Business Environment Analysis: Structures, Functions, and Culture

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the business environment, encompassing various business types such as sole proprietorships, partnerships, and limited companies, along with their respective advantages and disadvantages. It delves into organizational structures, comparing tall and flat hierarchies within the context of tourism and hospitality organizations like Premier Inn Hotel and Mogford Ltd. The essay also examines critical business functions, including housekeeping, human resources, and front office operations, highlighting their impact on organizational activities and personnel. Furthermore, it emphasizes the significance of organizational culture, illustrating how a positive and well-defined culture can enhance employee satisfaction, engagement, and productivity, ultimately contributing to the success of the business by fostering a positive working environment and reducing recruitment costs.

Understanding
business environment

INTRODUCTION
Business is referred as an enterprise engaging in any commercial, industrial or
professional’s activities. Business environment is collection of all micro as well as macro
attributes which highly impact their operation (Al-Omoush, 2021). It comprises factor such as
consumers, rivals, suppliers, social, political, technological etc. Business can be of various types
like sole proprietorship, partnership, limited company etc. It’s a broad concept which consists of
structure, culture and several business functions which helps organisations to smoothly run their
activities.
This essay covers different type of business and its advantages as well as disadvantages. It
compares varied structure tourism and hospitality organisations follows. It involves business
functions which highly impact functional activities on organisation and its people. It highlights
organisational culture and its impact on success of organisation.
MAIN BODY
Sole proprietorship is type of business structure where only one individual owns and
operates the whole activities of business. It is an unincorporated business that has one owner who
pays personal tax on revenues procured from business (Huma, Ahmed and Najmi, 2020). For
example, Mogford Ltd which is a small independent collection of hotels in Oxford commenced
in 1987. Advantages of this type of business are that initiation cost is low; the owner keeps all
the profits and enjoys maximum privacy. Disadvantages of this business type is there is no
protection of liability, it is difficult to get credit for business and it hard to sell business.
Partnership in business comprises of two or more individuals who pool their resources
and share all the threats, profits and losses. It is arrangement where parties called as business
partners gives their consent to support their mutual interests (Meister and Mauer, 2018). There
are certain tax benefits to partnerships firm as compared to corporations. For example, Hays
Travel Limited which is a travel agent chain headquartered in England. Advantage of partnership
is that it brings in more expertise & knowledge, it open gates to more business opportunities and
sharing of risk. Disadvantages are loss of autonomy, slow decision-making and mutual
differences leading conflicts.
A limited company is kind of business where an entity is considered as legally distinct
body. It is considered as general form of incorporation which limits the degree of liability take

on by shareholders of business (Melin, 2021). Its legal structure ensures that company’s
members’ liability is restricted to their stake in business. For example, Advantages of limited
company are low personal liability, more tax efficiency and high personal remuneration.
Disadvantages are high incorporation fees, personal information will be disclosed and complex
accounting requirements.
Organisation structure is a structure which outlines how specific actions of businesses
will be directed so to attain determined objectives of companies. These activities comprise of
roles, duties and responsibilities. The ‘structure assists in determining how communication as
well as information will flow within levels of company. The structure can be of several types
namely tall, flat, hierarchical functional, divisional etc. Tall structure organisation has several
levels of hierarchy, thus it has many managers and layers within organisation. It results in long
chain of command and as business grows, the structure grows taller (Verma and Chaurasia,
2019). The top leaders make major decisions and communicate to high and mid level managers
who creates measures to turn ideas into reality. Each subordinate has their own assigned
managers to which they report and take their tasks from. For instance, Premier Inn Hotel is a
service hotel chain with more than 800 hotels in UK. The hotel follows tall organisational
structure which means that managers are in charge of essential activities and operations along
with network of broad support. This type of structure facilitates every aspect of operations of
hotel from reception to human resource development.
Flat structure is termed as organisation which has few or no levels of middle
management between executives and subordinates. In this type of business, managers enjoy
broad span of control with staff and there is short command chain. The staff level employees
report directly to owner of business as there is no formal management (Zainaddin, 2022). Flat
structure benefits in better communication and relationships between varied roles of
organisation. This resulted in faster and simple decision making process as well as provides
better ability to businesses to adapt to dynamic business environment. It is mostly suitable for
small or medium size businesses. For example, Mogford Ltd follows flat structure where staff
members of hotel follow the direction of their owners and adapt to changes as per preferences of
guests. In flat organisation, the structure is horizontal as there is limited number of levels
whereas in tall organisation, there is vertical structure as there are many levels of hierarchy. In
tall structure, managers manage only few subordinates which leads to informal relationships

whereas in flat structure managers look after all staff which leads to formal relationships between
them. Tall organisation structure faces fewer mistakes due to close supervision but flat
organisation structure chances of mistakes are high because of loose control.
The housekeeping department's primary responsibility as part of customer service is to
keep the venue clean and sanitary. Maids and cleaning staff vacuum rugs and furniture in
corridors, rooms, and public areas. They start cleaning up after themselves by picking up trash,
emptying wastebaskets, and changing and making beds. Restock soap and toilet paper dispensers
in public restrooms, and stock guest rooms with hygiene products and supplies (Odhiambo,
Micheni and Muma, 2020). They clean and dust the furniture. For example, in Premier Inn Hotel
housekeeping staff delivers requested items, such as infant cribs, to guest rooms. These hands-on
tasks are handled by cleaning personnel associated to take good care of guests.
The Human Resources Department is a vital strategic function that oversees the well-
being of the company's employees. It is in charge of marketing, discharging, payroll, perks, and
ensuring that state and federal regulations are followed. The success of any hospitality company
is reliant on its human resources department (Matharu, Jain and Kamboj, 2020). Employees are
the driving force behind business operations. It also includes procedures for job evaluation,
recruitment, selection, and orientation. Employees who are productive, resourceful, and resilient
are the bedrock of any successful business. This is especially true in the service sector.
Customer-focused, hardworking employees with the necessary skills are needed for optimal hotel
operations. For instance, in Premier Inn Hotel the HR department is in charge of foreseeing,
acquiring, selecting as well as developing present and future employees needs.
Because it is in direct contact with guests, the front desk is an essential function of the
hotel. Reservation, Guest Relations, Check-in, Check-out, Mobile phone, Finance & Cash
management, Foreign Exchange, Room Service, Inquiry, and so on are the main functions of this
department (Dixon, Connaughton and Green, 2018). The Front Office is also recognised as the
nerve centre of the hotel. The Front Office creates and maintains an extensive guest information
database, guidance guest services, and helps to ensure guest satisfaction. For example in Premier
Inn Hotel, these functions are carried out by personnel in multiple regions of the Front Office
Department. It is the hotel's nerve centre and the first point of contact for guests. All front-office
activities and areas are geared toward assisting guests with transactions and services.

The collection of beliefs, expectations, and behaviours that govern and instruct the
actions of all team members is known as organisational culture. A company is defined by a
collection of characteristics. A great company culture demonstrates positive attributes that lead
to high performance, whereas a dysfunctional company culture demonstrates traits that can
obstruct even the most successful organisations (Dana and Vorobeva, 2021). Company's culture
influences everything from time management and tone to bind terms and employee
compensation. Employees are more likely to feel comfortable, supported, and valued when
workplace culture coincides with them. Organizations that prioritise culture seem to be more
likely to weather business challenges and emerge stronger. Culture is a critical differentiator
when it comes to recruiting talent and outdoing the competition.
A strong, healthy culture fosters a workplace with higher levels of job satisfaction, profound
employee engagement, and, ultimately, increased productivity. For example, in Mogford Ltd.,
employees who are satisfied and engaged go above and beyond what is expected of them as they
are engaged in the work they do. Organizational culture contributes significantly to business
success by having a positive impact on employees, resulting in them being more energised,
conscious, and satisfied with their workplace, making them more likely to be present. This result
in low recruiting costs as well as support for the company's ongoing operational planning
procedure (El Daly, 2020). Employees who are more satisfied and happy at work are more likely
to put forth their best efforts, resulting in a positive working environment. Strong cultures are
characterised by a well-defined and organised mission and vision that aligns with the company's
goals and values. This simplifies decision-making for employees, increasing their chances of
success.
CONCLUSION
From the above information it has been concluded that business environment is dynamic
and consists of number of factors which impact on business success. Organisation structure
is one of them that facilitate flow of information and communication within organisation
between the managers and their subordinates. Business is consisting of several departments
within organisation. Within hospitality industry, they are mainly human resource
department, front office, housekeeping, food and beverage, maintenance etc. These
departments ensure that the business runs smoothly and they assist in providing best
customer experience. Organisation culture determines the mission, goals, expectations and

beliefs which govern employees on how to successfully achieve company's targets.
Affirmative organization culture is essential for success of business as it have all the systems
in place and boosts workforce productivity, performance and engagement in organisation.

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