Dells Aims And Objectives Business Essay

The company I have chosen for my assignment is Dell. A man called Michael Dell founded it back in 1984 and the company is situated in a place called Round Rock in Texas. Michael began working at a mail-order stamp trading business at the age of thirteen. He then moved on to selling subscriptions and at the age of seventeen he purchased his own BMW with the money he had earned. When he enrolled at the University of Texas in 1983 he started selling computer parts from his college dormitory room. Later on he began selling computer chips and disk drives through newspaper advertisements at a much cheaper price. By 1984 sales had risen to $80,000 so Michael dropped out of college and formed his very own company called PCs Ltd. In 1997 Dell had become the biggest leader in keeping costs down with its build to order business model. Dell is the world’s third largest computer building organisation in the world1].

Dells aims and objectives:

The scope of Dell are obviously to make a lot of money and to provide people all around the globe with powerful, multi featured computers which people could easily use without technical support. Dell aims to please all with great computers, notebooks and even projectors that are equipped with the required software2].

Dells strategy plan:

The company’s computer strategy was built around a number of core elements. Michael Dell first looked at the build manufacturing then mass customisation and most importantly he became partners with suppliers. This helped cut an awful lot of costs for Michael. Through this particular strategy he was able to cut out the middlemen and order just in time inventories, direct sales and market segmentation. Communication between Michael and the suppliers intended data and information was shared amongst them also the customers. Through this strategy Michael hoped to achieve what he called virtual integration.

By segmentation Michael was able to sell to organisations across the world such as Goldman Sachs, Shell, Oracle and Microsoft who bought at least a million computers or thousands of units at a time. Management believed that accurate sales forecasts were the key to keeping costs down through their flow of information. As for research and development Dell spent over $250 million annually to improve users experience and they did this by talking to their customers and finding solutions to their problems. He then trained 1,300 telemarketers to sell servers and 160 sales reps and experts to help those sales reps.

Server plant used cell manufacturing instead of assembly lines to allow faster product updates and to keep costs low. In 1993 when he had a loss of $38 million from engaging in a foreign currency also he settled $40 million to write off its laptop line until redesigned as it was in doubt, he jumped back into the market as soon as sales hit the Internet. And management noticed even though the industry price was going down Dell’s prices were still going up3].

HRM strategy plan:

Dell’s company offers lessons in managing rapid growth as this organisation’s workforce had grown massively in 1998. Change is constant and fast paced in Dell and results in human resource staff continually been forced to raise the bar as this measures success. HR challenges are to select and develop a certain workforce that meets constant change in requirements without loosing any market or customer focus. Michael’s overall awareness of delegating strategies is thoroughly focused around his HRM management within his organisation.

In regards to preventing its growth from spinning out of control Dell uses a strategy, which splits off business segments. The smaller pieces of the business are taken care of by managers and its split once again when grown. In order to make this strategy work this company actively seek and keep certain employees who have a certain mind set. The managers who succeed in growing the business are certainly backed up by Dell’s rewarded system as developing employees mind sets is definitely an advantage other companies don’t have3].

Operations and Management Strategy:

One factor that helped Dell Hr function become more strategic is its structure. Dell’s HR is split into two departments, which are operations and management. HR handles transactional functions such as benefits, employee relations, and compensation through a service centre. Staff members rarely have any communications with business units as they report straight to HR. HR management includes Dell University, the organisations training and staffing facility. HR generalist also report back to the vice presidents of HR and of the business unit. By changing the process Dell’s employees can attend meetings as consultants, ask for specific personal training and their opinions result in the development of HR strategy for improved positive outcomes. This brilliant division between operations and management lets HR effectively focus on two types of customers where operations support the employees, management supports Dell’s business. This strategy approach seems to be successful and quick process as both sides of the business are being equally focused on and dealt with at the same pace3].

Dells Strategy of Recruiting Employees:

Dell’s HRM knows exactly where to place the right staff with the right skills and training. They try to spot the qualities in which new employees would need by scanning existing top performing employees also looking for keys to their success. They judge current employees appraisals and then interview people against their competencies. Dell has rotational recruiters on stand by in demanding periods. HR professionals reallocate staff during peak times to help in IT recruitment of employees because they are the experts in that area and know exactly what to look for in the employees. Three or four months this occurs and when the hiring is done the current staff members go back to doing their normal jobs. Surely this process cuts costs and speeds up the process of recruitment and allows for time to cut more costs in this company3].

Training and Development:

Michael Dell believes training is crucial and needs a workforce that can implement changing plans. These plans are constantly evaluated and this results in huge improvements for the company. Through new redesigned training he was able to cut costs by analysing average discount rates and terms and conditions. Dell offers a range of training from orientation and technical to outside courses. His employees have more training online than one would have in a classroom.

His awareness and commitment towards technology training is positively demonstrated online, equipped with video demonstrations to fix certain new products before they’re launched. Some sales people leave meetings equipped with all information required from that meeting. Dell HR team have a database system, which contains employee feedback in regards to any issues or inquiries within the company. One of those initiatives was redesigned therefore resulted in constant re-evaluation and improvement. For Dell as little as 2% improvement could amount to an awful lot of money so any small change they can make definitely benefits the organisation.

When it comes to new leaders Dell offers training and development to them. The company carefully looks at the potential, performance and contribution of existing employees and the ones who are ready to hit the radar screen may be in line to become new future leaders. Michael sure is a clever entrepreneur in regards to recruitment freezes in my perspective. Not only did he divide up his managers to do two jobs at the same time, he focused on existing skilled employees to control IT interviews. They then return to their regular positions and finally there is the movement of current employees up the ladder. In my opinion he certainly gave this a lot of thought and is killing two birds with one stone as well as getting value for money3].

Benefits and Rewards:

Dell’s benefit packages may vary in different countries but they guarantee their employee’s an opportunity to work within a winning company with talented team mates. Education is a key area as workers can continually grow and develop their skills and traits. Pay for performance programmes are dealt with individually also on location of their employee’s. In regards to competitiveness there are regular reviews on those packages also the model of the business to provide great value towards the teams. Dell offers competitiveness base pay, incentive cash bonuses and sales commission. Dell sure takes professional workers into consideration as they treat them as top priority and in order to keep healthy minded workers they offer time off, medical care and life or personal insurance benefits.

Another pay for performance which is important to this company is work life effectiveness as workers are the most valuable assets according to Michael. His goal here is to allow employee’s to take full advantage of their contribution to the organisation while keeping their effectiveness of both their personal and working lives. This results in maintaining employee’s and shows Dell’s commitment towards their concern of the workers. This company is really sincere when it comes to understanding the commitment of developing their staff careers as it is their belief that success lies in teamwork growth and development and retaining a winning culture4].

News Flash:

August 03, 2010 by MARCY GORDON (AP)

“Trade unions ask shareholders to vote against Michael Dell”.

Two labour unions have asked every shareholder of Dell to withdraw all their votes at a meeting on August 12th for CEO Michael Dell in regards to maintaining his position as director of that company. Back in 1984 Michael Dell had received a huge amount of money some from which included stock open sales even though his stock sales had dropped a massive %66 in that same period. The whole reason behind this dispute was due to a $100 million settlement over accounting practises Dell had made with the United States Securities and the Exchange Commission.

The letter sent suggested that Michael’s executive compensation package was excessive during that past decade and he was trying to pump up his profits in Wall Street through fraud. The SEC alleged Dell had not properly disclosed payments from Intel for the PC maker’s exclusive use of Intel CPUs. SEC also accused Dell of manipulating reserve accounts just to cover shortfalls in the years 2002 and 2005. They also complained that operations payment growth had accumulated immensely in comparison to the fiscal years 2003 and 2007.

The unions held a significant amount of Dell stock which included employee shares such as Pension Plan and Reserve Funds shareholders that in total covered over 49 thousand shares alone. Under Dell’s corporate rules if worst came to the worst if Michael was not voted in this would result in Michael’s resignation and it’s up to the Dell board to decide whether to accept it. In July judges approved the settlement between Dell and the SEC but Michael’s role as a director was not restricted.

Dell agreed to make improvements by hiring outside consultants also expanding employee’s training. The company would also have to be overlooked by outside attorneys but Michael and Dell organisation did not admit or denied any wrongdoing. He did agree to avoid doing future violations of securities laws5].

Human Rights and Labour Policy Statement:

Dell has a policy statement that ensures all employees are treated fairly and with total respect. This statement includes that all staff are working under their own free will but are compensated for each individual’s efforts. This company are holding their end of the bargain as to employee protection rights and the scope of this statement is intended to state the organisations position to all staff including stakeholders.

The elements in the statement explain the terms of employment that comply with legislation laws such as minimum wage, hours benefits. Forced labour and underage workers are set by laws and threats like discrimination or inhumane treatment are also included in the terms. Dell Company tries so hard to keep a clean and fair workforce and health and safety plays a huge part in that statement. In regards to collective bargaining Dell believes it is best if the employees deal directly with management when any work related issues occur. In respect of the workers Dell offers approval in regards to joining labour unions, seeking representatives or collective bargains in connection with local laws6].

Conclusion:

Overall I have given a brief history of Michael Dell and his aims and objectives. I defined each element of strategies implemented within this organisation from the company’s strategy to operations management also recruitment. Then I explained benefit and reward packages in which Dell offers to their staff. I enclosed a news letter in regards to trade unions and concluded my assignment with a statement that Dell offers to their employee’s. In my perspective Michael seems to have overall control of this organisation and has definitely reflected on all HRM strategies as he certainly is getting value for his money by delegating current staff to recruit the proper skilled members for his organisation. I find it fair when he focuses on current staff to hit the radar and move up the ladder as I think it is crucial to have incentives for those work members with fresh minds, skills and traits which could benefit the company and bring different ideas or structures to this particular organisation. In my opinion without his HRM staff or personnel management this company would not be running as smoothly or as fast as he would like it to.