Understanding Organisations and the Role of Hr

1. Introduction The briefing note is aimed to support a new manager to gain some understanding of the organisation in preparation for their start. Enterprise is a private sector organisation that has a current turnover of ? 1. 1bn. Enterprise currently employ’s circa 17,000 people including direct and DSP staff. 1. 1 Enterprise is the UK’s largest dedicated maintenance and front-line service provider to the public sector and utility industry. 2. Company Analysis 2. 1 Enterprise offers a wide range of services to its customers.The business is split into two divisions, one of which is the Government division. The Government division offers nationwide coverage in the following work streams: Grounds Maintenance, street cleansing, refuse collection, social housing, asbestos surveys & removal, building repairs & maintenance and local roads. The Government division is involved in a joint venture with Amymouchel. The second major division is the Utilities division. The Utilitie s division is broken down further into sub divisions which are, defence, MOD, gas, water and power.The main role of the Utilities division as a whole is to perform maintenance tasks including fixing water leaks, repairing gas leaks, installing Utility supplies, designing and installing power substations and repairing broken connections. The Utilities -division is also involved in joint ventures with Carillion and MoDern Housing solutions. Enterprise also has a Central Support division that contains dedicated departments who provide support services to the group. The departments within the central support include Finance, I. T, Payroll, Central HR, Health & Safety, Commercial, Procurement and Marketing. See Appendices 1. ) 2. 2 Due to the fact that Enterprise provides such a diversity of services the customers are both from the Public and Private sector. Enterprise has long term partnerships with Local and Central Government. An example of this would be a 28 year ‘waste partner ship’ with Solihull Borough Council. Other Local Government organisations that Enterprise perceives as customers currently include London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Liverpool City Council, Wolverhampton City Council, Manchester City Council, Gloucestershire City Council and Peterborough City Council.Central Government customers include MOD Defence Estates, Highways Agency and Transport for London. Enterprise works closely with Utilities companies to provide people’s homes and business with reliable gas, power, and water and communication links daily and has major contracts and partnerships with the following customers: United Utilities, Severn Trent Water, Scottish Power e-on Energy and National Grid. As the majority of Enterprise operations are carried out within the community they have a high emphasise on Corporate Responsibility in order to engage the wider community. . 3 Enterprise has a unique approach in terms of its purpose and goals. The main purpose of t he organisation is captured within the mission statement which is; ‘’To be at the heart of our customers and communities; delivering plans to improve service and maintain essential infrastructure for present and future generations in an environment that allows our people to contribute and realise their full potential’’. Enterprise as a Private organisation has a purpose of providing a financial return to its Stakeholders as well as surviving and developing if possible.Enterprise has a set of driving principles that define the goals that work towards delivering the Enterprise vision which is; ‘’In our chosen markets of utilities and the public sector, to be the leading integrated service provider focused on front line delivery. ’’ The 5 driving principles are as follows: Health & Safety: As Enterprise work at the centre of people’s lives and neighbourhood’s Health & Safety of both employees and members of the public is paramount. This means that the policies are rigorous, thorough and proven.Community Cohesion and Well Being: Responsibility in the community that Enterprise works in, the companies it works with and the employees. Sustainable communities that balance the social, economic and environmental components of their local area. This will benefit the residents, businesses and future generations. Partnership & People: Enterprise’s preferred method of working with a customer is through a transparent partnership. This facilitates communication and enables better working relationships.The flexible pro active nature of these partnerships allows contracts to evolve and move with the changing nature of the industry and customers need in the opinion of Enterprise. Enterprise follows a ‘respecting people’ agenda which allows employees to influence service delivery. They continually invest in skills and technical knowledge in order to remain an innovative leading service provide r. Performance Improvement & Best Value: The experience and knowledge Enterprise has of its markets, combined with their least cost operating models, enable them to design services that produce improved performance and best value for customers.Technology and Innovation: Enterprise has innovative technology and bespoke software that designed by an in house team. This increases the efficiency of operation and improves communications between sites, offices and customers. IT is at the core of all operations and a least cost, improved performance is essential to ensure a safe workplace. 2. 4 Enterprise believes that external factors do have an impact on the business activities of the organisation. Please see (Appendices 2. ) which is a PESTLE analysis of Enterprise.Listed below are four examples of external factors that Enterprise will be directly affected by, Auto Enrolment This is the Government initiative that Enterprise considers as a political external influence. Auto enrolment is a imed at getting employees enrolled into a pension scheme. Enterprise as a large business has to do this by April 2013. Employees are automatically enrolled into the scheme with the option to ‘opt out’. The minimum contribution of the employees is 1% of their salary with a contribution from the employer. The impact on Enterprise is financial due to the contribution to the pension scheme.The fact that all employees need to be communicated with and engaged with the scheme is a drain on cost and time. Enterprise has had to employee a number of temporary staff who specialise in pensions to guide and work on the impact of the scheme. This again is a financial strain on the organisation. Rising Fuel Costs Enterprise have identified the increasing rise in fuel costs as a potential threat to the business. Enterprise has reacted to this by introducing a ‘Lower initiative. ’ All new starters to the business are given information on ways to save fuel, for example car s haring.As many of the operations within Enterprise involve vehicles and plant reducing fuel consumption is extremely important. Graduates Enterprise has always had a graduate scheme and recruits every year. Due to the both social and political impacts the number of graduates per year is decreasing, increased university cost sand high rates of unemployment are the main contributors for this. This is impacting on the business in terms of reduced Graduate vacancies and fewer specialist candidates. Enterprise view graduates as the future and look to talent manage graduates into certain arrears of the business.They are also seen as ideal candidates whilst ‘succession planning. ’ A positive impact of the above is that apprentice schemes have become a popular alternative within the UK and Enterprise has over 130 active apprentices. This is a 50% increase on 2010 figures. Adverse Weather Over the last few of years the weather has changed significantly which has had an effect on Enterprise. It has impacted the business in both a positive and negative way. For example due to the cold weather in the winter the need for winter grit to be laid on the road has increased, this means business for Enterprise in this area has been amplified.On the opposite side of the coin, during wet summers work on the roads for example laying new cables and surfacing dressing can be a slow process. Enterprise perceives this as an external Environmental factor that is difficult to manage. 2. 5 Enterprise operates a ‘conventional’ hierarchical organisational structure predominantly but has aspects of ‘span of control structure’ also. This is mainly due to the size of the organisation and the variety of services it offers. As Enterprise is split into two major divisions with sub sections within these departments it is difficult to put the overall organisational chart into context.Enterprise does have aspects of a ‘Matrix’ organisation. This is dependent on projects that need to be undertaken or new contracts that are won. Enterprise has to be flexible to endorse this kind of structure and have the resources to cover staff movement. Please see (Appendices 2. ). Enterprise produces quarterly organisational charts to track any movements that take place and analyse where people slot in to the business. Appendices 2, illustrates the structure of the finance department for Enterprise which is a relatively tall conventional structure and is built up via a number of levels.Within the finance department there are several different functions including, financial accountants, purchase to pay, sales ledger, payroll and treasury. This chart highlights the positions of all the employees that make up each function and how they are all interlinked to make the finance department as a whole. It also confirms the spans of control of Managers and supervisors. 2. 6 As described in 2. 5 the Finance department in Enterprise has several differe nt functions. An explanation of how these functions work together ould be as follows; The monthly payroll team pulls together the payroll 3 days before the money is due too reach the employee’s accounts. This has to be signed by the Support Services manager. Once this has been signed payroll process, this is then with the treasury department to allocate the monies into the accounts of the employees in time for pay day 3 days later. After this the accountants are left to analyse the payments for each department of the business and raise any queries they may have. 2. 7 The culture of Enterprise is outlined in the mission statement and within its 5 driving principles (see 2. ). Enterprise also has a strict set of values that it expects all of its employees to follow: * Integrity – Transparency, relationship, fair, equitable and professional * Practicality – Straightforward, productive, innovative and pragmatic * Achievement – Focussed, driven, clear, ambitio n and success * Collaborative – Flexible, positive, incentivised, developing, community and team * Responsiveness – Listen, engage, create and participate The culture of Enterprise does have an affect on operations. Examples below: 1.Due to Enterprises commitment to its vision, principles and values, Enterprise can offer responsive efficient services provided by dedicated individuals 2. Enterprise works within the community promoting local employment and engagement with the use of small and medium enterprises (SME’s) through the Enterprise Foundation which is a vehicle dedicated to delivering community related support and improvement projects. This is a key part of the CR agenda. 2. 8 Enterprise has a dedicated central HR function that supports the organisations strategy in many ways.Please see below three examples of this: Learning & Development Enterprise encourages employees to undertake training courses to improve personal development. HR will research parti cular courses to make sure they are relevant to the employee’s role and report back to the budget holders with the findings. PDR Workshops Enterprises HR team offers managers the opportunity to attend workshops to make sure they carry out PDR’s efficiently (personal development reviews. ) For example it is explained that the PDR’s are linked to talent management which looks at developing Enterprise’s current employees linking back to the business strategy.Induction Corporate inductions are delivered by the HR department to all new starters. This is seen as essential to emphasise to all employee’s the vision, goals and strategy of the business as well as making new employee’s welcome and provides key statutory information. 2. 9 The HR function at Enterprise is always on hand to provide support to line mangers and their staff. Here are three ways in which they achieve this: * Updating policies and procedures in accordance with legislative chan ges and with the business needs.Making sure these are easily accessible for line managers and their employee’s to access. * Through knowledge and experience HR professionals within Enterprise provide managers with support on disciplinary issues. Making sure that the correct process is followed to avoid tribunal cases. * HR systems are an integral part of Enterprise as all office based staff use them. The HR team control these systems and provide data from them to support manager’s needs. 3. Conclusion This briefing document is aimed at familiarising a new manager with the services, structure and systems of Enterprise.It has shown that Enterprise is a large maintenance and front line service provider within the public sector and utilities industry employing circa 17,000 staff in the UK. The structure is a mixture of conventional, hierarchical and matrix. The services include all aspect of utilities including repairs of gas, water, power and electricity and public servic es including building maintenance and refuse collecting. HR supports the business by being a point of contact for managers and employees on any issues they have. This works towards Enterprise achieve it overall strategy and goals.