Formalization refers to the documentation in the organization. (R L Daft 2007, Understanding The Theory And Design Of Organizations) These documents refer to the employee’s job description, rule’s regulations, and manuals. All these documents and manuals describe the job descriptions and activities that take place in a department. In Sainsbury’s the type of formalization is high due to Sainsbury’s having many departments with in the store and that each department’s are ran differently. Comparing Sainsbury’s to a local corner shop where there is almost no formalization, Sainsbury’s have rules and regulations that must be followed.
Sainsbury’s have many departments operating in different ways to run the organization. Each employee has there own training manuals on how there department works, each department being different. These manuals contain job descriptions and activities for what happens when certain operations happen with in that department. As a whole Sainsbury’s have manuals and documents that all staff have or should no of, these documents or manuals refer to Health And Safety, Security Training, Fire Training, Service Training and Monthly Update Documents.
These documents are important to the employees, in terms of how to do there job properly and most importantly how to do them safely. Specialization Comparing Sainsbury’s Heaton Park to a Sainsbury’s Local the division of labor is somewhat different. In a Sainsbury’s Local labor is shared through out the store as it’s a small store and labor can be easily shared, but Heaton Park Sainsbury’s is large store and the division of labor is broken down into departments. Each department have there own separate jobs and each employee in that department have there own separate jobs to perform.
Each department have there own manager that divides the tasks up for each employee. With in that department each employee have there own individual task or jobs they perform. In a Sainsbury’s local the store is considerably smaller to Sainsbury’s Heaton Park, not many tasks are taken out but task that are taken out can be divided out throughout the store, but in the much larger Sainsbury’s the tasks are divided into departments and the departments divide the tasks down for each employee.
Each employee have there own job description while an employee in a Sainsbury’s local has many job descriptions and jobs tasks that they carry out. Hierarchy Of Authority The type of hierarchy chart that Sainsbury’s use is, best described as wide as the hierarchy of authority is short. The span of control with in Heaton Park Sainsbury’s is wide. This is because each department have there own manager that employee’s report to before a shifts starts. Each manager of each department reports to the general manager if any problems occur that a department manager can’t solve.
If problems are solvable by the department manager then he/she solves it, this is due to the risk of overloading the general manger with problems to solve. Sainsbury’s span of control is wide for this reason making the hierarchy short. Comparing Sainsbury’s Heaton Park to a local Sainsbury’s the span of control will be tall due to Sainsbury’s local would not have many departments and not many department managers. A Sainsbury local would just have a manager that solves most problems and sets out staff routines.
Sainsbury’s is best described as being decentralized due to each department manager making there own decisions. These decisions consist of hiring new staff, purchasing equipments that are required for day to day work and setting department goals. Sainsbury’s Heaton Park is decentralized as each department managers have there own level of authority, but major decision that have to be made are always consulted with the head manager. Decentralized organizations like Sainsbury’s Heaton Park are decentralized because decisions are delegated to the lower level of the hierarchy.
Sainsbury’s local or a small convenience store may not be decentralized they are centralized as decisions are made at the top level. This is due to smaller stores not having many departments and just a manager making decisions through these types of stores. The manager of this Sainsbury’s still has his own level of authority but he deals with the day to day running of the whole store, the overall performance of the store and making sure that this store is complying with the rules and regulations. Professionalism
Each level of Sainsbury’s employees must have training before working. Before working you must complete a 2day training program which consists of health and safety, fire regulations, customer service and general dos and don’ts. Going up the hierarchy, the level of professionalism changes, supervisors require extra training this includes role play training. To become a department manger the training required increases this includes how that department is ran and basically knowing the department inside out. Department management training normal takes up to 6 to 12 months.
Becoming a store manager is somewhat different training, the manager must first of all have a degree in business. He will then have training that requires knowing about how the whole organization is run. The level of formal education and training is high once the employee wants to become a higher level of authority in this organization. Becoming a Sainsbury’s department manager or manger you must have long period of training and education making the professionalism high once you want to become a department manager or anything higher.
