Employability Skills Report: Senior HR Manager at Next PLC

This report analyzes employability skills within the context of a Senior HR Manager's role at Next PLC, a UK-based retail chain. It begins with an introduction to employability skills and provides an overview of Next PLC's operations. The report then delves into the responsibilities and performance objectives of a Senior HR Manager, including talent management, training and development, and conflict resolution. It assesses the effectiveness of performance measurement systems and recommends areas for improvement, such as time management and communication. The report also explores motivational techniques used by Next PLC, such as job enrichment and participation. Furthermore, it examines work-based problems, particularly those related to communication, and proposes solutions. The report also discusses the role of personnel within a team, utilizing Belbin's Team Role model and Tuckman's four-stage model to analyze team dynamics and problem-solving strategies.

Employability Skills
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................4
SUMMARY OF THE NEXT PLC.......................................................................................................4
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................5
1.1....................................................................................................................................................5
1.2....................................................................................................................................................6
1.3....................................................................................................................................................6
1.4....................................................................................................................................................7
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................7
2.1....................................................................................................................................................7
2.2....................................................................................................................................................7
2.3....................................................................................................................................................7
3.1....................................................................................................................................................7
3.2....................................................................................................................................................9
3.3....................................................................................................................................................9
TASK 3...............................................................................................................................................10
4.1..................................................................................................................................................10
4.2..................................................................................................................................................10
4.3..................................................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................11
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Responsibility and performance objectives of HR Manager in Debenhams PLC.................5
Figure 2 Belbin’s Team Role model.....................................................................................................8
Figure 3 Tuckman’s “Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing” four stage model....................9
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INTRODUCTION
Employability skill is a group of important abilities that include the development of
knowledge, expertise level and mindset of the person to get the success at the workplace. It can be
consider as an essential qualifications for job positions. Employability skills are those skills and
attitudes that enable employees to get along with their co-workers for different workplace activities
such as decision making, problem solving etc. For personnel, this is the most important foundation
for building their career and gets the successful employment in an organization. The present report
is based on employability skills and to understand this, Next PLC is taking into the consideration. It
is the UK leading retail chain which operates its business the UK and other overseas nations.
Company has offered the diversified goods and services to its customers with low cost and good
quality. The objectives that will highlight under the current study are development of interpersonal
and transferable skills, dynamics of working with others and develop strategies for problem solving.
SUMMARY OF THE NEXT PLC
Next PLC is a retail chain that was launched in 1982, February. This was the first store
opened with an exclusive coordinate collection of different stylish clothes, accessories of women,
shoes, collection of men, children and kids’ cloths and the home groceries. Cloths of Next PLC has
prepared by its in house design team that always make sure about the style, quality and value of
money with a contemporary fashion edge (AT A GLANCE, BUSINESS OVERVIEW, 2016). In the
present time, there are more than 500 stores of organization in the UK and Eire. Along with this,
there are about 200 outlets in 40 overseas nations. With the time, company has opened various
larger format fashion and home stores in the UK. In 2011, Next PLC has opened its first combined
fashion, home and garden store at Shoreham-by-Sea. After this, in the 2014, 2 new large home and
fashion stores have also build up in Hedgend and Maidstone. In this series, in 2015, company has
also opened High Wycombe super store. The online shopping concept was introduced by the firm in
its business was in 1999 from where customers could purchase any product. Next PLC was one of
them which were brought this approach in the business. With the time, company has brought the
improvement in customer services with the some initiatives such as next day delivery to home etc.
Further, the consumers can collect or return goods at any of Next PLC stores in the nations (AT A
GLANCE, BUSINESS OVERVIEW, 2016). On the other hand, Next PLC has some corporate
responsibilities towards the communities. Organization has addressed different key business related
issues, social and ethical aspects, environmental matters etc. in this context, firm has ensured that
business is running in responsible and ethical way. At the end of January, the total sales of Next
PLC have £4.1 billion along with this group profit before tax has £821 million. The total number of
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employees in the company has 51,179. Current value of Share buybacks of Next PLC is £151
million (AT A GLANCE, BUSINESS OVERVIEW, 2016).
TASK 1
1.1
Working as a Senior HR Manager in Next PLC, I have some personal objectives and own
area of responsibilities towards my job positions which are as follows:
Responsibility of a Senior HR manager
 Identify the training and development needs of the new and existing employees
 Prepare job description, job specifications, recruitment plans, job advertisement and human
resource related policies.
 To ensure the optimum utilization of existing resources such as human, financial, technology
etc.
 To make sure about the development and maintain good relationship between the top
management and employees of the company.
 To solve the conflicts at the workplace and effectively deal with the workers issues.
Figure 1 Responsibility and performance objectives of HR Manager in Debenhams PLC
(Source: Talent Management, 2016)
Performance Objectives of a Senior HR manager
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 Hiring suitable and talented personnel for the organization.
 Forecasting future manpower needs for respective departments.
 Developing and promoting talent at the workplace.
 Track the performance level of the employees with right monitoring methods.
 Managing relationship between the staff and higher authority.
 Determining the training and development of the employees.
 Sort out the issues and other problems of workforce with right solutions.
 Try to retain the staff members by developing and executing different monetary and non-
monetary rewards.
1.2
As a senior HR manager of Next PLC, I have set personal objectives and responsibility
towards my job position. To measure my performance level against the set performance criteria of
the organization, an evaluation process is must needed (Smale and Fowlie, 2015). In this context,
some elements that help me to make assessment of my effectiveness in the opposite of set
objectives are as follows:
Formal review systems: It is the most effective system to measure the performance of HR
manager by Next PLC. In this framework, various approaches use such as 360 degree feedback,
Management by Objectives (MBO), peer reviews etc (Hanapi, Nordin and Khamis, 2015). With the
help of 360 degree feedback, my team members, management and other employees of the
organization has given their feedback regarding my work. The outcome of this review work has
helped me to make sure that either I am completing my job duties in right manner or not. While, the
results of MBO has focused over my lacking areas that still needed too much improvements.
Further, the peer reviews have helped me to make sure that I have performed my job roles as per the
expectations of Next PLC or not. So, with the help of formal review system, I can assess my
effectiveness against the set objectives.
Personal Review process: It can be considered as a self-assessment process in which a person
makes an evaluation of own strengths and weaknesses areas. This method helps me identify my
week and strong areas that can assist me to perform my all job duties as a Senior HR manager in
Next PLC (Parasuraman and Prasad, 2015). On the basis of the results, I can take decision how to
over the weaknesses and give strength to strong points to complete my all job duties in more
effective manner.
1.3
From the above assessment processes, I have found there are some areas where I have to
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make lots of improvements because to perform all job duties of a Senior HR Manager in Next PLC,
these are most important. In this direction, some recommendations are as follows:
 I should adopt different management style at the workplace as per the situation so that I can
manage my work in appropriate manner.
 I should follow some time management strategies to manage different kinds of work at the
same time. Being as Senior HR Manager, I have looked various activities of organization in
fixed time duration. So, to complete them within the given time, I have to improve my time
management skill (Kalfa and Taksa, 2015).
 I should establish a good communication with the employees and top management so that the
miscommunication situation can be minimized.
From the above stated some major recommendations, I can improve my weaken areas and
effectively perform against set performance objectives.
1.4
There are some motivational techniques that use by Next PLC to improve quality of
performance which are as follows:
Job enrichment: It supports Herzberg’s tow factor theory and emphasize over job contents
which are essential to improve quality of performance of workforce of Next PLC (Cottrell, 2015).
Job enlargement: In this, new duties and roles added in the existing responsibilities of
employees of cited organization. This is the good motivational strategy to motivate the staff
members in the direction of learn new knowledge and skills.
Job rotation: Here, the roles and responsibilities of the employees stay remain same but the
workplace to perform the job becomes change (Jollands and et.al., 2015.). Next PLC has use this
motivational strategy so that its workers can able to perform the work under the different working
conditions and delivers good quality services to customers.
Participation: In order to motivate the employees, Next PLC has always ensured about
increase engagement or participation of them in different business activities. This has developed a
good self-esteem level in the staff members.
Promotion: It is non-monetary reward that increases the satisfaction level of employees and
motivates the other workers to achieve the new job positions.
TASK 2
2.1
It has been assessed that there are different issues as well as work based problem arises within
the Next PLC that directly impact the activities and performance of the organization (Priddle, Greig
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and Wiles, 2015). The foremost work based problem arises within the cited organization is related
with communication as with the ineffective communication channel it results in arising the problem
and issue within the workplace. Therefore, in order to overcome the work based problems within
the fashion retail company management must focuses on providing the proper training sessions to
their staff so that they can easily amend and improve their communication skills (Messum, Wilkes
and Jackson, 2015). Along with this, it is essential for the staff to enhance their skills so that they
can avoid the misinterpretation. Therefore, in this way the solution must be develop to eliminate the
issues and problem that are related with low level of communication skills.
2.2
The different levels within the organization focus on the different communication styles to
communicate with the various personnel within the fashion retailer company (Jackson, 2015). For
instance, the top level managerial personnel focus on conducting formal meeting and gatherings
with their superior level personnel so that they can easily communicate with them regarding the
strategies and policies that they are implementing within the company. Furthermore, the middle
level personnel focus on conducting seminar and conferences so that they can easily communicate
with their level staff. Along with this, they must also engage in communicating via using the letter
or memos (Ho, 2016). While to communicate within the lower level employees it mainly focuses on
using non-verbal as well as informal communication for transferring the information and data
among them.
2.3
There are effective time management strategies that are used by the management of Next
PLCw with the help of this management can easily manage their time and activities within the
specific and minimum time period. The effective time management strategies include-
Prioritizing the activities: The foremost time management strategy that is being used by the
Next PLC management is prioritizing their important and urgent activities so that they can perform
those activities on prior basis (Asonitou, 2015).
Delegation of tasks and activities: Another time management strategies include delegation of
less important activities and tasks to the lower staff so that top level managerial personnel can easily
perform their activities in the proper manner.
3.1
In order to determine the role of personnel while working in a team in Next PLC, Belbin’s
Team Role model can be used (Rao, 2010). On the basis of this, some roles are as follows:
Plant: In Next PLC, higher authority of the company comes under the following category.
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The reason of this, the following person consider as a creative, imaginative, able to deal with the
situations etc in the context of the business.
Resource investigator: In this, the manager of the cited organization takes into the
consideration under this role. The reason behind this is he knows how to use the resources to run the
different business activities. Along with this, he is also a good communicator as well as negotiator
to develop a network in with external environment for resource arrangement (Finch and Fafinski,
2014).
Coordinator: Senior HR manager of Next PLC identify the talents at the workplace and hire
new employees so that new ideas can be transformed into the actions.
Shaper: This refers to Risk Manager who can face the challenges and save the organization
from different risks and their negative impact.
Figure 2 Belbin’s Team Role model
(Source: Banerjee, 2014)
Monitor and evaluator: It refers to strategic management team of Next PLC that responsible
for formulation of different strategies to achieve the business objectives.
Teamwork: It includes shop floor employees who execute the instruction as per the
developed plan. These people are cooperative and skilled to perform different tasks.
Implementer: It involves operational level management of Next PLC who gives instructions
to staff members regarding performing the work.
Completer: It refers to quality department of Next PLC where quality team ensures the
quality of the goods (Durrani and Tariq, 2012).
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Specialist: In Next PLC, there are some experts employees who are highly specialized in their
areas. They are responsible for the development some standards for the business.
With the help of playing above stated roles, the teams of Next PLC can achieve shared goals.
3.2
With the aim of analyse the team dynamics in Next PLC, Tuckman theory can be considered
which contain different stages and these are as follows:
Forming: At this stage, the team of Next PLC learn how to deal with critical issues and
solve the problems. Here, the managers have provided high level of guidance in the situation of
unclear roles and responsibilities in front of the employees (Baker and Henson, 2010).
Storming: Here, team members share the ideas with each other’s and chosen one to solve the
problem. It has developed a good relationship and bond between each other.
Figure 3 Tuckman’s “Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing” four stage model
(Source: Rao, 2010)
Norming: In this, employees of Next PLC start working as a team with the aim of
understand each other in terms of working practice by maintaining positive working environment.
Performing: Here, the skills and knowledge of the employees of Next PLC has improved
which has led to enhance productivity.
3.3
With the help of other alternatives ways to complete the work and attain the goals, Next PLC
can adopt any below stated options which are as follows:
Task management: Here, large task can be divided into different small sections so that it
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becomes easy to complete the work within given time constrains (Wickramasinghe and Perera,
2010).
Developing SMART objectives: This can assist the management of Next PLC to achieve the
business objectives in more effective manner. It clears the goal in front of the employees.
Dividing roles and responsibilities: Under this, management of Next PLC can impose roles
and responsibilities to the employees as per their capabilities and skills so that it becomes easy to
attain the business objectives.
TASK 3
4.1
In order to develop the solution of the problems management of Next PLC focuses on
evaluating different methods and tools that basically include group discussion, conducting formal
and informal meetings, conducting brainstorming sessions etc. with the help of conducting group
discussion methods among the staff and employees of the fashion retailer they can easily develop
the solutions to the problem (Panagiotakopoulos, 2012). Through group discussion management
come to know regarding the different perceptions and attitude of individual employees towards the
identified issues and problem. Another method that is evaluated for developing the solution to the
problem include conducting formal and informal meeting of the staff and employees of the Next
PLC so that employees and staff collaboratively takes the decisions regarding overcome the issues
and problems that arises within the fashion retailer company.
4.2
In the contemporary scenario most of the organization faces certain problem related with
unsatisfactory staff within the Next PLC that act the major problem that directly affects their level
of performance (Humphris, 2013). In order resolve the particular identified problem within the
fashion retail company management must focuses on developing an effective strategy that is
engaging in strengthening the trust factor among the employees so that they can get committed
towards the organization. On the other hand, another powerful strategy that is being developed for
resolving particular problem is related with introducing the different legislative policies within the
company so that they can easily ensure retention of employees within the organization (Gravells,
2010). Along with this, HR manager of Next PLC must also focuses on devising an effective human
resource policy so that they can engage in managing adequate human resource within the
organization and thus also benefit in resolving the issues related with employee turnover.
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4.3
The above stated and defined strategy if implemented within the Next PLC results in enabling
positive impact on the business and their performance level (Chang, 2014). For instance, with the
help of formulating an effective human resource policy it would benefit the organization in
managing and organizing adequate human resource within the establishment. Along with this, it
also helps in providing effective working environment as well as compensation to the individual so
that they can easily render adequate services within the cited organization. It has been evaluated that
another impact of implementing the legislation policies within the Next PLC is that it also
positively benefit the overall organization in maintaining adequacy of the law (Andrews and
Russell, 2012). Along with this implementing the legislative laws within the fashion retailer
company also support them to compile the legal framework that assists them in performing ethical
practices and activities.
CONCLUSION
From the aforementioned report it has been assessed that to ensure successful role within the
fashion retailer company it is essential for the senior HR manager to have adequate employability
skills. Along with this, report has also concluded developing own set of responsibilities with the
objectives so that they can easily accomplish the stated goals and objectives. Furthermore, it also
concludes evaluating different time management strategies that is used by HR manager of Next
PLC for managing their time for the unwanted and important activities within the organization. It
has also gained insight knowledge regarding the different methods and tools that assists the cited
fashion retail company in developing effective solution to the identified problem. Lastly, it also sum
up that the above stated and defined strategy if implemented within the Next PLC results in
enabling positive impact on the business and their performance level.
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REFERENCES
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