Science Museum Group: History, Objectives, and Operations

This report provides an overview of the Science Museum Group in the UK, including its history, objectives, and operations. It explores the group's museums, financial operations, governance, and key stakeholders. The report also discusses consumer trends and sustainability initiatives.

Science Museum
Group
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Executive Summary
Report presented below takes through the course of history and operations of The Science
Museum Group in UK. Report is designed to take the reader through the journey from knowing
about its history and strategic structure to its objectives and customer trends that are helping it to
reach to maximum visitors. Report also presented the information about financial operations and
governance of the Group. Group is governed by The board of Trustees which are appointed by
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), under government of UK. Its key
stakeholders and the relevant current issues that will impact its key stakeholders are also
discussed below in the report.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Organisational Profile.................................................................................................................4
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................5
Objectives....................................................................................................................................5
Consumer Trends........................................................................................................................5
Sustainability...............................................................................................................................6
Financial Operations...................................................................................................................7
Governance.................................................................................................................................8
Key Stakeholders......................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Current Issues............................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
Organisational Profile
As per Annual Report of the Science Museum Group is registered under National
Heritage Act 1983. It is an exempt charity under the Charities Act 2011 and is recognised as
charitable by HM Revenue & Customs. Until 1984, it was operated by government and now has
the status of non-departmental public body (NDPB) operating under its sponsor department, the
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). The Board of Trustees act as
governing body for the group. There are 5 museums under the group: Science Museum - It is located in London and trace its origin in South Kensington
Museum. South Kensington Museum was reorganised as Victoria and Albert Museum
and the Science Museum in 1909 (Morris, 2016). This museum focuses on exploring
science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine. Around 4,33,000 visitors
visited the museum in 2018-19. National Railway Museum – It was opened in 1975 at Leeman Road, York after British
Transport Commission's railway collection was transferred to Board of Trustees. It
focuses on exploring the huge impact of the railways on Britain and the whole world.
Around 37,000 visitors visited the museum in 2018-19. Locomotion Museum or National Railway Museum, Shildon – It was opened in 2004,
in partnership with Sedgefield Borough Council and since, 1 December 2017, full
operational responsibility lies with the Group. This museum also focuses on showcasing
the impact of railways and presenting the glorious and significant history of railways for
UK and the world. Around 7,000 visitors visited the museum in 2018-19. National Science and Media Museum – It was established in 1983 at Pictureville,
Bradford. It was initially named as National Museum of Photography, Film and
Television. And later renamed to its present name. It was established with the support of
Bradford City Council. It focuses on exploring the strong impact of image and sound
technologies on general lives. Around 38,000 visitors visited the museum in 2018-19.
 The Science and Industry Museum – It is located in Manchester and was opened in 1969
as the North Western Museum of Science. It was registered as a charity in 1987 and
joined the Group in 2012. It focuses on exploring ideas that have the capability of
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changing the world from the Industrial Revolution till today. Around 88,000 visitors
visited the museum in 2018-19.
Main Body
Objectives
As per Annual Report of the Science Museum Group was formed to preserve and
showcase glorious historical and contemporary developments in the field of Science, medicine,
technology, industry and media. It has the largest and the most significant collection in their field
all around the world. Each of the museum in the group has its own separate identity and provides
opportunities to the people and the Group to know more about the related field (Peñaloza and
Márquez, 2020). Vision of the group is to create a society that celebrates science, technology and
engineering and their impact on lives, now and in the future. Group's mission is to inspire the
future by creating an atmosphere that promotes exploration and innovation of science,
technology and sustainable modern society. It also aims to build a scientifically literate society
that acknowledges the history, present and future of science, technology, medicine, transport and
media to grow science capital which will inspire the next generations of scientists, inventors and
engineers. Strategic priorities of Group includes core priorities such as to grow 'science capital'
in individuals and society, to sustain and grow their world class collection which will exceed the
expectations of their visitors and supporting priorities which includes the likes of extending their
reach, transforming their estate and increase their income by harnessing the potential of digital. It
is a charitable organisation and has below mentioned objectives:
 Conserve, preserve and add many more illustrious unique and antique objects to its
collection.
 To secure all those objects that are exhibited to the public and those which are available
to persons seeking to inspect them for research and academic purposes.
 It aims to increase public understanding of science and technology and the topics and
subjects related to them, both by the objects displayed through Board's collection and
others means.
Consumer Trends
Consumer trends refers to the trends created out of the behaviour of the consumer, their
wants and how they perceive the products and services presented to them. For organisations,
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reading these trends unlocks opportunities to grow. Visitors today have state-of-art-technology
expectations in which they expect authentic and customised experiences. The current consumer
trends in museum includes the below mentioned: Museum Meetup rooms – A designated area is assigned for people to gather, chat and
engage with other visitors to share each others' experience and knowledge. This
experience allows visitors to learn and absorb more than exhibit experience in an
egalitarian environment (Top 10 Museum Trends You Should Know). Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality – It is like creating a virtual layer layer on the real
world. It makes the use of computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video,
graphics, etc. just like the social media filter. Museums are adopting this technology to
present their collection in greater depth (Yoon and et.al., 2018).
 Social media promotions – Museums are trying to connect with millennials and Gen Z
over the social media to increase their visitor counts and revenue sources. They provide
insights about their collections, share story behind that piece to generate interest of their
potential visitors through their social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram,
Youtube and Twitter (Top visitor attraction trends for 2020).
As it is seen above in objectives, group has aimed to create 'science capital' in the society. For it,
museum follows through creation of interactive and interpretive experiences, artificial
intelligence in cultural sectors, voice command, etc. Science Museum Group presents
opportunities for its visitors to discuss and know more about history, present and future of
science, technologies, transportation, etc. with each other and also with museum experts who
have been researching about these since long time. It creates an additional enhanced experience
for visitors. Group makes good use of technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality
to create graphical version of the collections so that visitors understand it better through a
different experience. Group is active in connecting with its visitors and admirers all over the
world through social media. It gives them insights, sneak peeks and knowledge about multiple
things it has in its collection.
Sustainability
Sustainability is an important aspect for an organization because it helps the business in
achieving goals and objectives in an effective manner. One of the major things that can
significantly impact the operations of museum is the climate change. The Science Museum
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Group is working on increasing its on-site renewable generation. Besides this, the organization
has also restored its solar panels. For the greenhouse, the organization has commissioned a PV
installation at National Collections Centre. There can be both direct as well as indirect impact on
the Science Museum Group. This includes through gas consumption as well as electricity and
therefore, it can be said that the biggest consumption is related to heating, lighting the visitor
areas and cooling. The Science Group has seen an increase in the overall waste during the recent
year. The organization is dedicated towards learning the best practices for waste management
and also, it encourages the visitors to recycle in bins that are clearly marked (Macdonald, 2020).
As per the annual report of the company, the use of finite resources has also been lower
as compared to last year. There has been an increase in the use of coal and some of the causes for
direct impact on the consumption of finite sources is the use of site vehicles as well as visitor
experiences. Finite resource consumption is not likely to reduce reduce. One of the sustainable
initiatives taken by the respective company is that in the current year, the Science and Industry
Museum hosted a bee garden for the summer. This was done in collaboration with a citywide
project. Within the museum, owl boxes have been installed and the sightings of peregrine has
also been reported within the museum. Biodiversity is a vast aspect that greatly varies from site
to site. There are certain urban environments wherein the different museums are located.
Financial Operations
In an organization finance operations is related to leading as well as managing financial
function and team. Although, financial operations provide direction and help in managing
revenue of company in better manner. In relation of Science Museum, finance committee
continuing work way ensuring that financial management as well as performance of group in
better manner. Along with this, they review and appropriate number of projects which are major
as well as continue for supporting implementation of strategic income plan in better manner.
Moreover, it is important to manage financial operations in effective manner as it will provide
assistance in generating revenue as well as managing things in effective way. In simple term it
can be said that, science museum have to maintain their records related to each and every
financial activity in proper manner as well as they have to make sure that information is true and
fair because it will provide assistance in attracting stakeholders in better manner. Although,
financial operations is relation within assets and liabilities as well as several operations are
purely financial such as loans, disposal or issues of securities. Moreover, others are related to the
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operations of covering products as well as services or distributive transaction which are related to
transfer of payments which can be credit also.
Main reason behind true and fairs financial report is that, if it is negative then legal action
may be taken in against of organisation or the individual person who is preparing financial
statemented. In relation of Science museum balance sheet of March 31 2019 are as follows :-
Governance
Governance comprises of each and every procedure related to governing that can be
undertaken through the government of state as well as by market or network over social system
or through norms, power, laws, language and many more related to same of organized society. In
relation of science museum board of trust is responsible as well as liable for overall Science
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Museum Group. In addition to this, Science Museum group director is responsible as an chief
officer for several activities such as Board of trustees, accounting officers as well as accountable
to DCMS which is compliance with management agreement. Furthermore, each and every
authority have to ensure that they are conducting work in such manner that it will results in
gaining positive outcomes in better manner. In relation of Science Museum operational structure
of 2018-2019 are mention below :-
Board of Trustees Type Remit
Audit and risk committee Board subcommittee Providing assured control, governance as
well as risk
Finance Committee Board subcommittee Advise Board of Trustees on each and
every financial matters as well as
financial related decisions in its remit and
delegated limits.
Remuneration committee Board subcommittee Providing advice to several people such as
senior executives as well as board of
trustees on remuneration of directors.
Railway Heritage
destination Advisory
Board
Board subcommittee Providing recommendation to board of
trustees in relation of designation as well
as disposal of railway heritage archives
and artefacts.
In addition to this, it is important to governance Science Museum in appropriate manner
as in 2018-19 Prime Minister has appointed new 8 Trustees for Science Museum Group Board
from diverse as well as strong areas. In addition to this, when Trustees are appointed officers of
group provide general information to them in relation of Museum as well as Board of Trustees in
charity as well as non-departmental public body in relation of specific information related to
specific interest area. Along with this, group Directorate have role and responsibility related to
coordination secretarial functions for main Board and oversight governance arrangements as well
as management of Board committees. Along with this, they all provide assistance in managing
each and every activity related to Science Museum in better manner.
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Key Stakeholders
Stakeholders are those parties which are affected by the operations of the organisation.
For Science Museum Group, major stakeholders includes its Board of Trustees, staff and experts,
government through Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), its national and
international visitors, etc.. Employees and The Board of Trustees represents the internal
stakeholders and are directly affected by the operations of the museum group. Government and
visitors form part of its external stakeholders and are indirectly affected by the operations.
Government influences the policy making of the museum group and everything that museum
does is to increase its visitors numbers and their experience of visiting the Museums of the
Group. It receives hundreds of thousands national and international visitors every year and it
aims to increase its collection and improve its service experience to present something new to the
visitors every time they visit any of the museum of the group (Geoghegan and Hess, 2015).
Mostly visitors are common public and tourists in whom they aim to improve scientific
knowledge while others are researchers which are there to know in depth about their research
topics.
The respective company has increased and deepened its professional networks among the
various departments of the United Kingdom. Besides this, the company is also focussing on the
value of money and working . One of the prestigious events for the senior stakeholders of the
company is the National Railway Museum's annual dinner. These stakeholders belong to the rail
industry as well as other associated sectors. The stakeholders of the respective company include
the Board of Trustees, who are responsible for taking important decisions for it. The stakeholders
of an organization are important component for it because they can significantly impact its
business operations as well as level of profitability. In context of the given organization, The
Science Museum Group, some of the major stakeholders include employees, the government,
visitors and so on. Different stakeholders have different level of interest as well as power and
they can significantly impact the decisions that are made by the directors of the organization.
Conclusion
Current Issues
One of the major issues which science Museum facing is related to social media as most
of the people are using social media tools such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and many more.
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Thus, negative reviews of peoples results in negative impact on others people who don't yet
visited Science Museum. Along with this, it also result in modifying interest as well as power of
stakeholders in relation of investment and other activities. Moreover, investors who have high
power as well as interest focusing on investing and stakeholders who have low power as well as
low interest will not going to be invest. Along with this, in relation of stakeholders who are
students they review rating as well as other peoples review firstly before visiting any place of
their any negative review then their interest and power of visiting both will get change.
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References
Books and Journal
Macdonald, S., 2020. Behind the scenes at the science museum. Routledge.
Yoon, S.A. and et.al., 2018. How augmented reality, textual, and collaborative scaffolds work
synergistically to improve learning in a science museum. Research in Science &
Technological Education. 36(3). pp.261-281.
Geoghegan, H. and Hess, A., 2015. Object-love at the Science Museum: cultural geographies of
museum storerooms. cultural geographies. 22(3). pp.445-465.
Morris, P. ed., 2016. Science for the Nation: Perspectives on the History of the Science Museum.
Springer.
Peñaloza, G. and Márquez, S., 2020. Making Meaning of Science: An Experience of a Science
Museum in Fostering Dialogue Between Young People and Science. Human Arenas,
pp.1-15.
Online
Top 10 Museum Trends You Should Know. 2019. [Online]. Available
through:<https://medium.com/museum-tech-trends/top-10-museum-trends-in-2019-
3c5582ed8253>
Top visitor attraction trends for 2020. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:<https://blooloop.com/features/visitor-attraction-trends-2020/>
Science Museum Group 2019. Science Museum Annual Report and Accounts. [Online]
Available through:<https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/
2019/07/SMG-Annual-Report-Accounts-2018-19.pdf>
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