A human resources manager in a business looks after the interests of the employees within a business. They are involved in paying wages, looking after the staff and negotiating contracts among other things. This function is also responsible for human resource planning, and so recruitment and selection is carried out here. In addition to this it is responsible for the training of the staff to ensure they have the necessary skills to perform their jobs. So if Cornhill were going to launch a new product marketing would link to production and sales to discuss whether human resources needs to offer training and/or guidance to the staff. The human resources function is often re-labelled “personnel”.
Marketing is another key function within a business, without it the final product would not reach the public. The objective of the marketing function is to introduce and sell the product to the general public. Marketing in itself is a big division; it contains several areas within it. Part of marketing’s job is to research the current markets and see what products are available, they then have to tailor the marketing strategy of the business to satisfy the consumer in an attempt to make the product successful.
Administration is the final function of a successful business and it is the nerve centre controlling the communications between the other functions. It also deals with messaging and internal and external communications and documentation for the business. The administration function is key because it facilitates the successful production of products and efficiency in the business.
Alongside the idea of business functions is the notion of business culture and structure. A business’ structure can be classified in one of three main ways;
The first type, tall, as its name suggests contains many layers of each hierarchy. For example a tall structure may have many levels such as manager of sales, and then senior and junior sales assistants under him/her. A flat structure is quite the opposite, containing few layers. There are advantages of both of these, firstly with a tall structure it is easily organised and everyone knows their place. Also with flat structures communication is made easier between the various staff.
The matrix structure tries to encompass the good points of both the structures above. It enables communications in many directions, between layers both horizontally and vertically. This means that the communications between various functions are faster and therefore this creates greater efficiency and reliability. The basis of teamwork is communication and so a matrix structure compliments a business that thrives on teamwork, such as Cornhill.
In the modern business situation changes in structure are often called for, this can be for several reasons, usually if the company is in financial trouble. If this is the case then the company may decentralise the structure to reduce the number of staff and reduce expenditure. The idea is to make departments more responsible for their own functions and this reduces the workload and the need for a large number of management staff. This is also known as downsizing. This can also have its downsides as the remaining staff can lose morale as others lose their jobs. More frequent organisations delayer one organisational structure in an attempt to change the culture of the organisation. Many large companies want to move from tall organisational cultures where management style is autocratic to more democratic organisations where workers share in the decision-making.
Within Cornhill their structure is a relatively flat considering the size and complexity of the organisation, as there are only 4 levels? Also the business thrives on a task culture, which means that a matrix structure is operational. The origin is decentralised as their evidence of teamwork and employees being able to share in the decision-making.
The diagram below shows this.
From this diagram we can see the channels of communications within the business and also the divisions. On the left is the marketing department, with Mike Hayward the manager alongside marketing affinities. On the right we can see a complex network of communications, this is in the customer service department. This is an important point because it shows that Cornhill direct have thought about where the most communication is needed and they have implemented good communications there. This structure is advantageous to the company as it means they can communicate effectively, and because the customer is at the top they can keep up with the market trends. Also the good communications strengthen the idea of team work as it is the basis of team tasks. As we will see in the following section this causes a forward-looking culture to develop. Also because there are few layers the employees do not feel alienated from the managing staff and they feel more like a part of the company. This increases productivity and therefore the level of customer service provided to the customer.
Even though the company has the customer as the top, they would also be at an advantage if they put the competition at the top, this would enable them to keep up with the competition and even predict possible changes in the market.
