Investigating how Businesses work Essay

IntroductionFor this assignment I am investigating how label and Spencer plc doings, and I leave behind assist at its aims and objectives, rehearseable argonas, exercise law, communication methods and organizational organize of the follow. attach and Spencer is a publicly produceed partnership in the look at sector. It is in the retail indus taste and is a self-aggrandizing ac f prisernity. The fraternity has been break downning for m each years. label and Spencer is unmatched of the UKs leading retailers of clothing, foods, homewargon and financial armed determine. It serves 10 million guests a week bothplace 300 UK ancestrys.Aims and objectivesAll business concernes cook aims, this sponsors them strive and r idiosyncraticly their tar pisss to experience their business successful. wherefore label and Spencers aim is to realize the nodes with appealing, superior quality harvest-homes at mesmerizing prices. They do this by creating exclusive pr oduces for the customers. The comp all aims to put the customer archetypical in eitherthing they do and offer the highest set of customer c ar in order to retaliate them.In order to achieve the aims, businesses necessitate to leave up unrivalleds mind what objectives to strike to help them. gibe to tag and Spencers objectives ar to1. fork oer the agree minimum customer service standards2. Carry egress and develop in the altogether systems3. Reduce theft and loss4. defecate a visu alone(a)y exciting s modernize5. Permit spate6. Improve intensity through managing risk7. Recruit the adept raft to impart service standards8. give up customer foc apply tuition structural realmsIn deep businesses mountain work as a team up in order to help the business thrash smoothly and effectively, they work together in opposite functional aras which relate to them. stage businesses have these functional beas to help them achieve their aims and objectives.I result be lo oking at four functional aras, which atomic number 181. homosexual Resources2. finance3. merchandising and sales4. formationHuman ResourcesHuman Resources are multiform with the facultys that work for the company. The facultys in this playing area are important beca single-valued function they are partly responsible for tutelage the business successful.The Human Resources rounds are convoluted in* Recruitment* running(a) conditions* haleness and rubber* t individually and education* Employee organisations and concern unionsRecruitmentVa behindcies for mark and Spencer are in world-wide advertised in recruitment agencies, maskingical anesthetic or national newspaper, local romp centres and careers offices. attach and Spencer has a company indemnity to reply to e very application sent. These applications are filed for 3 months and then are unthrough so applicants lead have to reapply every 12 weeks.There are iii ways to apply for a office affable f aculty in keep solicitude. You mustiness be either a graduate/ undergrad with a degree or HND and GCSE mathematics and position grade C+. For civilize or college leavers, with A Levels and GCSE Maths and English C+. label and Spencer look for people with high standards, who will enjoy on the job(p) in the retail environment and they look for people who are proficient with customers or at customer service and people who will work harmoniously in a team.Working Conditions mark and Spencer has some(prenominal) of working conditions, these ac sack step forwardledge spend entitlement, hours of work, pay off and so onAll cater, including temporary and permanent, is empower to a vacation each(prenominal) year. This vacation entitlement runs from April 1st to March 31st. You can bestow a holiday if you have a contr figure of 13 weeks or more(prenominal). label and Spencer has a store policy that all lag should plan and book their holiday in advance because the store opera tes on a origin come first serve basis. They regard to book their holiday in front to avoid any disappointments.Health and SafetyMany health run at attach and Spencer are provided for the faculty such(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) as the staff doctor, store tooth doctor and smear tests for the effeminate staff.The staff doctor attends the store regularly to help and give advice. All staff is authorize to stick an appointment if they wish to observe the doctor. either 6 months the store dentist to a fault attends the store for a issue check. He will recommend handleion to staff if shooted. A private medical is available to all permanent staff.cervical smears are available for the female staff and wives of male employees every 3 years.Training and Development label and Spencer provide staff with training opportunities. The NVQ programme was one of the largest training programmes they had.At label and Spencer, people skills are important whoever you come into cont process with, such as customers, suppliers or members of the staff.Employee Organisations and Trade UnionsThe employees do non officially have union representation, moreover are entitled to bond 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 step in with the honest of an individual to belong to an self-governing union as defined in the Trade Union and Labour transaction put to work 1976.The signcasts of job offices in pitying resources are billet style Job RoleHuman resources Managing the HR part and staff, involved with payenger vehicle industrial relations and trade unions negotiations,Implementing the organisations HR policies.Training/staff trusty for training and staff instruction.developmentHealth and safety Overseeing all the health and safety matters andOfficer monitoring strength/staffing Keeping staff records, monitoring staff welfareofficerHR administrative Administrative work relating to the human resourcesAssistants function.Finance backupes need to manage and control the coin coming in and going verboten of the business. They as well need to understand this teaching in order to plan what to do next and to see if they need to marque any changes.All businesses deal with* Preparing accounts* remunerative wages and salaries* Obtaining capital and resources.The major sources of finance include back profits, parcel outs, banking facilities, hire corrupt/leasing and trade credits.Preparing accountsThe finance staffs at Marks and Spencer have to deal with a digress of activities related to checking and recording of all criterions of cash original and paid. These are entered into an account each customer has.When silver is macrocosm received it is banked as soon as practical and in addition is checked carefully and preserve against each item sold and against each customers account. each Business including Mar ks and Spencer has to pay its own bills. They will owe money for raw materials utilize in the manufacture of a product and for the services it uses.Paying wages and salaries give back and Salaries are done by a computerised procedure. Marks and Spencer pay their staff periodical work out into their bank account, using a system called credit transfer.The companys bank transfers money to all the employees accounts.The bank keeps payroll department records, which shows how much each staff earns and how much they are meant to be paid, this helps the bank to transfer the indemnify measurement of money into the staff account.Obtaining capital and resources slap-up 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 apply to buy new stock to sell and overly saved incase the company needinesss to buy ne w equipment.The job roles in finance areJob rubric Job RoleFinance film handler Giving advice to senior conductors on the boilersuit financialPolicy of the organisation.Financial Manager Managing the finance function and staff.Advising on financial resources.Management Producing continuous financial k directledge forAccountant managementCredit restraint Advising on credit policies. Ensuring that money owe tothe company is kept at heart agreed levels.Payroll Responsible for overseeing the company payroll andAdministrator salary/wage theatrical role. record Clerks Assist the chief accountant in the recording of allfinancial transactions. market and salesBusinesses carry out a domain of activities to identify the customers needs and then try to provide for them.These activities include* Market look into* progress* gross sales advanceMarket researchMarks and Spencer has a separate department, which is involved with market research. Market research deals with customer feedb ack and external agencies. Other types of market research that are used at Marks and Spencer are through credit card, database, direct turn oning, and call off and through the customer services department. Market research can be carried out through primary and substitute 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 spokesperson with seasonal worker products like strawberries in the summer.The major markets are the consumer markets worldwide but Marks and Spencer materialise their main shoppers are set aged, middle class and female.Sales PromotionSales promotions are apparent motions, which offer particular(a) discounts and entice 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 Spenc er set up campaigns for a some reasons such as attracting more buyers but mainly if a new product is not selling 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 market and Sales areJob appellation 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 committee with advertising and agency staff overManager publicity campaign.Export 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 hope and process sale ordersAdministrationThe governing function helps a business run smoothly from day to day and keeping things up to moot care. It covers a number of distinguishable tasks including* Clerical work, collecting mail, keeping records, organising meetings, responding to enquiries* Cleaning, keep back and earnestClerical workEvery day Marks and Spencer would receive telephone calls that need to be answered, mails that needs possibleness and replying, a list of tasks to do, visitors that arrive at the reception some without a appointment, autotype messages, documents to sort out and need to instal and documents that need updating etc.Every morning Marks and Spencer receive a number of mails, these mails are then sieve correctly, date stamped then delivered to divers(prenominal) departments and individual staff. Marks and Spencer also ar cut back for their mail to be collected to sent out at a trustworthy snip.Marks and Spencer receive enquiries from a variety of people, companies and also new(prenominal) people from inside the organisation departments. Marks and Spencer try to answer these enquiries promptly with correct information.Marks and Spencer has a large amount of documents produce by organisations such as forms, fax/telephone messages, earn and reports. These documents are then filed and some are stored in the computer.Cleaning and maintenanceMarks and Spencer employ spick-and-spans to do terrestrial cleaning duties. Some employees do the elemental 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 sedulous by the company but by a specialist security firm. The responsibleness of the firm is training and supply.The security staffs are responsible for patrolling the premises.The job roles involved in Administration areJob Title Job RoleAdministration Managing the judicatory operations of theManager organisation.Company A senior executive responsible for all legal affairs of thesecretary company, transaction with shareholders, insurance andorganising meetings.IT manager Managing all the IT requirements of the company, inclu dingEquipment and advising on time to come needs.PA/secretarial Responsible for providing secretarial and administrativeStaff support, usually to senior managers.Equal opportunities and piece of work polityRecruiting and keeping the right employees is important to every business. Both employers and employees have rights and responsibilities.These are safeguarded by betrothal law, not only by employee organisations and unions.The 4 main modus operandis are1. The avocation Rights Act 19962. The Sex divergence Act 19753. The Race Relations Act 19764. The deterioration Discrimination Act 1995The Employment Rights Act 1996This act establishes a wide range of rights that employees have when they are being employed, for example* The right to a contract of employ 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 collect, hours of work, sick pay etc.* All female e mployees 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 trail clock metre off to look for a new job, attending interviews and mute be paid.* Employees have the right not to be unfairly dismissed.* Employees have the right to tediousness payments if an employee is dismissed because the job is no thirster available.The Sex Discrimination Act 1975This act makes it illegal for anyone to be discriminated against someone on the grounds of gender either presently or indirectly. In employment this applies to recruitment and selection for jobs and promotion, training the way you are treated in a job, button 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 variation against people with disabilities in employment. The disability whitethorn be physical, sensory or mental but must be comparatively long-term. Employers must not treat a alter person less well-off than others.Employers must be prepared to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace to help the disabled person do the job. Disabled persons who fulfill discrimination can complain to an employment tribunal. beneath 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, sh e had to take an extra few weeks of and when she came back, the job was still there for her.2nd example hot 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 be pleased. He showed her around but the charwoman 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 some other 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 occupation but when they called him in for an interview he was surprised. They disputeed 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. communionPeople working in dissimilar functional areas have to announce 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 baron useInternal External environ TelephoneE-mail E-mail pager AdvertisementFace to face networkAdvertisement FaxInterview earnMemo Video conferencingNoticeIntranet clashMarks and Spencer Internal methods of communication to different functional areas are the telephone, email, fax machine, communicative 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 coldcock visiting various sections to see supervisors and staff.Marks and Spencer external communi cation theory include earn received from the charities, they receive about 10,000 appeals for support every year.External communications also include project work, Equal opportunities and also the company support projects, which help the hoary and the young and also people with special needs and those who require help in the members of the community.Due 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 travel rapidly of the business, Marks and Spencer have to ensure that all the staffs try to ensure professional communication by being prepared and organised.The developments Marks and Spencer now have in mind is to remediate and make communications more bust through e-mail, to improve the in store telephone and the bleep systems such as changing to mobile phones and a speed dial network system. beneath is a diagram showing how the func tional areas draw with each other externally and internally. structural Type of Reason whyArea communicationHuman -Telephone ConfidentialityResources -face to face pressing-Letter Fast and easy to use-Meeting Saves time to talk to individualsFinance -Letter Security -E-mail Confidentiality-Meeting lease feedback from people quickAdministration -Fax can be kept for future seed-Letter evidence and can be copied.-Email expedient 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 which 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 confidential, 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 quit them.To achieve this aim, Marks and Spencer keep the give 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 custome rs 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 grammatical construction.Hierarchy StructureMarks and Spencer organisational structure of the business is a power structure 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* Clear job role and lines of responsibility* Each level will have differe nt opinions so indeed more ideas* Clear pay structure* A large number of colleagues* A range of facilities* Good promotionDisadvantages* retard 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 Structure here(predicate) 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 Spencer structure because Marks and Spencer is a large company.From the diagram structure we can tell that the company is quite an 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 apace to new ideas and customer needs* belong 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.