Activity (p1)

Phillip Markham is a company that specializes in clothing, mainly for the male gender. Phillips Markham’s departments include:

Production

Human Resources

Finance

Marketing and sales

Administration

 

These departments are all involved in different areas of the business. For the business to work and act to its full potential, the departments must have some kind of target. If I was to say mission statement, I mean the overall goal, or aim of the company. In this case, the company is Phillip Markham Ltd. They are a family-run business that sells men’s wear. I am given the task of finding out what the business does and what the business is aiming to do.

               

Mission Statement (p1)

“Phillip Markham aims to manufacture and sell high quality men’s clothing at fair competitive prices and to provide a rapid and responsive service to all the customers.”

 

Aims and objectives (p1)

To reach Phillip Markham’s main aim, they must first complete a series of objectives. Objectives are the smaller aims or steps that they must achieve. All objectives should be S.M.A.R.T. SMART stands for

 

 

 

I have found 6 objectives in Phillip Markham’s work groups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Different Functional Areas

 

Production Department

The Production department is used in a lot of companies that create their own items. Phillip Markham’s business is a clothing business. Production department handles all aspects and problems that the producing may hold. If there is a manufacturing problem, the report will be directed to the production manager via customer services, who will then tell the manufacturing staff. This is a good area to invite quality control to the business. Quality control would ensure the best possible quality within Phillips Markham’s clothing line. The other areas under production’s management are dispatch and purchasing. The dispatch department mainly involves itself with getting the goods to their destination. The company could have its clothing delivered to the customer straight from the production area. Phillip Markham’s Purchase department could bulk buy their stock, as Phillip Markham would, most likely, batch produce their items. A job role that would be appointed to someone working in the production department could be Manufacturing manager. The manufacturing manager would make sure that the manufacturing of each product. If there has been a problem with a customer’s item, being that it is faulty, the manufacturing manager would make sure that the problem is solved and that the problem does not occur in the future. If the manufacturing manager was to just accept that they have to replace the faulty items this would be good, but if the manufacturing manager was to find out why the problem had arisen, there could be away to stop it happening again.

 

Finance Department

Finance is in control of the company’s funds, Wages or salaries for employees and also keeps track of the money going in and out of the Phillip Markham Company. This is very important as if Phillip Markham must know when they can afford new assets such as machines and computers. The finance departments main concern is to investigate or predict how much money Phillip Markham will have at a particular time. The finance department, using Cash flow forecasts and also using Profit and Loss accounts, could find out the best times for the company to buy new assets. The other side of finance would be the actual accounts and understanding the stance of the business, financially. The reason for taking accounts could be to see how much money the company has made or lost over a certain amount of time. This is essential to any business, as it can show a company when they can expand or when they need to advertise to get more customers. A job role within the finance department is the financial manager. The financial manager makes sure that everyone is doing their job to the best of their ability. If the financial manager finds out that staff have been getting underpaid, or in fact overpaid, it would be his/her duty to make sure that the problem has been put right. It would also be good practise for the financial manager to make sure the accounts staff are doing their jobs well. This does not necessarily mean that the accountants are made to work at a fast pace, as this could cause calculation problems. It is best to keep them thinking and working as efficiently as needed.

 

 

 

Marketing and sales Department

The marketing and sales department of Phillip Markham plays a very important role. The Marketing and sales team are used to make sure that all stages of Phillip Markham’s products are completed. They carry out Advertising campaigns to help boost the awareness of the products, right up until the customers leave the business. Sales department is used to get the customers for the products. Finding customers is very important, as without customers there would be no one with to buy the companies products. Ways of contacting potential customers could be with mails shots explaining what is going on within Phillip Markham. The Sales team also want to keep customers happy, so that they do not feel dissatisfied by the whole experience. The sales team could improve certain aspects of Phillip Markham so that the customer feels better. Find customers, happy customers

 

Human Resources Department

Human resources department is the department that is both for the staff and also for the customers. The Human Resources has a lot of importance to every business, as this is the department that makes sure all the staff have been trained well in their area. I.e. if an employee was not properly trained to work on the checkout area, this could be reported to the Human Resources staff, and they can see to it that the employee or employees are given adequate training. Employees that have been trained well would be a lot happier than employees that are still a little bit confused with what they are doing. Employees that understand why they carry out a certain procedure whilst working will be able to do the job a lot more efficiently and also may find areas that can be changed for improvement and suggest them to the department manager. Customers can go to the human resources department for help with a product, a price enquiry or just to find something out. Customers that have been helped by Human Resources would feel happy that the company has taken the time to stop and help them, and would see that the company really wants to help the customer enjoy their experience with Phillip Markham. A job role within the Human Resources department would be the Recruitment and training manager. Keeping the employees trained well in their field of work is highly important to Phillip Markham and any other business. When the Employees have been trained in different areas of work, they will be able to not only operate at the checkouts, but also be trained to use other devices or equipment that works with other jobs. When the employees learn to handle machines, they can do a lot more for the business. Here is an example; a member of the check out staff is working at the checkouts only. This is good, but if the employee was to be trained how to use a manufacturing machine, computers and other items, they could be used as accountants, production staff and by other departments. This will be a benefit for the company as if there is a member of staff that is Ill, the trained staff can cover for them for a day.

 

 

Administration Department

 

TO FINISH OFF P2 YOU NEED TO DESCRIBE FOUR JOB ROLES OF PEOPLE IN PHILLIP MARKHAM

 

 

P4

 

In a business, the key to success is good communication. Communication is as important as any other factor that a business relies upon to run properly. The departments may work under different managers, but the departments must communicate with one another to get the information each department needs. An example of departments communicating with each other well is customer services communicating with the production department. The reason for the two departments communicating could be a customer’s complaint with a product. If a customer finds a problem with a product, the customer services department can tell the production manager, via telephone or a quick email explaining the problems that have occurred with the product and what they would like to see production department do about it. Once the production manager has received the message, the production department can get on with what they need to do to set the problem right. This could not be possible without some form of communication between the two departments. Another good form of getting the different functional areas communicating is through a meeting. The advantages of having a meeting with all of the managers of the functional areas and the Managing director in the same room are

 

·        Face to face communication helps get a better understanding of the tasks that are set for the functional areas.

·        The Managing Director can get a full briefing of what the different departments are doing and how they are doing it.

 

When a functional area needs to contact an external communication (i.e. a customer) the most commonly used communicational device is the telephone, this is because it is easy to contact the customer and is also one of the fastest ways. Letters is a good Formal way of contacting the customers. Letters could be replaced by emails, though emails are very informal and cannot really be used as a formal type of communication. Mail shots are sent to customers, as are mail order catalogues. This is a great way to show customers what is going on in store, the prices of clothing items and generally good information that is of use to customers.

 

 

 

Organisation charts

 

In Phillip Markham, there is a large organisational chart. This type of chart is known as hierarchical. The organisational chart has very good divisional lines. At the top of the organisational chart is Jack Markham the managing Director. It is his job to see that all other department managers are doing their jobs and delegating the correct work to the staff beneath them. Because the chart divides the departments so well, it can keep information from slipping into the wrong department. This would be a nuisance, as the department that should have received the information may not get it, thus causing a lack in communication, and a misunderstanding. The Hierarchical organisational chart is good for Phillip Markham, as it easily states which staff are working for whom. The organisational chart has many levels and shows who has accountability and responsibilities very clearly. Although the chart is very well organized, the organisational chart is not very efficient for communication. Communication within a Hierarchical organisational chart is a lot slower, as the message must be taken from the directing manager, through to the department manager and then on to the team that the message is applicable to An example of an efficient organisational chart is that of the company KidsCo. KidsCo have a flat organisational chart. It shows the manager director is responsible for the Finance Manager, Admin/IT Services Manager, Marketing and Sales Team, Operations Manager and the HR Manager (Human Resources). Each of the functional areas is responsible for their own teams. Because KidsCo is a smaller company, the organizational chart will work well with the business. Phillip Markham is an older business, and has stuck with the hierarchical organisational chart. If Phillip Markham managed to change their Hierarchical organisational chart into a flat chart they would see that communication is made a lot easier. KidsCo Are a new business, and the way they have set up the departments is fine. It works very well when an employee as to ask for something as it only has to go through one person, unless it is a telephone call.

 

Communication Within a Business

 

When there is bad communication within the business, the business will suffer and thus will not be working at it’s potential.  If the staff can talk to one another freely about problems within their work, the business would function better. A good way for the senior managers to get a briefing about what is working well within a business, what needs to be improved and problems experience by personnel, would be a senior managers meeting. This meeting could include the accounts of the business, minutes, and also how to change problems within the business. The face to face meeting are better to use than communicating through a letter or telephone call, as you can get examples and body language. A meeting can then be held by the department managers, to discuss the issues that the senior managers have passed down to them. The departmental managers will talk about other issues that they have found and wish to pick up on. Once the departmental managers have had a meeting, the senior and the departmental managers can all have a meeting to discuss information as well share information with each other. When they are finished, the department managers can then tell there staff what is going on, who needs to do what and why. There are many other ways to contact staff. The most common forms of communication are:

 

·        Telephone

·        Memos on staff notice boards

·        Text messages to one another

·        Leaving a message on the answering machine

·        Receiving and sending Faxes to staff

·        Verbally with conversations to one another

·        Letters

·        Emails

 

These are all popular forms of communication.

 

 

THE NEXT THING TO DO IS TO DESCRIBE THE TWO BUISNESS STRUCTURES AND COMPARE THEM. EXPLAIN WHY THEY HAVE THE STRUCTURE THEY HAVE.

 

THEN GO INTO HOW THEY COMMUNICATE WITHIN THE BUISNESS – E.G. SENIOR MANAGEMENT MEETINGS, MINUTES, THEN THE DEPARTMENT MANAGERS WILL HAVE A MEETING. THEY WILL THEN HAVE A MEETING WITH SUPERVIOSRS AND THEN THEY WILL PASS INFORMATION ONTO STAFF. OTHER WAYS IS THROUGH A MEMO ON THE STAFF ROOM NOTICE BOARD ETC.

 

THE MAIN POINT OF THIS IS TO SHOW HOW THE HIGH THE ORGANISTIONAL CHART THE LONGER THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION IS -  A SMALL BUSINESS WITH A FLAT STRUCTURE WILL HAVE ONE MEETING AND IT’S DONE.

 

ONCE THIS IS DONE COMPLETE A LIST OF RESOURCES USED TO DO THIS ASSIGNMENT