Question 1 (12 marks)

Identify an organisation of your choice within the retail industry and answer the following questions:

Identify three levels of management at your chosen organisation. Provide a relevant example of each in your answer. (6)

Review your answer in Question 1.1. Identify an objective formulated at each level of your chosen organisation and provide one example for each level. (6)

Question 2 (12 marks)

Read the scenario below and answer the question that follows.

XY School Wear

Ms XY identifies as a female and is the owner and CEO of XY Sneakers, a small enterprise located in Johannesburg. The business is growing very well, and Ms XY has hired more employees, but she faces challenges in establishing some form of control in the production department or facility.

2.1 Based on the scenario above, discuss the four steps that Ms XY could take to establish some form of control in the production department or facility. Provide one example for each step.

Tip: Apart from using the prescribed study guide, you need to do some research and use a minimum of two sources to show your understanding of the question. (12)

Question 3 (6 marks)

Read the scenario below and answer the questions that follow:

Z Surgery

Mr Z is a medical doctor, who identifies as a male and owns ZZ Surgery. Mr Z has employed three medical interns to assist him. The interns trust him so much that they always consult with him if there is something that they do not understand regarding a patient. Mr Z has also employed a receptionist and a cleaner. Mr Z decides on whether to give bonuses based on the surgery’s financial performance.

Identify the two types of power displayed in the scenario and support your answer with evidence from the scenario. (2)

Research and identify two business leaders who each possess one of the types of power mentioned in your answer to Question 3.1 (i.e. one example of each type of power). Motivate your answer and cite at least two sources to support your answer. (4)

SECTION B (35 MARKS) – ESSAY QUESTION

Question 1 (35 marks)

Read the case study below and answer the question that follows.

Lifestyle: Travel – Sakhumzi Restaurant

One of the beneficiaries of this economic transformation is a visionary entrepreneur, Sakhumzi Maqubela, who identifies as a male and is the founder of Sakhumzi Restaurant. In 2001, Sakhumzi turned his three-bedroom house into the first restaurant in Vilakazi Street.

His dream, which was born when he met with his friends every day under a tree in his yard to have some drinks and some takeaway kasi or township meals, has now become one of the main attractions in Vilakazi Street and Soweto. Today, Sakhumzi is sharing his dream and meals not only with his friends, but with Sowetans, South Africans, and the global community.

Sakhumzi Restaurant: Exploring new avenues

The start of Sakhumzi
When Maqubela shared beers with friends under a tree at his family home in 2000, he could not have imagined that it would become the site of one of Soweto’s most popular restaurants and tourist destinations.

The entrepreneur
Maqubela moved with his parents and sister into a three-bedroom house in Vilakazi Street, Orlando West when he was eight years old. His father worked at a bank, but had previously owned a small but profitable beverage distribution business and that is what inspired his passion for business. Maqubela also preferred to spend his time making money by selling sweets and doing photography, rather than studying.

When he finished school, in 1991, Maqubela and his girlfriend – who was pregnant with his child – returned to Soweto and the house on Vilakazi Street. He saw other unemployed youngsters in Soweto with time on their hands resort to crime and realised that he had to find a job.

Maqubela ended up specialising in computer and automatic teller machine (ATM) repairs and devised ways of saving the bank money by refining the logging and repair process. “I applied myself to the job, finding better ways of managing the system, new ways of saving the bank time and money. I was thinking for the bank – but then I started wanting to think for myself”, he said (Gaylard, 2014a). As an ATM technician, Maqubela spent much of his time waiting for the phone to ring with his next job. Sometimes with hours on his hands, he would spend time at his home in Vilakazi Street, “chilling” with friends in the garden next to the street.

“I would entertain almost every day. We would hang out together under the tree, and I would serve everyone beers and cold-drinks – and then, come Friday, everyone would say to me: ‘Where’s the party?’ That was when my wife and I started cooking for everyone, inviting them in. It was a matter of having to share my supper, after the beers had run dry”, Maqubela laughed.

Entrepreneurship is very important to the economic and social development of South Africa. With a high unemployment rate in South Africa, we need entrepreneurs like Sakhumzi Maqubela, who are willing to take risks and develop, organise and manage a business undertaking in a competitive global marketplace that is constantly evolving.

With reference to the case study above, conduct additional research on entrepreneurship and Sakhumzi Restaurant and prepare a well-integrated essay, using the table outlined below.

Answers to Above Questions on Busines Management

Answer 1: The management of an organisation is not an easy task especially when the organisation is operating at a very large level. Basically there are three levels of management and these are classified as top level management that is responsible for looking after all the strategic and operations related decisions, secondly is middle level management that is responsible for executing the plans and policies within the organisation, and finally it is the low level management that is entrusted with the responsibility of executing the task. In order to analyse the three levels of Management, the South African retail organisation that is selected is Shoprite Holdings which is one of the largest South African retailers.