Evaluate how managing resources and controlling budget costs can improve the performance of a business
Unit 2 D1

It is very important for Dominos to manage their resources and control their budgets as the business is very large and has a number of chains in the UK. They also have a very good reputation and are also a highly profitable business. They need to keep track as on their financial progress and situation. As well as this keeping organized and in a formal structure allows the company to run smoothly and without major problems.
There are four main types of resources that need to be managed; physical resources, human resources, technological resources, and financial resources.
There are many types of physical resources in Dominos stores, and these are mainly the equipment and tools that are used to make the products they sell. Each member of staff should manage the equipment by regularly cleaning the equipment and the managers should be performing regular checks to make sure the equipment is fully functioning, and if not to fix the problem themselves or call in maintenance to fix the problems for them. For example, if a oven is not kept clean then it can have a build-up of dirt, rust, and decay, which would then mean that a replacement is needed. This will cost Dominos money and so by managing their physical resources it will not cost Dominos their profit, and increase the businesses performance. This means that it is important for Dominos employees to have sufficient training when new equipment and machinery is placed in store. The employees will then have a better knowledge about the resources they are using, and use them more efficiently, as if an employee is struggling with a piece of equipment it will decrease the speed and efficiency of the business performance as it will slow the production down. Another way that managing the cleaning of equipment will improve performance is that it will increase the hygiene of the final product. This will result in more customers being happy with their food and so the business will sell more products.
A problem with managing physical resources is that it may take extra money and time and money to train employees in the correct methods for the cleaning and maintenance procedures. As well as the cost, some employees may lose morale as they might feel that they are getting singled out and picked on. Even though it may cost a bit more with the extra training, it is defiantly worth managing the physical resources in Dominos as the equipment is very expensive and they cannot afford to constantly replace faulty or broken equipment.
The management of human resources is the management of the employees. Dominos is heavily reliant on its human resources to keep profit coming into the business, and so it is essential for them to manage human resources, as employee performance directly affects the performance of Dominos. Dominos can manage their human resources through training and regular appraisals. By doing these Dominos will improve the development and effectiveness of the employees, which will improve the business performance. If it is not properly managed then some employees may lose track of the correct procedures and pick up bad habits, for example not completing the pizza to the correct and official standard. this would them be wasting Dominos money as they would be paying the staff to damage the company’s reputation and push away customers.
The problems with managing human resources can be that it becomes costly to train employees, as well as the employees may lose motivation if someone is telling them that they are doing their job wrong and they think they are doing it right. By trying to pull customers to the business, Dominos might be pushing the staff away be decreasing their productivity which would lead to a negative customer service, and the loss of customers again. Even with these problems, it is still better to manage this, but the right care and approach is needed, for example be kind and understanding in appraisals while getting the managers and superiors to keep the motivation of the staff up.
There are not many technological resources in Dominos, but nevertheless they still need to be managed to keep the business running. Dominos could still operate without them, but they make life easier and more comfortable for both the staff and the employees, as technological resources include resources such as air con and television. The air con makes the staff more relaxed and comfortable while working in a hot kitchen, and so this increases their morale and motivation, which increases the performance of the business. if the air con breaks down, it wouldn’t be the responsibility of the staff to fix this as specialist knowledge is needed, however it would be their responsibility to alert maintenance so that it could get fixed. The till is also a technological resource and it requires training to be able to use it effectively. This may be costly, but it is essential if the company wants the business to run smoothly.
A problem with managing technological resources is that it may be a lot of extra work for the staff to try and remember all the new skills as well as to try to remember to avoid getting the resources, such as the television and air con, wet and dirty which may not be easy especially in a food environment. However these problems are nowhere near as important as being able to work the till effectively as it is a key part of selling the products to the customers, and so is worth the extra costs in training.
The financial resources in Dominos would mainly be the money in the till. If managed effectively then the business would keep its profits high, for example if the money in the till is managed correctly then there is less chance that any money would go missing and unaccounted for. This can be managed by making sure the staff is always concentrating when carrying out a transaction so that they give out the correct amount of change and improve the customer loyalty. Staff may try and steal from the till, but this won’t happen with trust worthy employees. This again falls down to the motivation of the staff, which can be improved by the managers and supervisors. If an employee does steal from the till then they will get sacked and more recruitment will have to take place, which means that more money will have to be spent training them, and so the managers being friendlier and more patient will be worth it in the long term.
A problem with managing financial resources is that counting the revenue requires a senior member of staff, and this may frustrate them as they may have other duties they need to perform. The best way to handle this is by delegating the responsibility to a lower member of staff so that they can count the money while increasing their development and productivity. Due to this I believe that managing this resource would be profitable in the long run and good for the development of the staff which would improve their performance.
Controlling budgets will allow Dominos to avoid falling into financial trouble. To be successful Dominos need to plan their financial activities in advance, which include estimating and predicting its income, expenditures, and revenue using figures from their previous reports. The CEO's of Dominos will manage the budget as they have the specialist set of skills and experiences to do so. To make a reliable budget the correct research and data are needed, but due to the length of time Dominos have been operational, they have plenty of data to make a accurate and valid budget. The research can also be done easily as they have a huge amount of employees and can afford to spend money on high quality research. Due to the large amount of money Dominos spends each year, it is important to control how much money they spend in order to succeed in obtaining the desired profit.
The controlled budget will let Dominos see if they have the financial resources to spend in opening up new chains of restaurants. The budget will also help allocate how much each department has to spend, for example the budget will set out how much the research department has to spend. They have to do this to prevent the departments overspending and cutting into their profits. Another way that controlling budgets improves business performance is by reducing the amount of waste that Dominos produces, as wasted food is wasted money. Each store is provided with a certain amount of materials each week, and if a shop uses more food, either by wasting the materials or the high demand of their products, then the company will know and send more materials. Due to the budget, the main office will know about the resupply and send someone to investigate to solve the problem and save money. One way of solving the problem is to send a senior member of staff to the store in order to give extra training to prevent the waste of materials. Even though in the short term this will cost money, over time this will save money and help to increase Dominos profits, and improve the business performance.
I believe that the most important factor in improving the performance of the business is down to motivation of the staff. Each business resource I have discussed can be managed easier by the employees having a high level of motivation, and this will lead to a greater performing business. As every business needs employees to run, effectively the employees run the business and determine the businesses performance.