This report provides a brief description of an electronic business activity which is generating revenue of an organization and is also an integral part of the financial model of the organization, the e-business system known as www.ebay.co.uk, emphasising on work system principle "Please the participant" along with the brief description of the work system snapshot diagram. The decisive function and boundaries of technology in the system is also discussed in detail. The strength and assessment of the e-business system for accomplishing the desired business goals is assessed. A questionnaire is also provided to evaluate the system from the participant's point of view.
1.1) Background and history
Ebay.co.uk came to existence in the UK in October 1999, ebay.co.uk is the UK's largest online marketplace. eBay is an online platform, which facilitates meeting of sellers and buyers with similar needs and enables them to do a successful business transaction. There are 14,000+ categories to suit the needs of buyers. eBay is one of the popular sites all around the world. In essence eBay is UK's largest e-commerce website with audience of 13.2 million February in 2008. (Nielsen / Net ratings, February 2008)
2) Work system framework and work system snapshot
An online marketplace like Ebay can be viewed as a work system. In this work system on eBay, buyers have two options when making a purchasing decision, they can either bid or use the buy it now option (which is a fix price) and is more similar to any other online marketplace. The system facilitates the sellers to upload pictures of the items and describe the item. Depending on the category there are default item descriptions, which the seller has to complete on the item in addition to special features the product might have. Therefore there is a standard format to follow when listing a product to be sold. (Alter 2007) While using any system it is very important to analyse it and measure its competence and compatibility with the whole business model. The concept of work organism enables us to evaluate any automated or non-automated structure used in the business setting. Alter (2007) states that "A work system is a system in which human participants and/or machines perform a business process using information, technology, and other resources to produce products and/or services for internal or external customers." Ebay uses a web based system to sell anything on the internet. To analyse this system the work structure skeleton of this system will be emphasised. However, first the work structure framework will be analysed in general. The work system framework offers a motionless view of the work system. It includes the vital eight elements which are constructive in unfolding and evaluating the work system. The work system itself consists of four elements: business process, participants, information and technology. However, for the absolute considerate of the work system four more rudiments are included in the work system framework those are: Products and services, Customers, infrastructure and context. Now, each element of the work system framework of Ebay will be looked at in factor.
2.1) Customers: Alter (2007 p.46) states that, "The customers are the people who use and receive direct benefits from the products and services produced by the work system. They may be external customers who receive the organization's products and/or services or they may be internal customers inside the organization." Ebay provides an electronic platform where buyers and sellers meet and do a trading transaction on the internet. The buyers and sellers include customers like students, households, institutions etc whereas the shipping is done by the seller.
2.2) Products & services: Alter (2007 p.46) defines product and services as "The combination of physical things, information, and services that the work system produces for its customers. It also explains each order procedure in detail. The purchaser gets an acknowledgement of his order after placing the order. On a broad level Ebay offers two kinds of products namely "Buy It Now" and "Bid Now" in which the customer may use any of the product to create a successful trading transaction since the products which are actually sold are offered by the sellers. Also the products offering of Ebay provide a support function which enables buyer or seller to enter into a trading transaction. Thus, all these things are grouped under the heading of product and services of the onine based work system of Ebay.
2.3) Business process: "The business process is the set of work steps or activities that are performed within the work system." (Alter 2007 p.46) there are several steps which takes place in the web based system of the Ebay, these are explained in details.
First the seller logs on the Ebay website and chooses whether the product or service is to be offered through "Buy It Now" option or "Bid Now" Option, after which the seller uploads the product information including shipping details, price, image etc. In the second step the seller chooses a time period for which the product will be listed on the website and makes the payment accordingly based on the time however free option is also available. In the third step the seller chooses some keywords that best describes the product or a predefined category so that the buyer can find the product. Once the aforesaid process is complete the buyer can then search the listed product and transact accordingly as per the details mentioned by the seller.
2.4) Participants: Participants perform the steps in the business process. Few of them use information technology extensively, whereas others may use little or no technology. (Alter 2007) In the work system of Ebay participants are Students, households, institutions because they use the online application system to enter the order. However the developers of Ebay can also be considered as the participants as they update the Ebay ecommerce system on a continues basis to ensure a user friendly environment of the ecommerce and the business system.
2.5) Information: Information is used by the participants to perform their work. Some of the information may be computerised. However, all the information may never be captured on a computer. (Alter 2007) In Ebay the purchaser uses the information about each product on the internet which is been put by the seller and then decides what to order. Information about each order is also red by purchaser before making any decision. Ebay provides a platform which is integrated in the business system where in the buyer or seller may see the purchase history and related information about each customer before accepting the order. The purchaser needs a complete update of the status of his order thus, it can be found on the Ebay's website as updated by the seller.
2.6) Technology: "The technology is the hardware, software, and other tools and equipment used by the participants while doing their work" (Alter 2007 p.46) Ebay uses various aspects of technology in its work system. For instance, integration of seller's payment gateway software and web based application form. The purchaser also uses personal computer to enter the order.
2.7) Context: The context is the organizational, competitive, technical, and regulatory realm within which the work system operates. (Alter 2007 p.46) Organisations policies and culture also plays important role in its performance. For instance, Ebay has a policy that they will enable the buyer to rate the seller which will enable future buyer to know
2.8) Infrastructure: Alter (2007) states that Infrastructure as human, technical and informational recourses that the work system relies on even though these recourses exist outside it. In Ebay, the programming language used by the order processing software is one good example.
Work System Snapshot Diagram
3) Evaluation and role of technology component of the e-business system
Technology plays a crucial role in achieving the e-business objectives of an organisation. Alter (2007) describes technology as "technology includes tools (such as cell phones and software) and techniques (such as management by objectives and optimization) that work system participants use while doing their work". Ebay uses the web based shopping cart and auction processing system which enables the customers to purchase the products directly from the seller. There are many advantages and disadvantages of technology. The advantages will be looked at first. By selling directly to the customer Ebay as a middleman ensures that the buyer gets the best deals by providing thousands of sellers to choose from. Thus, the price of a product is less than its competitors. The disadvantages are as follows, By using web based system, Ebay and the sellers can not establish personal contact with the customer which may result in customer not being loyal to the particular seller. Customer using the web base system may have to fill the same information many times which they might find time monotonous. (Alter 2007) Security and privacy are the key issues which stop the customers from buying products online. (laudon and Laudon 2002) The purchasers may not get answer to all of their questions by reading the information provided about a particular product on the website. So they might decide not to purchase that product. The buyer finds it easy to decide when it comes to purchasing popular and known products. However, they find it difficult to buy a new product launched by the same company. (Alter 2007) Any Company may design a new web based system or make some modifications to the existing system when they launch a new product. However, sometime company abandons a product and the work based system becomes ineffective. Ebay has different websites for different countries this is because of many issues. For instance, terminology may differ from country to country. Lack of basic infrastructure may result in slow internet speed in some countries which will make the website slow for everyone. Legal issues will be different in different countries and will cause problems for the e business system. (Laudon and Laudon 2007) Improvements in technology will only result in desired results if the technology is fully integrated with the other elements of the work system. Alter (2007) states that there are three viewpoints about work system which uses Information technology extensively. First, focus on business result. Second, focus on people and organisation. Third, focus on technology and information. Each of these viewpoints is important but an extra focus on any one will result in blind spots. Over emphasis on technology sometimes generates technical solutions to some technical problems which have little impact on business results and internal environment of organization. (Alter 2007)
4) Principal Based System Analysis (PBSA) for Ebay's work system
PBSA enables commerce professionals to explore any business work structure from a business perspective. An accurate loom to the analysis will result in business expert understanding the business situation completely. (Alter 2007) PBSA has three steps. First, define the problem. Second, use the principles to explore the situation and identify possible improvements. Third, decide upon a recommendation for action. Define the problem embrace the purpose for investigation of system. This report will look at the order processing work system of Ebay from customer's point of view. Second step in the PBSA consists of applying the seven work system principles to explore the circumstances as this report will look at all the primary in short except third principle "Pleasing the participants" There are seven work system principal stated by Alter (2007)
Please the customer: This principal helps to evaluate the causes of customer dissatisfaction and to what extent the current product pleases the customer.
Perform the work efficiently: This principal helps to evaluate the business process element of the work system framework
Serve the participants: This principal not only helps to estimate the role of participants in work system framework but also looks at the internal work done by employees in an efficient and effective manner. As per Alter 2007, if this principle followed correctly then it may escort the finding that work system participants are up in arms about impulsive private work schedules that have caused family exertion. The original problem statement may have focused on customer dissatisfaction, technical problems, or alike situation. Therefore recommendation through this kind of principle should involving dissatisfied personnel, since if the ebay personnel are in stress and is dissatisfied then they may result in dissatisfied customer. Ebay has to make sure that they have enough staff to reduce stress and work load. Ebay should also make sure that buyer safety program is well implemented and the disputes department should consist of well educated and highly qualified personnel in order to reduce the disputes between buyer and seller. Ebay should also take some necessary step to make sure that the buyer receives the product information correct and it should not be misleading and they should keep a check that the seller should not dispatched an item which is not been ordered in lieu of what was ordered and that too in exact condition as mentioned on the website by the seller.
Create value for information: This principal is used to evaluate the problems related to information element of work system framework.
Minimise the efforts consumed by technology: This principal helps to understand the problems related to the technology part of the work system framework
Deploy infrastructure as genuine resource : This principal is used to evaluate the infrastructure of the work system
Minimize unintended conflicts and risk: This principal is used to evaluate the context of the work system
5) Questionnaire
The questionnaire provided in the appendix is targeted towards the sellers. The objective of the questionnaire is to know whether the online order processing system is user friendly or not and the information provided about each product is sufficient. The questionnaire is designed using verity of question types and kept short for the sellers to complete it in ten minutes.
Conclusion
While wrapping up it has been analysed from the report that the valuation of the work system is of chief significance, for industry specialist to augment the performance of that system. As by searching the problems in the system, business professionals can address those issues and provide recommendations accordingly. Another reason for the assessment of system is to elucidate information technology. (Alter 2007) Technology plays an important role in fulfilling organisations objectives but it has few limitations as well. If the technology is not integrated properly with the whole system then it will impact the business results. The questionnaire provided will evaluate the web based order processing system of the Dell Inc from the consumer's perspective and will help Dell Inc to find out whether the system is user friendly or not.
