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Organisational Functions 1

This resource is designed specifically for Unit 1 of the Edexcel BTEC National qualification, 'Introduction to Business'.

Aim:

The aim of this resource is to develop student understanding of the way businesses work. By the end, you should:

• Be able to identify the range of functions used by businesses
• Understand the activities carried out in these functions
• Know that these functions are often used to structure organisations

Resources:

• PowerPoint Presentation - Organisational Functions 1 [54 KB]

Activity:

A business has to use resources in order to produce a product or service. It organises these resources into different business functions. Let's look at an example of how business organisations do this. In the second activity we'll also be able to see how the mix of resources an organisation requires can change over the years:

The Leisure Centre

Image: A swimming pool. Copyright: Pat Herm

A new local councillor wants to make cuts in council spending; as a committed anti-exercise enthusiast, they target the local leisure centre first. Taking a look at the list of people employed at the centre, the politician has an idea. Why not sack all non-essential leisure centre staff? They calculate that at least 75% of employees fit this category. They write a report to be circulated to the council's sports and leisure committee.

At the next meeting of the council's sports and leisure committee, the new councillor's proposals are thrown out. It is pointed out that the recommendations put forward would leave the leisure centre unable to meet its operational and legal commitments. In particular, the committee stressed the vital roles played by the following leisure centre departments:

• Administration - reception, filing, providing management reports, data input
• Marketing - promoting the centre's activities to the community
• Technical - maintaining effective operation of centre facilities, including health and safety
• Finance - record-keeping of all financial transactions

The new councillor was cautioned about coming up with such unworkable ideas in future.

Dyson: The Rise and Fall?

In the early 1990s everything seemed great for British inventor and entrepreneur James Dyson. His idea for a revolutionary 'bagless' vacuum cleaner had blossomed into a full-blown business success. Sales were accelerating, profits too were healthy. New products were planned, pointing to a bright future for Dyson's business and nearly 2,000 employees at its headquarters in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.

Dyson himself was seen as a wonderful mix of business savvy and English eccentricity - a great role model for budding British entrepreneurs.

But within a decade, the shine on Dyson's halo was looking slightly less brilliant. His plan to re-locate the production of vacuum cleaners to Malaysia had enraged many stakeholders in the firm. Never mind that it could be produced at 30% lower cost in South-East Asia than in the UK. Never mind that Dyson planned to keep 1,000 jobs at its Malmesbury HQ in research and development, marketing and the production of washing machines.

Many people regarded the loss of 800 British jobs as the unacceptable side of globalisation, and wondered when the manufacture of Dyson washing machines would be re-located too.