Boosting Employee Efficiency: Strategies for Effective Meetings

Effective meetings are crucial in achieving organizational goals and objectives. Employees, being the face of the organization, have direct interaction with customers and know better about the issues faced by service users. Suggestions should be taken from employees to provide better services. Leaders play a vital role in directing and guiding workers, inspiring and motivating them to make full use of their efficiency in supporting the firm.

Work place
Learning
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
There are different ways through which one gets to learn. In context of organization,
people learn from their work and issues which are faced by them. In order to performance
effectively there are skills which are important and they are communication, problem solving,
decision making, etc. Present report talks about modules which were practiced within the
organization. These enables the business operations to conduct their activities in an effective
manner.
Business meetings enables to have discussion over the issues, strategies, decision making,
perception of employees, etc. Further, organizations make use of tools which helps to measure
performance level. Moreover, there are different type of leadership styles which have diverse
impact over the performance. Among which democratic style is effective as it allows workers to
share their views.
Management should have effective leaders who can encourage and boost up employees
moral. Further, measurement of performance should be done frequently so that employees can
understand their areas in which they lack. Lastly, firm should fulfill the objectives for which
meetings are conducted so that time is utilized.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................4
Main body .......................................................................................................................................4
Performance Metrics....................................................................................................................4
Team leadership...........................................................................................................................6
Business Meetings.......................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
In the present scenario, leaning at workplace has become very essential for success and
growth of employees. Further, it helps a person to acquire new skills and enhance knowledge
base by learning new theories and concepts (Hardyman, Bullock and Stacey, 2013). Therefore, it
is required by a business enterprise to focus upon learning of an individual and take corrective
measures regrading the same. The present research report is based on Sainsbury which is one of
the most renowned chain of supermarket in UK. The study explores the current position of the
above mentioned brand in context with performance metrics, team leadership and business
meetings. Apart from this, some recommendations are also provided on the basis of carried out
entire study.
MAIN BODY
Performance Metrics
Nowadays, performance metrics has become very important element in carrying out
smooth flow of operations and activities of a business enterprise. The reason why performance
metrics is important is that it helps organization to identify whether its employees are moving in
right direction and will be able to achieve desired outcomes or not. An effective performance
metrics can be defined as the one which results in clear identification of the quality and quantity
of work done by people in the organization (Levy, Rhodes and Dellinger, 2014). Furthermore, a
good performance metric contributes significantly in overall success and growth of an enterprise.
In context of Sainsbury, it can be stated that the performance metrics which has been adopted by
the brand is somewhat ineffective. The main reason behind this is that the implemented metrics
does not provide any margin of improvement within employees in the organization. A good
performance metrics has certain key elements which needs to be taken care of by any business
enterprise. Sainsbury's metrics is meaningful as it is aligned with the goals and objectives of the
company. Goals and objectives are essential as they enable to develop path on which firm can
reach them. At present Sainsbury's objective is to increase its sales and existing market share.
Therefore, the existing metrics lays emphasis on enhancing the level of customer satisfaction so
that more and more customers can be attracted in the future. However, it can be argued that the
developed performance metrics is not so effective in terms of changing employees behaviour and
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improving their overall performance (Wang and Khan, 2013). The metrics is not able to
determine clearly that whether workers are moving in right direction or not. In terms of
comparable it can be asserted that the performance metrics developed by Sainsbury helps the
organization to carry out effective comparisons of the performance which has been delivered by
employees over a given time.
According to Trauger, Moody and Gordon, 2016 “the view point of an effective and
result oriented performance metrics lays emphasis on key areas such transparency, informed
decision making, credibility and performance improvement”. This means at the time of
developing and implementation of such metrics, it is required by organizations to ensure that all
the above mentioned areas are being taken into consideration. In order to enhance performance
of people within the organization, it is required by businesses to adopt for informed decision
making process. On the other hand, the use of democratic style of leadership is also effective and
useful in terms of improving employee performance. In the current era, the competition among
businesses operating in retail supermarket industry has become so intense that it is not an easy
task for companies to gain competitive advantage over other market players. For this purpose, it
is required by brands to focus on improving employees performance so that they can understand
customer demand and can provide more satisfactory services and products. As per the view of
Grewal, Iyer and Sharma, 2016 transparency in performance metrics is an essential element as it
results in creating sense of satisfaction among people in the organization. In terms of Sainsbury,
it can be expressed that the developed process or performance metrics is not so transparent and
this is affected the entire performance of all staff members to a great extent. Some
recommendation for improvement in performance metrics of Sainsbury are provided below as:
 It can be recommended that instead of focusing only upon customer satisfaction the brand
should make changes in its performance metrics. Further, it should take corrective
measures so that the metrics also starts improving overall performance and productivity
of employees.
 It can also be recommended that Sainsbury should develop a reproducible performance
metrics. The rationale behind this is that it will not only help the company in
identification of its employees performance but will also allow Sainsbury to measures
other aspects also in order to gain desired or the best possible results. Managers work
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closely with their employees so they know better about the areas in which they need
improvement. Accordingly, they should be provided with training and development with
the help of which better services can be provided.
It can be stated that developing such kind of performance metrics will support me in career
development and employability enhancement. It will help me in learning new concepts, skill set
and enhance my knowledge which will future contribute in my professional development. There
are different type of tools which are used so that performance can be measured. These has helped
me to identify the areas in which I lack and accordingly I have followed strategies through which
I can put on my efforts in proving better services to customers. Apart from this, it will assist me
in getting aware of the key areas in which my performance is lacking behind.
Team leadership
Sainsbury is one of the most popular brand in the retail supermarket industry of UK and
there are many factors which has resulted in making the organization successful. One of the most
important factor among all is related to team working (Hoch and Kozlowski, 2014). It can be
expressed that the brand has developed teams at various level and has divided its overall targets
within those teams. It has supported Sainsbury in carrying out smooth flow of all its operations
and activities. The supermarket retailer has developed different teams and these teams are being
taken care by the team leaders. There are certain qualities which Sainsbury looks after in a
person before assigning him/her with the role of team leaders. Here, the leader are highly
effective in terms of communicating with other people in their respective team or within
organization (Barna, 2013). Further, they can easily communicate their ideas, strategy and
decision making to other people. In terms of confidence and time management also team leaders
in Sainsbury are highly effective. However, it can be argued that there are certain situations in
which the views and opinions of other team members are not taken into consideration and this
results in creating sense of dissatisfaction among all workers. Sometimes the leaders directly
asked their followers or members to strictly follow the decisions which are being taken by them.
This also results in lowering down the morale, motivation level and overall productivity of
employees.
Yeung, Ong and Perkins, 2012 has explained that “team leadership is the process in
which a person acts as a leader and guides other people towards accomplishment of common
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goals and objectives”. Further, the success of a team depends on the effectiveness of team leader
to a great extent. There are certain qualities which needs to be adopted by a person in order to
become a good team leader (Yeung, Ong and Perkins, 2012). Decision making, coordination,
communication, relation making, delegation, power of influencing others etc. are some key skills
which needs to be present in a good team leader. It can be also stated that the kind of leadership
style adopted by a leader entirely depends on his/her nature, objective and goals. Furthermore,
autocratic, democratic, laissez fair are the common styles of leadership which are mostly used by
individual at the time of leading and managing team within a business enterprise. Team leaders
are responsibly for developing adequate coordination among all employees working within the
team. Apart from this, they also need to ensure long term success and growth of the organization
for which they are working. At the time of dealing and leading a team, it is required by team
leaders to make sure that team mates are highly satisfied and motivated (Yeung, Ong and
Perkins, 2012). Other than this, resolving issues and conflicts among different members in team
is also an important part or responsibility in team leadership. Some recommendations which are
being provided to team leaders in Sainsbury are mentioned below as:
 It can be recommended that rather than sticking to a particular style of leadership, it is
more beneficial for the supermarket retailer to go for different types of leadership. For
example in order to create sense of satisfaction among workers it can use democratic
style of leadership whereas in situation where fast decision making is required, the brand
can make use of autocracy style of leadership. This will help in creating sense of
satisfaction among workers and will help in smooth flow of operations. Leadership
should be able to encourage motivate workers so that they can perform better. Motivation
play vital role in improving performance level. Leader are inspiration and they should
share their views and experience which will boost up their morals and they will be able to
perform in an effective manner.
Business Meetings
There are different departments within Sainsburys and each department is controlled and
directed by a manager. There are many cases in which firm face issues and it is important for top
management to make sure that they make appropriate decisions with the help of which issues can
be solved. There are different type of meetings which are conducted within the organization. In
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this context, it includes meetings like information sharing, decision making, status updates,
problem solving and innovations (Denstadli, Julsrud and Hjorthol, 2012). All the meetings have
different purposes and among these informations sharing is frequently conducted. This is mainly
done to know the performance level of the company. This enables the management to make
decision so as to achieve their organizational goals and objectives. Meeting are generally
conducted with managers of different departments and top management. Further, other set of
decision making includes department managers and employees. Meetings are very helpful as it
enables to know perception of workers. Staffs get motivated through this meeting as they get the
chance to share their issues or problems and immediate actions are taken. In my opinion,
business meeting are beneficial as it enables to know over all performance level. In information
sharing meeting, it allows to get new idea and different way of thinking. Among all the meetings,
innovation meeting is interesting one as it allows to think from different angle. Decision making
meetings allows management to come up with the best solution for any issue (Bargiela-
Chiappini, Nickerson and Planken, 2013). Decision are generally taken with an aim to improve
the performance level and to boost up employees moral. There are many organizations which
provide similar services like Sainsburys and companies make use of strategies through which
they attract customers. In this context, innovation meetings take place in which organization aim
at making use of strategies which will raise their sales and profitability.
Different authors have diverse perception of meetings. Business meetings are their own
benefits and demerits. As per Borggren, Moberg and Finnveden, 2013 “business meetings can be
determined as one of the major source of oral communication. These are mainly conduced for
predetermined issues”. However, main objective of meetings is decision making. In order to
solve predetermined issues, business meeting are helpful. It allows information sharing and
enables to know employees perception. When department is huge, then there are also chances of
conflicts. However, decision making meeting allows to solve such issues as it provides for both
parties to share their views and accordingly decisions are made. According to McInerney, 2016
allows the employees to know the areas in which they lack or areas which affects the business
operations negatively. There as six different types of meetings which are innovation, information
sharing, decision making, status update, team building and problem solving. Among these
meetings, except for team building meeting all other take place (McInerney, 2016). Meetings can
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be determined as democratic process in which all participants are provided with equal
opportunity to share their views and ideas. Further, it helps people to know the skills and know
ledge which co-workers possess. However, one of he main disadvantage it that it is time
consuming. There are cases in which the main reason for which meetings are conduced are not
achieved and this results in waste of time and money. Over all it can be stated that people get to
know the performance and areas in which they should put their efforts so that business
operations can undertaken in an effective manner.
In personal context, meeting are very helpful as it enables me to develop my skills like
communication, time management and decision making. Frequent interactions helped me to
develop my communication skills and this skill is essential in order to develop strong
relationship with others. When meetings were conducted, then the work assigned to me required
to be managed and I that to work in such way that I could manage my time which is take to
complete the given task and for attending meeting. Discussions over different topics took place
and these were helpful in developing my understanding to think differently. There are cases in
which many tasks are provided which are required be performed
As per the meeting which take place at Sainsburys, management should make sure that
they achieve the objectives which are set. There are cases in which the reason for which meeting
are conducted are not achieved. Further, time is precious and when meetings are conducted
employees to perform their work. With this respect, managers should plan arrange meeting in
such a way they workers given to employees do not get affected. Further, there are issues like
employees do not listen to others and it becomes difficult for speaker to control the group. In
such conditions management should select a speaker who can control the group and they come
up with an appropriate decision with the help of which issues can be solved.
CONCLUSION
From this report, it can be articulated that to know overall performance and issues of the
organization, it is important to have meetings as it enables to make decisions and adopt strategies
through which organizational goals and objectives can be achieved. Employees are face of
organization as they have direct interaction with customers. Workers know better about the
issues and problems which are faced by service users. Suggestions should be taken from
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employees so that better services can be provided. Moreover, leaders play vital role in directing
and guiding workers. They should inspire and motivate them so they will be able to make use of
their full efficiency in supporting the firm.
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REFERENCES
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Denstadli, J. M., Julsrud, T. E., & Hjorthol, R. J., (2012). Videoconferencing as a Mode of
Communication A Comparative Study of the Use of Videoconferencing and Face-to-Face
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Wang, L., & Khan, S. U., (2013). Review of performance metrics for green data centers: a
taxonomy study. The journal of supercomputing. 63(3). pp.639-656.
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