(reference: google, matrix diagram)
The advantages of a matrix are
- Individuals can be chosen according to the needs of the project.
- The use of a project team which is dynamic and able to view problems in a different way as specialists have been brought together in a new environment.
- Project managers are directly responsible for completing the project within a specific time.
Whilst the disadvantages are
- A conflict between line managers and project managers
- If teams have a lot of independence can be difficult to monitor.
- Costs can be increased if more project managers are created through the use of project teams.
Job roles:
Everyone who works in a business will have a particular job to do. Each job role is likely different in some ways:
- The task or activity
- The amount of responsibility
- The job security
- The decision they have to make
- The payment they get
- The skills, knowledge and qualities they have
There are four main types of job roles in a business:
- Directors: they are responsible for the overall direction of the business
- Managers: They are responsible for one area of the business for example marketing area
- Supervisors or team leaders: Has the responsibility to look after a team
- Staff: They are responsible for carrying out basic functions of the business
If you look at a organization chart you will see that the person with the most authority is at the top. Persons with the last authority, is at the bottom, this is also known as the chain of command.
Team working:
The different between team and a group is that a team will have specific goals and usually with specific roles for different members. A group is a collection of people with some common, for example, just being in the same place or having different interest and goals.
Team working is working in a team with two or more people in which each person contributes with different skills in order to achieve the aim of the business. In order for team working to work one must be a team player. A team player is one who effort and works in a coordinated effort with other members of the team to achieve the goal. Businesses often like to build teams, in attempt to get people work together as a team rather than as an individual.
Benefits of team working
- Productivity, as teams enable organizations to speedily develop and deliver products and services cost effectively, while retaining high quality;
- Efficiency, as time is saved if activities, formerly performed sequentially by individuals, can be performed concurrently by people working in teams;
- Learning, as teams enable organizations to learn (and retain learning) more effectively;
- Innovation, as the cross-fertilization of ideas among members can aid creativity;
- Information, as teams can integrate and link information in ways that individuals cannot;
- Safety, as co-ordination and communication
Disadvantages of team working
- People may disagree coming to petty things and may affect the achievement of goods
- Tendency for some to work harder than others
- There could be time wasters and disrupted elements
- Tendency for some others to be dominant to the displeasure of others
- Different people will have different ideas and aspirations and some might not fit in
- Tendency for sub. team within the team
Personal attributes:
The main attributes that a business will expect its employee to have are:
- Personal presentation: includes your physical presentation, personal hygiene, how you speak how you get along with others and deal with issues that come up at work.
- Verbal communication skills: includes making your message understood, you must also understand the message send to you and you should have some control over the communication, because every employee needs to speak to other people
- Written communication skills: must be good so that messages can be clearly understood, emails are not full of spelling or grammatical errors and all communications sent externally give a good impression of the organization
- Following instructions: if no one ask you to do something that is not legal then you have to do it because it is written in your contract that you have to follow instructions.
- Punctuality and time planning: That means that you must turn up at a agreed time and not to be late and you should also know how to plan and manage your time.
- Courtesy to other people, both your colleagues and external contacts is vital. This is often a stated condition of a code of conduct.
- Honesty means you should be honest to you colleagues and manager and also to customers.
- Observing confidentiality is an implied term of you contract and is often included as an express term as well as being part of a code of conduct
Task 2b
Now I will explain the different and the similarities in the organizational structures within Tesco and s school.
Tesco has a flat hierarchical structure with just six levels between checkout staff and chief executive. (Reference: Tesco homepage) The organizational structure for Tesco is referred to as a devolved or decentralized structure, in other words it is relatively flat, which means that the power is devolved down and staff at the lower end of the scale of power can make decisions about what happens within the store. So Tesco's provide the framework and the blueprint for pricing, layout, staff terms etc, but others can operate flexibly to a certain degree within that structure. This enables people who are close to the shop floor and close to the customers, to be able to make decisions and influence power, so that the customer will be satisfied
A school is a Hierarchical structured organization, what means it is structured in head of school then the directors, manager, director of undergraduate teaching, heads of subject…etc.
This means that the different between those two businesses is that both of them have different structures and jobs to do. Also the name of the different structured departments are different because the jobs they are doing in Tesco is different in contrast of the jobs the are doing in a school.
The similarities are that both businesses always have a Head of business/school and managers, what means that they manager also have staff to work for them.
Task 2c
Directors
The Directors typically create the business plans. Directors sit on the board because they have specialist expertise in a particular line of business, or because they have generalist experience, or sometimes more importantly, good contacts.
The Managing director
The Managing Director is the figurehead of the organisation. Managers have the job of organising and controlling . Their work is often described as 'getting things done with or through people'.s. For example at Mc donald the managing director will have to look at the applications that come in and decide who to employ and who not.
Senior managers
Senior Managers make top level decisions concerning where an organisation operates and what it makes or does. These decisions require detailed analysis and skilled judgement.
Middle managers
Middle Managers organise and control the resource of an organisation within established guidelines.
Junior/supervisory management
Junior/supervisory management is usually concerned with short- supervisory activities - making sure that orders get out on time, making sure that people and resources are where they should be, etc.
Supervisors
Supervisors are quite often the backbone of the organisation. They are people who know how things should be done at 'ground level'. They work with managers to put plans into action at operational level. They manage day-to-day resources including the supervision of staff.
Operatives
Operatives are at the ground level but their work is still very important. It needs to be carried out with care and precision. In a supermarket the operatives will include the shelf stackers, and checkout operatives.
Task 3d
Team working
Nature of work performed. As the variety of work performed by the team leader increases, each team member requires more attention from the team leader, leading to reducing span of control.
Capability of Subordinates. When the team members are knowledgeable and skilled in their work, they require less supervision and guidance from their team leader, and therefore the span of control tens to increase.
Physical location. It is easier to control and supervise when all the team members and team leader are working at the same location as may happen with a production leader and his team working in a factory. In this case span of control tends to be bigger. In comparison, when team leader and the team members work in a widely dispersed location, for example a sales manager and the salesmen working in different geographical territories, the span of control is smaller.
Capability of the team leader. A more experienced and capable team leader will be able to supervise and control more team members as compared to less capable and skilled team leader.
Task 3e
The reason why personal attributes are important to the employee and the business is:
- Personal presentation: includes your physical presentation, personal hygiene, how you speak how you get along with others and deal with issues that come up at work. This is important to the employee so that he can feel comfortable and confidence to talk to customers. It is important for the business because if they have staff that is taking care about his personal presentation it will make the business look good and also the customers will feel comfortable talking with the staff. For example at a Bank the staff must have good personal presentation skills but if you are working in a call center it may not be that important for the business or the employee because the customers will just be at the phone there will not be any face to face contact.
- Verbal communication skills: includes making your message understood, you must also understand the message send to you and you should have some control over the communication, because every employee needs to speak to other people. This is important for the employee so that if a customer ask him about information he will be understand by the customers and it is also important to the business so that the customer can give good customer feedback. For example at a Barclays bank you must have excellent communication skills so that you can talk to you customers and feel confident. But for example if you are working as a cook it is not really important to have excellent communication skills.
- Following instructions: if no one ask you to do something that is not legal then you have to do it because it is written in your contract that you have to follow instructions. This is important for the employee so that he will not get any bad feedback from the customers because if the customers are complaining too much about him he could be fired, and it is important for the business because if a customer want something special and the business don it, it will make the business look good. For example if you are working at Barclays bank and the customer wants to open a special account and you did not follow the instructions the customer will not be satisfied. Following instructions is in every kind of business very important.
Task 4
In this task, I should identify the consequences of an employee not bothering about a personal development plan.
If an employee not bother about his personal development then:
- The employer will not be able to help employee to plan his or her career
- The employer will not be able to assess future potential or suitability for promotion
- The employer will not be able to identify training and development requirements for that employee
- The employer will not be able to assist the employee to create a personal development plan for the next period and set key targets for achievement.
