Roles and responsibilities
Business Structures: The people who work in a business need to be organised in some way. Usually they are organised into business functions. Within these functions there are some jobs that take more responsibility.
Hierarchical Structures: These structures have many layers, the most authoritative or powerful jobs are at the top. Lower there will be Supervisors who have some power/responsibility and at the bottom are operatives with the least responsibility.
Flat Structures Some business structures have fewer levels of management and are flatter. With this structure communication is easier in a business as there are fewer levels to get through.
Hierarchical Structures: These structures have many layers, the most authoritative or powerful jobs are at the top. Lower there will be Supervisors who have some power/responsibility and at the bottom are operatives with the least responsibility.
Flat Structures Some business structures have fewer levels of management and are flatter. With this structure communication is easier in a business as there are fewer levels to get through.
At the top of the business are the managers they are there to make the non- routine decisions that will affect the whole business. They are paid more than others because they take these important decisions and they carry the responsibility if they go wrong.
Examples of non-routine decisions:
In the hierarchy structure there will be junior managers who will carry out more routine decisions, some examples of these include:
Supervisors and operatives are at the bottom of the business structure and they carry out routine tasks.
Routine decisions are decisions made on a regular basis usually by people lower in the business.
Routine tasks are tasks such as filing or inputting data into a database, which will be carried out regularly. No special skills are required for this.
Non-routine tasks are tasks that do not need to be done regularly.
Examples of non-routine decisions:
- Cadbury bringing back the Wispa bar in 2008
- The Westfield Group planning shopping centres for 2009 and beyond.
- Nokias decision to open its Music Store to compete with Apple's ITunes.
In the hierarchy structure there will be junior managers who will carry out more routine decisions, some examples of these include:
- Working out the new rota for staff breaks in a department store.
- Ordering new supplies of paper and printer cartridges as they are needed.
Supervisors and operatives are at the bottom of the business structure and they carry out routine tasks.
Routine decisions are decisions made on a regular basis usually by people lower in the business.
Routine tasks are tasks such as filing or inputting data into a database, which will be carried out regularly. No special skills are required for this.
Non-routine tasks are tasks that do not need to be done regularly.