British Manufacturing management
During recession, it is difficult for many organizations to break even and therefore, they employ different strategies to survive in their market. For instance, during the 1980s and 1990s recession, British manufacturing management managed to restore its profitability and transformed its productivity by sacking some of its employees and adopting to other strategies that aimed at cutting their expenses/costs. The paper explores the extent to which the British experience differed from that of other competitors.
The competitors of British manufacturing firms include Germany and Japanese. These countries have larger manufacturing companies that deal in chemical and production of different categories of products. Therefore, they have a larger market share because of the large scale of production. Recession that happened in 1980s and 1990s did not spare these companies. When compared to the competitors, British manufacturing firms are quite smaller.
One of the reasons that enabled British manufacturing management to retain profitability despite recession was its financial control type of management approach. In this kind of management, more emphasis and control is geared at ensuring positive performance in terms of achieving the target profits (Ingram 1991, p. 5). Therefore, companies focused on their profitability. This strategic planning involved buffering other important parts of the business for the rigors of the market place in order for them to maximize market advantages. This strategy was applicable in both the medium and long-term operation of the business and required the firm’s management to produce standard products for its mature markets to help it remain competitive. Other competitors did not employ this approach in their operations and this contributed to their decrease in profitability during the period.
Downsizing employees is one of the strategic that firms use to counter the effects of recession. Most British manufacturing companies adapted this strategy to ensure that they cut costs. Of course, this strategy helped the firms to survive the effects of recession. Other competitors did not adapt to this strategy and therefore they continued to incur huge costs of paying their employees. Therefore, British firms managed to remain competitive and improved on their productivity. Furthermore, most of the firms in British recruited semi skilled workers that performed specific tasks. This helped the firms to cut on high costs of recruiting highly professional workers. The workers were given on-the-job-training to equip them with relevant skills that allowed them to perform different tasks that they were assigned. This strategy worked in favor of the firms as they managed to reduce on their expenses at the same time improving their profitability. The competitor companies in the same industries on the other hand, sourced high skilled labor, which demanded huge amounts of salaries. Therefore, this contributed to their reduction in profits during recession.
Technology in most of the larger manufacturing companies’ plants was not advanced compared to other competitor firms. Cellular manufacturing was adopted in most of the firms. This kind of technology was simple and less costly in terms of maintenance and use. According to Oliver and Wilkinson (1992), in their survey of 1991, they found out that 50 per cent of the samples of large firms in British used cellular manufacturing, which was introduced in 1983. The technology was fairly basic as it involved regrouping of existing machines tools and other equipment into cells that formed a small group of related machines that allowed manufacture of related sub assemblies to be produced in batches. This technology therefore, saved on the capital investment of the firms, as it did not require extensive investment (Alford 1994, p. 4). This therefore contributed to the profitability of the firms. Furthermore, it allowed production of products in high batches. This was economical and helped the firms to be competitive. Other companies dealing in similar products from Japan and Germany had invested heavily on advanced technology.
In most of the British manufacturing firms, privileges or high employee security was not provided but employees were allowed to compete with alternative suppliers and sub constructed labor (Batstone 1988, p. 12). This was not the case in other manufacturing companies that competed; with British companies. Management style of leadership also helped in ensuring that the productivity of the firms increased. The firms were well managed by competence managers who managed to apportion costs appropriately and this contributed to the higher productivity. Costs were well allocated and this enabled the company to perform well.
There was also systematic gathering and appraisal of data that related to production, this allowed routine surveillance of technology and the manpower that allowed or facilitated easy identification and reduction of waste. Labor force were also monitored and evaluated to determine their performance. These functions helped the managers to identify areas that required improvement and emphasized on those areas hence managing to increase the productivity of the organization. Competitor’s management style was not thorough this therefore resulted to gaps that led them to fail to achieve their objectives.
In conclusion, British manufacturing management had well-planned strategies that enabled it to remain competitive. Some of the strategies they employed included, downsizing, their labor force, using simple technologies and effective management styles.
Reference List
Alford, H 1994, ‘Cellular manufacturing: the development of the idea and its application’, New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 9: 3–18.
Batstone, E 1988, The Reform of Workplace Industrial Relations: Theory, Myth and Evidence, rev. edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ingram, P 1991, ‘Changes in working practices in British manufacturing industry in the 1980s: a study of concessions made during wage negotiations’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 29: 1–13.
Oliver, N, & Wilkinson, B 1992, ‘The Japanization of British Industry, 2nd edn. Oxford: Blackwell.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|
Are you looking for a similar paper or any other quality academic essay? Then look no further. Our research paper writing service is what you require. Our team of experienced writers is on standby to deliver to you an original paper as per your specified instructions with zero plagiarism guaranteed. This is the perfect way you can prepare your own unique academic paper and score the grades you deserve.
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]