Description of the purpose and activities of 2 functional areas.

Human Resources

This department makes sure employees of the business work efficiently and safely at all times. Their contribution to the business activity is very important as they keep close contact with all department mainly because of recruitment purposes. They make sure all legal restrictions are abided whether that being for health and safety, government Acts or training manuals. Human resources staff are involved with and contribute with the business activity by:

Recruitment and selection of the right kind of staff
Development and training of staff
Motivating staff to perform as well as they can
Ensuring that Sainsburys makes best use of everyone and trade unions representing its employees are effective for all concerned
Ensuring that the organisation meets its social and legal duties to its employees- eg making sure that it fulfils its duties under the health and safety act where the government have placed strict rules to abide by

Within this functional area there are different section leaders to cover each role for the department. These job roles include:

Recruitment and selection specialist
Training and development officer
Safety and welfare officer
Manpower planner
Employment relations officer
Compensation manager in more modern terms the salary and wages management

Finance

Every business needs to look after their finances and have a department to deal with all financial duties including salaries for employees, paying bills, paying suppliers and keeping information of accounts for all departments. That’s why it is vital to understand the information in order to plan on what to do next whether that being for the whole outlet or a certain department. This is very vital for any business, as you would need someone to go over and finalise how well the business is doing financially. The finance division deal with and help the business activity by:

Financial accounting

This section of the finance department looks after the financial records of the organisation, more commonly known ‘looking after the books’. This will be head to the chartered accountant and because of the size of Sainsburys they would employ someone to deal with this. The accountant will be responsible for all the financial information and presenting the findings in balance sheets, profit/loss statements. The work of this section will show the organisation just how well they have performed and performing. Another key part of this section is to advise where and how to raise finance for the operation or expansion of the organisation. This implements that the head of this section will deal closely with banks and investors. Money is one of the most common reason for people opening up a business so finance is very vital and it could lead to the demise of the company if statistics are not inspected closely.

Management accounting

This part of the finance department headed by a chartered management accountant is responsible for measuring and analysing the day-to-day performance of the organisation. Staff in this section will calculate how much each component of a product costs. Equally important is working out how to reduce these costs so the profit figures are higher. Another substantial part of their work is to calculate how much of the organisation’s ‘overheads’ (its rates, power bills, research costs, transport etc) should be allocated to each product they make in store, which includes fresh bread and cobs.

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Management accounting

Administration

This department more commonly known as the ‘backbone’ of any organisation supports all other departments to run smoothly on a day-to-day basis whether that being keeping the store tidy or keeping company records. Administration is very important for Sainsburys as customers would not like to visit a unsafe outlet without security, rubbished store with litter all over the place so this activity would effect the businesses performance if not dealt with. This department covers numerous roles such as:

Office services

An office services supervisor runs this section that covers the reception and switchboard operations, the management’s secretarial support, photocopying/faxes and office supplies. Office services are very vital as this is a form of communication whether that being faxes from customers or suppliers.

Legal services

Here they provide the legal services to the organisations other departments. For example it would carry out all legal work relating to the purchase of land for new outlets, or the sale of land no longer needed. A very vital section as a company will develop mast problems if the legal rules have not been abided and it may also lead to shutdown. But as from the size of Sainsburys they would count this very important as from the size of the business and wealth.

General support services

This area includes building maintenance and repairs, caretaking, cleaning, security and catering for employees when lunch breaks. This section makes sure everything is in order and working properly. Very important as if they have a failure on a certain department in the outlet it may decrease the amount of that product sold and displease customers. But more importantly it would decrease productivity time, which then becomes loss of revenue.

Marketing and Sales

Businesses also carry out range of activities to find out about customer needs and then try provide them with that service, this all counts on feedback and this is very important for Sainsburys as they operate in the tertiary sector where they offer a service for the public so keeping customers happy would be a high priority. Marketing is vital for further success and revenue and Sainsburys do look for further success so marketing is also a great part of the activity. In simple terms the marketing role is to:

- Identify and

- Anticipate and

- Satisfy customer requirements in a way that is profitable for Sainsburys

Another way of describing it is ‘the getting and keeping of customers’

The marketing manager & corporate strategy

The marketing manager must base their work on the corporate strategy of Sainsburys and come up of ways to uphold the strategy. Example could be offering more services to customers; Sainsburys offer petrol stations, premier point cards, free books for school on selected brands and other services. The strategy may change maybe because the directors are unhappy with profits and have thought of new ways to gain more customers. This is very common with any PLC company as competition is very high not only with the retail sector but offering the best services for customers. This section basically makes sure the corporate strategy is being implemented and successfully.

Marketing planner

This job is to analyse marketing opportunities and to identify where and when to enter new markets and when to leave if declining.

Marketing planners have to give advice on decisions such as when to improve existing products, which is often done to extend their life span, and when to introduce new products and services for customers. Such decisions are based on findings from market research carried out by the business itself whether that being street or house-to-house surveys and some will be from published material’s by research institutes and government departments. The research done here would also give good feedback on how to keep customers happy and gain more business.

Product development managers

The job of a product development manger, in association with the design staff is to identify new products. Sometimes designers will have new ideas on products they want to be sold in outlets and then they might get the marketing staff to find out if a market exists for that certain product. Here they just try to improve existing products and come up for markets for new goods as this department work very closely with each other. However, its more usual for marketing staff to identify new product ideas which the designers then have to explore to see if they are practical or not. Management accountants will also get involved to see whether the product can be profitably or not.

All employees of any organisation are safeguarded by legalisation set by the government on equal rights and opportunities. There are many different acts that the government have set to safeguard employees including:

The Employment and Rights Act 1996
The Sex discrimination Act 1975
The Race Relations Act 1976
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995

It’s the human resource department’s duty to make sure that the organisation abides by these Acts and would have someone to tackle these tasks. All organisations would come up with new policies and methods to tackle legalisation.

Employment & Rights Act

This section of the government Acts states that the following reasons for dismissal are considered un-lawful and un-fair:

A pregnancy, Unless it makes the woman unable to perform from her daily duty and other jobs are unavailable would make them liable to give pregnancy leave

Acting as a employees representative

Any action taken upon the employee by Sainsburys about Health & Safety e.g. Dismissed for refusing to operate dangerous machinery

These grounds apply to all employees working in the business including those who have worked less than a year.

This Act implies employers can show that the dismissal was for a reason relating to:

Capability or qualifications of the employee for doing their work
The conduct of the employee including persistent drunkenness of work, assaulting fellow employee and disobedience
Redundancy if work is not available

The dismissal in the government’s eye will be considered fair any unfair dismissals would lead to prosecution.

Sainsburys have come up with work/life employment policies to help both men and woman to balance the demands of paid work including family life. The supermarkets offer a wide range of policies to enhance the balance of their colleagues. These include:

Part-time working
Flexible contracts including term-time contracts
Job share or home work
Enhanced maternity leave and pay
Paternity leave also parental leave
Career break schemes of up to five years for child, special leave up to a year for personal development and caring responsibilities

Sex Discrimination Act

This Act states that this principle of non-discrimination applies not just where similar work is being done but also where the work is of equal value. This means that if the work being done by a woman requires the same skill, effort etc as a different job being done by a male would entitle to equal pay. This would disclose unlawful discrimination between men and woman including overtime, bonuses and piecework payments. This government in this Act have set firm grounds of discrimination towards different sexes such as areas of recruitment, promotion and training.

Set up by the board of directors this is a valued scheme where they offer all employees of opposite sex equality and diversity. The success of employees is measured through a series of quantifiable targets and feedback through surveys of employee’s attitudes. Composition of their work is monitored annually so that everyone has the same but fair treatment disclosing any sex relation problems. This would help exclude any discrimination to a certain individual whether that being male or female by the opposite sex. This would abolish any discrimination to anyone because they would have to meet targets, as this would give a clear indication on who lacks potential and who doesn’t.

In the Sainsburys supermarkets website it is said that they are committed to providing:

A working environment in which everyone feels valued, respected, able to contribute to the business

Race Relations Act

This Act forbids discriminating in employment on the grounds of a person’s race. The commission for racial equality sets codes of practice for the elimination of racial discrimination.

Sainsburys employ a wide range of different ethnic communities and have a strict policy to abolish any racism in the work team. The policy states that they offer a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and everyone is treated fairly regardless of:

Race, colour, nationality, ethnic origins or community background
Gender, gender realignment, sexual orientation, martial or family status
Religious or political beliefs and affiliations

They also implements strict procedures on anyone who breaches the act regardless of status in the business, as they are all treated with the same equality.

Disability Discrimination Act

This Act makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person with disability. Employers must make reasonable adjustments to the work of the premises or the working conditions to allow disabled people to take up employment or promotion.

Sainsburys have numerous policies that support disabled employees and their fair treatment. Their recruitment process has been devised to ensure they are not treated unfairly to anyone else for whatever reason. To make sure that the company offer the disabled employees the same service they provide special training materials in alternative formats such as large prints, Braille, voice controlled computers, general furniture and equipment to assist productivity plus comfort levels. They also have assigned agencies including Shah trust and Re-employ that provides every opportunity of employment for disabled individuals in the form of sheltered placements. These are some of the ways the organisation tackle the act but more importantly give equal opportunities for everyone. By meeting these acts it would enhance their reputation and business.