Analyzing Tesco's Business: COVID-19 Impact on Culture & Assessment

This report provides a comprehensive business assessment of Tesco, a multinational British grocery brand, focusing on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It analyzes how the pandemic has affected Tesco's working environment, employee engagement, talent management, and organizational culture. The report highlights challenges such as decreased employee morale, reduced loyalty, lack of coordination, and difficulties in talent development and performance evaluation. Furthermore, it explores the changes in organizational culture using Charles Handy's model, addressing issues like uncertainty and communication gaps. The report concludes with recommendations for overcoming these challenges to improve Tesco's resilience and performance during and after the pandemic. Desklib provides similar past papers and solved assignments for students.

Business Assessment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
How the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the working environment of organisations...........3
Analyse how employee engagement has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. ..............4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Analyse how talent management has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.....................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
Analyse how organisational culture has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
Recommendations on how to overcome the challenges of covid 19..........................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES:.............................................................................................................................12
Books and Journals...................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Business assessment refers to the systematic analysis of performance indicators that
define the current status, opportunities and reality of the business (Azadegan and et.al., 2020). It
helps in tracking the situations and parameters on which business operates to attain goals.
Majorly there are three types of assessment procedures which are documentation review,
elicitation observations and knowledge test. These assessments help businesses in growth and
expansion in strategic and smart way. Business assessment helps in making crucial decisions for
the businesses so that they operate effectively. It focus on the productivity and performance of
the business during tough time. This report is based on Tesco which a multinational British
grocery brand. It was established in 1919 and headquartered in England, UK. It offers products
like clothes, food, footwear, accessories and supplements. This report includes analysis of
employee engagement, talent management and organisational culture affected by covid 19
pandemic. In the end recommendations are also mentioned to overcome the problems are also
mentioned in this report.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
How the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the working environment of organisations.
Pandemic affected working environment very badly as operations are hampered due to
global lock down. Employees feel stress, tension and demotivated due to negative situations all
around (Stevenson and et.al., 2018). Organisations have to commence its operations via online
with the help of digital technology but it results in more pressure on employees. Organisational
culture face various problems like employee engagement, employee retention, employee talent
management and employee motivations. Tesco also faced several challenges due to pandemic as
employees feel unsafe at the workplace due to covid 19. Work from home opportunities was
introduced by Tesco for their employees to continue their operations. Due to lack of physical
presence of employees at workplace, Tesco incurred huge loss due to employee absenteeism.
People feel isolated and disturbed due to the external situation of the country.

Analyse how employee engagement has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Impact of covid 19 pandemic was very tremendous as it leads to the challenging
situations for businesses (Valente and et.al., 2019). If affects negatively and hamper the growth
of businesses which results in economic downfall. Employee engagement refers to the
dedication, emotional attachment and enthusiasm towards work and organisation. It reduces
injuries, absenteeism and attrition of employees in the Tesco and increase their involvement in
operations. Dedication plays vital role in achievement of individual goals as well as
organisational goals. Pandemic influences the relationship of employees with organisations.
Covid 19 affected employee management in many ways which are discussed below:
 Decreases morale: Employees need to stay positive and confident towards their work
which was affected by the pandemic situation. Covid 19 creates differences in the
operations and systems which should be followed by all the employees. Due to work
from home, responsibilities and chaos increases among employees due to lac of
coordination. Employees of Tesco felt inactive and ignored which results in lower
growth and opportunities.
 Increased costs and decreased loyalty: Some of the organisations have to provide
internet facilities to their employees during work from home due to pandemic.
Employees lack in loyalty and do not potentially use the facilities which are provided
by the organisations. This reduces return on investment and increase extra expenses
for the organisation. Managers and directors of Tesco could not pay attention on each
and every employees personally which reduces employees focus towards their
performance which results in loss.
 Lack of coordination: Less employee engagement results in poor coordination
among the employees which creates various problems and conflicts. During work
from home, miscommunication leads to misunderstanding which results in poor
performance of employees. Strategic decision making and planning of Tesco were
hampered due to inefficient working environment.
 Withdrawal: Due to less employee engagement during pandemic employees feel less
motivated and less enthusiastic. This results in high employee turnover and
absenteeism. Employees of Tesco slowly withdrawal their interests and attentiveness

from the organisation and feel dissatisfied with the management. Negative
engagement results in ineffective operations disrespect towards organisation.
 Apathy: Negatively engaged employees do not follow ethics, rules and regulations
properly which disturbs the working environment. It may increase stress and
depression among the employees and they do not care about the goals and targets of
the organisation. Less apathetic employees lack in innovative and creative ideas
which results in failure of operations in Tesco.
 Change in personality and behaviour: Lack of employee engagement due to
pandemic employees tend to change their behaviour due to less motivation (Qi, Lim
and Hossein Rashidi, 2020). Employees become more aggressive, rude and irritable
because of constant changes in their mood. During working hours they feel stressed
out, argumentative and tired which is a negative sign of employee motivation which
results in lack of employee retention.
TASK 2
Analyse how talent management has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
Talent management refers to process of retaining and attracting employees who are very
talented and gives high quality performance (Bouey, 2020). Organisations need to motivate their
employees so that they work on improvement of employees performance. Talent management
helps Tesco in maintaining the high quality performance which results in better growth and
exposure. Covid 19 affect negatively on the talent management as it results in low hiring and
staffing of efficient employees in organisations. Managers of Tesco were unable to provide
required training and development programs to their employees which reduces their efficiency.
Affect of covid 19 pandemic on talent management is discussed below:
 Increased employees stress: Covid 19 creates differences between the organisational
goals and individual goals which results in low focus on talent management.
Organisations were struggling with their operations and managing their day to day
activities with lot of difficulties. This results in employees stress because of the ignorance
by mangers of Tesco. Organisations mainly focus on their goals rather then individual
development due to pandemic.

 Pay reductions: Organisations started to cut off the pay, salaries, bonuses and incentives
of the employees because of low return on investment (Sahoo, 2019). This results in
demotivation among the employees of Tesco because money factor plays important role
in affecting performance. Due to less pay employees tend reduce their efficiency which
results in high loss to organisations.
 Ineffective training and development: To perform in desired way organisations need to
train their employees to inherit the required skills and knowledge which are required by
organisation. Due to covid 19 pandemic, Tesco was providing training through video
calls and online group chats. This proves ineffective due to various problems like time
management and technical issues. Managers were unable to identify how to provide
training for the particular required skills.
 Hiring and lay-offs: Due to covid 19 pandemic HR managers were facing problems in
recruitment and selection processes. Financial instability during pandemic results in lay-
offs of the hired workers which creates negative impact on talent management. Tesco was
unable to manage their workforce due to lack of profitability.
 Delayed appraisals: Organisations were facing challenges in appreciating the workforce
and providing them appraisals due to pandemic. This results in demotivation and stress
among employees because of lower appreciation. Tesco usually celebrate achievements
of their employees but pandemic disturbs all the pre planned schedules. Postponing
appraisals leads to discontinuation of effective performance which slow down the growth
process.
 Effort contribution: Employees tend to feel irresponsible towards their duties and work
according to their flexibility. Teams and groups of employees lack in contributing their
efforts toward common goals which are necessary for the organisation's success.
Pandemic results in poor employee retention and talent management which evaluate
lower performances in Tesco.
 Difficulty in evaluating performances: Managers face problems in monitoring
performances of employees during covid 19 because of work from home. Employees of
Tesco focus on their personal goals rather then organisational goals which is very
challenging. Managing staffs and evaluating their performances in absence of physical
presence in very difficult.

 Staff development problems: Covid 19 results impact the talent management as it is
very difficult to manage and develop effective staff during work from home (Parente and
et.al., 2019). HR managers took interviews online which proves difficult in understanding
the behaviour and attitude of employees in Tesco.
TASK 3
Analyse how organisational culture has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Organisational culture refers to the structure which justifies the behaviour of people in
organisation. It includes some of the factors like expectations, experiences, philosophy and
values. Culture of organisation depends on the employees behaviour, attitudes and values.
Organisations consists of diversified people who follows different beliefs according to their own
cultures. Success and performance is based on the organisational culture because it influences the
behaviour and mindset of people. Positive culture helps employee in their long term retention
and performance. Covid 19 pandemic disturbs the organisational culture as Tesco introduced
work from home to their employees. The situation become very threatening for employees due to
the pandemic. To analyse the organisational culture Tesco uses model which examine the
situation and work upon it according to the needs. The model is Charles handy's model which is
discussed below:
Charles Handy model
This model was developed by a philosopher named Charles Handy who was born in 1932. In this
model there are four types of models which are as follows:
Power culture: In this culture, major decisions are carried out by managers who possess some
power in their hands (Tschiggerl, Sledz and Topic, 2018). Those managers are the authorized
person who delegate decisions and authorities to their subordinates for further operations. Many
large organisations like Tesco adopt this type of culture as it results in high cooperation.
Task culture: Organisations who mainly focus on particular tasks and projects follows task
culture. These organisations create teams and groups to accomplish particular projects.
Employees in task culture organisation possess some expertise skills which they use for
achieving their own goals as well as common group goals. They do not give more importance to
rule and regulations because they believe in their own expertise skills.

Person culture: In this culture, employees give themselves more importance rather then the
organisational goals. Employees feel independent and work according to their rules and
regulations. Organisations who follow person culture are generally people oriented and lack
attachment towards organisation.
Role culture: Organisations who follows role culture work according to particular agreements,
rules, procedures and obligations. Role and status are assigned to employees according to their
expertise and experience. People become more responsible and accountable for their work
willingly. This increase their confidence and efficiency which help in better work performance.
Affect of covid 19 on organisational culture is discussed below:
 Uncertainty: Organisations were facing problems in formulating strategic plans and
procedures during covid 19 because of uncertainty. Government imposed strict lock
down which results in discontinuation in several departments of Tesco. Mangers were
unable to carry out important operations which were necessary for profit generations.
Various methods and techniques were changed because of work from home during lock
down.
 Communication gap: Lack of physical presence due to work from home results in
communication gap among employees. Important informations are delayed due to
inappropriate coordination which reduces the efficiency of employees. Lack of
coordination results in duplication and delay in works in Tesco.
 Disturbed personal life: Work from home creates imbalances in the life of people. It
proves very difficult for some people to manage their personal and professional life
during work from home operations due to pandemic (Belov, Pestunov and Pestunova,
2018). Employees of Tesco feel stress and depression because it was new and hard to
manage for them. It also reduces flexibility because of increase in screen time and google
meetings.
 Deploys the organisation's values: Employees performing from work from home follow
their own values according to their preferences. This will harm the values of organisation
during covid 19 pandemic. Tesco face this situation because organisation and employees
lost their personal touch and work through digital tools. This results in various changes in
the organisational culture in Tesco.

 Feeling of isolation: Employees working individually at their homes feel isolated which
results in slow performance. Lack of interaction and social contact reduce their ability to
take responsibilities and challenges willingly. Managers face challenges in solving issues
and problems without face to face interactions in Tesco.
TASK 4
Recommendations on how to overcome the challenges of covid 19.
There are various recommendations to improve the operations in organisation during
covid 19 pandemic which is as follows:
 Organisations should develop required policies for their employees along with mission
and core values of organisation. Managers should provide training and develop
necessary skills which help employees in fulfilment of their personal needs. organisation
should address the feedbacks and reviews of employees on regular interval of time
period and implement that changes in the organisation. They should provide
opportunities to volunteer the other members of organisation which solve various
problems (Tsai, 2019). Organisations should give some flexibility and maintain record of
working hours which helps in relaxation of mind and improves mental health.
Organisations should provide appraisals on time and give rewards to top performers for
their achievements which helps in employee retention.
 Organisations should identify the required skills and talent in the organisation and hire
staff according to that skills. During covid 19, organisations can focus on the hard work
and talent of the employees and appreciate them of the basis of their ability. Managers
should create healthy and positive work environment which helps employees to achieve
goals effectively. They should evaluate the performance of employees and provide
bonuses and incentives to them which is motivating factor. Organisations should offer
development programs which increase the talent of existing employees. Mangers should
provide sessions, coaching, assignments and projects which help employees in their
growth and development.
 To improve the organisational culture during covid 19 organisations should
communicate and guide employees with clarity. They should evaluate the current
situation of culture and take necessary steps for the improvement which is required by

organisation. Strategic decisions should be taken which fulfil the requirements of both
individual and organisation. Organisation should maintain proper procedures for
commencement of operations which improve the quality of performance. Decorum
should be maintained in the organisation which helps in developing positive work
environment. People should share views and thoughts which are essential for growth and
development of business with transparency.

CONCLUSION
From the above report, it is concluded that business assessment is necessary step in
evaluating the current status and situation of the business. It focus on the positive and negative
aspects of business which help them in future growth and expansion. It analysis all the areas and
functions of organisation and help them develop various strategies to reduce the risk factors. This
report included effect of covid 19 on the working environment of organisation. It also includes
the affect of talent management in the organisation due to covid 19. affect of pandemic on the
organisational culture is also discussed in this report. At the end, recommendations are
mentioned to overcome the challenges caused by covid 19.

REFERENCES:
Books and Journals
Azadegan and et.al., 2020. Supply chain disruptions and business continuity: an empirical
assessment. Decision Sciences, 51(1), pp.38-73.
Belov, V.M., Pestunov, A.I. and Pestunova, T.M., 2018, October. On the issue of information
security risks assessment of business processes. In 2018 XIV International Scientific-
Technical Conference on Actual Problems of Electronics Instrument Engineering
(APEIE) (pp. 136-139). IEEE.
Bouey, J., 2020, March. Assessment of COVID-19's Impact on small and medium-sized
enterprises: Implications from China: Testimony of Jennifer Bouey, before the US
House Committee on Small Business, March 10, 2020. In Rand Corporation. Rand
Corporation.
Parente and et.al., 2019. Adapting and sustaining operations in weak institutional environments:
A business ecosystem assessment of a Chinese MNE in Central Africa. Journal of
International Business Studies, 50(2), pp.275-291.
Qi, Z., Lim, S. and Hossein Rashidi, T., 2020. Assessment of transport equity to central business
district (CBD) in Sydney, Australia. Transportation Letters, 12(4), pp.246-256.
Sahoo, S., 2019. Assessment of TPM and TQM practices on business performance: a multi-
sector analysis. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering.
Stevenson and et.al., 2018. Business recovery: an assessment framework. Disasters, 42(3),
pp.519-540.
Tsai, S.C., 2019. Implementing interactive courseware into EFL business writing: computational
assessment and learning satisfaction. Interactive Learning Environments, 27(1), pp.46-
61.
Tschiggerl, K., Sledz, C. and Topic, M., 2018. Considering environmental impacts of energy
storage technologies: A life cycle assessment of power-to-gas business
models. Energy, 160, pp.1091-1100.
Valente and et.al., 2019. Assessment of the Lean effect on business performance: the case of
manufacturing SMEs. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management.