Introduction of staffing and Performance Appraisal in retail sector context
Staffing in Retail Sector
Retail sectors constitute the part of the economic market made up of businesses that sell well to the final consumer. The ultimate or the final consumer is the client who buys goods for personal use and not for business use. The retail sector encompasses various kinds of shops such as small and medium-sized stores and kiosk, large department stores, supermarket chains, mail-order business as well as online businesses. Staffing is an integral and a core process within the retail industry. Staffing includes a range of activities followed in the acquiring and maintaining a human personnel. The activities include recruitment, selection, training, development, and compensation of the human resource (Uysal, 2014 p.252). Staffing also includes the tasks of assigning responsibilities to appropriate personnel. To conduct a conscious staffing, the manager or the consultant should perform periodic performance appraisal.
Performance Appraisal
Performance appraisal is a systematic method applied to evaluate or review the job performance of an individual employee (DeNisi, & Smith, 2014 p.127). Managers or employers conducts employees performance appraisal so that they can understand the strength and abilities of the employee to deliver the targeted results. During performance evaluation, the manager usually cross-examines an employee’s work traits and compares it with the retail organization’s present standards. The manager then records the comparison results and uses these results to advise the employees on areas that may need improvements. The evaluation is important as it forms the basis of essential activities such as training, compensation, and promotion or even demotion.
Staffing Methods in Retail Sector
Retail sector can employ various staffing methods. Internal sourcing and personal recommendations are a suitable staffing method for businesses in the retail sector. This method operates under two methodologies. First, the company may choose to internal bulletins as a means to advertise a vacant position or rather to alert its staff to a vacant position. Secondly, the business can decide to seek referrals from its employees. Internal sourcing helps the corporate to retain its talents as well as compensate the hard working ones by upgrading their position (Cook, 2016). Employees’ referral is also an essential technique to acquire high profile employees. It provides an excellent avenue for employees to refer those individuals they schooled with or even they have worked with in a different organization. Such a staffing methods will not only cut the recruitment cost but also will motivate the employees thus better work output.
Outsourcing is also one of the most suitable staffing methods in the retail sector. Outsourcing is a staffing process whereby, certain job functions are sourced outside the organization instead of having an in-house department. With an immense need for cost reduction within the retail industry, a business within the sector seeks to outsource services so as to restrain the payroll and the overhead costs (Ciobanu, Alina, &Androniceanu, 2014 p. 1720). The businesses in the retail sector can save a significant amount of money by outsourcing activities such as marketing. With an increasing need to cut short the number of in-house employees, outsourcing forms an efficient and suitable staffing method. Outsourcing staffing techniques also ensure that one hires the best and the most competent individual or organization since the employers can request a portfolio of similar successful task handled.
Impacts of Performance Appraisal to Employees’ Performance
Performance appraisal is an essential process and can lead to the improvement of employees’ performance in various ways. First, performance appraisal aids in identifying the employees weak points that require training. Post-performance appraisal activities such as training and development lead to the improvement of the employees’ performance (Dusterhoff, Cunningham & MacGregor, 2014 p.266). For instance, in the retail sector, an employee or the supervisors may identify that one of their employees have a weakness in customer relations and communication skill. If such an employee is trained on the core concepts of communication skills and public relations, he or she will improve his or her performance. Effective public relations coupled with smart communication skills are critical skills in the retail business as they aid in building a brand name. These skills portray professionalism and a cadre of business friendship. Thus, effective performance appraisal supplemented with adequate training can significantly improve employees’ performance.
Secondly, performance appraisal supports employees’ performance through motivation. Motivated employees tend to yield more work output as compared to non-motivated counterparts. Since performance appraisal is used as a basis to determine awards, salary increment, and promotions, the process acts as a source of motivation to the employees. Motivating employees is vital to all retail businesses: a motivated workforce translate to a highly productive staff. Employee incentive programs that are associated with performance appraisal are the principal source of motivation. Every employee will improve their work performance and improve their efficiency once they know that they output will be reviewed and awarded accordingly. Motivation also fosters creativity and analytical skills. Employees will tend to nature their creativity and analytical skills so as to outdo their colleague. Staff members do understand that, for one to shine in the midst of other professionals, they need to be more creative and deploy a high degree of analytical skills. The end-result will be an improvement in the employees’ performance.
Moreover, performance appraisal improves the level of communication between the supervisor and the employees, which in turn foster a good working relationship is hence improving employees’ performance. Communication is paramount to the success of any retail business. Performance appraisal programs create an avenue whereby the supervisor and the employees can meet on regular basis to discuss issues related to work performance (Shuck & Rocco, 2014 p.116). It is not a surprise to hear an employee citing that they have never talked to his or her supervisor since he or she was oriented into the office on issues concerning the work performance. Performance appraisal can aid in breaking such barriers and creating an environment of senior-junior communication. Social sciences research reports have shown that healthy lateral and workgroup communication is an essential driver in performance improvements. Also, effective senior-junior communication improves employees’ job satisfaction hence increasing their job performance.
Furthermore, performance appraisal provides an opportunity in which the employees can discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and personal problems with their employers or supervisors. Through a discussion of the employees’ strengths and weaknesses, the supervisor can be able to note some personal problems associated with certain weaknesses (Iqbal, Akbar & Budhwar 2015 p. 513). For instance, an employee may have a weakness on meeting deadlines. The supervisor can dig further to determine the primary cause of the weakness. Possibly, the director may find out that the employee is suffering from a chronic stress attributed to his recent divorce. The employer or the supervisor may then try to mitigate the situation by referring the employer to a psychologist who can help him to overcome the personal problem. By doing so, the employee performance will improve significantly. Thus, performance appraisal can help an employee to express his personal problem without a fear of victimization.
Performance appraisal cultivates the culture of accountability within the employees. Employees will improve their job performance once they know that they will be accountable for their outcome. Performance appraisal results can also be used as a basis of the demotion of fire. Since the employees understand that they may lose their position or even their work in the next performance appraisal exercise, they will be determined to work hard thus improving their job performance. In the retail sector, employees’ accountability is paramount since a slight decline in sales of customer base can have catastrophic results in the long run. Accountability is essential in ensuring high performance within the businesses in the retail sector. Since performance appraisal is conducted by comparing the employee’s performance with the pre-set goals, the employees will be accountable and be responsible for fulfilling the organization's goals to the letter. In the ultimate, each employee will work hard to ascertain the sector’s goals thus improving their job performance.
Performance appraisal improves the employees’ performance by initiating the worker career development. Career development involves a process of proactive strategic planning and implementation of the required actionable steps towards once career goals. A career development plan requires an employee to perform regular self-assessment on their career journey. Therefore, performance appraisal is an essential tool for self-assessment (Chiang & Birtch, 2010 p.1367). Furthermore, performance appraisal forms an essential guide in promotions, thus, promoting career development of the employees. Social exchange theory cites that, when employees understand that their employers are keen on their long-term career development, they will try to reciprocate by improving their performance. Employees will work hard, effectively, and efficiently once they acknowledge that their organization minds about their career development.
Performance appraisal provides an ideal opportunity for supervisors and employers to explain in details the organizational goals. The managers also get an opportunity to explain the ways in which they can participate in the realization of the organization goals. By doing so, the employer cultivates a sense of ownership within the employees. Employees will, therefore, work harder to achieve the goals since they have the feeling of ownership. Furthermore, the manager or the supervisors can give employees some tips on how to achieve the goals quickly. For instance, a director of a retail business can educate his or her marketing teams about the aims of the marketing department and offer some tips on how to gain and command a larger market share. All the aforementioned activities will lead to improvements in the employees’ performance.
Finally, one of the core importances of performance appraisal is providing employees with work related feedbacks. An effective performance appraisal enables the employees to receive information on the areas that they are performing very well and those areas that need improvement (DeNisi & Smith, 2014 p.138). The information helps them to improve their weak areas thus improving their work performance. Moreover, employees will also tend to vanish up the areas they were complimented on. Compliments are also a source of motivation. An individual will feel obliged to work more efficiently and attentively so that they can be praised during the next appraisal. A negative feedback also acts as an encourager to work hard since most individual understand the impacts of a continuous negative feedback. It is, therefore, clear that feedback from a performance appraisal exercise has a positive influence on employees work performance.
Conclusion
Recommendations
It is recommended that retail sector’s manager should adopt novel staffing methods that are cheaper that the traditional staffing methods. The retail business can embark on online and technology based staffing plans. Technology based staffing methods cut off the cost of print or traditional media advertising. Also, in online staffing, the retail organization can hire virtual employees to conducts certain activities such as marketing. Secondly, the retail sector’s managers should also embark on outsourcing staffing methods as it cuts the cost of recruitment. Moreover, managers should conduct sound performance appraisal to their staffs. The performance appraisal should frequently be done so that the managers can gauge as to whether the organization is fulfilling its mandate. Finally, the performance evaluation should be conducted in a friendly manner and that respect the employs autonomy. After the performance appraisal exercise both the interviewee and appraise should agree on any actions to be taken.
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