Introduction

Tarmac makes asphalt and concrete for road surfaces. It also provides materials such as cement and mortar. It works in ten countries across the world and employs 12,500 people. Tarmac aims to provide customers with high quality. Its mission statement shows this. This is ‘to be the first choice for building materials and services that meet the essential needs for the development of the world in which we live.’

Organisational structure

Tarmac is a complex organisation. It needs many job roles. A number of processes have to come together to make products. The operational area has support from:

• Human resources. This plans for and recruits staff.
• Finance. This deals with flows of money.
• Strategy, marketing and technical.

Strategy and Marketing look at how Tarmac is seen in its market. The Technical area seeks new ways to keep Tarmac’s product range up-to-date. Staff within these areas are:

• managers - their job is to plan, organise and check progress
• supervisors -their job is to work with managers to ensure operators use best practice
• operators - these are responsible for the day-to-day running of the business.

Tarmac promotes a culture of learning. It believes in getting the best out of its people. It provides the chance to train and to learn at all levels.

Operations

The operations function looks after making the products. It shares best practice. The long-term aim is to have high performance teams. These work within a culture of quality and continuous improvement. Zone Managers manage large areas of work. They have a set of agreed key performance indicators. These show targets that they need to achieve. Tarmac employees can contribute ideas on how to achieve results. This helps them to gain better knowledge of the business. It also helps to motivate them.

Finance function

Finance is a key part of the business. It keeps cash flows in balance. Tarmac recruits graduates and runs apprenticeship schemes for these roles. Good team working is vital. It ensures that standards of reporting and action are the same across all of tarmac’s business.

Human Resources (HR)

HR Management is vital to a business. It ensures the business has the right number of people with the right skills. Tarmac aims to help its people to reach their full potential. This strengthens the business in the long term. An HR manager’s role is to ensure that HR policies and procedures are applied consistently.

Businesses have to respond to markets that change quickly if they are to compete and grow. Tarmac has a programme of Change Management. This helps it to respond to change. It trains managers to be more like a coach than a boss. A coaching manager focuses on developing people to manage themselves rather than them being managed on each task. This makes staff more motivated. They are better able to deal with future situations.

Conclusion

To maintain competitive advantage, Tarmac needs staff with high levels of skill. To support this, it provides career paths in a wide range of job roles. Tarmac’s change management programme ensures that managers work closely to get the best out of their staff.