Unit:
Understanding Business Organisations
Assignment title:
Understanding Business Organisations
Spring 2024 - Summer 2025
Introduction
This assignment requires you to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you have acquired throughout the course of this module. You must complete all 1-5 Tasks in this assignment. This assignment consists of FIVE (5) tasks and accounts for 100% of the overall mark for this assignment. The total assignment should be 3,000 words fully referenced and address the tasks given below. In order to complete the assignment, you will need to choose an industry, and an appropriate organisation within it, to research.
Choosing an appropriate organisation:
Select a large multinational organisation which operates in multiple countries. Some features of these organisations are:
• Operate on a large scale; their areas of operation are vast, and they tend to have a large, diversified product range.
• Tend to have high turnover and profit levels.
• Tend to have many branches globally, though with control and coordination provided through the head office in the home country.
• Aim for continuous growth and produce annual reports which reflect this.
• Conduct advertising on a large scale and have a recognisable brand.
Researching your organisation
You can use web resources to enable you to understand the context in which your selected organisation operates.
Do not limit yourself, however, to web-based sources of information. You should also use academic, industry and other sources.
Examples:
Nestle:https://www.nestle.com
Ametek:http://www.ametek.com
PepsiCo:http://www.pepsico.com
Walmart:http://www.walmart.com
NB. You will not be expected to submit your background research, it should be used purely to help formulate your responses.
Please note, that this assignment must be your own work as it is designed to test your abilities. Submitted assignments will be checked for plagiarism. For more information, please refer to NCC Education’s Academic Misconduct Policy, which can be found on the website.
Instructions
Answer all FIVE (5) questions.
Task 1 – 20 Marks
a) Multinational Companies (MNCs) tend to have a centralised organisational structure where major strategic decisions are taken at the headquarters in the home country. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this type of structure, giving at least THREE (3) of each. (10 marks)
b) Examine whether your chosen organisation operates a functional or divisional structure and the extent to which this contributes to organisational efficiency. If there is evidence of the contribution of a matrix structure, ensure that you include this in your discussion. (10 marks)
Task 2 – 20 Marks
a) Discuss the extent to which your chosen organisation’s employer brand increases its ability to recruit talented employees. You might discuss the perceptions of working for a large organisation contrasted with the reality, or the way in which these organisations present themselves as a good place to work. Ensure that you draw on examples from their recruitment advertising, website, social media channels as well and websites such as www.glassdoor.com (10 marks)
b) Identify at least THREE (3) components of the organisation’s culture and evaluate
how these could help or hinder cultural change. (10 marks)
Task 3 – 20 Marks
a) Analyse at least FIVE (5) components of the organisation’s culture in relation to the way in which it communicates internally and externally with staff, shareholders, and customers. (10 marks)
b) Critically analyse how your chosen organisation communicates its brand, and to
what extent this may impact its financial performance. You should compare and contrast its approach and performance with a different MNC in the same sector and use Porter's Five Forces model to structure your analysis. (10 marks)
a) Discuss THREE (3) advantages and THREE (3) disadvantages of the reliance of shareholders on funding within MNCs. (10 marks)
b) Critically analyse aspects of financial information from your chosen organisation to determine whether they are a sound investment. You should identify at least THREE (3) strong financial indicators and at least TWO (2) weak financial indicators. (10 marks)
Task 5 - 20 Marks
a) Identify and critically analyse THREE (3) ways in which your chosen organisation uses IT systems and how these systems contribute to organisational effectiveness. These could be e-commerce systems, communication systems, social media channels, Human Resource Information Systems, financial systems and so on. (10 marks)
b) Examine the organisation’s approach to information security, identifying at least FIVE (5) ways that it is currently attempting or should implement, to keep its staff and customers’ details safe. (10 marks)
Guidance
Consult with your tutor if you are uncertain about any aspect of this assignment.
Submission requirements
You must submit a word-processed assignment.
Your assignment should answer Tasks 1 to 5. The word count for your assignment is 3,000 words.
Word Count
The word count for this assignment is 3,000 words. Pay careful attention to the mark allocation for each task so you don’t spend too much time on any ONE (1) section.
You MUST state the word count in the header of your assignment and declare the number of words on your assignment cover sheet. You MUST confirm that you have not exceeded the stipulated word limit by more than 10%.
Any words written beyond the stipulated limit will not be read by the examiners; no marks will be awarded, and no feedback provided for any text beyond the prescribed limit.
In accordance with accepted academic practice, the notion of a word count includes the following without exception:
• All titles or headings that form part of the actual text. This does not include the fly (or cover) page or reference list.
• All words that form the actual essay
• All words forming the titles for figures, tables, and boxes. However, this does not include the text within boxes, tables, or figures themselves.
• All in-text (bracketed) references
• All directly quoted material.