Business Management Report: UGB224 Module, HRM, Motivation, Operations

This comprehensive business management report, prepared for the UGB224 module, delves into critical aspects of modern business operations. Part A focuses on Human Resource Management (HRM), examining issues in managing people, particularly in the context of rapid production expansion and distribution facilities, using BMW as a case study. It explores the image conveyed by BMW, expected employee behaviors, HRM practices, and the impact of overseas production on HRM policies. The report also analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of performance-related pay and addresses the benefits, problems, and HR practices concerning older workers. Part B investigates motivational strategies, covering the assumptions of Theory X and Y, Maslow's theory of human needs, and the differences between motivating and hygiene factors. It also examines the psychological contract and expectations from an employer. Finally, Part C addresses managerial challenges in managing operations within the fast-moving fashion market, the tendency towards globalization, and the operational strategy of Marks and Spencer, along with operational challenges to becoming and remaining a world leader. The report provides a detailed analysis of these topics, offering insights into effective business management practices.

UGB224 - BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
PART - A.........................................................................................................................................3
Issues concerning management of people and its role rapid expansion of production and
distribution facilities....................................................................................................................3
Image conveyed by BMW, expected employee behaviour to deliver its image and HRM
practices encouraging and discouraging behaviour.....................................................................4
Overseas production affecting HRM policies..............................................................................5
Advantage and disadvantages of performance related pay..........................................................5
Benefits and problems associated with older workers and HR practices to deal with this.........6
PART- B..........................................................................................................................................7
Assumptions of Theory X and Y.................................................................................................7
Maslow’s theory of human needs................................................................................................8
Difference between motivating and hygiene factors...................................................................9
Psychological contract, expectation from an employer in career or part time job provider........9
PART-C.........................................................................................................................................10
Managerial challenges in managing operations of fast-moving fashion market.......................10
Tendency towards globalization................................................................................................11
Operational strategy of Marks and Spencer...............................................................................11
Operational challenges to become and remain a world leader..................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INRODUCTION
Business management is a very important task in contemporary business environment
where managers are facing stiff competition in the market whether it price, human resource,
procurement of finance or technology acquired. Managing business from all these aspects to
ensure long term survival of the business is crucial for modern managers (Ford, Mattsson and
Snehota, 2017). These factors can’t be ignored by the management while doing business or it can
be said that business can’t be done in isolation without giving consideration to these factors. So,
with regards to this, here in this report the management of business will be discussed on three
different parameters and thus the report will include three parts where in the first part, by
referring to the case study of BMW, the concept of Human resource management will be
discussed. In the second of the report, how organisation can lead in the market through framing
and applying appropriate motivation strategy will be discussed and in the third part discussion
related operation and quality management will be done. All three parts of this report will be
based on major issues of modern business and which has a great role in giving competitive edge
to businesses.
MAIN BODY
PART - A
Issues concerning management of people and its role rapid expansion of production and
distribution facilities
BMW as world class brand of automobile industry where management of the company might
have faced many issues that businesses are likely to face at different stages. Here various issues
pertaining to management of people will be discussed in the context of BMW and if the same
would be tackled with effective policies, then it would definitely leads to production expansion
and better distribution facilities (Kirchmer, 2017).
 Decline in the Performance level: Sometime it happens due to lack of motivation when
employees become less productive and this will affect other members of the team and
thus leads non-accomplishment of overall goals.
 Understaffing issues: Managers must timely considered requirement of fulfilling vacant
position by consulting colleagues and managers in the organisation as recruitment and

selection is a time consuming and thus sometimes create problem of understaffing
(Breitbarth, Kaiser-Jovy and Dickson, 2017).
 Lack of communication: Managers must ensure effective communication among team
members themselves and with superiors, because it is necessary to communicate with
team members from time to time as all have different perceptions regarding policies and
working patterns.
 Poor teamwork: assignment of individual tasks may lead to the problem of lack
collaboration among team members and thus requires an external efforts from managers
to re-establish the same (Bos-Nehles and et.al., 2020).
All these issues mentioned above can be best overcame by management of BMW by framing
policies and adopting practices in favor of their human resource in order to expand overall
organisational production and distribution facilities.
Image conveyed by BMW, expected employee behaviour to deliver its image and HRM practices
encouraging and discouraging behaviour
From the case study, it has been identified that BMW through its employees has establish an
image of quality products and provision of higher customer satisfaction. BMW is able to create
innovative products through its HRM strategy which makes it possible to ensure availability and
delivery of their products in areas where they have expanded their activities (El-Ghalayini,
2017). Earlier, BMW found it difficult to deliver value to its customer because they are not
giving value to their human resource, but for now as they have understood their resource value
they are able to create more value for their customers.
For giving higher value to the customers and maintain image and position in the market, there
are certain behavioral aspects that has been expected from the company’s human resource as
follows:
 Loyalty towards maintaining company’s product quality.
 Maintaining highest possible productivity level as possible.
 Communicating their suggestions and opinions for any kind of policy improvement
(Asis-Castro and Edralin, 2018).
 Keeping secrets of company hidden to the utmost level.
 Utilizing their skills and knowledge for the growth and development of the company.

 Behaving in a best possible manner with company’s customers to ensure their retention
for long term.
To obtain such behaviour from employees, certain HRM practices are there which encourage and
discourage employees to behave in a required manner (Student, 2020).
 Lack of motivational support from superiors
 Lower pay scale which leads to poor productivity among employees.
 No opportunity given to employees to present their views.
These all HRM practices leads to lack of support from employees.
Encouraging HRM practices
 Appropriate motivational tools employed.
 Recognition for best performance and suggestions.
 Variable for additional productivity.
Overseas production affecting HRM policies
When the company has more of its establishment in overseas, then they are affected by various
geographical differences which are affecting their human policies in a great way. There would be
cultural differences which must be kept in mind while framing HR policies as if something is
considered to be appreciation in one cultural may not be same for the other (Bag, 2019). Land
laws are likely to affects policies of HR manager as it is believed when there is overseas
production of the company, then the management of the company are required to frame their
policies by keeping in mind the local perception and environment of the overseas branch. There
would be different laws related to employment in host country which can’t be ignored by
management of Headquarter Company. So, there would be an impact of localization on the
overseas production and company needs to frame their policies according to the overseas
challenges.
Advantage and disadvantages of performance related pay
How well an employee perform is the basis on which salaries and wages of employees are fixed.
Employees get into the contract with companies in which there are pre agreed terms on the basis
of which there performance are judged and they are paid accordingly (Vihari, Rao and Jada,

2018). It is a salary and wages payment system where there is higher for higher productivity and
vice versa.
Advantages of performance related pay
 It enhances productivity among employees and workers.
 There would be no questioning and arguing regarding different level of pay.
 It will create higher efficiency and higher productivity environment within the
organisation (Mtembu, 2019).
 It establishes a financial tie between company and its employees which help in retaining
employees for long term.
Disadvantages of performance related pay
 The technique is suitable only for short term, in long run employees feel frustrated.
 It does not provide for healthier working environment and leads to higher employee
turnover.
 Efficiency of the employees reduced after saturation point.
Benefits and problems associated with older workers and HR practices to deal with this
BMW can have the following benefits of having higher proportion older workforce in its
organisation:
 The older workers are experienced, knowledgeable and skilled.
 They are likely to stay more than new workers and take less leave comparatively.
 Diversity in age group are believed to be favorable in improving organisational
performance (Sammarra and et.al., 2017).
 Older worker possess qualities such as punctuality, work focused and rarely miss out on
work even in challenging business environment.
Problems with older workforce that can be faced by BMW are as follows:
 Higher payment need to be made to older workforce due to their experience and
seniority.
 As a human being, they are affected by human factors like mental and physical health
declination.

 There are deficits in talent possessed by older workers.
 Older workers are less technologically handy and hinders an organisation’s technological
development (Wheelen and et.al., 2017).
So, all the above mentioned benefits and problems associated with the older workforce are some
way or the other way provide growth opportunity and also hinders the same. To deal with this
issue, there are certain HR practices which can be helpful in overcoming the same (Pourmirza
and et.al., 2017).
 Framing exit strategy for employees who are older.
 Providing with training to meet with the technical demand of the business environment.
 Building an environment of equality by treating old and new workers in the same
manner.
 Older workers are if not found to be highly productive, then they are given with the task
of providing mentorship.
PART- B
Assumptions of Theory X and Y
Theory X assumes that:
 Workers tend to dislike whatever work they does.
 They are inheritably irresponsible and always need directions.
 Workers need to be threatened, controlled and forced towards fulfillment of their
assigned tasks.
 Need supervision at each step (Mohammed, Gururajan and Hafeez-Baig, 2017).
Theory Y assumes that:
 Workers are themselves happy to take initiative to work.
 Desire to take decisions.
 There is a sense of self-motivation towards accomplishment of tasks.
 Accept responsibility and requires less external direction.
 Problem solving with creation and imagination (Bruskin and et.al., 2017).

Hofstede’s observation regarding the applicability of theory X and theory Y is correct in terms of
the existence of cultural differences between regions. He has argued that McGregor’s theory has
an observation which is related to the western societies but there are many kind of differences
that exists between western societies and new economic powers in East (Emery, 2019). The
opinion can be represented in a way that East people due to having cultural difference and also
differences in economic powers may behave in a different ways and all the assumptions and
observations made on the basis of the western societies may not be applicable to them as it is, as
human beings or people residing in different areas may not have similar workplace
characteristics.
Maslow’s theory of human needs
Maslow’s theory of needs is psychological theory on motivation which have identified five
different levels of needs which makes an individual motivated when these needs emerges. The
emergence of needs took place one by one and the satisfaction of lower level needs can only be
allows for the emergence of higher level needs (Sheveleva and et.al., 2019). The five needs
identified by Maslow’s are as follows:
Physiological needs: The lowest level need in a hierarchy given by Maslow which describes
essentials of life without which an individual can’t survive such as food, shelter, water and
health. A person who is motivated to survive has this need very active.
Safety needs: It is a safety and security need that comes from the motivation of having safe and
secure life through proper and law and order in place.
Social needs: This needs is for having affiliation and belongings. The need for family, friends
and loved ones around oneself. One is motivated to be in a group and if this need is not satisfied
then this may leads to depression and loneliness in an individual.
Esteem needs: Esteem needs id all about gaining status, recognition and respect in society and
workplace. This needs are comes at fourth level in a hierarchy and emerged once social needs
gets satisfied.

Self- actualization needs: This needs includes realizing maximum potential of oneself where an
individual strives to become a best human being by learning and acquiring new skills, knowledge
and experience.
The idea of Fredrick Taylor and Maslow revolves around motivation. Where Maslow has
recognized these needs at five different level which are expected to emerge in a given sequence
as a motivating factor for an individual while Taylor has said that money acts as a motivating
factor for influencing an individual’s behavior in an organisation (Liu and Li, 2017). While
money do form part of Maslow’s safety and security needs which includes job security and
financial security. Taylor has assumed that man runs behind gaining more economic gains and
can do whatever they asked to do in order to get more economic gain while Maslow’s said that
once the particular need gets satisfied it will no longer be able to motivate an individual to work
hard for their fulfillment. Therefore, both Maslow and Taylor has talked about motivation in
their respective literatures.
Difference between motivating and hygiene factors
Motivating factors Hygiene factors
These factors provides job satisfaction to the
workers.
Non- fulfillment of these factors leads to job
dissatisfaction among the workers.
They are needed to improve employee’s
performance.
They are essential at workplace.
Acts as a base for achieving excellence. Acts as base for performing basic tasks of the
job.
Examples of motivating factors are
recognition, advancement, achievements,
promotion and personal growth of workers.
Examples of hygiene factors are working
conditions, benefits of pay, job security,
company policy and relationship with
colleagues.
Intrinsic to the job. Extrinsic to the job.
Psychological contract, expectation from an employer in career or part time job provider
Psychological contract can be defined as a set of expectations and promises that are agreed
between the parties who are forming part of employment relationship. The parties can be

individual employees, employers or managers (Naude and Chiweshe, 2017). It includes mutual
beliefs and informal obligations that has been agreed between an employee and an employer. For
example, promises to promote and providing salary hike are examples of psychological
contracts.
Expectation from an employer in career
 Should treat all the team members and employees with fair and just principle.
 Compensation should be determined on individual or team contribution in the
achievement of organisational goals.
 All employees should have an equal access to the opportunity of learning, training and
development.
 Timely feedback and active listening to the employees grievances should be in place.
 Recognition for any initiative and suggestions should be there.
 Equal growth opportunity for all principle should be followed.
Expectation from a part time employer
 Employer should consider that an employee should be overloaded with work and can be
able study simultaneously.
 Payment should be given for work on task basis.
 Should be given growth opportunities equivalent to full time worker.
PART-C
Managerial challenges in managing operations of fast-moving fashion market
Fast-moving fashion market is ever changing market and to keep pace with it, there is a need to
provide quality and innovative products to customers. It requires time to time changes in the
operation systems to produce what market demands (Wen, Choi and Chung, 2019). Zara has
established market in the fashion industry all over the world and is satisfying fashion needs of its
customers in a best and unique manner all time. There are certain challenges that could be faced
by operation manager of Fashion Company like Zara are as follows:
 Quality of every upcoming new fashion product must be maintained and it is the all-time
challenge for operation manager at fashion company as products are changing at very fast
pace.

 Fashion customers are more quality conscious and thus operation managers are required
to ensure the same by upgrading their technology on a regular basis.
 Fashion customers are largely belonging from first class or high income category who
strives hard for changing their lifestyle according to the changing fashion and thus creates
a big challenge to retain these customers for managers.
 Fashion customers can switch brand when they found minute compromise in quality or
outdated products.
 Fashion company’s operation manager need to ensure all the processes and procedures to
be in place for guaranteeing standardized products.
Tendency towards globalization
Zara is a multinational apparel company. Talking about its globalization tendency, it would be
beneficial or helpful in getting higher level success in the industry. As it is already have a good
brand image in the international market of producing and selling luxurious apparel for high class
customers of a highest possible quality, it can be a better opportunity to globalize its operations
which would be helpful for it in further growth and development. For growing itself as a
globalized company, it would be best to recommend that it needs to first study the market tastes
and preferences and then start producing products for them according to their needs and
expectations of fashionable products. Otherwise if without understanding regional trends in
apparels and fashionable products, if it will initiate its operations there, then it would might lead
to the hindrance in their success or even could lead higher losses due to failure in that market
(Eimani and Moin, 2017). Every local region of the world has quite different sense of using
fashion products and this make it compulsory for companies to want to expand their operations
in such countries should study the market in advance. It is also recommended that ZARA should
first begins with a flagship store and then on getting success could expand its operations slowly
and gradually depending upon the situations.
Operational strategy of Marks and Spencer
The operational strategy followed by Marks and Spencer has been identified as they are
following a top – down approach where the company aims to establish their operations in such a
manner which ensure highest quality product along with an easier accessibility to all who wants
to make purchase of company’s products (Pourmirza and et.al., 2017). They have ensure easy

accessibility through establishing convenient stores at all locations they think to be fit. Also, they
have developed their online platform for reaching both existing and new customers.
On the other hand, ZARA strives hard for the achievement of shorter lead times, believes in
maintaining lower inventory to reduce costs and increase available choices and styles to ensure
variety of products to the customers. Along with this, ZARA aims to ensure great creativity and
quality in their products which is actually a secret of their success in the industry.
Zara is having concern for their profitability also along with consideration towards the customers
while Marks and Spencer is solely customer oriented.
Operational challenges to become and remain a world leader
Operational challenges remain exists through the journey of the company in the market. And if it
is about a market leader, then the challenges would get doubled and tough (Wheelen and et.al.,
2017). Becoming and remaining in the market as a leader is quite challenging in today’s highly
competitive market. So, here is a list of challenges that would be faced by world leader to
become and remain as a leader.
 Maintaining world level quality where competition will be from companies throughout
the world.
 Establishing and creating brand image through timely innovation and creativity.
 Adopting world class technology to enhance product quality and reduce costs.
 Maintaining relationship with other players of the market to get strategic support.
 Handling customers from all over the world and ensuring their improved experience
always.
 Keeping all the stakeholders of the business satisfied to maintain brand image in the
market.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that business management must be done
with great care and consciousness by keeping an eye over the competitors all the time. Like in
this report three areas of business management has been evaluated such as human resource
management, motivation and operational management strategy adopted by world class brands
and their success through these management strategies. Therefore, keeping up with competitors

and their strategic move must be always considered by the management of the company to
success in the contemporary business environment.

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