Organizational Structure

This report helps to understand about organizational structure of the Cole groups. In this report, it defines the problems arise in the structure of the company. It discusses the most beneficial software, which is appropriated for the company. It also defines sales flowchart of Cole. It also discusses challenges and competitive advantage of the accounting software of Myob and other software.   

Cole supermarkets Australia private limited is a subsidiary company of Wesfarmers limited. It was established in 1914. Wesfarmers limited took over the Cole groups in November 2007. It deals in various items such as groceries, fresh food, liquor, general merchandise, financial services and fuel. In Cole groups, there are 102000 team members, who work in the 2400 retail outlets all over the country. It also provides online shopping services to their customers. Wesfarmers limited and a Cole group covers the more than 80 percent of market shares in the Australia (Cole, 2017).    

According to Jex and Britt (2014), Cole groups use the departmental or division organizational structure for its company because it deals in various products in which company has to follow different hierarchy. In departmental organizational structure, the company has different department in various geographical areas. Each department are not interfering each other. Therefore, the operations of Cole groups are also not interfering in each other’s department and operations.  The company has various departments such as finance, financial control, financial property, brand marketing and digital marketing.

In the view of Jones, (2010), every structure has its own limitations. Therefore, Coles also faces some difficulties related to organizational structures. Generally, departmental organizational structures are very costly because it operates at different geographical location and it has various scopes. Because coles is a very big company and it has various departments, so there is possibility of conflicts among the departments or may be in employees. Due to conflicts, some departments involve in politics, which spoil the business environment of Cole groups. Because of geographical distance, communicational problem can also be arisen, which can hamper the functioning of the Cole groups. Sometimes, correct message is also not delivered to another department because of distortion of the messages or due to selection of ineffective source of media. By this, different departments are not receiving correct information and getting confused to recognize appropriate information related to strategies, goals, and objectives of the organisation.

There are various business management softwares, which are enhancing the working of the organization. A Cole group is a big company and it requires such business management softwares to improve its business function and run its business smoothly. Generally, there are three types of softwares such as custom software, commercial software, and ERP. Custom softwares are the softwares, which are used for the person purpose. Mostly, custom softwares are modified or altered according to the needs and wants of the organisation. These softwares are addressed the problem of the organization and develops software system, which support the function and operations of the organisation. Generally, such type of softwares develops on the basis of specification provided by specific organisation or customers (Sinard and Gershkovich, 2012).

Operational Problems arises in the Structure of Coles

According to Raihana, (2012), commercial Software is the software, which is used for general purpose. Commercial softwares are those set of programs, which are designed according to the specification of customer. Generally, commercial softwares are offered by the softwares companies. This type of softwares has pre-designed program in it and they are patented. Microsoft is the big player to develop commercial softwares.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is management software, in which organisation uses such technologies, which can collect, store, and manage the data and information of the organisation. In the opinion of Staehr et al. (2012), the main purpose of this technique is to provide such platform where all the data and information related to organisation are saved and controlled by organisation. It offers various financial and human resources softwares such as account payable, account receivable, inventory turnover, manufacturing and production, calculation of salary, cash flow, and quality control of the organisation. Generally, ERP is coming in three variant or category such as cloud based or web based ERP, small industry based ERP and industry specific ERP.  

On the basis of above discussion, it can be said that, ERP management software is more appropriate for the Coles Groups because it is very big organisation and it has various segment, which is operated by company in different cities of Australia. According to Raihana, (2012), ERP provides various facilities to the organization and has various financial and human resource softwares, which promotes the business of Cole groups. ERP provides various benefits such as reduces the repetitive processes and provides correct forecasting, and makes collaboration between departments. It also saves the cost by gathering and managing the data and information at a single platform and it provides different data and information on various departments at same period of time. It is also flexible and has global reach as compared to other softwares.     

Flowcharts are the graphical representation of the facts and figures. It is a series of the activities and events, which are representing in the form of pictures and diagrams. In the view of Brockman et al. (2014), flowchart helps to communicate data and information very quickly to the observer and observer easily understand the data by help of pictures and diagrams. It also increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the messages. It also breaks the problems into different parts, which are easy to recognize and can be solved.

Coles Groups sell its products and services both online and offline. Cole group has around 2400 retail stores in Australia. It also provides goods and services online. The company adopts an online sales procedure by following some essential steps. According to the Hayden and Wesbster, (2014), the steps of online sales are customers order, browse store, order detail, checkout, delivery, address, cash or card, and print receipt. In this process, customers search about the product and services. After this, customer selects the item according to preference and then order that goods and services. The customer checks all details related to the item and then give delivery address to the company websites. After this, customer has to pay for goods and services, which he/she orders and gets the print receipt from the company website.

Flowchart of online Sale                                                Flowchart of Offline Sale

Most beneficial System Acquisition Method for the Coles Groups

 

The company also adopts the offline sales procedures. In these procedures, the customer comes on the supermarket of the Coles and buy products. In the view of Shah, (2017), in the process of offline sales, first of all, customers are searching for the goods and items, which can fulfill their needs and wants. Thereafter, customers select the products and go to the cash counter for payment. Here, customers have two options. First is paying in cash and second is swiping its card on swipe machine and then customers receive print receipt of that item and take its goods.

ERP system is the good system for the big organisation but is also has some challenges which influence the working of the organization. In the opinion of Granlund, (2011), there are so many organizations, which are not able to identify it real problem and they adopt the ERP system. By this, ERP software does not perform well according to expectation of the company. Therefore, the company has to identify and analyze their problems and then apply ERP system. Coles groups can also suffer from this type of problem. Sometimes, organizations are also not understood the key features of the ERP system by which they are not fully utilized the benefits of the ERP system. Because, Cole groups are using departmental organizational structure, so there is not easy to use same ERP system for various departments of the Coles.  

Accounting softwares are the softwares, which are used to calculate, store and monitor the information and data of the organization. There are various accounting software packages, which gives such facilities to their clients. Generally, these types of software contain various functions such as general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, trial balance and payroll. There is some software such as Xero and Myob and which are mostly used by various organizations (Jadhav and Sonar, 2011)

Xero is a cloud-based company and its head office is located in New Zealand. It operates its business from various locations such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the Kingdom and Singapore. These softwares are more suitable for small and medium sized organizations (Xero, 2017). Myob is also cloud-based American international organization. It is ERP system software, which provides various accounting software packages to their clients. Mostly, it appropriates for the medium and large sized businesses. Now, Myob also provides services to small size businesses. It also provides facilities to customize software according to needs and wants of the clients. Accounting to above the discussion, Myob is suitable for the Cole groups because Myob can customize according to needs and wants of the business (Myob, 2017).

Myob is the leading business management solution provider, which provides various services such as profit and loss statements, invoice, tax reporting, journal and ledgers, inventory management, invoice, and track and compute GST. The key point of its success is it provides software customization service to their clients. According the survey conducted by Mbaskool, (2015), the market value and revenue of the Myob is AUD 2070 million and AUD 287 million, which indicates that the company is performing well.

System flowchart of the sales of Coles Groups

Australia is an urbanized country and there has lot of business opportunities. Therefore, there are various ERP companies try their lucks in the market of Australia. In Australia, there are two big companies, which lead the markets of the accounting software packages. These two big companies are Myob and Xero. Every company has its competitive advantage. Xero is more appropriate for the small-scale businesses because it provides accounting software at affordable cost. Myob also has its competitive advantage. It is more suitable for the medium and large size of businesses because it provides customization facilities to their clients (Haddara and Zach 2011). Therefore, it becomes to identify who is the market leader in the business of accounting software package. They both are excellent in their field. Cole groups is the large brand so it uses Myob accounting software, because Cole groups can customize softwares according to requirement of the business.

According to Schiff, (2012), every accounting software has its merits and demerits. Myob is very efficient and famous accounting software. It also has some challenges such as lack of security, staff training, not user friendly, and expensive, which has to faced by company as well as its clients. Because, Myob services are based on clouding technology, so there is more possibility of distortion of data and information leak by the hackers. Generally, these type of softwares are not easily operated by those people who do not know how to operate them effectively. These softwares require trained employees to operate it (Finances Online, 2017).   

In order to operate accounting software effectively, it is recommended that the company have to use antivirus to secure its data and information related to transaction. The company also has to train its staff in order to make them feel comfortable with the use of accounting softwares. Moreover, in order to make the system cost-effective, the top-management should first identify the requirements of the company and only those features should be added to the system. This is because unnecessary features will only increase the cost of the company.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Cole groups follow the departmental organizational structure for their business. It also concludes that ERP softwares are the more appropriated for the Coles as compared to other softwares such as commercial and custom softwares. It also can be concluded that Myob is the best software for the Coles because it provides facilities to customize the software according to business needs.

Reference

Brockman, G.B., Modisette, J.P. and Mellott, J.C., Cox Enterprises, Inc., (2014). Method and apparatus for supporting delivery, sale and billing of perishable and time-sensitive goods such as newspapers, periodicals and direct marketing and promotional materials, U.S. Patent 8,712,871.

Cole (2017) Our History. [Online]. Available at: https://www.coles.com.au/about-coles/centenary (Accessed: 22 April 2017).

Finances Online (2017) 5 B2B Accounting Software Solutions to Help You Overcome Business Pitfalls, [Online]. Available at: https://financesonline.com/5-b2b-accounting-software-solutions-to-help-you-overcome-business-pitfalls/ (Accessed: 22 April 2017).

Granlund, M. (2011) Extending AIS research to management accounting and control issues: A research note. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 12(1), pp.3-19.

Haddara, M. and Zach, O. (2011) ERP systems in SMEs: A literature review, In System Sciences (HICSS), 2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 1-10). IEEE.

Hayden, T. and Webster, T. (2014) The Mobile Commerce Revolution: Business Success in a Wireless World. United Kingdom: Que Publishing.

Jadhav, A.S. and Sonar, R.M. (2011) Framework for evaluation and selection of the software packages: A hybrid knowledge based system approach. Journal of Systems and Software, 84(8), pp.1394-1407.

Jex, S. J. and Britt, T. W. (2014) Organizational Psychology: A Scientist-Practitioner Approach. United State: John Wiley & Sons.

Jones, G.R. (2010) Organizational theory, design, and change. United Kingdom: Pearson Education.

Mbaskool (2015) Top 10 Information Technology (IT) Companies in Australia, [Online]. Available at: https://www.mbaskool.com/fun-corner/top-brand-lists/13825-top-10-it-companies-in-australia-2015.html?start=9 (Accessed: 22 April 2017).

Myob (2017) About MYOB. [Online]. Available at: https://www.myob.com/au/about (Accessed: 22 April 2017).

Raihana, G.F.H. (2012) Cloud ERP–a solution model, International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology & Security, 2(1), pp.76-79.

Schiff, J. L. (2012) 13 Common ERP Mistakes and How to Avoid Making Them, CIO, [Online]. Available at: https://www.cio.com/article/2397802/enterprise-resource-planning/13-common-erp-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-making-them.html (Accessed: 22 April 2017).  

Shah, V. (2017) Retail Store, Creately, [Online]. Available at: https://creately.com/diagram/example/imyake2k1/Retail%20Store (Accessed: 22 April 2017).

Sinard, J.H. and Gershkovich, P. (2012) Custom software development for use in a clinical laboratory. Journal of pathology informatics, 3(1), p.44.

Staehr, L., Shanks, G. and Seddon, P.B. (2012) An explanatory framework for achieving business benefits from ERP systems, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 13(6), p.424.

Xero (2017) Accounting software with everything you need to run your business beautifully. [Online]. Available at: https://www.xero.com/au/features-and-tools/accounting-software/ (Accessed: 22 April 2017).