Academic Year 2021/22 Module Code: BH2274 Module Name: Employee Resourcing Module Leader: Dr Maryam Zahmatkesh Coursework Title: Good Food Case Study Task Details/Description: Good Food is a small retailer and currently has a portfolio of three stores, more recently they have been considering further expansion. Currently the stores operate across the West Midlands, but the plan is to open the next store within the more rural part of South Shropshire. The stores specialize in natural home-grown food and their goods are sourced from within the UK. In the main, the current workforce is made of students, young mothers and a number of migrant workers. Currently the workforce is a mix of part time and full- time employees and about 30% of management positions are based in their head office in Walsall. The store’s senior management team have a real passion for their product and the expectation is for customer facing staff to share this vision and commitment to their product. Two of the current store Managers, Jason and Jo believe the new location is a mistake and claim recruitment of staff will be a problem in rural areas. However, the other store manager, Garry believes this is an ideal setting as the pace of life is slower and therefore people are more likely to buy fresh goods that require time and effort to cook, enabling the store to build a regular customer base. Before the senior management team approve the opening of a new store, they do have a number of other issues that they also want to address. An outline of these concerns has been listed below: COURSEWORK ASSIGNMENT (1) A dip in store sales (2) A growing appetite to offer on-line shopping service in order to remain competitive (3) An increase in staff turnover (4) An increase in customer complaints Although overall profits are meeting required expectations, this is largely down to skilled negotiation with existing suppliers to ensure targets are achieved. Store managers have been asked some serious questions about the issues raised above, and on further investigation head office has discovered the following: (1) Jo’s store has recently been recruiting sales assistants, but these appointments have resulted from very informal interviews with staff. When challenged about this approach heavy workloads and lack of management time were stated as the reason. It has also been found that job applicants were screened primarily for their commitment and willingness to work shifts; and other desirable qualities (Which include customer service, product knowledge, communication and teamwork) were neglected. (2) Jason’s store has received a number of customer complaints and had a high turnover of staff from its store supervisors. On further inspection, it is noted the performance evaluation documents indicate a problem with the performance of the store supervisors. On examining the exit interviews, staff (At supervisory level) have indicated the job is not what they expected and did not reflect what was written in the job description. (3) At Garry’s store, the majority of staff are students and migrant workers. Staff have indicated in a recent employee survey they would remain in retail if they could see some progression and clear career paths. The senior management team has decided to recruit a HR consultant to address some of these issues and are seeking a fresh view on the way to manage the concerns that they have become aware off. You have been asked as a HR consultant to prepare a report
responding to the specific points below: Tasks: 1) The Senior Team want to pursue the idea of developing an on-line shopping service for its customers. They recognise the need to appoint experienced web developers and an E-Commerce project manager. In order to get the right person, they have asked you to advise on: a) The most appropriate method of job analysis and the benefits of going through this process. b) In light of the comments in the exit interviews, you are also tasked with re-visiting the store supervisor job description and person specification as a priority. You have been given an opportunity to explain and discuss the role these two documents play within the recruitment process. 2) Management believe high staff turnover and staff performance have contributed to poor sales, and they seek your advice on: a) How to improve the selection process. Advise the management team on (based on information you have been given about the sales role) the best method of selection. (Justify your answer) b) You have also been asked to outline a recommended approach to managing performance. 3) Based on the proposal to expand the store to a more rural area the management team want to understand the following: a) What factors need to be considered when analysing external labour markets before confirming another store opening b) What approaches can be explored in relation to talent management and how might they address some of the issues of a high turnover. Module Learning Outcomes Assessed: 1. Identify and source the Human Resource needs for an organisation recognising both internal and external supply and demand factors. 2. Design and implement recruitment, selection and induction in light of organisational context and recognised best practice. 3. Describe and critically evaluate principles, practices and models of performance management. 4. Apply a key theoretical employee resourcing concepts to a real world case study. Presentation Requirements: Word Count: 2500 +/- 10% = 2250 to 2750 words Font Size: 12 point Line Spacing: 1.5 Submission Date & Time: Date 10th Dec. 2021 by 12:00 noon UK time. Assessment Weighting for the Module: 100% Assessment Criteria You will get good marks by: – Setting the Assignment out as a report responding to each task – Correctly identifying the relevant issues – Giving advice based on an effective argument and drawing upon academic viewpoint – Relate back to the question and ensure a range of sources and models are explored to demonstrate both knowledge and understanding of resourcing practices. Essential Reading for Coursework Task (if in addition to reading provided in the module outline): Please note that this is not intended as an exhaustive or definitive list of readings for this piece of coursework. Instead, the articles/chapters listed below should be viewed as core or essential readings that may act as a start point as you prepare to tackle this assignment: 1. Taylor, S. (2008). People Resourcing (4th Edition). London: CIPD. 2. Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave. 3. Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers. 4. Crashaw, J.R., Budhwar, P. and Davis, A. (2017) Human resource management – Strategic and international perspectives, 2nd Edition. SAGE: London.