My aim is to research and produce a formal business report on my the co-operative society supermarket

Objectives of the functional areas of Co-op retails:

• The Finance function:

1. To manage the businesses finances, accounting.
2. Researching and developing new ways for the business to gain revenue.
3. To keep account of the business profit and revenue figures for taxation and government purposes
4. To allocate and budget the businesses finances to each of the functional areas within the business
5. paying staff wages and salary

• The Marketing and Sales function :

1. To market co-op and its products
2.  To collect and analyse data that can be used to the businesses advantage. About the co-ops competitors, the market sector it is in
3. To promote the business through the various advertising mediums (discussed later, identified ) to advertise the business and job vacancies (external recruitment)

• The Production function

1. To utilize raw materials to produce final consumables
2. Using quality control methods to increase the co-ops efficiency and profitability
3. buying raw materials that the business will need for the production function
4. acquiring land and capital (machinery) for the businesses production function
5. utilizing finances and revenue allocated to the business for the production process

• The Transportation function

1. The Transportation function of co-op aim is to provide the right means of     transportation for the to convey businesses goods
2. To convey good to customers on-time every time
3.  To investigate and develop new ways by which the business can cut emissions and help preserve a green planet
4. To actively involve the business in activities that will save energy and cut c02 emissions

• ICT function aims to

1. The ICT function of co-op aims to provide the business with the most up-to date internal communication technology in order to keep the business up-to date within the constantly changing technological advancements
2. to provide the business with software ,support, help and advice on all aspects of ICT and communication

• Human Resources function aims

1. To provide the business with trained and qualified staff to undertake the job roles within the business regardless of race, religion ,sexual preference and disability
2. To undertake all aspects pertaining to recruitment( this is done in unison with the advertising department later discussed)
3.  To provide advice and counsel to employees and staff on issues regarding disability, equal opportunity, workers rights etc
4. To provide support staff to carry out the business administration function

• Customer Service aims

1. To provide co-ops customers with information regarding the businesses products and services
2. To provide the businesses customers with after-sales service.
3. To deal effectively and appropriately with situations pertaining to customers
4. To help and support the customer

3.3 ORGANISATIONAL FUNCTION

 

A large organization such as co-op supermarket has to have an organization function which will help the business to carry out its activities. In order to carry out its operations involving the factors of production to produce finished goods, co-op retails group, will need to be structure into functional areas and all have specific purpose.

Co-op retail group five functional areas are;

1. sales and marking function

Sales and marketing is concerned with identifying what the co-op retails customer’s needs and requirements are and also what they require and expect from a product or service and that they receive the highest level and quality of service and goods at a fair and reasonable price.

Marketing function

   The marketing activities of a business are designed to ensure that there are potential customers who know about the business and its goods or services, and who wants to buy these products it is also has to aim to maximise the businesses potential by finding new areas and discovering different aspects which may make the business successful.

The marketing and sales department at co-op is mainly responsible for dealing with the sales, customer service, sales and marketing.

The aim of the marketing and sales department at co-op is to make sure that the quality and price of its goods and products and customer service is of the highest level.

Market research

 Co-op to carry out market research to find out what the market needs and what the public and customers think of the business its products and services and the general aspects of the business market research can be carried out in different methods in which it can be carried out e.g. questionnaires, in order to find out what the customers require and think of the business.

  The marketing and sales department is responsible carrying out market research to find out:

• What goods and services the customers want
• What the customers think of the goods and products
• Expected trends in market and in demand for a product
• The strengths and weakness of their competing companies

There are two main methods of carrying out market research i.e.

Primary data is information not already in published form which is obtained by the business; some of these methods include questionnaires, interviews, shop floor tests etc

Co-op carries out its market research by producing two major publications for its customers these are: through the weekly publication of its inserts in the localities free paper promotion  

Newspaper supplements and magazines these advertisements are designed and placed by an agency.

The second method is desk research: this method is used to collect secondary data this is data recorded for a specific purpose such as government purposes, trade figure publications, and government statistics. Information can also be brought from other companies databases. This provides the company with information about consumer expenditure and competitors details.

Co-op carries out its secondary research through its computer database which has the details of some of its customers saved and readily available, this provides the company with information about their buying patterns and potential products that they might be interested in.

Promotion:

  Promotion is important to the business because it informs the customers about the product and persuading them to buy their products.

There are three main aspects that co-op take into account when promoting a product these are

• Inform the customers about the new product
• convincing the customers that the product is of quality
• Persuading the customers to buy the product

   The main aim and type of promotion will affect the range and style of the promotional materials. Co-op produces coloured pamphlets and brochures containing a range of their new products and which are then placed in newspapers locally.

Promotion of a product or service can be done in various ways depending on the type what product or service the company sells, there are two main promotional methods these are:

• Sales promotion
• Advertising

Sales promotion:

  Sales promotion can sometimes be mistaken as advertising but is actually different but the objectives of these two functions are the same the difference is that sales promotion involves some form of incentive wherein the customers can sample products. The aim of this method is to remind or inform the public and customers that its products or services exist and of the benefits the product can provide to customers.

Advertising:

  Advertising can be defined as the presenting of a product to the public to encourage sales.

 It is important because it provides the customers with information about a product or service which can attract customers this can be done to notify customers of sales and new stock they also give out leaflets to notify the public of new products and special offers, Discounts and sales. There are now various mediums or advertising these include:

• Prime time television
• Internet
• Radio
• Newspapers
• Mail slots
• Billboards

How the advertising and marketing function helps the business meet its objectives

Co-op advertising and marketing function helps the business as a whole to achieve its objectives by:

1).Marketing the businesses products and through the various media identified above. This enables the business to become familiar and recognized, the marketing function is mainly responsible for making the business know and its brand name recognizable

2).Advertising the advertising department enables co-op to meet its objectives by:

• Providing basic facts about the existence of the business, its  address(s) and contact details - as well as any changes that take place

• Increasing sales by notifying potential customers about the businesses products

• Change people's attitudes towards the business and building a firm reputation for the business
• recruit staff -  advertising is not used solely for sales and marketing. it can also be used to recruit staff
• recruit suppliers and contractors - this also helps to position the business as active and expanding

Advertising is done by co-op through the various mediums identified in the chart above.

Here are some of the promotions that Co-op is running this Christmas season

     

2. Production and Manufacturing Function

The production function is critical to the survival to any business that produces or manufactures its goods.

 This function concentrates on converting the resources and raw materials of co-op into goods or services which can be sold to customers. Resources include buildings/land, equipment, people (including specialist materials), raw materials and stock for sale. The purpose of the production function is to produce goods. The production function is also responsible for planning how to use allocated funds and capital and will also use quality control to ensure that production targets are met. The production function in co-op concerned with obtaining the resources required to produce goods or provide a service. Production is also concerned with organising resources to produce the goods or provide the service in a cost effective manner.

ACTIVITES OF THE PRODUCTION FUNCTION

 Obtaining resources required to produce goods or services:

For each production process the producer will need a wide range of resources before production is possible. These resources can be listed under four main headings:-

 Land and buildings:

   All production must take place somewhere and therefore require some land. Since co-op is in the retail sector it needs land and buildings to carry out its production processes. Co-op has various warehouses and storage facilities were packaging and distribution of products to its different store locations takes place

Equipment and machinery

  Equipment and machinery are classified as the tools and equipment used in the production and manufacturing e.g. computers, assembly tables, Packaging and labelling machines. Equipment and machinery also known as capital is vital to any business in the production and manufacturing sector without capital the process of manufacturing cannot take place co-op has acquired various machines and equipment that will enable the business to speed up the production process and increase efficiency.

Manpower

  These are individuals employed to produce and manufacture the goods

Co-ops production manager has the overall responsibility for the functional he ensures that there are qualified staff and personnel are available to carry out the production and packaging

 Raw Materials:

   These are the materials that are needed to produce goods or services. Materials can include stock which is bought for resale in retail stores and the raw materials which are purchased by manufacturing organisations and assembled into the finished product. Co-op has to buy and acquire raw materials to enable the business to carry out the production and manufacturing of its goods

How production and manufacturing function helps co-op meet its business objectives and aims

   The production and manufacturing function co-op helps the business meet its aims and objectives by using raw materials which are then processed to manufacture and produce finished products, which are then sold to the final consumer. This particular function is important to co-op because it is a business whose activities are found in the tertiary sector, and its main activities are production and retail. This is the main source of revenue for co-op and it is what keeps the business as a whole in the market.

The production and manufacturing function has to carry out actions like:

• Adding value to its products to encourage customers to buy the businesses brand of goods i.e. more products for a lesser price.

• Using quality control methods to lower the businesses costs and increase efficiency i.e. less time spent checking goods for production errors and faults and correcting mistakes can reduce the businesses costs and increase profitability.

• packaging the goods attractively to encourage customers to buy the businesses products

3. Finance and Account function

  The finance and accounts function in co-op retail is responsible for looking after the financial records and transactions of the business. It is responsible for recording and dealing with all the monetary aspects of the business.

 

The importance of the finance and accounting function at co-op

 The finance function is the most important of all the functional areas at co-op because this department keeps track of all the companies’ finances, income, costs and revenue and also to make sure that that all bills are paid and that the staff salary is received each month.

 To control the financial aspect of the business the company allocates different department budgets and expect them to keep to the planned level of income and expenditure, finance also has the task of preparing all the accounts each year and complying with its legal responsibilities to the Inland Revenue.

 The purpose of the finance department at co-op is to keep all the financial records required by co-op retails detailing all the receipts and payments that have been made, it also undertakes the task of monitoring the income and expenditure of different departments against the budget of the company.

Here are some of the activities that co-ops accounts function carries out In order to enable the business to run and survive cost effectively.

     

• Keeping track of the Businesses costs and revenues

• Analysing and interpreting financial information

• Providing information about the amount of capital needed for the business to run efficiently

• Financial documents are used and How payments are made (Methods of making and receiving payments)

• Providing financial information on business performance to managers and stakeholders

• Paying the staff and employees wages/salaries

• Dealing with the businesses debtors and creditors  

• Dealing with payments to suppliers

• Making sure the invoices received from suppliers match the goods supplied to the business

Preparing accounts:

  Co-op retails has to prepare its accounts for tax and Inland Revenue purposes this is important because it is the businesses legal requirement co-ops accounting department has a team of qualified certified accountants who carry out the task of preparing the companies accounts and balancing its books this is vital because it provides a direct overview into the state of the businesses finances and disposable income.

Obtaining capital and resources

   One of the aims of every business is to grow and expand into various market ventures in order to grow the business will needs funds to grow so this has to be obtained through owners and workers efforts and input into the business. Co-op obtains capital and resources to run and finance the business through investment form different sponsors and stakeholders, these include owners.

Paying wages and salaries  

  The finance department is responsible for paying the employees wages and salaries. Co-op uses credit transfer which is one of the safest methods of paying employees, this is a safe method because the money can be easily traced and pay advice can be given to the employees or staff.

How Co-ops finance and accounting functions help the business meets its aims and objectives

Finance is important to every business; it covers every monetary aspect of business.

Co-ops finance function helps it meet its aims and objectives by:

• overseeing all the financial aspects of the business mentioned above
• budgeting and allocating funds and revenue to the different functional departments and areas
• ensuring that employees and staff salaries and wages are paid on time
• making sure all the businesses suppliers are paid within the credit period
• researching and developing new areas and aspects for the business to generate revenue
• ensuring that the businesses profit figures and costing are updated for legal purposes

Here are the sales figures for Co-op retails stores nationwide from 1999/04

Key financial statistics 1999-2003
  

(Figures taken form co-op online)

4. ICT function

 ICT is now the most important function in any business of today, without an ICT function all business would not be able to survive in the modern market.

For a large business like co-op to survive in the competitive market it has to have its own website  this is a screen dump taken from co-op online co-ops website where customers can order goods online and have it delivered to their doorstep this is just one of the many functions of the ICT department

The ICT department is responsible for overseeing all the functions to do with internal and external communications these include:

• Email
• Fax
• Intranet
• Internet

The ICT department of co-op has to ensure that all the necessary ICT components are made available to the businesses staff and employees.

Email is of importance to any business as it is very versatile, large documents and files can be sent via email and received almost instantaneously, also one document or message can be sent to different email addresses at the same time this enables quick, efficient and easy transfer of data both internally and externally through intranet and internet.

 

 Co-ops ICT department hires skilled and qualified technicians to carry out all tasks pertaining to its ICT function from setting up its internet connection to repairing and maintaining computer equipment.

The head of the ICT department is the system administrator he/she oversees all the activities in that department. Their job is to find, introduce and new methods and technology to increase the efficiency of the business communication links.

5. Human resource function

  Co-op supermarket group cannot be successful without the commitment of the human resource support. They main responsibility of the human resource department is to recruit the best workers for the right job. Co-op retails grants its staff and employees equal opportunities in terms of recruitment promotion and retention, paying them respectable wages and treating them fairly. The human resource function is also responsible for training its staff and appraising them regularly to ensure they are motivated, meeting their individual targets and are happy with their job role and all other aspects of the job.

  The human resource function or department of the co-op retail is also responsible for making sure that their highly qualified staffs are maintained. They have to ensure that the organization has less turnover of staff each year, try to avoid unlawful or unfair dismiss and decimation within the organization and finally dealing with all the health and safety issues ensuring that all government health and safety regulations are met and that its employees, staff and customers are free to work and shop in a safe hazard free environment.

Recruitment

For co-op to ensure that all its staff and personnel are highly trained and qualified hiring and recruitment takes place in different stages theses include

Health and safety

  Health and safety wise personnel are responsible for training the staff in the health, fire and first aid procedures.

This department is required by law to assess the risks in the work place this activity is undertaken so that the employer can take precautions to avoid accidents happening in the work place.

 

Co-op human resource and personnel department has to take five steps in assessing risks in the work place i.e.

1. Looking for hazards in the shop floor and its environment
2. Deciding who might be harmed and in what way
3. Evaluating the risks and deciding whether the existing precautions are adequate
4. Recording and storing the findings
5. Reviewing the assessment and to make amendments if necessary

Some responsibility of human resource:

• Welfare and wages.
• The holiday entitlement and making sure that the workers receive their pay whilst on leave or holiday.
• Equal opportunity in recruitment, retention and promotion.
• Ensuring that co-ops staff and employees are happy and gaining job satisfaction form their job roles.
• Fair and ethical work practices
• Liaising with trade unions to ensure that its members are taken care of and all the needs and constraints are being met or considered
• working hours and salary

The importance of H.R. and how it helps Co-op meet its aims

Human resources are a function important to every business by providing the vital resource (personnel) which the business needs to carry out its functions it overall helps the business meets its goals. This function is vital because without the right qualified people carrying out the job roles the business would not be able to carry out its functions efficiently. HR not only recruits. The human resources function also helps the business as a whole meet its aims and objectives by finding out new ways to lower staff turnover and keep its employees motivated.

The chart below shows the number of stores and employees

Figures taken from www.co-op.co.uk

6. CUSTOMER SERVICE        

Customer service is very important to both the business and the customer for the business it acts as a means for the customers to receive necessary information about products or services provided by the business or to make suggestions, comments or complaints about any aspect or activity of the business.  The customer service department is also important to the business because they could find out from customer’s responses and complaints how to improve certain areas of the business.

 This aspect of the business also works in unison with the marketing and sales department.  Their concern is also to keep up the reputation of the business.

Some of the factors that contribute to good customer service are customers expect that the price of the goods and services are reasonable, a wide range of products which must be available at the right time.  The customers also expect a fast service; the payment period for business customers has to be attractive. Customers can also to pay by cash, cheques, credit cards or debit cards. Co-op endeavours to meet the customer expectations by providing a wide range of goods and giving information to customers for example they have a leaflets or magazines showing the new products.

Co-op meets the customer expectations by pricing their goods reasonably and providing offers and sales to encourage customers.

 Co-op has to consider the following to provide good customer service.

1) Polite service

  The most important issue in trading is politeness and the businesses attitude towards its customers, co-ops staff are trained to deal with all types of customers and situations to provide the customers with their needs and expectations.

2) Value for money  

  Value for money basically means a product is worth what it is being paid for. Customers hate the feeling of paying for overpriced goods. Co-ops main objectives are to provide quality household and grocery products at a fair reasonable price and paying farmers a fair and reasonable price for goods.

3) Well packaged goods

   Goods have to be packaged attractively to catch the customer’s eye and to interest them in purchasing the product, the packaging should also contain information about the product and its uses. The packaging is useful because it also protects the product from damaging; the customers expect the goods to be received by them in perfect condition.

4) Safe products

  Acts have been passed in parliament that make it an offence to sell damaged or goods that have met up to the stipulated safety standards and requirements.

• The consumer rights act 1987

The consumer rights act was written up to protect both the business and is customer this states that a trader can only sell a product or service which is deemed fit for its purpose and that the product has to meet all specifications and health and safety requirements

• Trade descriptions act 1968

This makes it an offence for any business of trader to falsely describe a goods or product, or its specifications or use.

 This protects the customer from businesses that sell damaged, illegal or counterfeit products. Co-op ensures that all its goods and products of quality and meets all health and safety requirements.

5) Product availability

   Customers buy goods or services to satisfy their needs and wants. Therefore customers expect to find products when they want them, meets these expectations buy providing quality goods and services at the right time and seasons when they are needed or in large demand.

7. Transportation function

  Transportation is an important issue for any business that is in the production and manufacturing sector.

This is important because it is the means of travel or by a large number of goods, resources or materials can be moved form one location to another.

This function is important to co-ops survival because gods have to be transported form the production (factories and packaging plants) to its different regional stores

Co-op has also been working on projects to minimise the empty space in its Lorries returning from stores to the distribution centres. They have made sure that return loads include both cardboard and plastic for recycling at their distribution centres, and goods picked up from suppliers local to our stores. This reduces the number of vehicles travelling empty on one leg of their journey. This has also increased the number of double deck trailers to maximise the amount of product delivered to a store. This as a result has produced a highly efficient use of the distribution fleet which minimises the number of vehicles on the road servicing co-ops stores.

Transportation does not only carry out the above co-op has to deliver its goods to customers who buy  online  this is an important function as it also ties in with the ICT function

 Co-ops home delivery department responsible is the co-op 2u which delivers and distributes goods ordered from their online store.

 

Green Travel Plans

Since the beginning of 2003, green travel plans have become an integral part of all co-op stores and store extension development proposals.

These green travel plans outline the measures that co-op takes to reduce the number of store employees coming to work by car; including staff travel surveys, car sharing and walking buddies. Where employees participate in car sharing or walking buddy schemes, co-op offers them a guaranteed ride home in the event of emergencies.

This year co-op  have met their target to increase the number of cases of products delivered per litre of fuel consumed, from 18.4 last year to 19.1 this year, which represents an increase of 3.8% in efficiency. This means that they have increased the number of products delivered to stores per vehicle, which has resulted in a more efficient use of the distribution fleet.

(Figures taken from co-op online)

How the functional areas support the business and help meet the businesses objectives

FUNCTIONAL OBJECTIVES OF CO-OP

Co-op objectives are to survive and expand as a business, provide goods and services to the local community, providing a highly competitive service and to maximise sales or improving the quality of a product or service. Each functional area operates to support the business aims and objectives. Below is how each functional area contributes to the overall business objectives.

The finance function

The finance function contributes towards co-op achieving its main objectives by:

1. Managing the businesses finances appropriately and ensuring that all the businesses bills and costs are covered.

2. Allocating funds and capital to the different departments and functional areas ensuring that the funds are managed appropriately.

3. Budgeting and forecasting the businesses costs and revenue to present a financial analysis and to give a view form the financial aspect whether the business is succeeding or running at a loss.

4. It is a legal requirement to present financial information and profit figures for government taxation purposes and Inland Revenue. This is another task undertaken by the finance function.

 The sales and marketing function

the sales and marketing function of co-op retails is responsible for undertaking all aspects pertaining to advertising and promotion of the business and its products through the various forms, methods and using all available types of media to advertise and promote the business.

Co-op retails sales departments’ main aim is to find out new and effective methods by which it can maximise the sales of its goods and services. To achieve this business utilizes various niches in its market structure in order to increase it sales and turnover figure.

Advertising is very important to any business the various forms of advertising can account for up to 30% of a businesses turnover figure. Utilizing the various types of media to promote a business and build up a profile can have satisfying results. Due to this statistic figure co-op retails exploits the various forms of advertising to maximise the recognition and reputation of the business products.

The Human Resources function 

    The human resources function is concerned with employees who work in an organisation. Co-op would not be successful if it did not have the commitment of its entire staff/owners. Human resources organize the training for new staff or organise seminars and staff having to learn some new skills and develop their potential.

This is a beneficial aspect to both the business and its staff:

Continuous training has the following advantages to the business:

• Continuously training staff and employees can lower turnover of staff and personnel staff retention can cut a businesses overall turnover (profit) by at least 5.5% this which may not seem like a lot but in a business aspect is money lost, this is spent on recruitment. Co-op trains it employees to keep them motivated and increase productivity.

The function will give advice if there are any labour disputes and will be involved in any union negotiations.

• Co-op operates an equal opportunities policy and aims to treat all its employees fairly and equally in all aspects relating to their employment regardless of race, colour, sexuality or religion
• This is also one of co-ops principles and the human resource function endeavour to provide equal opportunities to its staff and potential employees in terms of recruitment, retention and dismissal
• This function also ensures that each member of staff has a confidential interview with his or her manager

The ICT function

This function enables co-op to meet some of its objectives by providing the essential connections to the outside world, contacts and other businesses. By enabling the business to communicate through various mediums the business can communicate, receive and send important information which may be vital to the businesses survival

HOW THE I.T FUNCTION AIDS CO-OP’S COMMUNICATION

 The I.T. function aids in the establishment of good lines of communication so that the business can carry out its communication function by:

• Sending letters between departments and outside contacts
• Preparing letters and memos
• enabling staff and employees to utilize various forms of communication in everyday use

3.4 Management Style and culture

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

All businesses organise their employees according to their job roles. The organisational culture is defined as being the shared realities that appear to exist among different groups of people within an organisation. The organisation culture governs the way an organisation behaves.

Different types of culture have been identified based on particular aspect of an organisation and it management which are:

• Power culture: which is when employees do as the are told
• Role culture: This is when employees act within the parameters of their job description.
• Task culture: This is when the employees act in the way considered suitable for their job.
• Person culture: which is when employees do what ever they want

All organisational culture is defined as containing the following;

• Values
• Beliefs
• Norms
• Symbols
• Philosophy
• Climate  

Organizational Structure

An organization structure or chart is a diagram, which shows the structure of an organization. It shows the job titles of employees and the relationship with each and usually it does not include people’s name, as it would go out of date too quickly.  

The five organizational structure types are;

• Flat structure
• Functional or hierarchical structure
• Multi division structure
• Holding company structure
• Matrix structure.

Flat Structure

 Flat structure is a structure with few levels and it is usually a small, informal organisation. It usually has the benefit of flexibility, responsiveness and good communication.

The disadvantage of this structure there are no structured job role, conflicting instruction and no formal personal policies

Some examples of this type of job role include sole traders

Functional Structure

The functional structure is also known as the hierarchal organizational structure it have so many levels, it’s usually a large more formal organization.

Advantages of a functional structure

• The structure has a clear job role with specialist staff proper personal procedure promotion prospects.
•  There are clear definitions of power levels
• Reduces and simplifies control mechanisms.

Disadvantages of a functional structure

• Communication showed responsiveness, many people have to be consulted before a decision can be made

• There is too Much paper work and bureaucracy involved
• Staff at the bottom may feel isolated from the ‘real’ bosses.

• Messages can be distorted as information has to pass between levels,

• Failure to adapt.
• Senior managers may neglect strategic issues.

Matrix Structure

The matrix structure is usually a subdivided structure mostly fitted to projects

Advantages of matrix structure   

• The quality of decision making where interests conflict.
• Increase of managerial motivation and development through involvement.
• It allows the involvement of relatively junior staff, giving them valuable field experience for the expression and application of their particular skill.

Disadvantages of matrix structure  

• Possible communication problems between staff in all different area and staff just specializing in are area with perhaps on opportunity to get wider experience.
• The have a length of time to take decisions,
• unclear job and task responsibilities
• High degree of conflict and have profit responsibilities.

Division structure  

A divisional structure is use to represent large manufacturers organization on both nation and international and is also know as multination chart or structure.

Advantages

• They can specialize in the separate points, the organization e.g. different products, different geographical areas, different function e.g. sales, production, finance, marking.
• Concentration on business area also helps the organization its directors and managers to oversee the businesses success easily.
• Facilitates the measurement of unit performance, these give the manger of that unit a chance to over the successes of the unit.
• The type of structure enables senior management teams to adjust and adapt to the strategy of the business.

Disadvantages

• Poor communication across the organization the left hand not knowing what the right had is doing.

• Possible confusion over responsibility and conflict between divisions, this may be costly.

Co-op Retail Organization structure

The co-op retail group has the hierarchical organizational structure. The chart below shows their relationship of and flow of communication within the organisation.

The advantages of Co-op having this type of organisation structure are:

Management Styles

Management style refers to the approach that an organization or business takes in setting objectives for its employees and the way it manages relations between superiors and subordinates. Management style can also be described as a typical pattern of behavior management shows in carrying out the role of managing the business over a period of time

   There are four main management styles types:

         

• Autocratic Style
• Democratic Style
• Laissez Faire Style

       Autocratic management Style                     

This management style is where the manager is used to giving out instructions and telling staff what to do. The manager is the only individual contributing to the decision making process the staff and employees have no say or opinions in the matter.

Characteristics of this management style are:        

• The management makes all the decision or the business.
• The workers have to obey and comply.
• Employees tend to be  less motivated and become lethargic and distant
• Suited to hierarchical structure because of the chain of command and flow of communication

 

Democratic management style

The manager makes the decision, but consults employees in the process. Also this management style promotes empowerment. Individuals and staff are given the responsibility to make decisions and carry them out. Team work is the emphasis of this management style and the team is held accountable for the decisions made. A democratic manager has to have good overall understanding and should receive regular feed back on the results.

Characteristics of this management style are:

• Employees tend to be More motivated
• Suited to flatter structure because of the emphasis on team work
• Manager has a good understanding of the decisions made and receives regular feedback on results

Laissez Faire management Style

This type of management allows its employees to carry out activities freely. This results in the business having a relaxed and informal approach to management; it also enables therein to be an atmosphere of independence which allows the employees to use initiative. There are few

• The manager lets the employees, get on with it
• Employees tend to be Unproductive and lethargic
• This type of management is suited to Small team structure with close ties with employees and management
• There is a lack of motivation due to the employees just left to get on with it.
• Can result in poor productivity

Consultative management style

This type of management is for management who seek to consult second parties before making a decision. This is a type of management that wants to draw on more sources of opinion than just settle on their own. In an organisation with this type of management culture of consultation draws on the influences and concerns of other people before a final conclusion is made.

Characteristics of this

Co-op retails Management Style

Co-operatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting up their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary co-operatives members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote), and co-operatives at other levels are also organized in a democratic manner. 

The co-op retail group has two management styles, which are autocratic management style and democratic management style, but in practice the co-op democratic style of management is only at the top between the board of directors, regional committees and the store managers.

  The autocratic management style of the co-op is between the store manager and their staff. In the store the manager makes all the decisions and the staff has to comply as it is their role. The business as a whole is trying to abolish this type of management style by giving the staff more independence to use their initiative; as the business is opinion on human welfare and fair and equal treatment it is trying to get its staff more involved in the decision making process in it stores.

  To allow the staff to become motivated the welling branch of the Co-op supermarket frequently holds staff meetings in which the staff and management can exchange ideas, views and generally brain storm, each members opinion and contribution is taken into consideration and everyone gets a chance to speak their mind.

Organization culture        

Many researchers have argued that the success and effectiveness of an organization are not determined solely by the abilities and competences of the employees, but their successes are also associated with organization culture.

The level of commitment of employees on the organization is dependant on the prevailing organization culture. It should be noted that a highly committed workforce is a significant source of competitive advantage for the business or organization.

Here are a few definitions of organizational culture:

Researcher’s definitions of organizational culture

This is defined as” The collective programming of the mind that distinguishes members of one his me

This is the institutionalized power of dominant interest groups of an organisation

 By (Wilson and Rosenfeld, managing organisation)

“Culture is known as the customs and rights and the organization’s ‘own way’ its norms, rituals and traditions”. (Schein, 1992)

“Organization culture is created by those within the organisation and lives in the relationships, conversation and commitments that occur”. (Harrison, Harvard Business Review, 1972)

Edgar schein’s 3 levels

 

Diagram of organizational culture

 

   

     

Culture and Objectives

The co-op retails culture

The co-op retails culture is the person task culture which’s characteristics state that employees and staff act within a certain way considered suitable for their job and are valued for their skill and contribution.

   The co-operative society’s principle is to treat its staff and employees as though they are part of the businesses and own or posses a stake in the business this is the belief that is passed on to employees and managers. This enables them to act on their own and take the incentive to carryout tasks and also to use their initiative more often, other than being told what to do.

    The major advantage of this culture is that employees and managers are more independent and become more adapted to the businesses perspective and directive.

  There are various factors that influence the culture of a business these are:

Social

Co-ops social objectives can determine the business culture Co-ops social objective is to promote equality and fairness this has been the CWS motto since it was founded.

Environmental

Co-op environmental stance can also determine the businesses culture, co-op strongly believes in the preservation of the environment and reducing pollution. The CWS is an active member of various environmental organizations and is involved in researching new methods of cutting pollution  

Economical

Co-op economical objectives can also determine the businesses organizational culture, ie.To generate revenue through producing and selling quality products and services to the general public at fair and reasonable prices.

Ethics

Ethics play an important part of co-ops organizational culture.

   Ethics are a set of moral principles that are generally accepted and recognized within a particular society. Co-op portrays an image of being a very ethical establishment it is always working towards the rights and well being of its staff and customers. Co-op believes that its employees and customers are valuable to the business. Co-op retail is part of a society in which takes note of the interests and concerns of many different groups. For co-op this includes fair and equal treatment of its customers which is primary and Co-op puts their concerns and opinions first.

stakeholders and suppliers are also a priority to the business Co-op believes in buying its suppliers and farm fresh products form small time suppliers and farmers (who are sometimes members of the CWS) in order to promote their business and cut the farmers a fair deal by buying the products at a reasonable price and giving them a percentage of the revenue form selling that particular product.

  Like all other large companies and establishments’ co-op recognizes that its wider reputation depends on its business activities, ethics, customer relations and its attitude towards the environment, also its relationship with its suppliers. Co-op recognizes that it must be open and have perspective of what the future of the business lies to ensure this the business ensures that every area of it organizational structure and every job role is filled in by qualified and skilled individuals.

Co-op realizes that the market sectors its activities are carried out in are constantly changing due to various factors, Co-op retails as a corporation has to have perspective and look ahead to achieve this Co-op:

• Views the customers needs and requirements and assess how weel the overall business is meeting those needs, what needs to be done to meet the customers need more efficiently

• looks retrospectively at is operations and activities in relation to its competitors

• seeks ways and methods by which the business can change or diversify it activities to become more profitable

3.5 COMMUNICATION

Communication

Communication is very important to every business. There has to be good and clear lines of communication so that information can be sent and received effectively.

 There are two main categories of communication these are:

Oral communication: this is mainly communication wherein information is conveyed through word of mouth e.g. face to face meetings, phone conversations, voicemail

Written communication: this is a form of communication by which information is conveyed through written or documented form this included email, news letters and catalogues, written and typed documents.

How co-op communicates within its functional areas

Co-op as a whole has to establish good lines of communication within the business in order for its operations to run smoothly. This is achieved within the company by utilizing the various methods of communication.

Communication can be done within the company either formally or informally

Formal communication: this is communication done by employees and is mainly concerned with work e.g. telephone conversations, memos, emails etc

Informal communication: this is communication done generally and does not necessarily have to be concerned with work employees or colleagues may communicate and this may involve some gossip or speculation.

  Due to large advancements in communication technology there are now endless methods by which information can be transferred.

Co-op’s employees and managers have good lines of communication as they utilize the various available methods. An example of this is the organisations internal email system which enables staff to regularly contact each other, this is very effective as all staff have access to a computer this is a perfect example of how the organisation utilizes the I.T function to carry out internal communication.

The functional areas at co-op have clear and goods lines of communication.

 Two ways which co-op’s functional areas communication can be identified by: The weekly meetings held between the sales/marketing department and the production department. These are held every Wednesday and these functions discuss the sales and production targets, any other problems in production which are affecting orders are also discussed. This is a perfect example of oral or face to face internal communication.

  Each director holds a weekly team briefing with his/her staff to keep them updated on the latest developments in the organisation; these are informal and relatively short to keep the staff informed.

External communications at Co-op

  For any business to be successful it has to establish good lines of communication with its outside contacts and customers. For example suppliers have to be communicated to by either written documents or email to obtain supplies and the lines of communication have to be very clear to ensure no mistakes are made.

Co-op mainly contacts its external customers, important potential business customers and senior sales staff by letters, telephone and fax.

 The company has to deal with orders and enquires from its customers these always take priority and are dealt with promptly.

Customer complaints are dealt with by the customer service department whose goal is to respond to all enquires and complaints by customers. These complaints are made over the phone, letters, emails etc. a letter of acknowledgement is sent to the complaining customers.

Some examples of how co-op communicates with outside contacts include:

• Fax
• Email
• Telephone

 

 3.6 THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

  Co-op production process is

 ADDING VALUE IN THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

Adding value to a product is the term given when a product is made more attractive to the final consumer. The aim of the production process is to ‘add value’ to the goods being supplied to customers so that they can be sold at a reasonable price in order to gain returns (revenue). One of the prime concerns of Co-ops production functions aim is to convert inputs into outputs to satisfy the needs of consumers.

QUALITY CONTROL

Quality Control is defined as "the part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements.

Quality Control often refers to the Inspection of finished products, meaning to check whether they meet the desired Requirements and Specifications. But it is not limited to inspecting products as it might also include detecting the cause for non-conformities and not meeting the requirements documented in the specifications for the product.

What is Quality Control quality control can be described as

• To meet target specification;

• A proof of craftsmanship

• A systematic approach to search of the excellence 

• Eight Quality control aspects:

•  Performance

•  Features,

•  Reliability,

•  Conformance,

• Durability,

•  Serviceability,

• Aesthetics

•  Perceived quality

To achieve this quality control has to be introduced into every step of the production process. This is advantageous because it:

• Lowers the business costs
• Increases efficiency
• Allows goods to be produced at higher standard

Quality control is important to co-op because it

• Reduce costs

Because the goods being produced are of high quality costs are significantly lowered this means that less money and resources are spent on correcting mistakes.

• Increases customer satisfaction;

An increase in customer satisfaction is good for any business. If customers are happy with the goods and products they buy the business will benefit from the loyalty and trust.

• Loyal customers;

Customer loyalty is gained when goods are of a high quality.

• Highly motivates employees

Quality control not only benefits external stakeholders it also is very advantageous to the inner workings especially in the production function. If the business is constantly producing goods of exceptional standard and quality it will gain more revenue and increase it profitability. This benefits the employees as they will gain satisfaction from knowing they are working for a reputable establishment.

• Right the first time and every time

This is the fundamental principle of quality control, it lays emphasis on getting it right the first time this reduces the amount of time spent checking and correcting mistakes this enables the business to become more efficient.

  

This graph is a sample of how production quality over time is analysed

• Three inter-related elements, namely the input, process and output

• The target is to detect the defects, feedback of the information, find out the cause and make correction.

• For knitted fabric, the input is yarn, the process is knitting and the output is the fabric.

Co-op carries out its quality control by simply extracting samples of a certain size from the ongoing production process. They are then produced in line charts of the variability in those samples, and considered by their closeness to target specifications. If a trend emerges in those lines, or if samples fall outside pre-specified limits, then the production process of that product is declared to be out of control and action is taken to find the cause of the problem. Co-op refers to these types of charts as Shewhart control charts (named after W. A. Shewhart who is generally credited as being the first to introduce these methods). Those control charts are often referred to as "Quality Control Chart" or Statistical Process Control Chart (SPC-Chart).

QUALITY ASSURANCE

Quality assurance is the means by which an organisation implements its commitment to quality. It helps firms such as co-op to do the job properly the first time, because it is designed to prevent failures rather than detecting errors once they have occurred. In this way a quality assurance scheme differs radically from quality control systems which involve inspection procedures at various stages of production

Quality Assurance standards                                                                     

 The adoption of formal quality assurance systems has accelerated in recent years because of the development of internationally recognised quality standards.

Total quality management in the production process

    Total quality management (TQM) refers to a management style where the goal is producing quality products or services for the customer and in which the customer defines quality. Total quality management proposes that a service or product is not successful unless the customer is satisfied with the service or product, and that the product or process should be continually improving. Total quality management and related approaches are sometimes referred to as total quality improvement, world-class quality, continuous quality improvement, total service quality, and total quality leadership.

Some basic principles of total quality management are that quality is determined by the customer, quality is continuously changing and needs to be re-evaluated frequently, and quality can only be improved when real statistics and customer feedback are studied. Some components of total quality management are creating quality frameworks, defining an organization's focus, empowering an organization's employees, and implementing a structure to allow employees to participate in the management of the organization.

Co-op embraces the T.Q.M ideology and integrates it into every step of its production process. The business believes that the product has to reach the customer or final consumer in perfect condition and that the product meets all the requirements and specifications.

(c1.) Judgements about how successfully Co-op is meeting its objectives

 Is co-op retails as a whole meeting the both the co-operative and functional objectives?

Through my investigation and findings, I can conclude that the co-op retails are meeting the company’s cooperative and functional objectives.

There are a number of ways that a business like Co-op can be assessed to see if the business as a whole is meeting its objectives. The business main aim is to provide for the shopping needs of the community this being said the businesses functional areas work together to meet this through different objectives set out.

There are various ways a businesses succession on meeting its objectives can be analysed some of these methods include:

Balance sheet: this is basically a summary of the business at a particular time it gives and idea of the businesses assets and liabilities

Cash flow statement: a cash flow statement is a financial statement that shows the businesses sources of revenue/income and the uses and expenses the businesses incurred during the trading period.

Profit and loss account: this presents a summary of all the businesses transactions and shows the flow of expenditure and income during the trading period.

    My evidence to support this is the sales/ revenue figures these clearly show that the businesses goods and services it offers are being brought in large numbers by customers and consumers alike.  his does not necessarily mean the business is meeting all of its corporate objectives it just present the evidence that the business is turning over its stock and generating revenue.

Another piece of evidence that supports my conclusion is the responses form my questionnaire which were filled in by members of staff and management in the local co-op this clearly showed that the employees were fairly satisfied with the working conditions including health and safety and thought there job role was satisfactory.

This presented the conclusion that the business was meeting its objective of providing incentives to keep its employees and staff motivated and lowering staff turnover.

My third reason for my conclusion presents itself in the form of co-ops organisational chart.