Business Study Assignment

Scenario

History

C. & J Clark international Ltd, trading as Clarks, is a British based International Shoe manufacturer and retailer. It was founded in 1825 by brothers Cyrus and James Clarks in Street, Somerset England, where it still has its headquarters. The company has over 1,000 branded stores and franchises around the world and also sells through third party distribution.

For the year ending January 2013, the company made a profit of £150 million on sales of £1,433m making it the 31st largest private company in the UK. More than half of its £1.4bn annualised sales to January were generated abroad, and since 2010 the company has moved into India, where it now has 25 stand-alone stores, and relaunched marketing in China, where it has opened 400 outlets in partnership with local footwear retailers.

It is 84% owned by the Clark family, with the remaining 16% held by employees and related institutions. The company is growing with rapid speed and its number of branches and franchises are increasing to meet the demand of its customers.

Assumption 1

Assume that you have been given the position of trainee HR Manager in Clarks and the company is in need of expansion. The senior management has asked you to lead a team of your colleagues to hire a store manager on urgent basis keeping in mind all legal, regulatory and ethical considerations and to resolve all conflicts of the team on ASAP basis.

You need to prepare documentation to select and recruit a new Store Manager, describing the job responsibilities, identifying characteristics of talents that you need to build your Sales team and presenting, if necessary, other advice regarding the recruitment about the person desired to the HR manager, so the right person can be enrolled into your team. You are also required to assess the impact of legal, regulatory and ethical considerations to the recruitment and selection process.

Based on the scenario above (Assumption 1) and your further research on Clarks, you need to address the tasks outlined below.

Task 1 - Prepare an Advertisement to recruit a new Staff

LO1-Be able to use recruitment, selection and retention procedures

LO3- : Be able to work effectively in a team.

This task offers you an opportunity to achieve LO1 and 3.2 : – AC 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.2 and 1.4

0. Prepare documentation to select and recruit a new member of staff (Store Manager).

Guidelines:

Assume that Clarks is planning to recruit a Store Manager. You are therefore required to prepare an advert to be published in Metro. Your advert should contain a brief job description, person specification and any other related information)

0. Assess the impact of legal, regulatory and ethical considerations to the recruitment and selection process.

Guidelines:

You need to assess the impact of legal, regulatory and ethical considerations when recruiting a Store Manager for Clarks.

0. Take part in the selection process. In this task you should take part in the selection process, which must be documented as an evidence to meet the assessment criteria.

Guidelines: Role Play – Team discussion in selecting Application Form best matching job requirements.

As a team member, you are required to take part in a team exercise reviewing all the applications after the advertisement prepared in (1.1) by other members of the team and take part in identifying the most suitable applicant for Store Manager position for interview (see appendix1 for the job description) This interview should be conducted in a professional manner.

3.2 Role Play – As team members you will be asked to support the applicant provided by scenarios provided in 1.3

A situation exists, where in a team, you are selecting the most suitable application for interviewing, however there were 2 applications (A & B) who are equally good and supported by 2 different team members. You as a Trainee HR Manager can only select one applicant for interviewing; however you wish to resolve the selection with support of your team members. Demonstrate how you would reach the goal of selecting one application and how you would deal with this difficult situation or team member conflict. Give reasons and justify why & how will you support A in comparison to B or vice versa and how will you reach to the resolution of team conflict.

Guideline: here the student has to take the scenario provided in this question to developing the answer. Also explain any conflict/difficult situations which the Manager may face, and the ways to deal with them to resolve the team conflict)

0. The recruitment and selection process may sometimes be ineffective and unfair. Explore the possible reasons for ineffective and unfair recruitment practices in selection and recruitment. Using the Scenario of (AC1.3) evaluate your own contribution to make the process more effective and fairer.

Guidelines: Briefly explain the recruitment and selection process in Clarks, you can use the job description in (appendix1). Then you need to evaluate your own contribution to the process by considering the campaign for hiring (advertisement, shortlisting, interviewing and final selection) a Store Manager and how you can make the process more effective and fairer.

1. Reasons for ineffective and unfair practices in recruitment and selection process

1. Your contributions to make the process of recruitment and selection more effective and fair based on merit (advertisement, shortlisting, interviewing and final selection).

JOB ADVERT

Scenario

Assumption 2

Assume that you are working as trainee HR Manager in Clarks and your Line Manager has asked you to write an article in report format for a section in the staff handbook. This article will involve the subjects of leadership, management and motivation.

Based on the scenario above (Assumption 2) and your further research on Clarks, you need to address the tasks outlined below.

Task 2 –Prepare a Report on leadership, management and motivation of staff

LO2- WWLP: Understand the styles and impact of leadership

This task offers you an opportunity to achieve LO2: – AC 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, M1, M2 and D1

Include the following in your article for the staff handbook:

2.1 Explain the skills and attributes needed for leadership

Guidelines: Identify the skills and attributes needed for leadership in Clarks as per the company’s leadership framework. You also need to explain as to why each of the skills and attributes is important)

2.2 Explain the difference between leadership and management.

Guidelines: Define and explain the following:

1. Management

1. Leadership

Then, explain the main differences between management and leadership. Give some examples of the differences (at least one example) from your own experiences of leaders.

2.3 Compare leadership styles for different situations.

Guidelines: Identify at least two leadership styles used by managers. Draw a theoretical comparison between these two leadership styles. You also need to identify and explain the situations in which these two styles are best applied)

2.4 Explain ways to motivate staff to achieve objectives.

Guidelines: Explain the ways Clarks motivates its employees in line with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory)

Scenario

Assumption 3

Assume that you are working as trainee HR Manager in Clarks and Clarks’ senior management often ask employees to complete projects that require they work as a team. Working together has many benefits, including the possibility to create new friendships, a sense of group accomplishment and distribution of responsibilities. Conversely, teamwork also may cause tension and anxiety among employees because of poor communication. Effective communication can eliminate much of the stress and negative feelings sometimes associated with working closely as a team. Business owners should encourage their employees to communicate with one another clearly when working together. This is especially important for smaller companies, whose employees often must work closely with one another

Based on the scenario above (Assumption 3) and your further research on Clarks, you need to address the tasks outlined below.

Task 3- Prepare a Report of Training plan

LO3- Be able to work effectively in a team.

LO4-Be able to assess the work and development needs of individuals

This task offers you an opportunity to achieve LO3 and LO4: AC 3.1, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, M3,D2 and D3

Include the following in your report:

3.1 Assess the benefits of team working for Clarks.

Guidelines: Assess the benefits of team working

3.3 Review the effectiveness of the team in achieving the goals.

Guidelines:

Review the effectiveness of a team in achieving specific goals such as ‘sales increase’ or any other goals of your choice

4.1 Explain the factors involved in planning the monitoring and assessment of work performance.

Guidelines: Identify and explain the factors which need to be taken into account for planning the monitoring and assessment of work performance. For example, the learning styles of the employees may be considered a factor

4.2 Based on your answer in (AC 1.3) plan and deliver the assessment of the development needs for the “Store Manager of Clarks”.

Guidelines: Prepare a plan to identify the development needs for the“Store Manager”. You are free to use any planning format/template. In your plan, you must explain how to identify the development needs of individuals. Indicate how often you will need to identify the development needs in a year. Explain how the identified needs may be addressed. For example, you could discuss job design, job rotation, job enrichment, job enlargement or any relevant

4.3 Using your assessment plan delivered in (AC 4.2) evaluate the success of the assessment process.

Guidelines: You are required to evaluate the employees performance monitoring and assessment systems used at Clarks. Identify and critically evaluate at least three methods to evaluate the success of the assessment process in an organisation like Clarks. For example, one method may be the improved productivity of the employees. You can also discuss issues such as how performance is monitored, how often it is done, how effective it is and any other relevant information

Merits and Distinctions

M3: To achieve M3, present your work (Task 3) in a report format having headings, sub headings and provide evidence that research has been conducted in a professional and structured manner. Use the Harvard referencing system throughout the task.

D2: To achieve D2, you will take the responsibility of forming a team of 4 members for the restructuring project. To complete this task you will make reference to Belbin’s theory and identify four main roles that you will consider necessary to complete the task.

D3: Demonstrate an alternative strategy that you would adopt to assess the work and development needs of individuals to improve employee’s low performance at Clarks.