Case study 3: Leading and Managing People

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1 Find out how BP is organised and learn about the many different roles people can play in a large business People are a valuable resource People are the most valuable resource for any organisation. An organisation is a group of people with common values and beliefs that aims to achieve one or more goals. Organisations can be small and local like local sports clubs, or very large and global like BP. Different organisations may have different goals and these can change over time. The structure of an organisation describes how the group is built up, how work is completed and, more importantly, how shared goals are achieved. Organisations usually require a mix of people who can undertake different duties and tasks. Larger organisations such as BP usually have more workers and a wider variety of duties than smaller companies like newsagents or restaurants. To understand how a firm is organised we need to have some understanding of the different roles within it. Understanding BP: Student task 1 1. Think about your local newsagent shop. i. Write down all the tasks that need to be undertaken to run a newsagent, e.g. ordering newspapers and magazines. ii. How many people do you think would be needed to run the newsagent? Justify your answer 2. Go to: About BP Company information Group organization i. Look through BP s three Business Segments Upstream, Downstream and BP Alternative Energy. ii. Pick one of these Business Segments and work in pairs to think of as many activities as you can that BP would need to do in that area, e.g. Upstream involves looking for oil, constructing oil rigs etc. iii. How many people do you think BP would need to run the Segment you have selected? Justify your answer. 1 BP in Business Case studies

2 BP s structure You probably quickly realised that the newsagent and BP are very different, although they might have some similar objectives: to meet customer demand, act responsibly and make a profit. The newsagent has a number of simple tasks that can probably be carried out by the owner plus perhaps one other person. Decisions can be made on an informal basis. By contrast, BP is a very large global organisation with many complicated activities and processes. Tasks need to be divided up in a much more organised and structured way. Within each of the Business Segments shown in Chart 1, BP employs lots of workers with different skills. These workers are divided into layers with different levels of responsibility. The BP structure is typical of large corporations; it is a hierarchy. Smaller firms are less complex and need fewer levels of hierarchy. These are referred to as flat structures. The Board of Directors Executive Management Exploration and Production Refining and Marketingg Alternative Energy Chart 1: BP business operations Understanding BP: Student task 2 Look at the BP hierarchy in Chart 1 and review your ideas for Task 2ii. 1. Write down all the different jobs or roles you identified for your chosen BP Business Segment. Some of these roles will have more responsibilities than others. Copy the BP chart above and add the roles you have identified in order of importance, with the most important first. You will have created a hierarchy: the more responsible jobs or roles should be towards the top and the less responsible positions towards the bottom. 2. What would you expect to happen to the pay that workers receive as you move down the hierarchy? Can you justify your expectation? 3. Why would BP need to be structured with a hierarchy rather than a flat structure? 2 BP in Business Case studies

3 What roles do BP s employees have? We have seen that organisations often require employees with different roles. Generally, we would expect a large and successful business such as BP to employ many workers with a variety of roles and responsibilities BP in fact employs more than 80,000 people. Roles are important in any organisation but it might not always be clear what someone does just from their job title. Some job titles can be quite misleading, e.g. headteachers usually don t teach at all, a financial accountant might not actually see or touch any cash and a music producer might not be able to play any instruments! So what are the roles in a large organisation such as BP and what do these people do? Understanding BP: Student task 3 1. Go to About BP Company information Board and executive Executive management 2. How many executive managers has BP got? 3. Create a simple diagram using ICT to show the members of the executive board and summarise their roles. 4. Select at least one member of the executive board and write down the skills, qualities and experience you think that person would need to do their job well. Good communication is vital to the success of a business; find out about all the different ways employees in a large company keep in touch Channels of communication Communication is the process by which information is transferred from one person to another. People can communicate in lots of different ways: by speaking, writing or other more subtle means, such as body language or gestures. Effective communication is crucially important to a business for many reasons. A successful business such as BP needs to think carefully about the best ways to communicate information around its business. Different methods of communication are most suitable for different types of information. 3 BP in Business Case studies

4 Understanding BP: Student task 4 1. Get into small groups or pairs and imagine you are in charge of an oil rig in the North Sea. You are responsible for: i. getting oil out of the ground as quickly and as cheaply as possible ii. making sure your workers are safe and looked after ensuring your oil rig makes a profit. 2. In your groups, select at least one of these responsibilities and discuss how you would get your colleagues on the oil rig to achieve this goal. You need to think about: i. what you would need to communicate to your colleagues ii. how you would get this message to them by , in a letter, face-to-face etc. iii. what channels of communication you might use to check your colleagues are working hard to achieve your shared goals. What would you expect to happen to the pay that workers receive as you move down the hierarchy? Can you justify your expectation? 3. Justify the channels of communication your group selected. Why do you think different channels might be used in different situations? Learn about the difference between leadership and management and find out about different leadership styles What do leadership and management mean? The terms leadership and management are often confused. An effective leader is someone who can show others a vision for the future and can lead others in the right direction. For example, an effective leader in BP might be able to advise where oil might be found and how it could be extracted. An effective manager is someone who can make sure jobs and activities are done properly. For example, an effective manager in BP might listen to the leader and then make sure all the equipment is ready for oil drilling, adequate staff have been hired etc. 4 BP in Business Case studies

5 Understanding BP: Student task 5 1. There are many different leadership styles, including autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire and persuasive leadership. Use your business textbook and/or the Internet to research these different styles. 2. Which leadership style best describes how you would lead? 3. Sometimes different leadership styles are needed in different situations. Can you think of situations when it would be most effective for a leader to be: i. autocratic ii. democratic iii. laissez-faire? Learn how companies try to find the best person for a job and find out about some of the skills BP employees might need Getting the right person for the job Recruitment is an important business process that aims to attract good candidates to apply for a job. Selection is the next step after recruitment, when the best candidate for the job is chosen. Recruitment and selection sound easy but in practice they are complex processes. Getting the right person for the job is very important and a successful company like BP commits considerable time and money to ensuring it selects the best workers. A sound recruitment and selection policy will help the business to grow further. Understanding BP: Student task 6 1. Go to Careers Working at BP Where you can work 2. Research one of these two areas Students and graduates and Professionals and find a job or role that interests you. Write down: i. all the activities you expect the person in this job to undertake (the job description) ii. the skills and experiences you would expect this person to have (the person specification). Tip: Go to Careers Why BP? 3. If you were on an interview panel for your chosen job, what questions would you need to ask each potential candidate? Why would you ask these particular questions? 5 BP in Business Case studies