Business and Management

There are a number of business tools that can be used to help, plan and monitor performance. One main tool is shown on the nest page:

Critical Path Analysis

Critical Path Analysis is a business tool that can be used to plan and monitor progress.

Here is an example:

Tesco’s, need to recruit the right staff with the right skills in order to make more profit.

The table below gives a guide to how long each of the individual activities should take:

The critical path diagram above shows all the activities from the beginning to the end for recruitment/selection.

This type of analysis is useful as it enables the manager planning an activity to see the critical path that must be taken. From the diagram I can now see that, it will take four weeks and four working days for the manager to get the recruitment and selection process done.

Kaizen

It involves Tesco’s looking at all the ways it works in order to try and improve them. Objectives for improvements for Tesco’s are set as the following:

• making their shopping trip as easy as possible
• constantly seeking to reduce our prices to help them spend less
• offering the convenience of either large or small stores
• bringing simplicity and value to complicated markets
• being environmentally friendly
• offering the latest ranges of products

Changes have occurred in all areas at Tesco’s, this is because all the people in Tesco’s had agreed and this is also why kaizen has worked. This will therefore let the employees think about improvements for themselves and this leads to Tesco’s advancing. Tesco’s encourage this by offering employees prizes or any extra payments if they come up with good ideas for how to improve their organization.

External Influences

So far at the moment I have concentrated on monitoring of performance in Tesco’s from a internal point of view, but I also know that Tesco’s have many external influences as well.

Example: if a Tesco’s competitor decides to start offering discounts to customers, then Tesco’s will need to think about whether they need to offer similar discounts or work out another strategy to compete. One particular idea could be to offer good customer service to their customers.

To monitor performance Tesco’s uses a technique called “Benchmarking”, similar business are grouped together to compare their performance i.e. Asda, Sainsbury’s or Morrison’s. the benchmarking is the average result expected in that business area.

Example: benchmarking within Tesco’s, as Tesco’s use benchmarking figures to compare their turnover, budgets or sale results against other supermarkets throughout the country/ area. This gives Tesco’s a great idea to monitor how well they are doing.

Unit 2 – Role of management – Task 2

In this task I will be giving a detailed account of how the role of management can be used to improve Tesco’s performance.

Tesco’s mission statement is shown below:

 

"We have continued to make strong progress with all four parts of our strategy - a strong UK core business, non-food, retailing services and international - by keeping our focus on trying to improve what we do for customers:

• making their shopping trip as easy as possible
• constantly seeking to reduce our prices to help them spend less
• offering the convenience of either large or small stores
• bringing simplicity and value to complicated markets
• being environmentally friendly
• offering the latest ranges of products"

The above mission statement is decided by senior managers within Tesco’s, which need to be communicated to other employees so that they can be followed through.

The role of management is to:

• plan day to day operations
• produce graphs of sales operations
• work out health and safety issues
• deal with major paperwork e.g. contracts
• train staff/monitor staff progress
• motivate staff/ provide incentives
• benchmarking Tesco’s performance against other businesses
• coming up with ways to measure performance  
• deal with any problems in more depth
• decide on targets with staff
• work with local community
• introduce technologies and implement in the business by training staff
• come up with tactics/ strategies
• make sure what the customers wants and needs are and how to meet them
• make sure that Tesco’s has a vision/ culture
• delegate tasks to the right people
• encourage equal opportunities e.g. age, race, disability and gender
• plan and monitor Tesco’s
• introduce effective communication systems
• encourage input from staff/ customers and suppliers
• hold appraisal meetings to review staff performance
• deal with trade union and try to reach agreements
• work with suppliers to ensure strong relationships

Planning day to day operations will encourage employers to do more work

Make sure what customer’s wants and needs are – this role will attract more customers, because customers will know that Tesco’s are trying to help us. This will help Tesco’s to improve their business performance by increasing sales, which therefore more profit.

Train staff/monitor staff progress – by training more staff, their will be experienced workers around the shop floor or workers handling major activities, who could do their jobs properly, this will therefore again attract more customers, which then means more customers will increase profit. And by monitoring staff progress

All these roles in a way are used to help improve Tesco’s performance.

One of the most important influences on the way that Tesco’s is managed is Tesco’s organisational structure. This is the way that jobs and staff are organised, and is shown in the diagram that identifies very clearly who manages which employees.

The type of structure that is used by Tesco’s is called the Flat structure.

Flat Structure for Tesco’s

Flat structure has fewer management levels, so managers are often responsible for more people than those in a hierarchical organisation.

Tesco’s have fewer layers of management on their structure, in Tesco’s communication tends to flow more quickly from top to bottom. This can make decision making or problem solving more quickly, as fewer people are involved in making a decision. And also fewer managers need to be paid. This is a good benefit for Tesco’s as they don’t need to waste money on their wages and this will also help Tesco’s improve their business performance.

Tesco’s managers responsibility for employees in authority over them, and this means they must deal with what happens in Tesco’s below their level. If new equipment is needed for Tesco’s or any new employees need to be taken, then they have the authority to put these in place.

The other key term that is connected with authority is accountability. Accountability means that a person has to be responsible to someone for things that they do.

For example for Tesco’s the production manager will buy new equipment for Tesco’s, which may be accountable to the managing director of Tesco’s. This therefore means that if the manager orders the wrong equipment he/she will be responsible and may be disciplined.

All the above things that I have mentioned will help Tesco’s to improve their business performance by doing the right things in the right time.

Strategic and tactical direction

I have studied the strategic planning cycle in task 1 when I produced and looked at the action plan within Tesco’s.

Tesco’s look at where they are now, where they want to be, how they are going to get there and how they are reviewing their progress.

Consequences of effective management

Effective management means management that is well organised so that is achieves what it sets out to do.

The manager in Tesco’s shows that good performance leads to an excellent reputation within the organisation, and which can lead to Tesco’s expanding.

Example: with £50,000 to start their business, Terry Leahy the manager created a venture known as Tesco’s. Sainsbury’s has recently bought a share of the business for £35 million.

Tesco’s has always been based on the idea of providing a new market segment, such as non-food offerings, that ranges from clothes, DVD’s to holidays and financial services.

Tesco’s control about a quarter of the UK grocery market, one in eight pounds spent with a UK retailer ends up in Terry’s coffers.

Tesco’s international expansion has resulted in a portfolio of 2,300 stores in 12 countries worldwide, in markets such as Ireland, Eastern Europe and Asia.

The leadership and vision of Terry Leahy is combined with good directions of day to day activities, which has lead Tesco’s the number one supermarket in the UK.

Tesco’s have excellent management in their business which also affects the share price of their business. Tesco’s is a public limited company; its shares are traded on the stock exchange and can be bought by any member of the public or any other business for example Asda, Iceland or Coop.

Tesco’s is well managed and has a good reputation; more people will want to buy into success, which therefore this will lead to the share price increasing.

Consequences of ineffective management

Ineffective management means that managers are not controlling performance so it may decline as in go down. For example Tesco’s sales targets may not be reached, or cost may become too high. Ineffective management can also influence the share price, market share or the reputation of Tesco’s.

The worrying thing about Tesco’s is that if the quality of service offered by Tesco’s goes down, this can lead to a bad reputation, which therefore the number of customers will decrease day by day and may not want to by any goods or services from Tesco’s as there reputation will be bad.

People are less likely to want to invest in the company, which will lead to a reduction in their share price. All of these elements are linked to each other and affect each other.

Poor management may mean a lack of adequate procedures in place to ensure that quality service or quality goods are made available to their customers. If a product sent out to customers is of poor quality, for example a large bottle of milk, and the cap of the bottle is very lose, this will therefore make the customer unhappy and will damage the business’s reputation. To avoid this Tesco’s management controls are in place to prevent sub-standard goods going to customer.

When a business is not performing very well and its shares start to fall, this makes the business vulnerable to a hostile takeover.

Most seriously, ineffective management can lead to such poor performance that the business becomes insolvent. This means it does not have the financial resources to carry on trading. If the situation can not be put right, then the business is declared bankrupt and is enable to trade.

When a business is threatened by insolvency there is a chance of a hostile takeover, but when it has been declared bankrupt a hostile takeover is not possible as no one would want it.

 

Unit 2 – Management of resources – Task 3

In this task I will give a detailed account of the ways in which Tesco’s manager must manage

• Physical resource
• Human resource
• Financial resource
• Technological resource

Management of Physical Resources

These resources are needed for the business in order to carry out day to day activities; these include things like facilities and buildings.

The manager for Tesco’s manages physical resources, which include refurbishment of the building, organising insurance, security and planning maintenance. Equipment is also used as a machinery, to make Tesco’s products and Information Technology to process on line order.

The manager of Tesco’s ensures that all physical resource is set properly In order to make the business successful.

Physical resources are looked after carefully, this requires the manager to take responsibilities for what happens in emergency situations. A sprinkler system is needed for Tesco’s in the event of a fire – under health and safety regulations.

A contingency plan is available for Tesco’s, which is needed for a major incident for example bomb, fire etc. Contingency plan is basically about judging what could and should be done in an emergency situation. It is not possible to plan for every possible situation.

Management of Human Resource

Staffs are the human resource for Tesco’s and management is done carefully. Unlike physical resource, human resource is dealt with sensitively. For example if a machine is no longer working, it will be thrown away or probably sold. Humans cannot be treated in this rough way because humans are protected by legislation, the laws of the EU and UK.

The human resource’s is divided into four different areas (as shown below):

Recruitment and retention

The first area of human resources that is essential to Tesco’s is recruiting and retaining people with the right skills to do the right job. There are many different ways that Tesco’s use to attract new staff into the business, traditional methods to make people aware of job vacancies have to compete with internet based methods of recruitment.

Recruitment on line is much faster than more traditional methods of recruitment and has a number of other benefits. It is possible to monitor how many people have visited the website to look at a job (a web counter can count the number of people who visit a page)

Tesco’s can see how many of those people can go on to applying for the job. It can also get a break down of applicants for equal opportunities monitoring, including by gender or ethnicity. Equal opportunity laws prevent discrimination against groups of people and Tesco’s have ensured that they comply these rules.

Recruitment is an expensive process for Tesco’s and they use an agency to do part of the recruitment process. Organisations such as  job advertise vacancies throughout the world, which is a good advantage for Tesco’s.

Once the right candidates have been chosen and become a employee, there are additional Human Resource related tasks. An employee should be given a job description during the recruitment process and final stage is for the employer and employee to check that they are happy with all aspects of the job description.

The human resource information system can provide a complete package of software that helps managers both to monitor employees and to keep them informed. In Tesco’s a number of different packages are bought and are installed. This allows the manager to monitor for example the sickness absences in Tesco’s, how often people are late and any patterns in their absences, such as Friday morning absences. Reporting systems allows the manager at Tesco’s to work smarter and deal with problems effectively and efficiency.

Professional Culture

Part of the human resources management it is also about training employees in how the company operates its professional culture. For example at Tesco’s they think about what levels of formality does it use, how formally do managers deal with staff and how staff deal with their managers?

Health and safety

At Tesco’s workplaces are maintained safely and training is given to employees in how to make their workplace more safe. One of the key acts of parliament that covers health and safety in the workplace is the health and safety at work act 1974. Its main message at Tesco’s is that both the employer and the employee are responsible for health and safety in the workplace. Being responsible for health and safety can include everything from making sure that floors are not slippery to provide ergonomically safe chairs (chairs that are designed so people sit in the best position for their health and comfort).

Tesco’s have procedures in place to keep people safe in the event of an emergency. They have fire exists, this is a legal requirement to ensure that they no that there is something for them.

Managing human recourses has important consequences, and ineffective management of health and safety in the workplace could lead to an employee being injured or even killed.

Keeping one step ahead

The flat structure for Tesco’s allows it to monitor performance at different levels and to co-ordinate teams to make sure they are performing at the best level. Part of this monitoring may involve team meetings to check that targets are being met within a department, or in a range of departments and by looking at the overall performance of Tesco’s.

The other key issue that needs exploring when dealing with human resource is the culture of change. The culture is how the way we do things around for example “Kaizen” looks at ways to continuously improve, and in the same way Tesco’s are always looking forward and seeking to become better. One way Tesco’s do this is by creating a culture that accepts change.

Tesco’s are changing quickly and are adaptable to their customer needs and are successful today. This is now very important because the internet allows businesses to compete all over the world.

Managing Financial Resources

Managing financial resources is an essential and complex area of Tesco’s, but there are three key areas of resourcing to discuss here. Shown below:

Diagram above

I have now discussed ways of dealing with human and physical resources, and one of the key elements that are needed for success in these areas is money. Without money, Tesco’s would have not succeeded. For example without money Tesco’s would not have new premises, buy new stock or take on more staff. Management is all about carefully sourcing and using financial recourses within Tesco’s to make these things happen. Finance is obtained by additional investments in Tesco’s.

Looking after the finance at Tesco’s means looking at what is happening in Tesco’s today as well as planning for the future. Two ways that Tesco’s have made their business successful is by ensuring it has good liquidity and providing enough capital.

Management Technological Resources

Technological resources are not equipment, technological hardware such as modems and monitors would be classified as physical resources. Technological resources are such things as software, designs, music, text, drawings and videos.

An area of technological resources within Tesco’s is of protecting its accumulated experience and skills. Accumulated experience means the experience gained by staff and managers within Tesco’s over a number of years. Tesco’s have kept experienced people in their job roles; this has also been a good advantage of Tesco’s being successful and has expanded.

Experienced employees are able to do their jobs properly and they are also well managed, this also includes paying them more salary or giving them special conditions.

Tesco’s have always kept back up’s for specialist employees, in case a person leaves Tesco’s or becomes ill, Tesco’s may not be able to continue to work effectively as usual.

 

 

Unit 2 – Key management skills – Task 4

Having explored the role of management, it is now important to make recommendations for the improvement of the manager’s interpersonal skills and communication skills.

Interpersonal skills – the manager used interpersonal skills connected with dealing with people and working with others to make the business succeed as a group of six people.

I have learned that management is about organising, monitoring and leading others.

Appraisals are used to set targets for employees, and were used during the meeting as a team. For recruitment or whether for appraisal purposes, the manager used good interpersonal skills while the meeting was in process.

A large part of the role of management was to check that everyone understands what they have to achieve. There were several different strategies that the manager used in a variety of situations and these are shown below:

Initiating discussion – the manager started a discussion; the manager’s job was to start people talking.

Asking questions – during the meeting the manager was checking that everyone understands what is expected of them by asking questions.

Seeking clarification – agreements were vague; it was the manager’s job to make things clear so that everyone knew what to do.

Summarising – the manager reached a conclusion at the end of the meeting; this allowed everyone to think about what has happened so far.

When targets and plans are set for the employees, managers need to be able to negotiate and encourage employees to co-operate to achieve success, this is what my manager tried to do in the meeting.

Employees generally work better when they feel they have been consulted about their targets and what they have to say. Employee’s set targets and are more likely to work hard towards them.

Below I have conducted a little bit of information on interpersonal skills and communication skills.

 

Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills involve respecting the boundaries between the manager and employee. Both the manager and employee need to conduct the appraisal professionally; regardless of weather each has knowledge of the other’s personals circumstances, or like the other. Mutual respect and respect for the process are needed.      

Communication

I have already learned that people speck to each other in different ways depending on the level of formality that is needed.

Formal or informal styles of communication can also be used in writing. Some pieces of writing, such as business letters and articles in journals, tend to be formal, whereas e-mails and popular magazines articles tend to be informal and even ‘chatty’. The important thing with communication is to use the right form for the right purpose. This can be especially difficult to get right when you are using e-mail, and managers need to think carefully about how to communicate appropriately.

Non verbal communication

Non verbal communication is just as important as the way you write and speak. This is communication that comes about through your body language and your actions. Some non-verbal communication is sub-conscious-this means you don’t know you are doing it! Crossing your arms, frowning and leaning back in your chair are signs that you are feeling defensive, and not looking someone in the eyes can be a sign that you are being dishonest. There have been many studies of non-verbal communication and you can improve your own skills in this area by

thinking about how you communicate with others.

Task-related skills are the skills that managers gain when they work in a particular part of industry or type of business. These are the skills needed when specialist help or advise are necessary.  

I thought the above information could be quite important to conduct in this task.

M2

In this section i will make recommendations for the improvements of my own interpersonel and communication skills.

To improve my interpersonel skills i would have followed my mangers body langauege and could have relexed a little bit.

Employers appreciate employees who get along with people at all levels; therefore, I could have improved my communication, could have solved more problems, and showed a bit of teamwork abilities. Interpersonal skills enable me to work with others harmoniously and efficiently.

Working well with others involves understanding and appreciating individual differences. It also means using those differences to my best advantage.

M1

In this particular section, I will show how management activities can range performance in Tesco’s.

Below are a couple of management activities.

• A manager who happens to manage the flat structure of Tesco’s.
• A manager challenged to make efficient use of resources.
• A manager challenged with getting things done through people.
• A manager who has opportunity to use of all the tools of management that any other manager uses.
• A manager who has a way of life like any other manager.

Management is creative problem solving. This creative problem solving is accomplished through four functions of management: planning, organising, leading and controlling. The intended result is the use of Tesco’s resources in a way that accomplishes its mission and objectives.

 is the ongoing process of developing the Tesco’s mission and objectives and determining how they will be accomplished. Planning includes both the broadest view of Tesco’s, e.g., its mission, and the narrowest, e.g., a tactic for accomplishing a specific goal.

 is establishing the internal structure Tesco’s. The focus is on division, coordination, and control of tasks and the flow of information within Tesco’s. It is in this function that managers distribute authority to job holders.

 is filling and keeping filled with qualified people all positions in Tesco’s. Recruiting, hiring, training, evaluating and compensating are the specific activities included in the function.

 is influencing people's behaviour through motivation, communication, group dynamics, leadership and discipline. The purpose of directing for the manager is to channel the behaviour of all personnel to accomplish Tesco’s.

 is a four-step process of establishing performance standards based for Tesco’s objectives, measuring and reporting actual performance, comparing two businesses, and taking corrective or preventive action as necessary.

Each of these management activities involves creative problem solving and by doing these activities, Tesco’s have raisin and performed extremely well in their organisation.