Business at Work - B&Q PLC.
AVCE in Business
Unit 1 - Business at Work
Assignment
B & Q PLC
.0 INTRODUCTION
B & Q has been in the D-I-Y business for more than 30 years and is a successful and innovate home improvement retailer. B & Q employs 35,000 people in over 321 U.K stores.
B & Q operates two different kinds of stores - the larger B & Q Warehouses which cater for the needs of the keen D-I-Y'er and trader with their wide range of products and staff expertise, and B & Q Superstores which are convenient for most people to pop into for everyday needs.
B & Q's has a range of different products; each product is sold under different types of category:
o Air Conditioners & Fans.
o Appliances.
o Bathroom.
o Bedroom.
o Building & Timber.
o Christmas.
o Christmas Gifts.
o Curtain Poles & Blinds.
o Doors.
o Electrical Fittings.
o Fires & Radiators.
o Fixings.
o Floorings.
o Garden Buildings.
o Garden Centre.
o Garden Centre & Facilities.
o Garden Power Tools.
o Hand Tools.
o Home & Storage.
o Kitchens.
o Lighting.
o Paint & Varnish.
o Painting Accessories.
o Plumbing.
o Power Tools.
o Safety & Security.
o Tiles.
o Wallpapers.
B & Q also offer services in and out of store:
o Customer Service & Advice.
o Fittings, e.g. Fitted Kitchens, Bathrooms, etc.
.1
All businesses have objectives to help them plan and set targets for what they want the business to achieve. B & Q's Objectives are:
o To be successful and have a large market share.
o To build on the company's reputation.
o To ensure all staff receive appropriate training to enhance existing skills and develop new ones in order to help them work more efficiently.
o To maximise customer satisfaction by ensuring all goods and services provided are of a high quality.
B & Q is a Public Limited Company. Public Limited Companies tends to be larger than Private Limited Companies and they issue shares for sale to the general public on the stock market.
B & Q's business structure is Hierarchical, this enables the business to be run effectively as people who have the most power are likely to know more about the company and its needs, then the people with the less power.
The culture B & Q are in is, Role Culture. This is because the culture works by logic and rascality.
The communication channels that run within B & Q are:
o Internal and External; allows the businesses employees to communicate both with each other and with existing and potential customers.
o Formal and Informal; allows employees to communicate both in and out of official business meetings which helps the smooth running of the business.
o Open and Restricted; means that some information, such as product prices, etc. is available to everyone, but things such as customer details are only given to certain people.
.2
The objectives that are set within B & Q are to help the business run more effectively. For example, the first objective is, To be successful and have a large market share; This can affect the success of the business because if B & Q become more successful they are able to open more stores and the business will expand. When businesses expand and there are more stores, this shows that the business is a success. If they have a lot of stores they are more likely to have a larger market share than any other D-I-Y store. If objectives weren't set within the business, B & Q would be unsuccessful because objectives are set for B & Q to try and achieve, they can be in forms of targets and challenges. If they are achieved by B & Q they will be successful.
With B & Q being a PLC, it means it has Limited Liability. Limited Liability means that if the business is unsuccessful and goes bankrupt because it is unable to meet its debts, the owners/shareholders will not be liable to lose their personal possessions to pay back the money that is owed. The maximum amount they can lose is the value of their investments (shares).
B & Q's business structure is Hierarchical because B & Q is a large business and all the people in this organisation know their roles and are qualified for the job. B & Q isn't in the Flat business structure because the Flat business structure only has few levels of management and because B & Q is quiet a large business it needs more levels of management. With the business being in this type of structure B & Q is more likely to run successfully.
B & Q is in Role Culture because it is typical of bureaucracies; bureaucracies are large organisations in which all the members of the business have a defined job or role to carry out. This helps B & Q run successfully because the business is divided up into different departments and each department has some-one who is in charge of that department. Within the departments what people do at different levels is determined by their job descriptions. In this culture the job description is just as important as the person who fills it and performance over and above the role is not required. People who are able to do their job descriptions to a high standard help B & Q run more effectively and successfully.
B & Q uses many ways of communicating both internally and externally. Examples of internal ways of communicating within the business are:
o Meetings; Staff meetings are held quite frequently within the business, this is so the staff can discuss the customers' requirements and any problems within B & Q.
o Memos; These are used within the business for both staff and customers, for example, telephone messages can be taken.
o Notice Board; This can be used to advertise jobs to customers.
o Intranet; This is very important to B & Q because it communicates with other computers throughout B & Q, so staff can get information from other departments within the business.
o Reports; This is within B & Q to give a report on the staff and write down how well they are doing.
o Database; This is mainly used by B & Q for many sorts of things, e.g. keeping customer files on records.
External ways of communicating:
o Telephone; This can be used by both staff and customers to communicate with people outside the business.
o Advertising; This is used by B & Q to advertise special offers and jobs etc. Advertising can be television, leaflets, etc.
o E-Mail; This is used by B & Q as a way of advertising on the internet, anyone who signs up on the B & Q website will automatically receive e-mail when there is any offers on and newsletters from B &Q.
o Internet; B & Q has its very own website where they have an online shopping system and advertise and show customers everything what is in store.
o Fax; B & Q uses a fax system, e.g. to fax stock checks from one store to another.
o Letters; This is another way the business can communicate with customers and other stores.
Success of communicating internally and externally shows that the business is successful at communicating.
Formal and Informal communications used throughout the business helps the business to be more successful because it is important to have both formal and informal communications.
Formal communications:
o Letters; examples include letters of enquiry, responses to enquires and letters of invitation (e.g. to a meeting or conference). Letters have traditionally been a fairly formal way of communicating, laid out according to set rules and essential in certain circumstances (e.g. a letter of resignation).
o Reports; a report should contain an introduction outlining the purpose of the report, a brief summary of the report, the main body and a conclusion.
o Contracts; such as contracts of employment, or agreements with a supplier.
Informal communications:
o Notes taken at a meeting, conference or presentation.
o Newsletter; Many large businesses uses an internal newsletter to give news of the business's developments and successes.
Open and restricted communications are also important within the business because with any form of communication it is important to identify the purpose of the message as well as the people at who the message is targeted. If the message is targeted at everyone within the organisation or groups outside and does not contain confidential materials, then the message is open for anyone to see or interpret. On the other hand, if the message contains confidential materials, the likelihood is it will be targeted at only few groups of users, either within a particular department of certain levels of seniority. This helps the business run successfully because certain things are open to all staff and customers e.g. product prices, and things like customers details are restricted from other customers and are only given to certain people within the business.
.3
Quality Assurance and Control Systems - This helps the business to maximise product value as everything is of a minimum standard and minimum value, so that the lowest valued product, which should be the price, should be set at and be of higher value. A business will aim to produce goods with 'zero' defects.
.4
An alternative method of Quality Assurance and Control Systems is Total Quality Management. This takes place at all stages of an operation and is the responsibility of all employees. Emphasis is placed on quality chains (i.e. links between groups ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
.3
Quality Assurance and Control Systems - This helps the business to maximise product value as everything is of a minimum standard and minimum value, so that the lowest valued product, which should be the price, should be set at and be of higher value. A business will aim to produce goods with 'zero' defects.
.4
An alternative method of Quality Assurance and Control Systems is Total Quality Management. This takes place at all stages of an operation and is the responsibility of all employees. Emphasis is placed on quality chains (i.e. links between groups and individuals involved in operations).
.5
The objectives of B & Q are being met quite well by the business. For example, the first objective is 'To be successful and have a large market share.' This has and still is being met by B & Q. B & Q are proving to customers that they are becoming more successful, they show this by opening more stores in the U.K and worldwide. This has already given B & Q one of the largest D-I-Y's market shares. The second objective 'To build on the company's reputation' could be met by B & Q quite well, if they carried on being loyal to customers and providing them with the highest quality of goods and services they need. The third objective 'To ensure all staff receive appropriate training to enhance existing skills and develop new ones in order to help them work more efficiently' this is one of the ongoing objectives of B & Q that show customers how well the business is meeting its objectives, because all staff are given training before they can start work within B & Q, even if the staff already have experience working within a similar business. B & Q still want their staff to be trained to their standard, like all other staff members that work for B & Q. New staff will be on induction training for 2 week before they can start work within a B & Q store, in this time the staff are trained and they will develop new skills or improve on their existing skills, so that they are able to work to B & Q's standard. The last objective 'To maximise customer satisfaction by ensuring all goods and services provided are of a high quality' this is also another objective being met quite well by B & Q because, B & Q will always make sure that the customer is satisfied with any goods or services. For example, if a customer wanted a kitchen bought and fitted by B & Q, B & Q would ensure that the kitchen range was of the highest quality and they would then deliver it, they then would get specialised B & Q staff to install it, after the initialisation B & Q would offer the customer a guarantee and after-sale service on the kitchen, just in case the customer is not completely satisfied. This proves that B & Q are trying to ensure all customers receive the goods and services at the highest quality possible, which shows that the last objective is being met quite well.
.6
The impact of ICT upon the internal and external communications of B & Q is that, B & Q depend largely upon using ICT for internal and external communications. For example, if ICT wasn't used for internal and external communications at B & Q, they would find it difficult to communicate inside and outside of the business. B & Q would also find that any other way of communicating would be time consuming. Also if ICT wasn't used within B & Q, B & Q wouldn't have a website, which to some customers is useful because B & Q's website allows customers to browse through stock and offer 24 hour internet shopping. Without ICT in the business, B & Q wouldn't be able to keep customer records and profiles on database, which with a computer is easier for them to access.
2.0 PROCEDURE
To obtain the information required for my assignment, I researched and decided on a business I would like to study. As soon as I knew what my assignment was and what it required I began to gather up all the information I needed. The first bit of information I got was from B & Q's website www.diy.com, on this website there was some useful information like the history of B & Q, what offers are on etc, and from the website I got the company's address, which allowed me to send them a letter. I then sent a letter to B & Q with a questionnaire with them to complete and send me back. They answered the questions and sent me some leaflets of bathrooms and kitchens, etc. with price lists. I have also planned to visit B & Q, and take another questionnaire to get some more information, which will help me with my assignment. Some of my information that I got, which helped me with parts of my assignment was notes that I had taken out of books in the library.
3.0 FINDINGS
3.1
B & Q's ownership type is 'Public Limited' (PLC). A Public Limited Company sells shares through the stock exchange.
Benefits to B & Q of being a PLC:
o PLC's are usually larger than private companies, and therefore gain from economies of scale.
o Through their greater size and their ability to ask the public to buy shares, PLC's find it easier to obtain capital from the general public.
o It has Limited Liability.
o Firms/businesses can be bigger, therefore B & Q can expand.
o Some public companies can be quite small - there only needs to be a minimum of two shareholders.
o Very large public companies can often operate more cheaply than small companies, as they operate more cheaply than small companies as they operate on economies of scale. For instance, they can mass - produce goods for sale and buy in bulk to save money.
o If the company is successful, the shares will increase in value, which will increase the overall value of the company.
Constraints of B & Q being a PLC:
o Accounts are not private.
o Formation of the business can be expensive.
o Decisions can be slower to reach because the general public is involved.
3.2
B & Q's first objective is 'To be successful and have a large market share.' This means that B & Q want to be a successful, leading D-I-Y'er store. Having a larger market share will enhance the image of the organisation. The second objective ' To build on the company's reputation.' This means that B & Q want to build a good reputation for the business, so therefore it can achieve the first objective by being successful, this will give B & Q a better reputation. The third objective 'To ensure all staff receive appropriate training to enhance existing skills and develop new ones in order to help them work more efficiently.' This means that B & Q will employ people and give them the appropriate training they need, and people who already have experience. B & Q will ensure that they develop their existing skills and new ones in order for them to work more efficiently. The last objective 'To maximise customer satisfaction by ensuring all goods and services provided are of a high quality.' This means that B & Q want their customers to be satisfied to the fullest by ensuring all the goods and services provided by B & Q are of the highest quality.
3.3
Functional areas that exist within B & Q:
o Finance;
A finance, or accounts department is responsible for money flowing into, out of and within the business. Activities carried out within this function include:
o Raising invoices and obtaining payment for goods and services e.g. fitting kitchens.
o Making sure that invoices from suppliers match the goods or services that were supplied to the organisation.
o Dealing with staff payments to suppliers.
o Paying staff.
o Analysing the financial performance of the business.
o Dealing with debts.
o Providing financial information on performance to managers and shareholders.
The finance department works together with the business to achieve the objectives by, making sure that their sales are right and are at a competitive rate, this helps to achieve another of their goals which is, 'To be successful and have a large market share', or it could be to increase sales and profit margins. The finance department helps B & Q achieve this objective by ensuring that the financial running of the business is being a success.
o Human Resources;
A human resources department or personnel department is vital because it deals with people, the most important resource. The function is concerned with employing the right people, with the right skills, at the right time and ensuring that those people are able to give off their best.
Activities undertaken within the human resources department are:
o Recruitment, obtaining the right people for jobs that fall vacant within the business.
o Training, making sure that staff acquire the knowledge and the skills they need to do their jobs properly.
o Grading, putting jobs in rank order, depending on the degree of responsibility involved, educational qualifications and skills required.
o Agreeing, pay scales and conditions of service hours, holiday entitlements and arrangements for sick leave and pay.
o Dealing, with staff problems or disputes including industrial relations and disciplinary specialist advice and assistant to managers or personnel matters.
In addition, a personnel department usually has overall responsibility for ensuring that equal opportunities issues and health and safety requirements are met.
The human resources department works together to achieve the businesses objectives by making sure that staff are up to scratch, and making sure that staff are at their best, so they can achieve their goals, which are, 'To ensure all staff receive appropriate training to enhance existing skills and develop new ones in order to help them work more efficiently' and 'To maximise customer satisfaction by ensuring all goods and services provided are of a high quality.' The human resources department ensures that all staff are trained and qualified for a certain area to work in, it also ensures that all goods and services that are provided by the staff of B & Q are to a high standard to achieve the objective of customers being satisfied by high quality products and services.
o Management;
A management department has different levels, which are senior (directors or owners), middle (managers), and junior (operatives and support staff). At the top of the businesses structure is the most senior mangers of the business, usually the owner or the managing director. Below this are levels of less senior managers, middle managers, junior managers, supervisors, operatives and support staff. Except at the top and the bottom of the structure, employees at each level are responsible to a supervisor or manager at the level above and have authority over a number of employees at the levels below.
Activities involved within the management department:
o The control of the organisation is kept in the hands of the person at the top.
o It is easy to maintain a particular identity or standard of service and quality in a large organisation.
o There is a chain of command, which is defined clearly, with instructions flowing downward through all levels of employees and information about performance, problems, etc. are flowing upward.
o All the people within this organisation know their role and who they are responsible to and who they have authority over.
The management department works together with B & Q to achieve its objectives, 'To ensure all staff are treated equally and receive appropriate training to enhance existing skills and develop new ones in order to help them work more efficiently.' The management department helps achieve the objectives of the business by ensuring that all staff knows where in the organisation they are qualified and trained to be.
o Logistics;
The Logistics department is vital to B & Q because for many organisations like B & Q (inc. B & Q), a sale is not completed until it is delivered to the customer. In this department they ensure that arrangements are made to distribute the products to the customers. The distribution of goods may be by post, B & Q's vehicles, an outsider's vehicle, rail, sea or air, it all depends on the product, and destination. Whatever method chosen by B & Q, the logistics department must ensure that the customer receives the goods on time and in good condition.
The logistics department works together with B & Q to achieve one of its objectives, 'To maximise customer satisfaction by ensuring all goods and services provided are of high quality.' The logistics department ensures that all customers are completely satisfied with their products and services that are purchased from B & Q, they also ensure that the products are delivered to the customer on time in a good condition so that the customer is happy with the goods and services that are being provided by B & Q.
o Research and Development;
In the research and development department the work involves:
o Developing new products.
o Improving on existing products.
New products and the improvements made to existing products must meet the requirements of customers, taking into consideration changes in consumer demand and the availability of new materials and technology. The marketing department collects information about changes in consumer demand and the availability of new materials and technology. New technology can enable an organisation to manufacture a product which meets a consumer need more fully than without the technology. B & Q spend millions of pounds every year on research and development, to try and stay ahead of their competitors in providing the latest product for their customers.
The research and development department also works together with the business to achieve another objective 'To build on the reputation of the company.' For this objective to be achieved by B & Q, research into other businesses must be done, so that it can compare things like prices and make them more competitive, which attracts more customers, which then builds on the company's reputation.
o Training;
The training department enables employees to acquire the skills necessary to do their current jobs to the best of their ability and also to progress to other types of employment in accordance with their career plans.
The training department also helps B & Q achieve another business objective 'To ensure all staff are treated equally and receive appropriate training to enhance existing skills and develop new ones in order to help them work more efficiently.' The job of the training department is to ensure all new staff to B & Q is trained appropriately for the department they are going to be working in.
o Advertising and Promotion;
In the advertising and promotion department finding out the requirements of the market, designing a suitable product and ensuring that the production capacity of a business organisation is sufficient to supply. This by itself will not increase B & Q's market share, the business must take steps to let the market know about the business and its products. The advertising department should advertise - in the media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television. The medium used should be appropriate to the product being advertised and the customer. The promotion department is usually at the point of the sale. Promotion of a product can take many forms, including special display stands, cut-prices, etc. Promotion is used to persuade people to buy a new product or one they might not normally use, or else to buy more of a product that usual.
The advertising and promotion department works with people at B & Q to try and ensure that the following objective is being achieved: 'To build on the reputation of the computer.' This objective is likely to be achieved by customers seeing advertisements of all kinds and promotions on products and services, and B & Q will then start building a larger customer base by the use of advertising and promotion, which in turn gives the company a bigger reputation, which can also be built on.
o Sales and Marketing;
Sales and marketing generate income for the business by offering and selling services to customers. The sales aspect of this function is fairly straight forward, and involves selling the services of the business in a variety of ways including:
o Directly to other businesses, e.g. functions, AGM's and training courses.
o Directly to the public, using shops, mail order, and teleselling or, increasing rarely door-to-door selling.
Marketing includes a wider range of activities. In recent years the term has come to mean anything to do with making sure that customers (and potential customers) want and are satisfied with the products of business.
Activities that are part of the marketing function include:
o Public relations.
o Advertising.
o Market research.
o Special promotions.
o Introducing new service ideas, etc.
The sales and marketing department also work together to achieve one of their objectives, 'To maximise customer satisfaction by ensuring all goods and services provided are of high quality,' this function interacts with finance, to make sure that the business sales are correct and at a competitive or low rate and research into other businesses must be done.
o Customer Service (includes staff working in stores);
This department deals with customers' enquiries and complaints, either in person, by letter or on the telephone. In some organisations customer services staff takes orders and processes them.
Customer services work together to achieve the businesses objective which is: 'To maximise customer satisfaction by ensuring all goods and services provided are of a high quality,' so if the customer services department makes sure that the objectives are achieved this department will work together will all other functional areas within the business to achieve its objectives.
B & Q looks after its staff and makes sure that they can do their job effectively by giving all new staff induction training, offering career opportunities to all staff and giving staff the opportunity to work in different areas of the business or possibly abroad.
Staff are offered fixed contracts of employment. Some part-time staff are employed. B & Q employs more males than females, but this is because more males applied for work at B & Q than females, not because of discrimination.
Staff problems such as lateness to work are dealt with by discussing problems between managers or heads of departments and employees concerned. Disciplinary action will be taken if necessary.
The following employment laws protect employees:
o Equal pay act 1970/1983.
o Health & safety at work act 1974.
o Sex discrimination act 1975.
o Race relations act 1976.
o Trades union act 1984.
o Disability discrimination act 1995.
o Employment rights act 1996.
o Working time directive act 1999.
Customer services also work together to achieve one of B & Q's objective, 'To ensure all staff are treated equally and receive appropriate training to enhance existing skills and develop new ones in order to help them work more efficiently.' Customer services ensure that all staff are treated equally and are protected by the above acts.
3.4
There are 3 common types of management; Autocratic, Consultative and Democratic. A person's management style is the typical pattern of behaviour he or she shows in carrying out a management role over a period of time. The management style of B & Q is consultative managers are ones who seek to consult other people before making a decision. Alternatively, they will seek to consult people before implementing a decision. This type of manager wants to draw on more sources of opinion than just him or herself. The consultative manager will have good listening skills and also the ability to create the right sorts of channels to consult other people.
The culture of the business is Role Culture. Role culture is the only culture that is typical of bureaucracies; Bureaucracies are in large organisations such as B & Q and in this sort of culture all the members of B & Q have a defined job role to carry out. A bureaucracy is normally split up into a number of functions, then the functions are organised in a hierarchical way. Role culture works by logic and rascality. The power in this sort of culture is hierarchical and all the power is derived from the employees and their position in the organisation. The strength then lies in the functions. Within the functions what people do at different levels is determined by their job descriptions, which are clearly written down. "Position" is the main source of power and rules and procedures are the main source of influence.
3.5
ICT is used in B & Q mainly for the use of internal and external communications of the business.
Internal communications that use ICT:
o Intranet; This is computer based, this is used when one computer wants to communicate with another computer within B & Q.
o Reports; Reports can either be word processed or hand written, in B & Q they are generally word process, because this give the business a more professional look.
o Database; This is another computer based communication that is very important to B & Q, because B & Q's database holds customer records and staff and customer profiles, it also contains the amount of stock, which is in store and where it is located, etc.
External communications that use ICT:
o E-Mail; This is used by sending an electronic mail off of the internet, which is usually done by using a computer, but now e-mails can be sent off of mobile telephones.
o Letters; Letters can be either word processed or hand written, but again B & Q prefer to have a more professional look and prefer to word process letters.
o Fax; Faxing is the same, it is usually a letter which is more often word processed than hand written.
ICT makes both internal and external communications much easier. Information can be sent over the internet and the company's intranet, faster than postage to the customers as postage can often take a longer time and may also get lost in the post. The internet and intranet is a faster way of communicating and gives B & Q staff more time to do other things. By using ICT in internal and external communications it means that staff can be contacted almost immediately.
3.6
The production process and quality assurance/control systems employed by the business helps it to add value to its products and services. All of these ensure that the quality of the product and service is worth the price that the customer pays for it.
Production Process
Businesses my produce good through a number of processes, all of which include a functional area in some way. The most common in B & Q are:
o Manufacturing; This is another word for 'making' and refers to the process of taking raw materials and turning them into finished or part-finished goods.
o Assembly; This is another form of manufacturing, in which component parts are put together to make a finished item.
o Processing; This involves taking raw materials and subjecting them to a process that changes their nature in order to produce a finished good.
o Refining; This involves taking impurities or unwanted parts from a raw material in order to obtain a finished product.
The production process ensures that the business help add value to its products by making sure that all the above is done correctly and accurately and to a very high standard.
Quality
B & Q ensure that the certain functional departments make sure that perfect goods are produced. Quality controls have developed, in most modern businesses, from checking systems - where goods were checked once they had been produced and any faulty ones thrown away - to a system called Total Quality management, where everyone is responsible for insuring that there own functional department is carried out perfectly.
Control
Apart from quality control, maintenance, stock control and efficiency also ensure that the production process runs smoothly. Maintaining machinery and equipment is necessary to ensure that break-downs and faults do not interrupt the production process. It is also part of quality control making sure that each unit of production is correctly manufactured. Stock control makes sure that there are enough raw materials, components, etc. for manufacturing to continue. Efficiency may mean the efficiency of workers, or of machines.
Control is important to ensuring that the products and services are of high value, because the business has to control the processes that go on in production and make sure that they are done accurately. Following the control system should help the business add value to its products and services.
4.0 CONCLUSIONS
4.1
i) B & Q's organisation structure is Hierarchical. A hierarchical structure is based on the levels of authority and responsibility, which each person within B & Q having a clearly defined position, which sets limits on the amounts of authority and responsibility they each have. The organisational structure of the business affects the company's performance because it means with B & Q having an hierarchical structure, decisions that are made by the business are slow and with B & Q being a large business it can only be a hierarchical structure because it is the only structure with the most departments, which suites B & Q because it is such a large business. The organisational structure of the business helps the operation of B & Q because everyone knows what they are doing, what they are qualified to do and what department they are working in, they also know how to communicate with the other departments. With B & Q being in the hierarchical structure it helps the business achieve its objectives because if any decisions have to be made the information is passed through all the departments. And all the departments help to achieve the business's objectives.
The advantages of this type of organisational structure are:
o The control of the organisation is kept in the hands of the person at the top.
o Maintaining a particular identity or standard of service and quality in large organisations, it is especially important in large organisations.
o The chain of command is clearly defined, with instructions flowing downwards through all the levels of employees, and information about problems and performance, etc, flowing upwards through the organisation.
o All the people in this type of organisation know their role within the business, and they also know who they are responsible for and who they have authority over.
The disadvantages of this type of organisational structure are:
o There is no limit to the number of levels of management between the top decision maker and the shop floor operatives.
o Decision making can be slow or maybe even sometimes delayed, as it takes a long time for information to flow upwards and for decisions to be taken at the top and then communicated downwards again.
o At each level, information and instructions may be interpreted differently so that the information passed on, or actions taken, may be biased because of the attitudes of the individual managers
ii) B & Q's Culture is Role Culture. All organisations work towards different objectives. Some are very profit centred while others have a much clearer concern for the people who work in the organisation and the customers they serve. The term culture is used to describe the typical approach within the organisation. Culture refers to the personality of the organisation, the shared beliefs and the written and unwritten policies and procedures that determine the ways in which the organisation and its people behave and solve business problems. B & Q's culture, which is Role culture, is typical of bureaucracies. Bureaucracies are large organisations in which all staff have a defined job or role to carry out. A bureaucracy is normally split up into a number of functions that are then organised in a hierarchical way. This type of culture works by logic and rascality. Power is hierarchical and derived from the employee's position in the organisation.
Advantages of being a Person culture:
o The role culture is typical of bureaucracies.
o The functions of a role culture is organised in a hierarchical way.
o Power is hierarchical and derived from the employee's position in the organisation.
o The organisation strength lies in its functions.
o Within the functions what people do at different levels is determined by job descriptions.
o Person culture also have defined communications.
Disadvantages of being a Person culture:
o With a person culture being hierarchical, it means that decisions will also be slower.
o With power being hierarchical the power is derived from the employee's and their position in the organisation.
iii) B & Q's management style is Consultative. This affects the company's performance because with the management style being consultative it means that the consultative managers of B & Q have to consult other people before making decisions, which can be time-consuming. But the outcome is usually very successful and by making the right decisions with more people's opinions it helps B & Q's performance and operations run a whole lot better. This is because with the right decisions being made, B & Q are more likely to run successfully and their overall performance is to a high standard. With the management style being consultative, with decisions being consulted before the conclusion is drawn up, it helps the company's objectives be met in a successful way and they then can be achieved to a high standard.
Advantages of the management style being Consultative:
o Decisions are not made just by one person, which means that the decisions made are thought out and then the people who have been consulted decide on their decision, and all the individual decisions are compromised to reach a final decision, which agrees with all or most of the people.
o There are a series of mechanisms (e.g. newsletters, team briefings, suggestion boxes, etc.) that makes it possible to get the feel of the decision-making process.
Disadvantages of the management style being Consultative:
o Decisions may be slower to reach and can sometimes take as long as a week.
o Wrong decisions may be made, because its what the people who have been consulted feel is right, but people like the customers may not agree with their decisions.
o Sometimes people are not consulted and mechanisms are not made, then the consultative managers have to make the decisions on their own (this is very rare or unlikely to happen in such a large organisation).