• At A Glance
• Vision and Strategy
• Culture and Values
• People
• Governance and Policy
  • Serco Management System
  • Our Ethics
  • Corporate Governance
  • Policy Statements
  • Corporate Responsibility
  • Risk Management
  • Quality Management
  • Corporate Assurance
  • Procurement
• Health Safety and Welfare
• Environment
• Social Responsibility
• Corporate Responsibility Reports

Devolved But Controlled

Our business model is far from conventional:  Serco has more than 600 contracts, each managed like a business in its own right.  This encourages a customer centred, entrepreneurial management style.  The challenge is to foster this responsiveness and initiative at contract level while ensuring effective governance and controls from the centre.  Our solution is a unique combination of structure and management system.  We have a relatively flat hierarchy in which decisions are made as closely as possible to the point of delivery; while the Serco Management System ensures accountability, providing effective but unobtrusive controls.

By focusing on our customers we can maintain the crucial relationships that are essential for a long-term association.  We believe in decisions being made as close to the point of delivery as possible, which results in a devolved organisation and ‘bottom up’ style management processes working with clear direction.  This creates demands on the organisation to give a wide range of people the understanding that they need to make good decisions that are in line with the company’s objectives and values.  The consequence of this is that we end up with the real culture embedded throughout the organisation.

We therefore operate from within devolved companies that place decision-making close to the point of service delivery, have clear and short lines of communication and, importantly, enable staff within those companies to know each other and to feel part of a team.  This enables those in the organisation who are best positioned to make decisions, to undertake tasks and accept responsibility to do so irrespective of hierarchy.  We therefore provide support at an appropriate level that seeks to leave contracts free to manage themselves but provides the benefits of being part of a large organisation.

The Serco Group plc Board defines overall delegated authority to management within the company.  Day to day executive management of the company is the responsibility of the Executive team.  Supported by a number of Group functions they focus on external stakeholder relationships, setting the strategic direction for the Group and maintining the appropriate controls in the underlying business.

The business is then operated through a number of business divisions that focus on delivering value and growth.  This is achieved within aframework defined by the Serco Management System by establishing, implementing and continually improving the effectiveness of appropriate systems, processes and procedures to apply Group policy and to ensure compliance in its application.

This structure devolves decision making downwards towards our customers, while the Serco management system ensures an upward line of accountability and control to the Serco Group plc Board.  This structure enables us to be flexible in responding to the management challenges of effectively operating a diverse business base.