questions Flashcards
What is a business organisation?
BUCHANAN AND HUCZYNSKI definition: ‘‘Organisations are small arrangements for the controlled performance of collective goals’’ - collective goals = define their own goals - social arrangements = structured to allow people to work together towards a common goal - controlled performance = systems and procedures in place to ensure group goals are achieved
What does an organisation consist of?
- two or more people working together in a structured way with duties and responsibilities assigned to each individual - use systems and procedures to regulate staff behaviour - pursue certain goals that are considered to be over and above individual aspirations
Why do organisations exist?
- to satisfy social needs - to overcome the individuals limitations - to enable individuals to specialise - to save time through joint effort - to pool knowledge and ideas - to pool expertise - to provide synergy
What are the different types or organisations?
- Commercial organisations (profit seeking) e.g. sole traders, partnerships, limited liability companies - Not for profit organisations (NFPs or NPOs) government run for the public providing a service - Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) promote a political, social or environmental change - Co-operatives owned and equally controlled by members single vote on key decisions solely to meet needs of member-owners
What are the two types organisations can be classified as?
- Profit orientation profit seeking or non profit seeking - ownership/control public sector private sector co-operatives
What are the different sectors in which organisations operate in?
- Agriculture - Mining - Finance - Retailers - Service - Transportation
Why is a Sole trader not considered as an organisation?
because it does not have collective goals as usually run by one person
What are the different structural types of an organisation?
- Entrepreneurial - Functional - Divisional/product - Geographical - Matrix
What is an Entrepreneurial structure?
Built around owner-managed companies
What are the advantages of Entrepreneurial structure?
- fast decision making - more responsive to market - goal compliance - good control - close bond to workforce
What are the disadvantages of Entrepreneurial structure?
- lack of career structure - dependent on capabilities of owner-manager - can’t cope with growth
What is a functional/departmental structure?
groups employees to do similar tasks into departments have relatively few products or locations exist in relatively stable environment
What are the advantages of a functional/departmental structure?
- economies of scale - standardisation (outputs/systems) - specialists more comfortable (not isolated) - career opportunities
What are the disadvantages of a functional/departmental structure?
- empire building (managers making decisions for own benefit) - slower decisions due to chain of command - conflicts between functions - can’t cope with massive change
What is a divisional/product structure?
when organisation is split into several divisions each division overseeing products, locations, customers etc. each division has its own functional structure of departments gives more responsibility to general managers likely to be run with own profit centres, expenditure and capital investments STRATEGIC BUSINESS UNIT (SBU) - separately identified part of the business
What are the advantages of divisional/product structure?
- enables growth (easy to add divisions on) - clear responsibility for divisions - training of general managers - easy to adapt further change - top management can concentrate on strategic matters
What are the disadvantages of divisional/product structure?
- potential loss of control for top managers - lack of goal compliance - duplication of functions - specialist feel isolated as divisions are broken into small groups - allocation of central cost can be a problem
What is a geographic structure?
similar to divisional structure but each division has a location
What are the advantages of geographical structure?
- enables geographic growth - allows local decision making - clear responsibilities of areas - training of general managers - top management can concentrate on strategic matters
What are the disadvantages of geographical structure?
- potential loss of control for top managers - lack of goal compliance - duplication of functions - may lead to sub-optimisation - specialist feel isolated as divisions are broken into small groups - allocation of central cost can be a problem
What is a matrix structure?
A combination of functional and divisional structures that requires dual reporting to two different managers. allows better coordination of activities and focus on operations
What are the advantages of matrix structure?
- advantages of both functional and divisional - flexibility to achieve objectives - customer orientated - encourages team work and exchange of opinion and expertise
What are the disadvantages of matrix structure?
- dual command and conflict - mixture of functional authority - time consuming meetings to resolve conflicts - higher admin costs
What is a Boundaryless structure?
a modern model of organisation design which adopt a flexible unstructured design
What are the three different types of boundaryless structures?
- Hollow organisations - virtual organisations - modular organisations
What is a hollow organisation?
they split their functions into core and non-core activities and outsource the non-core activities to other organisations
What is a virtual organisation?
they outsource a lot of their functions to other organisations with very few kept in house. have small central staff who co-ordinate the outsourcing and ensure customers needs are met
What are modular organisations?
a boundarlyess manufacturing company, instead of making their own product they break the process down into modules or components. they can choose to make their own components or outsource them and then put it together themselves
What did Mintzberg argue?
that organisations are made up of 5 key building blocks and that each block corresponds to a specific group of people in the organisation. only one building block could dominate
What are the 5 key building blocks?
- strategic apex = senior level management - middle line = middle management - operating core = workers creating/producing core product - technostructure = analysts that plan and control work of others - support staff = admin support and indirect services - ideology = organisations beliefs and values
What is a simple structure?
dominated by strategic apex also known as the entrepreneurial structure in newer organisations whose workforce has direct supervision
What is a machine bureaucracy?
dominated by technostructure occurs in large established organisations workforce formalised with rules and procedures jobs and roles clearly defined large number of plans and budgets standardisation very important
What is a professional bureaucracy?
dominated by operating core organisations rely on highly skilled staff large number of rules and procedures staff have independence and power difficult for senior management to control organisation
What is a diivisionalised structure?
dominated by middle line similar to divisional structure middle managers have control over everyday operations and strategy of their departments leaves directors to focus on strategic planning
What is a adhocracy structure?
dominated by support staff focuses on innovation for fast moving active industries creates teams of experts from different fields power allocated where needed standardisation not encouraged
What is a missionary structure?
dominated by ideology missions and beliefs behaviour is standardised employee actions tied in
What is separation of direction and management?
ownership and management of large companies separated owners elect directors to run company for them safeguard and controls put into place so business is being run in owners interest direction and management separated directors may appoint managers to deal with day-to-day issues directors focus on high level strategies
What is scalar chain?
line of authority that can be traced up or down the chain of command relates to number of levels of management in organisation
What is span of control?
number of people a manager is directly responsible for
What is a tall organisation?
has many levels of management and narrow span of control (long scalar chain) tend to take longer to make decisions
What is a flat organisation?
few levels of management wide span of control (short scalar chain) weaker control fewer chances of progression
What is a shared service approach?
restructuring the provision of certain services so its centralised into one specific part of the business and run like a separate business charging departments
What is centralisation?
where upper levels of hierarchy retain authority for decisions
What is decentralisation?
lower levels of people and units have authority to make decisions
What are the factors that affect decentralisation?
management style ability of management/employees geographic spread size of the organisation/scale of activities
What are the advantages of decentralisation?
senior management can concentrate on strategy better local decisions due to local expertise better motivation due to training and career path smaller chain of command means quicker responses
What are the disadvantages of decentralisation?
senior management loss of control dysfunctional decisions due to lack of goal compliance poor decisions by inexperienced managers training costs duplication of roles extra cost in getting information
What is the Anthony Triangle?
model used to illustrate types of strategic planning at each level of the hierarchy
what are the three different levels of planning in the Anthony Triangle?
strategic planning tactical planning operational planning
What is strategic planning?
senior managers make long term decisions for entire organisation
What is tactical planning?
middle management look at plans for specific divisions or departments and specify how to use resources
What is operational planning?
junior management/supervisors deal with short-term detailed and practical decisions (day-to-day decisions)
What does Research and Development department do?
they improve existing products and develop new products they anticipate customer needs, generate new ideas, test and deal with costing
What does purchasing department do?
They acquire goods/services necessary for the business they deal with price and payment terms, quality and stock levels and delivery schedule
What does production department do?
they convert raw materials into finished goods deal with quality of materials and finished goods, costs, wastage and efficiency and stock levels/production schedules
What does Direct service provision department do?
provide services to clients deal with quality and time sheets/scheduling
What does Marketing department do?
they identify customer needs, conduct market research, product design, pricing, promotion and distribution deal with customer needs, quality, promotional strategy, distribution channel strategy and pricing strategy
What does Administration department do?
they process transactions and give administrative support deal with efficiency and information processing
What does Finance department do?
they are responsible for bookkeeping, financial reporting, financial controls, budgeting and raising capital deal with accuracy and completeness of record keeping, monthly management reporting, and annual financial reporting
What is the marketing mix?
controllable variables blended together to produce desired results from a chosen market
What are the 4 main P’s in marketing mix?
Product Place Promotion (distribution) Price
what are the 4 C’s when considering pricing?
Cost - high enough to make profit Customer - are they willing to pay Competition - is it higher then competitors Corporate objectives - could be set low to gain market share
What is cost pricing?
cost per unit calculated then mark-up added
What is penetration pricing?
Low price set to gain market share
What is perceived quality pricing?
high price set to reflect high quality
What is price discrimination?
different prices set for same product in different markets . e.g. off peak/peak
What is going rate price?
set to match competitors
What is price skimming?
high price set at launch and then dropped to increase demand once customers willing to pay have been skimmed off
What is loss leaders?
product sold at a loss expecting customers to go on and buy more profitable products
What is captive product pricing?
Customers buy 2 products. first one to attract buyers and second one is expensive
What is the AIDA sequence?
Awareness interest Desire Action
What are the different promotional techniques?
advertising - media sales promotions - offers personal selling - door to door public relations - sponsoring events
What is direct selling?
when manufacturer sells directly to customer
What is indirect selling?
mixture of retailers, distributors, wholesalers, and shipping agents involved in selling
What does marketing analysis (strategic analysis) include?
analysis of brand strength, product quality, reputation etc analysis of competition market research to determine attractiveness detailed analysis of customer expectations and power
What does marketing decisions (strategic choice) include?
decisions of what products to sell segmenting potential markets then targeting attractive segments developing strategies for each marketing mix variable
What does implementing marketing strategies (strategy implementation) include?
setting budgets for advertising etc. setting targets monitoring and control
What is the attractive segments criteria?
size growth prospects intensity of competition
What does targeting strategies include?
differentiated (each segment being treated separately) undifferentiated (segments approached in same way) concentrated (only one segment targeted)
What is organisational culture?
the beliefs, attitudes, norms and customs in an organisation
What are the three main elements of organisational culture?
- set of norms of behaviour - symbols and symbolic actions - set of shared values and beliefs
What are the 6 factors that shape the culture of an organisation?
- size of organisation - technology of organisation - diversity of organisation - age of organisation - history of organisation - ownership or organisation
what does Schein argue?
that the first leaders of the company create its culture, future leaders are selected if they agree to follow the culture, link between culture and leadership is strong, important for leaders to understand culture lack of understanding of basic value is reason for failure when implementing change
What are the 3 levels Schein uses to define culture?
- Artefacts = aspects that can been seen e.g. dress code - Espoused values = strategies and goals - Basic assumptions and values = difficult to identify because they cant be seen
What are the 4 culture types Handy believes there to be?
- Power culture - role culture - Task culture - Person culture
What is power culture?
often found in entrepreneurial structure, where there is one major source of power and influence and owner strives to maintain absolute control denoted by Greek god Zeus
What is Role culture?
often found in bureaucratic organisations where job descriptions dictate the way things are done. structure determines authority effective in stable environments denoted by Greek god Apollo
What is Task culture?
seen in project teams where the position is described in terms of results achieved. staff need to be flexible for deadlines and nothing can get in the way Denoted by Greek god Athena
What is Person culture?
found in small high involved organisations where individuals undertake all duties themselves. exists to satisfy requirements of the individual denoted by Greek god Dionysius
What did Hofsted argue?
looked at national differences between IBMs employees around the world to find aspects of culture influencing business behaviour
what 4 traits of cultural dimensions did Hofsted find?
- Individualism vs Collectivism - uncertainty avoidance index - Power distance index - Masculinity vs Femininity
What is individualism?
extent of which people are integrated into groups some cultures are more cohesive than others high individualism shows staff expect to be assessed on own performance low individualism shows staff expect to be assessed in groups
What is Uncertainty avoidance index?
deals with society’s tolerance of uncertainty high UA don’t like to act out of normal job description and prefer to be directed by manager low UA are prepared to take risks and dislike bureaucracy
What is Power distance index?
where the less powerful accept and expect unequal power distribution high PD expect to answer to managers and don’t have a say in decisions low PD expect to be involved in decisions and don’t like direct supervision
What is Masculinity?
where distance between roles and values of gender is large Masculine culture is motivated by offering of job title, increased status and pay feminine culture is motivated by work life balance, quality of life and relationships at work
What are the 2 additional dimensions added to Hofsted’s theory?
- long-term orientations - Indulgence vs Restraint
What are Long-term orientations?
Long-term focuses on future rewards short-term focuses on past and present
What is indulgence?
allows free enjoyment of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun restrained societies cut off enjoyment
What is an informal organisation?
the network of relationships within an organisation, that evolves over time through friendship and common interests.
What are the advantages of informal organisation?
better motivation better communication provision of social control
What are the disadvantages of informal organisation?
ineffective in meeting objectives inaccurate info or rumours spread unwillingness to perform well
What is data?
consists of numbers, letters, symbols, raw facts, events and transactions that have been recorded but not processed
What is Quantitative data?
its capable of being measured numerically
What is Qualitative data?
not capable of being measured numerically but has distinguishing characteristics
What is Discrete data?
can only take specific fixed values
What is continuous data?
takes any numerical value
What is Primary data?
collected by researched for a particular enquiry
What is Secondary data?
Collected by someone other than the user
What is information?
it is data that has a meaning to the person receiving it
Good information should be ACCURATE. What does ACCURATE stand for?
Accurate Complete Cost Understandable Relevant Adaptable Timely Easy to use
What type of information does Strategic level require?
internal and external information long-term strategies internal information both quantitative and qualitative in summarised form on ad-hoc basis
What type of information does Tactical level require?
information and instructions from strategic level routine and quantitative info from operational level summarised but detailed enough to allow tactical planning for short-term planning
What type of information does Operational level require?
info from tactical level concerned about day-to-day tasks receives info from internal sources info is detailed and precise
What is a Transaction processing system (TPS)?
records all daily transactions summarises them for routine reports mainly used by Operational management
What is a Management information system (MIS)?
converts data from TPS into info for tactical management helps monitor performance, maintain co-ordination and provide background info on organisations and operations used for historic and current analysis as well as future predictions
What is a Decision support system (DSS)?
computer system that helps deal with semi or unstructured decisions where there is a high amount of factors that may affect decision draws both internal info from TPS and external info tailor made to the requirements of the organisation
What is an Executive information system (EIS)?
has flexible access to info from entire business and external environment allows senior management turn data into useful reports easily distributed to key staff many types of data on same screen easy to understand
what is an Expert system?
hold specialist knowledge allows non experts to search system for information not part of normal information hierarchy used by employees at all levels widely used
What are the advantages of spreadsheets?
- easy to use - minimum training needed - most data managers familiar with them
what are the disadvantages of spreadsheets?
- data needs to be copied over and over again to maintain separate files - unable to identify errors - lack of detailed sorting and querying abilities - sharing violations between users - restricted to finite number of records - takes up a lot of hard drive space
What are the advantages of databases?
- ease of reporting and sharing data - doesn’t require much duplication - changes made doesn’t corrupt programming - better security
What are the disadvantages of databases?
- requires training - expensive to purchase and install - unnecessary for small businesses
What are the advantages of computerisation?
- speed - accuracy - volume - complexity - cost
What are Stakeholders?
an individual or group who has interest in what the organisation does, or who is or can be affected by the organisation
What are the three groups of stakeholders?
- Internal - External - Connected
What is an internal stakeholder?
stakeholders inside the organisation can have a strong influence on how things are run
What is an external stakeholder?
Don’t have a direct link with the organisation but can influence or be influenced by its activities
What is a connected stakeholder?
Anyone who either invests or has dealings with the organisation
What is a primary stakeholder?
have a contractual relationship
What type of stakeholders would be be primary stakeholders?
internal and connected stakeholders
What is a secondary stakeholder?
someone who has an interest in the organisation but no contractual relationship
What type of stakeholder would be a secondary stakeholder?
External stakeholder
Which stakeholders commonly conflict?
employees and managers customers and shareholders General public and shareholder managers and shareholders
What is used to decide on conflicts?
Mandelows power-interest matrix
How is Mandelow’s matrix used?
placing stakeholders in each quadrant depending on power and interest remember stakeholders can move position in quadrants depending on specific events
When is Mandelow’s Matrix used for?
during formulation and evaluating new strategies
What are the sources of stakeholder power?
hierarchy influence control of the environment (knowledge)
What are the 4 categories in Mandelow’s matrix?
Minimal effort informed satisfied key player
What are the factors of category a Minimal effort?
- low power - low interest don’t care about the organisation nor does the organisation care about them
What are the factors of category b Informed?
- little influence - low power - high level of interest - don’t have significant power but can influence groups that do have power
What are the factors of category c Satisfied?
- high power - little interest - keep them quiet by keeping them happy so don’t have an active interest in company
What are the factors of category d Key player?
- high level of power - high level of interest - active interest - fully involved in decisions to keep them happy
What is a political system?
a set of institutions, political organisations and interest groups, and the relationships between them and rules and norms that govern their functions
What are the three levels of political systems that organisations have to take account of?
- Global - world trade organisation - National - national government policy - Local - local government departments/councils
What are the sources of legal authority?
- supra-national - National - Regional
What does supra-national consist of?
- UN resolutions - international court of justice - European parliament - European courts
What does national consist of?
- national governments through acts of parliament - senior courts (supreme court) - other major courts
What does regional consist of?
- regional/federal government - local council through use of bye-laws
What are the two major ways a government can affect an organisation?
- government policy - direct legislation
What does government policy consist of?
- Housing - Crime - Education - Defence - Healthcare - Energy - Farming - Town planning - Domestic - Foreign
What does direct legislation consist of?
- must comply with legislations or will result in fines, bans or loss of customers - most industries have specific legislation to comply with
What are the main types of legislation?
employee protection data protection health and safety consumer protection
What are the two data security hazards?
physical risk - impact on physical environment which system exists human risk - access gained by unauthorised users
What is the legislation protecting consumers?
Sales goods act 1979
What are the main principles of the sales goods act 1979?
- seller must have legal title or ownership of the item being sold - goods must be of satisfactory quality - goods must correspond to description
What is the legislation for provision of services?
supply of goods and services act 1982
What does the supply of goods and services act 1982 required services to provide?
- to be carried out with responsible skill and care - completed within a reasonable time - completed at reasonable price
What features must a simple contract consist of to be valid?
- agreement - parties to agree - consideration - value from the contract -intention to create legal relations - relation to be legally binding - capacity and legality - must be capable to enter contract
What is Microeconomics?
the study of economic behaviour of individual consumers, forms and industries
What is Macroeconomics?
considers aggregate behaviour, and study of the sum of individual economic decisions (working of the economy as a whole)
Define Microeconomics
it focuses on how individual parts of the economy makes decisions on how to allocate scarce resources. individuals parts of the economy such as consumers, firms and industries And attempts to examine how supply and demand decisions made effect the selling price of goods within an industry or market
What is individual demand?
it shows how much goods someone intends to buy at different prices
What are the characteristics of individual demand?
- needs to be effective (customer needs to have cash rather than just desire) - when considering demand at given price assume other variables are constant - demand is lower on high price and higher on low price products
What is Expansion?
When demand changes due to change in price falling then demand rises
What is Contraction?
When demand changes due to change in price rising then demand falls
When price is lower and demand is higher what two processes does it result in?
- the substitution effect (when customers substitute products with cheaper ones) - the income effect (when customers try to save income so they buy cheaper option)
What is market demand?
- shows total amount of effective demand from all consumers in the market - usually shortened to DEMAND - for most goods slopes downwards from left to right
What is the conditions of demand?
- Where other factors are constant in individual and market demand - change In one or more conditions of demand will create a shift in the demand curve - if the shift is outward to the right it is an increase in demand if the shift is inward to the left it is a decrease in demand - important to distinguish increase/decrease that result from shift in demand curve as a whole that result from price changes leading to movements along demand curve itself
What are the main conditions that effect demand?
- income (if income is higher there’s more flexibility to buy finer things) - tastes (change frequently and can be manipulated by advertising) - the price of goods (can be unrelated, or complement or substitute) - population ( increase in population leads to bigger market)
When PRICE change occurs what will the MOVEMENT along the demand curve result in?
either expansion or contraction in demand
When CONDITION change occurs what will the SHIFT in the demand curve result in?
either increase or decrease in demand
What is Elasticity of demand?
the relationship between two variables and measures the responsiveness of one dependent variable to the change in another independent variable - it explains the relationship between changes in quantity demanded and changes in price
Things to remember with Price elasticity of demand
- percentage or proportional changes used instead of absolute ones. -if the percentage is negative the minus sign is ignored
what is the calculation for contributing of price elasticity of demand
How is relatively inelastic shown?
<1
How is unit elasicity shown?
=1
How is relatively elastic shown?
>1
How can PED be calculated by examining total revenue?
- If total revenue increases following a price cut, then demand is price elastic
- if total revenue increases following a price rise, then demand is price inelastic
- if total revenue falls after price cut, then demand is inelastic
- if total revenue falls after a price rise, then demand is elastic
- if total revenue is unchanged then demand is unitary elastic
What are the factors that infulence PED?
- Proportion of income spent on goods - goods take up small portion of consumers income spent, then small price change wont have much impact
- Substitutes - if a substitute is available then small change in price will have great affect on quantity demanded
- Necessities - demand for everyday goods tends to be stable and inelastic whereas luxury goods are fairly elastic in demand
- Habit - goods being purchased automatically consumers not aware of price so demand is elastic
- Time - consumers not aware of alternatives so continue buying goods even if price rises, inelasticity reduced as consumers gain knowledge of other markets
- Definition of market - if market is defined widely then less likely to have alternatives so demand is inelastic. if market is narrowly specified with more brands available then more elastic
What is the supply curve of a firm?
- shows how many units, producers would be willing to offer at different prices, over given period of time
- based on the desire to make profit
- demonstrates what a firm will provide to the market at certain prices
- if price of goods increases, each unit will make more profit therefore would want to supply more to the market
- therefore supply curve tends to move upwards
What are the conditions of supply?
- if theres a change in factors other than price then supply curve will move
- upward shift in supply means cost of supply has increased
- so less is supplied for same price
- results from:
- Higher production costs
- indirect taxes
- downward shift of supply means increase in supply
- lower profits or reduced cost of production
- lower unit costs arise from:
- technological innovations
- efficient use of existing factors of production
- lower input prices
What is equilibrium?
where demand and supply meet
How do you check if euqilibrium is achieved?
- intended demand and planned supply put on a graph
- where the curve meets the price is set
- when demand and supply correspond it is equilibrium
- only one equilibirium position in the makret
As well as flagging up information in the market, what else does price act as?
a stimulant
If supply and demand curves are steeper, then the price fluctuations would be _________.
Greater
the longer the production period, and more _______ the supply, the more ________ the pirce is
- inelastic
- unstable
What does price act as a signal to sellers on?
what to produce
When are minimum and maxiumum prices set?
when the equilibrium price is not the desired price, governments may set prices above or below the equilibrium price
How is minimum price set?
- governments seek to ensure minimum price for certain goods
- can be done in a number of ways such as providing help to direct producers
- set legal minimum price above current market price
- if government set minimum price above equilibrium price (price floor) a surplus of supply is created
- if applied to labour market is known was minimum wage surplus would be equivalent to unemployement
- if applied to physical goods price floors cause surplus in products that have to be stored or destroyed