Work-Based Learning: Evaluation of Placement Opportunities at Costa Coffee

This report discusses work-based learning at Costa Coffee, including the evaluation of potential placement opportunities. It explores the company culture, organisational structure, and management practices. The report also highlights various career paths for future growth and development.

Work- Based Learning
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TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 Student self evaluation..................................................................................................3
TASK 2- Evaluation of potential placement opportunities.........................................................4
TASK 3- Based on self evaluation and work placement evaluation various career path for me
in work placement........................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Work based learning means whatever an individual have learned while performing
specific job in particular organisation. Self evaluation helps in identification of weak points and
strength that help me to easily perform various duties in future career. This report evaluated my
personal skill that I have developed while working at Costa coffee shop. It also explains about
company culture, organisation structure, management practice that are used by Costa to retain
employees within company.
TASK 1 Student self evaluation
Ability and self achievements till now
I have learned lot many skills and knowledge while pre placement in particular
organisation such as good communication skill to effective exchange ideas, view with other
people for effective operation of business. Research skill have also enhanced that helps me in
finding out various crucial data and information that are necessary to formulate effective strategy
for effective performance of different activities (Noguera, Guerrero-Roldán and Masó, 2018). I
have also evaluated that decision making skills and to work in team need to be improved in order
to grow and develop in future professional and personal life. Whereas my strength lies in
effective management of time that is to complete particular activities and function within limited
time.
Previous experience
My previous experience or pre-placement state that employer wants to recruit such
employees that have various skills and knowledge to perform different function and activities
within organisation. The experience was too good as it helps in development of different skills,
knowledge that are required to perform specialised job within organisation. I have also learnt that
many skill need to be improved such as effective decision making, analytical so that I can get
best opportunity in future career (Walters, Barneva and Cameron, 2018).
Preference related to particular work
I liked to make new and innovative coffees for customer by adding various ingredients to
make delicious coffee that satisfy need of customers. I am highly determined and disciplined
about various activities to be performed by me that help me in effective completion of different
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task and responsibilities within limited time and cost. I also like to manage and effective lead a
team toward common objectives such as satisfaction of need of customers so that company profit
can be enhanced.
Special support requirements
In order to develop various skills and gain successful position in near career I need
training to perform particular function in company so that I can easily handle different
technology and provide best services to people that are living across UK (Khoo and et.al., 2018).
Such support, guidance and motivation will influence will to effective perform various function
so that company can grow and expand its business.
Description of my personality
I am independent and strong person that helps me to faced different challenges of life
and stay strong and positive in each and every situation. Strong personality and positive attitude
helps me to grow and learn new things, take risk and perform my best so that final goals can be
achieved. Charming and outgoing personality helps me to easy differentiate myself from other
people in the society as I have high knowledge and skill, experience.
TASK 2- Evaluation of potential placement opportunities
1 Placement provider
About company
Costa coffee is a British chain that was founded by two brother named Bruno and Sergio
Coasta in 1971 in London to offer varieties of coffees to large number of customer in order to
earn maximum profitability. Company manufacture wide varieties of products and services such
as coffee, tea, ice drink, sandwich so that customer can come and have enjoyment, fun while
eating delicious food and coffee. Costa coffee has its operation worldwide having its stores at
3,883 location and was sold to coca- Cola Company in 2019 at £3.9bn having 18,412 employees
across 31 countries. It is one of largest coffeehouse chain in UK and second in world that means
one of leading company to manufacture qualitative coffee to satisfy need of customer in effective
manner for earning large number of profit (Mortesen and et.al., 2019). Cake and pastry, reusable
cups are provided to customers thus wide varieties of product portfolio helps in meeting needs
and requirements of each people and promote growth and success of organisation.
Nature of placement work envisaged
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Role and status of student while placement
Various supportive service provide to student
Costa coffee organise training and development program so that new employees can
easily use innovative technologies to render qualitative services and products to customers.
Effective inductions are provided to new employees so that they can be aware of roles and
responsibilities that need to be performed in Costa coffee. It also helps them to know about their
interrelationship with other employees, need to responsible to particular top management within
firm. Leader of Costa coffee guide and effective lead various individual that are working in firm
so that they can easily and comfortably perform activities and make effort for growth and
success of organisation (Stocco and et.al., 2016). Manager of company continuous evaluates
performance and productivity of each employee so that various steps can be taken to improve
performance of individual. Good working environment and continuous motivation from higher
authority helps new employees to effective perform their duties so that company can achieve its
objectives. Other employees of organisation are highly motivated, determined with friendly
nature that helps new individual to easily settle down and perform its activities.
Culture of institution
Costa coffees have innovative organisational culture that helps in motivating and
influencing worker to put their best for growth and expansion of business in the industry. It has
number of employees with different culture, tradition, preference so Costa manager has provide
good working environment and adapt various culture so that performance and productivity of
employees can be raised. Coordination and cooperation among employees to work as team helps
in effective achievement of goals. It also helps in reducing labour turnover and chance of
absentees as employees are happy and satisfied to work with such as organisation that ensure
their safety and security of individual (Banks, 2017). Employee’s views, ideas are encouraged
by top management while decision making that motivates us to work more harder and big new
ideas so that company can sustain and grow in environment.
2 Evaluation of Organisational structure of Costa coffee
Organisational structure helps in defining roles and responsibilities of each employee
within organisation. It also helps in effective coordination and control of various activities of
different employees that are working in organisation so that it can gain competitive advantages
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and expand its market share. Different organisational structure are used by different enterprise to
perform its activities as it depend upon scope of operation and number of employees company
have to achieve predetermined goals. Therefore various organisational structure that can be used
by different company to coordinate work of each and every individual towards accomplishment
of particular task and responsibilities.
Functional organisational structure: Most of the company use functional organisational
structure to assign roles and responsibilities to each employee in the firm. Company distribute
work and department as per function performed by each department in the firm. Individual that
have similar skills and knowledge related to specialised function are required to work in
particular department such as marketing, finance (Carpenter, 2020).
Divisional organisational structure: Many companies follows different type of divisional
structure based on product, market and geographical. Company which follow product structure
focus only on the product line as decided by the organisation. In market based divisional
structure division are made on the bases of market, industries and customers. Wherein,
geographical based divisional structure is done on the basis of territories, region and boundaries
across the world.
Matrix structures organisational structure: In this type of organisation employees needs to
report both functional and product manager which result in dual reporting of the employees of
the organisation. This the final and least followed structured to be followed by the organisation
as employees get double duties both sale and service in the achievement of group goals as
decided by the organisation (Sormunen, Juuti and Lavonen, 2020). This is completely different
from traditional or hierarchical model which are already prevailing in the market.
From the above analysis Costa coffee have divisional organisational structure as its
operate in different countries with varieties of products and services. Therefore it is best suitable
for complex organisation to coordinate work of different individual that are working within
organisation for achievement of common goals.
3 Evaluation of management practice through use of management theories
Management of organisation is necessary for effective arrangement and utilisation of
available resource so that company can fulfil need of customers within limited time and cost.
Manager of firm uses different management practice to handle various individual that are
working in the enterprise so that it can gain competitive advantages in the market. It plans
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various resources, technologies that are needed by each individual to perform particular activities
for effective utilisation of limited resource that are available in environment. There are various
theories of management that can be used by enterprise to motivate and influence employees to
put their best effort for completion of task. Therefore various theories of management are as
follows:
Classical theory: It is one of the oldest theories of management which focuses on two main
aspects such as operation and appropriate standard that need to be followed by each individual to
get maximum output. Attractive compensation is one of the best method that is used by manager
of firm to motivate individual as money is one of the basic need that influence people to work
hard. Employees that have make extra effort are provide reward and recognition so that they stay
positive and motivate to work effective for longer period of time. Thus, it helps in maximising of
production through motivating employees to put their best so that company can gain competitive
advantages.
Behavioural theory: This theory included various social components such as basic need of
individual, security, safety need, self actualisation need to be fulfilled by manager of firm to
influence behaviour of different individual. Manager of organisation need to analysis need and
requirement of different employees in order to formulate effective strategies to enhance
performance for growth and expansion of business (Murdock and et.al., 2018). Most of the
employees like to be socialise therefore manager has to build strong relationship with other
employees for effective operation of business.
Human relations: This theory was founded by Elton Mayo that conducted experiment to design
such a method named human relationship that can enhance productivity and performance of
individual. This theory mainly focus on working condition such as break times, number of hours
work were force to perform their respective duties. Author makes various experiment and test
and final result was found that improvement of performance in individual was due to high
valued, recognition is provided to people. Therefore as per human relationship theory employees
are motivated when they are provide good working environment. Such as strong relationship
with other employees, encouraging view, ideas from various individual from top management in
decision making helps in creating a feeling of belongingness and attachment of worker towards
company.
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Contingency theories: There are various change in environment so this theory state that no
particular management practice is suitable for particular company. Each and every manager need
to use management styles as per external environment in order to meet various changes and helps
company in gaining competitive advantages. Size of organisation, style of leadership and
technology used by firm are three main components that influence organisational structure.
From the above analysis Costa coffee shop manager use contingency and behaviour
management style to enhance performance of employees and achievement of common objectives
of company. It helps in bringing new changes and innovation within organisation so that it can
earn large amount of profit.
TASK 3- Based on self evaluation and work placement evaluation various career path for me in
work placement
It can be stated from above analysis that there are various opportunity for future growth and
development in career in Costa coffees as it is large organisation with number of employees.
Company is continuously expanding its business and operation across nation and organising
training and development program that helps in enhancing knowledge and skill of me to perform
various function in the organisation (Kovalyova, Soboleva and Kerimkulov, 2016). Various
opportunities are provide by Costa coffee so that employees can effectively utilisation their
capabilities and skills. Innovative technology and training development program organise by
company helps in enhancement of performance and productivity. New skills can be easily
developed to perform various functions in different organisation thus it helps in effective growth
and development of individual.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that various skills and knowledge are required
in individual to get different opportunity in future career. I have learnt from evaluation of myself
that I have some of the skills such as effective communication, research, analytical skills. Costa
coffee takes various steps to satisfy need of employees and customers thus continuously
expanding its business across worldwide.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Banks, T. D., 2017. Student Perspectives on Project-based Learning (Doctoral dissertation,
Prescott College).
Carpenter, A., 2020. Developing ‘NextGen’Lawyers through Project-Based
Learning. Modernizing Legal Education, p.126.
Khoo, E and et.al., 2018. Fostering project management competencies in undergraduate
engineering: An exploration of the use of management-educated tutors as coaches in
problem-based learning. In 29th Australasian Association for Engineering Education
Conference 2018 (AAEE 2018) (p. 370). Engineers Australia.
Kovalyova, Y., Soboleva, A. V . and Kerimkulov, A. T., 2016. Project based learning in teaching
communication skills in English as a foreign language to engineering students.
Mortesen, A. and et.al., 2019. Improving Transnational Education in Timber Construction by the
Use of Project-Based Learning Approach: As Evaluated by Teachers and
Students. Baltic Journal of Real Estate Economics and Construction Management, 7(1).
pp.228-244.
Murdock, C. L. and et.al., 2018. Project Paws. International Journal of Undergraduate
Community Engagement, 2(2). p.1.
Noguera, I., Guerrero-Roldán, A. E. and Masó, R., 2018. Collaborative agile learning in online
environments: Strategies for improving team regulation and project
management. Computers & Education, 116. pp.110-129.
Sormunen, K., Juuti, K. and Lavonen, J., 2020. Maker-Centered Project-Based Learning in
Inclusive Classes: Supporting Students’ Active Participation with Teacher-Directed
Reflective Discussions. International Journal of Science and Mathematics
Education, 18(4), pp.691-712.
Stocco, L. and et.al., 2016. Improving Project-Based Learning Outcomes by Formative
Assessment and Strategic Time Optimization. In ASME 2016 International Mechanical
Engineering Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Digital Collection.
Walters, L. M., Barneva, R. and Cameron, J., 2018. BUILDING STATISTICAL
UNDERSTANDING THROUGH PRGRESSIVE COURSEWORK AND PROJECT-
BASED LEARNING. Northeastern Association of Business, Economics and
Technology, p.317.
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