Understanding the role of organisations free essay sample

Understanding the role of the organisation Identify the organisation and give a brief description of it. Tesco is a British multinational supermarket operating in over 12 different countries worldwide including republic of Ireland, turkey, Poland, Japan, china, and the US. and employing over 530,000 people. It was founded by Jack Cohen in 1919 in east end London and since then on has grown considerably becoming the third largest retailer in the world. Describe the products/services of that organisation Originally known for being a groceries store Tesco’s has expanded into other area’s including electrical, home ware, and even clothing. There are also many different services such as Tesco Bank, which provides insurance, loans, credit cards and mortgages. Other services such as mobile, and broadband. Five different stores home plus, express, metro, extra, superstore. Identify the customers and define the needs. Tesco’s aim to provide all customers with value for money products and to get lifetime loyalty to keep customers coming back to Tesco’s time after time. Three areas that we know matter to many of our customers are: price and value; multichannel and convenience; and trust. (tescoplc. com). Tesco’s regularly ask their customers for their opinions via surveys, and a shopper’s thoughts panel to establish their needs. They want food that is value for money and at their convenience. Tesco consumers cater for on average 51 % of the adult population from all socio-economic and age groups particularly performing well with families and 18-44 age groups. (designintelligence. co. uk). Offering Tesco own value products, frequent offers and savings on buying two instead of one etc. They also have Tesco’s finest for the more up market customers, and organic produce for the healthy customers. Describe the purpose, goals, targets and financial structure of the organisation. Tesco has changed their purpose in reflection to the huge change in our society to see large business and organisations help in tackling some of the world’s challenges. A simple purpose of what they stand for†¦ is ‘We make what matters better, together’. One of their goals is to reduce CO2 emissions in their existing stores. At the end of 2012/13, they achieved a reduction of 32. 5% and their 2020 goal is to achieve a 50% reduction in emissions per square foot. Every organisation has a goal to what kind of organisation they want to be and what they aim to achieve. Tesco’s vision is â€Å"to be the most highly valued business by the customers we serve, the communities in which we operate, our loyal and committed customers, and of course our shareholders’. The structure of Tesco is a hierarchy one. There are many layers to the organisation with each member reporting to a more senior person directly responsible for that department who then report directly to their manager and so on all the way to the top. Each function/department within Tesco has its own finance team who do cost analysis, performance monitoring and setting targets. These teams include financial reporting, treasury management, audit, and taxation team. Each of these teams is reportable to a finance director. Tesco is comprised of the chairman Sir Richard Broadbent and executive and non-executive directors. The chief financial officer Laurie Mcllwee who was appointed to the board in January 2009 and has the responsibility of identifying financial risks, which areas of the company is most efficient, budgeting and forecasting the company’s future success. Over the next couple of years they will be focusing on 3 main objectives to continue the growth of Tesco by allocating their capital of around 4% of their sales. They will divide this budget between 1. Continuing to invest in a strong UK business 2. Establishing multichannel leadership in all of our markets 3. Pursuing disciplined international growth (http://www. tescoplc. com/index. asp? pageid=546) Use the PESTLE approach to identify a minimum of 4 factors including legal and regulatory frameworks and explain their impact on that organisation. Technological factors The introduction to new technological devices or systems now used in stores and warehouses are beneficial to both the customers and Tesco improving customer service and to improving work efficiencies. For example self-service checkouts introduced recently to Tesco’s make it more convenient for customer’s to pay for their goods. This reduces costs to the business by reducing the number of staff needed. And also reduces waiting time of customers in queues. Other devices such as RF scanners, electronic shelf labelling and more other wireless devices. Environmental factors Includes working together and taking responsibility for the contribution to environmental issues such as global warming, use of resources etc. This involves ensuring policies are set in place to recycle and encourage others to recycle as well and think about wastage and packaging in production. Social/Culture factors Over the past several years the British population has seen a shift in their lifestyle and eating habits and are now increasingly surrounded by the need for healthy eating. Because of this sudden change in consumer demand, Tesco’s has adapted its product range to stock organic produce in order to fulfil customer needs. Political Factors During this difficult time of high levels of unemployment throughout the UK and the rest of the world governments are encouraging business like Tesco’s to help create job opportunities for the local people aiming to reduce unemployment figures including lower paid, and flexible working for different type of people such as the disabled, students and other citizens. Describe the structure and at least 4 functions of the organisation. Organisational structure’s can vary from business to business, depending on the type and size. Each organisation is divided into functions such as Finance, Personnel, Operations, and Marketing etc. These functions are made of individuals who play a key part in making the organisation a success. Tesco’s is a very large organisation with a Hierarchical structure. There are many different layers from the top director of the company right down to the sales team with the stores. With each person directly reported to a line manger with that function/department. Geography where it will have regional and area managers being held accountable of individual stores within that area with the key aim to maximise profit will also break down Tesco’s and other retailers. Each store will then also be divided down by department such as Clothing, Frozen foods, bakery, electrical etc all managed by a team leader. The function of the Security Loss prevention team is to ensure the safe and secure environment for both customers and colleagues. This consists of each store having a loss prevention manager and sometimes a security manager as addition to oversee any potential security issues and find solutions to solve these problems and protect the customer’s asset/profit. The Marketing function involves a number of roles including analysing other competitors, reviewing the store’s layout and range. Driving promotions and prices with high profile advertising from TV adverts, promotional banners within stores etc to customers receiving emailing and vouchers. Its aim is to entice more customers into the stores by promoting the products that they sell. The Personnel function is to make everyone understands the processes and policies and have all the leadership’s skills necessary to achieve the organisations goals. They do everything from training and developing staff, communicating benefits to colleagues, to performance and reward management. The I. T department is a very important part of the organisation as everything involves technology and we heavily rely on it to carry out daily duties. For example the I. T department are responsible for making sure the systems are user friendly for both customers and staff i. e. self-service checkouts. They also include systems to check stock control and availability to even systems used within other functions such as the finance, HR, and marketing. Explain how the different functions work together to optimise performance. Each organisation’s success to achieve their goals means that each of the different functions needs to work together and share their expertise. Everything that happens at Tesco’s has a direct effect on each department as they are all very closely linked. For example if Tesco’s decided to sell a different product then it would involve many different areas. Purchasing and supply would be involved to find appropriate suppliers and to consider distributional factors. They would also need to communicate with the finance team to ensure that budgets are stuck too and that it would produce a good return. Knowing what products would sell through consumer research and how they will advertise the new products would all come from the marketing team. Explain the culture of the organisation and at least two ways in which it affects its operation. Culture within an organisation is a mixture of its values, mission, and vision for the business and people’s behaviours, which is communicated out to new team members as exceptions of how they work, or the ways the organisation is run on order to achieve its objectives. Different organisations will have very different cultures in how they treat their staff, their customers and how others perceive this by experience and shared opinions. According to smallbuisness. chron. com Organizational cultures can have varying impacts on employee performance and motivation levels. Oftentimes, employees work harder to achieve organizational goals if they consider themselves to be part of the corporate culture. People make up a large portion of every organisation, which is why they have a very important role for the success of it. In order for an organisation to be successful in achieving its aims, objectives and productivity people must feel valued. A survey by the American psychological association found that ‘A fifth of working Americans do not feel valued by employers and half of this group intend to look for a new job in the next year. ’ Employee’s who don’t enjoy their work are either looking for a new job and are less likely to be productive and in turn do not help towards the success of the organisation. At Tesco’s their culture is†¦. ‘We never take anyone for granted’ Tesco know that customers can shop at any store so their aim is to ensure that they do everything they can to keep customers coming back to them. This means making sure that employee’s give the best customer service they can to offer a great shopping experience. To get the best results out of employee’s its been researched that employee’s must feel happy and valued at work and are then more likely to work better towards company’s objectives. And we know that if we look after our people and treat our colleagues with trust and respect they will look after our customers. (Tesco-careers. com). Tesco’s also encourage their employee’s to develop in their career at Tesco’s ‘A real opportunity to get on’. They are encouraged to work in different areas of the business and broaden their knowledge of the organisation by supporting them with training and development. It is important to develop employee’s to often them motivation and show there are of value to the company. It also helps if as many people know how other functions/department work for succession planning in case of sudden vacancies due to employee’s resigning, or due to sickness. Others can therefore step up into another role as a contingency plan so the business does not suffer whilst recruiting and developing others from outside the business. Identify at least three ways in which HRM/LD activities support the organisation in meeting its goals and business objectives. HR department support organisations with establishing policies, producing and developing procedures for managing staff and information to help achieve the organisational aims/mission in order for the organisation to succeed. HR professionals ensure that all staff are aware of the expectations of the company and for their job profile. This can be communicated through various methods such as team talks, and job descriptions. This helps the staff to know what the organisation expects of them and gives line managers criteria of what to measure their performance against and to highlight any potential development opportunities. Activities such as in depth leaning about the organisations help HR in structuring learning and development programmes. Understanding the objectives of the organisation and how individuals will meet these objectives through training, means better and more relevant training programmes to give staff / management the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out all duties and reach their goals. This gives staff motivation knowing that they have opportunities to progress and also gives managers a guide to keep track of staff development and makes the company run more effectively if all staff are trained to the same standard in line with the company objectives. For example training staff on providing great customer services and selling skills will help increase profit for the company. Activities such as recruiting and selecting the right people with the right skills are key to achieving company objectives and creating a successful business. This involves creating an advertisement to encourage the right candidates for the role, selecting the most skilled and experienced people to help achieve the company’s aims. It is HR responsibilities to produce recruitment procedures such as interviews, and assessments in order to review their capabilities. Identify at least three ways in which HRM and LD professionals support line managers and their staff. Line managers regularly call upon HRM to help them with decision making in what action to take with employees. For example if a line manager had issues with a team members performance. HR would ensure that a fair decision is made for the employee taking an unbiased view, taking into account all facts and correct procedures, and employment laws. HR ensure that line managers and staff have had the correct training to help them to carry out their duties confidently, ensuring that all information is current and up-to-date, even suggesting refresher training if needed. For example health and safety procedures are communicated to all staff through inductions into the workforce but employments laws and policies may change therefore HR will keep management informed that current information and work handbook used must be kept up to date, and staff may need for additional training. HR can help support mangers by suggesting specialised training for managers such as workshops for â€Å"people management skills† HR can help support mangers in providing them with required skills to aid the mangers resolve issues with their own teams. Managers and staff may have had training but have forgotten information or managers may need to check that the information that they are giving staff is accurate and so may wish to call upon to knowledge of HR themselves. HR has many different duties and may not have the resources to answer everyone queries so ensures that information such as policies and procedures are available and easily accessible for staff and employees to read. This releases some of the responsibility of line managers themselves.