Strategies for People Management - Coursework Example

Strategies for People Management: ABC Supermarkets [Lecturer] Strategies for People Management: ABC Supermarkets Introduction One has to be aware of the specific demands that are imposed upon the human resource element within the retail, and more specifically the supermarket sector; which in all likelihood involve longer hours, and consistent customer interactions on an ongoing basis. To this end the selection and assessment of any potential candidates regardless of position within the organization, should be conducted with the specific, and somewhat demanding environment of the retail sector. The process of the selection and assessment of appropriate candidates is however preceded with the all important recruitment process, which arguably needs to be laser targeted to attract the desired type of individual suitable for positions within the supermarket chain in question. Pilbeam & Corbridge (2006) provide that three main activities should be implemented within the recruitment and selection phases, which include the "clear and specifically defined need" of the recruiting organization, the utilisation of "appropriate recruitment methods and selection techniques" and the "review, evaluation and modification" of the entire process from experience gained during such a process (p. 142). The aforementioned therefore implies that a more flexible approach should be implemented throughout this selection process and such a view or practice should be implemented from the very beginning, to avoid any possible rigidity throughout the process, without foregoing defined quality and suitability standards that have been defined within the first step mentioned above. Assessment Centres One needs to understand from the outset that the concept of an assessment centre is not a physical structure, venue or place but rather the system which is put into practice within the recruitment and selection process; this is confirmed by a number of authors including, but not limited to Arnold & Sylvester (2005), and Pilbream & Corbridge (2006) amongst others. Within the case being analysed here factors that would influence the assessment centre would be based around the defined staff attributes that are being sought after within this recruitment process. Hence having established that ABC Supermarkets is expanding, it is accepted that the organization is providing a decent level of product and service delivery to their customer base, which has fuelled the need for such growth and resulting expansion. It would be in line with their perceived existing customer service ethic to ensure that potential applicants are suitable for upcoming positions that will be made available due to this expansion process. The design and functionality of the assessment centre should be focussed on a two tiered approach being that of the analysis of the job and competency of the applicant, as well as the training and selection of the actual individuals that will act as assessors within the assessment process. The analysis of the actual positions that are set to become available is of paramount importance in order to best match a suitable candidate that is capable of managing their duties within the defined areas of responsibility. Based upon this view, it would make sense to implement experienced employees within the assessment centre in order to both gauge the suitability of potential candidates, as well as analysis their respective performances within the defined assessment criteria. The utilisation of experienced staff as assessors will provide insight into the realities of working within the aforementioned sector and environment, and will enable the assessors to truly gauge the incumbents possibility or potentiality of coping within such an environment. Arnold & Sylvester (pp. 220-221, 2005) furthermore provide that in order for the system under question to be accepted as or defined as an Assessment Centre, there are four criteria that must be adhered to or satisfied in order for the system to be accepted as such, these are laid out as follows: 1. Explicit Dimensions / Competencies – based upon the key knowledge and skills required by the candidate for the specific role being assessed; 2. Multiple techniques / methodologies – providing information on the above dimensions from different perspectives; 3. Multiple Assessors – a number of assessors, that have been sufficiently trained to assess the prospective candidates; 4. Systematic recording – a system in place to record and rate the observations and behaviours of the candidates being assessed, with all assessments providing the overall rating of the candidate. One of the key issues highlighted above is the concept of multiplicity in both the techniques as well as the assessors, which will provide a broader and arguably more objective approach to the rating of the candidate(s) being assessed. The use of the Assessment Centre does not come without due criticism though, with work psychologists questioning the true efficacy of the processes in such controlled circumstances, however by limiting the assessment criteria to that of psychometric testing may reveal that theoretical aspects and abilities of the candidate are suitable for the positions, but may well be lacking within the practicality thereof. To this end additional techniques, which is in line with the defined and accepted definition of the assessment centre as described above need to be implemented and combined with the psychometric testing and standard interview processes. Additional techniques that may well bring in a more practical view of the candidates abilities and core competencies include role plays, group discussions, group activities, analytical activities, work simulations, and personality questionnaires (Pilbeam & Corbridge p. 188 2006). The key, however, is to find suitable combinations to realize the best results and assessment of the candidates under review. Specific to the supermarket sector, and more importantly the retail sector within which specific unique situations occur, the assessment activities of role plays, work simulations and analytical activities have been identified to include within the assessment methodologies, together with the psychometric and standard interview processes. The reasons for the selection of these additional techniques are discussed below. Assessment Techniques and Methodologies As provided above, the standard interview process, as well as the psychometric testing has been identified as the starting point within this case study. These two well known, and arguably most often used methodologies by virtue of forming the basis of the selection process and are often used to identify suitable candidates for the actual or more in depth assessment phase, which can be likened to a secondary phase. This initial phase is often times used as a filtering phase to identify the best possible candidates and to furthermore alleviate additional pressure, especially that relating to time constraints within the following assessment activities. Role Plays The use of role playing provides for the creation of a variety of scenarios, within which experienced staff can be utilised to help create specific real life or fictitious events that candidates can be placed into for the analysis and assessment of their abilities in terms of how they handle and manage the specific situation or occurrence. The use of the role play activity can be based around a specific scenario that is relevant to the supermarket environment and can be based upon actual occurrences within the work place to determine the candidates response and ability to deal with specific situations. These situations can, as stated be either fictitious or even actual case study examples and can determine the suitability of a candidate in terms of fitting in with the corporate identity and ethic of the supermarket chain. Examples of the role play scenarios may include specific issues within which management and key employees have to function within and deal with within the regular course of business. These situations may vary from stock management issues to that of dealing with clientele, who may be somewhat challenging to say the least. By placing candidates under pressure within specific roles can in turn be measured by the staff that has been selected for the assessment process, with their perceptions being duly recorded for the post role play analysis of the candidate in question. The assessment should in effect take place over a number of different days, and obviously within different scenarios being played out to gauge a true overview of the candidates responses and actions. Analytical Activities The motivation for utilising analytical activities lies within the sector within which the supermarket operates, being that of the retail sector. One of the most important functions for the vast majority of management within the retail sector includes that of stock management, which may entail receipt, despatch as well as ordering. It is most certainly imperative that any candidate possess the necessary skills to be able to correctly manage these aspects as any errors within this environment may well result in significant costs being incurred by the company. Pilbeam & Corbridge (2006), in considering the analytical activities, further provide that this process is linked together with that of intuitive and creative thinking, and applied correctly can add value to the organization if applied correctly, which can revealed within the assessment centre process (p. 14). This does not necessarily mean that the candidates may identify with or cope with the specific analytical process under question, but may prove to be the right candidate for specific positions with the organization after the assessors have had the opportunity to observe and report upon each specific candidates response and actions within both the analytical as well as the role playing activities as described herein. Assessment Centre Staffing The necessity for training of the assessors is another important issue for any organization so that the individuals concerned may be looking for and identifying relevant criteria within the assessment phase. It would make logical sense to select experience management within already successful positions to be involved within the assessment process to enable the element of real life situations and possibilities to be incorporated within the assessment process. The management that are already active within the field may well bring with them current issues that are being experienced and what the ideal candidates should possess and display in terms of core competencies during the assessment phase, which will enable them to develop further after successful appointment by the company. The use of experienced management within the assessor role, can provide valuable insight into the assessment process, and can take the form of the so called "mystery shopper", within which experienced employees or managers may act as a customer or customers and rate the candidate within a role playing scenario. Torrington, Hall & Taylor (2008) provide that this methodology is often implemented in the sales staff environment, however not every single aspect or core competency can or should be incorporated into the assessment, as this may have a negative effect upon the overall ratings by the assessors due to the issue of being overloaded by the assessment criteria, this is confirmed by Arnold & Silvester (2005). The authors furthermore provide that the ratings to be applied during this phase should be kept as simple as possible to avoid any specific and additional analysis from the part of the assessor. The possibility of utilising external or outsourced assessors may also be entertained, this has the positive benefit of objective input into the process, however it also represents an added cost to the organization which may not be all that necessary within the recruitment process being discussed here. Therefore based upon the expanding supermarket scenario and the recruitment selection and assessment scenario herein discussed, the use of the assessment centre(s) should in all likelihood be done on an in house basis, with identified management personnel, from the "field", referring to existing managers from the various supermarket branches. Specific scenarios should be developed within the role playing assessment activity, which can be conducted within some of the identified stores, whereby the assessors can be utilised to rate the candidates in specific situations pertaining to customer service and other management issues and events that occur on a regular basis. Without becoming too analytical or in depth within this process, the assessment centre should provide the scenarios that are most life like or are representative of actual, and regular occurrences that have occurred. The assessments should furthermore not be too in depth so as to allow the assessors to gauge the candidates response and handling of any specific situation in a relatively quick or timely fashion. Implementation of this methodology can be done over a couple of days whereby the candidates are placed in various stores and are exposed to the regular day to day activities and processes within which the supermarket and staff currently operate. The analytical activities would involve the candidates being exposed to stock management processes and current practices, which would be under supervision of relevant staff involved with the stock management, ordering and analysis respectively. Additional tasks within an office setting may be set to gauge any strengths and weaknesses of the candidates that are undergoing such assessment. Therefore in this specific case study with two groups of ten candidates each, each group should in effect be broken up to conduct the role playing assessment. The candidates should be separated into various stores or departments, under the guidance and accompaniment of existing staff members to be able to appreciate the current setting of the supermarket chain. Within this phase the "mystery shopper" event can be timed to occur towards the end of their short tenure within the supermarket within which they have been allocated. The rating and assessment from this phase is conducted via the mystery shopper themselves as well as the accompanying staff member. The second phase of the assessment centre can be viewed as an in house / classroom assessment which can take place via the training facilities, or board room, of the supermarket chain. Specific exercises with regards to stock analysis, ordering, management and so forth can be presented in the form of a written type exam and the results can be obtained via the "marking" of the exercises. Hence a practical and theoretical approach is presented here, with the majority of time of the assessment being spent within the physical store locations, with the assessors followed by the stock management analysis on the theoretical side of the assessment. The two groups of candidates should alternate, and therefore one group will be out in the field, whilst the others would be in the central head office training area. During the theoretical process of assessment, additional assessments can further be integrated into the assessment phase via group discussions with candidates, although this may well be best suited for after the in-field experiences, which will allow for candidates and assessors alike to share experiences specifically relevant to the role playing activities. One may argue that no absolute best approach exists for any selection and assessment process, however when dealing with a dynamic environment such as that of the retail sector, one of the best assessments can be revealed by actual exposure to real experiences and occurrences. This is due to the fact that often times all levels of staff are exposed to occurrences that cannot be learned from literature to a number situational variables that may come into play. The ability and core competencies of candidates, and even existing staff members, will be revealed in these "real life" occurrences, and therefore by placing candidates in as close to real life situations as possible will enable assessors and the candidates themselves to appreciate their abilities and shortcomings where applicable. References ARNOLD, J., & SILVESTER, J. (2005). Work psychology: understanding human behaviour in the workplace. Harlow, England, Prentice Hall/Financial Times. PILBEAM, S., & CORBRIDGE, M. (2006). People resourcing: contemporary HRM in practice. Harlow [u.a.], Financial Times Prentice Hall. TORRINGTON, D., HALL, L., & TAYLOR, S. (2008). Human resource management. Harlow [u.a.], Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Read More