Introduction
An organisation can be of different types and size. According
to the size and sectors, the scope of the companies varies. Here in business environment assignment, a
brief analysis of different types of companies, their size and scopes are done.
With the rapid change of global business environment, the framework of the
companies is changing rapidly too. In this aspect, three companies of
different type have been taken under account in terms of discussing and
comparing their various internal and external factors. This report is focused
on the background of different companies and their comparison of size and
scope. Legal structure and the key stakeholders are another comparative looks
out of this report. Apart from that, a comparative study of the organisational
framework of BBC has been discussed here. Business environment assignment has discussed both the advantages and disadvantages
of the interrelationship of the organisational functions.
1. Overview of
different types of companies
International business, in the contemporary times, seemed to have
enhanced due to continuous environmental changes and that of strategic
imperatives. However, businesses critics are of view that international
business have grew due to the gradual saturation of domestic market. Organisations
on the other hand, have played major role in new-fanged business world. There
are major different types of organisations, which include public, private, Sole
Proprietorship and voluntary.
Public sectors: Public sectors are companies which much larger than any other
sectors. They are supposed to be joint-stock company. As an example, BBC can be
cited because the organisation can sell their shares, exchange stock to the
public, and have greater finance than any other organisation. The legal
structure of Public sector organisations are down by central or local government;
even BBC follow the same pattern where the executive committee ids appointed to
deliver BBC’s services in terms of strategy. As stated by Armenski et
al. (2018) they are the nationalized industry, which provides their
services to general people. This can be well associated with BBC as they are
successful in providing news all over the globe. However, it has been found
that BBC is not a state owned organisation but they follow the rules and
regulations that have been set up by the government.
Public corporations are the companies that are founded by following acts
of parliament or central or state legislature. It has its own separate legal
entity. On the other hand, governmental companies are considered as those
companies that focus on holding a paid share of about 51% through the state government
or the central. Business environment
assignment has taken BBC under
account as an example of public organisation. BBC is the world fastest growing
network that has been meeting the requirements of current market thereby
providing news all over the globe.
Private sectors: Private companies like McDonald’s occupy a legal structure that allows
the company to run by individuals. It encompasses the profitable business that
is not owned or operated by government. Private companies can be small or
family-centered business just like McDonald. Shareholders, in most of the cases
own them; in case of McDonald’s shareholders plays the most important role. As
opined by Rankine, (2017) a shareholder
of a private company, they cannot sell their shares to public. The business in
private sector has a separate legal identity; in fact, McDonald’s have their
separate and individual legal entity that has bounded their limits.
Figure 1: Types of Organisations
(Source: as influenced
by Soaita et
al. 2017)
It requires to be mentioned here that sole proprietorship
can be considered under the Private sectors. These types of business organisations are owned
and controlled by a single individual. As stated by Hassan, (2017) they have to pay their personal tax return as per
their profit and expenses. For example, McDonald’s that has been serving their
customers’ need since ages can be categorized under private sector.
Voluntary sectors: In this type of legal structure, unpaid management committee runs the
foundation like Cambridge University. They do not work for any profit. Their
focus is to do social works. They generally work for the profit of community. In
reference to this, mention must be made of Cambridge University, an educational
institution as a perfect example of voluntary sectors. Cambridge University has
been considered as a charity subject claimed
under Charities Act 2006. Voluntary sectors are mostly government sponsored or favoured
by different trusts. Cambridge
University has no separate legal identity, as it is a voluntary sector. The
members and the management groups act as a group of individuals and the group
has no separate legal status. It has been noticed that Cambridge University
being a university does not have to pay legal tax to the government.
2.
Explanation of each of the chosen organisations
This Business environment assignment has focused on three different
types of organisations. In the viewpoint of Soon
et al. (2017), it has been found
that framework of organisation highly influences the mains and objective of
that organisation. In addition, it requires to be mentioned here that the
structure of an organisation depends largely on their strategy to manage the
market level. Besides, it also helps to increase the working efficiency.
Company offering food and beverage needs a simple structure while a worldwide
broadcasting company follows a complex structure. BBC has taken under
consideration as a public company. McDonald's is a private company and the University
of Cambridge has taken as a voluntary sector.
Under Royal Charter, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been
considered as a public organisation. BBC is the largest broadcasting company of
the world, which acquire around 20,950 staffs. The annual revenue of BBC is
approximately £166 million (bbc.com, 2018). They have drastically increased
their growth in last few years. They include executive committee, a board of
directors along with commercial and operational divisions. Organisational size
and structure is a key factor for business objects. It is based on market management
according to performance levels. A worldwide broadcasting company like BBC
deals with a large number of human capital. As opined by Soaita et al.
(2017) they have to look after their company structure more sincerely in
terms to manage this huge number of employees. Business objectives and company
structure can be as to be as two sides of a coin. They are two interrelated
things. The way of achieving business goal and objectives relies on scope of
organisation. These scopes include financial capital legal ethics and skills.
The scope and growth of a company can depend on the geographical locations and
risk factors too. In these aspects, BBC gets an advantageous position in this
market (influenced by bbc.com, 2018). Mission of BBC is to entertain people
through their programs they provide the information, education and
entertainment to people worldwide. They are focused to become the most creative
medium of spreading enlightenment through the world.BBC follows their values of
trust, quality, creativity respect and collaborative work. Thus, the vision of
this organisation is clear which states, “To
be the most creative organisation on the world”
On the other hand, McDonald’s is a private sector serving food and
beverages. They have their outlets in 120 countries. They are either owned
outlets or franchised. They attract around 68 million customers each year. They
occupy approx 1.9 million staffs. McDonald’s holds a market share of near about
127 million USD (Mcdonalds.com, 2017). Employees, customers, suppliers and
others are the key stakeholders of this organisation. After comparing and
conducting a thorough research, it has been found that the structure of
organisation and the legal factors of BBC and MC Donald’s are completely
different from one another. In this regards, McDonald’s mission deserves
mention which states, “To be customer’s favorite place and way to eat and drink”. This is quite justifiable from the
legal structure size and expansion that claims McDonald’s in UK has an
advantageous position (telegraph.co.uk, 2018). Their structure helps them to
become the UK’s largest food chain. They have more than 1250 outlets in UK and
more than 90000 employees working Key of their success is their unique legal
structure and their large size (Soon et al. 2017). Legal structure of
the franchise business helps them to achieve success. Their recent growth in UK
is also the outcome of their effective structure. However, the vision statement
of Mc Donald’s has always been “To be
world’s quick service restaurant experience”.
University of Cambridge has taken under consideration as a voluntary
organisation. The main mission of this institute is to facilitate research
materials to the students and a wide scope for learning (Cam.ac.uk, 2017).
Mission and vision are dissimilar in nature in terms of BBC and McDonald’s.
Their organisational structure and scopes are also different from each other.
The key stakeholder of this foundation is the students. They are dedicated to
student's welfare and social service. They have a different approach than that
of conventional business organisation. According to the University
administrator, they are aimed to deliver exclusive information to their
students. They provide a large organisational structure along with libraries
and research centers to create opportunity. Besides, they provide a large
number of modern pieces of equipment in terms to provide skills training and
exclusive learning to their students. The vision statement of Cambridge
University "Advance the Frontiers of
Technology" thereby aiming to hold the position of top ranked centers
of excellence globally. The vast size and scope of the university is a major
part of them in order to meet their objectives and create a large belt of
knowledge.
In business environment
assignment, unique structures of these mentioned foundations are essential
for their business motive and their business plan. All of these companies hold
strong foothold in their own field and as well as is considered to exist in a
pinnacle position within UK. BBC follows a hybrid business structure for
incorporating different aspects of business process. They include some
functional structure along with some geographical structure based on their
location. They have their worldwide network of television, radio news, and
studio. Mon the other hand McDonald’s are the fast food joint and University of
Cambridge is focused to spread knowledge. Hence, it can be said that both of
these companies follow a different approach than BBC. These separate approaches
fulfill organizational objectives thereby sustaining the efficient structure.
3. Explanation of
relationship between different organisational functions for one of the chosen
organisations
The organisational framework and the legal structure of BBC are focused
on broadcasting marketers worldwide. As stated by LÊgreid,
(2017) they have developed their structure in terms to supporting
different country demands. Different organizational functions in BBC include
radio, human resource, news, security, property, strategy and finance. A hybrid
framework is followed by BBC organisational structure. In this kind of
structure, the operations are based on various functions including divisional
patterns for products that focus on various commercial segments like studio,
geographic locations, televisions, news, radio and so on.
Figure 2: Different types of segments used in
BBC organisational structure
(Source:
bbc.com, 2017)
The worldwide framework is followed by the organisation for covering
each operation. In a business environment assignment, features
of business control are the prime focus of BBC. The structure of BBC
incorporates three types of board including that of journalism, commercial and
that of creative, which further gives report to executive board and Governor
Board. From the organisational structure, it is clear that the board comprises
of a series of Board of Authority that includes Director-General who are
entrusted with the task of managing other staff members. [Refer to Appendix]
BBC has their branch in three countries named Wales, Northern Ireland,
and Scotland within UK. A foundation should maintain their function as
per the geographical barriers. They should control their actions as per the
legal requirements of that country. BBC should set their functional criteria
and the actions according to the nations by meeting their laws of taxation. For
this, they should recruit local staffs. The areas that supposed to give a large
number of viewers should be focused while planning the business strategies. BBC
operates different function-based groups that include, finance, marketing,
broadcasting department, legal departments, and the HR department (as
influenced by bbc.com, 2018). Functions of these departments are interrelated
and promote organisational objectives. Business
environment assignment indicates that these functions are important in
order to run the company smoothly. Managing a smooth functional strategy help
the organisation to create distinct framework for successful performance. In this business
environment assignment, following strategic functions are the key to
achieving growth for the global company like BBC.
Hybrid framework is the major key for BBC in their way to achievement.
As the largest broadcasting company, BBC follows a number of strategies that
helps them to grow their network. As it works through Royal Charter, it needs
to look after the operations in different countries and have to follow the
requirements of the customers of those companies. The franchises of UK has
successfully delivered services and achieved better growth in recent years (Theguardian.com,
2016). BBC is the example that has maintained a balance among
organisational functions, scope, and the structure. This hybrid structure has
some advantages and disadvantages in the organisational growth.
Advantages:
· Hybrid
structure provides a logical reflection of each function and that functions are
controlled by departmental functions.
· All
the departments at is included in the functions must be implemented with
professional and expert staffs.
· Hybrid
functions develop easier coordination among functional activities.
· This
process is focused on the specialization principle.
· Functions
should be divided according to the performance of the employees, which provide
support for meeting marketing strategies.
· This
system makes the monitoring process easier for the company. Implementing hybrid
functions, company can monitor the growth of the very section.
· Director-General
feel is able to easily achieve control over all departments to control each
functional department.
· Another
effectiveness of hybrid business is to resolve the HR complexities and internal
business issues.
· Hybrid
structure makes the work easier. Working on a hybrid structure help the
employees to focus on a particular matter which in turn increase the working
efficiency.
· It
provides a flexible working environment which is the key to changing need of
the market.
Disadvantages:
· Hybrid
functions sometimes make the decision making procedure slow and bureaucratic.
This happens as each decision in this system is to be approved by several
departments. Therefore, if one department delays to give approval, the whole
process will be stopped.
· Sometimes
employees become over specialized and their viewpoints and outlook become
narrow.
· Having
a large number of departments with a large number of employees makes the
process difficult to monitor the performance of each employee. As a consequence
the accountability reduces.
· Hybrid
structure is stereotype up to some extent in comparing to operational functions
of BBC (as influenced by Standard.co.uk, 2017).
· Top
level managers carry out the task of supervising profits and accounts and lower
managerial levels reports to them
· Sometimes
capabilities of employees to adopt the environmental changes become reduced
because of interrelationship of functions. Another issue that an organisation
can face because of the interrelationship of functions is the cease of career
development. This happens because changes in one department affect the whole
function.
On a similar ground, it can be said that functional and geographic
framework helps in encouraging and increasing the rate of productivity thereby increasing
the profitability at the same time. As opined by Soaita
et al. (2017), it helps in promoting
horizontal coordination and prevents any form of restricted view on
organizational goals. These interrelationships also result in facilitating
synchronization as well as keeping right track of all form of activities.
Specialization skills implementation is also key for securing high performance. On the other hand, interrelationship
grows complexity because of the involvement of more departments at a time.
These hamper the coordination between the employees. Thus, it is clear from the
above explanation given in business
environment assignment that interrelationship is closely associated with different
types of organizations and posses great impact on the same.
Conclusion
Business environment assignment has focused on the different types
of organisations like public sectors, private sectors, and voluntary sectors.
In this aspect BBC, McDonald’s and the University of Cambridge have taken under
consideration as public, private and voluntary sectors respectively. It can be
concluded from this business environment
assignment that these three types of organisations work in the different
field in the market. Their scope, growth, and vision and mission all are
different from each other. Therefore the relationship between organisational
function and their effects to the organisational objectives and structure has
been discussed in the aspect of BBC. From this part it can be concluded that
interrelationship between functions has some advantageous impact on the company
growth. It may increase the working efficiency and lower the workload on the
employees. On the other hand, it has some bad effects too. It may break the
synchronization between employees. It has been accounted that this strategy may
hamper the monitoring system in an organisation like BBC with a large number of
employees.
