Developing Talent Management Strategies for Higher Cost Effectiveness - A Case Study on Sainsbury's

This research report focuses on the development of talent management strategies for higher cost effectiveness in the retail industry, using Sainsbury's as a case study. It examines the concept of talent management, the challenges associated with attracting and retaining employees, and the strategies to achieve higher cost effectiveness. The report also includes a project management plan, analysis of data using quantitative and qualitative research methods, and recommendations for improving talent management practices.

Unit 6 – Managing a
Successful Business
Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1) Aims & objectives of research..................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW.....................................................................................................................3
P2: Project management plan of research........................................................................................4
P3: WBS & Gantt chart....................................................................................................................5
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................7
P4: Small scale research by use of quantitative and qualitative research........................................7
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................................8
P5: Analysing data by use of techniques and tools..........................................................................8
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................................9
P5) Analysing of data by application of techniques and tools.........................................................9
P6: Recommendations...................................................................................................................12
TASK 4...............................................................................................................................................13
P7: Reflection................................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................16
Books and Journals ............................................................................................................................16
Appendix:...........................................................................................................................................17
Project Logbook for the chosen organisation................................................................................17

“To develop talent management strategies in order to attract & retain people for achievement of
higher cost effectiveness” a case study on Sainsbury’s.
INTRODUCTION
Talent-management is a constant process that is related to attracting and further retaining of high
quality employees, working on development of their skills. Further employees can be motivated to
enhance or improve their performance.
There are certain key aspects of managing talent in an organisation that includes non-development
of strategies according to specific structure and needs of the business & industry (Hughes, 2018).
Present report is based on Sainsbury's it is the second largest chain of supermarkets across UK and
it was founded in year 1869 it become one of the largest retail brand of groceries in year 1922.
There is analysis of different talent-management strategies that can be used in order to attract and
retain employees for a longer time period for achievement of higher cost effectiveness.
TASK 1
P1) Aims & objectives of research
Research overview:
Talent management is a a approach that is to be used by organisation for the purpose of developing
strategies so that there can be positive impact on the productivity of organisations. Talent
management strategies have to be developed in line with identification of particular structure and
needs of the industry & business. Present research report is based on making a detailed evaluation
of the concept of talent management along with the challenges associated. So that further there can
be formation of strategies to achieve higher cost effectiveness for the purpose of managing overall
workforce.
Research aim: Aim of research is to “Develop an overview of the different talent management
strategies for the purpose of attracting & retaining of employees” case study on Sainsbury's
Objectives: Objectives of present research are mentioned below:
 To examine the concept of talent management in relation to an organisations
 To analyse the challenges associated with attracting and retaining of employees
 To evaluate some of the strategies in order to achieve higher cost effectiveness in relation to
managing of employees.

Research questions:
 What do you understand by the concept of talent-management?
 What can be some of the challenges associated with attracting and retaining of talented
workforce?
 What can be some of the strategies that have to be formulated for achieving high cost
effectiveness for the purpose of managing of employees?
LITERATURE REVIEW
The concept of talent management in organisations
According to Montazian (2020), talent-management is an aspect that is related to addressing the
business needs and goals for achievement of better business performance in long run. Talent
management is a process used to analyse the the present contribution done by employees and the
way it can be improved according to laid objectives (Erasmus, Naidoo and Joubert, 2017). A talent-
management plan will enable achievement of the laid business strategies through workforce in an
organisation. It is related to attracting top talent, coverage of critical roles so that, if there are any
gaps than it can be addressed by developing a highly specialised roles in the organisation. It will
lead to running of operations smoothly so that stakeholders and clients can be satisfied. It also leads
to enhancing employee performance which can lead to identification of “good fit” employees rather
than formation of decisions of recruitment. Talent management strategies leads to improving
business performance so that customer satisfaction & business performance can be enhanced. In
relation to Sainsbury’s talent management is using as a systematic way that can lead towards
towards developing of a consistent and integrated approach for managing workforce(Naim and
Lenka, 2017).
challenges associated with attracting and retaining of employees
According to Jakovickas, (2019) there are some of the challenges associated with retaining
and attracting of employees such as low employee engagement is an issue that arises when
employees are not able to get attached to their job roles and the organisation. In relation to
sainsbury's, there is a huge workforce with diverse backgrounds that has to be managed so that there
can be unified approach towards the overall laid objective of the organisation (7 Strategies to
Improve Employee Relations).
strategies in order to achieve higher cost effectiveness in relation to managing of employees
According to Duran, (2020), cost management can be used of ensuring higher cost
effectiveness in the organisation. Effective employee relations are a key that can lead to lower
turnover and higher productivity. There are different strategies that can be used for the purpose of
reducing the cost and managing effectiveness in Sainsbury’s (Rahimiaghdam, Sanoubar and

Haghverdizadeh, 2020). It includes promoting communication, dialogue, focus on developing of
values and mission. All this can lead to creation of a positive employee experience that it can further
leads towards high employee loyalty. Employee must be felt valued by appreciating them for their
work, inspiring & rewarding of employees by creation of ways where employee gaols can properly
align with the vision & mission of organisation.
P2: Project management plan of research
Project management plan is a tool that is adopted for the purpose of getting a detailed overview of
the different aspect of a research work (Maurya and Agarwal, 2018). The management plan is
assisting for development of various plans according to the ways in which project has to be
executed in research. Project management plan for the present research work is mentioned below:
Cost: It is related to the basic financial requirement of a particular research report. In this aspect
there has to be an arrangement of all the required financial resource so that project can be timely
completed, there will be need of finances for survey, travelling and other petty expense through
whole research.
Scope: The scope of research is to make a detailed evaluation and further draw recommendation to
HR manager of Sainsbury’s related to development of talent-management strategies. The results
achieved will be used for the purpose of managing the employees. That will assist in retaining them
for a longer duration of time period.
Quality: Quality is used to assure that all the outcomes can be achieved according to the already
laid standards (sheehan, Grant and Garavan, 2018). There is need of some pre-set quality standards
in the beginning of the research so that overall outcomes are achieved according to such set
standards. For this purpose, there is application of some of the monitoring techniques such as
correcting of defects, key performance indicators and Gantt chart as a framework is adopted to
ensure that report is completed according to specified time deadlines. It will also ensure that there is
proper implementation of high quality measures.

Resources: There is need of some resources for the purpose of conducting of research that includes
available articles, journal websites, magazines that has to be used so that proper information is
timely collected. Further it has to be analysed that reliable outcomes are achieved.
Risk: There is always presence of risk because of delay in achievement of laid objectives. Different
associated risks has be deal by the researcher. So for reducing its negative impact such risks have to
be anticipated in advance for the purpose of forming relevant strategies to deal with it. In case of
present research work there is use of work break down structure and Gantt chart so that there can
activities are divided according to the available time frame only (Filippus and Schultz, 2019).
Communication: In case of present research there is need to make timely communication about the
work done at different stages so that its progress can be timely tracked. There is use of some of
sources of mail and telecommunication so that communication can take place directly with other
teammates who are working collectively for the research.
P3: WBS & Gantt chart
WBS:
Work Breakdown Structure is adopted by the researcher for the purpose of dividing the whole
activity in small tasks so that it can be further manage to ensure higher effectiveness and efficiency.
It is related to facilitating of activities in a particular sequence (Divekar and Raman, 2020). WBS
leads to getting the work according to laid objectives of a research work. WBS leads to work getting
divided in manageable' activities for achievement of high effectiveness and prevention of
overlapping of activities
.
Gantt chart:

Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that is used for illustrating the project schedule. It is a technique in
which there is allocation of different tasks according to the time period. There is setting up of
starting time and the ending time for each activity. It is going to lead towards achievement of
different activities that have to be performed in the report.

TASK 2
P4: Small scale research by use of quantitative and qualitative research
Research is a systematic study that is based on different stages that are to be performed by
the researcher for achieving their laid objectives and aims. Research methodology is adopted for
the purpose of application of different tools & techniques to facilitate the process of collecting of
data, analysing it and then finally interpenetration of the information. The present research report is
based on aim of analysing the talent management strategies in the retail industry. For this there will
be need of information from various primary & secondary sources.
Primary data: It is data that is collected first time by the researcher. It is one of the methods
that si used for the purpose of collecting sources as the information is collected first hand by the
researcher. In present research work there is use of questionnaire as a method of primary data
collection (Scullion and Mullholland, 2020).
Secondary data: It is related with collecting of information from existing sources that is
already available mediums such as journals, newspaper, articles, books are example of secondary
sources. Presently there is collection of information based on collecting the related information by
using such online available sources.
Qualitative method: It is a type of data that includes non-numerical or quantifiable type of
information. In this method there is personal interaction, direct interviews between the respondents
and the researcher for the purpose of collecting information related to target segment of respondent.
Quantitative method: It is a method that is used for collecting data that is expressed in form
of charts and graphs. It is a method in which there is collecting of information by use of
questionnaire so that based on it further interpretation can be done in order to reach to relevant
recommendation.
In present research work there is application of quantitative method for the purpose of
collecting the required information. In quantitative method there is use of questionnaire for the
objective of collecting the information.
Sampling: It is a process where, there is an examination of the observations that is used
from large population. It is basically a statistical approach that is used for making a detailed
analysis by using of a sample that is reflecting the same characteristics as of whole population. In
present report there is use of random sampling as a method for the purpose of carrying on of

research (Anlesinya, Dartey-Baah and Amponsah-Tawiah, 2019). It is a process that is divided in
two approaches that is probability and non-probability data sampling approaches. In present
report there are 40 respondent who have been selected for the purpose of analysing their responses
according to the prepared questionnaire. There is use of random sampling as a method of collection
of sample. It is going to assist in collecting the required information from the target segment of
population.
TASK 3
P5: Analysing data by use of techniques and tools
Questionnaire
Q1)For how long you have been working with Sainsbury’s?
a) Less than a year
b) 1-5 years
c) 5-10 years
d) More than 10 years
Q2) Do you believe that Sainsbury's is offering you adequate growth opportunities?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Sometimes
Q3) What are some of the practises adopted by top management for the purpose of managing
and retaining employees in the organisation?
a) On the job training
b) Providing fair treatment to employees
c) Offering competitive salary
d) Career development opportunities
e) Any other measures
Q4) According to your view point, what aspect is important to consider to retain employees for a
longer duration of time period in Sainbury's?
a) Building of an employee focussed culture
b) Taking timely feedbacks
c) offering attractive perks & benefits to employees
d) Analysing values and mission of employees
Q5) what can be some of the consequences of no proper talent management strategies in
Sainsbury's?

a) high employee turnover
b) Lower employee motivation
c) highly dissatisfied workforce
d) prevailing of a negative working environment
e) Any other
Q6) Your specific suggestions for the purpose of improving the practises of talent management
in Sainsbury's.......
TASK 3
P5) Analysing of data by application of techniques and tools
Theme 1: Time duration of working
Q1) For how long you have been working with
Sainsbury’s?
Frequency
a) Less than a year 10
b) 1-5 years 6
c) 5-10 years 10
d) More than 10 years 14
Interpretation:
It can be said from the above presented graph that majority that is 14 out of 40 respondents
are working for a time period of more than 14 years in Sainsbury’s. 10 respondents for less than a
10
6
10
14
a) Less than a year
b) 1-5 years
c) 5-10 years
d) More than 10 years

year and 6 respondents between a duration of 1-5 years. Only 10 respondent are working for a time
period of less than a year. So, it can be said that there is a low employee turnover rate in Sainsbury’s
as majority of employees are working for a time period of more than one year.
Theme 2: Presence of growth & development opportunities
Q2) Do you believe that Sainsbury's is offering you
adequate growth opportunities?
Frequency
a) Yes 20
b) No 15
c) Sometimes 5
Interpretation:
It can be said from above discussed graph that, when it was questioned to employees about whether
Sainsbury's is offering growth opportunities 20 had a positive response, 15 replied in a negative
manner and rest 5 had a view that it varies sometimes.
Theme 3: Practises used for managing & retaining of employees
Q3) What are some of the practises adopted by top
management for the purpose of managing and retaining
employees in the organisation?
Frequency
a) On the job training 7
b) Providing fair treatment to employees 6
c) Offering competitive salary 4
d) Career development opportunities 10
20
15
5
a) Yes
b) No
c) Sometimes

e) Any other measures 13
Interpretation:
It can be interpreted that while it was questioned to employees about the practises that has to be
adopted by top management for the objective of retaining them for a longer time period. 7 had a
view that there has to be offering of on the job training to employees. 6 respondents felt that there
has to be employees must be provided fair treatment, 4 had a view that management of Sainsbury’s
can offer competitive salary to their employees. 10 respondents believed that employees must be
offered career development opportunities and rest 13 felt that any other measure according to
suitability of the management can be adopted.
Theme 4: Important aspects for retaining of employees in the organisation
Q4) According to your view point, what aspect is important
to consider to retain employees for a longer duration of time
period in Sainbury's?
Frequency
a) Building of an employee focussed culture 10
b) Taking timely feedbacks 12
c) offering attractive perks & benefits to employees 12
d) Analysing values and objectives of employees 6
7
6
4
10
13 a) On the job training
b) Providing fair treatment to
employees
c) Offering competitive salary
d) Career development
opportunities
e) Any other measures

Interpretation:
It can be said from above mentioned graph that for the purpose of retaining of talented workforce in
organisations it is necessary to timely feedbacks from employees, offering attractive benefits and
perks to employees. 10 felt that there has to be building up of an employee focussed culture and 6
had a view that there has to be timely analysis of the personal objectives and motives of employees
while they are working towards assigned roles and responsibilities.
Theme 5: Consequences of not having proper talent-management strategies in organisation
Q5) what can be some of the consequences of no proper
talent management strategies in Sainsbury's?
Frequency
a) high employee turnover 8
b) Lower employee motivation 10
c) highly dissatisfied workforce 5
d) prevailing of a negative working environment 10
e) Any other 7
10
12
12
6
a) Building of a employee
focussed culture
b) Taking timely feedbacks
c) offering attractive perks &
benefits to employees
d) Analysing values and
objectives of employees

Interpretation:
It can be interpreted from the above mentioned graph that there can be some of the negative
consequences that may arise because of lack of talent-management strategies in Salisbury's that is
according to 8 out of 40 respondents felt that there has been instances of high employee turnover,
10 believed that there can be lower motivation. 5 had a viewpoint that it may create a highly
dissatisfied workforce. 10 had a view point that may lead to prevailing of a negative working
environment.
P6: Recommendations
There are some of the recommendations for management of Sainsbury's that are drawn based on
above discussed report as mentioned below:
 Management of sainsbury's have to focus on developing of clear job descriptions
according to abilities, skills and experiences of employees, there has to be selection of
appropriate employee who possess required knowledge & competence according to a
specific job position.
 Timely feedbacks should be taken from employees so if there are any difficulties which they
are facing can be properly analysed. There has to be setting of performance standards so that
employees can be motivated to achieve those according to the laid vision & mission
statements of the brand.
 Employees must be offered with ongoing coaching, mentoring activities so that employees
can feel valued & important. '
 It is recommended to the Human resource department of Sainsbury's that there has to be use
of quarterly performance development planning discussion that is focussing on interest of
employees for their career development activities.
8
10
5
10
7
a) high employee turnover
b) Lower employee motivation
c) highly dissatisfied
workforce
d) prevailing of a negative
working environment
e) Any other


 There has to be designing of effective recognition and compensation programs so that
employees can be rewarded according to the contributions that they are making towards laid
aims and objectives.
TASK 4
P7: Reflection
After the research has been completed according to the assigned time period there has been
reflection of different types of experiences from the present research. Some of such experiences are
demonstrated by analysing the different stages can be reflected as mentioned below:
There are many learnings all through this report that is going to assist me in my academic
and future professional career. Initially I faced difficulties related to identification of the authentic
sources. But then I focused on available secondary sources that includes the online journals and
articles for the purpose of collecting the reliable information. Different aspects of research work are
discussed below:
In initial stages I was very confused and nervous as I was not able to collect the information
according to required standards as the whole time period was very limited. But as I stared working
on report I felt quite comfortable as there was whole team with whom I was involved in the whole
report.
At this stage my experience was average as it had both positive aspects where work according to
the time frame but there was lack of coordination at this stage as there were some differences arsing
among the team members.
At this point I was working on different ways so that I could overcome my weakness. I
developed that some aspects can help me in getting deep insights related to shortcomings that
included lack of time period for managing all the activities (Cappelli and Keller,, 2017). I properly
applied techniques of work breakdown structure and Gantt chart that lead to dealing with all the
issues., I also analysed that learnings from this report will help me in future activities.
The whole experience in this research project was effective as I could have worked more to
avoid situations of conflict. There has been high uncertainty related to reliability of information so I
had to work on improving my present level of self confidence.
Further, I will be Working on aspects of each activity so that I could further work on

improving the outcomes of research work.

CONCLUSION
It can be summarized from the above discussed information that there is need to consider
some of the elements related to talent management function of organisations. There is need to form
certain specific strategies which includes valuing of employees, taking timely feedbacks and
offering career development opportunities to enhance the present competence level of employees.
Effective talent management strategies are crucial for retaining of staff which further leads to ensure
high cost effectiveness. All this activities together contribute towards achievement of higher
productivity in the organisations as there is accomplishment of the laid mission & vision in more
effective manner.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hughes, C., 2018. The role of HRD in using diversity intelligence to enhance leadership skill
development and talent management strategy. Advances in Developing Human
Resources, 20(3), pp.259-262.
Erasmus, B., Naidoo, L. and Joubert, P., 2017. Talent management implementation at an open
distance e-learning higher educational institution: the views of senior line
managers. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(3), pp.83-
98.
Naim, M.F. and Lenka, U., 2017. Talent management: a burgeoning strategic focus in Indian IT
industry. Industrial and Commercial Training.
Rahimiaghdam, S., Sanoubar, N. and Haghverdizadeh, A., 2020. Explaining a Model for Obtaining
Sustainable Competitive Advantage Based on Talent Management Strategy in Insurance
Industry.
Maurya, K.K. and Agarwal, M., 2018. Organisational talent management and perceived employer
branding. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.
Sheehan, M., Grant, K. and Garavan, T., 2018. Strategic talent management: A macro and micro
analysis of current issues in hospitality and tourism. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism
Themes, 10(1), pp.28-41.
Filippus, K. and Schultz, C.M., 2019. Exploring talent management execution in the Ministry of
Justice in the Namibian public sector. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 17(1),
pp.1-9.
Divekar, R. and Raman, R., 2020. Talent Management in Academia--The Indian Business School
Scenario. International Journal of Higher Education, 9(2), pp.184-192.
Scullion, H. and Mullholland, M., 2020. Global Talent Management. The SAGE Handbook of
Contemporary Cross-Cultural Management, p.212.
Anlesinya, A., Dartey-Baah, K. and Amponsah-Tawiah, K., 2019. A review of empirical research on
global talent management. FIIB Business Review, 8(2), pp.147-160.
Cappelli, P. and Keller, J.R., 2017. The historical context of talent management. The Oxford
handbook of talent management, pp.23-42.
Online
What is Talent Management and Why is It Important?, 2020 [online], Available through<
https://expert360.com/resources/articles/talent-management-important>
7 Strategies to Improve Employee Relations, 2020 [Updated for 2020], [online], Available
through<https://www3.swipeclock.com/blog/7-strategies-to-improve-employee-relations-for-
a-phenomenal-workplace/>

Appendix:
Project Logbook for the chosen organisation

Name of the learner: Name of the Supervisor:
Project Title: Date:
Update of weekly research/ tasks achieved
(Account
for a minimum of six weeks with dates)
· What have you completed?
· Did you fulfil Task requirements?
· Are you on track and within deadlines set?
· Did you need to make any changes to your
project management plan?
I have completed the report on topic
“To develop talent management strategies
in order to attract & retain people for
achievement of higher cost
effectiveness” a case study on
Sainsbury’s.
Yes
Yes, the allocated time frame was from
November 2020 and ending on feb 2021.
No
Any risks and / or issues identified.
· Did you identify risks/issues with a lack of
skills required for undertaking research tasks?
· Did you identify any additional risks/issues
that have an impact on the project management
plan?
Yes, I had to deal with some of the issues
that includes problems related to collecting
the right information and then further
interpreting according to the laid objectives.
No
Problems encountered
· What barriers did you face?
· How did you overcome them
Yes, there were some issues related to
barrier of communication and providing
assurance to respondents that the
information will not be used for any other
purpose apart from performing this research
work.
New Ideas and change of project direction
What Have I learnt about myself this week?
· How did I feel when I had to deal with
Tasks/problems?
· Did I find it useful to complete the tasks?
· How well have I performed? What did I
Contribute?
· What can I improve on next week?
I learnt and developed lot of insights about
the talent management strategies that have
to be used by organisations for the purpose
of managing and retaining of their
workforce.
Yes, all the activities will lead towards
achieving the laid aims that have been laid
in the present research report.
I have analysed all the issues properly and
according to that information has been
collected from both primary & secondary

· How might this learning apply in the future?
sources to reach to laid outcomes.
Further there can betterment of the overall
achieved performance level by focusing on
key communication skills by analysing the
sources of both primary and secondary
information.
All the learning is going to assist in the
performance of future activities that are part
of research work.
Project plan status to date (on, ahead, behind)
Signature of the Supervisor and date: