Free Custom «Honeywell Company» Essay Paper

Honeywell is a technology company, it engages in many manufacturing activities that require monitoring. To ensure that all activities are carried out according to the preset procedures ensuring that the end product will conform to the set standards (Convergence Africa 2011). Strategic management takes the responsibility of ensuring that all the workers are performing their tasks effectively without boycotting. The managers should also ensure that resources are well distributed in the areas that they are required and that they are used effectively without wastage. Some of the areas where strategic management can be applied include the areas mentioned below.

Environmental management

Due to the nature of Honeywell Company, it is responsible for a vast pollution of the environment. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Honeywell has been associated with a very high degree of environment pollution. It has been categorized together with other corporations in the United States responsible for massive pollution of the environment, releasing huge amounts of toxins into the atmosphere. As a result, Honeywell accepted to pay a hefty fine and perform other activities direct at environmental conservation. One of the major activities within the company that contributed to environmental pollution includes failure to repair and prevent the leaks of toxic organic pollutants into the atmosphere. Once the toxins are released, they are likely not only because acid rains but have a detrimental effect on human beings (Tisdell 2007).

Another outstanding malfunction is the failure to report or repair refrigeration facilities containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These are organic compounds that contain chlorine, carbon and fluorine. It is produced as an unstable derivative of ethane and methane (Wevill & Nelson 1990). Typically, CFCs are volatile, colorless and toxic gases or liquids that have a faintly pleasant ethereal odor.  Being exposed to the CFCs for long causes dizziness, loss of concentration, depression or cardiac failure. Although they are non-flammable, their combustion leads to the formation of hydrofluoric acid. Another hazardous effect of this compound is that it leads to depletion of the Ozone layer which prevents ultraviolet rays from reaching the earth’s surface (Tisdell 2007). This has a direct implication that release of excessive CFCs into the atmosphere can lead to skin cancer. Another effect is that this compound is a greenhouse gas with a much higher potential to facilitate greenhouse effect than CO2. Finally, Honeywell has been accused of inadequate reporting of ammonia, Benzene, nitrogen oxide, sulphuric acid, dichlorodifloromethane, caprolactam and sulphur dioxide emissions.

How strategic management will help in ensuring environmental conservation

Through strategic management, the managers should ensure that all the arrogance by employees is stopped ensuring that all the toxins are properly disposed. This has the implication that there would be a reduction of pollution as the leaking gas and liquid pipes would be repaired without hesitation. Managers will also appoint workers to act as watchdogs and report on any malfunctioning of the refrigerators and anything that requires repair (Wevill & Nelson 1990). This will provide a remedy to environment pollution hence, make the company more environmental friendly. Additionally, there should be a program initiated to sensitize the workers on the need to conserve the environment.

SWOT analysis of the company

This technique has been accepted for use by managers in order to determine the position in which the company strategic goals lie. This simple assumption on the management design has very powerful implication to success of the strategies. Honeywell strengths vary over a wide range of management perspectives. Honeywell has a diversified production portfolio that saves it from some segments of fluctuation during specific periods of the year. Increasing popularity of renewable energy is one of the basic opportunities that the company has embarked on. This can be geared towards the contracts of recently acquired businesses (Craig & Sadler 2003). The company’s major threats to productivity have been the recent addition of government regulations and poor economic performance in the U.S. This has not been without the adversity of price fluctuation, which has made the company revert their set margins.

Production problem with the company

Since its inception, Honeywell has been involved in a series of crisis ranging from internal to external ones. In 1999, a certain section of the company’s work force went on strike differing with the company’s mode of contract renewal system. The walkout took about two weeks and the company had to change the medical scheme offer to the existing employees so as to attract new offers. This initial practice saw the company loose about 17.6 million dollars, as severance benefits to more than 500 previous employees, who had been affected by the unfair practice. Labor discrimination practices of gender and sex discrimination has also had to affect the company negatively for several times.

Product and environment safety

The company has found itself on in the center of serious environmental controversies, more so on chemical facilities some of which were applied by the predecessor company. For instance, it was forced to clean up a site that was alleged to have a long history of mercury release to Cape Fear River in 2001 (Craig & Sadler 2003). A court order to clean up a 34 acre land, that had been a dump site for chromium, was issued in 2003 and had an estimated cost of 400 millions of dollars.

Cost, time flexibility

In September, 2011, Honeywell announced the installation of a quality control system in one of its leading production plant that will help improve the product of the quality. The HPS is the world fastest scanner, and allows one of the subsidiary companies, to have a wider view of the production process. This is a technology which that enables the production managers to spot faster the quality issues and the production rates. It also provides support and service towards the dependability of their production property.

Automation plays a very essential role in meeting the needs of the business. Some solutions can be of very high cost, which may affect the profitability of the investments. Many industrialized plants, such as those in the area of expertise chemical plants, food processing and pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, are driven to increase quality at lower product costs. Flexibility is also important while maintaining the company’s focus on safety and compliance with the legislations (Jones & Hill 2007). Honeywell solutions provide the agility needed without necessarily sacrificing the reliability costs.

For the small production sites, the company bases on the award winning Experion PKS, which has brought, to the customers, global value and reliability to smaller operations. Experion clients can save up to twenty thousand US dollars per system yearly. This is in order to support savings per system over other non-scalable and burdensome solutions. 

Experion LS offers a single mechanization solution that covers both permanent processing requirements as well as, the batch control. With simple but influential control algorithms that are neatly packaged into a configurable task, blocks and pre-built operator displays, monitoring and troubleshooting your procedure becomes easy for operations and maintenance staff. These processes contribute to quicker engineering at low life costs while at the same time empowering the staff.

Resistance to change

Change is inevitable and most managers in the workplace are reluctant to being in the fore front of designing and implementing the initiatives of the workplace. On the other hand the forces of change are also unpredictable. There are many factors that may lead to organizational change, may it be internal or external. It is human to resist change because most people do not like shifting to new environments.  One or more of the following factors may be an object of change; infrastructure, people, system, structure or culture.

Reasons for resistance

Resistance takes place for a number of reasons; some employees may feel left out in decision making and thus feel that their own concerns are not addressed(Jones & Hill 2007). However, employees who are actively involved may show resistance because they don’t feel as they are being singled out as the weak element in the organization. The other reason is that staff members are reluctant to be involved in new diversity when the previous changes have not been successful.

Resistance takes different forms depending on the diversity stage, but in most organization, it erupts at inception. A number of methods have been established in order to fight resistance to the change process, these include: 

1.Communication- frequent and clear communication is always critical to the progress of the organization. 

2.Processes and programs- individual diversity to to business objectives should be dealt with as key business strategy and not side programs. Monitoring should be treated as a review process of the set goals.

3.Education forums- the employees need to be broadened beyond the standard training sessions. Integrating the precepts of diversity in business can lead to profound change, and a good competitive advantage to the business.

When an organization wishes to make a change on a work environment, it is generally geared towards exceptional customer services, operational excellence and creative problem solving. Therefore, the involvement of the employee is very important. The perception that is created in the minds of the employees is that they are regarded as special human beings and not just a piece of capital. Each staff member has a role of ensuring, that the organization has done its best in meeting the organization’s goal, regardless of the difficulties that the company may be going through (Craig & Sadler 2003). Therefore, the management should solicit and at the same time, put reliable value in the input the staff member has made towards the company’s growth.

Management by objective is put to use when the management and the employees realize the need to coin their thoughts together, and come up with a concrete decision that is suitable and achievable to both parties. In any organization, one of the underlying factors of success or failure is the human power together with the focus put forward to meet the objectives. Even when a factory is fully automated, the people have to design, control and maintain the system. Employee involvement is that process of empowering them to participate in managerial decision making and improve in activities that are relevant to their level of implementation. From the time, McGregor introduced the idea of participative management to employers; employees concern has taken different forms (Wevill & Nelson 1990). These approaches range from job designs and exceptional activities like quality work life programs. The human element is the most important thing that differentiates one company from the other, not the products or services. Communication, involvement and development, are the critical employees forces that an organization need to address.

The concepts of empowerment include; defining the needs analysis, techniques for empowerment and the reason for it. This process also requires the manager to take some risks that are related to delegation of authority. However, it must be properly controlled and authorized (Jones & Hill 2007).