Unit 9: Team building in business, assignment 1.
FULLY FINISHED. Including – TASK ONE; P1, P2, M1, D1 and TASK TWO; P3, P4, M2, D2.
DISTINCTION grade achieved.
Learning aim A: examine the benefit of teams in business setting.
Learning aim B: investigate techniques and theories used for the development of an effective
business team.
Effective business teams
Throughout this report, I will be discussing what factors contributes to having an effective team. I will
also be investigating what part these teams play to achieve objectives within the business. One of the
businesses I will be talking about throughout is Primark. Primark operates in over 180 stores throughout
the UK, Ireland, Holland, Spain and Germany, With over 26,000 employees. Primark was ranked as one
of the UK’S most popular high street fashion store by ITV viewers. The other business I will be talking
about throughout is Tesco. Tesco is the largest UK organisation and one of the biggest supermarket
chains worldwide. Tesco is also included in the ranking of the top three supermarkets worldwide. Tesco
has over 30,000 stores globally and employees over 400,000 people. Tesco operate in 13 countries such
as the Canary Islands, Belgium, Denmark and more. Both Primark and Tesco use teams effectively to
achieve goals and this could perhaps be a contributing factor for their success.
Part one
9/A.P1 - Explain the purpose of a given team in a chosen business.
The difference between a group and a team is, a group is where people work together, whereas in a
team people work together to achieve a common goal. The concept of a team can be simply understood
through a quote by Mullins (2007) which is “Team occurs when a number of people have a common goal
and recognise that their personal success is dependent on the success of others. They are
interdependent.”
I will be refering to Primark and Tesco throughout this assignment because they have many different
teams and departments of employees who work together to provide a product and service to their
customers. Specifically, I will be talking about shop assistants and shelves stackers etc. The purpose of
the role of a shelf stacker is key, they ensure that shelves are fully stocked with no missing products and
everything is on the correct aisle in the correct location because of market segmentation. The
employees must also check that their stock is in date because if tesco for example was to sell a meal that
was out of date, they could face lawsuits etc. When the employee stack the shelves they do the displays
in a certain way in order to make the products look more visually appealing and stand out to customers
as this will increase sales on different items if they’re able to draw the customers attention. This type of
team is formal, as it’s a work environment and was created for a specific purpose which means every
member within the team has a set role to do and tasks to complete. Within a formal team such as this
there is a need for leaders/managers to overlook every member and keep everyone on track to
complete their tasks. This means that there can be different levels of authority within a formal team
, compared to an informal team where everybody is equal. The team of shop assistants' size is large
because there is lots of stock which needs to be put on the shelves etc although the size can vary
depending on the shop and the size of that specific store. In my opinion, a good size team consists of
around 10 people to carry out the task of restocking shelves. This team is a permanent fixture because
employees will always be required to successfully place products on the shelves and in the correct
location. This means that in this case the team would be long-term too, although overtime employees
and the members of the team will change as people will leave and join. The overall goal for the team to
achieve for stores is increasing their profitability as the higher level of productivity the staff are, the
more items that will be able to be sold to customers. So, they need to achieve the maximum efficiency
in order to provide products for customers and keep them satisfied.
The purpose of creating teams is to enable a foundation for employees to increase the level that they
participate in planning, problem solving and decision making, and the employees can use these skills to
improve customer service. Businesses like Tesco and Primark can motivate their employees by
rewarding them either financially or non-financially whenever the employee participates. The benefit of
increased participation leads to a better understanding of any decisions made. Also, employees will take
more ownership of decisions, processes and changes. This is beneficial to the business as employees
using their initiative and creative thinking will mean better decision making. It will also lead to
employees being more willing to participate in performance evaluation and improvement.
In order for any team to fulfil their roles and responsibilities like improving the businesses effectiveness,
it’s crucially important that employees work in teams of other employees who have similar goals and
interests. Tesco, for example states that it’s mission is “we make what matters better, together.” The
implication of this message is that all employees are apart of the company and contribute to the
success. Tesco’s goal is for all employees to work together effectively in order to produce a good
standard of customer service for both its customers and stakeholders. Good customer service is key for
business success as happy customers create brand loyalty which keeps them coming back to shop at
Tesco instead of at its competitors like ASDA.
There are many benefits of teams working within a business, and these teams contribute to the
productivity and effectiveness of businesses like Tesco and Primark. Benefits include how employees
within a team can collaborate to share ideas, it increases motivation and innovation and it also mutal
support. The purpose of this is it helps to build a strong effective team which can achieve any goals.
There are many different types of teams a business can use. The type of team which is formed will vary
depending on the needs of the business. The different types of teams include
Formal
Informal
Small
Large
Temporary
Permanent
Remote/ virtual
Horizontal
vertical
