meet its own high standards, not just in efficiency and product quality,
but also in environmental protection, animal welfare and employment
practices.
The community
Tesco is very much part of local communities throughout the UK and is
committed to playing a positive role by working with community
organisations. The company’s community contribution covers support for
education, groups dedicated to helping people with disabilities, and a wide
variety of other organisations. The company has introduced schemes which
enable its own staff and customers to help raise money for good causes.
Each large supermarket retailer in Britain has its own corporate identity
and culture. Often these are very similar, yet each organisation seeks to
present its own individual image. Of the types of cultures that I have
discussed above, I think that Tesco displays many of these differing forms,
especially customer driven or customer orientated, task culture,
competitive culture, innovative culture and positive culture. It is often
said that in business “the customer is King” and this is very true of
Tesco, which operates in a very competitive market. It must be very heavily
customer orientated as satisfied customers will usually regularly return,
but dissatisfied customers may not …. and go elsewhere! It is also very
innovative, always encouraging new ideas and products, e.g. the possible
introduction of car sales. Tesco used to be a food retailer, but now it
also sells clothing, electrical goods, books and stationary, computers,
mobile phones, etc. It has a very positive culture as it is always
searching for new opportunities for its staff and also its retail products.
Its success is now a good indicator of how this blend of business cultures
has led to market growth and market leadership.
E5
Communications
The efficient communication of information is particularly important for
organisation that operates in competitive markets. Relevant and accurate
information is needed to plan and manage efficient production, marketing,
distribution and cost control. Information – whatever it is nature and
purpose – must be communicated as efficiently as possible.
All people in an organisation are part of an information flow – they are
involved to varying degrees in providing and receiving information.
However, there are three main levels at which information is required:
. operational level
. middle management
. senior management.
Operational level
At the operational level – on the factory floor, in the office or at
premises where consumer services are provided – there are charge hands and
supervisors who must ensure that work is planned and carried out as
efficiently as possible. In a factory, for example, a supervisor giving the
task of overseeing the production of a particular item needs to know:
. the quantity to be handle
. the completion date
. the availability of plans and machine capacity
. the operations to be performed
. the kinds of labour needed and its availability
. the materials and components required to produce the order.
The kind of information assists the supervisor in planning and controlling
he work and it is essential for decision making at an operational level.
Activities at the operational of an organisation produce data that will be
processed to provide much of the information required by middle management.
Middle management
Middle management needs to know how efficiently work at operational level
is been carried out and the extend to which any resources under their
control are being used to achieve the organisation’s objectives. Much of
this information relates to the productivity of labour, the utilisation of
machine capacity and the rate at which materials and other inputs are being
consumed.
Middle management also needs a great deal of financial information about
the costs of the resources consumed in relation to output. This financial
data can be used to determine and monitor total costs, revenues, profits
and the achievement of business objectives for example, it will be possible
to identify any fall-off in productivity or rise in labour costs which
might contribute to arise in unit labour costs or to detect the excessive
use of materials which might suggest an increased in wastage.
Senior management
So far, I have mainly considered the need for information that is processed
and generated from sources within the organisation. At senior level,
however, information from internal sources often has to be supported by
information derive from external sources to help managers ensure that the
resources and their control are used as efficiently as possible in
achieving business objectives. Decision making at senior management level
has a major influence on the success or failure of the organisation. Any
decisions concerned with controlling the organisation, assessing its
performance, planning its future and initiating action must be supported by
all relevant information.
Decision making at senior level in areas such as business strategy and
planning requires information about broad trends rather than detailed
information needed to make many routine decisions on day-to-day matters at
lower levels of the organisation. Senior management need information about:
. developments in initial costs and sale trends
. overall profitability, and the respective contribution of each part of
the business
. capital requirements, and availability of internal funds and the cost
and sources of external capital
. manpower and skills requirements
. forecast of demand of the organisation’s markets
. the impact on business of any changes in the economic, political,
social and legal environment.
Superior
Prep Line manager Prep
group
group
Staff Subordinates
Staff
relationships
relationships
Figure 1.9: Communication network
Communication channels and methods
The communication channel refers to the means by which information is
communicated. The actual choice of communication channel depends upon a
combination of:
. the need for an immediate feedback or response
. costs
. speed and urgency
. the number and location of the people who need the information
. the degree of confidentiality and security required
. the desired degree of formality
. convenience
. the complexity and amount of detail to be conveyed
. the type of information to be communicated
. the need to keep a record of the communication.
Business information can be communicated in many ways. Methods include:
. written reports
. instruction manuals
. letters, circulars and memoranda
. material posted on notice board
. in-house magazines and newspapers
. sheets of figures
. information on standard forms
. graphs, charts, drawings and photographed
. video, television and other audio-visual techniques
. meetings and interviews
. public address announcements
. electronic mail
. network messaging
. fax
. telephone and voice mail
. pager device
. video conferencing
Whatever communication method is used, the information sent should be
relevant and avoid superfluous comments and unnecessary detail. The
information communicated to a supervisor on a factory may have to include
an exact description of the operations to be carried out. In contrast, much
broader information is supplied to middle and senior management. Senior
managers may only require general indicators and a broad description of the
developments that need to be considered when assessing the organisation’s
performance, setting objectives and deciding upon strategies.
Exception reporting
To ensure tht the information provided to management is relevant, clear and
concise and makes effective use of managers’ time, some organisations
stipulate that managers are only provided with dada relating to exceptional
developments. Middle management, for example, may only receive information
connected with performance measurements that deviate by more than an agreed
percentage from their targets. The information dealing with exceptional
performance should also be supported by brief statements of the internal
and/or external factors that may have contributed to any exceptional
performance. Exception reporting makes more effective use of the time and
skills that middle management devotes to decision making and to initiating
and controlling actions.
Downward information flows
A downward information flow describes the provision of information by a
superior to an immediate subordinate. It is, therefore, concerned with
internal communications as part of a formal communications channels. A
downward information flow can cover:
. issuing instructions on the tasks that have to be carried out by a
subordinate and setting objectives, such as the target data for
completing the work
. requesting information concerning the area of work for which
subordinates are responsible
. communicating the organisation’s procedures, working methods and
practices and the rules and regulations
. given feedback on subordinate’s performance in relation to his or her
objectives and targets
. motivating people and encouraging attitudes that raise productivity
and improve quality.
Some information will not come from an employee’s immediate superior but
from other parts of the organisations. For example, when employees first
start work they receive general information about the structure and goals
of the organisation from the personnel department. However, for information
that relates to work undertaken by the subordinate, the communication
channel should be from superior to immediate subordinate.
Upward information flows
An upward information flow along a vertical information channel is from a
subordinate to a superior. This might be feedback from a downward flow or
the communication may originate directly from subordinates. An upward
information flow can cover:
. responding to a superior’s request for information on some aspect of
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