Business At Work - analysing a charity.

University Degree Education and Teaching

UNIT 1 – BUSINESS AT WORK

This is the assignment that I, Robert Thatcher, have been asked to produce as part of my 12 unit AVCE course. I have wrote about the service business Macmillan College and wrote it in the form of a report.

E1a- The classification for your business according to its ownership

The classification of the business that is being studied is a charity. The business is a registered charity and so the start-up of this business will now be explained.

The charity is set up by a founding member and from there expands across a nation until there are many outlets. Once the business’ have been set up they must operate a charitable or “not-for-profit” business style. This relates to the business because it has been set up by the charity Macmillan Cancer Relief, a well established charity, and continues to work on the basis of “not-for-profit”.

Macmillan college is also a member of the public sector as it is funded by the government and a member of the private sector as it is “limited by garauntee”. This means it is a limited company but has no shares.

E1b- the businesses constraints

The business has to work on a basis of “not-for-profit” and so it has strict guidelines to follow in the service that is provided. However the charity and "not-for-profit" market is being compromised by many diffferent companies in this country and so this works against the business objectives.

E1c- Advantages and dis-advantages

Advantages Dis-Advantages

Business recieves a 80% rates reduction Due to rates reduction the college is

(around £1000 p/a) liable to VAT.

Mixed range of culture allows for flexibility Mixed range of cultures = confusion

Government grants make financially efficient Lack of communication between

Operations students and teachers individually

Low staff turnover gives Macmillan College

A good reputation for hiring staff.

E2a- A clear description of the business

The business is a small-medium, service based, business that employs 156 staff and educates around 1500 students. Macmillan College is funded by the Government. Macmillan College is also a registered charity.

A charity is a non-profit organisation established with the aim of collecting money to give to a cause. There are tax benefits for the charities who are also not liable for the debts of the organisation, ( 80% rates reduction). Some examples of this are large, worldwide organisations such as Oxfam and Red Cross.

However Macmillan College is liable to VAT. The service provided by the business is that of education. This serevice is provided to people aged eleven to eighteen years old who live in Teesside. This provides education at the levels of Key stage 3, 4, and 5.

E2b- An explanation of the business objectives

The business objectives of Macmillan College are as follows:

The college will provide a broad and balanced education with emphasis on science and technology and practical implications.
To be the best school and college for results.
Provide a college where hard work is rewarded
Encourage multilingualism amongst students
Use information technology to promote learning

The college have these objectives as they are a not for profit organisation and provide an education service. Therefore they must represent their successful service hence the objective to be the best secondary school and college for results. The other objective now comes into play because to obtain the best results a broad and balanced range of education must be administered.

By rewarding hard work students will see this as positive reinforcement and continue this behaviour. Therefore students will get higher grades to link with objective 2.

Here’s a table that shows what the college wanted to achieve from 2000 until 2003 at GCSE level (5 A*-C Grades)

E3a- A description of the functional areas

The functional areas of Macmillan College are the same as any other business but you could also say that the different departments are also functional areas. I will therefore describe the culture of the functional areas and how they help the business meet its objectives in terms of the different subject departments.

There are a total of fourteen different departments and they all have different cultures.

The art department is responsible for teaching a range of students from the age of eleven-eighteen years old the techniques and aretists involved in the curriculum studies set by the government. These techniques include sketching, wax designs, stitching, real life drawing, impressionism, surrealism and many other forms covering a range of artists such as Piccasso, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Constable.

The science department is responsible for providing a scientific based education to the students at the college. This must be effectively communicated as it is reflected in exams at three different levels. This department contains three separate areas; biology, chemistry and physics. Within these areas there are sub-topics.The inner workings of the body, gravity, the periodic timetable, the history of the universe, the discovery of elements, and the food chain are just a few of the sub-topics that students learn whilst being taught at Macmillan College.

The maths department are one of the most important departments as they provide education that is of a standard that neds to be high as to create a good college reputation through the results obtained in the SAT’s, GCSE’s and A-levels. With this topic having such importance in terms of exam results the standard of staff must be high to effectively communicate the information to students. The maths department teach a range of topics from basic numeracy to circle theorems, and advanced algebraic equations.

The english department is also a key area as this education provided in this subject is examined at three different levels. There are many different sub-topics to cover in this department and these include a range from handwriting to drama and literature. These are essential skills needed throughout life and so this ssubject does not become an option until college.

This is a preview of the whole essay

History is a department that is taught as an essential until the school year 10. Here students choose what subjects they want to do from subject choice pools and then go on to study the subjects they have chosen. History has gained high results at both GCSE and A level standards. This shows that there are effective communications amongst the staff working within that department.

Design and technology is a department that consists of two topics; electronics and engineering. These are separate subjects but have similar principles as they both involve manufacture of products, they both work on a design basis and the only difference is that one is working with wood, metal, and plastics whereas the other works with electrical components and solder.

Religious education is a topic that must betaken very seriously as this will help people to understand the workings of all of the religions in the world. This will therefore provide them with an educated opinion on the views and beliefs of people in other cultures and they can therefore understand certain items of their behaviour.

Physical education is mainly a guide to the rules of a range of sports but also consists of an education into the mapping of the muscles in the body and their names and fuctions.

However the practical section of this subject is also important as it helps the students to become more physically develolped and also helps to increase their health.

The business department teaches business studies at the levels; GCSE, GNVQ, A level and AVCE. The topic areas cover every aspect of the business world ranging from start-up costs and terminology to profit and loss and maket orientation. This subject is an option for students at key stage four and also at key stage five/ post sixteen.

Performing arts is linked very closely with drama. Drama is a new subject that is part of the curriculum for key stage three and has been a success amongst th students in the lower years at the college. When in Key stage four the students who want to continue this area of study have the option of GNVQ performing arts. This will be a continued study into areas suchg as stage and script but students will have to work at a higher level . This option is also available at Key stage five.

Geography is a subject that is taken mainly as a curriculum study in key stage thhree as there are few people who take the option at GCSE. It covers the location of places and the environment that surrounds locations all over the world. It also includes a small variety of wildlife when studying natural events.

Languages is a small department that teaches a range of languages to students at all stages. There has recently been the introduction of French to the education which now accompanies the other two languages; Spanish and German. A vast range of skills and activities are effectively used to communicate the language in a fun and interesting way.

Management coverst the areas of principle, senior managers, board of executives and the chief executive. Their jobs are to ensure that thew college is complying with all government law and regulations as well as ensuring that the business is run efficiently and that their method of doing so is both cost and time effective. They are resonsible for

all staff and students as well as themselves and are holding the most responsibility in the college and its processes.

The IT department is a central department in Macmillan College as it has the curriculum lessons plus the helpdesk, post-16 information centre, information centre and the communications to cover. This means that a problem in IT or ICT could mean disaster for the operations of the business. This is studied throughout all years at Macmillan College.

E3b- How they help the business to meet its objectives

The departments described above help the college to meet its objectives by following the curriculum that is set, by using effective communications with other departments and students and also by ensuring that all students have a firm understanding of the topics covered in the areas that they teach. This will therefore give the students a good exam result and as time goes on will help Macmillan College to be the highest scoring school and college in terms of results. Also by using a vast range of teaching activities and techniques in all areas of the curriculum and ex-curriculum they are providing students with a broad and balanced education. The expanding languages department will allow students to be multilinguistic and have a wider choice of languages to choose from.

E4a- A description of the management style

The management style conducted at Macmillan College is a mix of both democratic and autocratic.

It is autocratic because most decisions are made by one group (senior managers). However it could also be classed as democratic because their decisions will then have to be approved by other groups that exist within the business such as the curriculum leaders, heads of departments and heads of years.

The other management style that is in operation at the moment is management by walking about. This is often abbreviated to MBWA. This is conducted by the senior management at the college and is basically walking around the business to make sure that the business is functioning properly and efficiently.

E4b- A detailed description of the culture of the business

There are many different areas of the business and they all operate their own types of cultures.

ROLE CULTURE – in this type of culture the jobs people do (their roles) are more important than the people themselves. Managers, for example, have power and influence due to their status rather than because of personal influence or expertise.

The structure of the organisation with this type of culture will be hierarchical with a small group of senior managers in control of the business.

Objectives will be modest ones as the managers do not want to risk their position. This type of organisation is slow to react to change and finds it hard to adapt to new conditions.

Role cultures are usually only successful in a business environment, which remains stable.

Where a business faces rapid change, a role culture islikely to collapse.

Very large organisations, which can be difficult to control often have role cultures. The civil service ois one example.

This is where the bureaucracy as becom very formalised and inflexible (filling in unneccessary forms etc.) and where communications between departments are not very good.

POWER CULTURE

Power culture are those dominated by one very strong leader. Control over the business is achieved by a few key individuals who are trusted by the leader.

This tpye of culture is usually results focussed and theya are not worried about how these results are achieved. These organisations are seen as tough and aggressive.

The structure centres on the leader, around the leader are the key individuals, each controlling their own area. There is much competition between the key individuals to get the attention of the leader and minor objectives may be over-looked.

This type of culture often exists in smaller businesses where the business owner is the central figure. This type of business responds to change quickly because it is controlled by the leader and a chosen few.

TASK CULTURE

This type of culture focusses on getting the job done. Groups or teams are brought together to achieve speciific tasks.

Individuals are chosen for their knowledge and the team is left alone to complete the task.

These type of organisation depend on putting th right resources and peole together to achieve each project, aim or objective.

The objective could be function related i.e. a marketing objective or production objective or a development objective.

The sort of approach tends to make the organisation much more dynamic and objective focussed.

The structure is likely to have few levels of management, but with manageers having a wide span of control.

PERSON CULTURE

This type of culture is unusual in that the emphasis is on the individual rather than the organisation and its objectives.

It is more a group of individuals rather than an organisation. The individuals group together in order to have a better chance of achieving their personal aims.

The grouop could be compared to a family, wher the individuals are all equally important and have their own aims and ambitions.

But they look to each other for support and encouragement and share their resources.

This type of oranisation is rarely seen in practice but the closest to this type of culture are Barristers Chambers and other groups of professionals.

They are as follows:

Therefore from this you can see that there is a mixture of cultures that operate at Macmillan College but the dominant cultures are task and power. This means that there are key individuals in the college but they focus on getting one job done at a time.

E5a- A description of the use of ICT for internal communication

E-mail is the main method for internal communication where ICT is involved. This is used between staff and management at the college to efffectively communicate information related to both students and staff. Messages concerning students are generally for praise or concern of a pupils work/actions. When the message concerns staff it is usually about a meeting or changes notification of cover lessons.

Telephone is also a method of ICT used within the college. This is usde to effectively communicate between the departments and is mainly used as a means of troubleshooting. This is the fastest method of communications and is oftenly only used in times where the information must be tranmitted as soon as possible.

The other internal method of ICT for communication is the pager. These are given to the heads of year, senior management and management areas such as principle or chief executive.

E5b- A description of the use of ICT for external communication

The ICT used in external communications is the telephone. This is used to communicate messages of most immediacy to the parents/gaurdians and external influences. They college also uses letters but this is not a method of communication that comes under the heading of ICT.

E6a- A clear explanation of the production process

The production process of Macmillan College is hard o explain as it is a service. However it is not impossible as the service must be manufactured.

When the children start the college they are introduced to their tutor and their classmates. The tutor group will all be in the same class as each other for every subject over this year. In these lessons they in their first year take on the knowledge of a Key Stage three curriculum and under-take a visit to Ullswater. This helps them to develop communication skills, teamwork and leadership skills. A series of tests are taken by every student at the end of the year to assess their abilities and how much knowledge they have taken in over the year.

In the second year the children continue their education under the curriculum and are split from their tutor-based classes to classes of similar abilities. These are based on the tests done at the end of the first school year. This helps the students to create new friends and also have a different teaching approaches expressed on them if they have a new teacher. A range of teaching approaches are good for children as they will be able to analyse the questions in exams and be able to predict how best to answer it. Again tests are taken at the end of the yyear to assess what group they will belong in.

In the third year they have to learn most of the curriculum again in brief and then what they need to study for the third year. This is essential as at the end of this year the SAT exams take place. The children depending on which ability group they belong to will be entered for the higher/lower SAT papers. These are very important to the college as they help the college to achieve their best reults objective, and to the students because it will determine what group they go into for their curricular subjects in the following year.

I say curricular subjects because the students get to pick their options at the end of this year. This is where the curricular subjects are taken but the non-curricular subjects can be droppped for areas of other interests.

In the fourth year students are introduced to the levels and standards of education at Key Stage four. The students are introduced to their new subjects and are given a briefing on the curriculum behind the subject and what they are aiming towards. For instance in business studies, at GNVQ the teachers explain that it is a higher qualification and that it will demand higher standards.

Mock test are carried out at the end of the year in the subjects that are studied in this year.

In the fifth year there is a huge emphasis on revision. This is the final year thataround 25% of the students will be at Macmilan College. Studens do minimal curriculum work and tend to spend most of the time going over the topics of study over the last two years.

At the end of the year students sit their GCSE’s and receive their results around August time.

E6b- A clear explanation of how the quality assurance/control sysytem employed by the business helps to add value to its product or service

The discipline administered by all members of staff helps to keep the students on course and also encourages students to adapt the proper dress and behaviour. The forms of discipline are as follows:

Detention – this is when students have to stay back after school to catch up on their work/ to write letters of apology
Seclusion – students are isolated from their peers and put into the seclusion room with work from their lessons for that day
EXPELLED – this is when the students have had numerous detentions and days in seclusion and they are taken out of the school.

C1- Judgements on how successfully the business is meeting its objectives

The objectives of Macmillan College are set by the government and so the business has to meet them with the highest of standards. The main objective is that the college must provide a broad and balanced education to the students aged 11-18 from the Teesside area. This must therefore be met if the college are to keep up their reputation.

This first objective also has an effect on the second objective; to be the best secondry school and college for results in the Teesside area, as if a broad and balanced education is not provided they cannot receive the best results.

Recently there has been a big improvement in the exam results of Macmillan College as the latest GCSE results had a 93% pass rate which was amongst the highest in Teesside.

Therefore Macmillan College is meeting its objectives very successfully.

C2a- Analysis of how the organisational structure affects business performance, operation and meeting objectives

The organisation of Macmillan College is a hierarchical structure. This allows for many areas of inefficency and also delays communications. However Macmillan College has overcome this problem by offering a wide range of communications that provides most staff with a matrix of communication networks such as the telephone, e-mail and pagers for those who have them. This influences the business performance because it helps to maintain an efficient level and speed of communication amongst each department and also allows for a high level of management. This therefore means that management of the business is easily controlled and efficient.

Through the matrix of communications, the regular meetings and control throughout Macmillan College the objectives are becoming closer to reality every day that Macmillan College is in operation.

C2b- Analysis of the business’ culture afffects business performance, operation

And meeting objectives

There are a range of cultures spread across the four culture types in operation at Macmillan College and this allows them to meet their objectives. All forms of culture are collectively in use across the business and each department has its own way of using their form of culture to benefit their operations e.g. the business studies department operate a person culture as the department see the person as more important than the job. By this I mean that if a person has a problem they can seek help with no worries of discrimination whether it be a professional or personal problem.

With each department being comfortable in the way they function the operations and objectives of the business are more efficiently carried out and met.

C2c- Analysis of the style of management afffects business performance, operation

And meeting objectives

The management style in operation at Macmillan College is autocratic with a democratic influence. This means that management make the decisions but will not put them into operation without first consulting those who will be affected by the change. This allows for efficient decision making and,effective performace and operations in the business. The effectiveness of these obviously contribute to the succes of the business and also bring them closer to achieving their objectives.

A1- Alternative approaches for meeting objectives

There are to be many changes at Macmillan College in the future and they are as follows:

Four year ICT plan
A more frequent use of whiteboard technology
CMIS
Acedemic mentoring
Learning mentors
E-learning

The four year ICT plan is a plan that has decided that over the next four years there will be a huge development in the computers, their software and hardware at Macmillan College. This will include upgrades, replacements, cable upgrades and disk storage.

Macmillan College have already introduced whiteboard technology in somes classes but have yet to use it as a frequent method of teaching. Their plan is to over the next five years use this as a frequent method of teaching and also digitally interact with other schools.

CMIS stands for College Monitory Information System. This is being used by staff to monitor the work of the students at Macmillan College in years seven to eleven.

Acedemic mentoring is help from a senior member of staff or head of year to help students to get themselves back on track with their acedemic studies at Macmillan College.

Learning mentors are people who students can go to with their personal problems and can receive guiance on what to do. This does not have anything to do with academia.

The e-learning programme is something that has just been set up for year sevens on the businesses network. This is on the start menu as ‘class server’. This will allow them access to their work at school from home.

A2-Evaluate the effects of these alternatives

The four year plan is designed to give a more efficient ICT service so that students can access the internet and be able to store more information on the computers. It will therefore help and encourage students to do more work and with increased access they can go into more detail. This will help Macmillan College meet its objectives as students will receive higher grades in exams.

Thee introducton of whiteboard technology allows for students to digitally interact with other students and also be able to develop a further understanding of the work they are doing. Digital interaction with other students will also arouse the mind of the students at Macmillan College as they can see how much people in other parts of the country/world know as well as themselves.

CMIS will help staff at Macmillan College keep an eye on any student they feel may be having difficulties or may be working to a higher standard than others. This will in the long run prevet students having difficult communications with teaching staff and allow for a more relaxed approach to education.This will help Macmillan College to meet its objectives as the students will learn more and therefore obtain higher exam results.

Academic mentoring which is conducted mainly by senior staff will help students to overcome any problems they may have with their studies at Macmillan College. This will help develop teacher-student relations and help students to have a greater undersanding of their work, which will in turn create higher exam results.

Learning mentors help students with their personal problems. This helps to clear the students head and so they can get on with their work as well as understand it. This will help to create a higher exam grade for that student bring ing Macmillan College’s objectives closer to reality.

The e-learning system will allow students to take ork on Macmillan College computers home with them and so they have more time to work on it in a natural environment. This will allow for studens to go into more detail and produce higher quality standards of work. This will help to meet the objectives of Macmillan College as they will obtain higher exam grades in the future.

Types of Organisational Structures

The structure of an organisation will vary depending on a number of factors.

The size and nature of the market in which it operates.
The type of business in which it is involved.
The need for maintenanince of good communications.
The size of the organisation.
The number of branches/outlets/sites/shops.
The type and number of clients.
How much it is affected by government legislation.
The impact of new technologies.
The nature and extent of its responsibilities and obligations.
Its past and current structure.
Its future plans.
The complexity of its business activity.

Summary of Business Types

Public sector businesses are usually govt. owned or controlled BBc, Local Council

The private sector compromises of businesses which are owned by private individuals or organisations.

Small businesses (0-50 Ee) account for most businesses in the UK.

Large businesses (200+Ee) are predominantly Plc and operate nationally.

The largest companies are multi-national which are usually based in one part of the world but operate worldwide.

Buiness owners who are sole traders or partners in an unlimited partnership have unlimited liability for debts of the business.

Business owners who are limited partners in a limited partnership or shareholders in a limited company have limited liability for the debts of their business.

The burden of documentation that is required of business owners ncreases with the size of the business.

Sole Traders, apart from normal business stationary do not need any legal documentation to setup their business.

Partners often have a partnership agreement to establish the rights of partners.

Ltd’s are strictly regulated by company house; they need a Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association.

Co-operations are businesses which are “self-help” societies and are setup for the mutual benefit of the members.

The Franchise arangement, which originated in the USA, allows a franchisee to trade under a well known brand name. e.g McDonalds, in return for a fee and a share of the profits. The franchisee receives training and in most cases equipment.

Macmillan College belongs to the public sector as it is government owned and is classed as a medium sized business.