Coursework

In what ways does J B Quinn’s theory of the intelligent enterprise connect with the problems and opportunities experienced in the general insurance case study?

1: Introduction

J.B. Quinn (1992) argues that the producing power and economic strength of any organization within the business is more reliant upon its intellectual and service capabilities. This is mainly because of the fact that the information is the critical element that contributes for the growth of an organization in the modern era where there is stiff competition both in the national and international markets. In this report the General Insurance company’s strengths and opportunities are analysed in connection with the intelligent enterprise theory of J.B. Quinn (1992). The following sections provide a critical analysis on the company’s core information management strategy in the light of the above statement.

2: Service competencies

From the case study it is clear that the company pioneers in the providing effective service to its customers in the insurance industry from as early as 1987. This is evident from the company’s successful issue of 250,000 policies and 70% of the human resource under 32 years of age in 1987. Alan M. Kantrow (2001) says that the service competencies of an organization are critical for its sustainable growth in the target market. This is mainly because of the fact that the increase in the competition in the insurance industry, it is imperative to gain strong service competencies in order to differentiate the company from its competitors. The management structure of General Insurance makes it clear that the branch managers have lot of opportunities to develop new products and services in the insurance industry focusing upon their geographical area. This is synonymous with the argument of Cohen, and D. Leventhal (1999) that the service competencies within the organization can be developed focusing upon the branch level competencies with the ability to introduce innovation in the service methods that are successful in a particular geography for the company.
Furthermore, it is also evident from the arguments for G. Hamel and C. K. Prahalad (2001) that the innovation and development in the service competencies is predominantly a derivative of the efficient management of the information or knowledge management within the organization. This makes it clear that an organization should not only deploy efficient information management system but an effective knowledge management system that provides intellectual support for the development of innovative methods to accomplish high level of service competencies.

Alongside, it is also clear from the case study that the main problem faced by the General insurance is that of information overload whereby the branch managers were overloaded with information on the company policies and strategies in hard copies rather than electronic versions. Also, the reluctance of some of the branch managers to use electronic mailing system as well as the stringent administrative policies that conflicted with the innovative strategies of the branch managers towards business development further hampered the ability of achieving intelligent enterprise. This is also because of the increase in the pressure on the branch managers who were expected to do the budgeting and planning with little support from the top-level management. Even through it is debatable that the management information system was established as early as 1987, the lack of flexibility in the system was the major factor that made most of the branch manager to refrain from using the information source. In the light of the intelligent enterprise scenario, where J.B. Quinn (1992) argues that an organization can accomplish effective knowledge management and increase its service capabilities through the use of the intellectual resource of business only when the managers are not overloaded with information. This makes it clear that it is essential to deploy a flexible and interactive management information system that provides efficient as well as easy access to key information. From the above argument it is also clear that the General insurance company can effectively accomplish strong intellectual capabilities through the re-structuring of the information management system currently deployed to provide key information to the enable the branch manager for quick decision-making as well as support the development of the service capabilities of the staff. This is obviously because of the fact that the availability of the right information at the right place at the right time enables quick process of the business transaction as argued by John Ward and Joe Peppard (2002)

3: Smallest Replicable Unit

J. B. Quinn (1992) argues that the smallest replicable unit within an organization is the critical element that attributes to the business intelligence of the organization. This is mainly because of the fact that the smallest replicable unit being the business unit that can be copied from one branch to another branch is the deciding factor of the level of complication in an organization’s management information system. The above argument is justified by P. Bierly, and A. Chakrabarti (2002) who say that the time taken by an organization to replicate a business unit corresponds to the size and especially the amount of information handled by the business unit being replicated. P. Bierly, and A. Chakrabarti (2002) further argue that in order to achieve intellectual leadership and accomplish business intelligence, an organization should not only maintain a streamlined organization structure but also deploy efficient and structure enterprise content management where the business content can be effectively replicated within optimal expense of time and resources.

In the case of General Insurance, the smallest replicable unit is the branch itself since the organization did not have a streamlined and efficient information management system that is used by all the branches. Alongside, the fact that the information from the head offices are circulate to the branch managers in the form of hard copies of printed papers rather than electronic versions which has actually doubled the workload according to the some of the branch managers makes it clear that the company’s information management or the business intelligence through the use of the management information system is not efficient. Furthermore, it is also clear from the approach of J. B. Quinn (1992) who argues that the smallest replicable unit in a business environment is mainly dependant upon the complexity of the information management and above all the corporate strategy of the organization itself. This is because of the fact that the strategic planning and approach by the top-level management is the main element that contributes to the complexity of the information eventually resulting in information overload as well as complicating the smallest replicable unit within the business as argued by D. K. Goldstein and M. H. Zack (1999) .

It is also interesting to note that the corporate planning of the organization is the influencing element on the business intelligence of an organization as argued by H. Mintzberg (1994) . This is mainly because of the fact that the strategic planning within an organization is the key element that attributes to the quality and structure of the information management system. This eventually contributes to the level of complexity in the system thus making it clear that the corporate planning itself should reflect upon the information management in order to achieve an intelligent enterprise solution.

Apart from the problem of complex information management structure in General Insurance that affects the smallest replicable unit, the fact that the company has accomplished the difficult task of accomplishing the electronic form of information management and communication makes it clear that there is ample opportunity for the organization to accomplish business intelligence. This is mainly because the streamlining of the existing system to reflect upon the business scenario and providing easy information access to the branch managers will improve the service capabilities of the organization as well as reducing the complexity of the information management. The lower level of the complexity will obviously enable business intelligence within the organization. This is justified by J. Nahapiet and S. Ghoshal (2001) who say that the intellectual capital involved with the smallest replicable unit is reduces with the streamlining of the information management process, which attributes to the intelligent enterprise described by J. B. Quinn (1992).

4: New Management Paradigm

J. B. Quinn (1992) says that the management restructuring in an organization is not always necessary to accomplish intelligent enterprise. But it is essential to revise the management methods, which is essential to achieve high level of productivity through the use of the intellectual and service capabilities. This is synonymous to the argument of T. Davenport, S. Jarvenpaa, and M. Beers (1999) who say that the management approach towards the planning and management of its business units is the one that needs to be revised in order to accomplish business intelligence within the organization. This is because of the fact that an organization by re-structuring the overall management process, it can accomplish business process re-engineering more than business intelligence. Since the existing business process is profitable in General insurance, which is evident from the consistent productivity of every organization, it is clear that the management methods need to be revised rather than the management structure.

From the case study it is evident that the conflict of interests among the branch managers due to the stringent administration methods for audit purposes whilst implementing innovative methods without regarding the administrative process makes it clear that the major problem faced by the organization in terms of management is the conflict of interest. This is because; the conflict of interest is the major element that causes the heavy workload for the managers, which eventually decrease their involvement in implementing effective information management. Derek Torrington and Laura Hall (2002) argue that the managers in an organization can perform effectively only when senior management methods are not creating conflict of interest. This makes it clear that not only for business intelligence but also for the effective performance in the human resource management perspective itself, it is essential to eliminate conflict of interests between the managers and the management.

It is also interesting to note that by reducing the conflict of interests in an organization, it is not only easy to establish a streamlined information management process but also increase the intellectual assets of the organization through innovative methods of achieving service capability that outperforms its competitors. Apart from the factor of competitive advantage and streamlined business process, the elimination of the conflict of interests in the organization will reduce the redundancy in the working methods of the managers as argued by Markus J. Thannhuber (2004) . In the General Insurance case study it is clear that the work of the branch managers was overloaded due to the necessity to accomplish innovative sales promotion with adherence to stringent administrative methods, which has actually increased the workload resulting in redundancy. Furthermore, the comments by one of the branch managers that it is essential to view any communication on paper rather than the electronic mails make it clear that the feedback from the audit process on poor administration has forced the mangers to use traditional methods of information management rather than using the technology.

From the above arguments it is clear that in order to achieve intelligent enterprise within General Insurance it is essential to revise the management process and provide an optimum management level between the administrative process and implementation of innovative methods by the branch managers without the concern of failing to pass the auditing process.

5: Implication on T Mobile UK Ltd

T-Mobile UK Ltd is a subsidiary of the Germany based mobile service provider T-Mobile International AG & Co (Company Profile, 2005 ). The company operates as part of the group in the UK providing mobile voice and data service to residential and business customers.

From the case study analysis above, the following implication of Intelligent Enterprise by J. B. Quinn (1992) can be identified upon the organization

a.The organization is a branch of the overall group that is operating on a global basis. This makes it clear that the centralised information management to cater the business intelligence on a global basis as well as accommodate the service capabilities that compete with the competition in the UK mobile phone market (for T-Mobile UK Ltd) is essential. The current implementation of the IBM e server responsive infrastructure to streamline the information management process to efficiently provide key information to the store managers upon the sales and forecasting as well as supporting the top-level management in decision making through the effective analysis and presentation of the corporate information to cater corporate planning focusing upon business intelligence makes it clear that the organization has implemented the intelligent enterprise strategy. Furthermore, the fact that the company not only provides online information access to the managers and employers but also to the customers through providing the itemised online system. This approach has not only increased the company’s productivity but also reduced the costs associated with the paper based itemised billing statements sent to the customers thus increasing the overall financial performance of the organization
b.The smallest replicable unit within the T-Mobile UK Retail stores is not the whole store but any segment of the store business that can be productive in another branch. The effective networking of the information and availability of the transactions conducted by a staff member in any of the till computers across the UK retail chain of stores makes it clear that even the store staff can be the smallest replicable unit. This approach has not only increased the productivity but also enabled the effective human resource management since the staff allocation between a set of stores in a given location is possible without any issues.
c.The company profile of T-Mobile has further revealed that the management process of the organization is streamlined with the focus upon the sales whilst maintaining the balance between the administrative methods to accomplish effective auditing process. This makes it clear that the conflict of interest between the store managers of the organization and the senior management is very low or negligible. This also justifies that the new management paradigm is not always necessary to accomplish intelligent enterprise whilst it is essential to revise the management process to streamline the overall information management within the organization.

6: Conclusion

The arguments in sections 2, 3 and 4 have proved that the company under study General Insurance can accomplish business intelligence and improve its service capabilities through streamlining the business process in the light of the information management. It is also clear from the discussion in section 5 that the T-Mobile UK Ltd has accomplished higher level of performance and productivity through the effective implementation of the business intelligence and service capabilities in the organization.

References:

Books
Derek Torrington Laura Hall (2002), Personnel Management HRM in Action, UK: Prentice Hall

D. J. Teece, 1987, The Competitive Challenge: Strategies for Industrial Innovation and Renewal, Ballinger Publishing co., Cambridge, MA, 1987, pp. 221-233

J. B. Quinn, (1992), Intelligent Enterprise, The Free Press

John Ward and Joe Peppard (2002), Strategic Planning for Information Systems, 3rd Edition, UK: John Weily and Sons

Markus J. Thannhuber (2004), The Intelligent Enterprise: Theoretical Concepts and Practical Implications (Contributions to Management Science), UK: Physica-Verlag

Journals and White Papers

Alan M. Kantrow (2001), INTELLIGENT ENTERPRISE AND PUBLIC MARKETS, McKinsey Quarterly, 00475394, 2001, Issue

Company Profile, (2005), T-Mobile International AG & Co, UK: Data Monitor Plc

D. K. Goldstein and M. H. Zack (1999), “ Capturing Value from Knowledge Assets: the New Economy, Markets for Know-how, and Intangible Assets”, California Management Review, Vol. 40, No. 3, Spring 1999, p. 55-79

G. Hamel and C. K. Prahalad (2001), “The Core Competence of the Corporation”, Harvard Business Review, May-June, 2001, pp. 79-91

H. Mintzberg (1994), “The Fall And Rise Of Strategic Planning”, Harvard Business Review, vol. 72, no.1, 1994, pp.107

J. Nahapiet and S. Ghoshal, (2001), “Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 23, no. 2, 2001, pp. 242-267

J. G. March, (2001), “Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning”, Organization Science, 2001 vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 71-87

New Analysis, (2005), T-Mobile rings the changes with IBM and Triangle, UK: IBM (www.ibm.com)

P. Bierly, and A. Chakrabarti (2002), “Generic Knowledge Strategies in the U.S. Retail Industry”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, Winter Special Issue, 2002, pp. 123-135

P. Goodman and E. Darr, (1996), “Exchanging Best Practices Through Computer-Aided Systems”, The Academy of Management Executive, vol. 10, no. 2, 1996, pp. 7-19

T. Davenport, S. Jarvenpaa, and M. Beers (1999), “Improving Knowledge Work Processes”, Sloan Management Review, Summer, 1999, pp. 53-66;