Management Structures

Internal management structures are different for each company and organisation and vary on the size and type of business. Understanding the different types of business can be useful to understand how decisions are made, for example a smaller company might only have one decision maker for the choice of images and often a quicker decision and payment, where as a larger company may have a board of people who will debate before making a decision on the selection of the images.

 

Companies can be:

Sole Traders

These are where there is only one person working for the company who basically do everything, except for any work they choose to outsource to other companies, for example printing.

Partnerships

With these companies there are two or more partners who run the business, but a very important thing to note here is that ALL partners are legally liable for each others actions ! Partnerships can employ a number of people. Here the decision process may involve all the partners, which can slow down the approval process.

Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP)

These are basically partnerships, but with limited liability, basically preventing the partners from personal bankruptcy in the event the business failed. Again here the decision process may involve all the partners, which can slow down the approval process.

Limited Company

These are companies who have limited liability, which prevents the proprietor, owner, Managing Director from personal bankruptcy in the event of the company failing. All limited companies have to file their audited accounts at Companies House. Here specific departments may deal with you.

 

Public Limited Companies (PLC)

These are companies where shares are sold to people, who become shareholders in the company. With these companies there are a large number of people working for them and decisions are often made by a board of directors.

 

The Client

With the management structure in the case of a project, it is very important to identify the key responsibilities and who is responsible for each of them, and sometimes who is responsible in their absence for the client. In larger companies you could find yourself dealing with the marketing department, senior directors and their finance department. You might also end up dealing with their credit control department. It is important to always maintain an up to date list of contacts, and maintain contact at all times, ideally in writing (email, fax or letter) as any disputes at a later date can sometimes be resolved by producing an email or letter which contained any instructions which are being disputed.

For this project the key responsibilities are:

 

The Initial Contact

 

Sometimes you will have one contact at a client's company, who made the initial contact, and this is the person who you will report to during the whole project. They will handle the final decision and often liaise with their finance department to ensure that payment is made. Other times though, they will pass you on to other people for the decision process and payment of the invoice(s).

 

Key decision maker

 

If different from the initial contact, this is the person, or people who responsible for deciding on which of the images they are happy with. If there is more than one, the decision can take longer.

 

Financial department (accounts payable, purchase ledger, etc)

 

These are who are responsible for paying invoices. It is important here to be careful over payment terms as some will pay on terms of 90 days from the date of the invoice. It is therefore very important to get the terms of payment sorted out prior to starting any work. Many companies have failed due to payments for work being held back due to excessive payment terms, causing cash flow problems.

 

For the photographer

Like with the client, the decision process can vary depending on the size of the company.

 

For this project, I will look at a self employed photographer, a sole trader.

 

Here the photographer is responsible for everything involved with their side of the project, including selection, and hire, of equipment (including props, etc), where necessary, time management, choosing and travelling to location(s), booking of a studio (if necessary), booking of accommodation, taking the photographs, post production, printing and delivery of the final prints (or images on DVD) to the client and invoicing (and often chasing for payment) for the job.

Sometimes a photographer may outsource some work, like employing an agent to choose a suitable location, having images printed by an external company, etc, but these costs must be included in the final invoice and therefore can push up the bill with, in some cases, little more for the photographer. It is important to note that as the photographer is liable for their side of the work they are responsible for all the work carried out by them and anyone they appoint.