HR assignment I have been asked to produce an essay on internal and external accountability of an organisation. I will include an organisation of my choice and explain whom it is accountable to, including 3 of their external agencies

For my HR assignment I have been asked to produce an essay on internal and external accountability of an organisation. I will include an organisation of my choice and explain whom it is accountable to, including 3 of their external agencies and I will provide evidence to support any claim that I make.

Accountability is accepted that individuals at different levels of organisations are accountable to others; this is usually someone who is at the highest stage of power. One or more individuals eventually are responsible for its operations. This level of responsibility then leads to the organisations accountability to individuals and groups outside its borderline.

“A hierarchy and defined lines of authority lead to clear accountability and responsibility” Business Studies.

An example of this could be a store manager of a supermarket, he / she is accountable to the department managers, and the department managers are accountable to their employee’s etc. Managers need to involve employees to set clear, challenging yet attainable goals and objectives, and give them the authority to complete those goals; they also need to support employees in all aspects of their job, while monitoring their progress, and giving them feed back. If they need training the manager must provide it to enable the employee to carry out the job correctly.

Managers must also recognize employees for good performance, both formally and informally.

“Accountability is the obligation of a subordinate to report back on their discharge of the responsibilities, which they have undertaken” Organisational Behaviour 2001.

In an accountable culture, management exceed job functions, and they work together to create a shared vision. Middle managers also work as a team to develop operating processes to improve overall performance. Managers demonstrate interlocking accountability. Each manager is accountable to other members of the management team for communications, commitments and results.

The two types of accountability are Internal and External. Internal accountability can run in different ways, these can be upwards and downwards.

Upward accountability is where subordinates are generally accountable to other superior’s Dr R B Crawford. 2002

Downward accountability is where managers are often accountable to their subordinates Dr R B Crawford. 2002.

Internal stakeholders include employees, shareholders and board of directors who are part of an organisation itself, and not just the environment for which an individual manager is responsible.

External accountability is where the organisations are accountable to other external agencies, these being owners ...

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The two types of accountability are Internal and External. Internal accountability can run in different ways, these can be upwards and downwards.

Upward accountability is where subordinates are generally accountable to other superior’s Dr R B Crawford. 2002

Downward accountability is where managers are often accountable to their subordinates Dr R B Crawford. 2002.

Internal stakeholders include employees, shareholders and board of directors who are part of an organisation itself, and not just the environment for which an individual manager is responsible.

External accountability is where the organisations are accountable to other external agencies, these being owners or sponsors, client or users, creditors, its sector or industry, and the state.

The external and internal accountability of organization is the issue of a great importance in a business world. In reality, accountability is one of the major essentials necessary to secure an efficient functioning of the market as a whole.

As the company carry out its operations, all of the accounting information developed within an organization is available to management. However, much of a company’s financial information also is circulated to people outside of the organization, this includes indirect action and indirect action elements. These external stakeholders include groups as unions, suppliers, competitors, customers, special interest groups and government agencies. Each of these groups either supplies money to the business or has some other interest in the company’s financial and other activities.

External groups with particular agenda’s are often organised and are powerful and many organisations depend on them for support. Technological, political, economic, and social trends can have major effects on whether or not organisations are successful.

In this essay, I will be discussing the issue of accountability within the range of one particular company, i.e. Wal-Mart. I will explain 3 external agencies, these being:

Customers
Competitors
Owners & Sponsors

Wal-Mart is truly a global company. It is the third most admired” company in America and one of the best companies to work for in America, according to Fortune magazine.

Wal-Mart’s financial statements in the annual report had been prepared for the management, which has responsibility for their integrity and objectivity.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world's largest retailer offering a wide variety of general merchandise, with $218 billion in annual sales. The company employs more than 1.3 million associates worldwide through nearly 3,500 facilities in the United States and more than 1,100 units in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, China, Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom. Wal-Mart is accountable to its 100 million customers who visit the store per week.

Customers exchange resources, where they give money to pay for a product or a service which they want. The customers shop at Wal-Mart because they provide a good service, if they didn’t then customers would not be happy and therefore shop elsewhere to be satisfied. Wal-Mart’s service is in 3 steps, firstly there commitment to the customer is to provide the products that their customers want at the moment, at the best possible value, and they will purchase. Secondly they provide a service that their customers expect and deserve. They provide a merchandised and safe, comfortable environment for them to shop, i.e. designing stores that allow customers to come shopping using all forms of transport and by making their stores a part of the community in which they are built. Wal-Mart are also accountable as they train there staff to give the customers a shopping experience, by saying “thank You” they have a greeter at the front of the store greeting the customers as they enter the store, or help the customers with any queries that they might have. They also provide checkout champions where they are there to help you with packing your bags, and making sure you get to your car safely. Thirdly they provide the customers with top quality merchandise and services at everyday low prices.

Wal-Mart has plenty of Competitors. To increase its share of the market, the organisation must take advantage of one opportunity, this could be to increase the number of customers either by finding ways to increase the size of the market itself, or it must enter into a very good expanding market before its competitors choose to. Whichever one is decided, the organisation would then have to find out what the competition is, and then clearly define a marketing strategy in order to provide customer satisfaction.

Wal-Mart stores offer pleasant and convenient shopping in 36 departments including family apparel, health & beauty aids, household needs, electronics, toys, fabrics & crafts, lawn & garden, jewellery and shoes. In addition, some Wal-Mart stores offer a Pharmacy Department, Tire & Lube Express, garden centre, snack bar or restaurant, Vision Centre and One-Hour Photo Processing for customer convenience. They offer services that most supermarkets wouldn’t have; this is what makes them different from their rivals.

“Where the company sets up shop, local businesses die. Across the USA commercial centres in towns have faded, as small shops could not compete” BBC News June 14th 1999

Wal-Mart stores operate on an "Every Day Low Price" philosophy and are able to maintain their low price structure through conscientious expense control. While other major competitors typically run 50 to 100 advertised circulars per year, Wal-Mart produces only 12-13 major annual circulars.

Another strength that Wal-Mart has over its competitors is that it can by cheaply in bulk and undercut its rivals, and they also have a very large database which gives them access to information on peoples shopping habits, customer preferences and consumer trends, etc.

Another external agency is Wal-Mart’s Owners/Sponsors. Many organisations would want to see a large amount of profit after the financial year, so the company has to run effectively and efficiently in order to meet their goal and have some return of the profits. For that reason it is the role of the Chief Director or Chief Executive who has an obligation to perform these commitments, otherwise the owner/sponsor is accountable for it’s continued operations. In some cases the shareholders are only accounted for in the statutory annual report.

After Wal-Mart merged with ASDA in 1999, the company has said it to be successful, and ASDA is now likely to become the second largest supermarket chain in Britain. Also the best practices of both companies were put together, to meet the needs of the customer. ASDA have also began to change their profile, with the addition of the ASDA / Wal-Mart super centres in the country and there are plans for others to be built in the near future. ASDA have always been committed to every day low pricing and the participation of all associates, which is similar to the Wal-Mart way of working. Wal-Mart has cum across some bad debts; the company has two separate insurances, the first one began in June 2001 and from now on each year the holders of the debt may require the company to repurchase the debt at face value, in addition to accrued and unpaid interest. Then again the other holders of the debt may put the debt back to the company at any time, so therefore these issuances have been classed as a current liability.