How HRM orperate within any oraganisation Essay

Introduction to the assignment The aim of this assignment is to see how Human Resources operate within any organisation, and why it is important to have effective Human Resource Management. There are many things such as, Human resource planning, Recruitment and Selection and Training and Development which helps a company to achieve its objectives. For a business to achieve its objective it must have the right number of employees with the right qualification and training to meet the needs of the company. The Human Resources department of a company will check if an employee has the right qualification and training to carry out its job. 2.0 Introduction to the company J Sainsbury plc is the 12th largest food retailer in the US, and strong regional player, with 185 stores. It has interests in financial services and property. The group comprises Sainsbury’s Supermarkets and Sainsbury’s Bank in the UK and Shaw’s Supermarkets in the US. 2.1 Background history John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury founded Sainsbury in 1869. They opened their first small dairy shop at 173 Drury Lane, London. Drury Lane was one of London’s poorest areas and the Sainsburys’ shop quickly became popular for offering high-quality products at low prices. It was so successful that further branches were opened in other market streets such as Stepney, Islington and Kentish Town. By 1882 John James Sainsbury had four shops and had plans to expand his business further. He opened a depot in Kentish Town, northwest London, to supply this growing chain and, built bacon kilns, which produced the first Sainsbury brand product on the same site. It was also in 1882 that John James opened his first branch in the prosperous suburb of Croydon. This shop sold a wide range of ‘high-class’ provisions and was more elaborately decorated than the earlier shops. Between 1890 and 1900 Sainsbury was very well known store. It was making high profits that it managed to treble its branches from 16 to 48. The branches were increasing rapidly that by end of 1994 they had 360 stores in Britain 2.2 Location Sainsbury is a big food store, which operates in different countries. It has opened 25 new stores, extended 27 and refurbished 90 adding 889,000 sq ft of sales area to the network. 2.3 Product Sainsbury sells wide range of foods and other household products. Sainsbury’s quality food is a priority for their customers and a key component for their brands. They have invested in their food ranges and during the year they have improved or developed over 3,200 products. Their own label sub brands are again amongst the best in the UK. For over 130 years Sainsbury’s supermarket has been committed to supporting British farming. They have a policy of buying British and labelling it as a British product. They sell over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½6 billion worth of British food each year. Sainsbury is able to find out the advantages and the disadvantages of its home brand products by testing them before launching it into the market. This helps them to make a decision whether or not to launch it in the market. By testing the products they are now able to serve the best quality foods to the customers. This being an advantage will make the customers come back again and again to the store. 2.4 Profit As Sainsbury has managed to provide shareholders with good, sustainable financial returns and have an outstanding shopping environment as well as excellent customer service, it has made a tremendous profit over the past few years. For example: * It made 14 per cent underlying profit before taxation growth for the group after 2 years of decline and 10 per cent underlying operating profit growth for their supermarkets in the UK after 3 years of decline in 1996. * In the UK supermarket business, Sainsbury has achieved sales growth of 6.3 per cent excluding petrol (Easter contributing 0.3 per cent). This was Sainsbury’s best performance in over a decade. * Sainsbury’s current market share in London is 36 per cent. * Sainsbury’s saving of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½250 million will be reinvested in enhancing the customers offer, building sales and improving their operating margins. * More local supermarkets are opened in different places. 2.5 Customer service To listen to customers view and react quickly, Sainsbury trains their colleagues every 6 months to develop their abilities and Skills to do their job properly. Every year Sainsbury does one or two surveys to find out customers view about the business. By doing that they are able to see what customers want and how they can grow more into the market. For example in 2000 the data for Birmingham stores showed customers wants more longer opening hours, so instead of opening at 9am, they now open at 8am and closes at 10pm instead of 8pm. Another big thing that Sainsbury did to get more customers to the shop with them is that, they joined campuses that are already involved with the community and environment. There are many people who are interested in the community and the environment, so they will be shopping with Sainsbury more as they will also be helping the community and the environment. 3.0 Human resource management One of the most important tasks that involves personal department in a business is Human Resource Management (HRM). A business is only likely to achieve its objectives if its employees are used effectively. To do this the business should ensure that the Human Resources are planned successfully. Managing the performances of the employees is necessary to enable a business to function adequately. By accomplishing this, the business can ensure that the business remains competitive and find it easy to attain its objective. When HRM existed for the first time there were few changes in the organisation, like: * Companies realised that employees would only work their best for the company if the company gave the priority to meet the personal needs and objectives of its employees, instead of seeking to get the best out of employees just for the sake of the business, i.e. to help it to achieve its objectives. * ‘People work’ was not just the responsibility of the ‘personal’ department. It is the responsibility of all managers in an organisation – supported by specialists. The managers carry the responsibility for recruiting, selecting, appraisal and training in an organisation with employees rather then a specialist in a centralised HRM function. * HRM was given more status in the organisation, instead of being something carried on at lower levels of the organisation. HRM is now recognised as a key ‘strategic’ area of the organisation (e.g. one that needs to be given a high priority in organisational planning involving senior managers). Human Resource Management is a very important department with in any organisation as it plans ahead for the company. E.g. selects and recruits the right type of people (matches with the person specification) and train and develop their skills. 4.0 Human Resource Planning 4.1 Introduce HRP Human Resource Planning or personnel function of an organisation covers a Varity of activities. The term ‘Human Resources planning’ has largely replaced the old-fashioned word ‘Personnel’, which was used in the past. Human Resources Department need to forecasts how many and what types of employees it needs now and in the future. It also involves matching up the right type of employees to the needs of the business, and using them effectively, as well as developing their skills in order to meet the goals of the organisation. To do this they need a good understanding of the labour market in an area where they operate. In order to meet the organisation’s aims successfully, it needs to know how to use the past information to predict on how many employees are need in the future and to identify the means of using people in the most effective way, also to identify any problems that are likely to occur (for example, when recruiting the ‘best’ employee), and find ways to solve the problem which are identified. For instance, if a France-based retailing organisation decides to expand in to Germany and Italy, then it will need to identify: * The skills and competence it will need the new employees to have. * How many people with these capabilities it will able to recruit. * Ways of helping the employees to develop their requirements skills and also train them to do that. Human Resources deals with many other factors associated with employees. These includes: * Human resource or workforce planning * Recruitment and selection * Promotion and transfers * Appraisal and termination of employment * Disciplines * Rewards and conditions of employment * Working conditions * Career development and welfare * Wage bargaining There are two types of planning. One is called short term planning and the others are called long term planning. Short term planning is aimed at the immediate needs of the business, such as filling vacancies, which is left. Long term planning will try to plan for the future. For example, if a company was aiming to change its production techniques in the next few years, it would need to plan the number of employees, training needed and perhaps the incentives and motivation that workers would require. 4.2 Purpose of HRP There are four main reasons for HRP. 1. To encourage employers to develop clear links between their business plans and their HR plans, so that they can integrate the two more effectively. 2. The organisation will be able to control employee’s costs and the number of employees who are employed easily and effectively. By doing this it will allow the business to have the right number of employees for each departments. 3. It allows the employers to build up a skill profile for each of their employees, who will help the employers for the employees and to keep it as a record. 4. It creates a profile of staffs (related to gender, race disability), which is necessary for the operation of an equal opportunities policy. 4.3 Benefit of HRP If HR planning works properly, then the out comes will be†¦ * Employees will be doing challenging works, which will help them to motivate and stimulate. The result of this will help the business achieve it objectives. * It will raise ‘peak training’ sales if employees are already selected and ready to work under pressure during sales. * Staffs do over time if it is only necessary. * Staffs are properly qualified and trained. This will allow the employee feel comfortable with the job, which means the work will be done quickly and properly. * The company is more able to meet the changing demand from its customers and it is more suitably able to meet business objectives that it is set. 4.4. How HRP aids businesses to meet their objectives To meet company’s objectives, the company should: * Employ more people to do specific jobs. * Train more employees to get specific skills, which are needed, for them to carry out their job to do the specific job. * Employ people at a specific time of the year. E.g. during summer holidays. * Give bonus to employees if they do well to encourage them to do better then before. * Sets specific deadlines for employees to consider if they are capable of working under pressure. 4.5 Processes involved in HRP In HRP there are four stages involved. They are: 4.5.1 Stock taking This allows the business to find out if quality and quantity of an employee is available to the organisation. It uses the following techniques to find out: * Jobs analysis – this means getting all the information, which is accessible about all the jobs that are available in the organisation, and to think about what duties are involved in each these jobs and how it should be carried out. The solution for this is to find the job description and the person specification for the job. * Skills audit – this is a survey to find out the skills, qualifications and experience of all the existing employees. * Performance review – this involves looking at the performance in all employees in order to: – Identify their potential – Identify where they need more training. 4.5.2 Forecasting supply This is where it asks the question ‘how many employees are needed in the future?’ To answer this question the business looks at the internal and external sources of labour by looking at labour turnover. There are three ways of calculating employee’s turnover. These are: Annual labour turnover index = this is sometime called the ‘percentage wastage rate’. It tells what percentage of workforce is left in a year. This is how it is worked out: = Leavers in a year Average number of staff employed during the year There are two problems with this method. They are: * It tells nothing about the length of service of the people who are left. * It does not say how many people are left from each department. Stability index = this gives a good idea of how long an employee is going to stay with the business. If employees are not going to stay for a very long time in a certain department, then it can be pinpointed and investigated by using the below method. = Number of stuff employed with one year’s service on a certain date Number of staff employed exactly one year before This method maybe a more useful indicator, but it still does not tell how many employees are left from each department and why? Bowey’s stability index = this looks at the actual length of service and calculates a stability percentage. = Length of service in months over a two year Period of all current staff added together Length of service in months over a two year Period if all staff had worked for the full two years 4.5.3 Forecasting demand for employees This means asking question ‘ how many people will we need today? Tomorrow? And in five years time’. As this is a difficult question, the managers from Human Resources Planning department looks at the factors such as following forecasting demand for employees:. * The organisation’s trading and production patterns * Demand for their product * Technological and administrative changes * Capital investment plans * Acquisitions, divestments and mergers * Product diversification 4.5.4 Implementation and review The organisation must regularly review their Human Resources planning to see if it is processing effectively. For example, has a new recruitment drive been effective in recruiting the right number and the right quality of people? The organisation must also look at all the various environmental factors, which might affect the supply and demand for labour. This involves collecting information on social, political, industrial, legal and technological changes, also finding out what their competitors are doing. 4.6 How internal and external staffing information is used to plan Human Resources within a business Internal staffing information is used to plan Human Resources within a business. It talks about the following points: 4.6.1 Stability The company needs to know how stabile the organisation is. If it is less stabile then they need to figure it out why, so they can make sure it is more stabile in the future. 4.6.2 Performance result The organisation will collect all the information on level of performance of their employees, to see how they are doing by quantitative or qualitative form. It is very important to get the performance result right to achieve the company’s targets. 4.6.3 Number of employees in particular job categories This figure will give an over all numbers in an organisation that already have certain categories of skills. 4.6.4 Existing numbers of staffs employed Checking how many people they are employing and finding out the reasons why they tend to leave the job after certain time, also to see what is actually wrong with certain departments and how it could be improved. 4.6.5 Age distribution and length of service It is very important to have an age balance between young and old people who work within the organisation. This is because if most of the workers are old then there is a chance of them retiring or even passing away, which makes the organisation left with no sufficient, experienced workers. However if there are all young people then they may not stay for long as they may find a new job. This is why it is important to have an age balance. 4.6.6 How many vacancies are there at the moment? The company needs to know how many people they need to employ now and in the future, plus the qualification that is required for that job. 4.6.7 Average time taken to fill a vacancy The organisation needs to know how long it takes to fill up a vacancy so in the future they can predict the length of time for an advert to be advertised for.by doing this they will able to find out if they are spending enough time filling vacancies. 4.6.8 Promotion potential It is important for the organisation to know how many employees have the skills to be promoted and how long it’s going to take them to be fully trained for the job. 4.6.9 Sickness If employees are having too many sick days then it needs to be tracked down to see whether they are really sick or just took a day off to socialise and called it as a sick day. If it’s not tracked down then some employees might take advantages of it, which will make difficult for the organisation to achieve its objectives. 4.6.10 The skills available It is good to identify the current skills each employee has and how many of these skills are transferable to the new job when they get promoted. 4.6.11 Skills analysis The organisation has to make sure they employ the right type of employees with the right type of skills. To do this they need to assess their present skills and future skills, which will be needed in the future. In order to plan Human Resources within a business, external staffing information is also used. The external labour market for any particular organisation is made up of potential employees, locally, regionally or nationally. There are some issues that affect the size and nature of these labour markets. 4.6.12 Competition for labour As there are few people with specific skills, it makes it hard for the employers to employ people as competitors my also want to employ them with better service and money. Therefore Human Resources department has to think the best ways in which this could be done. 4.6.13 Education and training Human Resources need to look and recruit the right type of people with the right education background, as education and training also affects the number of employees coming into the labour market and their skills. 4.7 How does Human Resource Planning operate within Sainsbury? Sainsbury needs organised and effective human resource planning as it is one of the biggest food store in the world. When ensuring the workforce is planned effectively, Sainsbury’s Human Resources Planning department need to consider their external labour market information. If there is a job available then Sainsbury’s Human Resource Planning department first looks at its existing staffs to see if they are willing to do extra work or if they want to get promoted. This will reduce the amount of training that is needed, which will save money for the company. If no one is found inside the business then Human Resources Planning department looks outside the business-externally. Sainsbury has many stores across the country, but focusing in London where there is generally a low unemployment rate, it will be difficult for Sainsbury to fill in the vacancy. When Sainsbury looks for quality workers, it considers the problem of low unemployment rate which they may have to face, so they interpret a strategy to make sure they are able to employ the right people for the job. If they do not plan things ahead then they won’t have an effective workforce, which will stop them from making sales. To get quality staffs from other companies, Sainsbury could offer prospects that they do not receive in their current job such as, high wages, staff discounts, bonuses, pensions and training opportunities. If their current job does not give all this then it will be an advantage for Sainsbury, as more workers will come to them. Sainsbury normally employs people during the busiest time of the year like, Christmas times and summer holidays. Sainsbury knows that they will get people during these times because during these times there are students who are looking for jobs for pocket money and for experience. Sainsbury also knows there are some times of the year that they can not recruit people like after Christmas, during January and February when many young people return back to school, college or university. Sainsbury has different age range for recruiting people; it is from 17-40 yrs old. It believes by having different age range of employees will help the business to be more effective. By this I mean, young people can give better ideas as they just came out of education and some may know the present world well. Also by having young people, the company could pay them less as they are just working for their pocket money, and not for the family. As well as young people, old people will also be able to give good ideas, as they are more experience about the job. 4.8 The importance of Sainsbury interpreting any relevant labour market information It is important for Sainsbury to see if they are interpreting any relevant labour market information, so that the company can gain the most out of their employees in order to make it a very successful company. They may look at the transport development around them, how well the competitors are doing and the wage rate around the area. For Sainsbury the state of the local labour market is more important then what is happing nationally or regionally, as they are the main people. Sainsbury needs to know how well the transport is around them. What I mean by that is, if there are good facilities of transport for the employees then they will be more wiling to work for Sainsbury rather then another company who does not have good transport facilities. It is not easy for the organisation to provide good transport facilities for everyone as everyone comes from different places. To solve this problem, Sainsbury tries to recruits staffs from local area, as it also helps workers be on time. However you cannot always find good worker from the local area so, as well as recruiting from the local area it also recruits from other areas. The workers who live quite afar Sainsbury provides them free travel card (if the live too far), or pays certain amount of percentages for their fair. If other companies fall or closes down then Sainsbury can take staffs available as long as the staffs know their job. Sainsbury looks at the wage rates around the area to see if they can offer this wage or a better wage rate to try and force the better staff to join them. As well as employing people Sainsbury has to keep in mind the ways they can grow in the market. Basically it is important for Sainsbury to interpret labour market information and quickly attract the best recruits away from rivals to grow. 4.9 How has Sainsbury used labour market information for HRP purposes If Sainsbury does not regularly follow up the labour market information, then like other companies it runs the risk of falling behind. This is why it is important that HRP department within Sainsbury to continually review the labour market information to find out the supply of labour market which is available. This can be done by internal supply (within Sainsbury) or external supply (the local shops, regional or national labour markets). As soon as Sainsbury collects all the labour market information it needs to interpret so it can have effective employees. When they are interpreting they should look at things like what are the skills available, the number of employees within one department, promotions and etc. When HRP department interviews people they need to see if the employee has qualification and training opportunities (which can be found from the labour market information). They need to do this because the education and training opportunities available will affect the numbers of people coming in to the labour market and their overall skill level. 4.10 How relevant labour market trends relate to the ongoing HRP of Sainsbury To employ better employees for the future and to know how and when to recruit them the HRP department needs to look the labour markets trends. For example, if the local unemployment rate is high then Sainsbury will find it difficult to employ people. To over come this problem Sainsbury will need to provide better services than other companies such as, high wages. Sainsbury can also employ people if a company closes down, as there will be people who do not have any jobs. For HRP is to be successful, it continuously needs to look at the labour market trends and use the trends to plan the best way to recruit them and when to recruit them. 5.0 Recruitment and selection 5.1 Introduction to recruitment and selection Recruitment and selection are closely tied. Selection is the process of choosing people to work in an organisation. The selection should attempt to: * Get the best people within existing budget,-that is, those with the most appropriate skills, experience and attitudes. * Select people who will stay with the organisation for a reasonable time. Recruiting and selecting process happens when: * The business grows * Changing job roles within the business * Filling vacancies created by resignation. Retirement or dismissal * International promotion. When the process is happening the personal department will aim to attract the ‘best’ candidates for the job, and then choose the most suitable. If the wrong person is recruited, then this can cause problems for the business. For example, if the person leaves because they find the job too boring or too difficult then there will be extra administration costs for the personal department. The business will face extra costs for advertising, interviewing and training. There will also be a settling in period until the new employee has learnt the job. To make sure the ‘best’ person is chosen, businesses must be clear about: * What the job entails; * What qualities are required to do the job; * What rewards are needed to retain and motivate employees? * When to advertise * Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the job application, curricula vitae and letters of application. * How to shortlist candidates. 5.2 Purpose of recruiting and selecting There are many reasons why recruiting and selecting process takes place. Below I have mentioned the reasons. * Filling vacancies created by resignation. Retirement or dismissal. * Less works to be done for the group. What I mean by this is when a colleague leaves the job, the work he/she did is shared between the other colleagues who worked with them in the same department. * If there is right number of employees then the work will be done faster, which means they will not be behind in any work. For example, the company will be able to launch the product on the expected date if there are more staffs. * If there are more staffs then the business will get an edge on their rivals. * Company will able to expand. 5.3 Benefits of effective recruitment and selection If the recruiting and selection goes well then there will be number of benefits to the business. Like: * The profit will increase for the business, as they will be selling good quality products. * The punctuality of the product being launched into the market will increase, as they will be doing it on time. – Working effectively. * The standard of the product will be better, as they will be motivated and keen for the business * Customer service will increase. For example, if there are more employees then the customers will be served/helped more quickly, which means there will less waiting time for the customers. * Motivates existing employees who prefer working with ‘quality staffs’. * Employees are more likely to stay with the company if recruiting and selection is properly done (matches with the job specification). * If right quality candidates are selected in the first place then it saves time for training and development and also money * Company’s objective is met more efficiently and easily if there are ‘good quality employees’ * Less training and development will be needed if a ‘good quality employee’ gets promotion, as they are more adaptable and flexible to the change. 5.4 Consequences of poor recruitment and selection If the recruiting and selection turns out to be poor then the company will have a loss in the business like: * The standard of the service and product will be poor, as the ‘new’ employee won’t have much interest for the organisation. This means there will be lateness in launching the product into the market. * The profit of the company will decrease, which will make the company’s rival go ahead of them. This will make the growth of the company decrease, and make it difficult for it to grow again. * The company will be behind on its product’s schedule (finishing the task on time), as employees will be working slowly and less effectively. * The company will not get many contracts, as they will be not meeting deadlines, as there is lack of interest for the company. * Company will have a bad reputation if they keep on missing the deadlines. * Employees will be leaving jobs quickly, which means there will be more costs to repeat the recruitment and selection process. 5.5 Processes involved in recruitment and selection function There are numbers of functions involved when recruiting and selection process occurs, like: 5.6 Factors, which should be considered in planning to fill a vacancy and carrying out interviews 5.6.1 Filling a vacancy There are many reasons why a vacancy needs to be filled. Like: * A new job may be available due to the expansion of the organisation * Someone has died * Someone has retired * Someone has been dismissed * Someone has left for personal reasons * Someone is promoted * A new department has opened There are other alternatives that could be carried out instead of filling a vacancy to save money for the organisation. These are: – Making more use of machinery/technology – Restructuring of the work each employee has – Giving overtime to the current employees – Employing part time staffs. If the above alternatives do not work or if the manager thinks the vacancy needs to be filled then they can look for candidates internally (with in the business) or externally (outside the business). 5.6.2 Carrying out the interviews There are number of factors which could be taken into account when carrying out interviews. The interview should be conducted around a simple plan and be based on a number of questions against which all candidates should be assessed. The interview should happen in a good suitable place, such as a warm, quite, ventilated room. Also have a friendly receptionist who will inform the candidates what is expected from them. During the interview the interviewer should ask all the important questions which are needed for them to decide the best candidate, and make notes on what they answer, plus any other relevant answers. There are other ‘dos and don’ts’, which the interviewer should keep in mind. Like: * Introducing self to the candidate. * Adopt a suitable manner, show respect and to be friendly * Making sure the interview is not interrupted. * Conducting the interview at an unhurried pace. * Encouraging the candidates to talk by using ‘open’ questions such as: ‘Tell me about your last/present job†¦..’ ‘What do you find interesting in†¦..’ * Concentrating on those areas, which are not fully covered by the application form. * Making sure the candidate has no further questions at end of the interview and knows when the decision will be made, e.g. within seven days. 5.7 Key recruitment documents There are number of key recruitment documents which are needed to be taken in concern while the recruitment process happens. Such as: * Job description. If the job description is not right or if it does not have enough information then they wont exactly know why they are recruiting the candidates for and also the candidate will not know what the job requires if he/she is selected for the job. * Person specification. If there isn’t a person specification or if it does not have the write words to describe an ideal candidate, then they will be recruiting the wrong people. This could lead to further recruitment and selection cost for the process to happen. * Advertisement – where and how it’s going to be advertised. Like is it going to be internally or externally. If its externally then in what type of media? What sort of information will be included in the advert? Giving wrong information or not enough information could cause a problem for the business. For example, if only ten people applied for the job, the business will find it difficult to recruit if all candidates unsuitable for the job. * CV/Application form. Should be able to shortlist them and write to the best candidates for an interview. * Psychometric and aptitude test. These tests are carried out to see whether individuals have the right sort of personalities or dispositions to carry out particular types of work. * Confirming letter. After a suitable candidate is selected, a letter should be sent out to them confirming the place. * Refusing letter. Letting the other candidates know that they have not got the job. 5.8 Analysis of Sainsbury’s key recruitment documents-if there is quality of information in relation to the purpose of each. Sainsbury uses all the above recruitment documents, but there are few documents, which need to be changed. For example, the application form is too long (there are some questions which are irrelevant) and has less space to write the answers. Also there are some questions, which are not being asked like, it does not have any questions about health or any contacts for emergency. The emergency contact could be asked later on, but it makes it a lot easier if it is asked in the application form. For instance, if it’s difficult to contact the person to tell them that they have an interview (maybe because they have changed their number) then there is possibility to leave a message on the other number. By having too long application form, which has some irrelevant questions, can make people change their mind about applying. Also having less space for the answers could be disadvantage for the organisation, as the organisations will not have enough information about the candidate to decide whom to call for an interview. The job description draws up an over all picture of the main task that is required for a job. An existing jobholder draws up Sainsbury’s job description rather than the line manager or a staff from the HR department. The disadvantage to this is, the existing jobholder will only write about the job from their point of view. Only about the tasks they can carry out. Also they are likely to exaggerate on their task and ability or effort needed when carrying out the job. However there is a chance of the job description being accurate as it’s an existing jobholder. (They know what is involved in the job). If a line manager does it or someone from the HR department it does not always mean the job description is always correct. The line manager or the person from the HR department may not be clear on some job, so they may miss out some details, which will make the job description not completely true. Therefore I believe the existing jobholder and the line manager or the person from the HR department should discuss the main points, which needs to be carried out about the job together and than the job description should be written up. By discussing the main points means, the job description will have all the main tasks that are required to carry out the job and also, the it will be an accurate job description. Different job descriptions are written different but all job description has the basic following features as well as other features. ~ The job title ~ Location of the job ~ List of tasks involved ~ Main purpose of the job ~ Pay and benefits ~ A brief outline of the organisation does There is one other main feature that I believe Sainsbury should include in their job description that they do not add. That is: The standards that the jobholder is required to achieve Everyone wants to achieve something from whatever job they do so they can take that to their new job or use it latter on their life. 5.9 Is Sainsbury successful or failing on Recruitment and Selection? In the past few years Sainsbury has made a good progress as they have taken recruitment and selection very seriously. They made sure that they do the job description and the person specification correctly and include all the points, which are needed to be included. Also they made sure they picked the best candidate who is perfect for the job. This is because from the past they have realised that if there is a mistake in one of the steps of the recruiting and selection process then it could have an effect on the business. For instance, the outcome of selecting wrong candidate for the job could affect the growth and the profit of the business. Plus there will be an extra cost to go through the recruitment and selection procedure. Sainsbury could have had better outcome for recruitment and selection if they improved their application form, as more people would apply and it would be a lot easier for Sainsbury to recruit in the future. Also by having good job description, as that will be beneficial for the employee and the employer, as they will know what the job requires. 6.0 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 6.1 What is training? In training there are planned activities, which are designed to make positive changes to the performance and other behaviour (including the acquisition of new knowledge, skills, beliefs, values and attitudes). Training can be broken down into number of elements: * Traditional training. Training to promote learning of specific facts and content, which enable improvement in job performance, such as technical skills training. * Education. The act of acquiring knowledge, skills and understanding, usually in school, college or university. * Vocational education. Somewhere between educational and traditional training (e.g. apprenticeship training). * Management training. Activities design to improve managerial competence. * Organisational development. Activities designed to change the way in which individuals operate within an organisation (e.g. to help them to work better with the changing culture of the organisation, perhaps through teamwork development). 6.2 What is development? While the training process is happing the employee develops its existing skills as well as its new skills in the way it best suits for individual need. However, the organisation needs to support the individual effectively in developing him or herself. For the organisation to find out if the individual development is successful, the employee does appraisal with the individual, where the individual shows or say how much improvement they have done. Sometime meeting the company’s objectives by using the skills that they have developed can also prove it. The starting point in the development process is normally when each employee puts together a personal development plan (PDP). The personal development plan includes the following: * The individual’s goals and aspirations. * An outline of the resources, methods and supports required to achieve these goals. * An indication of a time period for achieving these goals. * An indication of how these goals will be recognised by others. The personal development plan is then discussed with the line manager or the team leader of the organisation to get advice on how to carry things out and how to get the resources, methods and supports (e.g. the opportunity to go on training courses, opportunity to try out new work, etc.). There are different training methods and activities such as: * Induction training. * Mentoring. * Coaching. * In-house training and external training. * On-the-job training. (OJT) 6.3 Purpose of training and development Training involves employees being taught new skills or improving skills they already have. The outcome of employees improving their skills and abilities has number of benefits to the organisation and to the employees. Like * The business will overall its objectives such as increasing profit. * It will have more flexible work force which will help the organisation every way. For example, they will achieve the objectives more quickly. * At the same time they will get the work done quickly and produce better quality products, as they will be using new technology machinery more effectively. * It will increase job satisfaction for employees, which will motivate them and well-motivated workers are more likely to be productive. * It should reduce injuries if the employees are trained in health and safety procedures. * It can improve employee’s chance of promotion. * It will enable the company to work more efficiently * It will reduce the cost of recruitment and selection, as well trained employee will be willing to stay with the organisation longer then a non-trained employee. * It will increase customer service, productivity, sales and profit. 6.4 The benefits of training and development There are number of major benefits that flow from training and development, such as: * Effective training and development would improve competitiveness of an organisation, as well as improving its productivity and customer service. * The long-term benefits of training and development outweigh the short-run cost. For example, it will reduce recruitment cost. * A skilled worker will carry out the work much quickly and effectively then an unskilled worker. 6.5 Processes involved in training and development There are two types of training and developing processes. They are on-the-job training (internal training) and off-the-job training (external training). There are different training methods and activities such as: * Induction training. Induction is the process of introducing new employees to their place of work, job, new surroundings and the people they will be working with. Induction also provides information to help new employees start work and generally ‘fit in’. * Mentoring. Mentoring involves a trainee being ‘paired’ with a more experience employee. The trainee carries out the job but uses the ‘mentor’ to discuss problems that may occur and how to solve them. * Coaching. Coaching involves providing individuals with personal coaching in the workplace. The person who is doing the coaching role will already have coaching skills. The coach and the individual who is being coached will identify development opportunities that they can work together on. For example, ways of tackling jobs, ways of improving performance, etc. The coach will do continues feedback on how this is progressing to the individual’s manager. * In-house training and external training. In-house training happens inside the organisation and external training is where employees are sent away from the organisation to do the training. * On-the-job training. (OJT) takes place when employees are trained while they are carrying out an activity, often at their work place. * Off-the-job training. This takes place outside the organisation. For example, in a training centre, which is not inside the organisation. 6.6 The key aspects of Sainsbury training and development programme Sainsbury has many different training programs on offer for all its employees. It gives training from the very first day that the employee joins their company. The type of training they give in the beginning is called ‘induction training’. This is given to introduce the employee to their place of work, job, new surrounding and the people they will be working with. It gives other training programs throughout the year depending on the employee’s job and the amount of skills they already have. During the year when ever a employee feels they need training to help them carryout the job (and they can prove it to the manager that they need to -carryout training) then this can be arranged. One of Sainsbury’s policy for all its employees is to carryout a training program twice a year to help them to develop their existing skill or learn a new skill as technology keeps changing. For example, there maybe few functions added to the till so all the retailers that work in the till will need training on how to use these functions. There is not exactly a common training method that Sainsbury uses because depending on the employee’s job, training is carried out. Sainsbury cannot do all its training programs internally (within the business) or externally (outside the business) as Sainsbury may not have the equipments to carry out some programs and it will be waste of Sainsbury’s money to send the employee on external training if the training can be carried out within Sainsbury. 6.7 The importance of its involvement in the performance of Sainsbury Training and development is a big part of Sainsbury. Without efficient training and development Sainsbury would not achieve its objectives. Sainsbury believes that the customers are the most important assets of the business; so in order to keep the customers happy, it must have prepared employees to help them immediately. To have prepared employees, it needs to train them effectively, as it will help the business to move forward and achieve its objectives. This is why Sainsbury has increased their training from 14% to 18%. This means they are spending more money on training then they did before. The outcome of spending more money on training and development has increased their turnover by 6%. Even though they are spending more money like à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½25 million a year on training and development, they are still receiving around à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½28-à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½32 million a year, which is a good thing as there is a chance of them making profit and becoming more competitive. 6.8 Is Sainsbury successful or failing at training and development? Sainsbury believes training and development plays a big part, for them to achieve their objectives. Effective training encourages the employees to stay motivated and carry out works to their best level, also when the employees realises that the organisation is doing them benefits (teaching them new skills or improving their existing skills), it will encourage them to stay in the organisation for a long period of time. By taking the above point in mind Sainsbury has increased their training by 6%, this means Sainsbury is making more profit then ever. The sales has increased to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½28-à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½32 million a year. They are achieving their objectives more efficiently and increasing their turnover every year. This means Sainsbury’s training and development is successful. However there are some points which needs to be considered to stay successful in the future, such as doing training twice in a row, if they did not find the first training very helpful. This could be very expensive for the business, but to have an effective training and to achieve the business’s aim it has to carry it out. 7.0 Performance and management 7.1 Performance and management introduction A business needs to manage the performance of its employees effectively if it is to remain competitive. It does this by using the following methods: * Performance reviews, including appraisal – it is a process of evaluating performance systematically and of providing feed back on which performance adjustments can be made. To have an effective organisation, the organisation sets out a mission statement identifying the overarching aims of the organisation, then the value statement. From the mission statement and the value statement the business sets objectives for the organisation and for individuals. From there everyone can be monitored and will be able to measure their performance. * Self-evaluation – finding the best way of carrying out the job and at the end of the job evaluating the outcome. * Peer evaluation – evaluating everyone’s performance in the team while carrying out the project to see if everyone is carrying out the work and are they doing it right. * Target- setting for individuals and groups – setting a target depending on the unit or the department they works for. By setting the target it helps the team to get the work done faster to helps it to meet the organisation’s objectives. * Measuring individuals and group output/production – measuring individual’s output and group’s output to see how they are doing and if they should be rewarded. By rewarding employees it encourage them to do much better outcome in the future. 7.2 Purpose of performance management The major purposes of performance management are to: * Define the specific job criteria against which performance will be measured. * Measure past job performance accurately. * Justify the rewards given to individuals and/or groups, thereby discriminating between high and low performance. * Define the experience that an individual employee will need for his or her ongoing development. These development experiences should improve job performance and prepare the employee for future responsibilities. 7.3 Benefits of performance management There are number of benefits for effective performance. They are: * As employees are told about their strength, they are more motivated about the work that they carry out. By having motivated employees the company invests time and money in their personal development. * It allows the company to identify employee’s weaknesses and attempt to eradicate problems. * It allows the workforce to focus on how to meet the business’s objectives, as they will be more motivated on the work. 7.4 Processes involved in performance management The stages are: 7.5 Motivational theories Motivation is the levels of commitment individuals have to do and what they are doing. Work place motivation is concerned with commitment to an organisation, its objectives targets. The ability to motivate people comes from a greater awareness understanding of individual’s behaviour patterns. It is also aided or hindered by style of management used within an organisation as well as the structural parameters designed by senior management. Many theorists have attended to discover the perfect solution to keep staff motivated. While discovering the solution they have found that one solution would not suit all employees so the skills of a good manager is to use a Varity of techniques to motivate all kind of staffs. There are four major theories with motivational techniques and each one is linked to a different style of management. They are: 7.5.1 Scientific management – Frederick Taylor (1856 – 1915) Taylor believed that people were alike and their motivations were relatively simple, and their managers could program the workers’ actions. Scientific management is associated with developing ‘scientific method’ of organising work. As people did not work hard as they could and got less paid, the amount of products, which was being produced was very low and the quality was very poor. So Taylor came up with the following methods that he thought could improve the matters. They are: * Pay them more money (give bonus for each piece of work). This will keep them motivated and encourage them to work hard. * Properly trained managers should run organisation and supervise employees effectively with firm but fair disciplinary methods. * Employees should be properly trained, through what he called ‘scientific management’, to do specific tasks effectively. * Employees should be properly selected through tests and interviews to make sure they are right for the job. His methods hardly involved brainwork. The work was already designed in such away that it required minimum thoughts. For example, McDonald’s employees do not have to think, they simply have to follow instructions and serve the customers. 7.5.2 Theory X and Y – Douglas McGregor (1906 – 1964) McGregor came up with theory X and Y. He thinks that every employee should be put into one of these theories to help the managers to know what kind of employees he/she has in the organisation/department. Theory X shows * The average person is lazy and has an inbuilt dislike of work. * Most people have to be persuaded, controlled directed and threatened with punishment to achieve goals. * Security of environment is important. * The average person will avoid any form of responsibility and needs good supervision to carry out work satisfactorily. Theory Y shows * Work is natural activity and can be enjoyable. * People will willingly apply their skills if committed to organisational objectives. * Their commitment should be recognised and be rewarded. * Personal development is very important and additional responsibility will be welcome. After knowing the ‘Theory X’ group the manager can keep an eye on those employees behaviour and see if they make any improvements. After knowing the ‘Theory Y’ group the manager can be assured that the work is being done is satisfactory due to the employees being interested in their work. Therefore the employers do not have to do constant supervision to see if the work is done. 7.5.3 Frederick Herzberg â€Å"two -factor theory† (1923-91) From Maslows theory Hezberg found out that people go to work for many reasons, but not just for monetary rewards. He came up with two groups of factors, which affects employee’s motivation. They are motivation factors and hygiene factors. In motivation factors there are elements, which make employees work harder. These are known as satisfiers. They are: * Recognition of effort and performance. * The nature of the job – does it provide employee with the appropriate degree of challenge? * Sense of achievement. * Assumption of responsibility. * Opportunity for promotion and responsibility There are elements that do not make employees work hard as well as having elements which does make them work hard. They are called hygiene factors. Also known as dissatisfiers. These are: * Autocratic or arbitrary company policy and administration. * Low pay. * Poor working conditions. * Antagonistic relations between different levels of employs. * Unfriendly relationship with hierarchy. * Unfair management and supervising practices. * Unfair treatments of employs. * Feelings of inadequacy. * Impossibility of development and growth. The dissatisfiers plays simpler role to the satisfiers. Even though the satisfiers are the most important elements to encourage employees to work hard, it needs good dissatisfiers to motivate workers by satisfiers. 7.5.4 Abraham Maslow – â€Å"Hierarchy of needs† (1908-1907) Maslows theories are based on meeting peoples needs in the workforce. He believes that people need to be treated as individuals. Everyone has needs and wants, and these vary according to personality. Wise employers will benefit more by meeting the needs and wants of their employees, as this will reduce conflict. The below table shows the needs and wants of an employee. Needs Wants Achievement of special talents, interesting and varied work. Personal goals achieved, e.g. owner of business, challenging activities. Good at job, appreciated by management and status recognised. High role in company, in charge of many staff, prestige. Working with colleges, part of departmental/social activities. Harmonious team working, sports and social clubs/ benefits. Secure on permanent basis, routine task, and safe environments. Important role in organisation, long-term contract, highly rewarded. Comfortable resources, e.g. heat/lights/snacks and up-to-date equipments More luxurious furniture, own office, sophisticated equipment. Maslow has identified a range of needs that where largely hierarchical in nature. This must be met in the correct order (from bottom to top of the pyramid) to meet employee’s needs. Self- Actualisation Self-esteem Love Safety and security Basic * Self-actualisation – this is concerned with personal development and individual creativity to achieve one’s full potential. In order to meet these needs at work, individuals need to be provided with the opportunity to use their creative talents and abilities to the full. 7.6 How might Sainsbury’s approach to performance management be influenced by motivational theory? Depending on employees Sainsbury uses McGregor’s theory (theory X and Y) and Maslow’s theory (the hierarchy of needs) Sainsbury uses McGregor’s theory X and Y depending on how employees work and what department they work in. For example, Sainsbury’s managers uses theory X on employees who work on the till to serve the customers. They have to be closely monitored on their behaviour, such as lateness and absenteeism. Also if they are carrying out their job properly – are they using the right formula to serve the customers? On the other hand employees in other department (e.g. marketing department) do not need close monitoring as they work hard and gives the manager a strong trust that the job will be done by the deadline. If Sainsbury used theory X on the wrong people (e.g. people who work in the marketing department) then Sainsbury will find it difficult to achieve their objectives as these employees would not feel motivated, which wont encourage them to work hard. They may end up leaving the job which will increase the cost of HRM. Sainsbury uses Maslow’s theory as well as using McGregor’s theory. This is because it believes this theory will help the employees stay motivated by meeting their needs (pay them enough to survive). The outcome of this will keep the employees happy and therefore they will concentrate on their work and do their job better then what they would do if they were unhappy. If the employees are happy and do their job then Sainsbury will achieve their goals easily. 7.7 The relationship between training and development programme and performance management within Sainsbury Performance management helps the company to realise if it wants to do well in the market and achieve its objectives than it will need to train and develop its employees so that they can carry out the job effectively. Effective training and development will make the employees do their job to the best of their ability and to the high standard that Sainsbury expects. If a worker is not trained then they will find it difficult to carry out their task, which will be a disadvantage to the business. Due to the modernisation of today’s society and technology, the workers have to be trained and developed. Otherwise they will be behind with the society and technology, which will make it difficult for the business to achieve its objectives. After training and development, the employee meets with their manager for an appraisal to ensure if training and development was effective and if further training and development is needed. This shows that both of the department is needed (T&D and PM). Once the weakness of an employee is spotted through appraisal, training could be carried out to overcome the weakness. 7.8 Is Sainsbury a success or failure in performance management Through out the years Sainsbury was successful in performance management for the following reason: * Appraisals were carried out four times a year to motivate their employees to work hard. * From appraisal training and development was carried out to help the employees to improve within their role in the company. * Managers used ‘theory X and Y’, as well as using Maslow’s theory (the hierarchy of needs). These theories were used depending on how employees worked individually. 8.0 Conclusion To ensure that the company can make effective use of working with Sainsbury the Human Resourcesmanagement (HRM) has to contribute to a number of factors, which would improve the competitiveness of the business. For example: * HRM has to plan ahead to recruit employees, so that Sainsbury is not short of employees and therefore this will save time and money for corresponding company. * By planning ahead the corresponding company can be certain that the appropriate person is selected for recruitment. This is also beneficial for Sainsbury, as this will save them a great deal of time and money in the short run and the long run. * Insufficient training and development of Sainsbury’s staffs could cause the business to lose customers, sales and reputation of the business. Also ineffective training could cost Sainsbury money with no gain against their competitors. * Lack of appraisals may cause Sainsbury’s employees to leave the job and look elsewhere, as they see little or no career progression. 8.1 Identification and evaluation of the potential conflicts between HRM activities within Sainsbury Conflicts can arise in the following ways 8.1.1 Data protection Human Resourcesdeal with and stores huge amount of personal information on each employee, such as salary, sickness record, absences, etc. How much information can be given out about a person without their permission to the Tax Authorities and Social Security. The local Camden will have a Data Protection Register. This will set out all the items of Data in categories that they use and for what purpose, so they are not accused of breaking the Act. 8.1.2 References Human Resourceswill be asked to give references about their employees, and conflict can arise if a person has been absent a lot of times. If this was a serious operation, then the record will look a lot different then if the person missed few days. Individuals would have to give permissions before any information could be passed on about their Tax Credits. 8.1.3 Laws and procedures Human resource has to comply with various laws, such as, employment law, equal opportunities, race relations, etc. If a Senior Management Team, or the Sales Floor Managers wants an effective employee to be moved then conflicts can arise in a profit making business. 8.1.4 Profit (bottom line) One of the main objectives for Sainsbury is to make profit. Conflicts can arise when the benefits of the HR function cannot be measured in recruitment, employee relations, training, motivation etc. 8.1.5 Resources Different HR department (recruitment, training and appraisal) uses various resources and does the work slightly differently. This could cause conflicts, such as, the failure of one department could jeopardise the success of the others. For example, if recruitment and selection does not succeed for any reason then the whole HRM is a failure