Employee Development and Performance

Strategy, Planning, and Selection

Strategy, Planning, And Selection

A strategy is a crucial aspect in business because it creates an opportunity for the business to realize the set goals and objectives in the most effective and efficient manner. It is the case that various markets are composed of multiple direct as well as indirect competitors who are seeking a part of the market share. For this reason, it is imperative to ensure that proper measures are put in place to enable the business ways of improving the efficiency of its processes so as to realize the desired positive outcomes. Utilizing the various business strategies will go a long way in helping the business realize process efficiency which will help the business realize a competitive advantage over the other competitors in the market, (Pitelis & Runde, 2017). These include business structure, cost leadership, differentiation, and focused approach.

To being with, cost leadership is about creating a business network which is aimed at reducing the cost of production for the products produced by the company so as to make it cost less compared to all the other competitors in the market. This means that the business has to ensure that it is running an efficient business model that is not composed of any redundant activities or process that increase cost without adding values to the product or business process. For instance, time-consuming tasks such as filing paperwork can be overcome by employing the use of technology to have digital filing system which is not only fast but also more efficient since they can be accessed by all the authorized employees.

Second, in order for a business to create a competitive advantage, the management can utilize the differentiation of its products to realize the desired outcomes. The company will be able to place its self strategically in the market by offering unique products or services to the targeted customers. For instance, if the company is an automaker, then it is imperative to ensure that there is a variety of car brands on its portfolio which will cater for the customers in the various market segments. The move will see to it that the company is able to increase its revenue streams which will go a long way in increasing its profit margins.

There is also the focused business approach which can be applied to the cost leadership and differentiation strategies. In this case, the quality of the product is more important compared to the cost. One way in which this can be achieved is by narrowing down to the needs of a particular market in what is referred to as a focused differentiation strategy. For instance, customers who need performance cars are willing to pay more to get a fine-tuned car of their preference compared to the standards cars offered to the general market.

The strategy that would be most effective for the organization is cost leadership. This is the case because the organization has more control over its processes because they are contained within the internal business environment. Employees can be more productive if they trained on the current trends and issues affecting the market and industry as a whole. This puts them in a better position to find new and more effective and innovative ways of dealing with the challenges they are bound to face in the workplace as argued by Pitelis & Runde (2017).

The strategy will affect the way the HR manager’s job because it will directly affect the employees and the way they undertake their duties and responsibilities within the retail organization. It is imperative for the HR to ensure that the implementation of cost leadership strategies results in the desired business outcomes rather than creating more challenges to the business. Challenges may arise when the employees are not engaged in the process and such they may resist some of the changes that may be made to the organization and its business processes. In such cases, the business will not be able to realize the desired effect because the productivity and efficiency of the employees will be greatly affected.

There are four popular approaches to jobs design which include job rotation, job engineering job enlargement, and job enrichment. Job rotation involves moving the employees from one job to another so as to add variety to the job and reduce boredom for the employees by allowing them to perform a variety of tasks. When a task is no longer challenging to the employees, then they are given another job, the same level as the previous and also one which requires skills and experience posses by the particular employees. The result is that the activities of the employees are diversified which helps them to gain a wide range of skill and experience within the workplace making them more flexible. Moreover, these employees are well trained to take up management positions within the organization thus promoting the sustainability of its business activities. For examples, the stocking associate can switch jobs with the merchandizer and the tellers can switch roles with the cashiers. The employees will be able to gain more knowledge and skills different from what they are used to.

Job engineering is a more methodological process as it includes the tasks to be undertaken, the methods that will be utilized, the flow of work among the employees, how the workers are laid out within the organizations, the performance standards, and independence and the technology/machines and the people. These are factors that are considered by means of time and motion studies in order to determine how much time is needed to complete the individual tasks and the movement that will be needed within the organization to ensure that the tasks are completed efficiently. This is what result to the specialization of labor which aims are increasing the productivity of the employees as well as creating an enabling environment for the quick training of new employees, (Peng & Pierce, 2015). For instance, the sale persons can give suggestions on how best their job can be modified to help them make more sales for the company.

Job enlargement refers to the process of expanding the task undertaken by a particular employee within the organization. The benefits associated with job enlargement which include creating a variety of tasks, the work modules are meaningful and performance feedback among others. An example of job enlargement in the retail setting is within the duties of a merchandiser. The merchandisers may be asked to focus two more brands rather than focusing on one particular brand. The result is that they will be able to get more insight, knowledge, and skills regarding the various products they are handling as opposed to dealing with one particular brand.

Last, job enrichment refers to the process of making a job or position more rewarding by adding more motivating factors. In order for the employees to feel enriched by a job position, then it is imperative to make the job exciting as well as giving the job holder more decision-making power and control over their duties and responsibilities. The eight characteristics of job enrichment as presented by Herzberg include direct feedback, client relationship, scheduling own work, new learning, unique experience, control over resources, personal accountability and direct communication authority, (Miner, 2015).For instance, the managers within the organization need to have more responsibility and autonomy which give them more growth opportunities.

Staffing involves developing various roles for the various job positions within the organization. As such, job design is a crucial aspect of staffing as it affects the manner in which the employees undertake their duties and responsibilities. An effective and exceptional job design will not only help to attract the best talent to the retail business but also motivates the employees to improve their overall productivity. The result is that the organization will be able to realize the desired positive outcomes as it will greatly increase its profit margins when the productivity of the employees increases, (Peng & Pierce, 2015).

One of the major constraints associated with recruiting workers is government policies. The government is focused on promoting equality in society and as such it requires all businesses and organizations to adhere to the rules and regulations governing the hiring process. For instance, legislation can make it mandatory for hiring managers to reserve a certain percentage of job positions to the minority groups within the society. Violation of such regulations while seeking to find the most suitable candidate result to lawsuits which will cost the company thousands of dollars in fines. I would suggest that the hiring manager should ensure that they are well conversant the federal, state and local employment laws to avoid potential violations. This will see to it that the hiring process is conducted according to the rules and values of the organization as well as the laws of the land.

Secondly, there is also a challenge with the trade unions as the union agreement may not permit the employment of individuals outside the union. This may be a challenge in situations where the organization needs an employee with a particular level of skill and knowledge in a certain area and is not available within the pool of employees in the union. Therefore, it is necessary for the human resource manager to ensure that they develop an effective, flexible and sustainable agreement with the trade unions. This will see to it that the business utilizes effective recruitment strategies for special duties so as to attract the best and most qualified talent for the position, (Craig, 2015, July).

The success of an organization greatly depends on its ability to recruit the best-suited candidates for the various job positions which call for an effective recruitment strategy. However, there are also challenge that employers are bound to face in regards to the recruitment and selection process. It is imperative for the business to determine the necessity of the hiring process before creating a job position. This means that the management needs to be certain that the new job position is necessary. Therefore, it would be wise for the management to give addition tasks to the existing employees. The move will see to it that the business is able to save on money that could have otherwise been used to pay for salaries and benefits for the new employees. Existing employees can be given additional tasks and also given more rewards to motivate them to take up the new duties. That is much cheaper compared to hiring a new employee.

To begin with, the selection process can be improved by creating a clear and well-defined job description. The job description should not only include the tasks for the position but also the role that the position plays the overall improvement of the business as a whole. This helps the candidates to understand exactly what is required of them for the particular job position. The recruitment process can be improved by using HR technology in the hiring and selection process, (Frew, et al., 2014). For instance, the use of recruitment software can help the hiring manager narrow down to the most qualified individual for the jobs position based on their skills, experience, and qualifications. Using recruitment software helps the managers to access the CVs of the most qualified individuals for a particular job position. Moreover, the software is also able to schedule interviews with the shortlisted candidates thus increasing the efficacy of the process.

In order to improve the efficiency of the selection process, it is important for the HR and the management teams not to settle for vague and general responses from the candidates. Even though the HR manager is expected to be polite in the manner in which he asks the questions, it is important to ensure that the candidate gives the answers to the specific questions asked. Also, the manager should avoid talking too much and listen more to the candidate because then he will be able to effectively evaluate the suitability of the candidate to the required job position.

References

Craig, M. (2015, July). Cost effectiveness of retaining top internal talent in contrast to recruiting top talent. In Competition Forum (Vol. 13, No. 2, p. 203). American Society for Competitiveness.

Frew, P. M., Saint-Victor, D. S., Isaacs, M. B., Kim, S., Swamy, G. K., Sheffield, J. S., ... & Ault, K. (2014). Recruitment and retention of pregnant women into clinical research trials: an overview of challenges, facilitators, and best practices. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 59(suppl_7), S400-S407.

Peng, H., & Pierce, J. (2015). Job-and organization-based psychological ownership: Relationship and outcomes. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30(2), 151-168.

Pitelis, C., & Runde, J. (2017). Capabilities, resources, learning and innovation: a blueprint for a post-classical economics and public policy. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 41(3), 679-691.