Introduction
The success of the organization depends on the people who are working in it. Recruitment of right individual is the most important factor. The organizations having effectual selection and recruitment practices and processes can make appropriate and successful appointment of staff, which is a chief advantage for the well established businesses in the labor market over the competitors (Mathis, and Jackson, 2008). So, the organizations should appreciate those practices, procedures and processes that meet legal needs of human resources in selection and recruitment. For this purpose the regulatory framework of the recruitment process of Asda Stores Limited is analyzed in this paper and a personal development plan for developing leadership skills, managing performance and leading, managing and motivating staff are also described in detail that help to achieve the aim and objective of organization.
1. Employee Recruitment, Selection process and Retention
The organization can recruit the people through internal recruitment as well as through external recruitment. Internal recruiting is done by selecting an individual from the existing employee pool of the organization. In order to fill the vacancy, best candidates are selected from the employees working in the organization. This type of recruitment is adopted by the organization because the person is already well aware of the organizational culture and takes less time to fit in the assigned position (Shafique, 2012).
However, organizations adopt external recruiting when they want to introduce fresh blood in the organization and they do this by selecting individuals outside the pool of existing employees. For external recruiting the organizations can contact job centers for providing them fresh graduates, they can advertise the job opening, can contact recruitment agencies and also they can adopt the method of personal recommendations. External recruitment brings new talent and new ideas in the organization and facilitating the new employees with proper training can help in the positive growth of organization (Compton, Morrissey, and Nankervis, 2009). Further in order to ensure proper working, right person should be selected for the right job in order to match the requirements of organization with the qualifications and skills of people.
In order to introduce new and best human capital and right candidates to the organization, Asda Stores Limited is using external recruitment strategy by advertising the job opening on it career website. Asda collect thousands of applications from its website every year. However, it also advertises the job openings on social media websites such as LinkedIn and on recruitment forms e.g., Remploy in order to access the potential workforce on large scale. The applications are however registered through the online system of recruitment, then the HR team of Asda shortlist suitable candidate. Interview of the shortlisted candidates is conducted in the assessment centre. The assessment centre of Asda, which is known as Asda Magic gives an opportunity for the applicant for demonstrating their strengths that are in accordance to the culture, method of working and beliefs of Asda.
However, in case of the internal recruitment in Asda, appraisal system is used for helping the selection process. In an appraisal, the candidate discusses their skills, the growth opportunities and performance with the manager. To ensure the best possible selection the employer should disclose the job description to the employees in order to avoid future conflicts regarding employee’s roles and responsibilities. Person specifications should be noticed in order to know that the person have those skills, knowledge and other qualities and attributes that are required to perform job. Preliminary interview should be conducted to know the family and academic background, knowledge, skills, interests and competencies of employees.
Accordingly, in Asda, The documents regarding job description and personal specification are considered as important. Job description describes the duties of applicant are and what the tasks associated with the job. Personal specifications explain the important and required personal skills and qualities and characteristics for performing the role. Asda however require good personality, qualification, effective communication skills, age between 25-35, innovation and creativity in thinking, flexibility, special commitment and some professional experience from the candidate. Once the candidates are selected, proper training is provided to them. Every new candidate is trained according to the particular training plan that is designed for helping them to perform their roles and responsibilities.
Furthermore, Asda can conduct non-biased intelligence test, aptitude test, personality test, reasoning test, etc, for objectively assessing the potential capabilities of candidate and to select them on merit. Then finally the employers can conduct final employment interview, ask the candidate for medical examination and if all the requirements are fulfilled then organizations can give the appointment letter to the candidate. Moreover, the organizations should consider diversity issues that include requirements and legislation related to the employment, the rights and welfare of workers, safety and health retention and succession planning while designing HR policy.
In order to ensure best working with the employees the HR department of the company can support the ethical management and maintenance of the codes of ethics legally implacable (Yerby, 2013). The company should seek a proper ethical code in order to raise standard of the company and to improve behavior of employees. Proper ethical code assists employees in building trust and positive relations with each other and with their company. It also helps in clarifying uncertainty that may exist in ethical considerations of the company. In Asda, proper ethical code is being followed that is based on the principles that employment is chosen freely, freedom of the association and right for bargaining collectively are given respect, the working conditions are hygienic and safe, there is no child labor, no unnecessary working hours, compensation is given to the employees, employment is provided on the regular basis, inhuman and harsh treatment with employees is not allowed, proper immigration laws are introduced in the organization and compliance is observed properly.
The company should adopt anti-discriminating laws and legislation in order to prohibit the discrimination and unfairness in the employment on basis of sex, race, age, transgender, disability, religion, marital status, social and cultural origin, and nationality etc (Thompson, 2000). Accordingly in Asda, there is no discrimination practice allowed, it provides equal chances of opportunities to both genders i.e., males and females. The companies is however also providing health programs such as life insurance, medical treatment to employees and their families in order to ensure safety and health of employee.
2. Building Winning Teams
Effective strategies such as common objective and goal, each member’s commitment, pre-established decisions, goal clarity, proper mix of the knowledge and skills can be adopted by the organization in order to build winning team (Mealiea, and Baltaza, 2005). Framing such strategies will help to get benefit from the experience and knowledge mix and build team spirit. This encourages employees to take ownership in the organization and help in empowering employees by allowing them to work independently and without any external pressure. The management of Asda stores however analyzes proper knowledge and skills mix that is helpful for the employees to fulfill their duties. They examine the knowledge of candidate for solving the problems i.e., they form temporary teams and members of the team come together and and focus and work collectively on the issues, goals, problems and challenges. Further, the company has stated goals that are established with the active participation of every team member such as the goal of Asda is to provide affordable goods and services to everyone.
In order work with people and lead them effectively leadership traits such as exceptional sense of vision, intelligence, dedication, competence, bravery, motivation, goal orientation and foresightedness should be developed because these traits can lead the company towards right path and help in the attainment of goals. These traits must be developed for leading people because leader can make people to feel appreciated and an important part of the organization. The major leadership quality/trait is the capability to inspire colleagues. In addition to provide the direction and accurate vision, it is essential that the leaders develop relationship with people they motivate to follow them (Adair, 2006). In Asda, for every team, a leader is chosen that has committed leadership and he works in a way that a mutual trust is developed among the members of team that ensures efficient and smooth working. The roles are allocated in a way that diversity is ensured and all the roles are fulfilled and performed effectually. High performing teams prefer to work in the form of groups; same is the case in Asda, where the employees perform their in shape of teams/groups and try to accomplish the work with accuracy.
However, the successful relationship of leader inspires individuals who are working in team to feel more privileged than they may consider without this association. People can achieve and accomplish more if they follow an effective and influential leader’s leadership. The effectual leader should consider people and regard them by using general words of courtesy such as saying them good morning, and asking about their day. This helps to build a powerful and strong relation. In order to lead people, individual should listen to the colleagues with patience. Full attention should be given to the person that seeks attention.
However, in case the individual is not able to pay complete attention, he/she should try to concentrate on what others are saying. This is one of the factors that have contributed a lot to the success of Asda. The employees working in Asda stores listen properly to the customers, their needs and help them in satisfying their needs and demands due to which more and more people prefer to visit their stores because of the high quality products and services offered for their convenience.
The leader should consider ideas and opinions of other because they are a useful source of information. In this way the leader can make people feel good because he/she is listening to them without any distraction. For leading people positive and powerful words should be uses. Talk to other in a respectful manner without showing any attitude. Use the words such as please, dear, and thank you etc. the recognition should be positive and powerful because it encourages the employees to do work effectively and contribute further in same work. The leader should keep his commitments to the staff. The leader should regard and praise the staff for their remarkable contributions and services. The same strategy can be observed in Asda, where leaders have trained their members in such a manner that they give respect to their colleges as well as to the customers. When customers visit their store, they greet them cheerfully and pay proper attention to them so that they will not face any difficulty in finding and buying their desired products. Also the employees are encouraged to work independently without any external influence and they are clearly told about what kind of attitude and work is expected from them.
3. The styles and Impact of leadership
There are three basic leadership styles each having its own pros and cons. These styles are Authoritative or Autocratic Leadership Democratic or Participative Leadership and Laissez faire Leadership. The Authoritative leadership set standards and provides right direction but hinders creativity. Democratic leadership assists in promoting talent, mutual assistance and commitment but creates ambiguity. Laissez faire leaders help to develop exceptional capabilities and skills in individuals by giving them complete freedom. But, it promotes chaos. The leaders should adopt the styles according to the organization’s culture and need (Cragon, Wright, and Kasch, 2008). In Asda democratic leadership is being followed and everyone is given full freedom to perform his//her duties in peaceful environment.
The skills of the leader can be polished and sculptured with the help of various methods such as coaching, training courses, mentoring, by renewal of the leadership methodology, establishing partnerships with renowned academics, management programs, learning programs and workshops etc. in Asda the CEO is responsible for the profound changes in the structure such as freezing the wages and also for promoting the transparency as well as equality in the organization. This increases the openness and trust and helps in empowering the employees because; the managers of the company get closer to the employees and encourage the employees to play an active role in their tasks. The employee is involved in the daily decisions as they are given the freedom to participate and improve the way in which things are being done.
In order to work efficiently in team, the leader should ensure that such a team is developed in which everyone perform his/her function independently and do work sincerely. Considering Belbin’s team role theory in this regard, in which he has explained that the team is not a group of people having certain titles of job, rather it is congregation of the individuals in which everyone has a role that is understandable by other team members (Belbins, 2010). The team members seek out different roles but perform those roles more effectively, which are natural for them. The person can lead people if it identifies his behavioral weaknesses and strengths in the workplace in accordance with the team roles as mentioned by Belbin (Aritzeta,Swailes, and Senior, 2007). From such analysis information is obtained that can be used further for building productive and constructive relationships , helps in selecting and developing teams that can perform very well.
However, Belbin team roles model enables an organization to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals and create balanced teams in order to accomplish the roles and tasks that are best for the team performance. This model is however quite evident in ASDA, which has a lot of stores to manage and each one is further divided into further departments. This model however also allows ASDA to point out existence of inappropriateness and incompatibility within a team and to avoid the mix of the inappropriate individuals so that organization can be saved from failure. Further, an inappropriate and ineffective team is nothing but just a consequence of wrong grouping and combination of the people.
The major leader development methods that are adapted by ASDA are Developmental relationships that are developed through mentors and the role models in order to support and stimulate learning. The Managers in ASDA contribute to the employee development by coaching, teaching, and giving feedback to the employees for their work. Developmental assignments that give leaders the challenge so that they can develop their goals and needs that is very essential and useful for developing the cultural awareness and adaptability in the global era. Feedback Processes in which the managers at ASDA give honest and encouraging feedback to the employees and also take feedback about their attitude and work from the employees. Formal programs, where specifically off-the- job people share development as well as learning experiences that also contribute to increase the efficiency of the organization by making changes in the weak areas.
Customer orientation and team working lead to the success of the organization. Considering the fact that when Archie Norman took over as the chief executive of the organization of Asda, the organization was on the brink of collapse, he then restructured the organization and the tasks to be performed and he focused on the customer orientation and formation of the high performing teams that has led to the present success of the organization (Newman, and Cullen, 2002).
4. Performance Management Role for Achieving Work and Development Needs of the Individual
Performance management plays a significant role through proper planning, monitoring, developing, rating and rewarding the individuals in order to achieve their work needs developmental needs. In Asda proper planning is done by the managers before the allocation of roles to the employees, flexible tasks are assigned to the employees by the upper management in order to enable them to perform their job easily. The common strengths of Asda’s mangers are confidence, decisiveness, charisma and communicativeness.
Weaknesses are weak foresightedness skills and sometimes they adopt asocial attitude that is quite disheartening for employees working under their supervision. Opportunities are development of more leadership skills such as humble behavior and attitude in order to work with and lead people. Threats are that the managers in other institutions are developing innovative and creative skills in order to work with and lead their subordinates that bring efficiency to the organization.
For working with and leading people the development and work needs of individuals should be identified. For identifying the development requirements and needs the leaders should improve the learning style as well as learning processes of the individuals. A friendly environment should be created in order to encourage employee easy learning. Proper training should be given to every employee, because facilitating the employees with proper training is an investment for the organization, not an expense. So, the employees should be trained in the most effective possible manner. The leaders should encourage Life-long planning and learning for the employees and proper monitoring and evaluation of each employee should be ensured. Proper and direct communication should be ensured in the organization, the leaders should directly communicate with the team members and also involve them and consult them in the decision making process. Each member’s opinion should be considered before making final decision. The performances of members should be benchmarked and assessed in order to know consider them for performance appraisals and incentives associated with good work.
In nut shell, Asda is performing its duties of recruiting, selecting and retaining people efficiently and is working in accordance with the ethical and legal requirements. So, in order to work with and lead people proper recruitment and selection of employees should be carried out because it is the vital and the starting step and if the beginning is not correct, it can lead to disastrous results. Ethical and legislative issues should be considered in order to protect the right of the employees or team members. Every individual should be provided autonomy for working in the organization and in teams. Further, in order to lead people certain traits such as dedication, foresightedness, supportive attitude, bravery etc should be developed.
References
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