Apple Inc.’s and Boots organisational structures
During this report, I will be focusing on my two chosen businesses; Apple Inc. and Boots.
These are two contrasting businesses and will therefore operate in different ways, however
some may be similar, for example the way in which their finance department operates may
be the same. I will be focusing on their functional areas, their management team, their span
of control and their chain of command. By studying these sections, I will gain an insight into
the two businesses and how they operate.
Functional areas
There are eight main functional areas within an organisation;
Human Resources,
Finance,
Administration,
ICT,
Production/operations,
Marketing and sales,
Customer service,
Research and Development.
I believe that Apple Inc.’s most important functional area is Research and Development. This
is because the business is always looking for new and original ways to improve their
products, for example, Apple Inc. released the IPhone 5 and then redesigned the same
model to create the IPhone 5C, which included new and improved features.
I believe that Boots most important functional area is Marketing and Sales. This is because
they have over 2,500 stores within the UK, which indicates that every employee should be
focusing on maximising their sales, which should further grow the business and be ahead of
their competition, such as Superdrug.
Chain of command
Having a chain of command within a business can either be viewed as a positive or negative
thing. They are time consuming in a large organisation, as they will have a bigger chain of
command, and it takes a lengthy time to transfer messages from one employee to another.
However, a chain of command is useful as it follows an organised structure and there is a
guaranteed reply. Whereas, if a business did not operate with a chain of command,
information would not be passed on efficiently and may get misplaced along the way.
There is a chain of command within Boots, this means that information is passed through a
line of people. For example, if a production team member has a concern within Boots, they
would communicate with the production team leader who would then pass on the concern
to the operations director. If the concern could not be fixed by the operations director, it
would be passed on to the managing director. The reply would take some time to get back
to the production team member, this is because Boots has a wide chain of command and
the information has to be passed down from the managing director, and so on.
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During this report, I will be focusing on my two chosen businesses; Apple Inc. and Boots.
These are two contrasting businesses and will therefore operate in different ways, however
some may be similar, for example the way in which their finance department operates may
be the same. I will be focusing on their functional areas, their management team, their span
of control and their chain of command. By studying these sections, I will gain an insight into
the two businesses and how they operate.
Functional areas
There are eight main functional areas within an organisation;
Human Resources,
Finance,
Administration,
ICT,
Production/operations,
Marketing and sales,
Customer service,
Research and Development.
I believe that Apple Inc.’s most important functional area is Research and Development. This
is because the business is always looking for new and original ways to improve their
products, for example, Apple Inc. released the IPhone 5 and then redesigned the same
model to create the IPhone 5C, which included new and improved features.
I believe that Boots most important functional area is Marketing and Sales. This is because
they have over 2,500 stores within the UK, which indicates that every employee should be
focusing on maximising their sales, which should further grow the business and be ahead of
their competition, such as Superdrug.
Chain of command
Having a chain of command within a business can either be viewed as a positive or negative
thing. They are time consuming in a large organisation, as they will have a bigger chain of
command, and it takes a lengthy time to transfer messages from one employee to another.
However, a chain of command is useful as it follows an organised structure and there is a
guaranteed reply. Whereas, if a business did not operate with a chain of command,
information would not be passed on efficiently and may get misplaced along the way.
There is a chain of command within Boots, this means that information is passed through a
line of people. For example, if a production team member has a concern within Boots, they
would communicate with the production team leader who would then pass on the concern
to the operations director. If the concern could not be fixed by the operations director, it
would be passed on to the managing director. The reply would take some time to get back
to the production team member, this is because Boots has a wide chain of command and
the information has to be passed down from the managing director, and so on.
1
