Professional Development Report

This report analyzes the professional development strategies of Home Bargains, focusing on issues such as marketing, employee retention, and productivity. It discusses the company's current challenges and provides recommendations for improvement through effective management strategies. The report includes primary and secondary research findings, highlighting the importance of a supportive work culture and innovative marketing approaches to enhance overall performance.

Professional Development
and
Practice

Table of Contents
1) Introduction.................................................................................................................................1
2) ISSUES........................................................................................................................................1
3). Aims and Objectives...................................................................................................................3
4.) Use of Knowledge .....................................................................................................................4
5.) OVERVIEW OF METHODOLOGY.........................................................................................5
5.1 ISSUES, NEEDS , OPPORTUNITIES:...........................................................................5
5.2 Evidence...........................................................................................................................7
PRIMARY RESEARCH:.......................................................................................................7
SECONDARY RESEARCH..................................................................................................7
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS:................................................................................................8
A description of how you will access or collect the evidence or data you need, where it will
come from and how you will analyse it to answer your research question............................9
How does key aims relate to the specific needs, issue or opportunity you have identified to
research? ................................................................................................................................9
What does your acquired knowledge, evidence or data tell you about this issue within your
given context?.......................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................23
Appendix........................................................................................................................................25
Questionnaire........................................................................................................................25

1) Introduction
Home bargains is a chain of discount stores with 4000 branding products line stocking
up with general merchandising goods and grocery store. Home Bargains was founded in 1976 by
Tom Morris and is working as a chain of discount stores. It has over 17000 employees from head
office to the workers working in warehouses and as staffs. They are growing at a increasing rate
and their turnover is GBP 1 billion. And it has increased by 50% in three years. They have been
serving over to 3 million customer and they are ranked as highest discount retailer chain in
UK(Moon2013). The present report is based on the analysis of the management strategies for
increasing the productivity of stores of home bargains.
Although they have been doing very well financially but to sustain it they have to look
upon the problem areas that they are facing such as: Marketing problems related to reaching out
to the customers, High staff turnover, as attrition rate is increasing, they should be making
strategies for retention of employees. Poor technologies, Supply chain management must be
efficient as if one chain breaks whole system breaks. For increasing productivity, each of the
issue must be addressed separately and given full attention. As far as marketing issue is
concerned they need new marketing strategies for their products so that they can increase their
customer base and attract the potential customers.
In this report it has been identified that what is the relationship between existing
marketing strategies and increased productivity., the impact of current marketing strategies on
the productivity of organisation will be studied here and the strategies that Home Bargains have
adopted for retaining staff is to be identified in this report. This report is made to find out the
solutions of the above addressed problems. The analysis of managing strategies will help to find
solutions for Home Bargains to increasing their productivity.
2) ISSUES
Productivity has been defined as the quality of being produced, it the efficiency that how
much a firm produces. Higher the productivity higher the efficiency of firm,they will produce
more and more(Desimone2011) But there are issues that may hinder the productivity of Home
bargains. These issues are :
 Cultural issues: The culture in home bargain was not at all good as the experiences of
the employees were very bad it can be seen with the reviews that the employees gave
who has left their job because of the bad work culture. There are no set standards and
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ways to perform tasks and things there. Second problem that they face was biasness.
Managers on their personal likes and dislikes behave with the employees. They
discriminate employees
 Marketing: It has been the key element for increasing productivity because company can
make better products and services for the customers by analyzing their expectations. But
there are some problems attached to it. There are issues which must be addressed asap .
Some of the issues with marketing are that one product is not enough to please everyone.
 High staff turnover: The staff turnover is not a good situation for Home Bargains as
they have incurred a lots of money in the training of staff, they have conducted seminars
also for the better understanding of the work (Borkond et.al 2011).
 Poor technology: This problem in Home Bargains is letting them face many trouble in
handling the work. The current technology utilised by Home Bargains such as the Pallet
conveyor System along with the Tote-Conveyor system have not been highly efficient in
enhancing the production of various products. This has slowed down the production
process thereby hovering a threat upon the organisation.
 Supply chain management: The supply chain management is the backbone of products
reaching to the store and customers. If the manufacturer doesn't delivers on time and the
retailer or distributor delays it entire chain is disrupted (Florian2012).
3). Aims and Objectives
→ Aim : “To identify the role of pertinent business strategies in enhancing the productivity of
Home Bargain.”
→ Objectives :-
 To ascertain the relationship between undertaken market strategy of Home Bargain and
its productivity.
 To determine the way in which the marketing strategies impact upon the productivity of
Home Bargain.
 To evaluate the staff retention strategies adopted by Home Bargain to increase their work
productivity.
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4.) Use of Knowledge
Management strategies are the strategies for the formulation and implementation of major
goals and objectives of home bargain. It is the decisions taken by the top management on behalf
of owners and it is decided in accordance with the resources that they have and the analysis of
internal and external environments in which the organisation is competing.
To know that the strategies that are currently going on in the organisation is better for the
organisation or they need to be changed further so as to achieve the desired
productivity(Moser2012). For increasing productivity they must list the organisation's long and
short term goals. Employees must be reviewed on the basis of their performances. In the first it is
essential for the company to analyse the performance of the employees which can help to the
company to determine their short term and long term goals.
High staff turnover is a big task, not everyone will be happy in your organisation, so
proper measures to retain the employees in the organisation is very essential as if attrition rate
increases it will add a lot in its cost, as to train a employee it requires lots of time , efforts and
cost. If the technology is poor it increases the efforts and time of the worker that he has to put in
doing same work which can be completed early if the technologies are updated. The supply chain
if not proper gives a lot of pain in the working of organisation. As if its not proper then the
products will not be deliver on time or not reach to the sore as well and maybe they loose a
customer because of this. For increasing the productivity marketing strategies have to be intact
(Avalos2011), they must measure the marketing success, and the markets must be targeted for
increasing productivity and the results must be measured time to time and actions must be taken
accordingly.
Marketing strategies are nothing but the tools to gain overall performance of any firm and
help in the long-term survival of the organisation. Marketing strategy involves the promotion,
pricing, distribution and standardization of products which are crucial to the product's existence
in the market(Rushton Lotteand Singer2011).
For staff retentions proper measures and strategies are to be made as their retention will
lead to loss of training and development cost of employees as they have spent a lot in their
development. They have to make a proper strategies which has to be cost effective to providing
training and development program to their employees to perform better. Their aim is to reduce
the attrition rate so as the productivity remains intact and thus increase further
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(Jimoyiannis2010). As they are having an issue of the higher rates of the employee retention so it
is essential for the company to make a proper strategy to retain employees in the organisation.
For achieving these aims and objectives they have to formulate certain managing strategies and
implement them for the smooth functioning of their stores.
5.) OVERVIEW OF METHODOLOGY
5.1 ISSUES, NEEDS , OPPORTUNITIES:
There are two types of methodology that is quantitative and qualitative that is explained
below:
 Quantitative method: This analysis includes using scientific data so that problems can
be recognized. For example analyzing surveys for predicting demands of customers. This
is completely different from qualitative approach which is using a social methodology
such as interviews is taken from people. But the quantitative approach concentrates on
the outputs from a large group of people despite of concentrating on individuals.
 Qualitative approach: The word qualitative states emphasizing on the attribute or
quality of the entities. This do not include measurement and statistics. This method is
used in philosophy, social science and history of centuries. The designing of this
approach is based on the social constructivism perspective. The problems of research gets
converted into research questions that is based on the preceding research experience. The
sample size taken can be very small as one. The gathering of data includes interviews,
observance and archival information. This is a form of inquiry that is used to analyze the
information that can be transferred via language and behavior in natural setting. It is
commonly used to acquiring the expressive or communicative information that are not
being conveyed in quantitative approach about notion, values , emotions and motivation
that lie behaviors.
In this report, qualitative approach is being is used to capture the information of social belief,
feelings and values.
For the various issues mentioned in the context of Home Bargains, various factors are to be
considered that will result in the reduced employee turnover and improved performance of the
organization (Blackand Plowright2010).
 For Marketing issue, there are various marketing strategies available that have been
discussed above can work in the betterment of the company. These include:
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1. Product
2. Pricing
3. Promotion
4. Distribution
With addition to these factors there are some more concerns that must be considered in order to
implement efficient market strategy. They are:
 Developing a marketing strategy
 Distribution marketing strategy
 Viral marketing
 Decision-making in marketing strategy
For High Staff Turnover, there are some tricks and techniques that must be followed:
 First and foremost, select the employees who are actually capable of that particular job, if
not then he/she will leave the job due to one reason or the another(Runco2014).
 Talent acquisition should not be neglected as the potential will pay the company a lot.
 Employee retention must be implemented by offering them beneficial packages at times.
 Employees should be provided the opportunities to come up with new ideas and
creativity to enhance their knowledge and make them feel free to to express their
feelings.
 Their performance feedback should be given to them with rewards.
 Their decision should be given importance and should matter in the execution of
organization's functioning.
 Certain flexibility regarding the working hours or location should be provided.
Poor technology may lead to the downfall of the organization as the present era is all about
technology and the competition does not give a second chance(Bishopand et.al 2012) .As Home
Bargains is facing a problem regarding poor technology, it needs to change the existing
technology and adapt to that technology a soon as possible. For poor technology factor, the
following concerns should be kept in mind:
The difficulties at the time will lead to some misconceptions but it has to be handled properly in
a right way so that the new innovation goes on smoothly.
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The skills required to understand the new technology must be adopted as soon as possible as the
organization has to come on the track again(Frost 2012).
For Supply Chain Management:
Supply chain management is the process through which the goods and services flow from
the place of manufacturing to final or local markets. Supply chain management helps in
improving the speed and efficiency of the process through which the products and services are
supplied to the markets(Brooks2010). It can be improved by taking following points into
concerns:
 Customer relationship management
 Collaborative approach
 Transformational strategy
 Process integration
 Driver based metrics
 Information sharing and visibility
 Demand management
 Talent management
 Value-based management
For Home Bargains, the research methodologies to be used can be divided into two basic
categories which are as follows:
 Primary Research: It can help to the company to improve their effectiveness for the
employees. Direct information collection can be helpful for the company to make
improvement on the particular issues.
 Secondary Research: This type of research method can help to the company to implement
potential changes to retain their employees in the organization.
5.2 Evidence
In order to meet the aim of questionnaire are getting distributed and evidence analysis
can be done as follows:
 Effective leadership, objective 1: Five employees said that they are enjoying the team
relationship as well as leadership in Home Bargain. Workers said that managers are
providing them training every Saturday. But due to the large turn over , they stop this
program.
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 Reward, objective 2: Five interviewees told that giving rewards will help in motivating.
 Work environment, objectives 3: Three people said they have been working from a long
period of time as they like the working environment provided by organization.
PRIMARY RESEARCH:
Primary Research collects real or actual information to be directly implemented to the
research process(Gallagherand et.al 2011). Primary research gives the authority to frame
questions of ones own and the answers will be of great value to the company. Primary research
includes collecting new data which has not been gathered before. For example it can be
performed by using questionnaires, doing surveys or interviews with a large number of people.
This is designed for getting the unique and special requirements. This gives commonly two basic
forms that are following:
 Exploratory: As it is open ended, the goal is not to get specific information. This assist in
identifying issues and it commonly consist of interviews or highlighted group with
extended input from the contestant.
 Specific: This research is concentrated in its scope. It is utilized in solving the problem
that are determined through exploratory research. Primary specific research are
commonly done via interviews.
Primary Research include:
 Surveys:
 On-site observations
QUESTIONNAIRE
The following questionnaire has been formulated to obtain information from the selected
10 employees of Home Bargains. They will be the respondents from whom the questionnaire
will be asked. The information gathered from them will then be analysed to obtain the necessary
outcomes.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Secondary Research collects information from the existing resources which can be of great use to
the growth and development of the company(Zepeda 2012). It can be use by company to make
potential development to provide better working conditions to them.
Secondary methods of research includes:
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 Internet
 Available market research
 Feedback of customers
 Information agencies
In case of Home Bargains as it is facing problems in marketing, staff turnover, poor technology
and supply chain management it has to implement both primary and secondary research methods
to improve its performance and growth.
Moreover the various marketing strategies are also responsible for the good performance of any
organization. There are various impacts of marketing strategies on the performance of any
company. The following factors should be kept in mind while implementing marketing
strategies:
 Product
 Pricing
 Promotion
 Distribution
All these factors are responsible for the successful implementation of marketing strategy and
improving the performance of any company in the organisation(Danielson 2011). It not only
focuses on the profit- making factor of the organisation rather it lays emphasis on the customer-
oriented factor also.
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS:
As Home Bargains is having problems in various concerns in marketing, staff turnover,
lack of new technology and problems in its supply chain management, it has to work on all the
aspects mentioned above so that it can sustain for a long- term(Stewart2014). It has to improve
its marketing strategies in order to make sure that it occupies a safe marketplace for its products
or services offered.
It has to implement the marketing strategies for the beating the competition and making a place
for its goods and services.
It has to conduct the research of the market and collect data through primary and secondary
sources to get valid and genuine knowledge about the existing products and strategies being
implemented over there.
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It has to make sure that the data gathered is of use and is up the requirement.
Also it has to lay emphasis on the promotion, pricing and distribution of the products so as to get
the maximum benefit of the strategies being implemented.
It must take care of the concerns of employees for their retention, so that it faces low employee
turnover and improves its performance in terms of high staff retention.
Last but not the least(Kennedy2014), time management is the most important factor which must
be executed anyhow to ensure the long-term survival of Home Bargains.
A description of how you will access or collect the evidence or data you need, where it will come
from and how you will analyse it to answer your research question.
The data that is needed will be collected by doing research, research further can be
qualified as quantitative and qualitative . Data can be collected through either primary research
or through secondary research. Collection of data starts with figuring out what type of data is
needed, then from the population ,sample is collected. Then the tools are gathered for collecting
of the chosen samples. The data can be collected by using primary and secondary source of
information. Primary data is customised for the need of your analysis. These are the information
gathered by first source of information(Boudand Brew2013). It includes getting information
through questionnaires and surveys. Secondary source of data information can be gathered from
within the environment(balance sheets, statements of profit and loss, sales figures, invento0ry
records etc.) or from external form(government securities, universities, foundations,media ,
trade, corporate filings, business affiliations etc.). These includes information from books
published, journals, reports, internet, articles and newspapers. For determining the survival of the
market, primary research entails the use of immediate data. While secondary data reprocesses
the already gathered information and re uses it for the betterment of service or product.
How does key aims relate to the specific needs, issue or opportunity you have identified to
research?
The key aims and objectives of Home Bargains are
1.Identify the relationship between existing marketing strategy and increased productivity.
The marketing strategy helps an organisation in achieving fundamental goals and helps to
achieve a sustainable competitive advantage(BiancarosaBrykand Dexter2010). For
analysing the strategic situartion of the company various activities including long and
short term covered I the field of marketing has to be dealt with. This is done by
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formulating, evaluating and selecting various market oriented strategies. The points that
will help in managing strategies that is needed to be kept in mind are:
 Human Resource Management: The manager has to manage human resources for the
attainment of objectives. Human resources has been designed for the employees to
maximize their performance and efficiency. They are focused on managing people in the
organization and focus on the formulation of policies . Human resources are the people
who focuses on increasing the productivity . They are specialized in training, recruiting,
employee relations and benefits.
 Financial Management: Nothing can be done without finance. You cannot implement
your thoughts and ideas into reality if you don't have finance in your hands. Managing
finance in an organization is a big task. Managers have to manage the financial
conditions so as to make the organization cost effective and maximize the productivity .
 Change: change is the need of today. Rigid things or policies cannot sustain for long.
change in systems make it improve and they help in making the employee efficient and
thus increase productivity.
 Innovation: innovation in products, innovation in technologies help in increase of
productivity. with the help of new technology , many thing can be achieved. Strategies
must be made with innovative ideas and operating business innovatively increases
productivity.
 Global Strategy: global strategies are made in the organisation by keeping in mind that
business needs to be extended, how they can build their presence worldwide. Global
strategy includes the locations where the various value chain activities will happen.
 Global Marketing: marketing done on the basis of global expansion is considered. All the
factors regarding the marketing strategies there needs to be formulated.
2. Identify how current marketing strategy has impacted productivity of the organisations.
Current marketing strategies have a lot of impact on the productivity of
organisations. Some of the factors that influence the performance of organisation are:
 Product homogeneity: products homogeneity has a significant effect on the characteristics
of sale performance and showed the effect on the standardised ability of firm.
However,there is a a strong relationship in the performance of standardisation and the
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