Resource Allocation
Imagine for a moment you are in charge of a manufacturing company with two locations of operation: Location A and Location B. Location A is overstaffed, space is limited and the equipment is very old. Location B is understaffed and cannot keep up with the amount of product their brand-new equipment is producing. Your budget has been increased, and you have permission to hire 20 new employees. You could assign the extra funds and employees to Location B, which would solve their staffing problem, but the funds might be unnecessary since they have brand-new equipment. If you assign the extra funds and employees to Location A, they would have the money to buy new equipment and possibly expand their space, but they would be adding employees to an already over-employed location. What do you do? There is no right or wrong answer. Deciding where to appropriately distribute funds and employees is a difficult decision. This is what is called, 'resource allocation.'
Resource allocation is not only limited to funds and employees, but also includes intellectual property, inventory and facilities. Every organisation will have different resources to allocate. If resources are allocated inappropriately, inefficiencies can undermine the organisation; but if resources are allocated appropriately, an organisation might run more efficiently and optimise organisational performance. This Individual Assignment allows you to consider ways in which better resource allocation could address the organisational issue you identified in Unit 1 and continue working on your Final Project.
To prepare for Assignment:
1. Review the organisational issue you previously identified (Decrease in Profit at HTC Cooperation). File attached below.
2. Review resources that focus on resource allocation; use these as a basis to identify one to two additional scholarly sources on resource allocation.
3. Think about how resource allocation is related to organisational issues.
Questions:
1. Explain how resource allocation can impact an organisation (HTC Cooperation).
2. Explain two ways how "Decrease in Profit at HTC Cooperation" could be addressed through better resource allocation in the organisation.
3. Provide two to four questions you might need to ask key stakeholders in order to obtain additional information that would help in refining your analysis of organisational performance and resource allocation.
Note : Be sure to include references to all sources, , in Harvard Referencing Style.