Introduction to Management: A Case Study of Travis Perkins

This essay provides an overview of management structure, marketing mix, and human resource functions of Travis Perkins, a builder's merchant and home improvement retailer in the UK. It covers the company's history, type of business, and areas of operation, as well as its tall management structure, marketing strategies, and HR functions such as recruitment, selection, and talent management.

Introduction to
Management

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Defining the company..................................................................................................................1
Management structure of the company........................................................................................2
Marketing mix in context to the company...................................................................................5
Overview of HR functions along with details of recruitment selection, relations with
employees and talent management..............................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In a company, management is multipurpose function which manages work, workers and
business. Organisational management is about getting people and other resources work together
for achieving goals and objectives. It comprises handling human resources organised in a team or
group. It strengthens client base, improve capacity and knowledge of personnel to reach specific
targets. It also aims to enhance efficiency and productivity in the establishment (Wang, Wang
and Liu, 2021). Good management is key for organised life together with necessary to get
working done promptly. Functions of management entails planning, organising, directing
together with controlling that harness informational, physical, human and financial resources to
attain set objectives. The essay is prepared for developing engagement and learning with distinct
areas of management. For the essay, Travis Perkins is chosen. The organisation is builder’s
merchant as well as home improvement retailer having head offices in Northampton, UK. The
establishment operates for assisting building better communities along with enriching lives. Core
values of the company are honesty, kindness and trust. It carries out operations to expect
everyone to go home to their members of families in exact manner as they arise at work.
The essay cover details of the company, type of business and areas within which it
operates. Further, it includes overview of management structure, marketing mix and human
resource functions of the enterprise.
MAIN BODY
Defining the company
Travis Perkins began in the year 1988 with merger among Travis & Arnold along with
Sandell Perkins. The objective of the establishment is to set bar high addition to make its
customers feel very special. It is built on developing and maintaining good relationship with its
customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. With passage of time, subsequent acquisition
comprised on AAH (46 branches) in 1994, BMSS (26 branches) in end of 1995, Sharpe & Fisher
(38 branches) in 1988, Keyline Builders Merchants (101 branches) in mid of 1999, Commercial
Ceiling Factors (twenty distribution centres) in 2002, B&G (12 branches) in October 2003, Tile
Giant in November 2007 and hence forth. In 2010, Travis Perkins made successful offer of
acquisition of BSS Group for around £553m, further, acquired remaining 70 percentage of stake
in 2012 in Toolstation and the entire of Solfex in start of 2013. The company achieved huge
1

support from local community (Travis Perkins, 2022). In the year 2021, Travis Perkins achieved
success in generating revenue of £ 4,586.7 million , operating income of £ 348.5 million and net
income of £ 278.9 million. Ambition of the company is to become leading partner to
construction industry, it supports its customers for building, repairing together with maintaining
ample number of places, buildings, infrastructure and so on which touches lives each and every
day.
Travis Perkins operates in construction sector as largest supplier of building materials. It
features network of more than 500 branches that supply thousands of commodities and services,
ranging from hire service, trade professionals as well as self-builders across the country. With
wide range of building materials, plumbing and heating, quality timber, kitchens, landscaping,
tools for job and decorating essentials, it performs what matters for trade. It sources responsibly
and play leading part in decarbonising construction addition to moving for sustainable future.
Travis Perkins is a Public Limited Company or Public Company whose ownership is
structured through shares of stock that are intended for freely traded on stock exchange.
Operating as Public Company, Travis Perkins has separate legal entity from its owners. The
advantage related to this type of business is liability of shareholder for losses of establishment is
limited to share contribution. Shares of the company are purchased and sold in any of stock
exchange market (Allcorn, Stein and Duncan, 2018). The company is not impacted by death of
any of shareholder, nonetheless, the shares are transferred to next to kin as well as the
establishment continues running practices as usual. It enjoys enhances potential for raising
capital since it issues shares to public through stock market. In contrary, rapid decisions could
not be taken in Travis Perkins while operating as Public Limited Company which imparts rigid
decision making. It also lacks secrecy as a company needs to maintain transparency in operations
as well as involve general public in decision making that restrict secrecy about business
decisions.
Management structure of the company
Management structure of an enterprise details out the ways in which a company organises its
activities that are task allocation, coordination together with direction of supervision for
achieving business aims (Sztajerska and Pawlusiak, 2021). It is essentially the way in which a
company is run and addresses delegation of jobs, designed hierarchy of employees and
organisation of people in individual roles or departments. In Travis Perkins, tall management
2

structure or hierarchical management structure is followed having layers of managers that are
responsible to control portion of the establishment. It is pyramid shaped system which comprises
arrangement of relations among departmental units in company in top down manner.
Figure 1: Tall or hierarchical management structure of Travis Perkins. 2022
(Source: Tall or hierarchical management structure of Travis Perkins. 2022)
In accordance to the above figure, it is determined that tall or hierarchical management
structure of Travis Perkins is chain of command of the establishment, typically starts with senior
management to executives to departmental heads to general employees (Tall or hierarchical
management structure of Travis Perkins, 2022). With this structure, employees of the
organisation understand variant levels of management and leadership as managerial roles are
clearly defined within the pyramid. There is clarity in different levels of power and authority that
eases communication flow addition to ensure that workforce is aware about direction as well as
working orders. In tall management structure of Travis Perkins, human resources have unique
responsibilities and roles which interconnect along with contribute to business goals. Executives
divide people into groups, with each having managers or manager that supervise the group under
them in direct manner.
3

Tall or hierarchical management structure benefits Travis Perkins in many ways. It has
been determined that tall managements structure devises clear communication lines which
establishes relationship among subordinates and managers that gives departmental units a clear
spokesperson. In this, subordinates are aware about whom they have to report to as well as where
to get directives addition to information. It serves for unifying departments which leads to proper
coordination among members to complete tasks for achieving objectives (Maurya and Agarwal,
2018). Furthermore, when employees of Travis Perkins are organised as per hierarchy, it ensures
organisation of people by job category. It permits people to do similar operational tasks for
sharing resources that are allocated through managers as well as for managers to coordinate same
efforts or practices for great effects. It sets phase for efficient operations along with cost saving
by economies of scale. With tall structure, various departments of Travis Perkins allow personnel
an opportunity of specialisation in the field. Managers of the construction company divide
responsibilities to staff members logically that builds huge efficiencies. It allows business
concern to concentrate of specific skill and resources for reaching maximum of level of
effectiveness.
At same time, there are ample number of disadvantages that Travis Perkins faces while
operating with tall or hierarchical structure of management. Clear reporting lines in tall
management structure aids the venture to become potential for keeping information moving. In
Travis Perkins, it results in creating rigid structure that limit innovation. In Travis Perkins, when
an individual approach with some idea to their direct manager, that is reject out of hand, it
discourages them to share it further. However, if higher management level accepts the idea, it
impacts of revenues of company in future duration (Harvey, Osman and Tourky, 2022). It is
because bypass of tall structure to share ideas essential for success of the traditional management
structure. In addition to this, success of establishment often depends on quality of internal
communication. As tall management structure within Travis Perkins tend to channel
communication in vertical manner, communication among inter departments suffers.
Specialisation of departments contributes in communication barriers at the time when no shared
jargons exist allowing people of distinct departments to exchange information on same level.
There are scenarios when different departments purposefully withhold certain information or
data from each other. Moreover, when there are no managers in tall structure of Travis Perkins, it
causes void which is essentially to be filled for maintaining the structure. In the company,
4

manager many a times, failed to fil the void, members of team try to step into the role that
creates confusion as some wrong people step into command chain. It is essential for the
managers to have clear policy that dictates who can or will replace any missing manager for the
purpose of avoiding confusion. Another limitation of tall structure to the company is endless red
tape as with growth in tall structure, there is growth in chain of command or causes bureaucracy
that slow down things, including communication, decision making and action. It makes Travis
Perkins lumbering despite of sprying. It creates things slow down as requests as well as
communication that travel up together with back down chain of command.
Marketing mix in context to the company
Marketing mix involves several areas of focus as part of strategic plan for marketing.
Efficient marketing covers huge range of areas to reach wider audience at once (Hernandez and
Kreye, 2021). Implementing marketing mix allows firms to form strategic decisions when they
introduced new commodities or modify existing ones. Various elements of marketing mix are
place, promotion, price and product which works in conjunctions to each other. In context to
Travis Perkins, the marketing team effectively formulate strategy, set appropriate targets,
budgets and manage activities of businesses so it reach to broad number of people. Product
element of marketing mix represents goods or services created to meet customers’ demands. To
be successful in competitive business world, marketers needs to comprehend the life cycle of a
product and its planning at every stage of product life cycle. In context to Travis Perkins, it
supplies building materials which includes timber, plumbing, bathrooms etc. Products offered
has been successful in delivering maximum level of performances through growth, maturity and
sales decline phase. Managers of Travis Perkins have regularly reshapes their products designing
to fulfil customers demand. The firm has maintained its huge customers base by delivering
efficiency through quality.
The element price is the cost customers pay to utilise a product or service. It is highly relied
on cost of manufacturing, targeted segment, paying ability of market and supply demand of
proposed product (Turner and Merriman, 2022). Price determines firm's profit and survival and
has big impact on sales as well as demand of commodity in market. In aspect to Travis Perkins,
marketers use lowered pricing strategies of everyday routine essentials by eliminating guesswork
from the process. The firm has deployed price optimisation and management software across all
its stores. This step has been taken up Travis Perkins marketers after analysing their competitors
5

pricing, list price, discount, sale terms etc. The firm also uses optional pricing strategy for
specific products where marketers offers price for base product and separate price for related
ones.
Place in marketing mix is considered with positioning and distributing product in places that
can be easily accessible to prospect consumers. It is termed as the point of sale where firms strive
to grab attention of customers to encourage them to buy their product by adopting effective place
strategies (Tooranloo and Saghafi, 2018). Travis Perkins has more than 700 branches which
includes 150 benchmark showrooms, thus simplifies consumers issues of locating it. Marketers
places products in such measures which creates its distinct image and helps in providing specific
identity in customer's mind. They display all available products at stores gain attention of
customers.
Last element is promotion which refers to all the practices undertook by firms to effectively
provides knowledge about products or services to users. This comprises of creating marketing
campaigns, advertising, discounts, press reports etc (Nachmias, Caven and Bradshaw, 2019). In
context of Travis Perkins, marketers develop campaigns which uniquely place their product in
competitive market. They utilise several media channels to promote its products. Travis Perkins
directly their regular customer base by making the word out about latest products and offers.
Overview of HR functions along with details of recruitment selection, relations with employees
and talent management
Human resources are described as those individuals employed by organisations to tackle all
the activities related with work force. It is that department of business which is responsible for
exploring, screening, recruiting, guiding, training and controlling of employees (Nguyen and
Malik, 2020). It plays several essential function in an organisation. In context to Travis Perkins,
human resource performs a distinctive approach to management of employment which helps
them to achieve competitive advantage by strategic deployment of highly dedicated and capable
employees. Recruitment is the major function of human resource which is considered with
attracting qualified people in firm. Selection is the process of choosing best candidates among
the wide number of people. The HR professionals of Travis Perkins helps in creating and posting
job offerings to find out qualified candidates for the vacant job position. They focus on
identifying ideal candidates through process of interviewing. They set clear expectations about
employees roles and responsibilities in firm. They evaluate every individuals knowledge,
6

qualifications and expertise in terms of working in terms of construction industry. Their
responsibility is to provide them with job offer, negotiating salaries and starts their enrolment
process.
Employee relation is one of the significant function of human resource department as it
makes an effective team within organisation (Chión, Charles and Morales, 2019). Strong
employee relations result in better performances and higher satisfaction of employees.
Effectively managing employee relations practices will further assists in improving employee
retention rate. Human resource of Travis Perkins facilitates proper communication and
engagement within employees of organisation which results in more committed and motivated
workforce. They ensure that all the employees of Travis Perkins feels valued and heard so that
their engagement in firm operations maximises. They align company's objectives with employee
which resulted in fulfilling their needs as well. Human resource professionals of Travis Perkins
effectively manage conflicts arising at work place by hearing all sides of opinions which aids in
enhancing employee relations. This leads in providing team spirit in employees which positively
impacts Travis Perkins performances and productivity.
Talent management within organisation is essential to improve employee’s capabilities to
carry out operations. Success of any organisation is depends on how well developed their
employees are to garb opportunities. The function of human resource is to make sure that
workforce acquire knowledge that is firm specific and develops skills to conduct their operations
effectively. The major objective of human resource behind talent development is to form high
performance, sustainable firm which strategically meets its determined targets. Travis Perkins
human resource professionals provides necessary training to its employees to enhance their skills
and to facilitate easy use of technologies. It aids in boosting overall efficiency of organisation,
productivity of staff and growth of business (Dehaghi and Rohani, 2022). Talent development is
also undertook by human resource professionals to retain existing employees and advances them
to bigger position in Travis Perkins. It streamlines organisation system for workforce and make it
simple for them to adopts firm's practices. It assists human resource of Travis Perkins to attract
best candidates in management who wants to grow as well as develop in their careers.
CONCLUSION
In accordance to presented information in the essay, it has been concluded that
organisational management is required at various level of business for setting objectives,
7

monitoring outcomes as well as building stronger establishment. It enables optimum use of
available resources by meticulous planning, organising, directing and controlling at place of
working. Management structure gives people of company more clarity, enable decision making,
assist in managing expectations and provide consistency. It also assigns roles, organise workflow
along with ensures that important tasks are completed on time. Effective management structure
plays significant factor in business success, profit along with growth. Tall management structure
benefits the company in form of devising clear communication lines, ensuring organisation of
people by job category and specialisation. While, limitations of the management structure are
limit innovation, communication among inter departments suffers, creates confusion and endless
red tape. In the business, marketing plays role of serving face of the brand, coordinating along
with producing all materials that represents the enterprise. The marketing team educates various
people about specific commodity of service so to influence them for devising purchase decision
that contribute in creating revenue option. Elements of marketing mix helps in understanding
offering of company to end customers and making best use of business strengths in making
income. With identification and arrangement of all elements of marketing mix, business
managers make profitable decisions at all level. Further, decisions assist the company to develop
its strengths together with limiting weaknesses, becoming adaptable and competitive in market
addition to improving profitable collaboration. In organisational management, human resource
plays key role of maximising business profitability and protecting the enterprise against any
issue which might arise in workplace. Human resource management is incharge of recruitment
and selection, training and development, employee relationship management and managing
workplace environment. Human resource functions is responsible to develop, reinforce addition
to change organisational culture. Recruitment and selection, performance management, pay and
reinforcing values are essential functions of human resource management.
8

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Allcorn, S., Stein, H. F. and Duncan, C. M., 2018. Organisational change: a longitudinal
perspective. Organisational and Social Dynamics. 18(2). pp.273-296.
Chión, S. J., Charles, V. and Morales, J., 2019. The impact of organisational culture,
organisational structure and technological infrastructure on process improvement
through knowledge sharing. Business Process Management Journal.
Dehaghi, M. R. and Rohani, A., 2022. Predicting organisational creativity based on emotional
intelligence and psychological well-being among Iran's school principals. International
Journal of Management in Education. 16(2). pp.175-191.
Harvey, W. S., Osman, S. and Tourky, M., 2022. Building internal reputation from
organisational values. Corporate Reputation Review. 25(1). pp.19-32.
Hernandez, T. R. and Kreye, M. E., 2021. Uncertainty management in engineering-service
development: the role of organisational capabilities. International Journal of Operations
& Production Management.
Maurya, K. K. and Agarwal, M., 2018. Organisational talent management and perceived
employer branding. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.
Nachmias, S., Caven, V. and Bradshaw, S., 2019. Inequality and Organisational Practice:
Employment Relations. In Inequality and Organizational Practice (pp. 1-15). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
Nguyen, T. M. and Malik, A., 2020. Cognitive processes, rewards and online knowledge sharing
behaviour: the moderating effect of organisational innovation. Journal of Knowledge
Management.
Sztajerska, D. and Pawlusiak, K., 2021. Waste as product of organisational culture. Leading the
Future of Operations Excellence through Lean and Six Sigma.
Tooranloo, H. S. and Saghafi, S., 2018. The relationship between organisational agility and
applying knowledge management. International Journal of Agile Systems and
Management. 11(1). pp.41-66.
Turner, L. A. and Merriman, K. K., 2022. Cultural intelligence and establishment of
organisational diversity management practices: An upper echelons perspective. Human
Resource Management Journal. 32(2). pp.321-340.
Wang, S., Wang, J. and Liu, X., 2021. Organisational management mechanism of smart supply
chain innovation. International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management. 8(3).
pp.313-330.
Online:
Tall or hierarchical management structure of Travis Perkins. 2022. [Online]. Available through:
<https://theorg.com/org/travis-perkins/org-chart>
Travis Perkins. 2022. [Online]. Available through: < https://www.travisperkinsplc.co.uk/>
9