LSC UoS BA: Contemporary Management Issues in the 21st Century

This essay examines contemporary management issues within the 21st-century context, focusing on Morrisons, a British multinational company. It delves into the role and impact of information and communication technology (ICT) within the organization, highlighting examples like EPOS systems, barcodes, and self-scanning stores. The essay further analyzes Morrison's talent acquisition policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing employee benefits and online training initiatives. The role of leaders in motivating, mentoring, communicating, and guiding employees is also explored. The essay concludes with recommendations for Morrison, including regular environmental analysis, adherence to legal regulations, and enhanced employee training programs to effectively manage online orders and customer service in the face of ongoing challenges. Desklib offers similar solved assignments for students.

Contemporary
Management Issues in
the 21st Century

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Role and impact of information and communication technology..........................................1
Organisational existing policies for talent acquisition in COVID pandemic era...................2
Role of leaders of selected organisation.................................................................................3
Recommendations..................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5
Online- ............................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
There are various issues which can be faced by a organisation in context of managing
their operations. Contemporary issue are those unresolved problems which currently affecting
people or places (CONTEMPORARY ISSUE, 2022). COVID pandemic is one of such issue
which impacted various kinds of business and lower their productivity due to government
regulations such as social distancing and lock down. Morrison is a British multinational company
which was founded by William Morrison in the year 1899 and it is headquartered in Bradford,
UK. The following report covers role and impact of information and communication technology,
organisational existing policies for talent acquisition in COVID pandemic era and role of leaders
in the chosen company. The following report also cover recommendations on new initiatives
which can be adopted by Morrison to survive in the market.
MAIN BODY
Role and impact of information and communication technology
Information and communication technology (ICT) covers all type of technology and
software which is used to communicate with customers by a company. Examples of ICT are
internet, wireless networks, video conferencing, social media platforms and many others
(Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), 2022). ICT plays a important role within
the Morrison to manage their workforce effectively. There are various ICT used by Morrison in
their daily operations and few of the examples are mentioned below-
Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS)- This is the computerized equipments which analyse
all the task of store checkout counter. For example, it helps to track the products put in the trolley
by the customer, used to make payments digitally by credit cards, it verify transactions, it also
provide sales report and manage inventory data (Morrisons Supermarket - effects on the UK
economy and their use of ICT, 2021). Hence, this help the employees of the chosen organisation
to use less efforts in making payments and checking products because this task is done by
computerized manner.
Bar codes- This is the code which is given to each product in the store (Tan, 2021). This
code will help the employees to identify that which product is kept at which shelf in the store.
For example, when a customer ask the employees about soup packets then employees can enter
the code in the computer and get to know that which segment of the store is having different
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variety of soup packets. They convey the direction to their customer and help them to find their
desired product.
Self- scanning stores- It is the automated process which allow the customers to scan
their shopping bags and pay the amount without any human assistance. This will help the
employees as well as customers to stand in large line and waiting for making bill payments.
Organisational existing policies for talent acquisition in COVID pandemic era
In context of Morrison, they are focusing on their talent acquisition policies and make
sure that their existing policy will help them to acquire more employees (Gunasekaran,
Subramanian and Ngai, 2019). For example, they have expanded their craft apprenticeship into
Scotland and Wales stores (Listening and responding, 2019). They focus to recruit highly skilled
employees and make sure that they will get appropriate training to enhance their skills and talents
to satisfy their customers. There are various kinds of benefits provided by Morrison to their staff
employees which further help them to retain their employees and few of the benefits are
mentioned below-
Colleague discount card- This card is given to employees of the Morrison which allow them to
get 15% discount in case they choose Morrison stores for shopping
Life assurance scheme- This scheme is assuring that the family of the employee will get
compensation in case the employee die at workplace (Benefits, 2022).
Health care cash plan- It will provide 100% cashback on dental and optical care up to annual
limits.
Colleague bonus scheme- This scheme will help employees to earn 3% bonus in case they
provide effective and actual report to their managers regarding their team performance.
All the above schemes will help Morrison to retain their talented employees. It is also found that
Morrison is providing online training session to their employees so that they can manage
their task effectively while working at home. For example, a employee can store and manage the
data of business transaction easily while working at home if they receive all data appropriately
(Anagün, 2018). The employees in customer service department can also work from home in
COVID pandemic by replying all the mails regarding complaints and customers issues.
Providing online training to these employees will help them to enhance their skills and talents.
They are more focused on their skills of employees because in COVID situation most of their
employees switch to buy their products through online mode. Hence, the employees who can sort
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products effectively which they receive from various customers can be hired and acquired by
company. On the other hand, the communication skill will also get enhanced by the employees of
the Morrison company so that in case of any confusion regarding any order they will directly call
to the customer and ask their orders again. This will help to send right order delivery to right
customer. This can help the Morrison to become more competitive in COVID pandemic.
Role of leaders of selected organisation
There are various role of leaders within an organisation for increasing their productivity and
profitability. In context of Morrison, some of the leadership roles are mentioned below which
can help the organisation to implement new initiatives which are mentioned below-
The motivator- This is one of the most important role of Morrison leader where they can
motivate their employees to perform their best performance for organisational growth. In context
of Morrison, their leaders can motivate their employees to focus individually on each order
which they receive through online so that they will conduct least mistakes in delivering wrong
products to wrong customers.
The mentor- Leaders also plays an important role as a mentor for the employees (Five
roles of a leader, 2017). In context of Morrison, their leaders help their employees to analyse
which technique and process they can adopt to perform their task easily. For example, the leaders
of Morrison can clear the doubts of their employees by conveying them actual meaning of their
policies and benefits which the employees get while working within the organisation.
The communicator- This is the main role of leader where leaders communicate effective
messages to their employees and make sure that the mission and vision of the organisation will
be clearly understood by their employees (Hansen and Søreide, 2018). In case of any
organisational change, leaders of the Morrison is responsible to highlight the benefits of the
change adopted by company for their organisation as well as for employees.
The navigator- It is also the main role of a leader of Morrison to show right direction to
their employees to achieve their organisational goal and objectives. For example, in case
Morrison change their delivery process then the leader of Morrison must help employees to clear
the idea regarding new delivery process and help them to analyse each step which they can
perform in achieving success for the organisation.
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Recommendations
 It is recommended to the Morrison company that they must analyse their internal and
external business environment on regular basis so that they will analyse their opportunity
for growth and threat to defend.
 It is also recommended to the Morrison that they must follow all the legal regulations and
restrictions regarding COVID pandemic and make effective strategies to grow high.
 It is also recommended to the Morrison that they must hire highly experienced and
qualified trainers to provide training to their employees regarding managing online orders
effectively in COVID situation.
 They can also test the ability of their customer service department employees by
conducting test on regular basis to analyse how they can manage different kind of
complaints of customers while working at home.
Conclusion
From the above information it is concluded that COVID pandemic impacted negative
upon the growth of firms. Organisations are require to make effective strategies and policies to
mitigate the risk of COVID pandemic upon their business. Information and communication
technology helps the companies to adopt those technology and software which will help to
conduct their daily operations in easy manner. It is also concluded that the companies must
analyse the requirement of their talent acquisition and develop a effective training and
development policies to retain their employees for longer period of time.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anagün, S.S., 2018. Teachers' Perceptions about the Relationship between 21st Century Skills
and Managing Constructivist Learning Environments. International Journal of
Instruction, 11(4), pp.825-840.
Gunasekaran, A., Subramanian, N. and Ngai, W.T.E., 2019. Quality management in the 21st
century enterprises: Research pathway towards Industry 4.0. International journal of
production economics, 207, pp.125-129.
Hansen, C.C. and Søreide, K., 2018. Systematic review of epidemiology, presentation, and
management of Meckel's diverticulum in the 21st century. Medicine, 97(35).
Tan, O.S., 2021. Problem-based learning innovation: Using problems to power learning in the
21st century. Gale Cengage Learning.
Online-
CONTEMPORARY ISSUE, 2022. [Online] Available Through :
<http://aggsgeography.weebly.com/contemporary-issue.html/>
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), 2022. [Online] Available Through :
<http://aims.fao.org/information-and-communication-technologies-ict/>
Morrisons Supermarket - effects on the UK economy and their use of ICT, 2021. Available
Through :
<https://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/business-studies/morrisons-supermarket-effects-on-
the-uk-economy-and-their-use-of-ict.html/>
Listening and responding, 2019. [Online] Available Through :
<https://www.morrisons-corporate.com/globalassets/corporatesite/corporate-responsibility/
corporate-responsibility-report/morrisons_cr_2018_interactive.pdf/>
Benefits, 2022. [Online] Available Through :
<https://www.morrisons.jobs/early-careers/more/resources-benefits/>
Five roles of a leader, 2017. [Online] Available Through :
<https://www.usi.edu/outreach/engage/2017-archives/five-roles-of-a-leader/>
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