Introduction to Business : Assignment

INTRODUCING TO
BUSINESS 1

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Functional areas and hierarchy of management...............................................................................3
Communication in Leadership and Management............................................................................5
Drivers of Globalisation and their impact on businesses.................................................................6
Comparison of styles of Leadership/Management..........................................................................7
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Business refers to an activity of making money by developing or buying and selling
goods. The business is controlled by managers and leaders who look out for the activities and
operations performed by the workforce in order to achieve the organisational goals. These
managers and leaders needs to have suitable skills so that they can perform their role effectively.
The taken organisation in this assessment report is Rowlinson Knitwear which is a cloth
manufacturer based in United Kingdom. The company is providing personalised school wear
garments and corporate wear garments. This report will discuss the various functional areas and
hierarchy of management adopted by the taken firm. Further drivers of Globalisation and their
impact on businesses and the comparison of styles of Leadership/Management in the taken
business will be discussed.
Functional areas and hierarchy of management
Rowlinson Knitwear is a UK based cloth manufacturer which is the leading supplier of
personalised school wear garments and corporate wear garments to the independent retail market
of United Kingdom. This company is medium sized organisation which is conducting its
business operations in UK. The firm was started in 1939 with an aim to become one of the
leading suppliers of the garments in UK (Aithal, 2016). The firm has various functional areas
such as sales, operations, finance and quality check who are contributing their maximum efforts
for raising the productivity and profitability of the company in UK market. These areas are
discussed below:
 Finance: This department is responsible for providing the money to various business
departments for ensuring the smooth flow of business operations. This department assist
the Rowlinson Knitwear in purchasing the various tools and equipments which are
essential for business operations so that they can perform their work without facing any
monetary barriers. Finance manager prepare budgets and allocate finance to different
departments so that operations and activities can be run smoothly and effectively.
 Sales and marketing: This department of the Rowlinson Knitwear deals with the clients
in order to promote the products of the company in the market. Marketing department
provide the insight of market to the business functions in order to develop products which
can fulfil the needs of their targetted customers. This marketing department also publish

the job vacancies of the company on Job portals in order to attract potential customers
who can perform the business operations in proper manner.
 Production: This department is the major department of Rowlinson Knitwear which
manufacture or produce the clothes provided to the customers (Clarke, 2013). This
department took the insights about the customers and market from the marketing
department and with the help of finance departments, manufacture the clothes according
to the insights. This department ensure that the operations of the firm is going on a
continuous basis for earning high profit and revenue.
 Quality check: This department is responsible for checking the quality of the clothes
which are manufactured by the operations department in order to check for errors and
faults. If any such thing is observed, then the cloth is discarded and interact with the
operations department for eliminating the errors (Di Giuli and Kostovetsky, 2014).
Through this, Rowlinson can produce quality based clothes for satisfying the needs and
expectations of their customers which are provided to the customers.
Source: Hierarchical structure, 2013
Hierarchy of management
Illustration 1: Hierarchical structure

The management of the Rowlinson Knitwear is using the hierarchical organisational
structure in its business operations. Through this structure, the employees are segmented into
three levels i.e. lower, middle and upper level employees (Hierarchical structure, 2013). The
lower level employees reports to the middle level managers who will report to the upper level
management. The middle level managers are responsible for resolving the issues and problems of
their lower level employees and upper level management is responsible for resolving the issues
of both middle level managers and lower level employees (Donate and de Pablo, 2015). This
structure is suitable for the firm as the company is small along with the limited business
operations which can be controlled at these three levels.
Communication in Leadership and Management
Communication plays a major role in the working of leaders and managers without which
they could not interact with the employees effectively. This communication is also essential for
managers and leaders for conveying their strategies and other necessary information to
employees (Du and et. al., 2013). Communication is essential for leaders and managers in
conveying the goals and objectives of organisation to the employees for ensuring that they got
the clear understanding of goals and objectives which must be accomplished by them. Also
proper communication skills assist the managers and leaders in interacting with the employees
effectively so that employees can communicate with them regarding the issues and problems
which are faced by them during the time of performing their assigned work. By using the
communication, manager and leaders can support the employees so that they can perform their
work with the required efficiency in order to bring effective results to the firm. Effective
communication between the management and employees ensures that employees are not facing
any difficulty in their work which can restricts them in executing the work in desired manner.
Also communication is necessary for managers and leaders in providing the required information
and support to the other departments so that they can perform their work in required manner. For
example: The operations department of Rowlinson Knitwear produces the clothes which are
provided to the consumers. These clothes are manufactured based on the research and insights
provided by the marketing department after analysing the needs and wants of the customers
(Goetsch and Davis, 2014). The finance department provides the required funds to operations for
producing quality based products which can meet the expectations of consumers in order to
enhance their satisfaction.

Drivers of Globalisation and their impact on businesses
Globalisation is the process of expanding business operations of a firm from a country to
another country in order to enhance the sales and productivity as well as customer base for
sustaining in the global competitive market for a long period of time. There are various factors
and drivers which drives the globalisation process of an organisation. These factors or drivers
heavily impact of the business operations of firm in expanding the business operations. Some of
these drivers are discussed below:
 Technological advancements: These factor drive the globalisation process as these
advancement in the technology makes it easier for the people, products and ideas to travel
across the borders for fulfilling the needs of the market. For example: The advancements
in the transportation medium made it possible for the people to travel from one place to
another in a very short span of time (Kim, Li and Li, 2014). Whereas advancements in
the communication channels made it possible to connect with the people from various
geographic locations without going any where else. This advancements in
communication are allowing the people to share their ideas, information etc. with other
people in least possible time instead of taking months or week. Whereas advancements in
automation have made it possible to enhance the level of production and products.
 International trade: It also drives globalisation process as this is essential for
encouraging and strengthening the interdependence of one country on another country. It
is very difficult for the countries in this modern world to become self-sufficient due to
which they needs to import the products from outside of the country for meeting the
expectations and needs of their people. These countries imports products and services
from another country for maintaining the living standard of their citizens. Due to this,
various organisations are expanding their business operations or globalising their
business in order to grasp the opportunities in international market. For example, the
elimination of trade barriers and the reduction of foreign investment restrictions are
helping the organisations in creating a global marketplace.
 International investment: This factor also drives globalisation process by enhancing the
economic integration. In the recent years, international investments are increasing such as
commercial loans, foreign direct investment (FDI), and foreign portfolio investment (FPI)
etc. Various countries are encouraging the foreign companies to expand their business

operations in their country and in return these countries will invest in the business
operations of the firm (Korschun, Bhattacharya, and Swain, 2014). This is also a driving
factor as due to the expansion, opportunities such as Job employment, productive
enterprises, and new sources of income etc. which will support the people in raising their
living standard.
These factors also drives the globalisation for the Rowlinson Knitwear as it is a small
company having limited number of operations in UK. Due to these factors, the company can
expand its business in order to improve the customer base, revenue and profit.
Impact of these factors on business
From the above discussed factors, it is clear that these can support the people and other
stakeholder of country in improving their living standard as due to the globalisation, jobs,
companies, new source of income will be increase. These support the local economy in which
the business is expanding their operations. For example: Elimination of trade barriers and the
reduction of foreign investment restrictions are attracting the companies in expanding their
business for earning more profit and revenue. Whereas commercial loans, foreign direct
investment (FDI), and foreign portfolio investment (FPI) etc. are also attracting the companies
for expansion as the business is getting investment from the country in which they are
expanding their business. These factors both positively and negatively impact the businesses as if
the trade barriers and foreign investment restrictions are increased then company can face loss in
the new country which will also impact the sales and profit.
Comparison of styles of Leadership/Management
There are various leadership and management styles which are used by the management
of Rowlinson Knitwear. These styles are used by the managers and leaders for effectively
performing their job role in order to raise the output of the organisation. The management of
Rowlinson Knitwear is currently using the democratic and autocratic styles for their workers in
order to take proper decisions. Comparison of these leadership/management styles which are
used by the managers and leaders of Rowlinson Knitwear is given below:
Basis Democratic style Autocratic style
Meaning In this style, leaders and
managers share the decision
In this style, leaders and
managers are solely

making authority with their
team members and employees.
responsible for taking the
decision and no one has the
authority to intervene.
Idea collection Ideas are gathered from the
employees in order to take
proper decisions.
Ideas of the employee are not
considered in decision making
and only manager or leaders
has the responsibility to take
decision.
Behaviour orientation This style is relation oriented. It is task oriented.
Suitability This style is suitable to use
when team members and
employees are experienced,
qualified and professional.
This style is suitable to use
when the employees are
unskilled, uneducated and
obedient.
Based on the above comparison, It has been recommended to Rowlinson Knitwear that
the managers and leaders of the company needs to use the democratic style in their working as
well as in business operations. Through this style, managers and leaders can include the ideas,
suggestions and opinions of the employees while taking any crucial decision which can impact or
influence their working performance and behaviour (Saeidi and et. al., 2015). Through these
ideas and suggestions which are taken by the managers or leaders from the employees, workers
stay motivated in their working at the workplace as they feel that they are important for the
organisation as their ideas are considered in the decision making process of the organisation.
Through this, they will try to improve their performance and efficiency for bringing profitable
and favourable results to the organisation. So, it can be said that democratic style is most
appropriate for modern global organisation as it helps in improving productivity and motivation
level of employees which ultimately results in growth and success of organisation.
Conclusion
It has been concluded from the above discussed report that the managers and leaders of
an organisation needs to have suitable styles and skills through which they can manage the
activities of their workers. There are various functional areas of an organisation which are

necessary for performing the business activities of organisation effectively. These managers and
leaders should develop their knowledge and competencies for bringing more output to the
organisation in order to achieve higher competitive edge over the competitors. Suitable styles
must be used by managers and leaders in order to effectively interact and communicate with the
workers in order to enhance their motivation.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aithal, P. S., 2016. Study on ABCD analysis technique for business models, business strategies,
operating concepts & business systems. International Journal in Management and Social
Science. 4(1).
Clarke, S., 2013. Safety leadership: A meta‐analytic review of transformational and transactional
leadership styles as antecedents of safety behaviours. Journal of Occupational and
Organizational Psychology. 86(1). pp.22-49.
Di Giuli, A. and Kostovetsky, L., 2014. Are red or blue companies more likely to go green?
Politics and corporate social responsibility. Journal of Financial Economics. 111(1).
pp.158-180.
Donate, M.J. and de Pablo, J.D.S., 2015. The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in
knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research. 68(2).
pp.360-370.
Du and et. al., 2013. The roles of leadership styles in corporate social responsibility. Journal of
business ethics. 114(1), pp.155-169.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Kim, Y., Li, H. and Li, S., 2014. Corporate social responsibility and stock price crash risk.
Journal of Banking & Finance. 43. pp.1-13.
Korschun, D., Bhattacharya, C. B. and Swain, S. D., 2014. Corporate social responsibility,
customer orientation, and the job performance of frontline employees. Journal of
Marketing. 78(3). pp.20-37.
Saeidi and et. al., 2015. How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial
performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer
satisfaction. Journal of business research. 68(2). pp.341-350.
Online:
Hierarchical structure. 2013. Available through<https://pingboard.com/blog/types-business-
organizational-structures/>