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Accounts - This looks after the whole company accounts through out the whole business. This department is the biggest department through out the whole business and employs the most staff to control it. The accounts department is also responsible for keeping records of BskyB’s financial events as they occur. They also have to publish their annual accounts once a year for their shareholders/potential shareholders benefits which helps to achieve the objective of getting as much profit as possible. This department has very strong connections with the procurement department because they need to know how much is being spent on their suppliers, also this department helps in meeting the objective about making a profit by keeping an eye on how efficient the company is and how much profit it is making or is not making.
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Marketing/Sales- This department is responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitability. They are also responsible for identifying the customer needs and wants.
This is the function of the marketing department
This is the distinct difference between the two
The sales department help to achieve the objective to become the market leader. They do this by finding out what services the customer wants and sells it to them at the right price.
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Administration- This is the company’s “administrative spine” Dealing with enquires, communicating messages and producing documents for the work force. This is very important because they service the work of the organisation. BSkyB have a central office that is responsible for controlling key aspects of the firm’s paperwork. This department handles the filing of materials, the mail and word processing. This department helps in achieving the objective to do with “offering a good service to its customers” It does this by filing all queries, complaints e.t.c and mailing their responses out quickly and efficiently to produce a good customer service. They do the following to help the company meet its objectives: -
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Gathering Information- They gather information from all of the departments
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Processing Information- They put all this information on the system (ICT)
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Storing Information – They store it for future reference
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Distributing Information – They distribute information to the customers to let them know about Special offers e.t.c
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Research and Development (R&D)- In BSkyB the R&D department has strict commercial functions- to further the company’s aims by creating new and better products.
This chart shows the flow of which the R&D department works Without this BSkyB could not be able to remain as market leader because their products would not be able to compete with their nearest rivals which helps them meet the objective of becoming the market leader.
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Human Resources- In BSkyB the human resources department is responsible for: -
Policy making- Establishing major polices that cover the place and importance of people whilst working at BskyB and on their property. They also make sure that these polices are kept by all the workforce
Welfare role- Concerned with looking after the work force at BskyB by asking them what could be improved to make their work life more enjoyable e.t.c.
Supporting role- Concerned with helping other functional managers to do their jobs correctly and efficiently.
Bargaining and negotiating role- Concerned with acting as an intermediary between different groups to help and aid them in any problems they might have.
Educational and development role- Concerned with helping in the education and development of the workforce. This includes any training opportunities that may arise.
This ties in with helping the company to offer a good service to their existing customers.
The management style of BskyB is Democratic. This is where agreement takes place amongst the board of Directors and the entire workforce. This is important to the business because this motivates people to a large degree because they know that they have a say in what the company does (small say in the case of the workforce) The results are that the workforce have a better morale and there fore should work to a higher level than if they didn’t. The democratic manager will need to have good overall understanding of the decisions that are being made, and will want regular feedback on results. However, they will be confident that empowered individuals and teams will use the responsibility given to them wisely. BskyB when looking at “the concern for people” and “concern for production” looks at the “Team” management style, which has high concerns for both people and their production. This gets things done and keeps everyone happy.
It is important to the managers because they will get many ideas about running the company some may be out of the question but there might be just a couple of ideas that the board of directors didn’t think of and could work also their workforce will be more motivated so their results shall be better and to a better degree of success. So this is very beneficial to the managers also they will feel comfortable allowing others to make decisions for them.
It is important to the workforce because they are more motivated and they will become happier in what they are doing so therefore their loyalty towards the company will become greater.
It is important to the customers/clients because the people they will deal with within BskyB will always have a smile or be courteous whilst on the phone or meeting them face-face. This gives a good impression to the customers/clients and probably will not hesitate to use BskyB in the future.
The main culture of the business is mainly Role Culture. Role culture is very common among very large business. This is because their entire workforce will have very defined jobs of which they should carry out. BskyB is divided in to separate functions, which are listed above. This is because BskyB has a lot of workforce and by separating it into different hierarchical functions it makes whole process more efficient. Within the functions what people do at different levels is determined by job descriptions and defined communication procedures. 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. “Position” is the main source of power and “rules and procedures” are the main source of influence.
Chairman
Executive Director Executive Director
Non-Executive director Non Executive director Non Executive director
Company Secretary
Regional Managers Regional Managers Regional Managers
It is important to the managers because they will know what task they have to do at what specific time so therefore they wont get side tracked by any other task they get given. They will also be able to tell their workforce what they need to do and when to expect it done by.
It is important to the workforce because as well as the manager they get given one task to do and when they complete it they will get another task this makes sure that they don’t get bogged down by any other task.
It is important to the customers/clients because if they have any queries or anything in that nature they can be told specifically how sky can deal with their query.
How the company style affects performance and operation.
It is very well known that the more levels a hierarchy has the less affective the communication link is. This is the exact reason why BskyB try and keep their structure to the bare minimum so that the communication between the different levels doesn’t break down. This will give BskyB a head start in meeting its objectives because if the company has a good communication’s link then everything should run with the greatest efficiency and everyone who needs to get information to do their job effectively and to meet the company objectives gets it.. There are direct links between managers and their subordinates, which lets the people know exactly what their job is within the business. BskyB uses the steering wheel process this is a management tool to help BskyB change anything within the business to keep it efficient and responsive to their customers. This management tool is linked to each individual’s objectives, which keeps the workforce on task.
BskyB logic of thinking in relation to the role culture of their business is that if you give the workforce a job to do and they go away and do it and therefore the workforce shall become experience in their own field of work, so therefore their knowledge of that specific job (i.e. research) will be a vast amount and then they will do that job to their greatest of their potential. This means that all the important decisions made in their field of expertise should be of a very high standard. This helps the business in its performance and operation by giving the workforce a feel of responsibility so therefore they are happier and then they will do their job with more degree of accuracy and efficiency. This is very important because this helps the business meets its objectives. This is appropriate to BskyB because the have many different sections within the business. This type of culture is designed to make the worker know exactly what their job is within the business. This will improve them meeting their objectives by keeping the work of a very high quality because the workers will try harder if they are all motivated and happy. Customer service will also be improved because the staff will be happy and they will offer a service with a smile to the customers which will send the customer away happy and will be happy to use BskyB in the future.
ICT Within BskyB
BskyB is an ICT based communication company. The business uses ICT in the following ways: -
Internal
This is where the business uses ICT for communication that takes place inside of BskyB.
- Meetings face-face. To sort out problems e.t.c
- Telephoning people within the business. To ask a question e.t.c
- Memo’s to people to organise meetings e.t.c
- General notice boards to advertise pension schemes e.t.c.
- E-mailing people within the business to get relevant information.
- Team Briefings to tell the workers what they need to do to improve BskyB’s service and also to praise the workers in their good work.
- Reports to show how the business is performing as a whole e.g. Annual Reports
- Shared Databases. This is where they put databases on the system so that people within the business can do the relevant changes needed.
- Intranet- This is where databases are stored notices about events e.t.c are posted so they are available to everyone within the business.
This is important because if they did not communicate within the business they would not be able to sort any queries out that individuals may have regarding their work. Also using these types of ICT within BskyB put them at an advantage because it makes BskyB run more efficiently and therefore they should be able to get their work done with greater effect.
External
These are the types of communication they use externally (Contacting customers, suppliers, financial institutions e.t.c).
- Telephoning people outside of the business to sort out any queries, how much supply BskyB will need e.t.c.
- E-Mailing people externally is a great way to find out what about suppliers, customers.
- Fax is a great way to find out about suppliers from your suppliers. This is helpful because you can send both written and visual information.
- Letters is a great way to send invoices to your customers.
- Customers. Advertising to them about special offers and warnings about any faulty set top boxes. Also to send to the customers any discounts they are eligible for and special series coming up.
- Business letters. This is used to arrange meetings outside of the business.
- Interviews. This is where an interview is given to someone outside of the organisation who maybe interested in something BskyB has done e.g. the press
- Videos and CDs Corporate video tapes or corporate cd's can be sent to people who are maybe interested in investing in BskyB it will show all the activities that go on within the organisation.
- Video Conferencing. This is good for face-to-face meetings with people who are geographically separated. This saves valuable time and valuable money (travel Costs).
- The company Web site is a very good way of communicating. The web site should give the reader the opportunity to see all the special offers and all the company information this is good for public relations.
This is important because if they didn’t communicate with their Customers they will not be able to send out any invoices or answer any queries. It is also important because they will not be able to control the supplies coming in to the business. Good external communication links is deadly vital to BskyB.
Impact of ICT upon the Internal and External Communication’s
BskyB have very good paths of communication within the business both externally and internally.
Internal
The impact of ICT internally in the business is of a very high standard. Everyone within the business is kept informed with all kinds of things such as changes in their work, Different ideas and peoples different views. People don’t feel annoyed at not thinking that their view isn’t being heard so therefore the workforce are happy and will work to a higher standard. For the workforce to do this BskyB have introduced a Intranet system where the workforce can express their views about certain subjects. Also the workforce can interchange documents and information that is vital for the business to work to the greatest efficiency. BskyBs internal telephoning system is one of a very high standard. Which allows the workforce to get in touch with anyone within the business quickly, This saves time and effort and makes the workforce more happy because they don’t have to sit around waiting to ring someone, by sitting around not doing anything this will make the worker bored and this in turn will demoralise him/her and make them become less efficient. All this is crucial within the business because it allows people within the business to maintain strong communication links with one another this is good because the workforce will have all the correct information that they need to do the correct work. The impact of communication through written and speech information is quite important. This form of communication is a simple but effective and cheap way of information getting passed around. Internally ICT within BskyB is of great importance and with out it the workforce will have no idea on what their job entails so therefore the business will fail and collapse, so the impact of ICT internally is one of great importance.
Externally
BskyBs External communications is one of a very high standard and with out the main external links the business will not be able to compete and therefore will go bankrupt. The following are ways that BskyB use to communicate externally
- Public relations – This tells everyone about the business and tries to portray and good image for the company. They do this by advertising, company reports e.t.c.
- An informative function, which tells different groups outside of the business with essential information that, is vital to the business, e.g. tax records and information to the suppliers.
Without the above the company would not exist because it is vital for the information to get to the people.
BskyBs Website is one of their main forms of external communication. This is where the majority of information about the company can be found.. The information on the Website is important to the current subscribers of BskyB because it informs them of changes in the subscription contracts, special offers and the company accounts.
The use of the Internet externally within the business helps BskyB to meets it objectives because it keeps communication links strong to the outside world, and with out this it wouldn’t be able to attract new customers to the company and therefore would not be able to turnover a profit and would go into liquidation so therefore the impact external links within BskyB are of great importance and with out them the company would not exist. This benefits both the customer and the business helping the business to meets it’s objectives.
Output of BskyB
The following processes achieves the main output of this business.
1) The making of a Television series- they would have to produce a story line of to which the series shall be based on. Once they have chosen a theme and written the story lines for the series they will have to audition people for the specific roles. Then the set for the series will have to be made. Then all the rehearsals and then the actual filming of the series will have to be completed. Then they will have to edit the series so that it is the best of quality. They will have to see what time the series will be suitable to go on the air (whether it is suitable for young people or not). Then you have all the promotion for the television series E.g. adverts on sky and in magazines.
The quality assurance system for this is that they will expect-
- Certain amount of programmes in this series.
- For the series to come under the price budget.
- For the series to be exciting and gripping.
- That it is directed at the correct audience.
The quality control system is where sky will get people to sit around and watch the series which Sky has produced. Then the people will tell Sky their opinions on the series. They will tell Sky what needs to be changed to make the series better and what are the good parts of the series.
BskyB adds value to its service by offering new channels to their customers free of charge. BskyB latest free channel is “U Music” channel. This will make the customer more happy with the service that BskyB are offering and therefore the customer will be more willing to purchase more services from BskyB at a higher price.
Transmission Process
The transmission process for BskyB is as follows:-
When the programme has been produced and edited and ready for screening BskyB send the programme via transmission waves to a satellite up in space which ads value because the signals are being sent. Once the satellite has received the signal form the ground the satellite in space sends the waves back down to earth. The satellite dishes, which are connected to the side of our houses and buildings, will receive this signal from space and then send it to our set top boxes. The set top boxes will transform the signal to our television screens. BskyB offer other channels that cost extra money to view such as MUTV. The way BskyB resolve the problem of receiving the signal and showing it on our screens, without having to pay for it is by using a set top box card, which stops any signals being received, that the customer hasn’t paid for. BskyB check that there signals are getting to the correct place by the satellite beaming back a signal to BskyB saying that the signal has been received and that their was no problems. If there is a problem with the satellite and for any reason the satellite isn’t receiving the signal or sending it on, BskyB have a back up plan which consists of sending the signal to a backup satellite which is situated close to the broken one.
Equipment Breakdown
When for any reason a customers sky box has broken or the sky dish has broken BskyB offer a “aftercare service”. All the customer has to do is to is to ring the customer service centre with their sky identification number and tell the customer care assistant what service they need. For example if the set top box is broken they will tell the assistant this and the assistant will alert the customer care repair specialists (there is one in every city) and they will make an appointment to come round and fix the faulty equipment.
Billing Services
This is how the billing system works within BskyB. The customer places an order for example he/she orders a new channel.
- The customer places the order of the new channel with the BskyB sales department.
- The sales department tell the accounts to put on the specific customers account details what they have purchased and then the price of the service and then the accounts department will send this information to the customer services department. Also they will check the person’s credit rating and if its not good enough they will tell the customer services department that they have rejected this order.
- The customer service department will receive this information from the accounts and they in turn will send the bill to the relevant customer or if the order has been rejected they in turn will send a letter saying why the order has been rejected.
BskyB ensure that their billing service is correct by their quality control team. The quality control will ensure that the bill that is sent out to the customers is easy to read and that they can easily see all the information that is relevant to the customer.
