Page 136 - DMGT550_RETAIL_MANAGEMENT

Unit 8: Human Resource Management in Retail

8.4 Human Resource Functions in Retailing Notes

Human resource management has always been an issue for big retailers only. Wherever you go
to the neighbourhood grocery shop or cloth merchant or say a small restaurant the owner is the
chief of operations. All the employees of that establishment report to him or her. All decisions
whether strategic in nature or related to day-to-day operations are taken by the owner. The need
for human resource management is actually felt by big retailers like shopper’s stop, pantaloons,
etc.

Any typical retail organisation would commonly need the following chief human resource
functions:
1. Job analysis and job description.

2. Training and development
3. Compensation and benefits
4. Labour relations

Job Analysis and Job Description

Each retail store needs to analyse the jobs to be offered to the prospects. The job analysis
involves a process of finalising the job content and based on the findings preparing a design for
the job. It is the responsibility of the store to prepare the job design since, it is necessary from the
new employee point of view. A well-prepared job design and job analysis helps in the recruitment
process and thereon in training to achieve the required results.

For task analysis the first step can be termed as task identification. Here the retail manager is
supposed’ to list all the tasks needed to run the business. It is necessary to take a decision
regarding assignment of different tasks to different members of the channels of distribution. At
all points of time you should bear in mind that customer is the central focal point while taking
any such decisions. Once the identification of tasks is done the next logical step is turning the
different tasks into job positions.
This is one method of facilitating the listing of tasks. First the retailer or HR manager identifies
tasks which are essential for the achievement of organisational goals. Thereon it’s defined that
which employees’ positions will be responsible for those tasks. Finally standards of performance
for each position are set.
In this step various tasks are grouped under distinct heads which can then be converted into
positions or designations. For this, each task can be broken into some tasks which in turn can
lead to creation of positions. This means, the set of tasks or an individual tires can be assigned to
an individual person. For this we need to prepare what is known as a job description.

Job description is a document which states as to what are the exact requirements of a particular
job. However in the present competitive scenario we need to keep in mind that the employees
do not work with the narrow scope of job description. It is worth mentioning at this juncture
because employees tend to limit their scope of work in line with the limitations of job description.
We have to keep in mind that in this competitive and dynamic world our job profiles can change
overnight as per the requirements of the store. Job description is an iterative process. One
should keep in mind that job description is an ongoing process. Once our job descriptions are
ready we must fix the standards of performance for performance appraisals and evaluation.

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