Q NO 1

IT is rife with opportunity and challenges. There are plenty of options to learn new and exciting skills,
and also to earn high salaries. But new technologies have disrupted the industry, and IT staff and
management aren’t always on the same page.

We went directly to the source to understand the biggest challenges currently in IT. All of the data
presented is pulled from the Global Knowledge IT Skills and Salary Report.

Top 12 challenges facing IT professionals

1. Workload

2. Cybersecurity

3. Skills gaps

4. Digital transformation

5. Cloud computing

6. Hiring

7. Budget

8. Leadership support

9. Analytics and data management

10. Automation

11. Project management

12. Career growth

NEW CHALLENGE: Managing a remote workforce

Working from home has become a new hurdle for many—one not limited to IT. As millions of
professionals adjust to the new normal of working remotely, staff and supervisors alike have had to
quickly learn how to improve communication and collaboration in a virtual setting. And for those not
accustomed to working from home, it can be a struggle to avoid distractions (e.g., family members,
household chores, Netflix, etc.) that aren’t a factor when you’re working in an office setting. If the
transition to remote work has been difficult, we offer a number of training courses specifically
 designed to help teams maximize virtual technologies and improve soft skills that are more critical
when co-workers are in separate locations.

View courses
1. Workload

Both IT staff and decision-makers are overwhelmed with work demands. It’s sort of a chicken and egg
scenario—decision-makers are using increasing workloads as an excuse not to authorize training,
and staff are struggling to complete assignments because they lack the proper skills. Either way, time
that was previously designated toward skills development is now being used to catch up on an
increasing backlog of work.

Workload concerns are the highest they’ve been in the history of our IT Skills and Salary Report. It’s
the number one training inhibitor, as IT professionals believe mounting workloads limit the amount of
time they can spend out of office or in a training course.

Better manager oversight and strategy is required to address this issue. Automation may also be a
solution as a means to reduce time-consuming tasks that are not high priority.

Get time back in your day and take this two-hour Effective Time Management course.

2. Cybersecurity

The cybersecurity challenge is two-fold:

1. Cyberattacks are growing in size and sophistication

2. Millions of cybersecurity jobs remain unfilled

Organizations cannot take IT security lightly. An analysis of worldwide identity and access
management by the International Data Corporation (IDC) revealed that 55% of consumers would
switch platforms or providers due to the threat of a data breach, and 78% would switch if a breach
impacted them directly.1 Customers aren’t willing to put their data at risk.

The problem is there aren’t enough IT professionals with cybersecurity expertise. Forty percent of IT
decision-makers say they have cybersecurity skills gaps on their teams. It’s also identified as the
most challenging hiring area in IT.

There isn’t an immediate solution to this problem, but a long-term fix is to build your cyber workforce
from the inside. Invest in cybersecurity training and upskill your current staff. Hiring and outsourcing
isn’t always a viable (or cheap) solution. Current IT professionals who know the industry are more apt
to transition into successful cybersecurity professionals.

View cybersecurity training courses.

3. Skills gaps

Over 80% of North American IT departments have skills gaps. Globally, IT skills gaps have increased
by 155% in three years. They can no longer be ignored, especially as a lack of necessary skills can
be credited for increased employee stress, development and deployment delays, and increased
operating costs.

According to IT decision-makers, skills gaps will cost employers up to 416 hours and over $22,000
per employee, per year. You would think those numbers would motivate organizations to increase
skill development opportunities for employees, but that isn’t always the case. Less than 60% of
decision-makers say their organizations offer formal training for technical employees, down one
percent from the previous year. This tells us that organizations aren’t serious enough about skill
development.

The time to act is now—skills gaps will only grow and further debilitate IT departments unless actions
are taken. Strategic and continual training is the antidote. That’s the good news. The uphill battle is
conveying the value to management and securing budget to ensure employees receive continual
training. IT professionals need better support. If organizations do not invest in their employees’ skills
now, they will pay for it down the road.

Learn more about skills gaps in our free IT Decision-Maker Insights report.

4. Digital transformation

Digital transformation is latest disrupter. It has led to technology no longer providing a sustained
competitive advantage. It now plays a supporting role to people with the right skills. Expertise is
needed now more than ever to manage and implement all of the new technologies.

But it’s not that simple. As discussed above, IT departments are suffering from gaps in critical skills
areas such as cybersecurity, cloud computing and DevOps. Even IT professionals who are offered
professional development opportunities are struggling to keep up. The rate of technological change is
outpacing training.

IT professionals and departments are falling behind—they are failing to meet business objectives and
seize market opportunities. While continual training is part of the equation, prioritizing skill needs is
even more of a priority. That’s why we created the Skills Development Index™ to help IT
professionals rank their most critical skill needs and determine which type of training to pursue.
Informal training has its merits, especially when on-the-fly knowledge must be acquired, but when a
high-value project is on the line, more formal learning is the better option.

Learn more about the Skills Development Index.

5. Cloud computing

Cloud is the top investment area worldwide for IT departments. Organizations require an infusion of
cloud skills to match their monetary investment in cloud platforms. Much like cybersecurity, cloud
professionals are in high demand and short supply. According to IT decision-makers, cloud
computing is the second most challenging hiring area in the world.

The opportunities of cloud computing are impossible to ignore. Cloud is the ultimate enabler, opening
new channels of revenue by leveraging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of
Things (IoT). But professionals are needed to capitalize on this technology, and currently, there aren’t
enough of them.

Despite the worker shortage, organizations are all-in on cloud solutions. In fact, more than 50% of
organizations use more than one cloud provider. 2 It’s not unique for an organization to require cloud
skills in AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. And generic cloud computing expertise isn’t
enough, especially if you’re an engineer or architect. It’s imperative that cloud professionals have
current skill sets and train on the platforms they engage with regularly.

View cloud computing training courses.

Practice your cloud skills with our IT Pro Challenges All Access Pass.

6. Hiring

Talent recruitment and retention is a major challenge for IT leaders—50% are currently struggling in
the area. Only seven percent of IT decision-makers say that hiring has been easy.

Managers hoping to hire their way out of a skills gap problem have been dealt a dose of reality, as
key positions like cloud computing and cybersecurity are the most difficult to fill.

One potential solution to this quandary is degree deflation, which is a conscientious effort to focus on
skills rather than a college degree during the hiring process. A bachelor’s degree is not necessarily an
indicator of abilities, especially in tech. Recent training and certifications better illustrate what a
professional is capable of right now.
Requiring a four-year degree closes off a potential pipeline to qualified candidates. We suggest
removing a degree as a prerequisite and placing a greater emphasis on relevant and actionable skills.

Learn more about degree deflation.

7. Budget

A lack of budget and resources is another major concern for both IT staff and decision-makers. The
open-field sections of our IT Skills and Salary Survey are littered with criticisms about budget
constraints. IT professionals want to train but their requests aren’t always approved by management.

Budget is often the major roadblock impeding professional development and hiring. IT departments
need to ensure they are communicating the right messages to organizational leadership to help them
understand the value of ongoing training. Here’s a place to start: revenue growth, low employee
turnover and new product development are signs of a skilled workforce.

There are a number of ways to maximize a constrained budget. Prepayments and special offers are
options to save on training. Lock in a discounted rate for a full year, or save a certain percentage on
individual courses. Also, make sure you are aware of any training credits your company may have.
They are typically issued by tech providers as a way to help drive value for a particular investment.
Global Knowledge accepts training credits and vouchers as payment for courses. Know your balance
and know when they expire.

Learn how to maximize your training budget.

Do you have training credits and vouchers? Make sure to use them before they expire.

8. Leadership support in prioritizing new skills development

Some IT decision-makers do not authorize training even when it’s built into their budget—41% had
formal training available but decided to forgo it. Nearly 20% of IT professionals say management
does not see a tangible benefit from training. That’s a huge disconnect, especially since IT pros have
a strong desire to learn and grow their careers. It’s difficult to accomplish that without support from
leadership.

Often, IT management, fairly or unfairly, is blamed for poor employee morale and unclear job roles
and responsibilities. Communication is one of the biggest gripes—IT professionals believe leadership
isn’t always transparent, especially when it comes to decisions about resources and budgets.

And IT professionals will not wait out a poor work situation. Ninety-one percent of unsatisfied
employees are likely to pursue alternative employment. Many respondents in our IT Skills and Salary
report changed employers in the last year and sited of poor culture or toxic management as primary
reasons.

We understand that leadership is often hamstrung by budgets, workloads and a lack of a strong
learning culture, but senior- and executive-level employees within an organization would be well-
served in the long term to find ways to secure continual training for their staff.

Gain tips to help convince your manager of the benefits of training.

9. Analytics and data management

Aside from cybersecurity and cloud computing, this is the biggest skill gap area for IT departments.
Organizations are struggling to manage a wealth of new data. By 2025, IDC estimates the world will
create and replicate 163 zettabytes (ZB) of data, 10 times the number that was created in 2016. 3 New
data is constantly accumulating, creating a host of storage and security risks that must be addressed.
IT professionals are desperately needed to manage this data growth, but the problem has
exacerbated because qualified individuals are difficult to come by.
It’s not enough to accumulate this data. Organizations need analysts and critical thinkers to create a
culture of information, enabling data-driven decisions to inform almost all business activities.

The good news is most cloud platforms, such as AWS and GCP, allow you to capture, process, store
and analyze data all in one place. The key now is to upskill and certify professionals on the
technologies and services associated with these platforms.

View analytics and data management training courses.

10. Automation

Since workload is the biggest challenge for IT professionals, finding ways to automate more mundane
and time-consuming tasks such as email sends and social media posting is crucial.

But companies are now looking to automate larger and more business-critical tasks, such as
cyberattack response, log monitoring and ERP integration.

Automation’s role in cybersecurity is certainly growing. It’s a tool that should be used to predict cyber
threats and implement responses more quickly than can be accomplished manually.

Hackers are using automation to execute their attacks, so it’s time to bring the fight back to them.
Automation allows attackers to move quickly, so organizations demand a faster detection and
response time.
Automation is also useful in cloud migration. For organizations moving to the cloud, many of the
migration tasks, such as manual configuration, can be automated, which reduces migration time from
days to minutes.

Learn how Ansible can help automate system administration tools.

11. Project management

Companies with certified project managers are more likely to have projects that are completed on
time and within budget. It takes experience and strategic thinking to align projects with departmental
and organizational goals. A strong project manager keeps projects on track so deadlines are met,
resources are available and leadership is in the loop. Without someone to steer the ship, projects lack
direction and risk increases. A business that fails to recognize these risks probably doesn’t value
project management highly.

Rising skills gaps have made the jobs of project managers even more difficult, as critical expertise is
lacking. It’s the project manager’s job to communicate skills needs with management and help guide
realistic expectations. IDC believes that by 2020, 90% of all organizations will have adjusted project
plans, delayed product/service releases, incurred costs or lost revenue because of a lack of IT skills,
with losses worldwide totaling $390 billion annually. A successful project manager keeps their focus
on the big picture even as disrupters, such as skills gaps, create risks for the business.

PMI®’s Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification is an essential certification for project
managers. PMP provides a verified level of assurance that a project manager has the experience and
skills to effectively define, plan and deliver their projects. If you’re a prospective project or program
manager, the PMP certification should be in your immediate plans.

Download a complete guide to the PMP certification.

12. Career Growth

Share this: Two-thirds of IT professionals who changed employers last year did so in pursuit of better
growth and development opportunities. In fact, growth outweighs a higher salary in terms of the top
factor for changing employers.

As IT decision-makers struggle to fill open positions, it’s important that they invest in the areas their
employees deem valuable. If growth opportunities are not available, IT professionals have proven that
they will not sit idly by. More than half of the professionals we surveyed said they expected to at least
casually look for new jobs in 2020.
Leadership must prioritize professional development. Invest in your employees’ skill sets and help
them grow their careers. If they’re not receiving support form management, they will seek training on
their own or look to grow their career elsewhere.

Learn more about the factors that lead to employee turnover in our free Professional Development
and Job Satisfaction report.

References

1. IDC, Market Analysis Perspective: Worldwide Identity and Access Management, 2018 — The State
of Identity, Doc #US44260118, Sept. 2018

2. 2017: State of Enterprise Multi-Cloud, Cloudify

3. IDC, Data Management: Success with a Method to the Madness, Doc # US44415618, Nov. 2018

Q NO 2

Information Technology and SMEs in Pakistan

Information technology (IT), Small to medium-sized enterprises, Hardware, Software, Training

1. Introduction
The rapid growth of technological innovations and the fusion of information technology has
drastically changed the way companies compete. Many business enterprises are implementing the
information technology for the purpose of gaining competitive advantage in their industry. In its
various manifestations, IT processes data, gathers information, stores collected materials,
accumulates knowledge and expedites communication (Chan, 2000). Gaining competitive advantage
through the use of information technology requires business owners to have a firm grip over this vital
corporate resource and manage its use (Beheshti, 2004).
Many factors influence the firm’s competitiveness. However, most of the researchers since 1980 have
examined the concept of IT as a powerful competitive factor for organization (Porter and Miller, 1985;
Clemons and Row, 1991; Barney, 1999). IT, in its nascent business world form, was generally
considered a support tool.
However, as time passed and technological sophistication grew, IT’s usage and impact increased
dramatically (Chan, 2000). This pattern of progress may be due to the advancement of technology. A
technological diffusion or infusion may be attributable to the fact that IT’s introduction into an
organization creates a further
technological needs and encourages product and policy innovation to meet such needs.
It is very difficult to clearly distinguish between small, medium, and large firms. Researchers
distinguish between SMEs and large corporations on the basis of employees, sales volume, and
value of assets. Although the
most common way to determine whether a business is small medium, or large, is by number of
employees, there
is not an exact threshold that make a distinction between SMEs and large businesses based on the
number of employees. However, small and medium sized companies are often considered having
less than 500 employees (Hakserver, 1996; van der Wiele and Brown, 1998). In addition, some of
the characteristics that separate small and medium sized businesses from large organizations are
(Hakserver, 1996): ownership, management and organizational structure; capital resources;
objectives; markets; and customers.
IT is recognized as a viable, competitive actor via increased productivity, better profitability, and value
for customers (Hitt and Brynjolfsson, 1996). Role of IT in competitiveness has been primarily focused
on large organizations. However, in today’s global market, and in the era of e-commerce, small and
medium size enterprises (SMEs) can employ IT to increase their competitive position along with their
large counterparts (Beheshti, 2004). Barau et al. (2001) showed that small businesses were utilising
the Internet more than their counterparts. In order to take full advantage of IT and to compete in the
global business environment, top executives must recognize the strategic value of IT and exploit it.
Despite the significant contribution that IT has made to business, many studies indicate that there
are a large number of unsuccessful IT implementations in SMEs and that the adoption rate is very
slow (Acar et al., 2005;
Shin, 2006). Researches give three main reasons for this. First, management doesn’t know or is
unclear on how and why their firms adopt IT in the first place (Levy et al., 2001). Second, there is a
misconception toward the IT adoption process mainly because managers do not understand the
relationship between IT and the firms themselves (Bull, 2003) or are uncertain about the opportunities
that IT can offer (Southern and Tilley, 2000).
Finally, firms do not have the capabilities to expand their IT resource (Acar et al., 2005; Claessen,
2005) because of lack of business and IT strategy, limited access to capital resources, emphasis on
automating, influence of major customers and limited IS skills (Ballantine et al., 1998; Bhagwat and
Sharma, 2007; Bruque and Moyano, 2007).
The state of SMEs in Pakistan is very interesting. SMEs play a very significant role in the economy
of Pakistan.
These constitute nearly 90% of all the enterprises in Pakistan; employ 80% of the non-agricultural
labor force; and their share in the annual GDP is 40%, approximately (SMEDA, 2010). Infat, the rate of
adoption and utilization of IT by SMEs is slow but it is increasing with the passage of time as more and
more SMEs are realizing the importance of IT.
Purpose of this paper is to investigate the degree of satisfaction of SMEs with the use of IT i.e.
software and hardware. Rest of the paper is set as follows: section 2 describes the research
methodology; section 3 shows the findings; section 4 and 5 depict the conclusion and limitation
respectively.
2. Research Methodology and Sample Size
A questionnaire based survey was conducted into the use of computers in small businesses. A
related research has been done by SBRT (Small Business Research Trust) in 1991 and by Mitev and
Marah in 1998.
Questionnaire of the research was developed by considering study of Mitev and Marah. The
instrument consisted of 13 questions. This instrument was presented to 3 scholars for the review.
After few suggestions given by them, amendments were made and then it was finalized. Due to time
constraint, face-to-face interviews were carried out with owner-managers. The same questions were
used as a basis for the semi-structured interviews and the material gathered enriched the
questionnaire results qualitatively.
Responses were from companies employing less than 100 people. This study included 90 SMEs
from Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Wah Cantt. It was envisaged that there might have been
differences in responses between the very small companies (one or two staff) and s lightly larger
ones. On analysis, the differences proved insignificant and no apparent trends were found. The
questionnaire inquired about IT usage and degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction on the software and
hardware.
3. Findings
In the survey, only 15 respondents out of 90 did not currently have computers installed. Computer
hardware had been used for an average of 5 years with a range of 1 to 10 years. When asked to
rank their degree of satisfaction with computer hardware and software the results in Table 1 are
obtained. It is interesting to note that there is some degree of dissatisfaction in the use of both
computer software and hardware, this dissatisfaction is more marked in the area of computer
software. This is perhaps not surprising given the range of products, which may also give rise to
expectations. Making decisions about software may be becoming more complex and risky. Most
respondents said that employees could not use the software packages properly. Moreover, there was
not a proper training facility available to them. All these trends may explain why there is no ‘very
satisfied’ respondent.
Respondents were asked about their software usage and the results are illustrated in Figure 1. The
graph illustrates that the new trends are emerging such as the use of integrated and presentation
packages. It also shows that there is comparatively small growth in communication technology. The
adoption of word processing software and spreadsheet is particularly high.
4.Conclusion
This study finds out that operational applications such as word processing, databases and spread
sheets are used more widely by the SMEs. However, there is still dissatisfaction with purchasing
software, and there is a strong need for advice with purchasing software, and there is a strong need
for the advice provided by concerned parties other than vendors. Requirements analysis should be
supported by a feasibility study, which is still a poorly understood the concept by many owner-
managers. Suggestions by Levy et al (1997) include a more proactive approach from the software
provider who would review strategy with the company and advise on future IT requirements; bring in a
consultant to act as an intermediary; ensure that one person has responsibility for reviewing IT needs
and liaising with the software provider.
The majority of SMEs has not advanced to a stage where telecommunications and interconnectivity are
seen as important, although there has been growth in this area. Only 40 percent has communication
softwares. Some respondents said that employees could not use the software properly. Although
most small businesses surveyed acknowledged that work practices must change if IT is to be used
effectively, few considered the effects on jobs, skills and training before implementing IT. Those small
firms who knew where to get training advice were not satisfied with the training provided. Employees
need and informal training methods such as on-the-job training, open learning and training
programmes which integrate both technical and managerial aspects. Moreover, successful
management training also requires an environment of business growth (Marshall et al, 1995).
5. Limitations Time constraint was a major limitation as the whole project had to be completed within
a term. Sample size was limited. Had the survey been conducted on many other SMEs, results could
have been more conclusive. The research was conducted in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Wah Cantt.
For a more generalized perception, this research should be conducted in other cities as well.
References
Acar, E., Koc¸ak, I., Sey, Y. and Arditi, D. (2005). Use of information and communication technologies
by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in building construction, Construction Management
and Economics, Vol. 23 No. 7, pp. 713-22
Ballantine, J., Levy, M. and Powell, P. (1998). Evaluating information systems in small and medium-
sized enterprises: issues and evidence, European Journal of Information Systems, Vol.7 No.4, pp.41-
51
Barney, J. (1999). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage, Journal of Management,
Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 99-120
Beheshti, H.M.( 2004). The Impact of IT on SMEs in the United States, Information Management and
Computer Security, Vol.12 No.4, pp. 318-327
Bhagwat, R. and Sharma, M.K. (2007). Information system architecture: a framework for a cluster of
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Production Planning and Control, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp.
283- 96
Bruque, S. and Moyano, J. (2007). Organisational determinants of information technology adoption
and implementation in SMEs: the case of family and cooperative firms, Technovation, Vol. 27 No. 5,
pp. 241-53
Bull, C. (2003). Strategic issues in customer relationship management (CRM) implementation,
Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 9 No. 5, pp. 592-602

LITERATURE REVIEW

This section evaluates the published research to provide an in-depth understanding of logistics and
supply chain operation of FMCG in Pakistan.

Logistics: Logistics has ceased to be seen only as an economic bottleneck and has become a
strategic area for business. Thus, despite its operational performance, it directly affects the
entire company - as the result of customer satisfaction and financial management (Mangan,
Lalwani and Lalwani, 2016). The performance indicators of logistics in FMCG include the
following:
Quality of Delivery Service: It takes into consideration the time it took the cargo to reach the
customer, from the time shipment was cleared for transportation.

Order cycle time: It calculates he time an order takes to complete, from the time it is entered
into the system until the time it is received by the end customer. It covers the whole process. It
is important to make this calculation, as delays in deliveries are not always the responsibility of the
transport (Tariq et al., 2013). It could be due to an item that was not available in stock, and the
fault was not pointed out in the system. It could be due to the delay in the release of the
documentation of the vehicle, as well as the delay in loading, among other reasons. In this way, the
manager can identify bottlenecks and create actions to minimize or eliminate negative impacts.

Index of occurrences: Occurrences are recorded every time an event, which was not planned,
materializes. Aman and Hopkinson, (2010) indicated that occurrence couldbe opened due to
malfunctions, misplacements, exchanges and returns, for example. This is one of the indicators
of performance that cannot be measured, because these occurrences because costs increase,
waste of time, compromise productivity and cause rework.
Percentage of Physical Inventory: The calculation of this indicator takes into account the ratio
between the number of loads that can be traced and the total number of loads that were sent in
the same period.
Accuracy of transport notes: The accuracy indicator of transport notes serves to identify the
quantity, the percentage of values that were issued without errors during a certain period.

Freight bill calculation: Another indicator of great impact on the logistics performance of a
company is the freight bill. This indicator is the result of the sum of the total cost of freight,
disregarding the operational costs. Thus, it is the sum of all payment due to the carrier (Zaman et al.,
2012).
Delayed delivery time: As an indicator of internal processes, the delivery delay time is an
essential KPI to measure logistics efficiency and the impact of this activity on the customer
relationship.

Outsourcing: There are various researched available that have been carried out on the topic of
outsourcing and its impact on the performance of logistics. The competitive landscape of the current
business environment has reduced the life cycle of the products as the organisations has been
rapidly bringing new products in the market. It has become a great challenge for the companies to
make efforts in meeting the ever changing consumer preferences and the companies resort to
supply chain for the sharing of resources. Therefore, according to Sheikh and Rana (2012), the
outsourcing of logistics plays a significant role in bringing efficiency in the operations of
logistics and also in increasing the performance of the logistics. This study was carried out
with the objective of identifying the impact of logistic outsourcing levels on the performance of
the logistic service. The study was carried out using secondary data analysis and tested theories in
the area of outsourcing, impact of logistics service performance and levels of logistics activities. The
findings of this study concluded that the logistic outsourcing has a positive impact on the logistic
service performance. However, this is only true for the level four logistic outsourcing where
the first 3 levels of logistic outsourcing activities do not have any such impact in the logistic
performance. This research has carried out analysis of a considerable amount of available literature
which shows the validity of its findings. However, the study does not incorporate any analysis on
a particular industry. Furthermore, another research was carried out in the same area by Arif and
Jawad (2018) which stated that the decision to outsource logistic operations is a strategic
decision and it can have a significant impact on the performance of a company. This study
was carried out with the objective of examining the influence of logistic outsourcing on the
logistic performance based on the four levels of the logistic activities. This study was also
carried out using the secondary data analysis of the literature available on the topic. The
findings of this study supports the findings of the study discussed previously and states that
the only the level four of logistics activities have an encouraging and direct impact on the
performance of logistics with respect to the demand complexity. In addition to this, Kyusya
(2015) carried out a research with the objective of identifying the impact of outsourcing on
the performance shipping industry in Kenya. This study was carried out by primary data
analysis gathered from 42 shipping companies in Kenya. The study analysed the data using
descriptive statistics.
The findings of the studies showed that the companies who utilised logistic outsourcing were
able to increase their operational performance due to an increased focus on their core
competency. The major strength of this study is that it has been carried out on a specific industry and
in a specific region. Finally, Muiruri and Iravo (2015) carried out a research with the objective of
finding the influence of logistic activities outsourcing on the operational performance. The
study employed the case study method and studied the case of DMKL Thika branch. It used
quantitative analysis on the data collected from the 45 employee of the selected case study
company. The study also carried out the analysis of the literature to validate the findings of
the study. The study concluded that the outsourcing of the logistics activities led the case study
company to increase its productivity, effectiveness, profits and quality. All the above discuss
studies display the same findings and conclude that outsourcing of logistics positively impacts
the performance.

Product Variety: Product variety has also been researched by many scholars to check its impact on
the performance of the logistics. The study carried out by Groote and Yucesan (2011) with the
objective of identifying the impact of the product variety on the performance of logistics. The
study was based on the analysis of a simple model of an integrated production0distribution
system. The study showed that the expected cost of the backlogs and inventories keeps on
increasing as the number of products increases. Through this study, it can be concluded that
product proliferation poses a great challenge for the companies. Another study carried out by the
Thonemann and Bradley (2002) examined the impact of product variety on the performance of the
supply chain on a single manufacturer and multiple retailers. The study concluded that the
product variety has a negative impact on the performance of the supply chain as it increases the cost.
The findings of this study coincide with the findings of the previous study. Similarly, Mehrjoo
and Pasek (2014) carried out a research with the objective of assessing the impact of product
variety on the supply chain performance in the fashion apparel industry. This study incorporated
the use of system dynamic model that helps in the observation of the relationships in the
supply chain of the fashion industry with a single retailer and manufacturer. The study analysed the
data of the fashion industry over the 25 years to check the effect of this variable on logistic
performance. The findings of this study are also in accordance with the previous study findings
that as the product variety increases the cost also increases impacting logistics performance.
Furthermore, the study of Sweeney (2015) examined the impact of product variety on the
operational performance of a retail firm in China. The study analysed the archival data given by
the firm to the researcher.
This research also validated the findings of the previous researched that the product variety
negatively impacts the operational performance of the company.

Supply Chain Integration: Supply Chain integration has turned out to be an important aspect
for companies as it has shown to improve performance by various studies. Kumar et al. carried
out a research with the aim of analysing the impact of supply chain integration on the performance
of the logistic of the company. The study was based on the analysis of the literature though which
a conceptual framework was designed based on the factor of operational performance, flexibility
in production, inventory turnover, logistics costs and fulfilment rate. The study was carried out in
the food sector of UK. The findings of the study showed that the integration of supply chain has
a positive significant impact on the performance of the supply chain. Similarly, another author
Prajogo and Olhager (2012) conducted a research based on the objective of finding the impact of
logistics integration on the performance of the firm. The study was conducted on the data
collected from 232 Australian firms. The findings of this study also complemented the findings of
the previous study by showing a positive impact of supply chain integration of performance.
Moreover, Huo (2012) also carried out a research to assess the impact of the integration of supply
chain on the logistic performance of the company. The researcher collected the data from 617
companies located in China and analysed the data using the structural data modelling method.
The findings of the study displayed that the integration of supply chain has a direct impact on the
performance of the company. Additionally, the study of Katua (2014) examines the impact of
supply chain integration on the manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study was carried out on the
population of 549 manufacturing firms in Kenya and employed descriptive research design. The
results of the study stated that the supply chain integration led the selected companies to achieve
their strategic goals and improve the coordination of the operation processes. The analysis of
the above four paper show that the supply chain integration positively influences the logistic
performance of the company as all the papers gave the same conclusion.

Cost Reduction: The requirements of the services of logistics have been getting increasingly
arduous. The study of Bokor (2008) studies the impact of controlling logistic cost on the
performance of the logistics by finding the most suitable method for controlling logistics. The
analysis was carried out using secondary data analysis to assess the effectiveness of different
cost controlling methods. The findings of the studystate that controlling the cost of logistics
affects the logistic performance. In addition to this, Hesping (2017) conducted a study which
investigated the ways of cost reduction and innovation performance. The study did an analysis on
the data from 107 sourcing projects using structural equation modelling. The findings of this
study complemented the previous study by establishing that cost reduction positively impact
performance. Furthermore, Sorooshian, Jambulingam and Dodangeh (2013) examined a medium
sized organisation in the East Asia region with the aim of assessing its logistics performance.

The study analysed the data gathered from the company as well as the data which was
available online. The study concludes that the supply chain performance is one of the most vital
components in the era of global competitiveness and cost reduction increases the efficiency of the
logistics and makes a firm more competitive. However, the findings of this study are limited to the
organisation on which the study was conducted.
(Kumar et al., 2017) also showed that the integration of the supply chain has a significant
impact on the logistic performance of an organisation as it aligns all the supply chain processes of
the organisation with the business objectives. Therefore, this variable also impacts the logistic
performance within an organisation.

Product Quality: Quality of the products has become one of the most important factors for the
companies that cannot be compromised to maintain long term relationships. The research of
Boon-itt (2011) examined the role of supply chain and information technology in the achievement
of product quality performance. The study was conducted in 111 Thai suppliers and
automakers using univariate analysis. The findings of the study showed that the product
quality was impacted by the supply chain integration and information technology. Similarly,
another study carried out Yuen and Chan (2010) measured the effect of product and service
quality on the loyalty of the customers. The study was conducted on the relationships at store
and staff level of the retail industry and data was collected from customers. The study showed that
the customer loyalty was directly impacted by the product quality. Furthermore, the study of
Suchánek, Richter and Králová (2014) examined the impact of customer satisfaction level and
product quality on business performance of the food industry. The researcher examined the
satisfaction through a survey and the performance through the financial data of the companies.

The findings of this research proved to be insignificant as there was no significant relation shown
between the variables. The research of Boon-itt (2011) examined the role of supply chain and
information technology in the achievement of product quality performance. The study was
conducted in 111 Thai suppliers and automakers using univariate analysis. The findings of the
study showed that the product quality was impacted by the supply chain integration and
information technology. However, there are other researches that show an insignificant relation of
product quality on the performance of the logistics. This indicates that this does not show any
significant relationship with the dependent variable. Therefore, it can be said that the researches
available on the variable of product quality contains varying results and there are not enough
researches available whose findings coincide with each other.

2.7 Conceptual Model

Outsourcing: In general terms, outsourcing is considered to be the process through which the
company instead of handing over the responsibilities to employees of the company, given the
responsibilities to external vendors or an outside resource to complete the project(Cohen and
Roussel, 2013). Moreover, in the field of manufacturing and logistics, the concept of
outsourcing is based on giving a contract to an external company to manufacture the product
and deliver it to the retailing outlet. The main reason behind the use of outsourcing technique is
that it tends to have a positive effect on the company’s production and logistics performance.
For instance, it initially helps the company in lowering the cost of operation management and
logistics performance. In a similar way, it allows the company to reduce the workforce by
giving the contract to external vendors or an outside resource. These external vendors or
resources are relatively more effective and experienced as compared to employees. For example,
they must have been working for other well-reputed companies due to which they must have attained
significant knowledge to deal with different type of complexities which exist within the logistics
business.

Product Variety: The variety of the products has a significant impact on the performance of logistic
as there has been an increasing trend of growing the product lines in the organisations.
According to de Groote and Yücesan (2011), the product variety has been considered one of
the important influencers of performance of the logistics. The author explains this by
mentioning that the increase in the cost of keeping inventories and backlogs is caused by the
increase in the number of the products with demand kept constant. This study shows that the
variable of product variety has a direct influence on the logistic performance of an organisation.

Cost Reduction: The element of cost reduction is of significant importance in improving the
performance of the logistics. The costs are the most important element in the performance of
supply chain. The organisations which are able to reduce the costs associated with their supply chain
are able to improve their logistic performance. Managing a supply chain is a significantly complex
job due to the increase in the number of products and the increased product life cycles. Due to this
reason, reducing the cost in such an atmosphere is a challenging task in improving the
logistic performance (Artman, Lonn and Nillson, 2014). Therefore, a reduction in cost can lead to
an increase in the logistic performance which shows that cost reduction has an impact in the
performance of logistics.

Supply Chain Integration: The integration of the supply chain has turned out to be the most
important element for the companies due to its potential to increase the performance of the
company. The integration of supply chain also has an effect on the performance of logistics of
an organisation. The supply chain integration has also turned out to be a strategic coordination of
the processes and functions in a company (Kumar et al., 2017). The study also shows that the
integration of the supply chain has a significant impact on the logistic performance of an
organisation as it aligns all the supply chain processes of the organisation with the business
objectives. Therefore, this variable also impacts the logistic performance within an organisation.

Product Quality: Quality of the products has become one of the most important factors for the
companies that cannot be compromised to maintain long term relationships. The research of
Boon-itt (2011) examined the role of supply chain and information technology in the achievement
of product quality performance. The study was conducted from 111 Thai suppliers and automakers
using univariate analysis. The findings of the study showed that the product quality was
impacted by the supply chain integration and information technology. However, there are other
researches that show an insignificant relation of product quality on the performance of the logistics.
This indicates that this does not show any significant relationship with the dependent variable.
Q NO 4
The key to a successful organization is to have a culture based on a strongly held and widely shared
set of beliefs that are supported by strategy and structure. When an organization has a strong culture,
three things happen: Employees know how top management wants them to respond to any situation,
employees believe that the expected response is the proper one, and employees know that they will
be rewarded for demonstrating the organization's values.

HR has a vital role in perpetuating a strong culture, starting with recruiting and selecting applicants
who will share the organization's beliefs and thrive in that culture. HR also develops orientation,
training and performance management programs that outline and reinforce the organization's core
values and ensures that appropriate rewards and recognition go to employees who truly embody the
values.

This article covers the following topics:

 The importance of having a strong organizational culture.

 HR's role in fostering a high-performance culture.
 Definitions of organizational culture.
 Factors that shape an organization's culture.
 Considerations in creating and managing organizational culture.
 HR practices to ensure the continuity and success of an organization's culture.
 Communications, metrics, legal, technology and global issues pertaining to organizational
culture.

Background

An organization's culture defines the proper way to behave within the organization. This culture
consists of shared beliefs and values established by leaders and then communicated and reinforced
through various methods, ultimately shaping employee perceptions, behaviors and understanding.
Organizational culture sets the context for everything an enterprise does. Because industries and
situations vary significantly, there is not a one-size-fits-all culture template that meets the needs of all
organizations.

A strong culture is a common denominator among the most successful companies. All have
consensus at the top regarding cultural priorities, and those values focus not on individuals but on the
organization and its goals. Leaders in successful companies live their cultures every day and go out
of their way to communicate their cultural identities to employees as well as prospective new hires.
They are clear about their values and how those values define their organizations and determine how
the organizations run. See What does it mean to be a values-based organization?

Conversely, an ineffective culture can bring down the organization and its leadership. Disengaged
employees, high turnover, poor customer relations and lower profits are examples of how the wrong
culture can negatively impact the bottom line.

Mergers and acquisitions are fraught with culture issues. Even organizational cultures that have
worked well may develop into a dysfunctional culture after a merger. Research has shown that two
out of three mergers fail because of cultural problems. Blending and redefining the cultures, and
reconciling the differences between them, build a common platform for the future. In recent years, the
fast pace of mergers and acquisitions has changed the way businesses now meld. The focus in
mergers has shifted away from blending cultures and has moved toward meeting specific business
objectives. Some experts believe that if the right business plan and agenda are in place during a
merger, a strong corporate culture will develop naturally. See Managing Organizational Change
and Managing Human Resources in Mergers and Acquisitions.

Business Case

If an organization's culture is going to improve the organization's overall performance, the culture
must provide a strategic competitive advantage, and beliefs and values must be widely shared and
firmly upheld. A strong culture can bring benefits such as enhanced trust and cooperation, fewer
disagreements and more-efficient decision-making. Culture also provides an informal control
mechanism, a strong sense of identification with the organization and shared understanding among
employees about what is important. Employees whose organizations have strongly defined cultures
can also justify their behaviors at work because those behaviors fit the culture.

Company leaders play an instrumental role in shaping and sustaining organizational culture. If the
executives themselves do not fit into an organization's culture, they often fail in their jobs or quit due
to poor fit. Consequently, when organizations hire C-suite executives, these individuals should have
both the requisite skills and the ability to fit into the company culture. See HR Can't Change Company
Culture by Itself.

HR's Role

Culture plays a vital role in an organization's success. Therefore, HR leaders and other members of
the HR team should foster a high-performance organizational culture. See How to Practice HR on
Purpose.
HR leaders are responsible for ensuring that culture management is a core focus of their
organization's competitive efforts. For HR leaders to influence culture, they need to work with senior
management to identify what the organizational culture should look like. Strategic thinking and
planning must extend beyond merely meeting business goals and focus more intently on an
organization's most valuable asset—its people.

HR has been described as the "caretaker" of organizational culture. In carrying out this essential role,
all members of the HR team should help build and manage a strong culture by:

 Being a role model for the organization's beliefs.

 Reinforcing organizational values.
 Ensuring that organizational ethics are defined, understood and practiced.
 Enabling two-way communications and feedback channels.
 Defining roles, responsibilities and accountabilities.
 Providing continuous learning and training.
 Sustaining reward and recognition systems.
 Encouraging empowerment and teams.
 Promoting a customer-supplier work environment.
 Recognizing and solving individual and organizational problems and issues.

What Is Organizational Culture?

For HR professionals to have any impact on culture, they must first have a thorough understanding of
what culture is in a general sense and what their organization's specific culture is. At the deepest
level, an organization's culture is based on values derived from basic assumptions about the
following:

 Human nature. Are people inherently good or bad, mutable or immutable, proactive or

reactive? These basic assumptions lead to beliefs about how employees, customers and
suppliers should interact and how they should be managed.
 The organization's relationship to its environment. How does the organization define its
business and its constituencies?
 Appropriate emotions. Which emotions should people be encouraged to express, and which
ones should be suppressed?
 Effectiveness. What metrics show whether the organization and its individual components are
doing well? An organization will be effective only when the culture is supported by an
 appropriate business strategy and a structure that is appropriate for both the business and the
desired culture.

Culture is a nebulous concept and is often an undefined aspect of an organization. Although

extensive academic literature exists relating to the topic of organizational culture, there is no generally
accepted definition of culture. Instead, the literature expresses many different views as to what
organizational culture is.

Organizational culture can manifest itself in a variety of ways, including leadership behaviors,
communication styles, internally distributed messages and corporate celebrations. Given that culture
comprises so many elements, it is not surprising that terms for describing specific cultures vary
widely. Some commonly used terms for describing cultures include aggressive, customer-focused,
innovative, fun, ethical, research-driven, technology-driven, process-oriented, hierarchical, family-
friendly and risk-taking.

Because culture is difficult to define, organizations may have trouble maintaining consistency in their
messages about culture. Employees may also find it difficult to identify and communicate about
perceived cultural inconsistencies. See Defining Organizational Culture.

Factors That Shape an Organization's Culture

Organizational leaders often speak about the unusual natures of their company cultures, seeing their
domains as special places to work. But organizations such as Disney and Nordstrom, which are well-
known for their unique cultures, are rare. See Viewpoint: 3 Steps to Cultivating a Customized Culture.

Most company cultures are not that different from one another. Even organizations in disparate
industries such as manufacturing and health care tend to share a common core of cultural values. For
example, most private-sector companies want to grow and increase revenues. Most strive to be
team-oriented and to demonstrate concern for others. Most are driven, rather than relaxed, because
they are competing for dollars and market share. Some of the cultural characteristics that distinguish
most organizations include the following.

VALUES

At the heart of organizations' cultures are commonly shared values. None is right or wrong, but
organizations need to decide which values they will emphasize. These common values include:

 Outcome orientation. Emphasizing achievements and results.

 People orientation. Insisting on fairness, tolerance and respect for the individual.
 Team orientation. Emphasizing and rewarding collaboration.
  Attention to detail. Valuing precision and approaching situations and problems analytically.
 Stability. Providing security and following a predictable course.
 Innovation. Encouraging experimentation and risk-taking.
 Aggressiveness. Stimulating a fiercely competitive spirit.

See Trust Engenders Trust: A Q&A with Paul J. Zak.

DEGREE OF HIERARCHY

The degree of hierarchy is the extent to which the organization values traditional channels of
authority. The three distinct levels of hierarchy are "high"—having a well-defined organizational
structure and an expectation that people will work through official channels; "moderate"—having a
defined structure but an acceptance that people often work outside formal channels; and "low" —
having loosely defined job descriptions and accepting that people challenge authority.

An organization with a high level of hierarchy tends to be more formal and moves more slowly than
an organization with a low level of hierarchy.

DEGREE OF URGENCY

The degree of urgency defines how quickly the organization wants or needs to drive decision-making
and innovation. Some organizations choose their degree of urgency, but others have it thrust on them
by the marketplace.

A culture with high levels of urgency has a need to push projects through quickly and a high need to
respond to a changing marketplace. A moderate level of urgency moves projects at a reasonable
pace. A low level of urgency means people work slowly and consistently, valuing quality over
efficiency. An organization with high urgency tends to be fast-paced and supports a decisive
management style. An organization with low urgency tends to be more methodical and supports a
more considered management style.

PEOPLE ORIENTATION OR TASK ORIENTATION

Organizations usually have a dominant way of valuing people and tasks. An organization with a
strong people orientation tends to put people first when making decisions and believes that people
drive the organization's performance and productivity. An organization with a strong task orientation
tends to put tasks and processes first when making decisions and believes that efficiency and quality
drive organization performance and productivity.
Some organizations may get to choose their people and task orientations. But others may have to fit
their orientation to the nature of their industry, historical issues or operational processes.

FUNCTIONAL ORIENTATION

Every organization puts an emphasis on certain functional areas. Examples of functional orientations
may include marketing, operations, research and development, engineering or service. For example,
an innovative organization known for its research and development may have at its core a functional
orientation toward R&D. A hospitality company may focus on operations or service, depending on its
historical choices and its definition in the marketplace.

Employees from different functions in the company may think that their functional areas are the ones
that drive the organization. Organizational leaders must understand what most employees perceive to
be the company's functional orientation. See Building a Customer-Centric Culture: Five Lessons
Learned.

ORGANIZATIONAL SUBCULTURES

Any organization can have a mix of subcultures in addition to the dominant culture. Subcultures exist
among groups or individuals who may have their own rituals and traditions that, although not shared
by the rest of the organization, can deepen and underscore the organization's core values.
Subcultures can also cause serious problems.

For example, regional cultures often differ from the overall culture that top leadership tries to instill.
Perhaps aggressiveness that is common in one area may not mesh with a culture emphasizing team
building. Or an organization with a culture built around equality may have trouble if the national
culture emphasizes hierarchy and expects people to bow to authority. Managers and HR
professionals must recognize those differences and address them directly.

Creating and Managing Organizational Culture

An organizational culture tends to emerge over time, shaped by the organization's leadership and by
actions and values perceived to have contributed to earlier successes. A company culture can be
managed through the cultural awareness of organizational leaders and HR professionals. Managing a
culture takes focused efforts to sustain elements of the culture that support organizational
effectiveness. See Taking (Back) Control of Your Organizational Culture.

HOW CULTURE DEVELOPS

An organization's customs, traditions, rituals, behavioral norms, symbols and general way of doing
things are the visible manifestation of its culture; they are what one sees when walking into the
organization. The current organizational culture is usually due to factors that have worked well for the
organization in the past. See Building an Inclusive Culture and How to Create a Culture of Civility.

Founders typically have a significant impact on an organization's early culture. Over time, behavioral
norms develop that are consistent with the organization's values. For example, in some organizations,
resolution of conflicts is hashed out openly and noisily to create widespread consensus, whereas in
other places disputes are settled hierarchically and quietly behind closed doors.

Though culture emerges naturally in most organizations, strong cultures often begin with a process
called "values blueprinting," which involves a candid conversation with leaders from across the
organization. Once the culture is framed, an organization may establish a values committee that has
a direct link to leadership. This group makes sure the desired culture is alive and well. For values
blueprinting to work, organizations must first hire people who live the values and have the
competency needed to perform the job.

SUSTAINING A CULTURE

The management of organizational culture starts with identifying a company's organizational culture
traits or "artifacts." Artifacts are the core business activities, processes and philosophies that
characterize how an organization does business day-to-day.

Identifying these traits—and assessing their importance in light of current business objectives—is a
way to start managing culture. Three broad concepts help identify the traits specific to a culture:

 Social culture. This refers to group members' roles and responsibilities. It is the study of class
distinctions and the distribution of power that exists in any group.
 Material culture. This involves examining everything that people in a group make or achieve
and the ways people work with and support one another in exchanging required goods and
services.
 Ideological culture. This is tied to a group's values, beliefs and ideals—the things people view
as fundamental. It includes the emotional and intellectual guidelines that govern people's daily
existence and interactions.

Leaders and HR professionals within an organization should approach culture management by

initially gaining an understanding of the common traits found in all businesses. Then, they should take
the following steps to manage their organization's culture:

 Identify common artifacts or traits, including those from the standpoint of an organization's
social, material and ideological culture.
  Convene groups of employees—representatives from all levels, functions and locations of the
organization—to assess the validity, significance and currency of key artifacts.
 Subject those traits to a rigorous assessment of their underlying shared assumptions, values
and beliefs.
 Summarize findings and share them with all participants to solicit additional insights.
 Create a culture management action plan. The plan should enhance traits that support
corporate growth or organizational effectiveness and correct traits that might hinder a
company's advancement.

Typically, shared assumptions and beliefs originate with an organization's founders and leaders.
Because those beliefs proved successful (otherwise the company would not exist and the leaders
would not be in their positions), often they go unchallenged; however, those assumptions and beliefs
might be outdated and may hinder future success.

HR Practices to Develop Culture

HR has a special role in ensuring that an organization's culture will continue and thrive. When an
organization does a good job assessing its culture, it can then go on to establish HR policies,
programs and strategies that support and strengthen its core purpose and values. In aligned
organizations, the same core characteristics or beliefs motivate and unite everyone, cascading down
from the C-suite to individual contributors.

HR professionals have many tools for developing and sustaining a high-performance organizational
culture, including hiring practices, onboarding efforts, recognition programs and performance
management programs. HR's biggest challenge is deciding how to use these tools and how to
allocate resources appropriately.