Leadership in Business: Evaluating Woolworths' Leadership and HR

This report provides an analysis of leadership in business, focusing on Woolworths as a case study. The introduction provides an overview of Woolworths, its business model, strategic goals, organizational values, and organizational structure. The report then explores the role and importance of the human resources (HR) department within Woolworths, including its key functions, objectives, and key performance indicators (KPIs). It also details the mandatory qualifications, skills, and knowledge required for HR roles. The second task of the report involves a self-assessment of the student's current competency levels in various skills and knowledge areas, compared to a peer-rated assessment. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and insights gained from the analysis of leadership and HR practices within Woolworths. This report is a valuable resource for students seeking to understand leadership principles and HR management within a real-world business context.

Running head: LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
Leadership in business (Task 1 & Task 2)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
Task one
Introduction
At 1924, Woolworth’s group opened their business of a retailer company in Sydney’s
Imperial Arcade. It is a supermarket or chains of groceries in Australia possessed by
Woolworths Limited (Kulas 2016). A wide range of household products is available in
Woolworths starting from fruits and vegetables, meat, seafood and Deli, then bakery, then
they have pantry which includes breakfast and spreads, tea and coffee, snacks, herbs and
spices, baking stuffs, condiments like chutney, salad dressings, mustard, pickles, different
types of sauces, they includes frozen meals as well like seafood, pizzas, vegetables. Meats to
ice creams and sausages are all available in their frozen list; they offer drinks and liquors,
tobacco. They have products for the pets as well from cats to dogs to birds and fishes. It also
includes baby products, health and beauty care products to household daily necessities and
lunch boxes (Wu et al. 2015).
The prior strategic goal of Woolworths is that they want to be the customers’ number
one brand in over all the other brands in the market. To achieve this very goal they have little
precedence like creating a customer as well as a store-led team and culture, initiating
sustainable momentum in sales for food, progressing with the drinks business to supply more
value and benefit to the customers, authorizing the portfolio trade to follow the strategies to
deliver the values of the shareholders. Lastly, it aims to become a lean retailer by end-to-end
activities and improving their excellence of the system. However their strategies are simple
which aims at developing a team, refresh their stores, by reducing costs they want to improve
processes, modernize the products presented and to enlarge cohesive brand. Woolworth’s
organizational values are the things that they believe in and for them their values are the
foundation and basis for their business. Their values make them distinct in the market. The
main value of Woolworths is that to offer a simple and honest deal and placing a quality

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within the customers reach. Their value gives them the guidance and shows them the
direction of the behaviors and choices of the organization. Being true to their values, they
know what their customers, employees, partners and suppliers want from them and so they
can successfully satisfy those.
Figure 1: The diagram showing the top management of Woolworth in an Organizational
Chart
Woolworths top executive comprise of the Group marketing director and CEO under
them there are the non-executive directors, chairman, chief general managers, director of the

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supermarkets, chief logistics and information officer, general manager of human and
resources. The chief general manager of liquor and petrol, director general merchandise and
big W, chief financial officers general manager corporate services general business
development and general manager of property are also under him. Now under the Director
supermarkets, there are general supermarket operations and general manager mercury
program and under general manager human resources, there is general manager of
Woolworth academy. Finally, under the director general merchandise and general manager
big W there is general manager Dick smith electronics and general manager big W.
Organizational structure holds an importance for a company as it helps in the internal
functions which is necessary for decision making. Structures can be both flat and tall
structures. Small company uses the flat structure and large company’s uses the tall structure
as the Woolworth is using the tall structure. Organizational structure is also necessary for the
communication as it fairly distributes the authority. This organizational structure in a
company actually assesses the performance of the employee. It actually helps in the race of
achieving the goals as it permits a series of commands. However, organizational structures
actually help the company to handle better the changes in the marketplace involving the
needs of the customers, regulations imposed by the government and the updated technologies
(Tran and Tian 2013).
There is a huge chance of professional growth in Woolworth as it provides ample
quality of training to their already existing staffs so that they can improve and can built their
capabilities. Woolworth priority is that their employees can work in a safe environment. They
give equal opportunities to all employees irrespective of their genders. Woolworth has
currently 205,000 employees and over 584 job vacancies in Australia and has 3,000 different
places for them to work and so they give a perfect job opportunity to their staff members.
Apart from the salaries, they receive extra monetary help if he/she is injured in the work

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premises. The staff members get employee discounts and vacation and paid offs. Most
beneficial part is that Woolworths group provides scholarships for those who have applied
great ideas in their business as well as other scholarships. Employees are also benefited with
share in purchase plans, employees’ credit union, parental leave, private health insurances,
employee assistance program and few more (Weng and McElroy 2012).
Team/department
It is better to work in the human resources (HR) team of Woolworth. The recruitment
and selection of the organization is done by HR team which is the crucial task of the of the
HR department (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). This team is very dependent for placing the
right candidate for the exact work or position. This team while recruiting a candidate keeps in
mind that they fit with the organizations current need considering both the external and
internal factors. However, this department has a great impact on the company and affects the
functioning of the company largely. The main purpose of the HR department is to contribute
to the business with a capable and pleased workplace. It mainly guides the employees,
interviews them and constructs the recommendations for the employees. It further completes
the paperwork as soon as a new candidate joints and assures the employees that both the
organization and the employees are met with the legal affairs. An added responsibility of this
department is that it handles the payroll or conveying payroll data if the payroll is from
outsource. However, it looks after the benefits of the employees; it helps the employees with
all their queries and organizational programs. It further manages the employees’ complaints
and attempts to resolve it as fast as possible (Bratton and Gold 2012).
The main objectives of the HR department are to maintain the employees’ confidence
and morale. It becomes more important when the company is not having a good time and

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going through an economical led back. At this time, the employees need to feel protected and
beneficial for the company that is done by the HR department. The next objective is that to
introduce the employees with the various incentive programs, to develop star performers,
effective recruitment, training and staffing in the company, to enhance the productivity, to
apply new strategies and policies for business costs and practices and lastly, solving the
issues among the employees so as to maintain a healthy workplace environment (Daley
2012). The key performance indicator (KPI) calculates the performance of a specific activity
and processes. However, the necessary KPIs for the role of HR are the safekeeping of talent
that specifies the stability for the job in a company. The next is the duration of the employee
for the position in which they are recruited, absenteeism that includes the delays, leaves or
unexcused non-attendance. It also involves the time in between a candidate leaving the job,
the new candidate replacing him. KPI helps creating loyalty and satisfaction in the
employees, it calculates they efficiency of the candidates by looking how long they are taking
to achieve the goals set for their designation and the most important is calculating the number
of accidents occurring in the workplace (Parmenter 2015).
The compulsory qualification needed to become a HR is with formal educations and
proper academic documentations. Two to four years of a degree in HR management is highly
appreciated. To acquire the post of senior managers MBA and law degrees are asked by many
organizations. Qualification also includes previous experiences; certifications as well as
previous promotional experiences, which are not always compulsory but definite, add value
to the resume (Aswathappa 2013).
The skills that is required for effectively dealing with HR jobs is recruiting which
means to bringing fresh talents, screening the candidates, maintaining employee
relationships, scheduling the task, maintaining social media, and performance management.
The basic knowledge for becoming an HR comprises of the principles and procedures of

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recruitment, selection, training, compensations and benefits along with staff relations,
negotiations, administrative and management, they must have knowledge regarding English,
basic computers, communication and economics and accounting. The behavioral features
required to take HR roles are good communication skills, great presenter to attract the
employee’s attention, should be innovative with their solutions, must be easily approachable,
should have the sense of time management and disciplined. They must be smart at assigning
tasks to the team members, considerate when making decisions, motivator, and trusted
advisor to the employees and a capable leader (Kinicki and Kreitner 2012).

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Task two
Mandatory
qualifications, skills,
knowledge
Level of current
competency (self-
rated)
Level of competency
(peer rated)
Priority of
importance
Educational qualifications-
Completed basic
education ( passed
class 12)
8/10 Degree in HR
management
Has a degree of HR
management
9/10 Certificate of
professional human
resources (PHR)
Certified in
professional human
resources (PHR)
8.5/10 Basic education
Has no previous job
experience
0/10 No previous job
experience
Skills and knowledge-
Powerful
communicator and has
knowledge of English (
speaking and writing)
9/10 Good communication
skill and is fluent with
English

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Organizer of difficult
business policies
7/10 Can handle social
media well
Managing the conflicts
and solving the
problems among the
employees in the
organization
8/10 Can take on spot fast
decisions and so can
maintain the
relationship with the
employees well
Recruiting fresh talents
and positioning them
according to their
qualifications and
skills.
7.5/10 Has knowledge about
negotiations,
administrations and
training
Maintaining a healthy
relationship with the
employees by taking
faster decisions
8.5/10 Can handle conflicts
and resolve it
effectively
Assigning tasks to the
team members as HR
cannot do every task
alone
8/10 Can assign task equally
without being bias
Measuring the
productivity and
managing the
performance
7/10 has knowledge about
accounting and so can
handle payroll

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Maintaining the social
media
9/10 Can be abided by the
rules and regulations
and the polices of the
organization
Look after the payroll
of the employees
8/10 Recruitment and
positioning of the new
employees
Abided by the rules an
d regulations as well as
the various policies in
of the organization
8/10 Dealing with the
business policies
Incorporate knowledge
about negotiations,
administration and
training.
8.5/10 Can measure the
productivity as well as
the performance

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References
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Aswathappa, K., 2013. Human resource management: Text and cases. Tata McGraw-Hill
Education.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Daley, D.M., 2012. Strategic human resources management. Public Personnel Management,
pp.120-125.
Kinicki, A. and Kreitner, R., 2012. Organizational behavior: Key concepts, skills & best
practices. McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Kulas, S., 2016. Company profile.
Parmenter, D., 2015. Key performance indicators: developing, implementing, and using
winning KPIs. John Wiley & Sons.
Tran, Q. and Tian, Y., 2013. Organizational structure: Influencing factors and impact on a
firm. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 3(2), p.229.
Weng, Q. and McElroy, J.C., 2012. Organizational career growth, affective occupational
commitment and turnover intentions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(2), pp.256-265.
Wu, J.H., Neal, B., Trevena, H., Crino, M., Stuart-Smith, W., Faulkner-Hogg, K., Louie,
J.C.Y. and Dunford, E., 2015. Are gluten-free foods healthier than non-gluten-free foods? An