ESSAY
INTRODUCTION
Running the business successfully, stakeholders play a very crucial role in providing the business with practical knowledge and in the implementation of financial support. Stakeholders could also be termed as investors since their actions further help in determining the outcome made by the firm. The essay here would be including a brief discussion about the role stakeholders implemented within the firm in order to attain success and future development. Along with this, the essay will also include discussion about relevant theories and laws that creates an influence on the overall growth and success of the firm within the business environment.
MAIN BODY
The stakeholders operating within the organisation are meant to undertake various roles with the help of which further growth and success could be attained. Stakeholders working within the firm could be the part of BOD and thus can further help in the formation of actions. Stakeholders have also got the power to form decisions along with the help of other board of directors wherein they could come up with their own ideas and creativity and impose them within the overall working of the organisation. In addition to this, the stakeholder also has the power to undertake major decisions such as regarding the liquidation of the firm or for acquisition (Freeman et al., 2018).
In addition to the mentioned role of the stakeholders, stakeholders are also responsible towards monitoring various major activities undertaken by the business wherein they could also abide the firm with human rights as well as various other environmental laws. Various outsourcing activities are also monitored by them and such decisions could be undertaken by them which could also create harm to the long-term goals of the firm.
For instance, Ocado which is a publicly-traded company and is responsible towards providing solutions about online groceries to retailers all over the globe, the management operating within the firm is highly responsible and committed towards keeping the stakeholders well aware about the relevant information in an effective manner. The firm makes sure that they keep up the expectations of the retailers, customers, shareholders, and the society in an effective way so that the firm could further attain success and future development (Willis et al., 2017). By making effective use of social channels, the management at Ocado is able to help the stakeholders remain to engage within various activities of the firm and thus attain the needed outcome easily. In addition to this, the firm also ensures to offer retail partners with flexible and a cost-efficient way to operate the online retail and thus attain the needed outcome easily. The employees operating at Ocado are highly responsible towards making an evaluation of various needs and requirement existing in the business environment and come up with effective solutions towards it so that firm could further attain success and development in the business environment (Bush et al., 2019). The firm also ensures to offer highly attractive services and competitive pricing to the customers which make them all the more well aware about the existence of firm in the market and thus help the firm in attaining further development and success. Along with this, the management operating at Ocado also make sure to make constant improvement in the carbon efficiency and undertake waste management process in an effective manner. In addition to this, the firm also tries to invest a significant amount of time as well as resources towards making recruitment of talented employees and ensure to develop their skills for the attainment of future success. The Ocado foundation being formed further help customers as well as employees in undergoing difference with the help of charity and fundraising activities being undertaken which in turn helps the firm in attaining a sustainable and unique position in the business environment.
In order to further define the stakeholders of the firm in an effective manner, stakeholder theory has been brought up by Edward Freeman that states that a stakeholder involved within the firm include those individuals that are affected by the firm and its operations. Further according to this theory, it can also be said that the stakeholders of the company are those groups without whose support the firm would not be able to have their presence in the market. And these groups here include the employees, customers, suppliers, financial institutions, various environmental groups etc.
At Ocado, the management operating has effectively implemented stakeholder’s theory wherein they believe that treating their employees badly would create an eventual failure of the company, if they force the implementation of their projects on communities, then accordingly major impact could be seen on the overall development of the firm and so with this viewpoint, they now believe that the firm should not ignore their stakeholders if they wanted to attain success and progress further.
As stated by Edward Freeman about the stakeholder theory in the 21st century, he explained that same as for human body red blood cells are life but still much more is needed to be included and so in the same way, stakeholders are even more important to be looked after in the new global economy wherein the firm needs to ensure that they not only hold stock but also have to look towards those that work within their stores, in their factories, undertake business with them and even the competitors involved (Ciulla, 2020). With the effective implementation of stakeholder theory by the management at Ocado, the firm would be able to attain various benefits too wherein when they make effective utilisation of the stakeholders involved, they would be able to shape various operations undertaken by them in an effective manner. In addition to this, the management also feels that making sure that all the stakeholders involved within the firm are being involved in the decision-making process would help them in truly in undertaking various business operations in an effective manner. Making effective use of stakeholder theory would also allow the firm to attaining good relations with the public. Freeman also argued that the traditional management theory wherein only shareholders interest is taken into account could not suit well within the modern global economy looking towards coming up of the rapid technological change, the formation of new industrial relations, increase in the influence of pressure group and globalization etc. One of the main drawback related to stakeholder theory is it was interpreted to be as a managerial theory which mixes with the business and with the moral appeals. Another important critic which was implemented in the presence of stakeholder theory is a lot of risks is involved here for undertaking various operations of the business (Mitchell et al., 2017).
Apart from this, at Ocado, the management also ensures that they attain such leaders and managers within the firm that has the ability to undertake various tasks of the business in an effective manner. The leaders operating at Ocado make sure to motivate and encourage the employees to attain an increase in their performance by forming good relations with them. Along with this, the leaders of the firm also further influence the behaviour of the employees, help them fulfil the needs and requirements in an effective manner, come up with required changes within the business, tries to solve conflicts as well as train and develop employee’s ability to further attain increased productivity and success. The leaders at Ocado also motivate and guide the employees setting a clear vision for them and help them build morale which in turn help them in attaining success and progress.
Along with this, at Ocado, the management also ensured to implement stakeholder model is an effective manner wherein the stakeholders were classified within the firm as power and interest wherein the stakeholders were grouped within the firm based on their interest such as the employees were formed in a team-based on their common interest, power and influence wherein stakeholders were attributed by the firm based on their power, influence and impact wherein stakeholders were classified based on the influence they create as well as the impact formed by them within the project. Apart from this, the salience model is another model wherein three of the parameters were used to classify the stakeholders such as power, legitimacy and urgency (Leroy et al., 2018). Once, the management at Ocado undergoes effective classification of the stakeholders, further development in the management strategy is being undertaken by them with the help of which they were able to further attain success and needed progress within the firm in an effective manner.
From the above-mentioned model and theory, the management operating at Ocado also ensure effective utilisation of stakeholder management strategy through which the project undertaken by them could attain success in the business environment and thus help them in future growth. Based on this model, power and interest are the two main factors that help the firm is undergoing development. Each group defines the main characteristics of the business such as managed with the utmost care, satisfied, well-informed and only needs monitoring which would further help the management operating at Ocado in attaining knowledge about the stakeholders that are employed within the firm. Through the application of this model, management at Ocado would be able to change the perception of the stakeholders and thus can attain success in the projects being formulated by them in an effective manner (Zheng et al., 2019).
Apart from the role of leaders within the organisation, managers too play a crucial role in building and attaining development within the firm. The managers at Ocado ensure that they undertake proper hiring, interview and training of the employees so that further growth could be attained. The core role which is implemented by the manager at Ocado is they ensure that appropriate working of the department takes place. In addition to this, the managers at Ocado would also be responsible towards motivating and enforcing the policies on the members of the firm in an effective manner. They would also try to delegate the task to the members of the firm based on their educational qualification, abilities and skills needed to implement the task in an effective manner (Jones et al., 2017). Based on the role being played by the stakeholders within the firm, it could be seen effectively that managers and leaders too plays a very crucial role within the firm which further helps the company in attaining success and development in future.
CONCLUSION
Through the discussion made in the essay, it could be concluded that stakeholders are the pillars for the growth and success of the firm in the business environment. The management at Ocado ensures that they fulfil all the needs and necessary requirements of the stakeholders in an effective manner helping them further attain satisfaction level from the firm and thus gain increased success. The firm has ensured that stakeholders remain highly engaged within the firm and help them in taking up various decisions of the firm in an effective manner. With the effective use of Edward Freeman theory, Salience model and role being played by manager and leader within the firm, Ocado was well able to attain a sustainable position in the market among its competitors.
REFERENCES
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