A report, that informs on a medium-size or large business - Somerfield.

objectives.To understand the expectations of customers with regard to improving product development and food safety in general.“The main expectations of the customers are that, we provide them with what they have come into the store for, and make sure the products are in the quality of their standards. So to do this, we make sure that we always have stock in the warehouse ready to go out on the shop floor, when it has finished, and also deliveries are done, when products are finished.”To test and evaluate the safety of food and other products prior to circulation, through inspection testing, quality assurance controls and record keeping.“If the food is not safe, we cannot sell it and therefore we have to dispose of it. Products such as bread and chilled products are inspected everyday, because these are products that have very short expiry dates, and we need to make sure we are not selling old stock. All damaged stock like this, is recorded into a book, so we can count on how much money we lost out on overall in the year.”To increase the safety awareness of both our suppliers and employees through training and the dissemination of knowledge and information.“We have meetings at work, we put up notices in the canteen, so the staff read themselves, and also make sure that staff agree by signing a contract with what they must do in safety procedures, for example when using a fire extinguisher.”Task 3 (A) & (B)Somerfield is a public limited company (plc). A public limited company can offer its shares for sale on the Stock Market in order to raise finance, but not all plc’s take this step. When a business offers its shares for sale to the public it will employ a merchant bank to manage the operation, which is known as a ‘flotation’. The cost of a flotation can be high, sometimes running into millions of pounds for the largest issues.Somerfield also had changes in ownership, on 19 February 1998, Somerfield and Kwik Save announced plans for a merger, which would create a chain of 1,400 supermarkets with a combined turnover of over £6 Billion. Both companies ran high street shops in an era when most supermarket sales were made in larger out-of-town outlets. Both chains were competing at the bottom end of the market, offering low prices on a limited range of items. They were attempting to compete with four larger and much more profitable chains of stores.It was hoped that the merger would allow the newly formed chain to take advantage of cost savings through economies of scale, such as purchasing in grater bulk. Other cost savings were like to come from closing stores in areas served by both Somerfield and Kwik Save. Now that these two companies have become one, they have 6.8% share of the total grocery market.Being a public limited company, it has its strengths, because it will find it easier to raise finance than a private limited company and will be regarded by lenders as representing a lower risk investment than private limited companies. Somerfield is therefore likely to benefit from smaller interest charges on any loans obtained. Another advantage is that, suppliers are likely to offer listed companies more attractive credit facilities. This is because they will be thought less likely to default on payments than private limited companies. Also the standing of the company in its own markets, both with customers and suppliers, may be enhanced by a Stock Exchange listing.There are also weaknesses, because the cost of floating a plc on the stock exchange is high. Some of the outlay is fixed and therefore falls heavily on small issues. This makes gaining a listing more cost effective as the size of the company increases. Also Somerfield must keep a wide range of people informed about its financial performance. As a result it will face greater administrative costs than a private limited company and more sensitive data will be available to the public and competitors. Another main weakness is that, the extent to which any one individual, or group, can maintain control of an organization is severely limited by the sale of its on the stock exchange. For example, a family may find their influence on a business diminished when a listing is obtained. In turn, this means publicly quoted companies are always vulnerable to a takeover bid. This may affect the decisions taken by directors, for example, they may be more inclined to cut back on staffing during a recession, whereas a private firm would want to hold on to experienced staff for when the economy starts to recover. Another weakness I have found in being a public limited company is that, stock market investors place a great emphasis on the short-term financial performances of the business in order to maintain dividends and share price, rather than other long-term objectives. Private limited companies do not face the same immediate pressure for short-term profit maximisation.Task 4 (A) & (B)I have managed to find 8 different business departments in Somerfield, which are the following:Administration: In this department, different things are done, such as producing leaflets, newsletters and promotion posters etc… Also it is this departments job that, all employees are following the rules and regulations, such as health and safety acts and regulations.Finance: This is the department that deals with all money issues, the income and expenditure of the business.Visual Merchandise: This department designs displays, and shelves for the store to promote their products.Personnel: The department deals with the employees, which is to do with wages, hiring, firing and pensions etc…Training & Development: This is to do with training staff and developing their skills, so that they can do the job the company requires them to do.Human Resources: This deals with complaints made by employees, and customers, who is to with unfair treatment, or customers being treated in the wrong way.Store Services: This department deals with, ordering stock, delivering, and making sure that all stores get what they want.Staff Services: This is to do with providing the staff with uniforms, and other things such as utilities for the canteen, staff newspapers etc…To help the company to achieve its objectives, all the departments need to be working together. The administration department helps to keep the company and the staff aware with the latest news and notices of the company.The finance departments helps the whole company and shareholders updated, with the companies financial position, and other information such as how much market share has increased or decreased since last year, and how much profit or loss was made overall in the year. This allows loyal customers and also staff to be aware of the companies position.The Visual merchandise department helps the company, to produce special designs and display for different kinds of products, for when they are on promotional offers and need to be noticed. This helps achieve objectives of the company by using grass-root knowledge.Training & Development and the staff services department is also helping achieve its objectives by looking after the employees, and training them to be good skilled workers.Also in the store services department, it is helping achieve the company’s objectives, by keeping the store in good standards, which is keeping the customers happy, This is also related to what Mohammed Zahid (Duty manager of Somerfield store) said about the expectations of the customers.Task 5 (A)There are four different types of management styles I have looked in to, which are known as autocratic, democratic, paternalistic and team-based.Autocratic management: autocratic managers keep most of the authority to themselves; they do not delegate much or share information with employees. Autocratic or authoritarian managers tend to tell employees what to do.Democratic Management: democratic managers take the views of their subordinates into account when making decisions.Paternalistic management: a paternalistic manager believes he or she knows what is best for the employees. Paternalistic managers tend to tell employees what to do but will often explain their decisions. They are also concerned about the social needs of employees.Team-based management: decisions are made by teams rather than workers being told what to do by a supervisor.All these four different styles are used by Somerfield, but not all by the same manager, there many managers in Somerfield, some who managers of other managers.The autocratic style of management would be used by the store manager, who would just tell his employees what to do and then let him just get on with it, because there isn’t really much required from the employee here. The manager would prefer to keep all the authority and make sure that employees listen to his orders at all times, because his main job is to keep the store running.The democratic and paternalistic style is most likely to be used by the D.E’s (Area managers), because there job is to go around stores that they have been given to keep a eye on, and see if the store managers are coping and whether they are running the store properly or not. Here the D.E would prefer to see how the manager is running the store, and then tell him how they should run it, but also considering the person himself. They would also check whether the managers are happy at what stores they are at.In Somerfield, the one place that team-based management is definitely is used, is where the board of directors sit, in order for the company to run successfully, the board of directors must work as a team, so nothing goes wrong.Task 5 (B)A staff member Kamran Qayyum, about the culture of somerfield and what is being done, gave the following information.Somerfield’s business culture is to do with economic influences, because they need to make a profit and be efficient. To make profits, Somerfield put on special offers, advertise on television, and leaflets. At the moment, which Kamran mentioned is that, Somerfield has just changed its logo and are going to introduce a new family on television to promote Somerfield.New LogoIt also has something with social influences, because they are serving local communities and society as whole. At the moment Somerfield and Kwik Save are trying to raise £1million for the Meningitis Trust. They are doing this by the help of their staff, who doing various charitable events, and also with the help of others, such as customers and celebrities.I asked Kamran, about the culture of the business, related to environmental influences, and he said that, they send a lot of cardboard and plastic back to the company to be recycled, the cardboard and plastic comes from the products, when they put them out onto the shop floor. The culture of Somerfield is to make sure that the company is running well, and that everyone who is connected to the company, such as employees and customers are treated fairly and also that they feel satisfied with their relationship with the company.Somerfield has a role culture which is to do with reliance on rules and procedures, tasks are clearly defined and a clear chain of command.Task 6 Use of ICTSomerfield uses ICT in different ways; there main use is their intra-net database and e-mail. The advantage of e-mail is that, it is quicker and cheaper than sending normal letter out to people, and it is easier for the person to reply back to you with as well. Also with e-mail you can save the addresses and e-mails that you received in the past, so there is likely chance that you will lose the information than you are with a normal letter. The only disadvantage with e-mail is that, not everyone has the use of it.The intra-net is a good program, because it helps managers to read and receive the company reports quicker than receiving them by post. Also it helps managers to stay alert with the company’s latest news and whether any changes are made etc…Internal Communication: This is used by the staff, this is done by notices, verbally one 2 one, phone or by e-mail. External Communication: This is used for the suppliers, the manager has a product gun, which the manager or supervisor goes around the store, checking what products need to be ordered, and then the manager just types in the code and the information goes out to the suppliers, so that the products can be delivered to them by the suppliers. Also for customers, when they buy products, staff scans the product through to tills which use a IBM computer system, and then automatically tells the customer what they owe.Formal communication is used for interviews, induction training days and scheduled meetings. Informal communication is barely used only for normal conversations and unscheduled meetings.Open communication is information such as staff notices, so that the notice is welcome to all the staff members.ICT is used very effectively in the company, it helps the company to do things quicker and makes the job easier.Task 7Quality control and quality assurance are very different even though their ultimate objective is the same – to provide a guarantee of product quality to the end user. The difference is perhaps best illustrated by showing how attitudes to quality have changed.The Quality Assurance Executive in Somerfield is Stephen Ridge, and is responsible for quality control and quality assurance for the company. Stephen Ridge has absolute control over the approval of having any suppliers for own label purposes. All own labels are vetted by the Quality Assurance team prior to any award of business and that vetting procedures continues on an on-going basis. A supplier who cannot meet with Somerfield standards is removed forthwith irrespective of the difficulties that might cause the buying team.In the store, managers use different methods for quality control, for chilled products, they do regular code checks to see if the products are out of date, if they are, then they are disposed of. Regular code checks are done for products such as bread and chilled is because they have a short expiry date. Also to keep quality control, Somerfield sell their products in different ways, products that sell quickly and are popular, tend to get more place in the store so they can get noticed.To test and evaluate the safety of food and other products prior to circulation, through inspection testing, quality assurance controls and record keeping.The above writing in bold shows that the company has quality as an objective. They are achieving this, by doing code checks and getting rid of damaged goods, and to make sure that they are out of the way. They also keep records of damaged goods, and stock that is stolen. They sell their products, by using different methods, promoting them, selling them at bulk ends so they get noticed and this is also done to the give the product a good image.TQM is adopted by Somerfield which ensures Somerfiled with only goods of high quality are sold to make sure customer satisfaction is available. An alternative quality system for Somerfield that would be useful is something to do with making team working successful. Using the method of quality circles can do this; Quality circles include everyone directly involved in a problem. If they are properly managed they will encourage and motivate the work team to take pride in its work and accept responsibility for output. This will help to give employee satisfaction, and produce a better workforce.Task 8The culture, structure and management style help Somerfield to stand out and successfully run the business. This helps Somerfield sell high quality products by using different promotional methods, or selling own brand products, which are cheaper than other brands.Somerfield have freshly cooked products, like bread at least twice daily, also inside Somerfield there are rented places such as the fruit & Vegetable section and the meat & poultry section. This also helps to attract customers to come into Somerfield for shopping.The structure, culture and style are all interconnected is some ways; mostly to do with meeting the objectives of the company. One of the objectives are to do with providing good quality products, if good quality products are not produced, this would be because the style of the company is not working, which ends up causing problems with the structure and culture of the business.If the management style is not good, this will affect the employees which will cause the workforce to drop cause the employees would not feel motivated. The manager needs to able to, plan, organize, direct and control the business for it in able to run well.Business culture helps the company in different ways, for example Somerfield are trying to raise money for meningitis, this gives a good image for the company, because they are helping a needy cause, which attracts customers in a good way because of the image the company is showing.The structure of business helps the company to work well in a team, so that decisions can be made easily and it would help the company to stay in a good working environment. This would be useful and help to create the company to provide better services and products, which then will lead to good customer satisfaction.