RECOMMENDATION

From the results of internal and external factor evaluation, a quantitative strategic

planning matrix was generated in the previous part which pre-determined the most relevant

strategic approaches to be prioritized at this point are by efficiently managing excessive

workloads through effective multitasking initiatives and improving human capitals within the

organization.

It is acknowledged by the team, even by AEC management themselves, that the

organization is having major pull backs from the excessive multitasking and their lack of

expertise in variety of fields, for example, electrical and industrial engineering base

knowledge which are also important from automotive industry point of view. Mastery in

these fields shall be the key factor for a service provider such as AEC to stand out and be

known in market, while strategically planning for every tasks assigned to the staffs shall lead

to a more effective operation and at the same time lowering the staffs’ stress level and

pressure while carrying out their tasks.

Long –Term Objectives

From the strategies generated, the long-term objective is now clear for AEC which

revolves around two factors; (1) Improvement of operational and service efficiency through

better tasks delegation, (2) Improvement of human capitals in term of soft skills, technical

expertise and abilities as well as communication skills for networking and public relation

purpose.

Efficiency is an important attribute because all inputs are scarce. Time, money and

raw materials are limited, so it makes sense to try to conserve them while maintaining an

acceptable level of output or a general production level. Being efficient simply means

reducing the amount of wasted inputs1. Explaining service efficiency, which AEC operation

based on, is in theory, utilizing the most resources in producing output with the least waste,

defined in this case as human, material, time and financial resources.

The second part of the objective highlights “human capitals” as determinant. Human

capital can be defined as a collection of resources — all the knowledge, talents, skills,

abilities, experience, intelligence, training, judgment, and wisdom possessed individually and

1 (Efficiency, n.d.)

collectively by individuals in a population2. There are basically many ways to improve

human capital in an organization. Some of them are through; getting more education, gaining

more experience, becoming an expert, exploring the industry, and networking3. These details

will be explained in the next section, which is implementation section.

Looking back to both factors, the new objective for AEC (based on the proposed

strategy) can be concluded as follows:

“Achieving more than 85% of total operational and service efficiency in two years through

effective management and human capital development.”

The target of 85% of total efficiency is the estimated benchmark during the development or

the start-up stage of the strategic implementation (the first 2 years) based on the plan to

contribute towards advancement of the industry and community. The target is expected to

increase in future based on AEC’s performance measures.

Implementation

Long-term objectives represent the results expected from strategic implementation4.

In this section we will be discussing about how will the strategy generated should be

implemented. Hence, the section will be divided into two parts which the first will focusing

on effective tasks delegation and the second one will explain on the steps of developing

human capitals in AEC.

Multitasking – Effective tasks delegation

Multitasking refer to the ability to do several things at the same time5. Almost all

organizations in the world practice multitasking as a way towards achieving cost

minimization and operational efficiency. Contrarily, what is perceived as multitasking can be

described more accurately as “task-switching” which means, humans can perform only

limited tasks at certain time. According to Guy Winch, PhD, author of Emotional First Aid:

Practical Strategies for Treating Failure, Rejection, Guilt and Other Everyday Psychological

Injuries. “When it comes to attention and productivity, our brains have a finite amount,” he

2 (Human Capital, n.d.)3 (Landes, 2010)4 (David & David, Chapter 4: Types of Strategies, 2015)5 (Meaning of multitasking, n.d.)

says. 

“It’s like a pie chart, and whatever we’re working on is going to take up the majority of that

pie. There’s not a lot left over for other things, with the exception of automatic behaviours

like walking or chewing gum.” Moving back and forth between several tasks actually wastes

productivity, he says, because your attention is expended on the act of switching gears—plus,

you never get fully “in the zone” for either activity6.

AEC Director, Dr. Abdul Adam Abdullah mentioned that the multitasking in the

organization is quite a burden to everyone as all the staffs appointed in AEC are UMP staffs

(lecturers) and subjected to obligations to the university. The total of 11 staffs of AEC is

considered as lack, and to be more productive, it is best, in the Director’s point of view, to

have sufficient amount of staffs to drive the organization’s business.

The first step towards effective task delegation in AEC is the management need to

revisit the staffing requirement of the organization. How many staffs are required to perform

all the tasks planned to achieve the main objectives of AEC. For example, looking at AEC’s

current divisional organization chart (Appendix I), for research division, currently AEC has 2

Research Officers who handle the task as researchers for the whole organization. Based on

the vision statement of AEC; “Aspire to be reputable automotive research centre

internationally”; it is not relevant to put the whole future of the organization on these 2

officers only. The research divisions should cover many fields of expertise. Each researcher

should be assisted by Research Assistants which can be appointed among postgraduate

students. Therefore, if AEC happens to get involve in big projects that require expertise from

many fields, these divisions can work hand-in-hand to complete the tasks assigned to them.

The example of proposed organization chart can be found in Appendix II.

Besides revisiting the staffing requirement, the management also need to review the

job descriptions for all staffs. Questions need to be answered while reviewing the descriptions

are:

1. Are these tasks suitable for this person?

2. Are there any extra requirement or additional skills needed for this staff to comply

with the job descriptions given to him / her?

3. Can the task be completed alone or by group or with assistance from others?

4. Are the tasks assigned follow the pay grade?

6 (12 Reasons to Stop Multitasking Now!, n.d.)

Job description (JD) plays a major role in helping an employee understands what are they

required to do for the company or firm. A bad JD induces excess workloads to staffs,

resulting in bad motivations and low efficiency to an operation or service provided. AEC’s

staff JD should comply with the fact that the staffs are all have main obligations to the

university while tasks for AEC are considered as secondary tasks. The weightage of

obligations to AEC should be less than that to the university.

Improving Human Capitals

As discussed earlier, human capitals relate to individuals economic added values in a

group or population. The ideas of improvement of human capitals are mostly defined as an

effort to perform addition to human abilities or skills to make them better. These additions

can be obtained through; the five initiatives that have been mentioned earlier; getting more

education, gaining more experience, becoming an expert, exploring the industry, and

networking.

Education is the pillar of success. As the core business of UMP, education is the

priority in every strategic decision throughout the whole organization, including AEC as a

center operated under UMP brand. The staffs’ education background are important to ensure

they are capable in carrying the responsibility of driving AEC mission statements. Human

capital development can be energized through educations. AEC members should focus in

acquiring more knowledge through education in order to be more innovative. AEC

management should be obligated to provide specific training to the staff according to their job

or tasks requirement.

Experience is also important as an improvement initiative for AEC members. The

staffs, not only the research officers, should gain more experience through participation in

local or international seminar and collaboration with industries to create new technologies.

Alternatively, experience can also be gained through staffs’ involvement in tasks out of their

official JD. It is not advisable to perform task routinely out of specific JD, but it is highly

recommended in term of acquiring experience.

One of the main weakness identified during evaluation of AEC’s internal factor is the

lack of experts in the organization which distorts their development and progress in

penetrating the industry. Expertise is important as it claims rank for AEC against the rivals in

the market. The expert in the organization should, in fact, be an expert in other fields other

than mechanical engineering. The wrong perception nowadays, people always solely relate

automotive industry with mechanical engineering while in reality, the industry is related to

almost all engineering aspects including electrical, industrial, manufacturing, and even

product design. Mastering other field of expertise will give AEC competitive advantage

among others.

AEC should involve more with the industry. The lack of effort can be seen through

the low profile and reputation that the organization possessed. Involvement with the industry

(starting with the neighbouring companies) is crucial to ensure the organization sustainability.

It is also stated in the mission statement that AEC is committed “to develop innovative

automotive technology that contribute to the advancement on industry and community”.

Involvement with the industry can be in the form of academic-based collaboration such as

volunteering to do academic research and innovation for specific company (fully funded by

AEC) or joint R&D activities which AEC provides technical expertise to the company.

Through all the above mentioned, the last initiative, which is networking, can

automatically be implemented after the implementation of all the other initiatives. Business

networking is a marketing method by which business opportunities are created through

networks of like-minded business people. There are several prominent business networking

organizations that create models of networking activity that, when followed, allow the

business person to build new business relationship and generate business opportunities at the

same time7.

Annual Objectives

Based on the long-term objective from this strategic approach, a new, shared annual

objective for the research division, due to their direct involvement with AEC’s business with

the industry, is generated. Supporting the long-term objective, the divisions shall have a

major contribution in obtaining the 85% efficiency planned, that is, completion of planned

activities or projects. In term of effective management, each division shall play their specific

role in the organization while obtaining more expertise in different fields. The proposed

research division annual objectives should be as follow:

1. “More than 85% completion – including work in progress – of annual project

planned each year.”

7 (Definition: Business Networking, n.d.)

2. “Research officers (Division Heads) or technical experts to specialize in at least 2

technical fields, including Mechanical Engineering, in two years.”

Policies

Policies are requirements in order to drive AEC’s strategic planning. It is also

considered as rules, guidelines or procedures to follow which encourage work towards

specific goals. Through policies, all AEC members shall know what is expected from them in

order to materialize the long-term objective of this strategy. The proposed policies for AEC

on this new strategy approach are described in Appendix III.

Strategy Review and Evaluation

To successfully evaluate the any strategy implemented, AEC can utilize the Strategy-

Evaluation Framework provided in Appendix IV8. However, in this strategic approach, the

evaluation of IFE and EFE is not needed since both matrices were not revised or altered

during the implementation stage of the strategy. The organization can now focus on the

performance measures to evaluate the strategy proposed. The most effective way for

evaluation is by comparing expected results or plan to actual outputs and analyzing the

deviation between them. The evaluated aspects must be measurable and specific.

Unsatisfactory results from the evaluation needed corrective actions to be taken on them. The

framework of performance evaluation is included in Appendix V.

8 (David & David, Strategy-Evaluation Framework, 2015)

CONCLUSIONStrategic planning is important to an organization because it provides a sense of

direction and outlines measurable goals. It is a tool that is useful for guiding day-to-day

decisions and also for evaluating progress and changing approaches when moving forward9.

In AEC proper strategic management is needed in order to the organization to sustain in the

automotive industry.

After an interview session with the Director of AEC and intensive brainstorming

sessions between the team members, we have successfully evaluated the internal factor and

external factor matrices for AEC and came out with a SWOT matrix to generate strategies for

the organization. Even though there are many strategies can be listed down and approached

through this method, the team has decided to choose only one strategy which resulted in the

highest total attractiveness score in the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix for

implementation and evaluation plan. This is because we are focusing more on the

methodology of a strategic planning for AEC’s reference. The total strategic planning

initiative is only relevant to be carried out by AEC’s managers because it requires input from

those who directly involve with the organization.

Nevertheless, the group has found various issues that needed improvements and

corrective actions such as lack of manpower complimented by multitasking which practically

not an efficient approach to any operations and services. There is also lack of understanding

of the direction of the organization in the industry resulted from the lack of involvement with

industries which rooted from the lack of experts available within the organization. These

issues is very harmful to a service provider such as AEC as their nature of business is to

provide support and innovation to the industry and gaining primary profit from that specific

activity. AEC’s mission statement can never be achieved without proper strategic

management carried out within the organization.

9 (Gartenstein, n.d.)

REFERENCES

12 Reasons to Stop Multitasking Now! (n.d.). Retrieved from Health.com: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20707868_2,00.html

David, F. R., & David, F. R. (2015). Chapter 4: Types of Strategies. In F. R. David, & F. R. David, Strategic Management - Concepts and Cases (p. 132). Pearson.

David, F. R., & David, F. R. (2015). Strategy-Evaluation Framework. In F. R. David, & F. R. David, Strategic Management - Concepts and Cases (p. 377). Pearson.

Definition: Business Networking. (n.d.). Retrieved from Selfgrowth.com: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Definition_Business_Networking.html

Efficiency. (n.d.). Retrieved from Investopedia: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/efficiency.asp

Gartenstein, D. (n.d.). Why Is Strategic Planning Important to an Organization? Retrieved from az central: http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/strategic-planning-important-organization-4103.html

Human Capital. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital

Landes, L. (2010, March 22). 10 Ways to Boost Your Human Capital. Retrieved from Consumerism Commentary: http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/10-ways-to-boost-your-human-capital/

Meaning of multitasking. (n.d.). Retrieved from Merriam-Webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/multitasking

APPENDIX

Appendix I: AEC current organizational chart

Appendix II: Proposed organizational chart

Organization strategy:

Improvement of operational and service efficiency through better tasks delegation.

Supporting policies:

1. Management shall held a quarterly meeting to review on staffs’ job description.

2. Managers must continuously study and plan staffing requirement regularly.

Improvement of human capitals in term of soft skills, technical expertise and abilities as well

as communication skills for networking and public relation purpose.

Supporting policies:

1. Management must send technical expert for training to multiply existing skills.

2. Research officer to develop strong networking with industries though clean track

records and achievements.

Division Objectives:

More than 85% completion – including work in progress – of annual project planned each

year Supporting policies:

1. All divisions to submit regular (daily, weekly, monthly) reports to management.

2. Material / resource usage and wastage must be recorded and analyze.

3. Any delays or downtime should be counter with corrective and preventive actions.

Research officers (Division Heads) or technical experts to specialize in at least 2 technical

fields including Mechanical Engineering in two years.

Supporting policies:

1. All technical personnel to attend at least 1 professional course each year.

2. Training proposal shall be submitted to management prior to approval.

3. Only programs or courses related to automotive industries will be considered.

Appendix III: Proposed new policy to support the new strategy

Appendix IV: Strategy-Evaluation Framework

Factor Plan Actual

result

Variance Action to be

taken

Overall operation and service

efficiency85%

Meeting annual staffs’ development

plan100%

Divisional project completion 85%

Researchers skills and key

competency development rating

Rating 4

out of 5

Appendix V: Performance Evaluation Framework