Building effective technical skills

Chief operating officer The organization is headed by the COO. All the department heads will be reporting to him. The activities of all departments will be assessed and approved by him. 1. Legal & Statutory department: This department is represented by the Manager – Regulatory affairs. He will take care of all regulatory registrations, their renewals, their compliances, disputes arising due to non compliances, etc. He will be a line employee reporting to the COO. 2. Human Resources Department: Manager – HRD is the head of this department.

He is a line employee who takes care of recruitment, training, remunerations, discipline, appraisals, outsourced services, etc. An Officer- HR, a staff employee reports to the Manager – HR. He takes care of time office, salaries and wages, documentation, coordination with other departments, etc. 3. Finance Department: Manager – Finance is the head of the department. He is a line employee taking care of budgeting, fund planning, taxations, accounting, auditing, etc. He is assisted by an accountant, a staff employee, who takes care of documentation, cash flow, ledger maintenance, day book maintenance, etc.

Cashier, a staff employee takes care of billings, cash transactions, cash deposition, etc. He reports to the Manager – Finance. 4. Sales & Marketing Department: Manager – Sales & Marketing heads the department. He is a line employee taking care of market research, planning, promotions, advertisements, store design & set up, sales, customer feedbacks and complaints, etc Building effective technical skills 04 Executive – Market Research, a line employee having a sound knowledge about the type of books reports to Manager – Sales & Marketing. He utilizes his skills to forecast

customer requirements and identify an adapted product mix from time to time. Executive – Media is a line employee, reporting to the Manager – Sales & marketing, taking care of media and magazine advertisements, promotional programs, etc. Executive – Stores Operations, a line employee, reports to the manager – Sales & Marketing. He is responsible for the store design, displays, maintenance, etc. He co ordinates with the Inventory department to organize stocks. Retail sales persons are staffs reporting to the Executive – Stores Operations. They take care of sales at various sales counters or sales zones.

They are responsible for the packing and forwarding of the purchased books to the delivery department. 5. Inventory Department: Manager – Inventory heads the department. His p management includes procurement, warehouse management, inventory control, etc. He co ordinates with the Manager – Sales & marketing to ensure that the stock levels are maintained properly. Purchase assistant, a staff employee reports to the Manager – Inventory. He takes care of purchase order preparations, stock receipts, inward stocks verification, return of damaged stocks, etc. Stores assistant reports to the Manager – Inventory and he is a staff.

He takes care of warehouse management, inventory control, documentation, etc. 6. Systems Department – Executive – Systems, is a line employee taking care of computer hardware, billing software, etc used by the organization. He reports to the COO. Co ordination Mechanism: The co ordination mechanism in such a book store is as follows. The Executive – Market research makes a thorough study of the market and prepares an adapted product mix. This is sent to the Manager – Inventory. The Stores assistant assesses the stock situation in the book store and the warehouse. He sends a stock report to the Manager – Inventory.

Based on the market requirements and the stock situation, the Manager – Inventory prepares the Procurement plan. He directs the Purchase assistant to conduct purchases based on the procurement plan. This cycle repeats on a regular frequency. Comparison of a traditional book store and an online book store This is a traditional bookstore, operated by a traditional Hierarchical structure. The quantum of work involved is more and hence a relatively higher number of employees are employed. The information flows from the top level to the bottom level through paper correspondences or mail communications.

These shops are slow in adapting to the market changes. The stocks are usually built and maintained based on the market forecasts. Hence, this type of stores usually carries a large inventory and hence requires a lot of space. This has a direct impact on the financial overheads. The book stores like “Barnes & Noble”, “Amazon” or “Border” are online bookstores since 90’s. They are E enabled business concerns. They make use of the web and the Information and communication Technology (ICT). Hierarchical flow of information is less. The flow of information is through digital mode and fast.

They usually maintain low inventories. They take the order from the customers, procure the requirements from the suppliers and deliver them to the customers directly. Their inventory carrying costs are much lower. The quantum of work involved is less and the flow of information is more. The savings due to the reduction in the inventory levels are passed on to the customers. References 1. Electronic Commerce: Opportunities and Challenges by Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Mahesh Raisinghani 2. The E-Commerce Book by Steffano Korper and Juanita Ellis. 3. Electronic Commerce: The New Business Platform for the Internet by Debra Cameron