Posts Tagged ‘Organisation’

The concept ‘stakeholder’ is a variant of ‘stockholder’, which relates to ‘investors in’ or ‘owners in’ a firm or business. Stakeholders can be defined as ‘individuals and groups who are affected by the activities of an organisation. The most important stakeholders can be seen as those with most to lose from the organisation’s actions, but this does not always reflect their relative power.’. (Hannagan, T (2002), ‘Management: Concepts and Practices’ P142.)

In the past it had been the common conception that businesses fundamentally rely upon, and in turn effect their economic capital, which is represented in the form of stockholders. The rise to prominence of stakeholders (through studies and reports) has allowed firms to realise that there are people and infrastructure beyond the company which are necessary to it and who must have their interests protected.

An organisation’s stakeholders are all parties who can reasonably be understood to be affected by its decisions. They can be deemed to represent the businesses’ social and environmental capital as well as economic. Stakeholders can be of very different and varied guises and also harbour conflicting interests. In the main they can be categorised into three major groups: Internal, Connected and External Stakeholders.

Internal stakeholders include managers and employees and are those that are situated within the company and affect the ‘day-to-day’ running of the organisation. Connected stakeholders cover groups such as shareholders, suppliers and customers, and are parties which invest or have dealings with the firm. The third group, External stakeholders, are those not directly linked to the organisation but who can be influenced or influence activities of the firm through various means. External stakeholders include the Government, neighbours, pressure groups, local councils and the surrounding community.

As well as stakeholders, organisations and the people involved with them are expected to adhere to written and unwritten ethical boundaries. The degree to which these are adhered depends upon as varied a mixture as government enforced action to simply the moral fibre of a manager or employee. On occasions only the ‘eye of the beholder’ can truly acknowledge whether the moral considerations were taken on board when making a decision. This makes gauging an organisations ethical stance very difficult as the image they portray to the public may not match the internal reality. ‘The ethical environment refers to justice, respect for the law and a moral code. The conduct of an organisation, its management and employees will be measured against ethical standards by the customers, suppliers and other members of the public with whom they deal’ ( HNC / HND BTEC (2002) ‘BUSINESS COURSE BOOK: Organisations, Competition and Environment’ P267).

During the course of this study, the effect of stakeholders and ethical / moral issues on organisations will be investigated at depth using various theories and research.

Stakeholders are found in all organisations, businesses or firms – from a local grocer store to huge multinational companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Microsoft. The number of stakeholders per business will vary as will their importance and influence. The type of organisation or product / service it supplies will also determine its stakeholders. A Public Limited Corporation may have far more stakeholders than a family owned business due to its vast numbers of shareholders. As too might a Nuclear Power Station such as Sellafield which may have many more stakeholders from the environment groups (Greenpeace / ‘Save the World’ etc) / government / local residents / trade unions than a more ‘low risk’ facility or industry. However, as recent events such as the ‘Foot and Mouth Epidemic’ / BSE, and recent reports into colourings in packaged foods, it is impossible to predict when an organisation will gain new stakeholders – either of the wanted or unwanted kind.

The arrival of a new stakeholder often provides the company with an ethical dilemma of how to (or how not to) satisfy this new member’s needs, whilst avoiding conflict with the present stakeholders. In an ideal world a fine balance could be achieved to satisfy all stakeholders whilst obtaining the organisations goals in profit and sales (often profit maximisation and / or sales maximisation). However certain stakeholders may have completely conflicting measurements of success, resulting in one stakeholder being rewarded having a detrimental effect on another stakeholder.

Perhaps the main form of stakeholder approach / management is the “Stakeholder Corporation” concept. Its authors, Wheeler and Sillanpaa, argue that ‘In the future, development of loyal relationships with customers, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders will become one of the most important determinants of commercial viability and business success. Increasing shareholders value will be best served if your company cultivates the support of all who may influence its importance’. This firmly supports the concept of ‘stakeholder symbiosis’ which believes all stakeholders are dependant upon one another when achieving success and financial well-being.

Whilst this appears an ideal scenario theory, it takes little account of conflicting stakeholders, whose personal perspectives of success may be situated at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. In a theoretical situation it may seem viable to appease all stakeholders with a fine balance of benefits and concessions, but human behaviour tends to diversify over time – with certain parties deeming themselves ‘winners’ or ‘losers’ in the scale of organisational fairness. The Premiership footballer is a prime example of a stakeholder in an organisation (club) who carries extreme power and often gets what he wants even if it has a detrimental effect. Despite his obvious privileges over other stakeholders such as fans, ground staff and the local community, he will often not be content unless his financial gains are on a par with fellow team-mates, and the finance is in the hands of this select minority. Operations and activities at the club may be designed around satisfying the present ‘high profile’ stakeholders with little consideration for the long-term effect. The fall from grace and into bankruptcy of Leeds United Football Club being the most widely publicised case.

‘Stakeholder Power: Four Gates of Engagement’ is a theory put forward by Steven Walker and Jeffrey Marr. It presents a practical framework for assessing stakeholder group commitment levels. It is their view that organisations must be proactive in their approach to relationships with potential stakeholders in order for the stakeholder to want a relationship back. In order to achieve this the framework suggests the organisation / stakeholder relationship should pass sequentially through the ‘four gates’ of Awareness, Knowledge, Admiration and Action. Each time a gate is passed, the relationship gains attributes, hopefully ultimately resulting in an Action relationship where the two strive towards multi-beneficial goals and aims. Similarly to ‘The Stakeholder Corporation’, in theory it appears common sense, but for firms with many stakeholders, as with any relationship, the more groups or individuals involved the higher the possibility of conflict. It may be viable to maintain a strong ‘Action’ relationship if the company has few stakeholders, but to keep hundreds of stakeholders happy must be at the expense of others.

Another approach to stakeholder management, described by Freeman, is to analyse to what extent an organisation has developed its Stakeholder Management Capability (SMC). Similar to the above fore-mentioned approach, SMC provides three levels in which an organisation can address its stakeholders – Level 1: The Rational Level, Level 2: The Process Level and Level 3: The Transactional Level. At the level 1 stage a company simply identifies its stakeholders and what their stakes maybe. Level 2 organisations have actually developed and applied processes or procedures to collate data and information on their stakeholders. This information is then used for decision-making. Level 3 organisations are in a position were their managers interact with stakeholders and form relationships. ‘At this highest level of SMC, the management must take the initiative in meeting stakeholders face to face and attempting to be responsive to their needs’. (Hannagan, T (2002), ‘Management: Concepts and Practices’ P87.) An organisation deemed to be in the Transactional level must be open to criticism and willing to respond if it is to keep strong relationship ties with its stakeholders. However stakeholder demands or actions which are detrimental to the company, its operations or other stakeholders must be dealt with in a strong managerial style as and when they occur.

In the case of organisations and in particular multi-national firms, it is increasingly the case that stakeholders are aware of what that company does in other countries in which it operates. Therefore concessions or benefits which have been readily agreed in one country may be demanded in another, yet cannot be afforded as easily. For years, companies such as Nike have used ‘cheap’ and sometimes ‘child’ labour to manufacture their products in countries such as China and India. Whilst extremely profitable to the company in financial terms and providing the employees in these developing countries probably a better lifestyle than they would otherwise expect, the firms ethics have been continuously called into question. Perhaps a more long-term approach would have recognised earlier the stakeholder potential of large developing countries like China, India and Malaysia.

Ethical issues between employees and management can have serious effects on a company. Unethical employment practices such as discrimination (by creed, age, sex etc), harassment (sexually, physically etc) and poor standards of health and safety can severely damage an organisations image. Poor employment relations can lead to loss of reputation, low productivity, poor morale amongst staff and heavy financial costs resulting from tribunals and compensation pay-outs. Firms, which seek to exploit cheap labour in underdeveloped countries, risk alienating both their customers and the governments in their home and host countries. An ethical and socially responsible employer should recognise that a safe working environment with pleasant conditions has a motivational effect on staff and thus increases their loyalty and commitment towards the firm in general.

Some firms have set procedures which outline the ethical responsibilities

the company has to certain stakeholder groups. The car manufacture Daimler-Chrysler has recently implemented an ‘employment pact’, thus demonstrating the importance the company places in ethical responsibility to its employees. The Daimler-Chrysler web-site quoted ‘The Daimler-Chrysler Company illustrates that companies can balance the needs of different stakeholders if alternative arrangements are put in place…They have negotiated an ‘employment pact’ which effectively guarantees 6000 jobs in their German plants until 2012, in addition to structures allowing for an increase in productivity and the long-term competitiveness of the Mercedes car group’. Taken from Daimler Chrysler’s website. By agreeing such a pact, the management of Daimler-Chrysler are removing the burden of redundancy from their employees for a set period of time, thus increasing a sense of importance, self-worth and security amongst the workers. However, a large scale slump (although unlikely) in the sales of these vehicles could see the company paying ‘idle’ workers, which would most certainly displease other stakeholders, in particular shareholders.

The main question that has arisen from my research is whether or not the theories, which have been put forward, are realistic. The various economists, researchers and theorists have suggested many models and structures which supposingly represent ‘best practice’, but in how many organisations is this actually the case or is likely to be the case in the future? International economy trends suggest that the complete opposite to an ‘ethical stakeholder economy’ may be developing. ‘The growth of multinational corporations, with their ability to move finance and production to wherever it is most profitable, has weakened the power of employees, local interest groups and even national governments’. (Sloman, John & Sutcliffe, Mark (2004) ‘Economics for Business’, 3RD Edition – Prentice Hall P286).
The expansion of multinational organisations can result in employees of very different backgrounds with few common bonds or interests. This, I feel, makes them less likely to join together to promote common beneficial goals and in extreme cases leads to employees vying against each other for a limited number of positions.

For example, the company for which I am employed has become increasingly disillusioned with the lack of employees willing to work overtime at weekends. As a result and with the aid of an agency, the company has brought several workers of Polish origin to the organisation. These employees have limited contracts, receive less remuneration and are not entitled to the normal workforce privileges of ‘time and a half’ on Saturdays and ‘double time’ on Sundays. However, the early results in terms of profitability look promising and unfulfilled customer orders are now being met. This is against an offset of varying displeasure amongst the original workforce and local community, with some employees aggrieved over the loss of overtime and potential job vacancies for local friends and family.

As highlighted above, many firms are employing larger numbers of temporary, part-time, casual and agency workers. This is part due to their high availability under the new ‘flexible labour markets’ created by the EU and government deregulation in the mid 1990′s. These workers have very little say in the way the company is run due to the ease in which they can be ‘hired and fired’. Couple this with share incentive schemes for managers (resulting in increased emphasis on profits), the present and future scenario appears one where ethical duties and less powerful stakeholders are given very little consideration or in fact their opinions dismissed!

A higher emphasis must also be placed on organisations to provide precise and honest information, particularly were it affects the public good. Extreme penalties must be inflicted on those who flaunt the truth if repeats of the Enron scandal are to be avoided. Firms cannot simply be content with providing the information the clients want to hear when the actuality is a far different scenario. Perhaps a part solution to this would be for every Public Limited Company (PLC) and Private Limited Company (Ltd) to annually be audited by an external independent accountant. This Accountant / Specialist would be given a ‘free hand’ in regards to all company figures. A confidentiality clause would be in place and only illegal or fraudulent activities would be reported.

Perception questionnaires and audits are common practice in many modern organisations as they attempt to gauge their image amongst customers. These audits, perhaps, should be more widespread to include all stakeholders and, in the case of many firms, the general public and their opinions.

Scandals such as the Enron Power Company ‘cover-up’ and similar smaller scale scandals have seriously affected public confidence like that at the telecommunications firm OneTel. Lack of public confidence can endanger key structures of our everyday lives, such as democracy and the market place. No organisation, firm or society can function to its full potential when trust is continuously being eroded by cynicism.

Find More Motoring Organisations Articles

Tuscan Organisation always in the forefront when it comes to bring in better technologies and strategies with regards to direct marketing. The industry has also got its competition, but Tuscan Organisation with its healthy strategies and competent sales force has been able to keep a consistent performance. The huge customer data base has enabled Tuscan to know which product and market to pounce upon. The value based planning ensures that client get the advantage of the wide market that they intend to put their product. The company has been able to successfully ensure to make their presence in almost every niche area of that demand for supply.

Tuscan Organisation believes that direct marketing is all about demand and supply and you have to be on your foot every time to keep the tempo of supply without any lapse.

The company works in accordance to make sure not to dump too much or cause delay in supply, this may give chance to competitors to fill the gap. Tuscan also ensures the promotions of product through various sources and media to generate knowledge among customers. The potential of a particular product/market is closely studied before introducing new things. It is purely based on these facts that Tuscan chalks out various plans to embark on the opportunity.

The sales personals are well versed in the related field and know how to gain better returns on investment. Many of our clients are known for their quality product, and Tuscan only has to capitalize on the goodwill by taking out better marketing strategy.

Marketing is all about knowing the product and Tuscan realizes this to makes deliberate efforts to pump more information in ways to promotional and new campaigns for better prospects.

With rich marketing experience and the best of personnel, Tuscan has been able to make most of market deals easily. The growing list of customer is another feather in the cap of Tuscan Organisation that shows it growing success.

 

Carjam Car Radio Show — A Car Show About People Website: www.kclr96fm.com Twitter: www.twitter.com Youtube: www.youtube.com The standard Safe Practices for Motor Vehicle Operations, ANSI/ASSE Z15.1, defines defensive driving as “driving to save lives, time, and money, in spite of the conditions around you and the actions of others.”[1] This definition is taken from the National Safety Council’s Defensive Driving Course. It is a form of training for motor vehicle drivers that goes beyond mastery of the rules of the road and the basic mechanics of driving. Its aim is to reduce the risk of driving by anticipating dangerous situations, despite adverse conditions or the mistakes of others. This can be achieved through adherence to a variety of general rules, as well as the practice of specific driving techniques. Roadcraft is the UK’s police handbook that outlines a system of car and motorcycle control split into four phases represented by the acronym PSGA: Information received from the outside world by observation, and given by use of signals such as direction indicators, headlamp flashes, and horn; is now no longer included within the phases of the system but used as a general theme running continuously throughout the application of the system by taking, using and giving information; Position on the road optimised for safety, visibility and correct routing, followed by best progress; Speed appropriate to the hazard being approached, attained via explicit braking or throttle …

Textile industry in India holds a unique place. It is primarily concerned with production, manufacturing and distribution of yarn and cloth. It uses the products of chemical industry for the natural or synthetic raw material that us used in the production. Prior to 17th century, the individual workers did this process of manufacturing, production and distribution and transported the goods around the country. But later on, many organizations grew up and thus resulting in the growth of the textile industry. In this article, we shall talk about a progressive organisation i.e. TT Limited.

Thy name is comfort

TT Limited is a progressive organisation that makes huge investments in maintaining the quality of the goods it produces and thus resulting in innovating marketing. It is a 60-year-old flagship company of TT group.

Dr. Rikhab Chand Jain founded it. It is the only cotton company. It uses the world’s best fiber to produce cotton. Its cotton is globally known and delivers it all around the world.

It owns the leadership in the domestic market with 25 franchise production units at eight different locations. Pakistan and Bangladesh are its overseas representatives. The company produces all these products in its 5 main manufacturing units.They are Garjoula spinning Mill, Gangeshwar spinning Mill, Garjoula Knitting mill under one roof, Tirupathi Spinning Mill, Gopershwar Ginning Mills, Gopeshwar Spinning Mills and Garment Factory.

An extensive product line & Market Reach

TT Limited has a wide product line ranging from raw cotton of India origin, to 100% cotton yarn in all counts (combed and carded) for both weaving and knitting to knitted fabrics of all varieties, knitted innerwear (undergarments), garments of all varieties for men’s wear, ladies wear and kids, cotton and polyester sewing thread and agro-commodities.

Along with this, the company has a huge market for the sale of these products such as Raw cotton in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China; Yarn in India, Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong, China; Fabric in India, Bangladesh, Europe, USA; Inner & Casual wear in India, USA, Europe, Middle East, and agri products in Veitnam, Serbia, Malaysia and Bangladesh to name a few. The main objective of the company is to serve the customers to their satisfaction. It serves the best quality and service. Safeguarding the interest of the customers is the prime duty of the organisation.

To elaborate further, TT limited has been the recipient of several awards for its exceptional quality and export performance. The company has the honor to receive recognition of trading house in 2010. The company has its yarn certified as environment friendly. Also, the ISO – 9001 certification approves the T.T. approach to quality and enables it to meet customer’s requirements.

Concluding we can say, TT Limited is the shining and the most focus industry for India. TT is ready to play the world cup in cotton by enjoying the fruits of cotton. It is the company’s policy not to speculate, not to gamble and not to undertake high-risk deals. Their motto is Slow but steady growth. The Company does not interfere with free play of share & securities market.

Parties and Events today are not just a reason to celebrate a birthday, wedding or anniversary but are organised to celebrate corporate success, product presentations, promotional events, Children’s Shows, jubilee organizing, kids show etc. These events also provide additional advantages related to socialization, relationship building and client engagement.

Events are thoroughly enjoyed when they are well planned. Planning an event with perfection is a tough and time consuming task. For this purpose there are many event organization companies. These organizations are expert at making an event an unforgettable memory. Event organization companies have contacts with artist agency that can help make the function more interesting. They can very well plan for events like Children’s Shows or kids show, corporate events and jubilee organizing.

The major benefits of having a professional event planner are –

Hire the Experts – Like mentioned before, organizing a Children’s Shows or kids show, corporate events, jubilee organizing or any other event is not an easy task. It requires complete perfection to make sure that the guests have a great time. There are many things to be taken care off while organizing an event like the decoration, food, invitations, theme etc. Arranging all this requires you to have complete knowledge of the market the various services offered. Event organization companies deal with such preparations daily and are well aware of the thought that needs to be put in for different kind of event planning. Hence by hiring an event organization company you take a smart step.

Market Awareness – Event organization companies are updated with the latest trends in the market when it comes to party organization. Each event that takes place introduces a new kind of hospitality trend to amuse the guests. This is amongst the many key points that make the event a memorable one. Event organization companies make sure that the event hosted by you is in no way away from the trends being followed.

Theme Management – Events are organized for different reasons like Children’s Shows or kid’s show, corporate events, jubilee organizing etc. Hence each has a different theme to follow. For e.g. a kid’s show/ children’s show will have a different plan with regards to the decoration, food and activities when compared to corporate events. To do this with precision is the job of the event organization company. They also come up with innovative ideas to make events dedicated to pure celebration and fun a memorable one.

Time and Money Saving – With so much preparation to do one requires a lot of time to be invested. Since event organization companies are specialist in the field of event planning they very well know the suppliers that can complete the job instantly and charge less. They have good connections with the best of the suppliers and know where to get the right stuff in the stipulated budget. Hence hiring an event organization company will save you time and money effectively.

Complete Handover – Organizing an event requires a lot of ownership to be taken up. Event Organization Company takes care of all the arrangement required. They engage the best DJs, bands, caterers, decorators, entertainment agency and artist agency to have a perfect event. Even during the event they keep an eye on all the arrangements making sure nothing goes wrong.

Hence if you are planning to have a Children’s Shows or kid’s show, corporate events, jubilee organizing or any other event, consider entrusting all the arrangements to a an Event Organization Company to organize a fun filled event without much hassle.

 Bedrijfsevenement 

 Bedrijfsfeest organiseren 

 

More Motoring Organisations Articles

“The Roman god Janus had two sets of eyes–one pair focusing on what lay behind, the other on what lay ahead.”[1] This very characteristic is what makes business, sporting, church and aid organisations supremely successful–simultaneously nimble to navigate to a prosperous future and able to consolidate present opportunities–and hence achieve to a work-class standard.

The core of this high-performing organisation is a dual focus on both the present (aligning outcomes to the present reality) and the future (adapting outcomes to the perceived future needs). The Ambidextrous Organisation is based upon the integration of two once diametrically-opposed business models.

Being able to master the principles of adaptability and alignment simultaneously means performing ambidextrously. These organisations have learned to hold the tensions resplendent in exploring opportunities with exploiting opportunities evenly, without losing balance to either.

For the organisation which works from the premise of predominantly aligning itself with today’s reality, the foci is mechanistic and operational and it needs to be authoritative and top-down in its approach to problem solving.

The organisation which centres itself on adapting, however, has a much more innovative, visionary and entrepreneurial scope. The former is low risk, the latter high risk.[2]

The problem for organisations which focus too highly on one area as compared with the other, however, is they risk being caught out by the ever-changing business environment or world context, or they perhaps may not attend to the needs of the day in shoring up the present and hence providing for the future.

Then, when organisations do embrace ambidexterity, they invariably fall into the ‘structural ambidexterity trap’–they separate out approaches to innovation and alignment by creating separate departments for each rather than integrating adaptive functions with aligning functions.

Separate ‘business improvement’ departments (a.k.a. “silos”) are hence counterproductive in the business sense. The same theory works for any organisation as the overall communication flows and decision-making are stifled in silos. It promotes an awkward ‘us and them’ philosophy to business.

Contextual ambidexterity, on the other hand, works at the level of not only the organisation, but the individual employee too. Think of a worker who can service both the current role and foresee and respond to future needs, simultaneously, through their choice.

This worker is more likely to be working for a leader/organisation that values and enables ambidexterity. They empower the individual by allowing them personal choice on the “activities to pursue in their day-to-day work.”[3] This might seem a luxury to some, but high-performing organisations are also high-trust organisations. They have to be.

The leader of the contextually ambidextrous organisation can also have the freedom to act outside of structural constraints to achieve good business outcomes. There is sufficient organisational tolerance which allows him or her to achieve innovatively.

Ambidextrous Leadership is the espoused management of, “Different alignments [both exploring/adapting and exploiting/aligning] held together through senior-team integration, common vision and values, and common senior-team rewards.”[4] It’s entirely integrative and holistic in its approach with both an eye on the present as well as the future.

ENDNOTES:
[1] Charles A. O’Reilly III & Michael L. Tushman, The Ambidextrous Organization (Harvard Business Review: On Point, 2004), p. 2. Available online: hig.se/~lbn/Kurser/InnovationMgmt/Ambidextrous_OReilly_Tushman_2004.pdf (There are strict copyright controls in place for this work.)
[2] O’Reilly & Tushman, Ibid, p. 8.
[3] Julian Birkinshaw & Cristina Gibson, The Ambidextrous Organisation: Executive Briefing (Advanced Institute of Management [AIM] Research, Oct 2005), p. 5. Available online: aimresearch.org/aim-publications/executive-briefing
[4] O’Reilly & Tushman, Op cit, p. 8.

Tackling severe road congestion and unpredictable weather conditions, is still a challenge but help is at hand for the AA, which after 105 years with road-based patrols, is putting patrols in the sky for the first time. The AA has secretly been testing specially adapted AA Jetpacks at Dunsfold Aerodrome near Guildford to help patrols get to vehicles that other motoring organisations cannot reach.

It has been brought to light that the household or organisation which has not practiced general fire safety guidelines imposed by the UK government is more likely to catch fire as compared to those which have followed. At this juncture, some of you may be wondering what the general fire safety guidelines are. Well, let me enlighten you.

A simple type of fire-fighting equipment which can be used in both households and buildings is the fire bucket. This is so because even the most conventional person will know how to use it. Moreover, it is also very convenient. These fire buckets come with a lid. The purpose of this lid is to prevent dust and other impurities from entering.

In the ever-changing world, even the buckets have been improved. They have not only been improved in terms of physical appeal but also in their contents. Conventional fire buckets are filled with either water or sand.

However, buckets these days can be filled with Flamezorb, a non-hazardous composite which smothers combustion. However, they still are only able to hold up to 10 litres or 2 kilograms of contents in them.

The second item in the general fire safety guidelines is to have a well equipped warden. Fire wardens are necessary in any organisation. These personnel are trained to handle any kind of fire accidents which may occur in your organisation. To aid your employees in identifying these wardens, they must be dressed in a striking fire warden vest. Your warden should also be equipped with a fire warden kit. This kit should mainly comprise of a warden sign, a 10w megaphone, an aerosol gas horn and a high visibility LED torch with batteries.

The most crucial item in the general safety guidelines is to have proper documentation of all fire safety activity, including fire drills, fire risk assessment and fire safety equipment maintenance.

These documents should be handed to a Fire Officer without hesitation upon command.

As such, it is essential to maintain a fire log book. Your log book should have sections to aid in easy recording of activities. If a log book with the fire regulations is available, that would be ideal.

If a fire has occurred despite following these safety guidelines, there will be no penalty imposed. However, if investigators find that the general safety guidelines were not followed, a penalty may be imposed. I can sense the tension in you now. Stop waiting and go about doing the necessary.

The UK plays host to numerous types of event each year, with many drawing huge crowds from across the country. Exhibitions, markets, fairs, shows and concerts are all frequently attended and enjoyed by the masses. Some events are sufficiently low-key or small-scale as to require little planning, while most demand more attention from organisers. When dealing with events both large and small, organisers may wish to consider using cherry pickers to complete certain jobs.

As suggested by its name, a cherry picker is a mechanical device that enables people to work at height. This type of powered access equipment can be deployed for all manner of activities and are often used by tree surgeons, electrical engineers and council maintenance workers. Extending to a height of up to 20 metres or so, a standard model can be used to good effect by event organisers who need to set up stalls, marquees, overhead signage and so on.

In fact, event organisers will find that there are a great many uses for them when it comes to planning an event.

Before exploring the many uses for powered access equipment in event organisation, it would be useful to note the importance of adhering to health and safety laws. Working at height can be extremely dangerous, with thousands of workers in the UK each year suffering serious injuries after falling from rooftops, cherry pickers, fork-lift trucks, ladders and so on.

To avoid injury, the Health and Safety Executive advises all operators to ensure that the job has been properly planned prior to execution, taking into account all relevant risks. Cherry pickers should be deployed on level ground, avoiding soft or uneven surfaces. Poor weather can also affect the stability of this type of powered access equipment, so event organisers are urged to exercise caution when working in high winds or heavy rain. Organisers should also ensure that cherry pickers are inspected by a qualified individual once every six months and that deployed cherry pickers are inspected on site to ensure they are safe and in good working order.

As mentioned above, event organisers can utilise this equipment for a number of tasks that require working at height. It is often the case that ladders cannot be used for certain jobs, which is one of the reasons why cherry pickers are so useful in event planning. Cherry pickers enable workers to access hard-to-reach areas at height with little or no physical exertion required (unlike working on top of ladders). They can also be moved easily from one place to another and most are capable of being driven while elevated.

Many events require bespoke signage, banners, advertisements and decorations, which are often best displayed at height. Cherry pickers enable workers to quickly and safely install such notices, while the devices may also be used to carry out installation or maintenance tasks inside buildings, such as on light fixtures or overhead electrical systems. Perhaps a hall needs new sound speakers, disco lighting or CCTV cameras – they can facilitate such tasks.

Event organisers may also require cherry pickers to clear or prepare areas for an event. Organisers must take health and safety into consideration when planning an event, which could mean that cherry pickers are required to help landscape an area in anticipation of large crowds. Overhanging tree branches, for example, can be made safe using this type of equipment at outdoor events such as concerts and motoring exhibitions. Power and transmission cables, safety nets, digital displays, LED screens and all sorts of other fixtures and fittings can be installed and maintained by workers using cherry pickers in order to prepare a venue.

Related Motoring Organisations Articles