Case Study: Developing Career
Since I was the Chief Executive Officer, I chose to advise the company to counteract several negative perceptions regarding functioning in retail. This was because the company needed workers who could face confronts brought by its standards and status. The company needed people who were seeking for a rewarding and exciting long-term profession with prospects and responsibilities. I knew that the challenge was to find and maintain workers with the correct mix of abilities and skills, who could be developed to turn out to be the future managers of the company. Functioning in a shop had traditionally been perceived as a low-skilled, poorly-paid, drudgerous and unpromising job. Nevertheless, since quality was a priority at Harrods, I had to make sure that our workers were well-paid, had a comprehensible profession path wide open for them and were offered respect that they deserved.
I feel happy now because all the senior managers at the company have gained from development chances which were provided by the Harrods firm. Our peers thought that we were planning to excite the workers and this act could lead us towards a losing end. This was because we spent more money on training the workers with an aim of ensuring that their profession paths were defined. They thought that by reducing the working hours for our employees we consequently cut our production and hence the profit. Furthermore, promotion of workers goes hand in hand with pay increase. This meant that we had to spend more on paying the workers, an act that made our peers think that we were heading to incur huge loses. This, however, did not happen because all this turned out to be advantageous to us. We ended up retaining almost all the workers as years progressed and our production improved.
Other companies need to adopt this idea of considering the working environment of their workers. This should be done through training the workers so as to equip them with abilities and skills. This will ensure that they later turn out to be the future managers of their companies. Increasing the pay for the workers would ensure that the workers are happy with their work and therefore would deliver to their highest levels. The companies need to occasionally promote their workers as an incentive to boost their working. The managers of other companies must ensure that their workers are respected and their profession paths are well defined. When all those issues are catered for, the workers will perform at their level best and the production of the company will be high.
Culture refers to the way people do their own things, what they believe and how they assume things are like. Culturally, workers in a shop were considered to be low-skilled, poorly-paid, worked for long hours and had little chance of promotion. Workers also never used to remain in a company that they were employed in for long. Harrods mainly offers job for salespeople, senior managers, and department managers. All the employees at the various levels function harmoniously to ensure the proper progress of the company. The company functions as a system. This is because every level of the employment is an element of the system and each must function in harmony with other levels for production. When the functioning of the various levels of the Harrods Company is in harmony, the output of the company is at its maximum. Culture comes into play where the workers backgrounds are distinct and they contain varied life experiences. This background means some employees have little or no experience in the duties they end up performing in the Harrods Company.
I ensured that the Harrods workers were paid well, had a favorable working environment, were respected and trained to ensure that their profession paths were well-defined. I proposed that the workers be given rewards such as an outstanding employee package. This package included better pay, discounts to workers and a favourable working environment. Sale bonuses and commissions for teams and individuals are also offered. The working schedules for workers are improved, which assists in giving a good work/life balance. I was very convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that those favours would make the workers feel motivated towards their work. Once the workers started receiving favours from the management, their trust with the management augmented. The managers, too, trusted the workers and were quite sure that they would remain working in the Harrods Company. The conflict between the workers and the management came to a close when I proposed their payment and treatment be improved. I ensured that senior managers and other senior officers alike engage one another in the management process. The workers were also included in the decision-making. I ensured that rewards were offered to workers. These rewards included suchlike promotion of workers and training. I ensured that the company was in a better position for competition with other firms through treating the workers well. This meant that they could produce the best and they could also remain in the Harrods business. Workers originated from various backgrounds and therefore had various view regarding certain issues.
I made sure that the gender issue was well catered for. This was through balancing the workers through employing both men and women. I ensured that even women are selected for managerial offices. The process of decision-making starts by involving every individual in the company into it. It commences from the workers, managers and all the way to senior managers. Every view of the workers is welcome as a pillar of the process of decision-making. In terms of payment, promotion, and training, I always negotiated with workers. We also negotiate with our retailers regarding the products. The view of this case has changed drastically and to the better after discovering other alternative sources of information.
