Page 263 - DMGT551_RETAIL_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT

Retail Business Environment

Notes 13.4 Personnel Management and Administration

Retailing is the human centric industry. Customers come to the store not only because of the
ambience or reasonable price or the quality and range of products. They value the interaction
with store personnel. Moreover it is this human factor which gives valuable input to the store
management about the specific requirements of the customers. A proper human resource
planning saves vital financial resources in the form of prevention of embezzlement, fraud and
also shoplifting. All these factors makes the human resource management an essential element
of the overall retail strategy for any retail organization.
The first step in effective personnel management in retail is to look into the organization of the
store. One must look into the tasks to be performed in the retail distribution channel. Thereon
the tasks are to be grouped into different jobs. These jobs can be further classified into various
classes. Finally one can form an organization chart and integrate various jobs therein.
With the growing pace of retailing in India the rate of growth of retail malls and markets may
have even exceeded the population growth. However, keeping up with the pace of retail growth,
no such development in the growth of training facilities for prospective retail employees has
taken place. This poses the biggest challenge for the human resource management department
of any retail organisation.

Strategic Objective of Human Resource Management in Retail

Each human being has distinct goals in one’s life; an individual’s behaviour is directed by these
goals and principals. Similarly each organisation has its own goals. The strategic objective of
human resource management is to collectively integrate the capabilities and goals of the
employees with the goals of the retail firm.
Factors Influencing Designing of Organisational Structure

While designing an organizational structure some important considerations need to be kept in
mind as:
(a) Scope of Operations: With such difference in volume of transactions the job requirements
are also different. Manpower planning accordingly changes. For larger chains it’s essential
that the manpower is well qualified to handle such large scale operations.
(b) Nature of Merchandise: It is very important constituent of the human resource planning
process. The type of merchandise a store deals with has direct implications on the type of
skill sets needed.
For instance a retailer selling readymade clothes will need people who are proficient in
understanding customer’s clothing needs and offer the best possible alternatives. However
in a leather shoes and leather accessories outlet such persons will be needed who have at
least preliminary knowledge about leather especially footwear.
(c) Type of Organisation: It depends upon the organisational structure, requirement for human
resource changes. A retail organisation can have a host of departments like Sourcing,
Marketing, Accounts Warehousing on a functional basis. It can also have divisions based
on various products it deals with. For example the Giant at Hyderabad not only deals
grocery items but also other categories like vegetables, fruits as well as casual wear and
utensils to name a few. Thus they have different centres for sourcing their different products
and also warehousing such varied products have specific requirements for manpower.
India is dominated by a large number of small and independent retailers.

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