Roles and Responsibilities of COO

Question:

Discuss about the People, Culture and Contemporary Leadership.

A COO (Chief Operating Officer) is administrative who supervises on-going business process within the company and reports to the chief executive officer (CEO) in an appropriate manner. The Chief Operating Officer is a main member of the top management team who only report to the CEO. The major goal of Chief Operating Officer is to secure the business function to successfully operate the business and improve the growth in long-term. In addition, it can also be said that the COO is responsible for the casual and permanent activities of the staff. There are certain roles and responsibilities of COO such as design the business strategies, procedures, and plan, define the goal regarding performance, make policies to promote the vision, and supervise the daily operating activities of IT, marketing, sales, and finance department. Moreover, others responsibilities are to direct the employees, Determine the performance of employees, submit the report of whole activities to the chief executive officer, make a relationship with business partners, and contribute to the extension of investment.  These responsibilities are discussed as below:  

The chief operating officers design the business strategies, plan, and procedures to successfully operate the business in long-term. Additionally, it will be effective to accomplish the goal of “Shop For us” in long-term.

The COO can also make a goal regarding the performance of employees, which will be effective to enhance the growth of “Shopz for Us” in long-term.

The chief operating officers can also make the policies for promoting the culture and vision of the company, which will be appropriate to make a positive relationship with consumers in long-term.

The COO can supervise the daily process of organization and the activities of managers. These departments are information technology, marketing, sales, and finance department. Additionally, it can also be said that the executive of these department plays an effective role to complete the task.

The chief operating officer can also lead the workforce to accomplish the task of an organization, as it will improve the performance. At the same time, it can also be said that they can also inspire the employees and create the dedication regarding the completion of the assigned work. It will be significant to improve the actual condition of the organization in long-term.

The COO of an organization can evaluate the performance of employees by using the past performance record. It will be supportive to know the actual performance of workforce and improve their performance appropriately.

Key Strategic Issues for a COO

The COO of an organization can also assist the chief executive officers to simply raise the fund of business in long-term. As a result, the enhancement in the fund can improve the financial condition of the company effectively.

The chief operating officer can also help to expand the activities in many sectors named actions, investments, and corporate alliance. Consequently, it will be effective to improve the performance of an organization.        

The COO can also make a positive relationship with partners because it will improve the financial performance of the company in long-term.

There are mainly two key strategic issues for the chief operating officer within in an organization such as employee engagement, and staff turnover issues. Additionally, these issues can decline the performance of an organization:

The employee engagement becomes a major issue for the organization because of declining the financial performance in long-term. There are three major reasons of employee engagement issues such as internal communication, recognition, and training and development. At the same time, it can be said that chief operating officer is responsible for the employee engagement issues within in an organization. The factors of employee engagement are discussed as below:

The internal communication refers to the conversation among the employees within the organization appropriately. Additionally, it can be said that lack of internal communication can decline the financial performance of an organization in long-term. Moreover, the inappropriate communication can create the employee engagement issue, which can also generate the problem for the company.

The Training and development can also affect the employee engagement. Additionally, effective training and development can enhance the performance of company while inappropriate training and development programme can decline the growth of the organization. In addition to this, it can also be said that companies do not understand the importance of training and development, which can create the employee engagement issue within an organization.      

The staff turnover also becomes a big issue for the organization because it declines the growth as well as productivity. In additionally, “Shopz for Us” enhance their employee turnover rate due to follow inappropriate activity within an organization. Consequently, it can be a major problem for the organization. At the same time, it can also be said that the staff turnover is increased by some significant reasons such as employee dissatisfaction, inappropriate behavior of senior management and imbalance work-life. Other factors are and lack of skills, organizational instability, and lack of growth opportunities. Additionally, it can be said that these factors enhance the rate of staff turnover (Goleman, et al., 2013).     

Strategies to Overcome Key Strategic Issues

The chief operating officer can use different methods to overcome the key strategies issues appropriately. These are discussed as below:

The employee engagement can be significant to improve the performance as well as the culture of an organization in the upcoming period. There are different factors that generally not exist in the organization, which can create the employee engagement issues such as yearly survey, lack of face to face communication, bonus, perks, and suggestion.  

Therefore, an organization can create a culture where workforces accomplish their allocated task or goal in a positive manner. At the same time, they also believe to develop their skills by communicating with expertise, which will be effective to obtain the favorable outcome.  

An organization can collect the feedback from the employees about their working culture and work, which will be effective to make a positive image in the employee’s mind. Additionally, it can be said that the collection of feedback shows that the opinion and view of employees are significant for the organization. At the same time, the chief operating officer makes a comfortable environment to easily collect the actual opinion and view of employees towards the company as well as their assigned work.   

The personal development and professional growth are significant for the employees as well as organization consequently it helps to obtain the positive outcome in long-term. In addition, in case, employees avoids to the personal development then, it will decline the interest of employees to accomplish the task of organization. As a result, there will be high probability of declining professional growth. Therefore, COO should communicate with employees and create awareness among them regarding the importance of personal development.

The COO of an organization should concentrate on different factors such as limitless vacations, flex period, paternal leave, and work from home. As a result, it will support to make a positive environment along with making a robust relationship with employees in long-term. 

The chief operating officer should consider the opinion, and view of the employees in decision making process. Therefore, the officer should make transparency between the employee and organization because it enables the organisation to engage the employees towards their work.           

The COO can also communicate about information and vision with each employee of the organization. Additionally, the officer can also discuss organization values of the organization together with supporting the employees to connect with the core values of the organization. It will be supportive to easily accomplish the task of company appropriately. It can also eliminate the issues of employee engagement.       

Conclusion

Chief operating officer identifies the goal of the organization and discusses with everyone to accomplishing the task in long term. The COO also determines the roles and responsibilities of each employee to successfully accomplish the task of the company. The COO can also clear the confusion of employees regarding their responsibilities and also inspire them to accomplish the task. The clear goal-setting scheme can make a link between the top management and lower level employees, which will support to engage the employees in long-term.  

The staff turnover can affect the performance of the organization in long-term. The following factors indicate the ways to overcome the staff turnover:

The selection of appropriate employees can also reduce the probability of staff turnover. Additionally, the human resource team can clarify the roles and responsibilities of a candidate for their organization as well as clarify the goal or working culture of the organization. It will be supportive to select the appropriate candidate for the organization.    

An organization has needed to provide the suitable or fare compensation to their employees as it will retain the employee in long term. At the same time, the appropriate compensation can be supportive to make a positive image in the customer’s mind, which will decline the turnover in long-term.

An organization can also create the kindness and appreciation amid the employees to retain them in long-term. Further, an organization can provide the opportunity to make a link with another employee by implementing the acts of gratitude and kindness. Consequently, it will support to make a healthier environment at the working place. At the same time, it will also supportive to make a stress-free environment.    

An organization can also provide the recognition and reward to their employees, which shows their success and efforts regarding the company. The reward should be tangible because it will create the long-term relationship with employees.   

An organization should also provide the flexible environment to their employee, it can retain the employees in long-term. On behalf of the current scenario, it is found that approximately 77% executive and 85% of workforce seeks that comfortable environment has a direct impact on the employee retention. Additionally, organization should provide flexible working culture, working hour, and location to their employees, as it will reduce staff turnover.    

Happiness is very important to perform any kind of activity within the organization. At the same time, it can be said that a happy employee can perform better as compared to the unhappy employee. Therefore, the organization should focus on making the happy environment in the organization. It influences some significant factors such as alignment, job satisfaction, and absenteeism. Further, it can also be said that a happy employee can increase the productivity by retaining within an organisation in long-term.      

An organization should provide the opportunities to their employees for the personal development and professional growth in long-term. Therefore, an organization should make strategies to personal development, as it will improve the performance of an organization. 

An organization can also make an environment where each employee respects each other along with organization also care about the esteem of employees. As a result, it will be supportive to retain the employee as well as making a robust relationship within the organization (Northouse, 2015). 

References

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. USA: Sage public.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. USA: Harvard Business Press.