The first step that I would take, prior to conducting the Needs Analysis, is to determine what the actual performance gap is in this situation. On the surface this problem is clearly that salespeople are not available when needed by customers and when they are available they are not interested in helping the customers. Working in retail myself, the common expectations of all employees are to be visible and to keep a positive attitude when dealing with customers. These principles should hold true for any retail firm, no matter their vision or strategic objectives as that is the norm of the industry. There is clearly some sort of performance gap here because these common norms are not being adhered to. To identify further why this problem is occurring, I would use a 360-degree assessments by getting information from the workers directly involved and co-workers at HBC, their supervisors and clients/customers. The reasoning of this approach is to get a variety of perspectives to determine the issues and to get a better understanding of where the problem stems from in HBC.
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The problem may be due to KSA deficiencies such as poor structural issues, lack of training or even lack of retraining/ training refreshers; environmental obstacles such as outdated norms, improper structure, understaffing, or even a toxic workforce; misdirected incentives and sanctions as employees pay or reduction of pay may not be tied to customers satisfaction; and finally there may be a lack of knowledge of expected performance standards due to lack of feedback and communication. Although it may appear that the lack of feedback and communication is an obvious issue for the Hudson’s Bay, the correct answer can be better determined after conducting the 360-degree assessments and the rest of the Needs Analysis. In conducting the Needs Analysis there are three components that need to be considered: the Organizational Analysis, Task Analysis and the Person Analysis. On top of these three I also believe an Environmental Analysis should be conducted. As was mentioned in the lecture, the external environment has a big impact on what goes on internally. Keeping that in mind, understanding if there are any factors affecting the performance of workers beyond their internal environment will play a big role in conducting our Needs Analysis. For instance we need to determine whether there are better working conditions for workers in similar positions outside of Hudson’s Bay or factors such as the minimum wage have increased, making the current job less appealing to employees. These external factors may contribute to the problem by complementing the other three aspects of Hudson’s Bay’s needs. The first traditional aspect that needs to be considered is the Organizational Analysis. …show more content…
Consideration needs to put into the strategic objectives of the firm, the budgets and resources, reward systems, social/group factors and the rules, policies and procedures. All these factors need to be considered both individually and in how they relate to each other because even though the strategic objectives may be strong and clear, they may not be tied to the reward systems or social/group factors may be devaluing their importance. That can be a valid reason as to why employees are not pleasant with customers or visible. Furthermore, in taking this holistic approach, we can determine if there are other problems that may occur or that are occurring that have not been addressed at HBC and analyze how changes can fix those issues. We also want to be precautionary and ensure that problems are not further exasperated by our changes to the company’s current operation. The next aspect to consider is Task Analysis. This will basically tell us what the job entails for employees at HBC and whether there are certain aspects of a retail employee’s job that are directly causing the problem. For instance there may be a problem with the amount of responsibility/ accountability on each employee (whether it be too much or too little), the effort involved may be too physically or mentally demanding for employees; the work conditions, such as length of shifts, may not be favourable and finally the education/training/ skill requirements of the job may be correct for what the job actually entails. In general from this analysis we should see if the criteria involved in performing the job are outdated or not appropriate to the criteria that is required at HBC. This leans towards
The problem may be due to KSA deficiencies such as poor structural issues, lack of training or even lack of retraining/ training refreshers; environmental obstacles such as outdated norms, improper structure, understaffing, or even a toxic workforce; misdirected incentives and sanctions as employees pay or reduction of pay may not be tied to customers satisfaction; and finally there may be a lack of knowledge of expected performance standards due to lack of feedback and communication. Although it may appear that the lack of feedback and communication is an obvious issue for the Hudson’s Bay, the correct answer can be better determined after conducting the 360-degree assessments and the rest of the Needs Analysis. In conducting the Needs Analysis there are three components that need to be considered: the Organizational Analysis, Task Analysis and the Person Analysis. On top of these three I also believe an Environmental Analysis should be conducted. As was mentioned in the lecture, the external environment has a big impact on what goes on internally. Keeping that in mind, understanding if there are any factors affecting the performance of workers beyond their internal environment will play a big role in conducting our Needs Analysis. For instance we need to determine whether there are better working conditions for workers in similar positions outside of Hudson’s Bay or factors such as the minimum wage have increased, making the current job less appealing to employees. These external factors may contribute to the problem by complementing the other three aspects of Hudson’s Bay’s needs. The first traditional aspect that needs to be considered is the Organizational Analysis. …show more content…
Consideration needs to put into the strategic objectives of the firm, the budgets and resources, reward systems, social/group factors and the rules, policies and procedures. All these factors need to be considered both individually and in how they relate to each other because even though the strategic objectives may be strong and clear, they may not be tied to the reward systems or social/group factors may be devaluing their importance. That can be a valid reason as to why employees are not pleasant with customers or visible. Furthermore, in taking this holistic approach, we can determine if there are other problems that may occur or that are occurring that have not been addressed at HBC and analyze how changes can fix those issues. We also want to be precautionary and ensure that problems are not further exasperated by our changes to the company’s current operation. The next aspect to consider is Task Analysis. This will basically tell us what the job entails for employees at HBC and whether there are certain aspects of a retail employee’s job that are directly causing the problem. For instance there may be a problem with the amount of responsibility/ accountability on each employee (whether it be too much or too little), the effort involved may be too physically or mentally demanding for employees; the work conditions, such as length of shifts, may not be favourable and finally the education/training/ skill requirements of the job may be correct for what the job actually entails. In general from this analysis we should see if the criteria involved in performing the job are outdated or not appropriate to the criteria that is required at HBC. This leans towards