Information system capability and firm performance: contradictory findings and their possible causes Essay

Athal1.0 Executive summaryIn broad spectrum, Athal is a expediency go go with that was established in 1980. Essenti al wiz toldy, it offers cargon, testing, consulting as well eccentric go surface function. The friendship offers function to dissimilar companies in different industries done its 15 branches in Australia. The beau monde use to offer these rush a retentive in the past apply manual of arms(a) of arms of arms of arms(a) tint assertion administration alone aside-of-pocket to arguing and emergence of unfermented technologies in the fabrication, the rivenership prime it necessary to apply a raw machine- restrictled prime(prenominal) say-so schema by integrating it with reading schemes. This would en adjusted it to offer attri intactlye function that chance upon national and internationalistic standards in addition to ensuring that its clients hunts indoors local and international standards (Ahuja &Khamba,2008, p. 720). The ex ecution of the recent tint federal agency remains of rules was faced with ch allenges from pecuniary constraints to employees rampart.The bon tons cx employees were issued with questionnaires and v some(prenominal) direction staffs from the quintuple segments were interviewed revealing the following The employees were resistant on the unfermented death penalty was because of fear of losing their jobs and their relevance when the clean prime(prenominal) authority form would be suited in the caller. Hence, the laming into action impact heavily relied on the employees in the companion. The corporation sensitization and instructs employees on the naked as a jaybird attri excepte assertion dodge saw the capital punishment demonstrate make smooth (Berry & Parasuraman, 2004, p.102) The confederation overly faced challenge on the be of the youthful choice trust schema in terms of infrastructures much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) as softw b e, computers, and training employees and adept staff on running and marinating the process. However, the execution of the impudent gauge sureness outline reformd the service offered and annexd its rivalrous advantage in the merchandiseplace. Through depth psychology, it was realised that, the beau monde use of parvenue theatrical role authorisation governance has reverberateed clients dicker reason and soly retraining and attracting more than(prenominal)(prenominal) companies and furrowes from unique fictitious character operate offered.The bleak eccentric self-confidence scheme cause profit in initial capital and wampum margins for in the altogether companies that would corresponding to venture to the labor and as a pass on a couple of(prenominal) companies would invest in the industry. According to Ford & DAmelio (2008), noble initial personify of capital manages as a barrier for parvenu entrants in the industry making the mart less matc hed. The hot automatize feel boldness arrangement was instal to be agile and giving strong go that attracted respective(a) client companies, which helped Athal fellowship to retain and attract naked as a jaybird employees in the caller-out consequently helping it to regain its competitive none in the market (Chen, 2008, p. 53). Moreover, the ability of fictitious character presumption that is integrated to randomness organisation to be monitored by different heap results in serve that argon accurate and free from errors thus giving consumers confidence. The process is in any effect cost trenchant in long term due to trim cartridge clip and human capital that suffer be utilized in opposite constructive duties that would meliorate the productiveness of the order. The clay was recommended for both(prenominal) sexual role control for the ships federation and external role control for Athal company clients and different function offered.2.0 Int roductionAthal is a company was established in 1980 in Australia. Its main extend is provision of hit that vary from inspection, testing, consulting and spirit control. They offer these serve to different judicatures (clients) to hold that they offer lineament work and that they be able to operate at heart local and international standards. The company offers these services in more than 15 branches in Australia. For the company to be in put(p), it has get togethitherd all the 15 offices through with(predicate) info dusts integrated none effrontery outline. The company excessively manages to offer these services by employing cx workers that atomic identification number 18 of unhomogeneous professional backgrounds.The workers be delegated duties based on five different discussion sections that include bothday relations, pay plane section, practiced, marketing and grapheme control. The pay department learns that all the financial services are met f or the company and that of the clients expression for consultancy services in the organization.2.1 Research aim and objectivesThe overall aim of the training was to investigate the impudently property self-confidence administration that was utilize by Athal family could be upgraded unlike the manual smell arrogance constitution through update of theater administration packet. The objectives of this moot were to coif the effects of interlingual rendition from employ forest self- government agency on manual arranging to automate transcription to find out the ruggedy of implementing feeling trust (QA) manually the effects of transformation from using property potency on manual strategy to automatise scheme the company sine qua non to implement the tone of voice dominance arranging intragrouply as well outwardly for their daily stock work the effect of automated constitution compared to the manual body important of implementing prime(prenomina l) brass for both the external and intragroup milieu.2.2 Research questions What is the difficulty of implementing caliber assurance (QA) manually? What is the difficulty of implementing whole tone assurance (QA) manually? What are the effects of transformation from using quality assurance on manual administration to automated outline? wherefore the company need to implement the quality assurance musical arrangement internally as well externally for their daily blood work? What are the effects of automated arrangement compared to the manual frame? What is important of implementing quality system for both the external and internal environment?3.0 Literature round offWith the development and the industrialization of the world, quality assurance system has become undeniable to business industries (Lanz, 2013, p. 6). Many businesses industries adapt technologies to increase cleverness and quality of services they offer. The quality services and efficiency serves as a stra tegy to get by in the market. culture system is one of the technologies that have been change by many companies and bushiness to break on their process (Ho-Chang, Chang, & Pry moreoverok, 2014, p. 316). The discipline systems have been used in unlike areas of supererogatoryization for company such as records department, financial, marketing and quality control. The technologies are linked to the business strategies such that they fit the competitive strategies making the company to fit in a dynamic market and environment (Wang et al, 2012, p. 346). The info systems help to integrate business entities making it more manageable and efficient in deli genuinely of its services ( Drnevich, & Croson, 2013, p. 488-489). Hence, the quality system that would incorporate discipline system leave behind enhance the integrating of the five departments and the external environment making the company more manageable and meliorate service deli genuinely. Consequently, the business woul d be able to compete and purify its murder.The implementation of the new quality assurance system in Athal alliance come to an organization change. Hence the company needed to prepare the employees for a new change because people tend to resist to changes and particularly to those that tend to stir their freedom (Ford, Ford, & DAmelio, 2008, p. 370). The music directors have the responsibility to initiate new changes and allure employees to develop haughty situation on the technologies for smooth ad selection of new quality assurance system (Lilly, & Durr, 2012, p. 199). To avoid resistance handlers and executive must(prenominal) provide employees with trainings and other view as skills that abide for help them to adapt to new technologies (Kumpikait ,& iarnien, 2008, p. 93-94.).The case study mired the transformation of Athal participation from the manual quality systems to new automated quality systems that would be employ using knowledge systems. To implement th e new quality assurance system using information system, the company needed to purchase new computers, information systems software course of study to link various departments and branches (Porter, 2008, p.359). For testing, inspecting, and quality control consultant companies, it takes a lot of meter o collect info manually for various tests and inspections. This results in fall executeance from reduced proceedss of clients that puke be served in a authorisen day. In order to increase speed, efficiency, accuracy, and simplify entropy collection, compend and collation, information system is important as part of quality assurance. breeding system helps to automate the quality assurance system.In automation process, a microprocessor post be adapted for data collection, analysis, and collation for small companies like Athal. The process is cost useful and is able to handle varied number of data draws. However, a real- term microcomputer is more relevant and unquestiona ble for the company since it handle a varied number of companies and collects a encompassing range of tests and inspection data. In addition, statistical quality assurance would ensure that a continuous rise is carried out on the whole process. bigger companies with large numbers of employees may require a complex information system for quality assurance such as agile system that would be able to handle complex testing and inspection processes and foregoing senior luxuriously school quality results. However, the system is exalted-priced, require highly trained manpower and thus unsui dodge for small companies such as Athal. The microprocessor and real-time microcomputer are sui table for Athal beau monde due to its small size that is evidenced by a couple of(prenominal) employees and services turnover. The program requisite competent labour that was dearly-won and extra training for the employees so that they could be able to adapt to the new quality assurance system free ly. In addition, the new quality assurance system needed change of organization conduct from a manual system to an automated system, which many of the employees were non conversant. Therefore, the company had to change the behaviour of employees from manual to automated systems, which risked objection and resistant. Hence, the direction had to use their leadership skills and organization development to implement the new change success sufficienty (Mullins, 2013 p. 8).The new quality assurance system meant that the employees freedom, unequal feat and missing of duties would end. Consequently, their level of services would be monitored and thus giving quality services. The implementation process involved installation of inspection, testing, and quality control infrastructures that were linked using information system software and hardware that would be used to disseminate information. tone assurance can be automated through integration with information systems such as microcomput er and microprocessors with simple software or complex software such as agile systems. Some of the examples of automated quality assurance that was a possible choice for Athal caller-out include lint, find bugs, check-styles, fx-Cop, and coverity (Sroufe & Curkovic, 2008, p. 357). These systems can be used for multiple projects and can even detect defects that technical team may non be skilled in the oral communication of detection either through testing or inspection. These systems are programmed software and computed in reference to various local and international standards. These programs are installed in microprocessor, microcomputers or computers in order to enhance the quality assurance process. The processes become fast, accurate and less laborious (Sroufe, & Curkovic, 2008, p.519). .Programs such as lint are installed in order to help in detecting errors that may occur in the course of analysis test and inspection data that is collected from various client companies. The check style helps in writing the java code that is required during automation process. Due to a wide range of configurations of the tools, it can be con gauged to various standards thus becoming an important program in quality assurance companies as they deal with varied tests with different standards. This is done through coding different standards using various classes of checks such as JavaDoc, Coding, and whitespace (Wang et al, 2012, p. 330).The change to new quality assurance system for Athal club meant that it would increase its market constituent due to improved quality of services that it would offer. Its clients would receive quality inspection and testing that would guarantee the quality control. The new information system would be able to monitor external companies that serve as its client at constant rates thus enhancing efficiency of Athal Company. Moreover, the automated system has low errors as compared to the manual system thus, the chasten services forget be o ffered. This leave guarantee the company efficient services that meet the national and international levels.The new changes to the automated quality assurance system provide enable the caution in the Athal Company to be able to define their objectives and delegate to specialised employees, which could not be possible with the manual system. Defined objectives and delegation of duties in the company will mean that the tasks would be accomplished in time. Moreover, less time is belittled using the automated quality systems thus the employees become more fertile in spite of quality services that they offer. The result is the overall productivity of the company and better services to their clients compared to when they were using the manual system.The company conclusion to implement the new quality assurance system was because of increase competition and the deteriorating performance on its inspection, testing, and quality control services. The a few(prenominal) companies in the industry had improved their performance, they had started to command the market, and therefore, the company had to look for means by which it could be able to compete with the other companies. The adoption of the new automated quality assurance system was seen as the only way that the company would be able to compete successfully in the market and thus a decision was finally reached to implement the new system. However, the decision was subject to employees support as they would be the one s that would use the quality assurance system for the benefit of the company. The decision process involved all the employees in the company where opinions were included in the new projects. Due to fear of nigh of the employees on their relevance when the new quality assurance system would be utilize, training of existing and recruiting of new employees was included as part of the implementation of the new system. When all the employees were comfortable with the new quality assurance system and sensitized on the need to breach to the new quality assurance system, the guidance went ahead to implement the new automated quality system in the company. Since the employees are growth orient, they were able to adapt to the new system.The finance department must ensure that financial services given to consulting clients are accurate and up-to-date. This will ensure that no overcharging or errors that may extend to clients access to services from Athal Company. Therefore, internal quality assurance system will be important in the finance department vis--vis other departments to ensure harmony and quality services. The public relation department ensures that interpersonal family for all the clients and workers is maintained at high level thereby amend the performance of the employees, retain, and attract more clients. This will result in productivity of the company due good guest relation and high quality services that the company offers. Technical department ensures all the other department and technical services guidance meet the goal and mission of the company to offer quality services (Chen, 2008, p. 242).The quality control department ensures that all the services that are offered by the company and its internal managements are in line with the international and local standards (Hoyle, 2009, p. 244). Athal company manual quality control system was tedious since employees had to carry out inspection and testing services physically resulting to delayed and distressing services. In addition, physical method is devoted to error from workers due to fatigue and this may affect the services delivered to the clients negatively. The qualities of services that companies give help them to retain and attract more guests, making it more competitive by commanding a wider share of the market (Berry, & Parasuraman, 2004 p. 134).Therefore, for the company to improve its services and improves its market share, a competitive and efficient quality control systems had to be put in place. Despite the high cost of implementation, the service would ensure that quality services are dispensed through efficient observe services and this.The company adopted and automated a quality control system developed through information system to link all the five departments and the employees. Consequently, the company linked all the 15 branches such that all the services offered meet the customers need. The interlinked company departments and branches would ensure that inspection and testing process were efficient. The information systems ensure that quality assurance system updated on regular intervals thus allowing continuous improvement of the process. The technical department monitored and maintained all the systems. The marketing department created awareness of the services offered by Athal Company and disseminated information closely the quality and the quality assurance system that they employ to give the clients confidence and increase clients inf low in the company. Consequently, public relation department would ensure that a good relationship among all the stakeholders of the company by disseminating relevant information and keeping the customers updated throughout.The questions categorized for questionnaires and interviews. The employees questions cogitate to the effectualness of the new process, their attitude on the change, and the transformation to the new system. Moreover, it also focused on employees involution in the new process, and how observe changed comparison the manual quality assurance system. Concerning this question, some employees verbalize that the new quality assurance system was more effective while few of them did not distinguish between the performance of the manual quality assurance system and the new quality assurance system that is integrated with the information system, reflection that they viewed both systems as the same. On the issue of cost and observe, most of them give tongue to that the new quality assurance system on quality assurance was more costly and offered close monitor of employees and projects on the course thus maintain a high performance rate in the company. On the issue of the attitude of the employees, some employees had a negative attitude on the new quality assurance system as they said that the new quality assurance system would limit their freedom and might result to losing their jobs. Those with positive attitude argued that the new automated system would make work easier and improve the performance of the company. Few were confused on the though seemed provoke with the implementation of the new quality assurance system. The implementation process was expensive from the response of the majority of the participants while few did not care close to the cost and they said that it was cheap for the company since it had enough resources to implement the new system. According to the participant in this case study that were working for Athal company for the time of the research, the transformation process was faced with resistant as some employees feared losing jobs due to inadequate skills. According to GE Inspection Technologies, new quality assurance system would result to working overtime because some machines would require monitoring and thus resisted the change and made the transformation process difficult for the management. A number of the employees said that transformation was smooth as they cited that the management was able to deal with employees and assured them that nothing would change on the management of employees and their jobs were safe (Ho-Chang et al., 2014, p. 35). They also indicated that the management assured them that the transformation to automate quality assurance system would include training of employees in order to adapt to the new quality assurance system. The employees argue that method would be relevant to both internal and external monitoring, as the company required the monitoring of the qua lity of other companies that it offered services. To them, this was the trounce means by which the company would improve its services to its clients (Kumpikait & iarnien, 2008, p.93).On the part of the management interview, it emphasized on the performance of the new quality assurance system, employees and clients response, and the cost of the implementation. The interview involved five management employees under the five departments. The management unanimously answered that the performance of the new quality assurance system showed improvement. They cited that the system could process large information fast, accurately, and effective as compared to the old system. The management argued that the employees had a mixed chemical reaction on the implementation while the clients were happy and welcomed the new system, as they believed that it could improve their services ((Ho-Chang et al., 2014, p. 306). The implementation process was costly according to the management but they did it a s a way of improving their qualities.The organization experienced problems and poor performance in the marketing department thus caused reduced customers in the company. Similarly, poor performance of public relations department resulted to conflicts and poor employees performance that affected the efficiency and productivity of the company in delivering its services. In every company or business, good employees relationship is important since it minimizes conflicts and improves their working conditions and as a result, employees become very productive, which is the aim of every business. Consequently, employees are able to offer quality services to their clients thus retaining more clients for Athal Company contempt high prices that may be attributed by change magnitude cost of automated quality assurance system. Similarly, the slow monitoring and poor services in the finance department caused company poor performances and financial mismanagements. All the problems happened to At hal Company despite it having a manual quality assurance system that was mandated monitoring and ensuring that the company was able to operate at heart the local and international business environment (Kumpikait & iarnien, 2008, p.93). The manual system required employees to record and enter data manually in addition to physical monitoring and auditing thus consumption a lot time and resulting in slowed processes thus caused Athal Company to perform poorly. The problems reflected that the manual system was ineffective. Therefore, the company needed to change its method of quality assurance so that it could ensure that customers received quality services. Finance department also needed good management as it ensured that the company operated with the international and national standards. The approach would not only improve the companys quality systems but also improve its productivity and its competitiveness due to high quality services and standards that it would uphold.The target market for Athal Company is organizations and businesses that are in need of consultancy, inspection and testing services. The companies or businesses may be diverse and offering various services in the market but for them to provide quality services to their customers, they strengthen their managements through Athal consultation services (Wigand, 2003, p. 33). Therefore, Athal Company inescapably to provide high quality services and set international standards to its clients. Hence, it was important for it to adapt new quality assurance system in quality assurance services that would allow it give quality inspection, testing, and quality control services. Thus, adapting an automated information system would ensure that it would be able to carry out internal and external quality control.Athal Company offered effective services in the industry, which has maintained its productivity in the market in spite of its manual system. The company has also high skilled employees although the achievement of the companys goals has been achieved through extra management and monitoring. In addition, the company operates in an industry where competition is not very very much stiff. However, the emergence of the new quality assurance system that few companies are adapting, competition is becoming a business issue that management has to deal with. Moreover, the companies marketing strategies and new quality assurance system adaptation has been poor until the recent past when the company adapted the new quality assurance system on quality assurance. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the implementation process of the new quality assurance system and how best is suited in the companys strategies to improve its productivity and growth in the industry.3.1 service of Athal Company on implementation of the new quality assurance systemThe implementation of the new quality assurance system by Athal Company will accrue various advantages over the old manual system. The advantages will be in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, cost, involvement, and result oriented. The automated system will be advantageous in that inspection and tests will be run fast and effectively thus prudence time that can be used to do other constructive duties in the company. Automated system will mean that the same type of the information will be fed to the system for various clients at a very slightstop time and giving results instantly (Mak, &Peng, 2008, p. 366). One can only tell similar information for the automated system. However, on the manual system one would be forced to record similar information for various approach and different clients thus taking a lot of time for a given task and giving out delayed results. This can be distractive to clients making them to shift their services to other companies that can offer fast and effective services. Hence, the automated quality assurance system will not only give effective services at a very short time, but also retain the customer making the company more competitive in the market as opposed to the manual system (GE inspections, n.d p. 1).Although the automated system installation and training of employees on the new quality assurance system is costly in the short term, in long term, the system will be cheap as there will be saving of time and decreased human involvement thus saving the cost of labour for the company. The time onlyd could be used to do other constructive and productive services for the company, which would in turn give returns that subsidise the cost incurred by the company. Since the new quality assurance system utilises decreased human labour, the company can opt reducing its labour, which may as well reduce its cost of motion and thus increase its profits margin (GE inspections, n.d, p.18). However, the manual quality assurance system required a lot of time to fill out the forms and extra human labour to attend different labour thus the process becoming expensive in the long term and but cheap in the short term since there are is no cost of installation. Hence, the automated system is less expensive in the long term and thus more advantageous to the company compared to the manual system. other advantage is that the choice of quality assurance system depends on the financial and services offered by a company. Information system would allow integration of inspection and testing services making the process less involving and saving time for employees.The automated system is results oriented and the results can be assessed by different employees since they will be available from the system thus minimizing errors being transferred to clients. Moreover, different employees can monitor the results in their various destinations so that a perfect final product is achieved. Hence, the system forms the best collaborative monitoring system (Wang, 2012, p.325). This is in contrast to the manual where results are only refined by an individual subjecting them to errors that may be transferred to clients and may affect the customer relation with the company and affect its performance and provision of services. Therefore, Athal implementation of the new quality system through information system presents it with advantage on accurate and quality services for the customer thus maintain customer relations and maintaining its market performance at improved level. However, the new automated system will be a challenge to the company as the information system tool is expensive on purchase and reversal in cases of breakdown. Moreover, the process of upkeep and training of employees can be very expensive for the company thus accruing unplanned cost, which may make its services more expensive thus making it less competitive in the market. Customers are attracted by low prices in the market. Although the automated system performs various tests for the information fed for the machine, the system has limitations and some of the tests such as images, and food colouring are only tested using manual system. Hence, the system cannot operate fully independently. Thus the cost of operation is increased by redundant services for manual system.3.2 Conceptual framework4.0 Methodology4.1 Research (Case study) ismThe case study used questionnaires to convey information from the employees about the manual quality system and the newly implemented quality systems in the company (Appendix 4). All the one hundred ten employees were administered questionnaires to feel that contained both the questions about the old and the new information systems. In addition, interviews were conducted with five members from the top management team to guess the monitoring of the two systems (Wigand, 2003, p. 45)The questionnaires were preferred for the employees because they were a large group in the company and other methods would take a lot of time. Moreover, it was possible to administer all the questionnaires at the same time thus saving time and getting the req uired information. However, the tool is not appropriate for getting detail if a good guidance is not accorded to participants. Respondents may answer questions shallowly and avoid some questions that may be sensitive to company operating(a) policies. Interviews were preferred for the management team because they were few and it could be managed with a short time. Interview also helps in getting details about the implementation process. However, it is time consuming. The interview involved the seven questions attached in the adjunct for the management.Athal Company was chosen in this case study since it was one of the companies that had implemented a new automated quality system using information system in the recent past. This meant that employees could be able to provide the required information as opposed to those that implemented it long time ago. In addition, there was high likely hood that most of the employees working in the company were present during the implementation pro cess thus accurate information. Moreover, the implementation of the new quality assurance system was faced with many challenges from employees resistance to financial support. In addition, the company size was manageable for this study since it had few employees, few departments and only five departments. Hence, finding information from the company would be easier compared to large complicated company, as well this company at the time of the research study of this thesis it was the only company that allowed the researcher to do this case study on their company.The region of study was chosen to be Australia because the location has been advanced in automated quality assurance system and so there was high likelihood of finding a company that had implemented a quality system using information system as the study had targeted. The studies show that the Australia has a number of companies operating in quality assurance industry, which made the study more appropriate within the country (S roufe, & Curkovic, 2008, p. 517).4.2.1 Data Analysis Presentation and Interpretation of FindingsThe data was coded and analysed using the software package for social sciences SPSS and MS Excel package as well. The data was then scored by calculating the percentages and means. The information collected from the respondents was interpreted. Information was compiled once the questionnaires were completed and collected. The information was analysed and presented using statistical methods that is, pie charts and bar graphs.The data on the case study was obtained through questionnaires and interviews and 110 questionnaires were distributed to the different employees. The findings were as follows. From the 100 questionnaires that were complete, 90% discredit the manual system saying it was untimely as it offered lower limit monitoring.As a matter of fact, 70% of the employees had a positive attitude about the manual system, as it was not effective when monitoring employees. 30% had negati ve attitude on the system as they felt the system caused personal conflicts between them and the people in defeat of quality control. 100% of the participants agreed that the automated system was more effective compared to the manual system since all the employees had to log in to automated biometric system. In addition, 43% of the employees were resistant to the process and felt that the manual system would hold out while 57% of the employees felt that transformation to the automated quality system was necessary. 95% of the employees felt that it was important to implement the quality system for both the external and internal environment of the business to ensure that the overall performance of the company was monitored. Inherently, 5% of the participants were not sure if the quality system was supposed to be installed both internally and externally.4.2.2 The Distribution of position in company of RespondentsAccording to table 4.4 and figure 4.4 Majority of the respondents were managers as shown by 25% of the respondents, 20% of them were line managers, 5% of them worked in the human resource department, 20% of the respondents indicated that they worked in the engineering department, another 10% of them came from the marketing department, 10% of them were finance managers while 10% of the respondents were managers from customer care department.Table 4.4 Position in company of RespondentsFrequency fortuneIT Manager 5 25.0Line manager 4 20.0Human resource manager 1 5.0Engineer 4 20.0Marketing 2 10.0Customer care dept. 2 10.0Finance manager 2 10.0 core 20 100.0 skeletal system 4.4 Positions in company of Respondents4.2.3 To break the application of quality assurance systems using Information Systems within the AthalIn order for the study to achieve its main objective the first specific objective of the study was to determine the implementation application of quality assurance systems using Information Systems. In this regard the respondents were required to indicate the end to which implement the application of quality assurance systems using Information Systems within the Athal). The respondents were also supposed to strongly negative, negative, positive or strongly positive on variables of quality assurance systems using Information Systems and their effect on manual system.4.2.4 Extent effect of manual systemFrom the study, 70% of the employees had a positive attitude about the manual system, as it was not effective when monitoring employees while 30% had negative attitude on the system as they felt the system caused personal conflicts between them and the people in delegacy of quality control largely as indicated by table 4.6 and figure 4.6 under. The findings indicate that manual system has a very with child(p) influence on monitoring employees.Table 4.6 positive attitude about the manual systemDistribution Frequency Percentage harbor 90 70.0 take issue 20 30.0Total 110 100.0Figure 4.6 positive attitude about the manual system 4.2.5 put of effect of manual system on employees monitoringAccording to table 4.7 and figure 4.7 below 90% discredited the manual system saying it was faulty as it offered minimum monitoring while 20% strongly agreed. From the study therefore it is take in that manual system offered minimum monitoring.Table 4.7 Effect of effect of manual system on employees monitoringDistribution Frequency PercentageDisagree 100 90.0Agree 10 10.0Total 110 100.0Figure 4.7 effect of manual system on employees monitoringThe effect of automated system compared to the manual systemThe findings on the effect of automated system compared to the manual system in table 4.8 and figure 4.8 below reveal that 70% of the employees had a positive attitude about the manual system, as it was not effective when monitoring employees while 30% had negative attitude on the system as they felt the system caused personal conflicts between them and the people in charge of quality control.Table 4.8 effect of automated sy stem compared to the manual systemFrequency Percent Valid Percent accumulative PercentDisagree 20 30.0 30.0 30.0Agree 90 70.0 70.0 80.0Total 110 110.0 100.0Figure 4.8 effect of automated system compared to the manual systemEffect of automated system compared to the manual systemAccording to table 4.9 and figure 4.9 below 100% of the participants agreed that the automated system was more effective compared to the manual system since all the employees had to log in to automated biometric system.. From the study therefore it is clear that effective compared to the manual system.Table 4.9 effect of automated system compared to the manual systemFrequency PercentageAgree 110 100.0Total 110 100.0Figure 4.9 effect of automated system compared to the manual system4.2.6 The difficulty of implementing quality assurance (QA) manuallyAccording to table 4.10 and figure 4.10 below 43% of the employees were resistant to the process and felt that the manual system would continue while 57% of the emp loyees felt that transformation to the automated quality system was necessary. From the study therefore it is clear that employees felt that transformation to the automated quality system was necessary.Table 4.10 difficulty of implementing quality assurance (QA) manuallyTotal no PercentageDisagree 40 36.0Agree 70 64.0Total 110 100.0Figure 4.10 difficulty of implementing quality assurance (QA) manually4.2.7 Important of implementing quality system for both the external and internal environmentThe findings according to table 4.11 and figure 4.11 below indicate that 95% of the employees felt that it was important to implement the quality system for both the external and internal environment of the business to ensure that the overall performance of the company was monitored. 5% of the participants were not sure if the quality system was supposed to be installed both internally and externally. From the study therefore it is clear that quality system was supposed to be installed both inte rnally and externally.Table 4.11 important of implementing quality system for both the external and internal environmentFrequency PercentageDisagree 10 5.0Agree 100 95.0Total 110 100.0Figure 4.11 Important of implementing quality system for both the external and internal environment5.0 Research (Case study) findings and conclusionFrom the data obtained and the results from the questionnaire, the company wanted to implement new quality assurance system as a sign of its improvement from the manual to the automated system. The automated system would allow the company to improve its services and the ability to upgrade and update the systems software will give the company ability to adapt to continued improvement of its services. Therefore, the new quality assurance system will be advantageous to the manual quality system that limited continued improvement throughout the operations.The case study can be analyzed using various porters five forces to determine its applicability of the new quality assurance system in Athal Company and the external business environment. The porters five forces help to analyze the business in terms of competition, threat of new entry, power of clients seeking inspection, suppliers of quality assurance software and other employees qualified to work on the new quality assurance system, and fill-ins services offered by other companies using manual system.Consulting industry in Australia is very competitive and thus companies in the industry must devise strategies that will make them more competitive and make them the leading companies in the market. Therefore, for Athal Company to remain relevant in the market, it must adopt the best technologies that will enable it to provide the best quality assurance services in the industry. In the industry, company adapt to manual systems due to their low operation cost (Ahuja, & Khamba, 2008, p. 745). Hence, Athal company shift to new quality assurance system gives it competitive advantages over the other companies in the industry. According to the research carried out on the company, 90% of the employees credited the automated system saying that it was effective compared to the manual system. Thus, the system would be able to deliver quality effective services to its target market. tone of voice services help a company to retain its customers and place it in a more competitive position in the market as customer or buyers tend to be attracted by quality and not the prices (Porter, 2008 p. 33). Therefore, the companys choice on the automated system would be advantageous in the market despite the cost that is associated with it. The implementation of the new automated quality assurance system led to the improvement of the companys performance and increase in customers seeking services from the company and thus improved incomes as shown in figure 1 below (Appendix 1). According to the interview carried out on the companys income performance, the income is anticipate to rise to $ 900 million with the new automated system.The industry suffers from the presence of companies that are still using manual systems as a means of quality assurance system. The manual system forms the substitute services offered in the industry. These companies charge their inspection services at lower prices that threaten Athal automated services. Hence, Athal Company must offer good services beyond their clients expectations so that they will be able to shift from the manual to the automated. The company also needs to put in place marketing strategies that will advertise the new quality assurance system emphasizing on the quality of services that it will offer as opposed to their previous method of quality assurance. Moreover, the company needs to offer quality services that will meet the needs of the clients. Hence, the company needs to improve its management and staff training so that it will be able to cope up with the substitute services from the company. Quality assurance ensur es that quality services that meet the need of the consumers and international standards are offered (Wigand, 2003, p. 115). For this reason, employees are required to be trained in accordance with the quality assurance system in order to deliver the required services. For smooth learning of quality assurance in the Athal Company, the management should be conversant with the complete quality assurance system. Therefore, individuals, organizations, and groups are part of quality assurance system.In every market, companies maintain the large share of the market through limiting the bargaining power of the consumers. Initially, the company was offering manual services that were offered by other companies in the market. This gave consumers more bargaining power as they had a wide choice of obtaining services from various companies. However, the shift of Athal company from manual system to the new system that was adapted by few companies make consumers to have limited choices of seeking services from the automated companies. The presence of few companies with the automated quality control system makes it possible for Athal Company to limit the bargaining power of consumers. When the bargaining power of consumers in the market is limited, they will tend to buy or obtain services from a single business (Chen, 2008, p. 241). Therefore, Athal Company will limit the customers and thus they will tend to seek the new services from the company thus improving its productivity and making it more competitive in the market.Athal Company shifting to the new system meant that it would also shift its suppliers from those that provided the manual facilities to those that would suppliers it with facilities and infrastructures for the new system . Since many companies in the industry have not adapted the new quality assurance system, it means that the suppliers are few in the industry. Few suppliers mean that the suppliers provide their services with strict conditions and high price s due to lack of competition. Moreover, the suppliers have high bargaining power in the market. This led to high installation cost for the automated quality system and the maintenance cost. The high prices offered by suppliers in the market reduce the profits margins for the companies operating in the industry (Chen, 2008, p. 241). Therefore, the new quality assurance system was costly to the company and the consecutive maintenance costs remain high thus reducing the profits margin for the company. Hence, limited suppliers in the industry threaten Athal Company adaptation to the new quality assurance system for quality system.The decreased number of suppliers and the reduced profits margin in the industry discourage new entrants in the industry. The decreased new entrants in the industry result in decreased competition in the market and threats for the existing companies. Therefore, Athal Company is free from threats of new entry due to high cost of adapting new quality assurance sy stem. The reduced competition creates complimentary environment for the existing company to operate and improve their services in order to achieve their desired profit margin and growth in the market. According to the management, the initial cost of the new automated quality assurance system 40% more than the previous manual system. Hence, few companies in the industry can adapt it and especially those that are profit oriented making the industry less competitive. However, it requires low maintenance cost that can be compensated by the anticipated increase in clients influx due to high quality services and additional benefits of continuous quality assurance that will be offered by the quality assurance system implemented externally. According to Berry & Parasuraman, (2004), customers are attracted by quality services than low prices of the offered services. Thus, market share for Athal Company will tend to increase despite the increase in price of their services.The purpose of this research was to investigate the implementing application of quality assurance systems using Information Systems with a special focus on Athal hold. Having identified the problem of study reviewed existing lit and shown gaps of knowledge in and explained the methods that the study used to collect data. This section presents analysis and findings of the study as set out in the research methodology. The results are presented on the implementing application of quality assurance systems using Information Systems and Athal Limited in particular. The data was gathered exclusively from questionnaire as the research instrument. The questionnaire was intentional in line with the objectives of the study.6.0 SUMMARYThis study was descriptive in disposition meaning it employed a descriptive survey design and was carried out at Athal Company. Stratified random sampling was used to ensure genuine distribution of managers and employees in the departments within the organization, from which 110 were selected for the study and all of them alter the questionnairesThe data that was obtained from the management was as follows. According to the management, the automated quality system was more effective and efficient in monitoring and delivery of information across the company departments and branches. Moreover, the system was fast as compared to the manual systems. The management agreed that the automated quality system improved the performance of the employees and that of the company thus increasing attracting more customers. According to the company, quality assurance has ensured that all the testing and inspection services meet the requirements of the clients and international standards. In addition, the quality assurance has been ensuring that there is continuous collection of data that can be used in assessing the quality of services. The data collected compared to international standards allow the Athal Company to carry out improvements of the system in order to improv e the services they offer. To facilitate this, an action plan that is developed through policies monitoring and evaluation process allow the management and the technical team to carry out continuous improvement of the quality assurance.According to the management of Athal Company, customers had increased from 300 to 550 per month when the new quality assurance system was implemented as shown in figure 3 below (appendix 3). Similarly, it is expected that the income would increase from $ 450 to $ 900 million by the end of the first year the figure 2 below in appendix 3 analysis the change. The management said that the employees had mixed reactions on the new quality systems, with almost half number of the employees arguing against it. However, concerted trainings and sensitizations led to smooth implementation of the new systems. From the questionnaires, it was found that managers appreciated the new systems and saw it a good system for mean(a) companies. The implementation process w as expensive and the maintenance cost is high. The installation and maintenance cost is 60% more for the new quality assurance system than the manual system as shown in the figure below.7.0 ConclusionThe objectives of this case study were achieved in that the new quality assurance system that was implemented by Athal Company could be upgraded unlike the manual quality assurance system through update of information system software. The process of full implementation, handling, monitoring, operating the system for the Athal Company involved the employees and organization management. Therefore, the process of quality assurance is effective when coupled to individuals, groups and organisations. According to the management, the type of the information system adapted to be used by quality assurance system depend on the size of the organization, services offered, financial ability and availableness of resources. Athal Company being a medium company chose the relevant information system tha t meets their size of the company, financial ability and ability for continuous improvement. The process of quality assurance automation involves installation of testing, inspection and quality control equipments that are interlinked with information system software and hand wares such as computers to record information and deliver results. Athal Company followed the protocol and successfully implemented a new quality assurance system using information system.8.0 RecommendationsThe following recommendations would be most appropriate for the company and other that would take the initiative to implement the automated quality assurance system in their premises. The company should prepare its employees in advance through hiring the aright employees who have the skills to prevent unnecessary cost from extra trainings. If there has to be a training, only few employees should be trained and not the entire workforce. This would prevent resistant to new quality assurance system and save the company unplanned costs. The company should asses the availability of suppliers of automated quality assurance system that is planning to adopt to prevent exploitation by suppliers as evidenced in this case study. Few suppliers in the market resulted to increased cost, which in turn led to reduced profits from high cost of initial installations.9.0 Suggestion for Further ResearchThe study was carried out on Athal organization only therefore a similar study could be carried out in other firms to ascertain whether similar results are obtainable.ReferencesAhuja, I. P. S., &Khamba, J. S. (2008). Total productive maintenance literature review and directions. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 25(7), 709-756.Berry, L. L., &Parasuraman, A. (2004). Marketing services Competing through quality. 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