We took the Belbin test to determine what we were all good at; this would help us understand what the qualities of each team member had and because of this we allocated each member a role which suited them.
With the results we got from the Belbin test, we could choice efficiently what position suited our team members the most.
Team work advantages
Being a team has many advantages; first of all everyone in the team will have different attributes which will benefit the team, for example a team member may know different languages, this will be useful to the team as there are more people they can correspond with.
When in a team, work is shared and this will allow the team to accomplish more task in less time than if they were working individually.
Team members are also able to teach each other new skills which will greatly benefit them as this will allow them to become more efficient.
Time management
A business has to make sure that it is managing its time very efficiently otherwise it could end up missing opportunities and deadlines set by itself; this could mean that the business may lose an enormous percentage of profit.
To make sure that a business aren’t going to lose money and meet deadlines such as ones set by shareholders, a business could use different techniques which will make sure or at least help a business keep track of their time management.
Some of the techniques are
A business should use a Gantt chart as this will help a business retain their time more effectively. Using a Gantt chart will also illustrate time management; this will make time managing a bit more exciting than normal time keeping as there are a variety of colours and using a Gantt chart is different to normal time managing.
Advantage
- Gantt chart is effective and will help keep a business in track
- Illustrating the Gantt chart will make it a lot easier to read and will also help it become less tedious.
- They can be used to show how many or how much of an objective has been completed
Disadvantage
- A business may have only one copy of the Gantt chart which they have made resulting in the fact that if they lose they will be struck dumbfounded.
- Different task cannot be drawn on chart.
- If any changes occur it would mean that the whole chart would need redrawing.
- Estimates must be complete before the Gantt chart can be drawn.
This is an example of a Gantt chart
Using ICT packaging will be more efficient than using normal time keeping as a computer is capable of doing time management automatically; this will not only help administrators and receptionists saving time, it will allow a business to progress further; this will come handy as the business will able to sell more goods, handle customer quires. ICT packages allow a business to become more flexible in what they are doing; this is so because ICT offers business the speed the need to as it would
There is a drawback to using ICT packaging as time managers because if you were to lose important files or get a virus, this would be a big disadvantage to a business as they would have to start from square one and often business don’t have time to start all over again; this is why they need everything perfect the first time round as there is no room failure.
Advantages
- Using a computer to time keep is much more efficient than to do it by hand
- Using a computer will also help make sure that multiple copies can be made anytime.
Disadvantages
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Data can be corrupted meaning that important data can be lost
- Hackers may be able to gain unauthorised to the computer and steal important information which used can make the business liable to legal action because they have broken the data protection act.
Timelines are good ways of keeping time as you will have everything planned and not a minute will go to waste. However a drawback of this that a business may find themselves double booked; this will be drawback for this business as they will fall out of track with the timeline they have set for themselves
When planning an profit enterprise activity a business should make sure that they have a clear timeline, Gantt chart etc as this will help the enterprise stay on track; having an effective time management will make sure that the enterprise will have something to refer back to if they are struggling in terms of time.
All of the above points need to be taken into consideration as without being effective time managers their enterprise will struggle to meet their deadlines, keep on track and if the worst comes to the worst, they will eventually collapse.
This is an example of a timeline
Possible Constraints
There are a variety of constraints that need to be taken in by a business; these are
This may be one of the biggest constraints an enterprise can face; this is because they will need to get things in on time regardless of work done. This is why an enterprise/business needs to know the importance of missing deadlines. Not meeting deadlines could result in losses being made; in a business the shareholders will sell of their shares meaning that the overall value of the business can drop.
This again is an important one because every business is going to face this constraint since this constraint limits the activity of a business. Some of the ways which a fully fledged business may do is that the may list their shares on the London stock exchange; by doing this they will find themselves shareholders who are willing to invest and pump money into the business. This is one way of tackling this constraint, another is to borrow money from the bank when interest rates are down since borrowing money is cheaper; with the money a business can buy themselves new stock, expand etc.
This is a dangerous constraint as there is a risk of not noticing this constraint until it is too late. To stop this constraint from ever surfacing an enterprise must make sure that all the members of the team know what is expected of them and the risk at stake if they do not do their best. Members of the team who are struggling to cope should be given advice by the team worker of the team who can give the relevant advice; if the matter is serious it should be reported to the team leader who will then take the decisive action which needs to be taken on the matter.
The government has set laws which are there to limit what a business can do to protect the public; if this didn’t happen a business could carry out any deed without fear of being prosecuted. Some of the laws which have been set by the government are for example to make sure that the follow the Health and Safety act, that employees and customers are being protected from hazards in the workplace.. One brief example of a law being broken is that a customer shopping in a business slips on some wet floor which was left unattended by the staff workers; this will make the business liable to prosecution by the individual.
This constraint may be critical as it could come at the time were its need has arisen; for example, a business has an important meeting with its shareholders or potential investors, doing this meeting they find that the projector is not working, the computer is not working etc, this will give a bad impression of the business and the potential shareholders may not invest in the business. This is why a business should make sure that they do not end up in situations such as the one mention above.
The size of this constraint depends on the strength of the competition; the graph below shows how the response of a competitor can have an effect on a business’s sales.
With this constraint, a business is restricted to what it can do; for example if a business needs to a Power Point presentation but they lack a projector, this will result in the business not being able to present their presentation etc.
As you can clearly see in the above graph, a lot of profit would mean that the threat from a business’s competition is low; if the amount of profit you receive is little then this will tell you that you competitor/s have clearly had a positive impact on the market and you should try to match that.
Required resources
A business needs certain resources to carry out its activities; without them they will struggle to complete their day to day task. The resources are
- Finance- this is needed to cover the cost of the business; without finance a business would struggle to meet demand and would collapse. A business could stop this by trying to get investors to invest in their business, this way they will not fall-short.
- Time- a business needs to make sure that they keep track of time since money equals time and losing time would mean losing money. To keep track of time a business could use tools such as a Gantt chart, time line etc.
- Human- A business needs to have a team to complete the required task, lacking human resources would mean the objectives needed to be completed will never be completed.
- Physical- A business needs the stock to sell, a location which will meet their needs and the equipment to carry out their objectives. For example if a business was running an event they would need thing like a microphone for their voice to get projected to the audience.
Time
Time is an important resource which is needed by a business as keeping track of time will help them when it comes to releasing new products into the market. keeping track of time will enable a business to sell products on certain events which are relevant to the event; for example a time efficient business which are planning an event will have already decided on the venue, cost involving their event, equipment needed etc, this will make sure that the business does not rush and try to complete everything on the last two weeks since now that they have got everything out of the way they will have a lot of time to spend elsewhere.
Human
For a team to develop into an effective and efficient team they will have to use some techniques which will help enable them gain this; a technique by Tuckman does just this. He has devised a way which will assist a team into cooperating and in the process becoming more efficient since they know what to do; the technique has several steps which are
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Stage One- Forming- The first step of the technique involves the everyone of the team coming together and discussing the purpose in their task. They will also start to give out their roles, task and also set about setting their aims and objectives.
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Stage two- Storming - The group starts to share their ideas and they begin to focus more on the task and roles given out to the team members. There may be some argument over who should be who.
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Stage Three- Norming – A leader is chosen within the group and everyone within the group will start to mould into their roles and some of the ideas mention may be taking into consideration. Also records of the meetings are kept and notices and memos will be given out to inform members of the team about the meeting
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Stage Four- Performing- The leader of the team will start to ask members of the team for their ideas; by doing this the leader will ensure that all the members of the team take part in the group discussions.
By carrying out the above technique a team would have developed into an efficient and well organised team. This will ensure that they work to their potential and make sure that they get their place in the market.
Physical
A business needs a location which it can sell its goods, they also need the goods to sell and they will also need the equipment to get the goods from their suppliers. Without the physical resources required, a business won’t be able to carry out their activities.
Finance
There are many cost when it comes to running a business; these could include the utility bills, cost of stock etc, all of these need paying and a business may find it difficult if they do not have the sources of finance which are required to pay off their cost. A business should budget themselves as this will help limit their cost; if a business has launched a new product then they should calculate the break even as this will divulge whether they have made a profit or a loss, due to the information gained by the break even chart, a business should then take the action needed.
There are a number of techniques that people working in the Finance can use to help them. They are:
Budgets- Budgets make sure that a business doesn’t not over spend; also by using budgets efficiently, a business can have more money to put elsewhere, for example they may save up to buy other premises. Another advantage of using budgets is that it creates realistic targets for the business, this will then motivate employees to work harder as they know as a business they are going forward not backwards. There are different types of budgets these are-
Variance analyses
This type of budgeting is to compare the budgeted outcomes against actual outcomes, when this is done the variance will be labelled either favourable or adverse; for example if a business budgeted their total cost to be £1000 but it turned out to be 1500 it will be recorded as adverse.
Historic Budgeting
This type of budgeting is comparing the previous budget with the new one; by doing this a business can find out how the trend has changed or whether they are getting more profit as time moves on or less profit.
Zero Budgeting
This type of budget is set at zero and departments in a business are then supposed to start their budgets from scratch.
Cash flow forecast- This is used to make a short term estimate on what the business will have in their opening balance; this is used by banks to find out whether a business can survive because if they can’t they are unlikely to give them a loan. Using a cash flow forecast will allow a business to observe their operations at a better rate..
An example of a cash flow forecast
Profit and loss Account- This helps determine the past performance of a business, predict future performance and in addition it will help a business make cash flow forecasts.
Breakeven Analyses- A break even chart calculates the point where no profit and loss is made; to this a business must find Total fixed cost, selling price and variable cost. Once this has been done the formula to finding the break even is Total fixed costs / (selling price - average variable costs).
Break even Analyses can also be used to calculate the margin of safety; this is a profit target which a business has set for themselves.
Even thought break even analyses remains very useful to a business is does have limitations; these are
- Variable cost and sales line are debatable not to be straight as businesses have things such as discounts and also things such as over time payment for employees who are willing to work longer.
- Changes in the market and economy could affect the break even analyses reliability; for example interest rates may go up which would mean that customers would be less likely to spend there money, this would have an impact on the break even analyses accuracy.
Variable Cost
To work out the break even formula, a business must calculate their variable costs; variable cost are cost that varies directly in relation to output. For example the a telephone company charges customers depending on how long they use the phone so if a customer uses their phone for 5 hours a day, they will be charged more than someone who uses it 2 hours a day.
Fixed Cost
No matter how much total output increases, fixed cost will always remain the same; for example if a customer rents a car then they will pay the same amount of money to the owner of the car even if they don’t use it at all.
Need for regular meetings
A business needs to plan their meetings as this will make sure that the meeting is as efficient as possible. Having efficient meetings will ensure that all the members of the team know what the objectives are and what is expected of them.
Doing the meetings a business can discuss their aims and targets for the future; having efficient meetings will also shed light on any problems experienced by the business or by the individuals.
When planning a meeting a business should take into consideration all of the things which they will need to discuss all the things which they will have to do.
When running the meeting a business should make sure that everyone is contributing to the meeting; during the meeting a business should discuss all the things which they have done. Decisions should be reached in meetings as this way all the team members will have a say in the decision and also team members will feel that they are being valued by the team, this will motivate them to work harder. A business should be taking the minutes for how long their meeting took; this will ensure that the team is time efficient.
It is necessary for a business to make sure that team members submit reports on what has been done so far; this will not only clarify things but it will also give assurance that the business is on track and is not simply a waste of time and money.
Memos
Before a meeting is held it is essential that a memorandum is sent to all the participants; the memorandum could state things about what the meeting will be about and what is needed for the session etc. Memorandums should be given out to team members earlier than the set time for the meting; this will help team members prepare themselves for the meeting meaning they will be able to contribute more during discussions.
Memorandums are very short documents and could be given to team members in paper format or sent to their email for convience.
This is an example of a memorandum.
Notice
Notices are given to all the participants of the meeting; this type of notice is usually followed by an agenda and it should also state the date, time and place of the meeting.
Example of an agenda
Agenda
The team leader also has a special replica of the notice which has further information; this type of notice is usually known as the chairperson’s agenda.
The leader of the group is the one who makes sure that the meeting goes to plan and also makes sure that inappropriate discussions are not made.
During the agenda the team leader makes sure that everyone in the team has been introduced and also the secretary reads out any apologies received for becoming late. If any team members feel that a certain topic needs more attention they can as the secretary to put it into the agenda.
Example of an Agenda
Minutes
When a meeting is taking place, certain members of the team record ideas mentioned within the meeting. These documents should be kept somewhere safe and preferable in a folder.
During the meeting team members should make sure that they mention things regarding what’s been talked about during the discussion because this will mean that their points will be relevant.
Research and analysis
Before entering a new product into a market, a business needs to make sure that their product will be a success or not; they can do this carrying out research both internally and externally. There are two types of research, they are primary research and secondary research; an example of primary research are salesmen asking passers-by to fill out their questionnaires. An example of secondary research is using research made by a third party such as Mintel.
Primary Research
Primary research as mentioned earlier is research made by the actual business; this carries numerous advantages, some of them are
- The research is unique to the business which carried out the research
Because you have carried out the research, the research will be related to you; this means that if anyone was to get hold of it, it may not be beneficial for them.
- The research will be up to date
The research will up to date since it was taken recently and is like a snap-shot of the market in the time.
- It meets the business’s criteria.
There are different types of primary research which are intended for different individuals or groups such as team members or customers.
SWOT- SWOT- This stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opposition and threats; all of this needs to be considered by business to find out about team individuals, this will help a team leader understand more about the individuals in the team; for example a team leader places an individual on a certain role, after the individual has done the SWOT the team leader may release that the position the individual has been placed in is not suitable for them and they would work better if they were placed in another role.
This stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opposition and threats; all of this needs to be considered by business to find out about team individuals, this will help a team leader understand more about the individuals in the team; for example a team leader places an individual on a certain role, after the individual has done the SWOT the team leader may release that the position the individual has been placed in is not suitable for them and they would work better if they were placed in another role.
Questionnaires- A business should create questionnaire to try and find out how their team members are cooperating within the team; this could help spot problems which may exist within the team for example a team member may have a problem which through a good questionnaire can be spotted quickly and be taken care of.
This is an example of a questionnaire made by an enterprise
Secondary Research
A business could use research made by other organisations such as Mintel; this will aid their Primary research organisations such as Mintel would have already carried out research related to the business but in a larger scale.
Advantages
Advantages of using Secondary research are
- Easy to use
- May be free
- Plenty of research
Disadvantages
Disadvantages of using secondary research are
- May be irrelevant
- May cost money
There are different types of secondary research, some useful and effective than others; for example a it wouldn’t be effective for a sole trader to use Belbin because the sole trader would be the only one working in his/her business whereas an enterprise would greatly benefit from using Belbin as they will have more members and therefore they will need to allocate themselves to suitable positions.
Self Analyses- Team members of an enterprise may want to evaluate themselves to see how well or badly they are performing; analysing themselves will mean that a team member will be able to pin point their problems and hopefully turn their weaknesses into strengths.
Potential future changes to the enterprise activity
A business needs to make sure that they are recording their activities; this when they return to do the activity again, they will have all the relevant information regarding it; this will help them decide whether their activity was successful. They also need to see whether the team members interacted as much as they should have.
Clear aims
An enterprise need to make sure from the start that there aims are very clear as the better the aims are the more efficient team members are going to be since they will have a better understanding of what their enterprise is trying to achieve. Clear aims will also allow a team to focus more on their objectives as they will need to accomplish their objectives in order to reach their aims.
Viability
Is a team capable of making their enterprise activity a success? This will need to be answered as it will show how likely the enterprise will be viable; ways the could do this is making a Break even chart to show if they will be making a loss or a profit, they could also make a cash flow forecast which will show how much money that will be going in and out of the business, in addition an enterprise can use their cash flow forecast to get financial services from their banks such as a loan which is medium term source of finance which could be used to buy new equipment..
Profit
Did the enterprise activity set out make profit? To show how much profit made an enterprise could use a profit and loss account and then use their budget’s to see whether it was an adverse variable or favourable by comparing their budgeted figures with the actual figures. Also by using historic budgets an enterprise can compare and calculate the market tend and also they can work out whether they are making less profit or more profit.
Interaction
An enterprise need to find out how well their team interacted as good team interaction means that their enterprise is nearing success since the team is performing very well whereas a team with no or poor interaction is likely to fail because certain team members may be struggling at important task which are vital and they don’t have other team memes to help them.
Record of discussion
An enterprise should keep a record of all their discussions as the team members can learn from past mistakes.
