Managing Business Activities To Achieve Results Essays Examples

AC 1.1 The relationship between the processes and functions in EA

The Environmental Agency was established to protect as well as improve the environment in Wales and England. The agency offers the opportunity for more integrated and coherent environmental protection and improvement. A process in an organization is any function that enables such an organization to deliver its services and products successfully. The core processes of the EA are under two directorates where one deals with the environment and business and the other deals with flood and coastal risk management. The strategic functions of the Environmental Agency fall under efficient operator, champion of the environment, active communicator, an influential advisor, and modern regulator (Great Britain 9). As an efficient operator, the environmental agency takes direct actions locally to improve and safeguard the environment. The agency engages in activities such as constructing flood defenses, looking after the wildlife on their sites, and managing navigation on their major rivers. As a champion of the environment, the agency promotes environmental safeguarding and improvement.
As a modern regulator, the EA takes a risk-based, balanced approach, which drives improvements along with rewarding the excellent performance. In addition, the agency takes harsh action against those who do not meet the acceptable standards. The agency advises the government in the European Union on the development and implementation of the environmental policy and strategy in its influential advisor process. As an active communicator, the EA promotes the information concerning the environment. The agency participates in public debates where they persuade the key stakeholders on the need for environmental change (Great Britain 9). It also reports on the condition of the environment regularly. It is worth noting that both the processes functions described above have facilitated the fulfillment of the Environmental Agency’s purpose, which is to protect and improve the environment.

AC 1.2 How the processes of EA are mapped against its organizational goals and objectives

The triumph of any organization is dependent on its capability to communicate its core processes, key activities, goals, and objectives. The Environmental Agency maps its processes against its organizational objectives and goals through initially bringing together all the employees. It does this so as to collect detailed information on flood and coastal risk management, as well as the environment and business processes. The agency identifies the actual situations that facilitate the identification of the critical areas and the likelihood of the improvement of their processes. In addition, the agency then defines its processes, goals and objectives that it aims to achieve, and the initiatives to undertake so as to obtain the required outputs. The agency attains its process mapping with the help of a process map that shows all the process-related activities, exceptions, cross-functional hand-offs, and approvals. The participating employees understand their specific roles in the overall structure with the help of the process map.

AC 1.3 Evaluation of the quality of output of the process

The output of the environment and business process in EA is the reduction in the environmental degradation. The decline in the environmental impact of the businesses and industries as a result of the agency’s process of environment and business management is imperative in the environmental improvement and protection. For this reason, the output is appropriate because it improves the human surroundings preventing the outbreak of diseases. On the other hand, the output of flood and coastal risk management process is the reduction of the likelihood of flooding. The output reduces the risks associated with flooding. As a result, this output is essential because the Environmental Agency meets the requirements of a sustainable flood strategy.

AC 2.1 The responsibilities of the EA that I like and want to improve

The Environmental Agency’s overall responsibilities fall under five comprehensive strategic duties. The agency acts as a contemporary regulator, an efficient operator, an influential advisor, an active communicator, and a champion of the environment. Among the strategic responsibilities of the Environmental Agency mentioned above, I like its role as a champion of the environment. The Environmental Agency’s participation in the conservation and protection of the environment has mainly increased significantly over a long period. The agency makes the appropriate decisions and policies that have helped in promoting the improvement and conservation of the environment. As a result, this has increased life expectancy. In addition, the agency has been taking risk-based, balanced approaches that has facilitated an extensive use of acceptable standards among the various stakeholders such as the business community.
However, I would wish this responsibility to improve so that the agency will enhance its performance in preserving and enhancing the environment. The people from the waste management sectors and the business community have been complaining that the agency is having difficulties in managing some of its responsibilities as a champion of the environment (Great Britain 11). The various functions that the agency performs in its responsibility as a champion of the environment have a negative impact on its entire performance. The agency regulates to ensure that it achieves its objectives of environment preservation and improvement. As a result, there exists a conflict between the two roles hence there is a need for an improvement. There should be clarity about the different functions that the agency performs, specifically between its environmental champion and regulatory roles. In addition, the agency should be sufficiently equipped to handle the cross-cutting environmental challenges it experiences. The climate change poses some challenges to the agency’s responsibility of environmental champion. For this reason, there is a necessity for a full examination of these challenges for the agency to find ways of dealing with them.

AC 2.2 The stakeholders that need to be satisfied for EA’s responsibility of environmental champion

The stakeholders that need to be satisfied for the agency’s responsibility of environmental champion include the individuals from the waste management sectors and those from the business community.

AC 2.3 My objectives for the Environmental Agency’s responsibility of environmental champion according to the SMART principle

My SMART objectives for the Environmental Agency’s responsibility of environmental champion are as listed below:
Objective 1: To protect the people’s right to pure water, clean air, and other natural resources, and ensure a quality environment for the current and future generations through formulating and implementing the appropriate environmental regulations by the end of this financial year.
Objective 2: To decrease both the environmental effect and financial cost and enhance the operational efficiency of performing grounds maintenance visits through modifying the route plans to facilitate technicians’ concentration on the sites within the geographic clusters in a period of seven months.
Objective 3: To ensure more efficient use of the land resources through infill development, compact building forms, and street and parking standards moderation to decrease the consumption of land and conserve the natural resources by the end of the year.

AC 2.4 A plan to accomplish the objectives

The activities needed to achieve the SMART objectives
Setting goals is easy but achieving them is not. I will engage in a number of activities to achieve the SMART objectives stated above.

The activities for the first objective will include:

Collecting, treating, and disposing the wastewater properly
Remedying the conditions where the pollution exists, and
Formulating along with implementing the appropriate environmental regulations.
The activities for the second objective will include:
Amending the route plans
formulating the necessary regulations.

The activities in the third objective will include:

Performing assessment on the use of land
Creating a map showing the empty tracks of land.
Steps to monitor and control the activities listed above
Reviewing the objectives
Conducting a readiness evaluation
Harmonizing on the results to evaluate and monitor
Choosing the main performance indicators to monitor the outcomes
Choosing the results targets
Monitoring for results
Incorporate in your plan, the time, budget and standards of quality established by EA for all activities/steps
The total time for all the activities/steps listed above will be one year as I hope to achieve all the objectives by the end of this financial year. All the activities/steps listed above will require a budget of $5000. All the activities will be in accordance with the environmental quality standards of the Environmental Agency.
The above plan will ensure the achievement of my objectives. The plan has broken down all the activities in every SMART objective. In addition, the steps to monitor and control all the activities will ensure that I achieve my objectives. For the plan to succeed, I will align the objectives listed above with my values. In addition, I will share them with the like-minded individuals. I will also establish a support system for advice and encouragement. What’s more, I will evaluate my progress often.

AC 3.1 The quality standards, monitoring, and controlling systems within EA

Protecting the environment is turning out to be an increasingly high priority for the organizations. The process of monitoring and controlling the quality standards in numerous organizations has been enhanced by the systems under the Total Quality Management (TQM) and ISO 9000/EN29000. The widespread success of the International Organization for Standards, as well as the increased stress on the environmental issues, were influential in the decisions of ISO to develop environment management standards (Besterfield et al. 239). The Environmental Agency can adopt these systems to help it in monitoring and controlling the quality. EA can use the systems under the ISO 9000/EN29000 when auditing the various organizations involved in manufacturing, mining, and other sectors comply with the environmental standards. The environment management standards maximize the participation of the company in the environmental performance at present and in the future (Besterfield et al. 240).
In addition, the Environmental Agency can use the systems under the total quality management to determine environmental quality by the means of customer preferences. The agency will use the external customer group that comprises the local communities, buyers, the general public, and the environmental groups to determine the environmental quality and, as a result, control and monitor the standards. It can also use internal customer group comprised of the employees within the companies in determining the environmental quality. Apart from controlling and monitoring the quality of other institutions, the Environmental Agency can similarly use the systems under the TQM and ISO 9000/EN29000 to determine the quality within hence this will help it in controlling and monitoring its quality standards.

AC 3.2 How the new system would sustain a quality culture

The new systems will help in maintaining a quality culture within the agency. The systems will facilitate the systematic working together of the employees and the agency’s management towards the enhancement of the environmental performance. They will work jointly with aiming at continuous improvement, which is a key to success. As a result, this would sustain a quality culture within the agency. In addition, the agency will design all the components of the system for them to work jointly and offer support towards one another in realizing a number of preferred goals, one of them being sustaining a quality culture. The systems will require the agency to do the job correct first time. Thus, the systems will support the eradication of the environmental risks. The employees will seek to both identify as well as eradicate the potential environmental problems. As a result, this would sustain a quality culture within the agency. The system under the total quality management at Environmental Agency will become a concept that considers all the employees within the agency as being responsible for the quality. The management will be able to teach the employees how to meet the expectations and needs of the stakeholders effectively and efficiently devoid of compromising the ethical values. Accordingly, the employees will try to offer the best services to both the external and internal customers hence this will ultimately sustain a quality culture within the agency.
AC 3.3 How the system would be used to achieve the objectives and goals of the EA by bringing improvement over their existing system
It is with no doubt that the system will help the Environmental Agency to achieve its goals and objectives through enabling improvement over their existing system. For one, the system would facilitate good leadership within the agency. The agency’s adoption of the system will help the leaders in establishing unity and the necessary direction. The adoption of the system would ensure that everyone is involved. As a result, the employees would work in unison to achieve the goals and objectives set by the organization. In addition, the system would make the attainment of consistent outcomes and quality easier through providing the exact steps for the development of the agency’s quality management system. The quality management system will help in monitoring the progress of the services offered by the agency. Consequently, the existing system of the agency would improve, facilitating the achievement of the anticipated goals and objectives. The system would also ensure a continuous improvement of the existing system in the company. The adoption of the new system would make the agency always search for ways to make its various processes more effective and efficient. Thus, the system would continue inspiring progress along with the pursuit of perfection and facilitate the realization of goals and objectives within the Environmental Agency.

AC 3.4 The wider consequences of implementing the system in the EA

Implementing the system within the Environmental Agency will have broader consequences. The consequences would impact almost all the corners of the agency. For one, implementing the system would result in better management control that will ultimately increase the understanding of the overall processes and directions of the agency. The other broader consequence of implementing the system in EA would be motivating the employees. The system would improve employee morale that would in turn decrease the employee turnover. As a result, this would decrease the agency’s cost of hiring and training the new workers. Implementing the system in the Environmental Agency would also increase the stakeholders’ satisfaction. The system would result in the improvement of the services offered by the agency, which would in turn reduce the complaints among the stakeholders. Last but not least, the implementation of the system would result in reduced costs, aligned interests, and improved efficiency within the Environmental Agency.

Works cited

Great Britain. Parliament (Session 2005-06). House of Commons. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. The Environment Agency. London: Stationery Office, 2006.
Besterfield, Dale H., et al. Total Quality Management, (Revised Edition). Pearson Education India, 2011.