Contemporary Management Issues in the 21st Century

This report discusses the role of information and communication technology in workforce management, the role of leaders in Sainsburys for implementing new initiatives, and recommendations for businesses to adapt to new initiatives in order to survive the new normal. It highlights how Sainsburys has adapted to the pandemic by using digital technologies and how HR professionals have ensured better training and development programs. The report also suggests strategies for businesses to adapt to the new normal.

Module TitleContemporary
management issues in the 21st
century

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1. The role and impact of information and communication technology on the management of
workforces in organisation..........................................................................................................3
2...................................................................................................................................................4
3. Role of leaders in Sainsburys for implementation of new initiatives.....................................5
4. Recommendations for business to adapt to new initiatives in order to survive the new
normal.........................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Contemporary management issues are a hot topic, managers who oversee teams
commonly face various types of issues related to communication, productivity and performance.
By understanding the concept about how to recognize these challenges by having relevant
theories and models helps them increase a self-confidence and ability to lead a team in a proper
manner. Sainsbury is one of the largest company in the UK and have good market position at
global level. The firm provide varieties of products or services in order to satisfy the needs of
customers. Likewise, many other companies Sainsbury and its workforce have faced a lot of
challenges related to operations, activities, management and many other. The present report will
be based on how the company and its managers handles situation in covid-19 pandemic and
adopt new technologies and new pattern of working and it will also suggest some HR strategies
that the company should adopt to respond and adapt to change. Furthermore, it will give detailed
information about the role of leaders in the company in terms of implementing the new
initiatives.
1. The role and impact of information and communication technology on the management of
workforces in organisation.
As we all know that pandemic has distributed so many businesses work and its business
operations too. The major impact of covid-19 pandemic is on the delivery services and
management (Aceto, Persico and Pescapé, 2018). Due to this, now every business has high
pressure of using digital technologies in order to beat heavy competition in the market. if the
company is not using updated version of technology then the firm and its workforce has to face
so many challenges. The pandemic has forced so many industries to embrace digital technologies
and take risk. To deal with difficult situation, HR professional and leaders of the company
develop strategies and advice to employees how to manage the new pattern of working in the
post pandemic era. They provide training to employees about the future technique and strategies
that the firm should apply and adopt rapidly to respond.
Information and communication technology plays a vital role in the company on the
management of workforce. With the help of information and communication technology,
company can easily achieve its goals and objective and accelerated growth of knowledge (Aceto,
Persico and Pescapé, 2019). By using communication technology companies will be able to

manage workforce properly and achieve company’s goals. It allows the company the movement
of information at increasing speeds and efficiencies so that workforce can work effectively. By
using this technique, employees and leaders of the company facilitates sharing and knowledge to
achieve goals. Sainsbury use information and communication technology to make its business
more efficient and effective in nature (Gonzalez, Gasco and Llopis, 2020). By using ICT,
Sainsbury easily respond to customers’ needs and assist activities of business such as
manufacturing, distribution and sales, research and development and also collect feedback using
technology. On the top of that the company collect information about customers by referring to
detailed stored with the help of technology. Plus, the company focus on using ICT such as
CCTV, electronic price guns, barcode scanning system, security sensors which prevent thieves
from stealing. By adopting unified theory of acceptance and use of technology as a model the
company will be to accepts and uses a new technology and also make important decisions. with
the help of communication strategy, the company is able to communicate effectively with team
members such as oral meetings, online advertisements and many more. plus, the firm has
allowed its customer to use the mobile app to scan their shopping, which they can pack as they
put it into their trolley and enjoy purchasing (El Bilali and Allahyari, 2018). From this, the
company is able to gather the detailed information about customer and use it in future by offering
them discount and coupons in order to satisfy them.
2
For organizations like Sainsbury, it has been identified that the digital adaptation from the
organization was very effective during the pandemic for managing the work. Information and
digital technology were considered to be the reason for believe that this is how the business will
over come the existing configurations. This is the factor which is considered to be the
orchestration, communication and changing the existing configuration during the promises that
need to challenge the potential protracted period across the globe (Bhatti and et.al., 2020).
Technology was able to enhance the digital innovation and presence for modernizing the
customer support operations.
Due to Covid-19 the business had to force most of its employees to work from home. This
made the corporation more and more dependent on the digital technology that was a long term
for enabling them to handle both the personal and professional tasks from their smartphones,
laptops and personal computers. This was also the factor that was responsible for influencing the

digital sales in the organization that is now the sale that is made more than past five months.
Pandemic has been able to intensify the need for a digital shift from a mindset of perspective for
organizations and individuals (Leadership in a crisis: Responding to the coronavirus outbreak
and future challenges , 2020). This is considered to be the approach that was helpful for
approaching the work for an interpersonal engagement and communication differently.
Sainsburys adopted to online sales faster due to the Pandemic that influenced the use of
information and technology for the management. This developed a permanent decrease in the
traditional office setting which was the reason for pros and cons that brought certain type of
arrangement in the organization.
3. Role of leaders in Sainsburys for implementation of new initiatives
Leaders of organization such as Sainsbury was very important during the pandemic to
adopt to the practices that would help the company overcome the crisis. They were responsible
for fostering the collaboration and transparency across the network of teams that was the key
towards the growth of the organization. Utilization of digital technology was the responsibility of
leaders to implement the teams themselves for operating the crisis (Papadopoulos, Baltas and
Balta, 2020). During this time making proper and effective decisions were very important and
effective for the leaders. This crisis needed to be managed properly with the help of information
and digital technology. The leaders during this time gave rise to new leaders from the teams.
This helps the leaders to manage the crisis and respond to the pandemic with an evolution in the
management structure.
During this time the anticipation of the organization needed to be very effective in order to
be aware of the situation that is going to arise. This is going to help the business over take the
organization through the management of the crisis that provided the business with advantages
that were effective for the anticipation of the things that happened next (Gopal, Singh and
Aggarwal, 2021). Digital technology was the key towards the management of the organizational
operations during the pandemic. Hence, leaders focus on increasing the communication between
the department to be able to manage the work properly. This allows the business to bring
transparency into their operations and the leader were able to confidently make decisions for the
welfare of the organization. This was the authority figures that was prone to the suspension of
the announcement for the long stretches.

4. Recommendations for business to adapt to new initiatives in order to survive the new normal
Following are the recommendations that the Sainsburys should adapt as new initiatives in
order to survive the new normal,
 Supply chain transparency and flexibility is the considered to be the factor that would
help the retailers in UK which are experienced stock-outs during the crisis to manage the
shortage properly (Brammer and Clark, 2020). This will not just help the company to
manage the crisis but also predict the purchase pattern that is required for better job
navigation.
 Data security is a very big concern for any organization that has turned digital during this
crisis. This is due to the threat of leakage of data of the customers, suppliers and
organizations. This is why having a proper security model for the digital operations
would allow the company to be more sustainable.
 Automation of remote workforces, being able to automate the remote workers will help
the business find the flexibility that it requires and also gain the diversity that is helpful
for the organization in the maintaining the productivity.
CONCLUSION
To conclude, as we all know that pandemic has forced many businesses to grasp opportunity
of updating themselves by having new technology, likewise other companies, Sainsbury has also
kept themselves updated and use just walk out technology and manage all aspects of the smart
shop pick to satisfy the needs of customers. They also operate all aspects of the Go stores such as
managing payments, pricing and store operations to increase customer satisfaction. They also
provide benefits such as issuing receipts and many more to run its business smoothly. To be
successful, it is advisable to keep exploring the market needs and changing technology in order
to meet organisational goals and gain competitive advantages. With the help of ICT, the HR
professionals of the company ensure better training and development programs. By using online
platform for recruitment and selection the company ensures accuracy of information to satisfy

the needs of workforce.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aceto, G., Persico, V. and Pescapé, A., 2018. The role of Information and Communication
Technologies in healthcare: taxonomies, perspectives, and challenges. Journal of Network
and Computer Applications. 107. pp.125-154.
Aceto, G., Persico, V. and Pescapé, A., 2019. A survey on information and communication
technologies for industry 4.0: State-of-the-art, taxonomies, perspectives, and
challenges. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials. 21(4). pp.3467-3501.
Bhatti, A., and et.al., 2020. E-commerce trends during COVID-19 Pandemic. International
Journal of Future Generation Communication and Networking. 13(2). pp.1449-1452.
Brammer, S. and Clark, T., 2020. COVID‐19 and management education: Reflections on
challenges, opportunities, and potential futures. British journal of Management. 31(3).
p.453.
El Bilali, H. and Allahyari, M. S., 2018. Transition towards sustainability in agriculture and food
systems: Role of information and communication technologies. Information Processing in
Agriculture. 5(4). pp.456-464.
Gonzalez, R., Gasco, J. and Llopis, J., 2020. Information and communication technologies and
human resources in hospitality and tourism. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management.
Gopal, R., Singh, V. and Aggarwal, A., 2021. Impact of online classes on the satisfaction and
performance of students during the pandemic period of COVID 19. Education and
Information Technologies. 26(6). pp.6923-6947.
Papadopoulos, T., Baltas, K.N. and Balta, M.E., 2020. The use of digital technologies by small
and medium enterprises during COVID-19: Implications for theory and practice.
International Journal of Information Management. 55. p.102192.
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