Investigating how Businesses work Essay

IntroductionFor this assignment I am investigating how attach and Spencer plc works, and I testamenting look at its aims and objectives, functional areas, practice law, conversation methods and organisational grammatical construction of the community. label and Spencer is a publicly owned comp any in the retail sector. It is in the retail indus afflict and is a erect company. The company has been running for many years. mark and Spencer is one of the UKs leading retailers of clothing, foods, homeware and financial works. It serves 10 million nodes a week over 300 UK stores.Aims and objectivesAll businesses fool aims, this upholds them achieve and r individu each(prenominal)(prenominal)y their targets to collapse their business successful.Therefore tag and Spencers aim is to attract the customers with appealing, superior quality products at attractive prices. They do this by creating exclusive products for the customers. The company aims to put the customer setoff in e precisething they do and offer the highest values of customer care in order to satisfy them.In order to achieve the aims, businesses need to decide what objectives to take to help them. According to tag and Spencers objectives are to1. Deliver the agreed minimum customer service standards2. Carry out and develop fresh systems3. Reduce theft and loss4. Create a visu ally exciting store5. Permit pile6. cleanse effectiveness through managing risk7. Recruit the sound quite a little to provide service standards8. Deliver customer focused trainingFunctional AreasIn large businesses people work as a team in order to help the business run smoothly and in effect, they work together in divergent functional areas which relate to them.Businesses have these functional areas to help them achieve their aims and objectives.I will be looking at four functional areas, which are1. mankinde Resources2. Finance3. Marketing and gross cut-rate sales4. AdministrationHuman ResourcesHuman Resource s are involved with the staffs that work for the company. The staffs in this area are important because they are part responsible for keeping the business successful.The Human Resources staffs are involved in* Recruitment* Working conditions* Health and safety* Training and development* Employee organisations and conglutinationsRecruitmentVa female genitalscies for Marks and Spencer are mainly advertised in recruitment agencies, local or national newspaper, local traffic centres and careers offices. Marks and Spencer has a company policy to reaction to every application sent. These applications are filed for 3 months and then are destroyed so applicants will have to reapply every 12 weeks.There are triple ways to apply for a position in store steering. You must be every a graduate/undergraduate with a degree or HND and GCSE Maths and English grade C+. For school or college leavers, with A Levels and GCSE Maths and English C+.Marks and Spencer look for people with high standards , who will enjoy working in the retail environment and they look for people who are good with customers or at customer service and people who will work harmoniously in a team.Working ConditionsMarks and Spencer has several of working conditions, these intromit holiday entitlement, hours of work, pay etc.All staff, including temporary and permanent, is entitle to a holiday each year. This holiday entitlement runs from April 1st to March 31st. You can take a holiday if you have a contract of 13 weeks or more(prenominal).Marks and Spencer has a store policy that all staff should plan and book their holiday in advance because the store operates on a send-off come first serve basis. They need to book their holiday before to avoid any disappointments.Health and SafetyMany health services at Marks and Spencer are provided for the staff such as the staff doctor, store dentist and smear tests for the young-bearing(prenominal) staff.The staff doctor att send aways the store regularly to help and give advice. All staff is entitled to make an appointment if they wish to down the doctor.Every 6 months the store dentist likewise attends the store for a routine check. He will recommend treatment to staff if needed. A private medical is in stock(predicate) to all permanent staff.Cervical smears are available for the female staff and wives of male employees every 3 years.Training and DevelopmentMarks and Spencer provide staff with training opportunities. The NVQ programme was one of the largest training programmes they had.At Marks and Spencer, people skills are important whoever you come into contact with, such as customers, suppliers or members of the staff.Employee Organisations and Trade UnionsThe employees do not officially have union representation, but are entitled to join a union if they wish to. The company wishes all its contacts with unions to be conducted in a decent and co-operative manner.It is illegal for management to interfere with the right of an ind ividual to belong to an independent union as defined in the Trade Union and Labour traffic routine 1976.The types of job roles in human resources are origin Title Job RoleHuman resources Managing the HR department and staff, involved withManager industrial relations and look at unions negotiations,Implementing the organisations HR policies.Training/staff Responsible for training and staff development.developmentHealth and safety Over memoriseing all the health and safety matters andOfficer monitoring strength/staffing Keeping staff records, monitoring staff welfare officeholderHR administrative Administrative work relating to the human resourcesAssistants function.FinanceBusinesses need to manage and check off the money coming in and going out of the business. They also need to understand this information in order to plan what to do next and to see if they need to make any changes.All businesses deal with* Preparing accounts* Paying wages and salaries* Obtaining capital and reso urces.The major sources of finance include back profits, dispenses, banking facilities, hire purchase/leasing and treat credits.Preparing accountsThe finance staffs at Marks and Spencer have to deal with a vomit up of activities related to checking and recording of all amounts of money received and paid. These are entered into an account each customer has.When money is being received it is banked as soon as possible and also is checked carefully and recorded against each item exchange and against each customers account.Every Business including Marks and Spencer has to pay its own bills. They will owe money for raw materials used in the correct of a product and for the services it uses.Paying wages and salariesWages and Salaries are done by a computerised procedure. Marks and Spencer pay their staff monthly reign over into their bank account, using a system called credit transfer.The companys bank transfers money to all the employees accounts.The bank keeps payroll records, whi ch shows how much each staff earns and how much they are meant to be paid, this helps the bank to transfer the right amount of money into the staff account.Obtaining capital and resourcesCapital is the money the owner puts into Marks and Spencer. This will be needed when the business starts trading. The money buys all the requirements Marks and Spencer needs. When the business starts to trade and make a profit, the profit is used to buy new stock to sell and also saved incase the company wants to buy new equipment.The job roles in finance areJob Title Job RoleFinance Director Giving advice to senior managers on the overall financialPolicy of the organisation.Financial Manager Managing the finance function and staff.Advising on financial resources.Management Producing continuous financial information forAccountant managementCredit controller Advising on credit policies. Ensuring that money owing tothe company is kept inside agreed levels.Payroll Responsible for overseeing the company payroll andAdministrator salary/wage section.Ledger Clerks Assist the chief accountant in the recording of allfinancial transactions.Marketing and salesBusinesses carry out a range of activities to identify the customers needs and then try to provide for them.These activities include* Market research* Promotion* sales promotionMarket ResearchMarks and Spencer has a separate department, which is involved with market research. Market research deals with customer feedback and external agencies. Other types of market research that are used at Marks and Spencer are through credit card, database, direct mailing, and telephone and through the customer services department. Market research can be carried out through primary and secondary research.PromotionMarks and Spencer have to decide how to promote their products, this unremarkably depends on the type of product or service they want to promoteMarks and Spencer advertise its promotion through corporate advertising, for example with se asonal products deal strawberries in the summer.The major markets are the consumer markets worldwide but Marks and Spencer find their main shoppers are middle aged, middle class and female.Sales PromotionSales promotions are campaigns, which offer additional discounts and attract customers to try a new a product. Sale promotions at Marks and Spencer include offering free samples of food, special discounts and offers. Marks and Spencer set up campaigns for a few reasons such as attracting more buyers but mainly if a new product is not change as well as it should be then the campaign is set up.The major customers for the products are the general public.The job roles involved in Marketing and Sales areJob Title Job RoleMarketing director Responsible for the overall marketing function and its aimsand objectives.Sales manager Responsible for sales staff and the achievement of salestargets, often within the UK.Advertising In charge with advertising and agency staff overManager publicit y campaign. trade manager Responsible for overseas agents and the achievement of sales targets overseas.Market Find out consumer opinions on current and proposalResearchers goods and services.Order clerks Accept and process sale ordersAdministrationThe presidency function helps a business run smoothly from day to day and keeping things up to date. It covers a moment of different tasks including* clerical work, collecting mail, keeping records, organising oppositions, responding to enquiries* Cleaning, maintenance and securityClerical workEvery day Marks and Spencer would receive telephone calls that need to be answered, mails that needs enterprisingness and replying, a list of tasks to do, visitors that arrive at the reception some without a appointment, Fax messages, documents to sort out and need to prepare and documents that need updating etc.Every morning Marks and Spencer receive a number of mails, these mails are then screen out correctly, date stamped then delivered to d ifferent departments and individual staff. Marks and Spencer also arrange for their mail to be collected to sent out at a certain clipping.Marks and Spencer receive enquiries from a variety of people, companies and also some other people from inside the organisation departments. Marks and Spencer try to answer these enquiries quickly with correct information.Marks and Spencer has a large amount of documents produce by organisations such as forms, fax/telephone messages, letters and reports. These documents are then filed and some are stored in the computer.Cleaning and maintenanceMarks and Spencer employ cleaners to do routine cleaning duties. Some employees do the basic cleaning and the others dont. If a cleaner is off sick, the supplier has to replace them as part of their contract. securityMarks and Spencer security staff are not employed by the company but by a specialist security steady. The responsibility of the firm is training and supply.The security staffs are responsibl e for patrolling the premises.The job roles involved in Administration areJob Title Job RoleAdministration Managing the administration operations of theManager organisation.Company A senior executive responsible for all legal affairs of thesecretary company, dealing with shareholders, insurance andorganising meetings.IT manager Managing all the IT requirements of the company, includingEquipment and advising on future needs.PA/secretarial Responsible for providing secretarial and administrativeStaff support, usually to senior managers.Equal opportunities and trading legislationRecruiting and keeping the right employees is important to every business. Both employers and employees have rights and responsibilities.These are safeguarded by employment law, not only by employee organisations and unions.The 4 main Acts are1. The Employment Rights Act 19962. The Sex Discrimination Act 19753. The Race Relations Act 19764. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995The Employment Rights Act 1996Th is act establishes a wide range of rights that employees have when they are being employed, for example* The right to a contract of employment must be given within two months of starting employment and must include details such as name of employee and employer, date when employment began, rate of pay and when its imputable, hours of work, sick pay etc.* All female employees have the right to maternity leave, this can be up to 29 weeks and also can return to work afterwards.* Employees have the right to take fourth dimension off to look for a new job, attending interviews and still be paid.* Employees have the right not to be unfairly dismissed.* Employees have the right to surplusage payments if an employee is dismissed because the job is no lifelong available.The Sex Discrimination Act 1975This act makes it illegal for anyone to be discriminated against someone on the grounds of gender either directly or indirectly. In employment this applies to recruitment and selection for job s and promotion, training the way you are treated in a job, dismissal and redundancy.The Race Relations Act 1976This act makes it unlawful to discriminate against people of colour, race, nationality or ethnic origin. In the track of employment it is unlawful to discriminate in the arrangements for employment, which are* In the interview or advisements* In the terms of employment* By refusing employment because of colour, race, nationality or ethnic origin.* In promotion and training* By dismissing a personThe Disability Discrimination Act 1995This act is concerned with discrimination against people with disabilities in employment. The disability may be physical, sensory or mental but must be relatively long-term. Employers must not treat a disabled person less favourable than others.Employers must be prepared to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace to help the disabled person do the job. Disabled persons who suffer discrimination can complain to an employment tribunal. downs tairs are some examples of how employees at Marks and Spencer are protected by these Acts1st exampleA female staff from Marks and Spencer was pregnant and she was due to a maternity leave as agreed on for 30 weeks, she carried on working for a couple of weeks before she was due to the leave. When she took that leave, it happened to be longer than she thought, she had to take an extra few weeks of and when she came back, the job was still there for her.2nd exampleNew black female staffs were starting work at Marks and Spencer. On her first day, she needed to be trained and taught about the health and safety matters, this had to be done by a health and safety officer from Marks and Spencer. When she met the officer, he wasnt very welcoming and didnt seem pleased. He showed her around but the woman thought he wasnt explaining very clearly and she was worried because she wouldnt know exactly what to do if there was a fire, so she reported this to the employer and it seemed that he didnt give her the full instructions, so another officer had to be arranged to train her.3rd exampleA man applied for a job at Marks and Spencer, he was unsure whether he would get the job because of his disability problem but when they called him in for an interview he was surprised. They discussed his disability problem and the arrangements for him to work, so in the end they gave him a part time job, which he was very pleased about.CommunicationPeople working in different functional areas have to communicate with each other as well as with people outside the business such as customers and suppliers. In order to keeps the business running smoothly and effectively they need to keep the other people in the business well informed, to do this they might useInternal ExternalTelephone Telephone netmail E-mailPager AdvertisementFace to face InternetAdvertisement FaxInterview LetterMemo Video conferencingNoticeIntranetMeetingMarks and Spencer Internal methods of communication to different func tional areas are the telephone, email, fax machine, verbal meetings and appointments and also video conferencing, which are used around the country to save time on travelling and costs.The management team spend a high amount of time on the sales floor visiting various sections to see supervisors and staff.Marks and Spencer external communications include letters received from the charities, they receive about 10,000 appeals for support every year.External communications also include projection work, Equal opportunities and also the company support projects, which help the elderly and the young and also people with special needs and those who require help in the members of the community. collect to the rising number of communications throughout the company, the communication problems have been encountered and one of the biggest problems has been to ensure everyone is informed. Due to the speed of the business, Marks and Spencer have to ensure that all the staffs try to ensure profes sional communication by being prepared and organised.The developments Marks and Spencer now have in mind is to improve and make communications more better through e-mail, to improve the in store telephone and the bleep systems such as changing to mobile phones and a speed dial cyberspace system.Below is a diagram showing how the functional areas communicate with each other externally and internally.Functional Type of Reason whyArea communicationHuman -Telephone ConfidentialityResources -face to face Urgent-Letter Fast and easy to use-Meeting Saves time to talk to individualsFinance -Letter Security -E-mail Confidentiality-Meeting Get feedback from people quickAdministration -Fax can be kept for future reference-Letter evidence and can be copied.-Email convenient while on the computerMarketing and -Meeting Group discussion, more ideas to shareSalesDifferent functional areas use different communicational methods to communicate with each other, this is because employers need to know w hich type of communication to use for each purpose. For example, human resources might use the telephone or letter to communicate with a different functional area because it might be privy, this way no confidential information is being reached out of the organisation. And also if a letter is being used, this can be kept for future reference and hard evidence for any purpose.Another type of communication is a meeting this can save a lot of time and can get feedback from the people at the meeting immediately. Meetings also save time on having to discuss things individually.These types of communication can help Marks and Spencer achieve their aims and objectives, one of the main aims of Marks and Spencer is to put the customers first and to offer the highest values in customer care to satisfy them.To achieve this aim, Marks and Spencer keep the flow of information within the company, they keep the right people informed with up to date information so that when customers ask for certain information it will be as accurate as possible.The Marketing and Sales functional area keep the staff informed about the current range and prices of products for the benefit of the customers. When an order is being received, they pass it on to be sorted in order. To meet the needs of the customers, the staffs listens to what customers have to say whether it is a good or bad thing and take that into account.Staff at Marks and Spencer has meetings to discuss any problems whether concerning about the customers or other matters so they can solve the problem maybe for the benefit of the customers who shop at Marks and Spencer.Organisational Structure of Marks and SpencerTo make the business run successfully without any chaos, they organise their employees in functional areas and section so they know what to do.This helps the business to make decisions and carry them out. Every business has its own way of structure.Hierarchy StructureMarks and Spencer organisational structure of the busi ness is a hierarchy structure, which is tall and has a number of levels. This type of structure may be large but also has some disadvantages as well as advantages within this structure.Below are the advantages and disadvantages.Advantages* empty job role and lines of responsibility* Each level will have different opinions so therefore more ideas* Clear pay structure* A large number of colleagues* A range of facilities* Good promotionDisadvantages* Slow communication flow. If any staffs require information, this could take time.* Slow reaction to changes and challenges because many people have to be informed whether decisions or changes were going to be made.* Staff at a lower level may feel the manager at the top has no idea what they think or doFlat StructureHere is an organisational structure of a small company.As you can see, this structure is small and does not have many levels. This type of structure is called a Flat structure. This is very much different to the Marks and Spen cer structure because Marks and Spencer is a large company.From the diagram structure we can tell that the company is rather small and has fewer levels. But there are also some advantages as well as disadvantages within this structure.Below are a list of the advantages and disadvantages of a flat structure.Advantages* Communication is quicker and more accurate* Good at responding quickly to new ideas and customer needs* Operate quite easily* Less management cost* Flexible working hoursDisadvantages* Business is small* No one to share ideas with* May experience problems with shortage of staff if business is expanding.