Formative Assessment 1 – 7ODD

Please provide a written answer for the ways in which the performance of an organisation can be analysed by an external consultant looking to help a business improve its current output. Discuss how important organisational structure is to this process. 

Solution

Executive Summary

This assessment entails how external consultants can evaluate the organisational performance and help it enhance the current output. It also involves the importance of the organisational structure in the performance evaluation process. The assessment reveals that external consultants apply various approaches to evaluate the organisational performance, including performance reviews, evaluating the financial statements, researching about the customer’s satisfaction, comparison and benchmarking, and assess the key performance indicators. The importance of the organisational structure is to determine the access to information and collaboration with various stakeholders.

Table of Contents

1.0      Introduction. 4

2.0      Ways of Analysing the Company’s Performance. 4

2.1      Examine the Financial Statements. 4

2.2      Research on the Customer’s Satisfaction. 4

2.3      Comparison with Other Companies. 5

2.4      Performance Reviews. 5

2.5      Evaluating the Key Performance Indicators 6

3.0      Importance of Organisational Structure in Evaluating the Organisational Performance. 6

4.0      Conclusion. 7

References 8

  1. 0 Introduction

External consultants use their knowledge, experience, skills, and competence to evaluate the company’s requests and offer suggestions to improve the performance and competitive advantage. They are external to the company and are characterised by independence, expertise, creativity, credibility, and industry best practices (Fischer, 2014). External consultants for a company’s performance require adequate data for making informed decisions. Notably, the information may be qualitative or quantitative. The two sets of data are used to complement each other for sufficient insights regarding the aspect being examined. This report outlines the ways through which the organisational performance can be evaluated by the external consultant to help improve the present output.

2.0 Ways of analysing a company

Evaluating the firm’s performance requires a comprehensive plan. An external consultant differs from the internal one based on independence in the decision-making process. Also, they are suitable based on their vast knowledge in different settings. Approaches to analyse the company’s performance include;

2.1 Examine financial statement

The success and company’s output are profoundly defined in the financial statements. They help in assessing the amount of money being generated. It is a core element in determining the sustainability of the company and helps in determining if the company should move forward or alter its strategies. External consultants request these statements, including cash flow and balance sheet, and use them to determine the firm’s progress (Kappel, 2017). Companies employing differentiation strategy have various products and services for a wide pool of customers. This implies that the financial statements have outlined the performance of different products and services. External consultants are able to use the financial statements’ data to identify products that are performing poorly and the issues characterising the particular output. Through knowledge, skills, and competences, the external consultant examines the financial statements for every product or service and makes a decision based on their output. An example of a decision is to halt the production of a poorly performing product and focus on another.

2.2 Research on Customer Satisfaction

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