Introduction to Business - Etsy

Introduction to business
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 3
MAIN BODY 3
LO 1 Functional areas of business and the hierarchy of management 3
LO 2 Communication central to leadership and management and effective interdepartmental
communication 5
LO 3 Current drivers of globalisation and their impact on the businesses 5
LO 4 Comparison of two styles of leadership or management and the most suitable style for
modern global organisation 6
CONCLUSION 7
REFERENCES 8
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INTRODUCTION
Business can be defined as an activity of making money by buying and selling goods and
products. Etsy is an E-commerce website that focuses on craft, vintage & handmade suppliers. It
ahs around employees and operates in a wide range of categories like Bags, Jewellery, clothing,
home decor etc. This study will show and cover the importance of functions and functional
areas of any type of business and hierarchy of management. With the help of hierarchical
organisational structure of a business, a company can manage its processes and all the activities
in an effective manner (Bush, Bell and Middlewood, 2019). This present report will also show
the drivers of globalisation like competition etc that have an impact on the business’s
performance. Leadership style also play an important role in an organisation as manager and
leader can motivate their employees towards achieving organisational goals.
MAIN BODY
LO 1 Functional areas of business and the hierarchy of management
Every type of businesses has some functional areas like finance, accounting, HR,
customers services that plays an important role as all the functions and areas help manager of
Etsy in achieving their goals by effective management. Functional areas refer the teams of
employees who have similar knowledge and expertise such as: Sell department of a company
that is a common area of function and staff in this area focus on selling the products of company.
Management: In business and Etsy, the first role of managers is to supervise performance of the
people. Most activities of management fall into the following categories:
Planning: The first and foremost work of manager of Etsy is to make goals and after making
goals it is very important for them to plan accordingly. For achieving all the determined goals
they make strategies and planning for executing all the functions in an effective manner (Gopee
and Galloway, 2017).
Organizing: After making planning, it is require organising all the functions and operations by
using all the organisational resources. The main aim of organising is to operate all the processes
effectively.
Controlling: Controlling is other step of management function. In order to see and analyse that
all the functions and processes are on the right track, manager of an organisation need to spent
their time on controlling. The main aim of controlling is to reduce errors in processes and then
take the corrective actions accordingly.
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Leading: It is the last step of management function as manager and a leader guide and lead their
team according to the made plan. They guide them for working and completing tasks for
achieving the team goals.
Operations: Operation function is like the heart of a business that requires overseeing all day to
day operations. This functions starts from ordering raw material to delivering it to its customers.
Marketing: Marketing also plays an important role in an organisation. Marketing manager of
Etsy online platform is wholly responsible for developing & promoting its products and services.
The main purpose of the marketing manager is to make all the customer and people aware of
their products and also tell them the uniqueness and importance of their products. With the help
of marketing function, a business can make its internet presence and can also improve its brand
and reputation.
Human resources: Human resource is the important function and element that helps the
company in selecting and hiring the best candidates within an organisation, After recruiting
skilled employee it is also responsible for retaining them for the long run. For retaining them and
for achieving organisational goals it motivates its employees via different programmes, rewards,
incentives etc.
Hierarchy of management: Managers of Etsy has the responsibility for the work performance
of other organisational member. The hierarchy is very essential as it makes possible to
effectively evaluate the company’s strategies in order to achieve the goals. In this hierarchy of
has the system of managing problems and doing things as it has three level of managers such as
top level, middle level and low level.
Top level: It includes board of director, CEO, vice president and president of Etsy. All these
members and manager are responsible for managing and overseeing all the functions of entire
organisation. They also make and develop company’s policies and decisions.
Middle level: General Manager, branch manager and functional departmental manager re
examples of middle level manager. Managers of this level are accountable to the top
management for their departmental functions. They execute plan which are being made by the
top management and inspire guidance to low level managers.
Low level: Supervisor, foreman & section leads are some example of this level of managers.
These types of managers and members have the responsibility of assigning tasks to employees
and also guide to them on day to day operations. After that they make recommendation and
suggestions also for the betterment of the business (Sajid, 2016).
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LO 2 Communication central to leadership and management and effective interdepartmental
communication
Communication means to transfer and share all the information’s with each other. In
medium size enterprises, communication plays a vital role as it helps the company in resolving
all the problems that occurs due to ineffective communication like interpersonal conflicts etc.
Communication is central to leadership and management because it makes them able to set
the goals and the target to be hit, to effectively shares the vision and goals among all the
employees. Without having communication skill leaders and managers can not make themselves
able to share information’s among all the employees. It is central to leaders and managers as it
helps them a lot in various aspects. With the help of communication both, leaders and managers
of an organisation as it encourages collaboration, enhance problem solving possibilities and also
allows proper motivation (Brewster, 2017).
Effective interdepartmental communication also help the business in performing all the
processes and activities effectively and also deliver products and services on the time to
customers. Interdepartmental communication is the best strategy of a company by which they
can solve various problems. Here are some benefits of interpersonal communication:
Improves team work: The Company has various functional units and departments that work
separately but somehow they are interrelated with each other. For working effectively it is
important to have interdepartmental communication. Effective interdepartmental communication
improves team work by which all the employees learn new things from each other. It also reduce
workplace conflicts as by working with each other, they improve their relationship.
Remove physical separation: Effective interdepartmental communication also remove physical
separation and stress level. When an employee works individually then at some point they face
difficulties in completing the task like producing products. When they work with the team
members of other department then they find themselves happy and stressed free that is very
important for making a friendly and healthy working environment (Mullan, Bradley and Loane,
2016).
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LO 3 Current drivers of globalisation and their impact on the businesses
There are some drivers of globalisation that put pressure on the businesses to create
innovative products and adopt new techniques and also expand their business with the main aim
of being in the competition and for becoming market leader. Some drivers of globalisation that
are essential for the company to consider and focus on includes: Advanced technologies
competition, international trade, international investment etc.
Advanced technology: Advanced technology has led to major improvement to global
connectivity, communication & mobility that in turn help to facilitate, drive and be driven by
globalisation (Liu and et.al., 2019). With increasing demand and changes in the way of doing
things for the business has been done only by the technologies. It has also reduced the cost of
communicating information’s. Globalisation has been increased due to the speed of technology
transfer. It impacts on the companies in positive as well as in negative manner. It is increasing
teh competition level as most of the companies in intense market and small size companies are
not able to invest in technologies.
Competition: Globalization leads to increased competition. This competition can be
related to quick response, advanced technology, target market, cost of product s and services etc.
It also impacts on the company performance, when the company and a business sell its products
at lower and cheaper prices and produces products with less cost then it can be able to increase
its market share Customer also have multitude of choices in the market that can be related to
tastes, quality of products and quick response. If company fulfil all the needs of customers that it
can become in the competition otherwise it can decrease its sales and profitability.
All these drivers of globalisation increased competition level for the business. It can also
increase mergers & joint ventures. Companies can have an opportunity and location flexibility as
modern production techniques can be allocated almost everywhere so companies can gain low
cost labour. Companies require greater awareness to customer needs as customers have various
choices and are multiple attitude type and they are very selective in context of prices and quality
of services and products which the company provides them (Yahaya and Ebrahim, 2016).
LO 4 Comparison of two styles of leadership or management and the most suitable style for
modern global organisation
There are various styles of leadership that helps the company in leading employees towards
achieving the goals. Some leadership or management styles that most of the company follows
includes autocratic, democratic, transformational, transactional etc. Different types of
organisations use different leadership styles (Abraham and Scaria, 2017). The most leadership
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style which are being selected and followed companies are autocratic and democratic styles.
There are some differences between both autocratic and democratic leadership styles such as:
Basis of difference Autocratic Democratic
Meaning Autocratic leadership style is
adopted by the management
that involves an individual and
one man control in all
managerial decisions.
Democratic leadership can be
defined as a type of leadership
in which leaders of an
organisation shares decision
making powers with his
followers and employees and
the members of a group in
order to motivate them.
Authority In this type of leadership style,
Authority is centralized.
In democratic style of
leadership, authority is
decentralized.
Control In autocratic leadership style,
leaders have the high level of
control and do not give
opportunities to their
followers.
In democratic style, leaders
have low level of control as
they give opportunities to their
followers and group members
to participate in decision
making process and give their
suggestion.
Suitability This style is appropriate is
some types of situation, where
the employees are not highly
skilled not so much obedient
and have less experience in
the process of decision
making.
Democratic style is
appropriate and suitable when
all the members of a team
have a great experience and
educated and professional in
taking the right and accurate
decisions.
This company follows and use democratic leadership style for its business because it has
various benefits. By following this type of style a manager and a leader can solve complex ad
difficult problems with ease (Markovic and Salamzadeh, 2018). It is not only good for
employees but also good for employer because they can decrease labour turnover as employees
feel motivated and respected when leaders provide them opportunity and freedom to take
participation in their decision making process for the betterment of the business. So it can be said
that democratic style of leadership is the est and appropriate for the company.
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CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been concluded that Styles of leadership or management played an
important role in an organisation and for the global organisation. With the help of the best suitable
leadership and management style, a leader motivated and lead its employees effectively. Functional areas
of business and all the functions like HR, finance, marketing also played a crucial role as it helped the
manager in managing its all the processes with ease. Drivers of globalisation like competition,
technological advancement impacted on the business and communications also helped an organisation
and management in solving problems related communication like interpersonal conflicts, labour turnover
etc.
REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bush, T., Bell, L. and Middlewood, D. eds., 2019. Principles of Educational Leadership &
Management. SAGE Publications Limited.
Gopee, N. and Galloway, J., 2017. Leadership and management in healthcare. Sage.
Sajid, S.I., 2016. Social media and its role in marketing.
Brewster, C., 2017. The integration of human resource management and corporate strategy.
In Policy and practice in European human resource management (pp. 22-35). Routledge.
Mullan, J., Bradley, L. and Loane, S., 2016. Barriers and Drivers to Future Bank Adoption of
Mobile Banking: A Stakeholder Perspective. In The Book of Payments (pp. 325-338). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.
Liu, X. and et.al., 2019. From ecological opportunism to multi-cropping: Mapping food
globalisation in prehistory. Quaternary Science Reviews. 206. pp.21-28.
Yahaya, R. and Ebrahim, F., 2016. Leadership styles and organizational commitment: literature
review. Journal of Management Development. 35(2). pp.190-216.
Abraham, J. and Scaria, J., 2017. Emotional intelligence: the context for successful nursing
leadership: a literature review. Nurse Care Open Acces J. 2(6). p.00054.
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Markovic, M.R. and Salamzadeh, A., 2018. THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION IN
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT. BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND
ENTREPRENEURIAL TENDENCIES, p.11.
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