A Detailed Analysis of Management Practices at Travis Perkins

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Travis Perkins, a prominent UK-based building merchant and home improvement retailer. The introduction defines management and its importance, then introduces Travis Perkins, highlighting its market position and customer-focused approach. The report delves into the company's background, including its establishment, growth, and responses to challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. It then examines Travis Perkins' functional organizational structure, detailing its hierarchy and departmental organization. The advantages of this structure, such as increased productivity and skill development, are discussed alongside its disadvantages, like potential hindered decision-making. The marketing mix of Travis Perkins is analyzed, covering product offerings, pricing strategies, distribution (place), and promotional activities. Finally, the report overviews the company's human resource management functions, including recruitment, talent development, and employee relations, emphasizing their role in the company's success. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and insights into Travis Perkins' management practices.

Introduction to
management

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK...............................................................................................................................................3
Background of selected organisation...........................................................................................3
State management structure of selected organisation..................................................................4
Discussion of advantage and disadvantage of management structure.........................................5
Marketing mix of Travis Perkins.................................................................................................7
Overview of human resource management functions.................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Management is defined as the process that is related to coordinate and administrate all
organisation task and operations in order to attain business determined goals and objectives. It
includes various activities such as establishing business strategy and coordinate employees’
efforts to achieve desirable outcome with the help of resources such as technology, human
resource and financial resources. It is one of important activities that consist organisation,
planning, controlling and leading of different efforts made by members of company along with
using different resources for attainment of goals (Barnes, 2022). It is important for a business to
adopt proper management of different action and performance of company as it provides them
opportunity to attain goals and objectives. Management of a company consist different people
who has different roles and responsibility in business. It consist shareholder of company, board
directors, CEO of company, CLO and different managers. Ultimate goals of all these members is
to helps business to attain goals and objectives. In this report Travis Perkins is taken into
consideration that is British builders’ merchant and home improvement retailer, headquarter
situated in Northampton, United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange as well as
constituent of FTSE 250 Index. It is one of leading organisation in UK for building improvement
project and also focusing of building positive relationship with its customers that provide them to
get success in market. On basis of these relationship with customer and employees provide
opportunity to company to differentiate its service from those of competitors. This report covers
analysation of business of Travis and Perkins. It consists background of Travis Perkins
organisation. It includes discussion of management structure of company along with its
advantages and disadvantages. Along with that it analyses marketing mix of company and
explanation of 4P’s of marketing of business. Moreover, it consists overview of HR function and
details of recruitment and selection, talent development and employee relations of company.
TASK
Background of selected organisation
Travis Perkins is one of UK based organisation which is consider among top organisation for
builder’s Merchant and home improvement. It has top position at national level and also working
for getting continuous success. This business is getting success in market by building personal
relationship with customers of company as well as its infrastructure that allow them to fulfil all

promises by company. This business is a leader in context of heavy material of building and also
building in successful manner. It is also getting benefits through partnership with customers on
different types of projects (Uzo, Shittu and Meru, 2018). This organisation is getting success on
basis of their product knowledge and other capabilities which helps them to solve problem and
assist business of customers to grow. It is an organisation which is providing its service in
wholesale building material. It is getting in success and also contribute to economic development
by creating different employment opportunities for people of UK. This business has around more
them 10000 employees who are working for growth and success of business (Travis Perkins,
2022). It was established in the year 1988 as a public company in UK through merger among
Travis and Arnold and Sandell Perkins and its headquarter is existed in Northampton. It is a
growing business that is getting growth and success in market but covid-19 create negative
impact over growth of company as they has closed their business. Due to increasing loss, this
business has cut around 2500 jobs in around 165 branches that create opportunity for them. This
organisation is also contributing to social development by fulfilling its corporate social
responsibility. For this, it is running Staywell hub in which they are providing support to
colleagues and this campaign ha around 200 mental health first aiders for purpose of supporting
to colleagues and customers. It is also a business that is also focusing on development of their
employees as these people are work and provide success to company. Travis Perkins has skilled
and talent employees in their organisation which provide success and growth to company. In
order to make employees productive and satisfied, business provide them sufficient pay scale,
monitor their performance, provide them timely training and development opportunities,
understand their problem and provide solutions, includes them in decision making of company
(Dressler and Rachfall, 2020). Other then employees, customers are also important for survival
of business and for this, Travis and Perkins are making positive relationship with them.
State management structure of selected organisation
Management structure of a company described ways in which a company organise its hierarchy
of management. It is also important for business in order to identify authority, rights and duties,
communications of organisation, it is also a business that identify different responsibilities, roles
and power which are coordinated, assigned and controlled different level of management (Diklić,
2018). This management structure consists lower level of management, middle level of
management and upper level of management. Travis and Perkins is one of organisation which is

adopting functional organisation structure (Organisation chart of Travis Parkins, 2022). It is
similar to hierarchical organisation structure as functional organisation structure is also starts
with higher level of responsibility and end with lower level (Tait and Napompeth, 2019). In this
type of organisation structure, employees are organisation according to their specialisation of
skills and corresponding responsibilities. It is also managed in effective manner by providing
benefits of specialisation to business. It is one of organisational structure which divide group
according to similar skills and knowledge and use in team for attaining goals and objectives. In
organisation of Travis Perkins, it vertically structures different department roles from
shareholders to finance, sales human resources to employees assigned for products and service
(delson, Senk and Stock, 2018). It is a structure which consist single authority which is of top
management of company. In this structure, each unit deals with one aspect of product like
marketing, operation, information and technology and others. It is also an organisation structure
which is also known as Silos as it is a function that work in independent manner and also has its
own vertical structure. In this type of organisation structure workers of each function can
communicate exclusively and also department head can also communicate by their level.
Discussion of advantage and disadvantage of management structure
Travis and Perkins is adopting functional organisation structure which divide different
department accepting to functions and according to skills and interest of people. It provides

various advantage and disadvantage to their organisation. Some of these advantage and
disadvantage of this organisation structure in context of company is mentioned below:
Advantage of management structure
Increased productivity: functional organisational structure is one that is dividing roles and
responsibilities according to specialisation, skills and interest of work in Travis Perkins. It allow
employees to work willingly in effective manner which will increase speed of work of
employees. It will also boost confident of employees as they do not require more supervision of
work (Gabriel, Manahan and Colwell, 2021).
Skill development: Adoption of functional organisational structure also develop skills among
employees of Travis Perkins as this business has divided multiple whole organisations in
different small teams. In this, managers of each team get opportunity to develop skills of
employees working under their guidance. It is important for development of different soft and
hard skills and also for improve efficiency of employees.
Clarity: Travis Perkins adopting functional organisational structure as it provide clarity in
business. There are different people work in organisation with same speciality and in order to
avoid confusion among people for roles and responsibility, business avoid clarity. It is important
for business to needs higher level of information in context of human resource customer service
marketing and other things which allow them for purpose of operate in effective manner.
Minimised cost of operation: It is one of organisation structure which helps Travis parkins to
minimise their cost in business as it will boost skills of employees to do same work and also
make them efficient which does not allow to supervise their work (Gänsslen and Lindahl, 2021).
It also reduces time to be taken and helps business to saves its resources.
Disadvantage of organisation structure
Hindered decision making: There are some companies which is depended on flexibility as well
as creativity. This organisational structure create impact over these creativity and flexibility of
organisation. It is also an organisational structure which require approval from management
before making decisions. In this structure, managers of company do not take feedback from
teams that create negative impact over progress of project.
Competition among department: There are high competition among different department
which work together for purpose of completion of work. There are different employees work in
each department of organisation for attainment of goals. This organisation structure shift their

focus on attaining goals of their department that leads to competition and also create impact over
communication in business.
Narrow scope: It is an organisational structure that does not provide additional guidance and
information from management in a department who works with limited knowledge for
attainment of objectives of company (Gremyr, Bergquist and Elg, 2020).
Marketing mix of Travis Perkins
Marketing mix is one of model which was introduced by E. Jerome McCarthy in the year 1960.
It is one of term of marketing that focus on different areas of marketing. It consists mainly four
component like products, price, promotion and place. It is a term of marketing that focus on
broad range of areas which allow them for purpose of reaching to different audience, maintaining
focus over business and other things which allow them to launch products and also revising
existing products. On basis of industry, target market, managers of Travis Perkins can develop
different approaches of elements of marketing that can be examined independently. Explanation
of different components of Marketing mix of Travis Perkins are mentioned below:
Product: Products can be described as item as well as service which can be designed to satisfy
needs and wants of consumer. In order to sell a product, business needs to differentiates its
products from those of competitors which will provide opportunity to business to increase their
sales. Travis Perkins is offering general building materials, bathrooms, timber, landscaping
material, plumbing and heating, tool hire and kitchens (Lynch, 2022). It is also focusing on
building as well as home improvement material. This organisation is providing products which
are of high quality that will improve satisfaction of customers.
Price: Price can be descried as monetary values changed by business for purse of exchange of
their products and service. Price of product is also the values which customer is ready to pay for
the products. Price can be set by company according to demand and supply of procucts and is
depended on cost of company (Starr-Glass, 2019). Travis and Perkins is the organisation that are
providing products which are of high quality. These products are efficient in order to improve
satisfaction of customers. For this, they are charging fair prices to its customers which allow
them to attract number of customers to their organisation. This business is also focusing on
maintaining good relationship with its customers that allow them to earn more money in market.
Charging competitive and fair prices also helps business to compete in marketplace with other
competitors.

Place: Sales of products is also depended on areas where it is distributed. Place of products can
be selected in a way where customer can reach without any problem. Travis and Perkins is one of
the organisation that is offering its service on both online as well offline platforms. In order to
book their service online, customers can visit site of company (Nagel, 2021). For book service
offline, customer can visit to their office. All these are important in order to increase
convenience of customers and also for increasing sales of company.
Promotion: Promotion is one of important component which is adopted by firm in order to
increase awareness of products and service. It is also important for business in order to increase
sales and likeliness of products in marketplace. Travis Perkins is an organisation which are
considered as top merchant in UK and getting success in organisation. It is selling its products
and service on basis of personal relationship made by them with their customers. They are also
promoting its products buy fulfilling their promises. This organisation is using digital marketing
in order to promote its products ad service. They are using website in order to reflect their skills
and work to customers and also developing portfolio which allow them to gain attention of
customers.
Overview of human resource management functions
Human resource: Human resource is defined as the set of people who make up the workforce of
an organisation. It is the division of business that is responsible for various HR related operations
such as finding, recruiting and provide training to job applicants as well as implementing
different employees benefit program that help business to maintain strong relationship with
employees and retain them with organisation for longer period of time (Parker, 2019). It is one of
important department of a company which helps to resolve problem of employees. It is one of
department that play important role in success of business and HR manages of company invest
their time in different HR activities which helps firm to deal with human resources in effective
manner. HR manager of Travis Perkins various HR functions that are explained below:
Recruitment and selection: Recruitment and selection is the most important function of
human resource department. Recruitment is defined as the process through which organisation
attracts qualified candidates for a specific job role in organisation whereas selection is related to
identifying suitable candidate for specific job role on right time. HR manager of Travis Perkins
ensures that appropriate candidates are selected for job profile on the bases their qualification,
skills, capabilities and experience. Aim of this function is to ensure that company has sufficient

employees all time to deal with operation and activities. During the process of hiring of
employees for Travis Perkins, managers of company ensure that they are hiring employees who
suits to requirement and environment of business.
Employee relation: Employee relation is defined as the action that is related to maintaining
strong relationship between employee and employer. It concentrates on both aspects such as
individual and collective relationship at workplace. In current business environment. it is very
important for organisation to establish effective and strong relation that motivates employees and
enhance their contribution in attain business determined goals and objectives (Placci, 2018). HR
manager of Travis Perkins creates efficient HR policies, strategies that maintains effective
relation of employees with manager and encourage them to perform with greater efficiency and
effectiveness. Through maintaining positive relationship, organisation can boost employee’s
loyalty and engagement in business operations that lead overall business towards growth and
development. Focus of HR managers of Travis Perkins is on promoting positive relation with
employees as it allow them for retain employees for long term and also motivate them for giving
their best.
Talent management: It is the most imports function of human resource department of
organisation that is related to attracting, developing, motivating as well as retaining high-
performing employees with organisation that helps business to gain competitive advantages. It
includes various approaches such as recruitment, provide training and development
opportunities, performance management and compensation management that enhances
performance of employees and improve contribution in attaining organisational goals and
objectives in efficient manner (Schuster, Heinemann and Cleary, 2021). HR department of
Travis Perkins implement various talent management approaches and provide suitable training to
employees that enhances their skills and capabilities and provide them appropriate compensation
as per their performance that enhances employee’s satisfaction with defined job role.
CONCLUSION
From above mentioned project report, it can be concluded that management is one of important
component for a business which helps them to plan, organisation, lead and control different
activities of business. It is important in order to manage things in a way to avoid confusion and
also it helps to increase speed of operation in organisation. Every organisation has its own
management structure which provide clear roles and responsibility to different members in

company. It also defined who is responsible for what task and to whom they need to answer for
their work. It is important for an organisation to have clear management structure which helps
them to process for work in effective manner and also to making quick decisions. On basis of it,
a person can take advantage of different opportunities arise in market. It also helps business for
purpose of increasing speed of decisions as on basis of it, firm can take advantage of
opportunities arise in marketplace. It also provides clarity to different responsibilities at
workplace which helps them to identify a person who is not work in efficient manner. In order to
develop effective strategies related to products and service of company, manager is developed
marketing mix. It is an important concept of marketing which consist description of four
components like products, price, promotion and place. It helps managers of company to
understand what changes company can made in this in order to attract more customers to their
business. Human resource function of a company is another important component which deals
with human resource of company. These practices motivate employees to work with dedication,
solve their problem occur at workplace, monitoring their performance and other things. It has
different functions in business like recruitment and selection, employee relation and talent
development. It is one of important activities in business which allow a person for purpose of
retaining employees for long term and get their best for success and growth of business.

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Online
Travis Perkins, 2022. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.linkedin.com/company/travisperkins>
Organisation chart of Travis Parkins, 2022. [Online]. Available through:
<https://theorg.com/org/travis-perkins/org-chart>