot concerning the leadership of the organization. A majority of big companies have a rigid structure, with either centralized or decentralized forms of governance. Dictatorial and aristocratic methods are also used in the organization, but the various powers are used at different times.
Finally, diversity is taking root in modern organizations. There is a need to incorporate various types of personalities within the workplace. Discrimination on the bases of the differences is quickly getting eliminated from the face of modern organizations. Incorporating people from various backgrounds, nationalities, races, and areas of specialization is among the strategies companies are using in the modern management realm. Gender bias is getting scrapped off slowly, and the inclusion of people with disabilities increasing too.
Application of Theories to the Issues Facing the Organization
Human resource management is an issue of great concern to Network Rails. The organization is trying all it can to manage the various aspects of human resources. The talents of the people and their experiences are presented with the opportunity for development (Mantere & Whittington, 2020). The company recruits people to serve in the various functional departments and introduces them to training sessions to better their skills. This way, the experiences of the various employees are going to get enhanced each day. High employee expertise means that there shall be high qualities of services from them. The customers will always have exciting experiences with the company and this will ensure that they remain attracted to them. This will solve the issue of competition.
Diversity in the workplace helps in the acquisition of various talents and expert input from all possible sources. The elimination of discrimination provides the organization with a very great opportunity to get these benefits. Currently, Network Rails is experiencing high levels of diversity and improving every other day. Gender issues are getting reduced and now employment is based on expertise and not gender issues. Through this, managerial roles and developmental strategies are going to be achieved more efficiently.
Communication and response from an organization are also very important aspects of the running of an organization. Customers need proper communication on the issues facing the organization. Such issues like poor customer experiences need a better way of getting to the management easily before they get to the people. Managing the communication will be a great tool in helping reassure customers that their welfare is under close check and the organization is ready to deal with the various challenges.
Conclusion
Network Rail is on an upward trend. The ability to manage the talents of the employees and their careers is fully within their reach (Hautz, Seidl & Whittington, 2017). All the necessary mechanisms are available to ensure that the customers have the best experiences with the organization. As a result of this, the organization is easily able to fight the challenges it is facing and earn larger portions in the market. The company is on the other hand trying all means possible to deliver the best experiences to the customers.
References
Balogun, J, & Rouleau, L (2017) Strategy-as-practice research on middle managers and sensemaking. In: Floyd, S, Wooldridge, B (eds) Handbook of Middle Management Strategy Process Research. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 109–132.
Barley, S, Bechky, B, & Milliken, F (2017) The changing nature of work: Careers, identities, and work lives in the 21st century. Academy of Management Discoveries 3(2): 111–115.
Business Case Studies (2019) Managing Change through Training and Development
Hautz, J, Seidl, D, & Whittington, R (2017) Open strategy: Dimensions, dilemmas, dynamics. Long Range Planning 50(3): 298–309.
Mantere, S., & Whittington, R. (2020). Becoming a strategist: The roles of strategy discourse and ontological security in managerial identity work. Strategic Organization. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127020908781