Gurpreet Birdi
Reward card:
Through their customer data warehouse, Sainsbury’s analyse data from their Reward Card. This helps them understand their customer needs and shopping mission so they can provide them with a better service. Sainsbury’s programme of reinvigorating stores has evolved them to develop new formats so that they can trial them.
Four trial ‘mixed mission’ stores:
Sainbury’s have four trial ‘mixed mission’ stores. In March Sainsbury’s has opened their first ‘main plus’ average superstore (with 16,000 new lines and 20% of floor spaced focused on non-foods). Sainsbury’s been developing a new ‘broad appeal’ format under the Sainsbury’s savacentre brand. Savacentre brand will offer the customers an attractive range of foods and non-foods at good value prices. The first stored opened in Northfield in Birmingham on the 30th of May.
Property and J Sainsbury’s Developments:
Sainsbury’s have undertook to unlock the value from their property portfolio. This is because they want to continue so they realise with the opportunities that have risen. Sainsbury’s priority is to retail enhancement opportunities that exist the sites. Currently Sainsbury’s have 22 projects in development.
Planning consent was granted in September 2001 for the redevelopment of Stamford House and Drury House. The former head office sites in Stamford Street have 375,000 sq ft of offices and a 10,000 sq ft Central store. Sainsbury’s are currently working on plans for the redevelopment of further sites like the Rennie House and Wakefield House.
Sainsbury’s in the future:
Sainsbury’s in the future are looking forward to develop on the growth of their profits and dividend. To deliver a successful business for the longer term, Sainsbury’s should need to look at the profit growth through the balance of strong sales growth. This means that they need to reduce the cost for further base and continue with the margin improvements.
The development of Sainsbury’s format presents a bigger sales growth with the opportunity that Sainsbury’s anticipated in. Sainsbury’s is committed to achieve in the leading industry margins. The market is dynamic and competition is very active. Sainsbury’s have choices about the rate of sales growth against margin targets. However, Sainsbury’s is committed to deliver strong double digits underlying profit growth each year about Sainsbury’s transformation programme.
Gurpreet Birdi
C1: make judgements about how successfully the business is meeting its objectives
Sainsbury’s aim is to meet the food and food-related needs of a wide range of UK customers e.g. young and elderly, families and singles. This will only happen when shopping in a rush hour from work, to those on a large shopping trip; for those watching their budgets; for those watching their waistline; but always with the best quality and choice of products in mind.
At Sainsbury’s they keep up to date with the way the UK is developing by understanding with their products and services. Sainsbury’s continue to seek out developing trends by using customer led and thus:
- At Sainsbury’s everyone’s job is to think about what his or her customers want. This means that Sainsbury's need to support their colleagues. This will only happen if they dedicate their team. This is called Customer Insights.
- Every month, the Customer Insights department talks to over 50,000 people in order to understand and get closer to their customers.
- To this end, Sainsbury’s ask 20,000 customers every year on how satisfied they are with the store experience. This way they gain results and compare this with satisfaction in their competitors stores e.g. Tesco, Asda.
- Sainsbury’s conduct a mystery shopper who is trained auditor who visits stores and measures standards such as queue length and waiting time, product availability, ease of finding management, interaction with customers at checkout and whether or not the aisles are clear.
- Sainsbury’s also visit their customer’s homes to ask them about the products that they sell. They find out how these products are performing in terms of quality, price and the choice available. This information is then passed on to their colleagues who are responsible for sourcing products to ensure that Sainsbury’s offers are right for their customers.
- Overall, Sainsbury’s talk to their customers to focus on focus groups such as service, value for money and non-foods and also accompany them around the stores to find out what they like and dislike about the products, services, availability, price, range, store layout etc.
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How Sainsbury’s meets its objectives of caring for training colleagues, working with suppliers and who’s responsible towards the community
Sainsbury’s is committed to developing and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with all their suppliers
Sainsbury’s have around 23,000 products in their largest stores and they buy from 2,000 suppliers worldwide. About 40% of Sainsbury’s products are sold under the Sainsbury’s own-brand label. Half of Sainsbury’s sales come from just over 100 suppliers and half of their suppliers have sales with them in excess of £10 million a year. They are major to their customer for 35% of their suppliers.
At Sainsbury’s they are committed to provide a good working environment where everyone fells valued, respected and able to contribute to the business as well as employing a workforce that recognizes the diversity of their customers and potential customers.
As well as meeting the needs of local communities for good quality groceries at good value prices, Sainsbury’s is committed to being a good employer, a good neighbour and supporting the local community.
In the areas where Sainsbury’s trade, they take into account their aim to respond to local retailing and employment needs. During the construction Sainsbury’s needs to consider the sustainability of the store, potential for regeneration of the area and sympathetic design. Consultation with the local community and consideration towards their neighbours are also priorities for Sainsbury’s. This is when during construction both and through to trading and beyond. The group employs 172,900 people in the UK and through Shaw's.
Gurpreet Birdi
Sainsbury’s have a well-established community investment programme which aim to bring into line with both the needs of the communities in which Sainsbury’s trade and with their areas of expertise. This is mostly concerned with food, nutrition and lifestyle.
E3: Describe the information the business collects to measure its success
Sainsbury’s uses different kinds of information’s to measure its success. The types of information it uses are as follows:
Balance Sheets:
A balance sheet is like a photograph of the financial position of a business at a particular point in time. The balance sheet contains information about the assets of a business, its liabilities and its capital.
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Assets: these are valuable resources that a business owns. They are resources that can be divided into current assets and fixed assets. Current assets are used up in production, such as stock of raw materials. Fixed assets, such as machinery, are used again and again over a period of time.
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Liabilities: these are the debts of the business, i.e. what it owes to other businesses, individuals and institutions. Liabilities are a source of funds for a business. They might be short term, such as an overdraft, or long term, such as a mortgage.
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Capital: this is when the money is introduced by the owners of the business, e.g. when they buy shares. It is another source of funds and can be used to purchase assets.
In all balance sheets the value of assets (what Sainsbury’s owns) will equal the value of liabilities and capital (what Sainsbury’s owes). Any increase in total assets must be funded by an equal increase in capital or liabilities. For example, if Sainsbury’s wanted to buy more machinery (an asset) may need to obtain a bank loan (a liability). Alternatively, a reduction in credit from suppliers (a liability) may mean a reduction in stocks that can be bought (an asset).
Assets = capital + liabilities
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Share Prices:
Share Capital:
For a limited company this is likely to be the most important source of funds. The sales of shares can raise very large amounts of money. Share capital is often referred to permanent capital. This is because it is not normally redeemed. Once the share has been sold, the buyer is entitled to a share in the profit of the company e.g. a dividend. Dividends are not always cleared. Sometimes a business makes a loss or needs to retain profit to help fund future business activities. A shareholder can make a capital gain by selling the share at a higher price than it was originally bought for. Shares are not normally sold back to the business. The shares of public limited companies are sold in a special share market called the stock market or stock exchange. Shares in private limited companies are transferred privately. Shareholders, because they are part of the business are entitled to a vote. One vote is allowed for each share owned. Voting takes place annually and shareholders vote either to reelect the existing board directors or replace them.
Benchmarking:
The continuous process of measuring producers, services and practices against strong competitors or recognised industry leaders. It is an on-going activity that is intended to improve performance and can be applied to all surface of operation. Benchmarking requires a measurement mechanism so that the performance "gap" can be identified. It focuses on comparing best practices among dis-similar enterprises.
Profit and Loss Accounts:
The profit and loss account is an extension of the trading account. In practice, there is no indication where the trading accounts ends and the profit and loss account begins. However, once a business has calculated its gross profit it can then calculate how much profit (or loss) it has made by adding any extra income it has earned and subtracting its expenses and tax.
The first item to be subtracted from the gross profit figure is expenses. This gives a figure for operating profit. Expenses are those overheads or indirect costs that are not involved in production of goods and services. They include expenses e.g. advertising and promotion, wages of the administration staff and depreciation.
The company will then add any non-operating income to its operating profit. Non-operating income is income that is not earned from the direct trading of the company. This could include dividends from shares held in other companies, interest from deposits in financial institutions e.g. banks, rent from property that is let out.
At this stage it is usual to subtract any interest that has been paid out by the firm. Interest is usually shown separately in the accounts. When this final adjustment has been made the resulting figure is the profit on ordinary activities before tax (also known as Net Profit).
Cash Flow Forecasts:
Most businesses produce regular Cash Flow Forecast Statements. This is a statement that lists all the likely receipts (cash inflows) and payments (cash outflows) over a future period of time. All the entries in the statement are estimated because they have not occurred yet. The statement shows the planned cash flow on the business month by month.
The receipts of the business are the monthly inflows of cash. The sales figures are probably based on the previous year’s figures. The total amount of cash a business expects to receive each month is shown as total receipts. Some businesses sell goods on credit. If this is the case, the figures in the statement should show cash actually received in that month and not the value of goods sold.
Gurpreet Birdi
Payments are the outflows from the business. Some payments are for the same regular amounts, such as leasing charges and loan repayments. Other payments vary, such as purchases of goods for resale. Some payments, such as telephone charges, are made on a quarterly basis. It is also possible for payments to be annual, such as accountancy fees. The total amount of cash a business expects to pay out each month is shown as total payments. If a business buys goods on credit, cash payments made to suppliers are included when they occur and not the value of goods received in a particular month.
Net cash flow for a month is found by subtracting total payments from total receipts. If receipts are greater than payments, net cash flow is positive. If payments are greater than receipts, net cash flow is negative-shown by brackets around a figure.
The opening balance in January will be the value of December’s closing balance in the previous year.
Adding or subtracting the net cash flow for the month from the opening balance finds the closing balance for a month.
The closing balance of one month becomes the opening balance of the next month. They can be positive or negative figures.
Gurpreet Birdi
E4: describe the functional areas that exist in the business, and explain how they help the business to meet its objectives
J Sainsbury’s has 6 main functional areas. Each of these 6 functional areas has its own functional objectives. These functional objectives helps J Sainsbury’s to meet its overall business objectives.
Finance:
The Finance department at Sainsbury’s manages to control the cash flow forecast to support the new company plan. This means that the forecasting production will cost for developing a new product so that Sainsbury’s could set a budget and advise the Production department.
The main role of the Finance department is to record all the financial activities of the business, for instance for Sainsbury’s. This department manages to record Sainsbury’s accounts so that they can analyses the revenue and expenditure, to produce the profit and loss accounts, balance sheets, cash flow forecast etc.
The Finance department also communicates with the external groups such as the tax liability (inland revenue), auditors and the customers who collect the payments.
Job roles in finance:
Financial director: giving advice to senior managers on the overall financial policy of the organisation. Overseeing the company budget. In charge of all the finance functions in the organisation.
Financial manager: managing the finance function and staff. Advising on financial resources.
Chief account: overseeing the preparation of the final accounts of the organisation.
Management accountant: producing continuous financial information for management.
Chief cashier: responsible for the receipt, safekeeping, banking and accounting of all cash received.
Payroll administration: responsible for overseeing the company payroll and salary or wage section.
Wages clerks: assist the payroll administrator in the production of salary and wage detail.
Ledger clerks: assist the chief accountant in the recording of all financial transactions.
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Credit control clerks: assist the credit controller in checking the credit status of new customers and existing accounts. Reminding customers of overdue payments.
Production:
The Production department helps Sainsbury’s policy is to work with all of its suppliers fairly, recognise the mutual benefit of satisfying customers’ needs. This means that the department at Sainsbury’s has a benefit with the goods that they provide. Production department’s role is to manufacture goods for Sainsbury’s so that Sainsbury’s could use them and gain profit out of them. The Production department’s main function is to supply raw materials so that the production department could ensure this by the use of the Stock control systems. For this production the quality control is very important. This is because it monitors closely with the production department of Sainsbury’s so that they can ensure that the customers expect all standards. This also affects Sainsbury’s because Sainsbury’s own brand products have an image to represent to the Sainsbury’s supermarket. This function should also be aware of business resources. These include the raw materials, the machinery and the workers who operate them. The department should also be aware of the products that Sainsbury’s provide. This is because the manufacturer should be aware of all the requirements (customer needs) of the customers. This is found out be Market Research (questionnaires, face-2-face, observation etc).
Human Resources:
The Human Resources department deals with recruitment and the welfare of people who work at Sainsbury’s. Human resources at Sainsbury’s don’t involve recruitment and training, but it also includes induction, motivation, payment of salaries and career planning and equal opportunities policy. This is because the equal opportunities policy ensures that all applicants at Sainsbury’s should be treated the same way. This function also involves discrimination legislation acts and disciplinary matters. Training and development is a key factor for Human Resources. This is because the Human Resources department believes that all staff should be motivated and fully trained. This is important for Sainsbury’s because Sainsbury’s would gain a good reputation and a good image. This type of department is very important to any type of organisation especially to Sainsbury’s. To be successful at Sainsbury’s, Sainsbury’s will need the staff to be committed to the meetings of their aims and objectives. The job of Human Resources department is to recruit, develop and retain quality staff.
Job roles within the Human Resources Department:
Human resources director: deciding the overall staffing policies of the organisation. Advising senior management. Setting the HR budget. In charge of all the HR functions in the organisation.
Human resources manager: managing the HR department and staff, involved with the industrial relations and trade unions negotiations, implementing the organisation’s HR policies.
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Recruitment officer: responsible for the recruitment and selection of staff.
Training/staff development officer: responsible for training and staff development.
Personnel/staffing officer: keeping staff records, monitoring staff welfare.
Health and safety officer: overseeing all health and safety matters, accident monitoring and prevention.
Security officer: general security, responsible for all security staff.
Human Resources administrative assistants: administrative work relating to the human resources function.
Marketing:
The aim of this department is to make sure that the business produces goods that consumers would want to buy and sell.
Activities of marketing and sales department at Sainsbury’s:
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Market Research: this type of research is a research that Sainsbury’s would like to find if a product or a service is suitable for the consumers. This is because they can find out what kind of products or services the consumer’s wants. Sainsbury’s would also like to find out about if the product exists, if so, how would they manage to improve it. There are two types of research Sainsbury’s could use 1) field research and 2) desk research.
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Promotion: this is to tell the customers that the products or services that is available by advertising will encourage the customers to buy the products or services by offering promotions.
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Sales: this provides that the goods and services are suitable to customers that they need or want. This area of department involves making sales.
This function helps Sainsbury’s to achieve the objectives. The way they manage to do this is by increase their sales so that it increases its market share or market segment. The market research is carried out to identify the customer needs. Sainsbury’s also would like to increase their image name. This is because Sainsbury’s would like to provide the customers with good products so that they can fulfill the customer needs and increase the sales within the promotion offers e.g. get one and get the second one free. Promotion is an important marketing function for Sainsbury’s. This is because Sainsbury’s would like to increase the awareness, attract new customers, and increase sales and profits. The marketing function for Sainsbury’s takes into account the four marketing mix e.g. product, price, place and promotion.
Gurpreet Birdi
Job roles in marketing:
Marketing director: responsible for the overall marketing functions and its aims and objectives.
Sales director: responsible for the sales functions.
Sales manager: responsible for sales in staff and the achievement of sales targets. This is often within the UK.
Export manager: responsible for the overseas agents and the achievement of sales targets overseas.
Advertising manager: the manager is in charge of advertising and liasing with the agency staff over the publicity campaigns.
Sales coordinator: the ‘link’ person for travelling sales representatives who require urgent information.
Sales representatives: sales people who visit customers in the UK and overseas.
Market researchers: find out the consumer opinions on current and proposed goods and services.
Order clerks: accept and process sales orders.
Shipping clerks: to arrange for the transportation and delivery of orders overseas and the completion of export documentations.
Telephone sale staff: accept and process telephone orders.
Administration:
This deals with enquires, communicating messages and producing documents for the workforce at Sainsbury’s
Research and Development:
The function for this department is to achieve Sainsbury’s objectives for creating new and improved products so that all the products would be developed into better goods. This type of research involves technical research, for instance, Sainsbury’s could research into new production technique. R&D can be very expensive.
Gurpreet Birdi
Job roles at J Sainsbury’s
Below are brief descriptions of the job roles Sainsbury’s provides. Training will be provided to help the employees reach the standards for their customer needs.
Customer Service Assistant:
Within this role employees will be ensuring that the customers at Sainsbury’s should receive a great service. Employees will be fully trained as a cashier, but may also be required to help customers with the selection of goods and packaging. Good communication skills and willingness to help others are amongst the skills required for this role.
Replenishment Assistant:
In addition to helping customers with their shopping needs, which could be anything from helping a customer to locate a product to advising on its usage. Employees will also be ensuring the shelves that are always full and products effectively displayed. This role involves work of a physical nature and is suitable for those with strong communication skills who enjoy working as part of a team.
Clerical Assistant:
This role is concerned with the clerical and administration procedures behind the scenes. An eye for detail, good communication skills and the ability to complete routine to deadlines are desirable qualities for this role.
Administration Support:
In order to manage certain operational support areas employees will need to be confident individual good at communicating at all levels. Employees should also be able to priorities the workload of others and be happy to use the employees initiatives.
Counter Assistant:
Colleagues working on Sainsbury’s service counter play a key role in advising customers about their products and their usage. To do so effectively requires a real passion for food, extensive product knowledge, team working skills and confidence in communicating with others.
Baker or Confectioner:
An important role in many Sainsbury’s stores are to be able to work in an efficient manner as part of a small team in order to produce a high quality range of bakery products, whilst meeting Sainsbury’s health and safety and food safety standards.
Catering Assistant:
In order to ensure that customers can enjoy great food and drink in pleasant surroundings employees will be preparing meals and snacks, serving customers and maintaining housekeeping standards. Superb communication skills and the ability to work as part of a team will help employees to do successfully.
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Code Controller:
Monitoring the way in which goods have been replenished and completing price reductions to sell products within date codes. Employees will be maintaining quality standards and adherence to legal obligations. Employees may enjoy working within this role if the employees are self-motivated, enjoy following strict procedures and have the ability to meet deadlines.
Sales Assistant:
In order to actively sell products to customers Sainsbury’s will need to have extensive knowledge with regards to the product range and feel confident in advising customers as and when necessary. In addition, Sainsbury’s are responsible for ensuring sufficient stock is available. This role is for any employee who’s responsible and enjoys taking responsibility for the completion of tasks and considers being confident communicator.
Petrol Customer Service Assistant:
Communication and team working skills are essential in this role because it ensures all customers to receive a prompt level of service within the Petrol Filling Stations.
Sainsbury’s to you:
Selecting products for the customers and ordering them on-line will find a flair for shopping because this attracts attention to detail and extensive knowledge of products stocked that will help Sainsbury’s to succeed in the physically demanding role.
Warehouse Assistant:
Working behind the scenes will be assisting in the unloading, checking and storage of deliveries. This role involves work of a physical nature and is suitable for those who are able to work well without close supervision.
Car Park Customer Service Assistant:
In addition to collecting trolleys and maintaining the external areas of the store Sainsbury’s will also be required to help customers with their queries as and when required. To succeed in this role Sainsbury’s should be happy to work in an outdoor environment, complete physical tasks and be able to work well without close supervision.
Store Trainer:
Working as part of the Personnel team Sainsbury’s will be co-coordinating and delivering training solutions. In order to do so effectively Sainsbury’s should have sound planning and communication skills and enjoy coaching others.
Customer and Trading Support:
Within this role Sainsbury’s will take a leading role in the smooth running of a department. This may involve assisting in scheduling, training and organizing colleague duties to meet specified deadlines. High levels of self-confidence, good interpersonal and communication skills, sound forward planning skills and the ability to remain calm in demanding situations are all necessary to succeed in this role.
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Payroll Assistant:
Ensuring Sainsbury’s colleagues’ pay is accurate and on time is an important role within the store. Duties can range from general data input to discussing queries with colleagues. Therefore good communication skills and the ability to priorities for Sainsbury’s workload to meet strict deadlines that are essential qualities for this role.
Merchandising Controller:
Maintaining the layout and display of product ranges, so as to maximize the availability of goods and the opportunity for sales, can be an extremely enjoyable role. To succeed Sainsbury’s should be able to work well with minimal supervision and be able to priorities for the workload so that they can meet the workload to meet tight deadlines.
Price and Advertising Controller:
Having an eye for detail and being able to work to strict procedures are key qualities that are required in the shop floor. Employee’s responsibilities will include the maintenance of all places, ticketing and advertising materials to required standards.
Pharmacy Counter Assistant:
Customers visiting the pharmacy counter need to receive appropriate advice and products in accordance with legal requirements. This role requires good communication skills, discretion and confidence in dealing with customers in an efficient and professional manner.
Dispensing Assistant:
To assist the Pharmacist on this department with the dispensing of prescriptions and the provision of a high level of service should be superb with the communication and an eye for detail.
Newspaper. Sound and Vision Assistant:
The small department stocking newspapers, magazines, CD’s and videos requires individuals who have the ability to priorities their workload to ensure its smooth running. An attention to detail is also a valuable skill in this role.
Sainsbury’s Bank Customer Service Assistant:
If Sainsbury’s have good communication skills and are confident in dealing with members of the public Sainsbury’s may be suited to this role which involves the provision of a friendly and professional service whilst promoting Sainsbury’s Bank products and services.
Stock Controller:
Following ordering procedures to strict deadlines helps Sainsbury’s to offer customers an extensive range of fine quality products in store. Attributes that will help the employees to perform in this role successfully which include analytical skills, communication skills and a willingness to take responsibility for the completion of tasks.
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E6: describe the use of ICT for internal and external communications for the business
The important of good communication comes across effective communication. This is because effective communication is essential for every organization such as Sainsbury’s. Without effective communication all employees at Sainsbury’s wouldn’t know what they are supposed to do, why they are supposed to do it, how to do it or when to do it by. All managers have a little idea of how the business is performing, what people are actually doing or what their customers think.
Every communication links with the activities of all parts of the organization. This ensures that everyone is working towards an everyday goal so from this everyone can get a positive feedback towards on the performance of work. But communicating effectively at Sainsbury’s the management is able to explain the objectives of the organization and from this all the employees at Sainsbury’s will have a contribution into the decisions that are made. For example, good communication at Sainsbury’s effects employees to be motivated, clarifies the roles and responsibilities, enables to ensure positive feedback and coordinates.
Effective communication is vital for successful in decision-making. This is because this enables the employees to make good decisions with managers so that the managers will have high quality in information. If managers at Sainsbury’s doesn’t know what’s happening in the market they are likely to be unsuccessful. However, if the market knowledge is good they are more likely to develop an appropriate marketing plan. Effective communication provides managers with the information which they need form. From this they can see when they need it.
Good communication is important to motivate their staff at Sainsbury’s. This is because people will need to know how they are getting on with each other, what they are doing right and in which areas they could improve in. working on your own without any kind of feedback is extremely difficult. This is because it is much easier if someone is taking an interest and providing support.
To ensure that communication at Sainsbury’s is motivating with the managers, the staff needs to ensure that all employees understand the objectives of the organization as a whole. This means that they need to understand why their job is important and how it contributes to the overall success of the firm. However, they need to know how the job should be completed and how they are doing in their work, for instance, obtain quick and effective feedback.
Communicating effectively with managers is likely to be more focused and committed at the workforce. This means that all staff should meet their ego needs when showing an interest in helping meeting their social needs. Communication with employees at Sainsbury’s need to include various things especially target setting. This means that people should respond quickly to the targets that have been set them. Setting targets for people is a good way to measure this is because people have something to measure their performance against and see how they are getting on with each other.
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Communicating internally is also important because Sainsbury’s should communicate effectively with external groups e.g. suppliers, the media and the investors. These groups will be able to understand the management actions if they know the reasons behind them. Communicating with the external groups for the firm, the firm should monitor its success and learn how to improve the quality of its operation.
Every firm considers having good communication. This is because it is easy to achieve. Firms have communication problems, which can weaken their performance. These problems occur when the messages are passed on in an inappropriate way. There are several ways of passing information on to others:
- Speak to them directly.
- Fax them.
- Telephone them.
- Send them a memo.
- Put a note on the notice board.
The most appropriate method is depends on what it is you are communicating. Managers should consider having most suitable means of communicating a specific message at Sainsbury’s. Employee’s appraisals are particularly sensitive or confidential. This is often done by face-to-face communication technique.
One of the main problems facing the managers is that they do not have the time or resources needed to communicate effectively. In any large business such as Sainsbury’s, they have several thousand people working at different stores and from this it is impossible for the senior management to meet and discuss progress with each employee individually. This can be delegated because of creating a gap between the senior managers and other staff. If this does happen it may be difficult for people to meet them. However, managers are often forced to use other methods of communication such as notes, notice boards and memos. From this they will know if these types of methods are an effective way of passing on messages.
Information is an ongoing development that creates several opportunities for improvements in communication. This includes e-mail, faxes, mobile phones and network systems. These types of technologies speeds up communication. The information technology provides a good type of technology. This includes the Internet. The Internet provides a huge resource for employees to use. This means that all employees may access the Internet quickly to a wide range of data. Many other firms tend to use computerized management information systems (MIS). The MIS provides managers with the information they need, for example, the latest sale figures.
Developments in IT are progressing. This is because development in IT systems is easier, quicker and cheaper to keep in touch. But from this, this doesn’t mean that more investments in IT automatically prove to be beneficial. Systems, therefore, can become outdated rapidly or employees may lack the appropriate training. A cost becomes an issue. This is because there are many communication tools that are available so that any firm cannot afford them. If they can then some firms may not need them. The introduction of IT must therefore be carefully managed.
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This is because many IT systems gain weigh against the cost to impact on other areas of the business e.g. Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s should be aware of the latest technology that does not always tend to communicate. This may lead to more communication and consequently communication overload.
Communication and size of Sainsbury’s tend to grow. But to expand the business of Sainsbury’s they can introduce more layers of hierarchy. From this they can make communication more difficult. This is because messages from the top of the organization towards the bottom tend to have more people. This slows down decisions. From this Sainsbury’s introduces a greater risk and from these messages may get indistinct. Instead of communicating directly to the person you want to talk to, you have to contact someone else who then gets in touch with another person and so on. At the end messages become confused. This is because it involves many people. As the number of people in Sainsbury’s increases, the use of written communication rises faster. Instead of receiving quick conversation that needs sorting out, the messages will be passed backwards and forwards. This can lead to a huge amount of paperwork. This is less effective than face-to-face communication methods. If you use face-to-face technique you will tend to get immediate feedback and from this they can see if anyone who hasn’t understood the situation. You can talk it through until you are happy with everything-that’s if they have understood the situation. When you send them a written form of message the writer might not be quite sure of how the reader may understand. This depends on what you think you have said and what they think you have said can be very different.
The amount of written information is generated in Sainsbury’s can lead to communication overload. Information is gathered to keep control. From this information can get in the way of decision-making. This happens at the manager’s desk because they have overload of paper e.g. letters, reports and memos.
Communication is becoming more difficult with the changes that occur in employment patterns. This means that when there is more people attending the workforce (working part-time, working from home and with more outsourcing) manager’s communication skills become more complex in the process.
The traditional methods of communication with Sainsbury’s are team briefing and newsletters. This is very popular but they are not necessarily the most effective. Other types of methods are video, e-mail, intranets (private Internet sites) and business television.
Formal communication at Sainsbury’s occurs via the established channels e.g. works council. This is occurred when employees develop their own channels. This is known as ‘grapevine’. Messages are passed around at Sainsbury’s more quickly on the grapevine than through the established channels. Sometimes this happens when the managers use the grapevine to try out a new idea and see how the workers react. If the proposal is disliked the managers can always deny it was their idea later.
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Information and communication technology:
There has been an increase in development in technology. This has changed the way businesses communicate with each other. It’s impossible to deliver messages instantly, over great distances and to a number of people at the same time via a variety of electronic media.
Mobile phones:
Many companies and individuals now have mobile phones. These are portable telephones that can be carried by the user. Many telephone calls can be made and received from other areas. This is often in different countries. They are useful for employees who work outside the office or factory and who move around. Urgent messages can be sent and received immediately; for example, Cellnet, Orange, Vodafone and T-mobile offer a variety of services that includes receiving and storing messages.
Answer phones:
This type of communication records messages when the receiver is unable to answer the call. They allow important messages to be stored and received if an employee is away from her cabin. The messages are sent from one company or person to another outsider at normal office hours. The information will be received when work starts the next day. This is often useful when there are time differences between countries. Some people find answer phones unfriendly and may not leave a message.
Paging devices:
These types of devices are useful for people who work outside a business and move around a lot e.g. sales representatives. Workers in a larger organisation use this type of device. A ‘bleeper’ alerts the receiver to a message waiting for him on a prearranged telephone number.
Videoconferencing and teleconferencing:
Videoconferencing is a method of communication that allows individuals in different locations to interact as if they were in the same room. Individuals can see each other on monitors with the use of cameras and talk to each other via telephone lines. This is useful when employees need to talk to each other face-to-face. This also saves time taken to get to a central meeting place. Teleconferencing is where many people are linked together via telephone lines. Each person can talk to all others as if they were in the same location.
Lap top computers:
The reason why this is portable is because people can work in different locations to their offices. They allow people to work during train journeys, to e-mail text and images to others via satellite link. Advantage is that they prevent working time from being wasted. Another advantage is that they can immediately receive and send information at a variety of location. Some lap top computers have to be plugged into a telephone terminal to receive e-mails that can be a problem.
Gurpreet Birdi
Multi-media communications:
Many businesses are now able to communicate information through a mixture of media. They blend with visual images, written text and audio transmissions. This is called multi-media. Many multi-media programmes interact so that an individual can enter into dialogue with the information that is contained in the programme. This type of media product is useful in a business is because in the area of training. Many individual employees can interact with ideas and concepts can develop in the multi-media training package at their own pace.
Electronic notice boards:
Many businesses make more use of electronic notice boards. This type of media communicates with the latest information to employees via visual display that are located in public places around the business areas e.g. in the reception. Their main advantage over the normal notice boards is that they are kept up-to-date. The main disadvantage is that they are limited to particular locations in the business and the information might be relevant to everyone who sees it.
E-mail:
Many businesses now have an e-mail address. They allow businesses and individuals to communicate immediately with others via word processed text or images that are contained on a computer. The server stores information that is sent from an e-mail address, via a computer, a modem and telephone to another address. A server is dedicated to storage and network facilities. E-mail is stored in that address until the receiver picks it up. The advantage of an e-mail is that long documents can be sent to other people immediately wherever in the world without them being there.
Fax machines:
Faxes are very similar to e-mails. But the difference between e-mail and a fax is that the information is already on paper in the form of text or images. The process of this machinery is that a fax machine first reads the information, then its converted into audio signals and then it’s sent down a telephone line to another fax machine. Then the machine reconverts the signals into text and graphics. The advantage of a fax machine is that they send messages instantly and the receiver doen't has to be there to receive the message. A disadvantage that compares with e-mail is that it takes a longer time to process a large document via the fax. The information also has to be printed out or written before it can be sent.
The Internet and the intranet:
The Internet and the privately running process called the intranet looks to set challenges with the telephone and mail, as it is the main method of business communication. This is a cheap way to send to large scale of communication. Information on the Internet is available to the public and worldwide. An intranet is controlled under the company who uses the information that is sent. Some of the staff members can send messages and access everyday information. This is suggested that the biggest savings from the intranet which will come from the distribution of standard information throughout the organisation. In an electronic format people could revise as soon as it changes and it is available to all staff through a browser.
Gurpreet Birdi
Intranets may also be extended into extracts. These could include customers and suppliers as well as staff of a business.
E5: describe the management style and culture of the business
