Management Structure and HR Functions of Balfour Beatty PLC

This essay explores the management structure and HR functions of Balfour Beatty PLC, a leading infrastructure group. It discusses the advantages and limitations of their working structure, marketing mix, and recruitment process. The essay also provides an overview of the company's operations and services.

Introduction to
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Management is the framework which provides help for the business organisation in order
to attain goals of an organisation in an effective and efficient ways. Management includes the
whole process through which a business organisation can achieve their objectives which includes
planning, organising, directing and controlling by effective resources. The concepts of
management gives a basis for the working structure in any company which was introduces by
the administrator Henri Fayol. Henri Fayol identified the basic requirements for the management
which makes the work easy in respect to handling operations of the organisations. The theories
of the management is the bundle of ideas which provides general rules for management in the
organisation. There are different types of management styles which are Autocratic, Democratic
and Laissez- faire. Autocratic management styles implements top to down approach with only
one away communication from head to employees. In this employees are expected to follow a
the commands and orders(Chinmulgund and Tapas, 2020) . Democratic management style
encourages employees to give their view point also in management and the communication goes
in both the ways. Laissez-faire management styles implements hands-off approaches as staff do
their work and does not need any supervision. There is delegation and delivery at every stage of
work. The report is being made in the context of Balfour Beatty PLC which is a leading
infrastructure group deals in delivering multi-disciplinary projects and the equipments. The aim
of this report is to highlight the management structure of the Balfour Beatty PLC with the
benefits and limitations of the management structure. It also implements the 4Psa of marketing
mix in respect to given company. At last it discusses the overview of HR Functions with detail
analysis of the selection and recruitment process of the organisation.
TASK
Balfour Beatty is the company which is having its chain in the operations in the development of
the infrastructure contractors. They regulate all the operations such as finance, develop and
maintain innovative and effective infrastructure which supports communities in their economic
development. They are working in different countries and having wide range of employees with
24,500 employees. The company is build by George Balfour and Andrew Beatty on 12 of
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January in 1909. Balfour Beatty having its head quarters in London, UK. It was established as
the business that generates the electricity supplies and conducting operations in supplying
electricity to the local people. Its an infrastructure group which regulates their work on the large
scale and provides services in financing and developing innovative infrastructure. The company
is leading their functions in multiple aspects as they are working in power supply, track-work,
specialist plant and the maintenance of services (Choudhary and Pandita, 2022) . The services
of the company in which it operates includes design and conducting construction, working in
civil, ground, electrical and mechanical engineering, generating work in facilitate management
and social housing. Balfour Beatty not only works as the service provides in mechanical
departments but it also carries out the functions in road management, rail engineering and
maintenance of work. There are various countries in which the company operations or conducts
their functions such as UK, china, Malaysia, Singapore, US and many more. It serves
transportation facilities, develops the infrastructure of the country and works in commercial
sector for the work enhancement. Balfour Beatty operates complete infrastructure life cycle
through merging developed facilities with leading construction. There are different area in which
company works the main areas is finance , they have cost models and finance model which helps
in execution of the transactions. The company have establish a strong relationships with the
multiple multinational banks and the different financial institutions. Balfour Beatty also works
with government departments which acts as financial advisor. The company manages and design
projects through providing extensive skills and the quality in employees of single discipline and
that generates wide range of solutions for different projects. The company have developed
multiple buildings such as Olympic Aquatics centre in London, Hospital in Birmingham and
Atlantic Quay in Glasgow (Fraser-Arnott, 2020) . Balfour Beatty maintain and operates their
assets in different countries and the key variations in the constructions includes residential,
industrial, infrastructure and commercial constructions.
The management structure of the Balfour Beatty is very constructive because of its
wide range of tasks and responsibilities. Balfour Beatty is the one of the world's best
infrastructure group having experience of more than 100 years . The company have maintain
exceptional engineering skills in their employees who are highly committed towards innovation
in the different countries. The working structure of the Balfour Beatty divided into various
sections which is national infrastructure commission and international infrastructure group and
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many more. National infrastructure commission states that the company firstly needs to
identified strategic infrastructure requirements then they consider and propose the needed
solutions of the most affecting issues. These all in-depth analysis of the infrastructure
requirement conducts through experts and it can be conducts in the long term interest of the
dependent body. National infrastructure commission underpins the country daily life needs
which includes transportation, social and commercial buildings, rail tunnel links and cross rails,
power and utility services and many more. Balfour Beatty introduce the establishment of NIC
which is is the most needed approach which deals in increasing interdependence between
different sectors over the long term. The company believes in establishment of such crucial body
in order to complete the approaches of the government and their infrastructure objectives.
Balfour Beatty have developed a critical working structure which allows a delivering of
innovation with appropriate construction projects. The company focuses on the delivering of the
highest standards of the quality and technical expertise. The have teams and staff which is build
for the different countries(Inan, Latif and Preisser, 2019) . As the company deals with various
clients from different locations and they have to provide services which appropriate for the
particular country. Whereas Balfour Beatty also have local supply chains which works in order
to support the local communities. The business environment in the Balfour Beatty is unique
and dynamic as innovation is treated as the crucial factor in the business industry. Because of
the diverse nature of the projects its became the responsibility of the company to drive more and
more innovation in the construction. With that it also important for the company to provide the
practical solutions of emerging issues interlink with the sustainability and environmental
protection.
The company Balfour Beatty have diverse working structure which includes varied range
of functions in the company. These functions work as the implementation of the appropriate
working structure that fulfils the organisation objectives as well as the agenda of serving
people. There are different advantages and advantages of the working structure of the
Balfour Beatty. The first advantages is that company have diverse working structure which
allows the business to have well diversified working across the multiple nations and markets.
Having diversity in the business provides strengths. Working in the operations inside and outside
the country makes the balance in the markets and also helps in dealing with the uncertainties
which remain in many markets(Iwabuchi, Nakajima and Makuuchi, 2019) . The second
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advantage of the working structure of the Balfour Beatty company is there ability to provide
business solutions which helps in making increment in the revenue of the company and overall
increases the profitability. Balfour provides solutions to many clients based form different
countries which makes company capable to get the vast range of resources from different
locations. Having access of wide range of resources give access to the company to operate in
more diversified ways which results in more profit generation in the company. The third
advantages that the company have because of its working structure is successful application of
the cost efficiency programs which results in lots of saving of the company. As the Balfour
Beatty have over 50,000 employees working as the part of the company who are well trained in
the capability to perform certain functions. These activities helps in implementation of the
programmes which gives cost effective programme and provides saving to the company and
enhances profit margins. Having advantages of the working structure doesn't mean that there is
no drawbacks of any activity in the organisation. With the advantages there are disadvantages
also. The first limitations that follows because of the working structure of the Balfour is their
more dependence on the UK and US market which became a part of the concern as the most
resources that company uses in the its construction are from UK and US. This dependence
became a major issues in the company as supplying goods from one source is not work in favour
of the company. The another disadvantage of the company is increment in the liability of the
company as the functions and the operations of the company grows the liability of the company
also increases. These liability act as the debt , theses debt increment also impacts the pension
funds of the company (Kumar, Shankar and Aljohani, 2020) . There is another limitations of the
working structure of the company as there are growing competition in the company which leads
to excessive pressure on the management and the employees. Constant increment in the
innovation and quality process does not fruitful always and dealing with the competition also
increases the money requirement and liabilities.
Marketing mix is the framework which helps in presenting the particular business in
front of the public and also alters the business functions in accordance to that. There are different
aspects that drives the changes in the Balfour Beatty in context of enhancing company functions
and making public aware about the existence of the company. Marketing mix implements with
the 4Ps which are product, price, place and promotions. Product is describes as the entity that
fulfils the needs and requirements of the customers. The marketing strategy relates to the
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products reflects the solutions to the customers requirements. In the context of Balfour Beatty
they should create or build a creative product design, name and features which makes the
products stand out in the market. There are need to develop and create following factors in the
product such as develop it with appropriate quality, with variety of features, different packaging
and quality services. The next p in the 4ps are price , having appropriate price for each and every
product and services. The pricing strategy of the Balfour Beatty focuses on the setting list price,
payments periods and the discounts. They have applied the low price techniques in the
company as with this the company will able to win the market share which also make company
capable to deal with its competitors. The management of the company is aware about the
potential retaliation and the price war in the market. The pricing strategy should be implemented
after clear communication and on the differentiation basis (Kumari and Rana, 2021) . The
another P of marketing mix is place or the distribution area which state that the company should
distribute there goods and services at the location which is convenient for the people who needs
that products. The marketing strategy of the Balfour Beatty is make product available to the
target customers through different channels . The company have different partners who operates
in different areas which makes it easier to identify the needed customers. The company have
more distribution network offline and online both. They also have different retailers and the
websites to conduct its operations smoothly. The last Ps in 4Ps in marketing is promotions
which is the most important element in Balfour Beatty. The company have applied their
promotion strategy in television, radio and print advertising. The company have unique selling
propositions and understand why the buyers needs the product and services. The promotional
strategy that suits the company is direct selling with high profile advertising(Solimun and
Fernandes, 2018). These strategy works after the in-depth analysis of the requirements of the
customers. Collecting information filters the promotional process more effectively as it conducts
a cost benefits evaluation of the adopted promotional alternatives.
Balfour Beatty enables various functions in the organisations which leads to effective
management of work and the employees. There are multiple functions that the HR of the
company performs such as maintaining information and technology, procurement, health and
safety, finance, sustainability and many other works. The company is providing world class
facilities to its employees which requires proper monitoring and alignment in the functions and
operations. The Human Resource team in the Balfour Beatty develops the technical and
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leadership skills inn the employees of the company through appropriate training. The human
resource department make sure that the working of the company with the experts who share their
experience and knowledge and supports the operations of the company (Lillo, 2019) . The
prime role of the Human Resource is to make consistency in rotational placements in the
duration of the graduate concepts. The Human resource undertake the placement in the various
areas of the organisations with the technology upgradation which helps in transforming of the
business. The HR functions in the Balfour Beatty includes oversee staff welfare, promoting
equality with diversity in the organisations, monitor health and safety policies in the
organisations, advice the company on pay and promotions, provide salary reviews and many
more. The recruitment and selection policy of the Balfour Beatty conducts through different
agencies on the contract basis if the company needs it on short term basis. Balfour Beatty is
having large number of employees across the world who are committed towards the development
and business capability(Mann, 2021) . The selection and the recruitment process of the
employees in the company is same for every individual. Whenever there is a vacant position in
the organisation the company notified it to authorised talent acquisition team and the line
manager. The team analyse the current post holder and requirement of the profile and
responsibilities and in accordance to the criteria the hire the capable person. The selection
process based on the skills, abilities, qualification and the knowledge. The employee relations in
the Balfour Beatty aims to make increment diversity in the organisations which promotes trading
in more dynamic ways. The employees relations in the Balfour Beatty are build as per the roles
and responsibilities and the position that an employee holds. The organisation have made the
working environment which create a positive relationships between the company and its
employees. Balfour Beatty make sure that the company is providing appropriate culture for its
existing as well as new team members. They provide support and resolve conflicts among the
team members. The company is providing professional development to the working employees
through enhancing their career. Balfour Beatty encouraged their employees to take personal
control in their own career. The company is providing professional training and courses
(Westgate, 2020). They have implemented the internal progression program which allows an
individual to grow and thrive their capability to perform certain tasks and responsibilities. With
the professional they also develops their employee technically by providing and sharpening
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technical skills in them. They provide training and development plans which generates growth
in the workers beyond the needs of the industry and the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concludes that management in an organisation is the key aspect in
order to maintain proper functioning. This report is being made in the context of Balfour Beatty
Plc a UK based company deals in construction and tools that helps in building and
infrastructure. This report evaluates the working structure of the Balfour Beatty and their
operations in the field of engineering and constructions. Balfour Beatty is the operates in the
field of development in infrastructure and the contractors. Further it process the management
structure of the company, the company have maintain exceptional engineering skills in their
employees who are highly committed towards innovation in the different countries. The
company is having very constructive working structure which follows tasks and responsibilities
effectively. This report evaluates the advantages and disadvantage of the organisation working
structure. Which involves its cost effective techniques and its over dependence on the UK
resources. It also explains the 4ps of marketing mix and the techniques of the Balfour Beatty in
order to make public aware about the working structure and the functions. Adding to that it also
discusses the HR functions and the recruitment process of the Balfour Beatty. As the company is
in contract with the agencies that manages its hiring process and the recruitment process.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Choudhary, P. and Pandita, D., 2022, May. Agile HR: The Need for the E-Business
Environment. In 2022 7th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research
(ICBIR) (pp. 274-278). IEEE.
Fraser-Arnott, M., 2020. The marketing mix in parliamentary library websites. Journal of
Library Administration, 60(8), pp.875-888.
Inan, G., Latif, M.A. and Preisser, J., 2019. A PRESS statistic for working correlation structure
selection in generalized estimating equations. Journal of Applied Statistics, 46(4), pp.621-637.
Iwabuchi, T., Nakajima, Y. and Makuuchi, M., 2019. Neural architecture of human language:
Hierarchical structure building is independent from working memory. Neuropsychologia, 132,
p.107137.
Kumar, A., Shankar, R. and Aljohani, N.R., 2020. A big data driven framework for demand-
driven forecasting with effects of marketing-mix variables. Industrial marketing
management, 90, pp.493-507.
Kumari, N. and Rana, G., 2021. Reinventing HR with Conversational Artificial Intelligence: A
Conceptual Framework. In Reinventing Manufacturing and Business Processes Through
Artificial Intelligence (pp. 137-151). CRC Press.
Lillo, C.D., 2019. Variations in the beneficial effects of spatial structure and serial organisation
on working memory span in humans and other species. Processes of Visuospatial Attention and
Working Memory, pp.59-83.
Mann, G.K., 2021. Recent reforms in the HR 4.0 industry. In Financial Intelligence in Human
Resources Management (pp. 105-118). Apple Academic Press.
Solimun, S. and Fernandes, A.A.R., 2018. The mediation effect of customer satisfaction in the
relationship between service quality, service orientation, and marketing mix strategy to customer
loyalty. Journal of Management Development.
Westgate, P.M., 2020. Approaches for the utilization of multiple criteria to select a working
correlation structure for use within generalized estimating equations. Communications in
Statistics-Simulation and Computation, 49(2), pp.305-316.
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