Human Resource Function a Retail Store Traditional Capstone Project

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Human Resource Function a Retail Store Traditional stores experiencing a significant shift retail shopping. Customers specialization convenience making purchases.

The human resource function of a retail store

The human resource manager's function has changed considerably over the years. Once, HR was called the 'personnel department,' and its primary role was issuing paychecks and managing employee issues such as pensions, bonuses, and vacation time from a purely administrative perspective. Today, HR has many additional, important tasks, including deciding what employees to hire that embody the company's values; the nurturing of top talent, and dealing with interpersonal conflicts between employees. "The role of the HR manager, director, or executive must parallel the needs of his or her changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptive, resilient, quick to change direction and customer-centered. Within this environment, the HR professional, who is considered necessary by managers and executives, is a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate and a change mentor" (Heathfield 2012).

HR has an active role in setting the priorities of the organization, and the people the organization chooses to employee are seen as directly linked to the quality of output. This is particularly true of retail-based industries. America is no longer a manufacturing nation: providing service has become the core function of many industries, given that customer service cannot be outsourced or transferred online.

One of the greatest challenges of a retail store is the hiring and retention of lower-level staff -- the employees who actually 'meet and greet' customers and inform customers about the product and try to understand customer needs. These workers the customer's first 'point of contact' with the business, yet the hiring process can be very perfunctory. These jobs often pay minimum wage, and after a quick background check and a submitted paper resume, someone may be hired. This approach, which does not take into consideration employee interests or personal attributes and how they gel with the company, can be disastrous. Worse yet, after an expensive training period, workers on the floor are often quick to leave, given the perceived similarity between one low-wage job and another low wage job. Even in a difficult job market, no company can simply assume that workers should be grateful for a job.

To cope with the problem of high turnover rates, the innovative electronics company Best Buy created a social networking site called 'Blue Shirt Nation' which enabled retail workers to openly share concerns with management and suggestions for improvement on an in-house social networking page (Grayson 2008:1).

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HR staff was instrumental in using technology to enable employees to connect with one another on a personal level, but also to provide the company with useful suggestions about altering aspects of Best Buy policy that might be ineffective. Best Buy is currently competing with many stores that are exclusively online-based, and offering additional solicitude through its service component is one way to create a sense of additional value generated for the customer when he or she shops at Best Buy.

Using a general Web 2.0 application on which all employees can post creates a sense of personal connection between the business and the individual worker. "When the company started an initiative to boost enrollment in its 401(k) plan, it sponsored a video contest, encouraging people to create clips on what retirement plans meant to them. The effort garnered so much interest and entries from employees, that Best Buy credits it with helping increase program enrollment by 30%. The winners in the contest got a small budget to redecorate their store, and a chance to present their video at Best Buy's headquarters" (Grayson 2008:2). As a result of fostering this type of interactive environment, employee turnover is only 8% amongst those who use 'Blue Shirt Nation.'

A participatory management strategy is thus a critical component of creating a united firm on every level of the organizational hierarchy. By getting everyone 'on board,' expenses related to retraining are reduced and managers can be more assured of customers receiving a cohesive customer experience from the moment….....

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