Another main department that BP have is finance. Finance are involved with money and future plans. They will prepare accounts like invoices, management accounts, and financial accounts for shareholders. They will also prepare wages and salaries for the employees and obtain capital and resources such as money for expansion or to pay for resources such as equipment and materials. Finance will work with other departments in BP; the main reason is to create a budgets for the department, both departments will have to agree on the amount. Finance will create the financial records such as balance sheets and trading profit and loss accounts and therefore will work towards achieving one of their goals, to have a strong balance sheet. The finance team are a very important support role in the success of BP. Finance will need to allocate budgets for each of the other departments and will have to ensure they don’t overspend. If one team does overspend they will have to obtain that money from someone else’s budget and thus making that departments budget less and them overspending more than they can afford will cause BP to make loses. Therefore, finance are vital in making sure that the money is the company being used efficiently to ensure BP still carry on to make profit contributing to the success of the company.
Another support role BP have that contribute to the successful running of the company is IT. IT are involved with anything to do with technology. They will buy and install new hardware and software, update systems and provide online support for all employees if they face issues; they will give advice on how to fix the issue or may fix it themselves by doing computer repairs. IT are specialised in fixing technology and therefore are quick at doing so. If there were no IT members then employees would have to try fix the issue themselves which could take a very long time or never at all. During this time they are having a problem, work is not being completed. Therefore IT are very vital in making sure that all the computers are working so that the work could be done. If the equipment doesn’t work then BP can’t operate and therefore they are very important in keeping the company running and contributes to their success.
Additionally, another support role is human resources. Human resources is about retention, dismissal and employing people. Tasks HR would do would include staff training, performance evaluations, career planning, health and safety, job classification, working conditions and unions. Human resources recruit employees to work in the different departments at BP. So if there was no HR there would be no employees to work; then BP wouldn’t be able to operate. Consequently, HR are vital in making sure there are specialised trained employees being recruited and if not, provide the adequate training for employees.
Another support role that is vital in BP’s success is Reception. Reception is usually located in the front of buildings. They will receive or greet any visitors, take telephone calls, send emails and to help staff with problems they may have such as finding the location to something. Reception will be the first contact for visitors and therefore it’s important they are helpful and professional in order to give a good first impression to the visitor; if they are rude or unhelpful the visitor will think lowly of the company and will not want to visit again. They also need to take calls and redirect people to the right place, if they didn’t do this then people calling may never get in contact with the people they need to and vital information could then be lost. Therefore, reception are an important part in keeping BP’s image high and helping people get to where they need to be.
Moreover, security are another important support role. Security are involved with ensuring all staffs safety. They will monitor CTV cameras, monitor lobbies of buildings. They may assist employees with passes to get into buildings or keys for locked draws. It’s so important that security monitor buildings and staff to make sure everybody is safe. If employees feel that they are safe from any threat and there are policies in place to ensure their safety, they will then be motivated and complete great work. Therefore, it’s important there is sufficient security to put employee’s minds at easy and complete work that contributes to the success of BP.
Administration is also another support role that contribute the success of the company. The admin team at BP are mainly involved with booking meeting rooms for members of their team. They may also contact other departments like security if a team member needs there help. They will also send emails, receive calls and order items like stationary. The admin team are very important because if a meeting is needed they will have to book a room and if nobody was there, rooms will be used without any schedule and people may not be able to have the meeting because there are no rooms left. Also they may be involved with sending extremely important emails; if they didn’t vital information may not be received and I could affect projects. Admin do important jobs that help other people, consequently contributing to the efficiency.
Furthermore, Personal assistants will assist a senior member of the team. They will book meetings and then inform the senior member when these are and inform when special events are happening, they will send and receive emails, talk to anybody who needs information from the senior member beforehand. Without personal assistants, those in senior roles wouldn’t be able to organise their day and do all the hard work they do. Personal assistants can do the small jobs while managers can complete the important work which improves efficiency. They play an important role in the organisation of those in senior roles which has a direct positive impact on senior management and therefore helps run the company successfully.
Lastly, Maintenance and cleaners at BP make sure that all buildings are clean and everything is working correctly. For instance, the cleaners, clean the toilets, tea and coffee area, restock tea and coffee and stationary. Maintenance may fix the coffee machine if it’s not working anymore or fix the printer. Maintenance and cleaners insure that all equipment and facilities are at a high standard to make employees comfortable and happy. If everything employees need is there and everything is working well and clean it will motivate them in their work and help with the efficiency of the company.
Overall, support roles are very vital in BP; without them the company wouldn’t be able to run efficiently or not at all. They contribute largely to BP’s success.