Unit 11 Working with Leading People Assignment

Introduction

Human resource management is one of the integral parts of all the today’s organizations. Especially in retail industry human resource department helps a lot in recruiting, selecting and training new employees. It teaches the process and the practices used for selecting various employees in the organization. It also makes everyone aware of the legal issues attached with the selection and recruitment process. Recruitment and selection process should always be fair and each and every candidate should get equal chance to grab the new opportunity. Management is different from leadership. We will discuss in Working with Leading People Assignment, the major differences between these two things in our further report. Leader needs to have some specific skills and he should be able to motivate all the employees working under him. Team work is very important in any organization for its success. Human resource department also helps in developing a performance appraisal process which is used to measure the performance of all the employees after regular intervals of time (Dowling, 1994). Better performers are given rewards and awards and those who are not able to perform will be given training to improve themselves in the next cycle. All the points mentioned above will be discussed in detail in the further parts of the report.

Task 1

1.1 Prepare a job description and person specification for recruiting customer service assistant

Customer service assistant is one of the most important resources required for customer satisfaction. A supermarket can be run successfully only by providing the best customer service. Poor customer service may lead to the loss of one customer and he will look for any other supermarket or grocery store. He should be able to solve the problems of the customers with smile, sincerity and care.

Job description of customer service assistant in supermarket

Below are some of the responsibilities of a supermarket’s customer service assistant.

• Fielding Complaints- Customer service assistant has to take care of all the complaints and problems of the customers in their shopping experience in the store. Customer service assistant should know the way to handle the issues faced by the customers efficiently. To solve the issue he might have to deal with the other departments of the organization. So he should be ready with the contact numbers of other departments. At last customer should leave [leased from the store.
• Handling Money- Customer service assistants are also present at the counter to collect money from the customers. Billing should happen on first come first serve basis. Random and delayed billing makes other customers angry.
• Understand store policies- Customer service attendants should know all the policies such as return policy, money back policy etc. He should be aware of all the products in the store and where these products are present.

Below are some of the personal specifications of a customer service assistant in a supermarket store:

• Communication skills- Customers interact directly with the service attendants for any problem and for any query. These assistants should have excellent communication skills.
• Basis knowledge of computer- These assistants will be handling the billing of the store and billing happens with the help of a computer. So basis knowledge of computer is very important.
• He should have good level of literacy and numeracy.
• He should be able to collect feedback from the client and he should be able to change himself according to the feedback.

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1.2 Examine the impact of the legislations and ethical consideration that need to be considered in the selection and recruitment process.

There are some strict rules and regulations set up by the government regarding selection and recruitment process in any organization. Wage act is one of the examples which say that there should not be any discrimination on the basis of wages given to the employees. All the employees at the same level should be given same and minimum set wage. Employee can file a complaint against the employer if he finds any such kind of discrimination happening in the selection and recruitment process (Piotrowski, 2006). There are also acts and laws against other types of discrimination in the society and in the organizations. There should not be any discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, sex etc. All the employees should be treated equally in the selection and recruitment process. Equal opportunity should be given to everyone. Diversity has also become one of the major issues in today’s time. Organizations are going global and they are hiring people from other nations also. This creates diversity in the entire organization. There should not be any discrimination against the employees from other country also. All the panel members in the selection process should be neutral and open minded. All the legislations and regulations set by the government has made the selection and recruitment process more neutral and all the candidates get equal opportunity to get the job.

1.3 Identify the stages, process and methods of selection which should be used for selecting customer service assistant

Choosing the right person for the right job is called Selection. There are various steps and methods involved in the selection process which are as follows:

• Job Analysis: It involves finding out the Job Description and Job specification for the vacant post. We have already discussed the job description and specification for customer service assistant.
• Advertising the job: To attract the best candidates supermarket has to advertise through internet, media, social networking, newspaper etc.
• Initial Screening: It involves the general check like qualifications, age etc. of the candidate.
• Application Form: Candidate has to fill the form which has questions related to the customer assistant job. It will help in knowing more about the candidate (Taylor, 1987).
• Tests: Written tests are taken to find out the analytical skills of the candidate.
• Personal interview: A panel of judges takes the interview of the candidates selected from the written test. It helps in knowing the qualities such as communication and interpersonal skills.
• Reference and Medical Check: Candidate has to give some good references and he should be medically fir for the job.
• Job Offer: At last job offer is given to the finally selected candidate.

1.4 Evaluate how your role as HR Manager ensures that selection process will be fair and ethical. Justify your answer

Selection and recruitment process should always be fair and ethical. I as an HR Manager will implement or take care of the following points to ensure that the selection of the customer service assistant is fair and ethical:

• I will try for having a diverse workforce. There should be a good proportion of male and female employees in the supermarket. This will help in making customers more comfortable. Candidates from the backward or rural areas should also be included (Groschl, 1999).
• I will take care of any kind of discrimination in the selection process or after the selection process also. All the candidates should be treated equally by the judges in pane. Candidates should be selected only on the basis of merit but not on the basis of race, religion etc.
• Equity principles will be adopted in the recruitment and selection process. Strict action will be taken against anyone who is found guilty of any kind of unethical practices.
• To get a diverse workforce we need to have judges from various fields in the panel. It will help in getting the best available resources.

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Task 2

2.1 An explanation of what management is and how it is different from leadership

Management can be defined as the process of controlling and dealing with the things and people. If we think in terms of business or organizations and behavior management is defines as the way by which we use the available resources effectively to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. It helps in coordinating the efforts of the company for achieving the best results. Planning, organizing, controlling, resourcing and staffing are some of the processes of management (Armstrong, 2008). Management is different from the leadership and following are some of the differences between management and leadership:

• Managers are responsible for just administering the people working under them but leadership helps in innovating new things.
• Manager is a copy of someone and he does work according to the given guidelines but leader has its own original way to deal with the situations.
• Manager always thinks of the system, rules and regulation but leader takes care of people. Leader believes in motivating employees to achieve the goals and objectives of organization. He gives importance to the concerns and problems of people working under him.
• Manager just maintains the process but leadership helps in the development of the process and people also. Leader encourages employee to gain more knowledge and to develop them to achieve more in their career.
• Manger always thinks of completing short term goals but leader has a long term perspective for the employees and for the organization.
• Managers just believe in counting the value but leaders believe in creating the value.
• The manager is always happy with the status quo i.e. present situation and he does not want to change. Leader always try to challenge the present situation and try to improve and gain more profits.

2.2 An explanation of the skills and attributes needed for a leader and how leadership can help the supermarket chain to achieve its goals

A leader should have some specific skills which differentiate him from a manager. Below are some of the attributes which a leader should have and which can help the supermarket in achieving the goals and objectives:

• Good communication Skills- Communication skills of leader should be excellent. He should be able to understand the points and concerns of all the assistants working under him in the supermarket. He should have good interpersonal skills. All the customer assistants will feel more connected to the leader if he listens and tries to solve the problems and concerns of the employees.
• Motivator: Leader should have qualities to motivate and encourage the customer service assistants. All the employees should be given some individual goals and objectives. All the top performers should be recognized and rewarded with some incentives. Leader should be able to motivate all the low performers in developing their skills and achieve their goals in future appraisal cycle (Hughes, 1996).
• Good Decision Making Skills: Leader is the one who has to take some critical decisions in any organization. If we think of just supermarket he has to take decisions regarding the customers, products and employees. He should have problem solving and analytical skills to take quick decisions. It will help in achieving the goals of supermarket. Employee and customer satisfaction also depends upon the decisions taken by the leader.
• Commitment: Leader has to lead from front. If he is committed to his work then only he will be able to motivate the employees working under him to be committed to the supermarket’s goals and objectives. He has to give his 100 percent to achieve the targets set for the supermarket.

2.3 An explanation on how would you use leadership styles for different situations such as redundancy, dismissals, grievances and team building

There are various styles which can be adopted by the leader in different situations to handle the situation effectively. Some of the leadership styles are as follows:

• Authoritarian Leadership style

This leadership style is also called as autocratic leadership styles and this is used in case of crisis situation. In case of redundancy i.e. decrease in the revenue or work available this style will be the best. Leader has to be authoritative to push the employees working under him to achieve the goals and objectives. This type of leadership style puts a pressure on the workers and it is not the best style to be used to increase team building in the organization Leader always wants employees to follow his orders without saying anything. Leader focuses more on results instead of problems faced by the employees.

• Participative leadership style

In this type of leadership style everyone in the organization is give some role or duty. There will be teams for all the departments of the organization. It is one of the best leadership styles to encourage team building and to solve the grievances of the employees.

• Transformational leadership style

This type of leadership style is used to make big changes in the organization. Leader has to be very visionary and he should have plans for long term goals. Leader is very charismatic and he believes in team building and keeping employees happy (Sosik, 2000). This leadership style also helps in reducing the turnover ratio in the organization.

2.4 A discussion on how would you as a HR Manager motivate staff to perform in a busy supermarket working environment

In a busy supermarket environment, employees feel very monotonous and they have to sell the same thing again and again. They feel very tired and dejected and they have to work for the whole day and the job is not very entertaining. One or the other day they will feel like leaving the job so there is a great need of keeping employees motivated. Below are some of the following steps which I will take to motive and encourage the workforce in supermarket:

• Monetary benefits are the major source of motivation. At the end of appraisal cycle I will give some bonus to the top performers. On the basis of their rating they will get quarterly and annual bonus. This will encourage everyone to perform better.
• Recognition in front of other employees also encourages everyone. All the top performers will be given awards or trophies in an awards ceremony.
• On a daily basis employees will be given regular breaks and I will also try to organize some fun activities on a weekly basis to change the mood and environment of all the employees.
• I will always try to be open and friendly with the staff members of the supermarket. I will be easily approachable by all the employees and I will work on the suggestion and concerns of the staff members of the supermarket.

Task 3

3.1 Outline the importance of Team Work and assess the benefits for the Palms holiday park.

In an organization nothing can be done by a single person. Employees have to work in team to achieve the goals and objectives and for the betterment of the organization. So there is a huge importance of team work in any organization especially in a service industry. Customer satisfaction in service industry depends a lot on team work. Below are some of the benefits of the team work for Palms Holiday Park:

• Increase in efficiency

Team work helps a lot in increasing the efficiency of team member. Each team player can focus on one and he can be perfect in that task. There will be reduction in the time taken to complete that task and quality of the output from that task also becomes better (Cohen, 1991). In case of Palms Holiday Park if a customer service assistant is working on guiding the visitors to their rooms and also in the entire resort, after some days he will become perfect in that and all similarly all the other team members can focus on their tasks.

• Build Trust

Team building can help in building trust among the team members. In the absence of one employee other can take his responsibility. In Palm Holidays Park there is e need of trust to improve the problems faced by the company. It can be achieved by encouraging the team building in Palms Holiday Park.

• Leads to innovation

There is a great need of innovation to find out the ways to solve the problems of longer queues at the entrance. Team work helps a lot in innovation and in finding out better solutions. Brainstorming in a team is one of the best ways to get new ideas and solutions.

• Improves the service

Palms Holiday Park is working in the service industry and team work helps a lot in improving the service. Customer satisfaction can be achieved easily. All the team members will have positive collaboration between them and they will be able to provide the best service to the customer. It will also create a positive attitude among the employees and encourage them towards the goals of the organization.

• Feeling of accomplishment

An individual cannot achieve what a team can achieve together and team can achieve something very big. After achieving all the team members feel a sense of accomplishment.

3.2 Discuss how you would lead a customer service team to deal with the changing needs of customers while working as a team. How would your team members view your leadership approach? Provide examples and justify your answer.

Leader is the one who is responsible for building a good environment in the team. It depends upon the leadership approach adopted by the leader. In my case I will try to adopt transformational and participative leadership style. Palms Holiday Park is facing lots of problems and issues so there is a huge need of transformation in the organization. For example to solve the problem of longer queues and more waiting time at the entrance we have to change the entrance structure of the organization. We might have to one more entrance for the resort and this requires a leader who believes in transformation and can take quick decisions. Customer needs are changing and their disposable income is increasing. They want all the facilities at single point. I will try to include more services such as Spa, Massage parlours, beauty salons, gaming etc. in my resort.

Other leadership approach which I will adopt is participative leadership. I will have separate departments in Palm Holiday Park. For example there will be a separate human resource, marketing and financial departments. All the departments will be having their heads and each and every team member will have specific roles and responsibilities. All the employees will be given freedom to think out of the box and come up with new ideas. Once in a week I will have meeting with all the employees and will listen to their concerns and steps will be taken to solve these issues.

I will try to be friendly and open to the staff members and encourage them by implementing a suitable performance appraisal system in the organization.

3.3 Discuss how the team effectiveness can be achieved to ensure the team achieves their goals.

In Palms Holiday park there is a great need of team effectiveness. It will help team and the entire organization to achieve the goals and objectives (Tannenbaum, 1992). Below are some of the some of the ways which can help in achieving team effectiveness:

• Clarify the goals and objectives to everyone

All the team members should know the goals and objectives of the organization and of the team also. Depending upon the goals their roles and responsibilities should be decided. All the team members should be aware of their duties. This will help in finishing the task at time and there will not be any confusion in the team.

• Interaction with the client

All the team members should be given a chance to interact with the clients or the customers for whom they work. This will help them in knowing the expectation of the customers and they will become more effective. It will help team members in knowing the external and internal environment and on the basis of that they can change their actions.

• Find out ways to resolve conflicts

Conflicts always arise when more than two people are working in a team but there needs to be some ways to resolve these conflicts. Team leader can play a major role in resolving these issues. Team leader has to be fair in solving these critical issues.

• Allow team members to interact with other team members and also with the leader

Interaction among the team members is very important and this will help them in building trust and stronger relationship. They will get to know each other better. They can even share each other’s responsibilities at critical times. Interaction with the leader is also very important to raise your concern. All the above points surely help in building team effectiveness.

Task 4

4.1 Discuss the importance of monitoring and accessing work performance. Explain the factors which you would consider in planning assessment of work performance for a customer service assistant.

It is very important to monitor and assess the performance of the employees after regular intervals of time in any organization. Performance appraisal system can be set up to monitor and evaluate the performance (Fuchs, 1994). Below are some of the benefits of monitoring and evaluating the performance:

• Performance appraisal system helps in noting down the goals and objectives of each and every individual. Roles and responsibilities of all the employees can be made clear in the starting of appraisal cycle. Managers and employees discuss to set their goals for the next cycle.
• It will also help in finding out the top performers in a cycle. With the help of appraisal system we can find out the weaknesses of the low performers and try to develop programs for their development.
• Continuous monitoring of performance also helps in motivating employees for better performance.
• After the appraisal cycle top performers are given rewards and awards and this will encourage employees.
• Employees will be given feedback on their weaknesses and they can try to attend some trainings and courses to improve.
• It also helps in deciding the strategies on senior level for the better future of the organization.

While planning the assessment of the employees I will consider the following factors:

• Goals and objectives of the organization- On the basis of goals and objectives of the organization we will set goals for individual employees and individual goals should align with the organization’s goals. It will be beneficial for both employee and the employer.
• Feasibility: All the goals and objectives should be achievable.
• Measurability: Goals and objectives should be easily measured so that we can give rating on the basis of their performance. This will help in differentiating top performers from the low performers.
• Organization Structure: Performance appraisal system also depends upon the organization structure. It will be different for vertical and horizontal structure. In hierarchical structure a team leader will help employees in setting and evaluating their goals.

4.2 Describe the stages and methods which you would use in planning and delivering the assessment of personal development needs of a customer service assistant. Provide an example of action plan.

Customer service assistant requires continuous personal development to work efficiently. I as a human resource manager have to plan for personal development needs of service assistant. Below are the stages which I will use in developing and monitoring the performance of customer service assistant:

• Setting goals for next cycle- The first step will be to set goals for service assistant in next six months. These goals can be related to getting more customer or revenue to the organization.
• Setting performance measures: Performance can be evaluated on the basis of some measures such as productivity, attendance, number of customers attracted, feedback from the customer etc. These performance measures will be defined initially for all the customer service assistants.
• Setting of guidelines for feedback: There will be some rules and regulation and on the basis of these rules and regulations rating will be given to all the service assistants at the end of six months.
• Set an evaluation schedule: A schedule will set up in which managers and the employees will have a discussion on their achievements in past six months and then managers will give rating to all the service assistants. In this meeting service assistants will be given a chance to tell about their performance in past six months.
• Training for developing personal skills: After the appraisal cycle and depending upon the rating and other findings related to strengths and weaknesses employees are given training to develop their skills and knowledge. This will help employees in gaining confidence and they will definitely perform better in the next appraisal cycle. Employees with good performance will be rewarded with some awards and incentives to keep them motivated.

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4.3 How would you evaluate the success of the performance assessment process? Justify your answer.

Performance assessment is always helpful and successful in achieving the goals and objectives of both employees and the organization. I feel that it is always beneficial because it makes the entire process in the organization organized. Employees get to know their roles, responsibilities, goals and objectives. They know that on what basis they will be evaluated at the end of performance appraisal cycle and they work according to that. As we know that employees goals are aligned with the organization goals hence if the employees are successful in achieving their goals it means that organization is also moving towards its short term or long term targets (Bernardin, 1984). Teams or the individuals will be given specific tasks to accomplish. Team’s performance can also be measured with the help of performance appraisal system. With the help of this process managers get to know about the skills of the employees working under them and they can assign employees in any next coming opportunity depending upon the skills and knowledge of the employees. It increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees. Employees stay motivated and enthusiastic to achieve the benefits after this performance appraisal process. Promotion and bonus is given on the basis of this assessment. This thing sometimes puts some negative impacts also on the work culture when we are not able to differentiate between the performances of employees. Some employees who get bad rating do not feel happy with the process. Sometimes it becomes too difficult to differentiate between the performances of two employees. But the positive points are always more as compared to the negative points and hence performance assessment process is always successful in achieving best results for the organization.

Conclusion

Human resource management is very important in any organization. We studied the recruitment and selection process for customer service assistant in a supermarket. Selection and recruitment process is very important to select the best available resources. Leadership is different from management and we studied various leadership qualities which differentiate leaders from the managers. Leaders help in building good relationships between the team members. Transformational and participative leadership style can encourage the team building. Team work is very important to achieve the expected results. We also studied the various stages of performance appraisal system and how monitoring and assessment of performance can help both employee and the employer

References

Armstrong, M. 2008. Management a leadership. Grada Publishing as. Bernardin, H. J., & Beatty, R. W. 1984. Performance appraisal: Assessing human behavior at work. Boston: Kent Publishing Company. Cohen, P. R., & Levesque, H. J. 1991. Teamwork. Menlo Park: SRI International. Dowling, P. J., Festing, M., & ENGLE, A. D. 1994. Human resources management. Wadsworth Publishing Compeny, Belmont. Fuchs, L. S., & Deno, S. L. 1994. Must instructionally useful performance assessment be based in the curriculum?. Exceptional Children. Gröschl, S., & Doherty, L. 1999. Diversity management in practice.International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 11(6), 262-268.

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