Introduction
Retail industry forms a part of supply chain management, it deals with sale of goods and services where in manufacturers and wholesalers sells it to the customers for profit. Retailing is done either by fixed stores, online retailing or by delivery. Retailing is classified by type of products which can be food products, durable goods or consumables. Harmonious relation between employer and employee is the most vital part for effective operation of any organization. Legislation has come up with set of rights and guide lines to be followed by employers as well as employees which help the organization to run efficiently and effectively without any hurdles and also helps country. Economic factors, including personal income, consumer confidence, job growth and maintain a sound relationship between employees and trade unions (Roth, 2013). The retail industry is a large and extremely competitive industry with several issues and complexities. This industry does not have scope for errors and in competencies. The human resources form an extremely important part of the retail industry. They are to be trained and helped achieve high quality of life and work conditions. The human resources in the retail industry have to be well managed. They have to be provided with the right kind of work conditions and also be helped obtain better training.
Major issues faced by workers
Poor wage rates, pay equity, occupational health and safety, psychological harassment, overtime and penalty rates are the major problems faced by employees. Employees are forced to work on public holidays and this lack of planning demotivates workers from working. There is no flexibility in timings, Gender discrimination against in matters regarding pay and promotions. Employees claimed about cost cutting measures undertaken by employers resulting in reduced wage rates (Chowdhury, et.al., 2005). They are subjected to illegal working conditions. There always seem to be more tasks than time in a retail operation, employees cannot perform duties assigned to them in delegated time span because of poor management, too many duties are assigned to single person without giving guidelines about which task can wait resulting in Conflicting priorities, cumbersome and Inefficient processes, overcomplicated procedures, and time-wasting activities are legitimate time-eating barriers. These cause Distractions and constant interruptions for employees. An employee is expected to be in two different places and complete work at the same time, register unattended, Monitoring dressing rooms while working, Cleaning restrooms and anything else Paperwork and anything else (Chowdhury, et.al., 2005).These set as the barrier for the employees. Employees are often lacking behind in knowledge because there is no sufficient training or reference material provided by employers. Employees are frequently not able to be accessible when and where needed, do not have the right tool for the right job. Sometimes employees don't have freedom to communicate directly with higher authority but they have to go through union leader or managers, if managers do not communicate them to respective authority, the problems remain
On the other hand, in order to achieve and maintain a foothold in an existing market, a prospective retail establishment has barriers which include capital investments and money spent to conduct market survey related to customers as well. Lack of strategy planning in organization and also lack of communication internally as well as externally are identified. Due to low profit margin, the organization cannot diversify into other segment which leads to high risk (Major Problems of the Retail Industry, 2014). Auditing is also a problem faced by this industry. It has become extremely important for the management to figure out the issues that arise in the organizations and the problems faced by the employees in order to provide them with better work conditions as well as better opportunities. This can help the employees be better motivated and also achieve more as a team working towards the goals of the organization. It helps the firm create better human resource management and also helps them form a stronger management. It is quite important from a strategic point of view as well.
Many times organizations may have all necessary resources to start its production but there is no able workforce to perform the work efficiently, but in these situations or uncertainties human resource planning offsets such conditions and ensures right men at right place. So, it is very important that an organization operating in this industry be well developed and well balanced. Only then it can create competencies and retain them. Motivating employees and retaining them is an extremely crucial element in present day businesses. The possible reasons for the cessation of employment within an organization include non alignment of personal goals and organizational goals as well as compensation and other factors. Better opportunities and lack of motivation to continue also form important elements. These should be avoided in order to ensure that there be higher retention of employees in the organization and it would then become easier to manage the issues faced in case of labor and trade unions. The impact of legal and regulatory frame work in consideration of employment cessation arrangements is crucial. Managing human resources in an international or global business is much more complex and challenging when compared to that of a local or national organization. So, even in such cases, it is important that the employees are well trained and helped to understand the environment of the business, its goals and objectives as well as growth prospects and their role in the organization.
Trade unions
The principal duties and responsibilities of employee representatives must also include, representing members fairly and effectively in relation to issues relating to work and work conditions in the undertaking or establishment in which they work. Terms and conditions, helping union members with disciplinary or grievance. The advice about learning or training, arrange or encourage learning or training. They must not encourage strikes and other factors which effect industry, but in fact discuss with right authority people and come to a conclusion. It can help bring teams together and also create an environment that is suitable for work and helps create several competencies. It also helps ensure that there should be effective balance between operational and strategic level planning and organizing. It helps create better impact and effectiveness in case of managing an organization. Trade unions help create better levels of focus on the creation of a trade friendly environment which is uniform and standardized. The organization should focus on making changes and interventions in the HRM processes in order to form a team that is suitable for the challenges faced by this industry in the long run. It could provide the firm with an added strategic advantage as well. The various implementation issues faced by the organization include costs, training and research and development.Advice to management Management in order to reach their goals, first step they should proceed with is, to make working environment healthy, understand employee problems like what prevents them from performing with excellence, or they do not achieve excellence because they simply don't want to. Managers must think the root causes like as separate disorders which require accurate diagnosis and appropriately. It is also extremely important that the strategic perspective of innovation be implemented through training. All of these can help the management form a stronger team which is beneficial and can also the ability to remove the communication gap or reduce it which exists between the management and the employees.
Even after requesting, demanding, or providing with lot of motivation, employers must understand the fact that there are some legitimate barriers in every operation that make it difficult for employees to complete their tasks, meet their deadlines, and generally meet employers’ expectations. Employers can separate legitimate barriers from unfounded whining by asking employees simple questions like: “What makes it difficult or impossible to do job with excellence every day, in every way, with no exceptions?” Human resources are an extremely essential aspect of an organization as their skills, talent, knowledge and efforts can prove to be assets to the organization. They can help the organization grow and also be competent. They can help an organization overcome the shortcomings and become a market leader as well. The roles and responsibilities of HRM managers in this industry include the usage of motivational techniques and methods that can benefit the organization and help create higher employer employee value (Gibb, 2010).
Human Resource Development develops and enhances individual’s competencies to perform and this is done by providing opportunities such as Employee Career Development, Employee Training, Performance Management & Development, Mentoring, Coaching, Succession Planning, Key Employee Identification Etc and all these activities lead to organization development. They should be encouraged in an organization in order to form better and stronger elements of growth and development. They can help create competencies and competitive advantage across all of the operations of the business.
The legitimate barriers that employees may be facing could Physical Barriers, Time Barriers, Wherewithal Barriers, and Know-how Barriers. Identify these barriers and take corrective measures like providing them with all facilities like providing telephone book, mall directory, street map, or GPS to give directions assistance, FAQ's documented with accurate, up-to-date answers. Make helpline, or emergency contact numbers easily available also provide better communication among employees so that they can contact each other for any information needed or to clarify specific transactions. Device a system for capturing and documenting the knowledge and experience of senior employees, so that fresher's can learn from seniors and can use them for further clarifications during execution of any project. If any equipment is broken or inadequate provide them immediately to make working environment comfortable. The best thing about supporting excellence is by eliminating barriers is that it causes several issues. High performance employees may have a lower tolerance for just-get-by co-workers and neither should employers. Provide them continuous training with technology or with other success factors which help organization to develop. Delegation of the work should be in accordance with their knowledge and skills (Resolving issues Resolving issues - Employers - Employment - Fair Work Ombudsman, 2014).
Focus should be on providing single task to an individual and no multiple tasks should be assigned to a single person or else that leads to complexity. In order to achieve goals it is always necessary to align organization goals with employees one. Device a strategy management for proper management of organization in different fields like finance, customers, products, process and on employees, which helps in achieving goals and objectives easily. Employers must consult with union representatives if there is going to be a business transfer or takeover they are planning to make 20 or more people redundant within 90 days. All workplaces must have an agreed Issue Resolution procedure. Make an enterprise agreement with employees to cover the wages and conditions that apply to business. Agreements can benefit a business because they're tailored to the workplace's needs.
Agreements have to be voted on by employees and approved and lodged before they apply (Farfan, 2014). Standards minimum wages in agreements can't be lower than the rates framed by the legislatives. Trade unions play a significant role in directly shaping people's working lives and also it has significant effect on improvement of the organization (Resolving issues Resolving issues - Employers - Employment - Fair Work Ombudsman, 2014)
The other purpose of HRD is to develop general capabilities as individuals and discover and exploit inner potentials for own as well as organizational development. This can help bring in effective methods of change and development across the organization along with betterment in the levels of retention within the organization. Employees require growth and challenges as well as opportunities. When they are not satisfied, they use the unions mode to help convey their problems to the management in the form of a conflict or negotiation. This can be avoided if the employees are well motivated. Advice to legislators Some legislative processes i.e. different legislation's or laws can be passed by the legislators and these could have an impact on different industries. Hence, they should be aware of such issues & opportunities and hence, fight to 'pass' helpful laws and modify or prevent laws that would adversely affect the growth of the industries/economy. Legislators must frame the rules by considering customer rights by protecting them from unfair prices, violence and bullying, provide equal opportunity. Framing export import regulations and other trade practices along with employee employer agreements, and workers compensation. They also should cover trade and business relations that cross state boundaries, product and service information, product and safety warranties, condition that any product should not cover misleading advertising and representation. Provision of providing accurate and reliable information to customers. It must safeguard the interest of retail industry. They also must include reforms to improve transparency and accessibility of these policies. They must communicate periodically with trade unions and industries to know the effect of the rules framed, as few of them are beneficial and few of them have adverse effects (Farfan, 2004).
Human Resource Development can be done formally and informally, it depends on need and stage of employment. Formally it can be done either in classroom training, collage course or many times organizational planned effort change. It is very important to ensure that HRD takes place in the organization in order to avoid dissatisfaction among employees at all levels. it is also important that employees be involved in these decisions and changes. And informally it can be done as employee coaching by a manger and this perspective has been supported by all of the academicians thus forming a common crux based on which it would be possible to formulate the required philosophical theory for HRD that is consistent as well as easy to understand and useful in academics and practice. Human resource development stresses o developing the key competencies that allows the individual to perform current and future jobs in the organization by planned learning activities. These elements can help the business grow as well
Conclusion
Some of the key factors that are driving growth in the organized retail market. In order to achieve industry or organizational growth in terms of reaching specific goals it is necessary to align organizational goals with that of employee goals. Provide motivation so that they can work for personal improvement as well as for organization. Communication is also one of the most important things for any industry to grow, should always keep employees and customers updated so that they can keep track and plan better.
Apart from recruitment and retention, HR managers should look at value creation through leadership as well. Leadership scholars have explained that leaders must choose a leadership style that fits and is suitable for the work environment of the organization that he leads. It is essential for the firm to be able to choose a leader who can guide the union towards growth and development in order to take the team together with him. It is recommended that the organization trains employees to work in teams and form better association with each of the employees in different departments, domains and organizations. This can help them operate effectively. Moreover it can help reduce the politics and issues or clashes that arise in case of a trade union or an employee union in an organization (Cooper, A, 2009). The effective management of human capital is pivotal to any organization which has ability to survive and thrive. A human resource development program helps in aligning HR strategies with organization wider business objective. This is of great importance to present day organizations that operate in an effective and competitive as well as dynamic environment.
References
Chowdhury, Shyamal; Ashok Gulati, E. Gumbira Sa'id (2005). The Rise of Supermarkets and Vertical Relationships in the Indonesian Food Value Chain. Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development
Farfan, B. (2014). Finding Challenges and Barriers in the Retail Operation. [online] About.com Retail Industry.
Joining a trade union - GOV.UK. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk
Roth, M. (2013). Top Stocks 2014: A Sharebuyer's Guide to Leading Australian Companies. Wiley
Resolving issues Resolving issues - Employers - Employment - Fair Work Ombudsman. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.fwc.gov.au/
