IT IN WORK PLACE

IT in work place



IT in work place

Task 1 (1a)

Virgin Trains seeks to differentiate itself from other rail competitors in order to increase customer satisfaction and develop a train service fit for the twenty-first century. The business is organised on a decentralised regional structure. Each region has a set of Managers responsible for the important operating areas. These Managers then link up with other regional Managers to share ideas and expertise. Each region is able to focus on the commercial needs of its area. For example, the Scottish region focuses on developing services to include the local economy and particularly tourism. Each seeks to maximise the quality of services to customers, for example, by cutting unnecessary costs and waste (Borgmann, 2006, P 351).

1 (b)

The business encourages new behaviours. Behaviours focus not just on what Virgin Trains' people do but also how they do something. For example, this might be focusing on the customer, listening to others or taking a positive approach to challenges. As part of the culture change, Virgin Trains also promotes charitable work in partnership with organisations such as CLIC Sargent, which raises money for children with cancer. The charity is chosen on a national basis by the company; each region then supports in its own way. The benefit of this behaviour is a more caring approach to customers and staff. This enhances customer satisfaction and desire to use Virgin Trains more often. Virgin Trains behaviours have developed from the bottom-up approach of the vision workshops (Cordaux, 2003, P 1586).

At recruitment the key skills required to deliver the vision form part of the person specification. This means Virgin Trains attracts people who share the vision and behaviours. At appraisal, employees are assessed on their contribution to the business, development and customer focus. Appraisal interviews take place regularly where employees discuss current performance with their line manager and identify future personal targets and goals (Cordaux, 2003, P 1586).

Task 2 (a)

The use of specific objectives and performance measures to manage operational performance is common practice among self-sustaining private and public organizations that are responsible for generating sufficient revenue to meet costs and, in some cases, produce profit. The experiences of these organizations are a rich source of information to consider in the public sector (Hubert Dreyfus and Charles, 2011, P 265). Since 2004, TNT had been focused on 'Driving Clean'; reducing pollution from its vehicles by fitting filters, progressively buying cleaner vans and trucks and piloting new fuels and technologies. In 2006, the world was starting to get serious about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change.

2(b)

The team was also shocked to discover that the aggregated personal carbon footprint of TNT's 150,000 employees was greater than the emissions from business operations. The CSR team's initial analysis also highlighted that, while there were some energy efficiency opportunities that could be implemented straight away, there were no immediately feasible solutions which would drastically cut emissions from trucking and air-freight ...