The Internal Organisation of a Business
The Internal Organisation of Business
Marks and Spencers
Marks and Spencers is the first business I am going to write about in terms or organisational structure and strategic plans. Marks and Spencer is one of the best known high street retailers in the UK. It has over 450 stores and employs over 65,000 people. It also operates overseas.
An organisational structure is the way the business is run, the way the workers are arranged in the business. They are in a hierarchy that is structured in layers. The lower down on the hierarchy you are the less authority you have. Recently Marks and Spencer have changed their structure to be more efficient. At first it was a tall structure but then recent changes have made it a flatter structure. This meant cutting out some layers of management and giving employees at the remaining levels more responsibility. The employees that are now managers are now in charge of a team of workers and their job is to motivate these workers.
Flat Structure:
Marks and Spencers have a flatter structure. However there are advantages and disadvantages of the flatter structure. Advantages would be faster commands between workers (less layers), easy communication because there is one manager leading a team, it is cheaper because there is less managerial positions, offers new employees the opportunity to learn new skills. Disadvantages would be there is more responsibility on one person as they have to manage more people, less creative ideas as there is only one person in charge and less opportunity of promotion as there isn’t as many higher roles.
Functional Areas
Centralisation: The concentration of decision making and executive authority in top management and often within the organisation’s head office. Marks and Spencers use centralisation to make decisions about their company. The company is a PLC (public limited company) so this means when decisions are made they are made on more of a widespread scale and shareholders are involved.
Marks and Spencers
Marks and Spencers is the first business I am going to write about in terms or organisational structure and strategic plans. Marks and Spencer is one of the best known high street retailers in the UK. It has over 450 stores and employs over 65,000 people. It also operates overseas.
An organisational structure is the way the business is run, the way the workers are arranged in the business. They are in a hierarchy that is structured in layers. The lower down on the hierarchy you are the less authority you have. Recently Marks and Spencer have changed their structure to be more efficient. At first it was a tall structure but then recent changes have made it a flatter structure. This meant cutting out some layers of management and giving employees at the remaining levels more responsibility. The employees that are now managers are now in charge of a team of workers and their job is to motivate these workers.
Flat Structure:
Marks and Spencers have a flatter structure. However there are advantages and disadvantages of the flatter structure. Advantages would be faster commands between workers (less layers), easy communication because there is one manager leading a team, it is cheaper because there is less managerial positions, offers new employees the opportunity to learn new skills. Disadvantages would be there is more responsibility on one person as they have to manage more people, less creative ideas as there is only one person in charge and less opportunity of promotion as there isn’t as many higher roles.
Functional Areas
Centralisation: The concentration of decision making and executive authority in top management and often within the organisation’s head office. Marks and Spencers use centralisation to make decisions about their company. The company is a PLC (public limited company) so this means when decisions are made they are made on more of a widespread scale and shareholders are involved.