Hrm A Case Of Superdrug Stores Plc

Superdrug which is well known for beauty and health retailing is Brittan’s most trendy conscious and innovation oriented from time to time. they were founded in 1964 and joined the AS Watsons family in october2002.they currently have 900 stores over 1600employees.

Every store has a perfumery and cosmetic promotion to attract customers, and over 220 stores have pharmacies with pharmacy consultation rooms. They currently have 19 stores with nurse clinics offering health checks. Superdrug is known as the only high street retailer with its own team of nurses. c

The aim of Superdrug is to compete vigorously in the market place and they would never collude with any competitors for the only reason because such behavior may contravene the competition laws and not being ethical about the code of conduct but we are striving to compete with there major competitor boots by offering various kind of promotions every 2 weeks, reducing 1000 lower prices, and also weekend deals as well.

Vision,Mission,Values is the way to communicate Superdrug’s ways of working, both now and in the future. This is a guide to the individuals and the company in order to achieve their goals. Superdrug as a team believes each and every staff should take ownership if the company Mission, Vision and Values to be a shared goal for the future.

Vision statement- Winning locally in beauty and health

Mission statement-To be our customer’s favorite up to the minute beauty and health retailer loved for our value, choice, friendliness and fun

Values-We are passionate about:

*customers-knowing our customers

-understanding out customers needs

-exceeding our customers’ expectations

*Team work-pulling together

-Being there for each other(Team spirit)

-Winning as one Superdrug team

*Learning-Learning for what ever we do

-Owning our own development

-Supporting the development of others

*honesty-Doing the right thing

-Acting with respect and integrity

……………Delivering exceptional results

(Team Academy-level-1)

For the purpose of this study I will be critically examine the level of motivated staff at superdrug, and how Superdrug takes steps in order to measure motivation so that they can achieve high productivity.

OVERVIEW

Employee motivation together with employee morale at Superdrug are the two most important factors for a successful business. Without these two we can find that our team do not have a real interest in being at work that as a result will reflect in the way they interact with customers, performance and productivity which will be hard for the management to get things done from them with out constant pressure. high staff turnover, this will also have a negative impact for the company as they will have to spend more money for recruiting,selecting,training and developing which is simply because no one is motivated.

The common theme at Superdrug is a team that is united and enthusiastic and a team that is motivated to help.

For this purpose of study i will be analyzing Superdrug and their role in Human Resource Management with regard with my research question and objectives and assumptions.

Research question

How does Superdrug motivate their employees in order to retain their staff and reduce staff turnover in order to cut cost

Research objectives

*to understand how Superdrug significantly gains competitive edge by staff retention

*to examine the feasibility of how staff motivation is measured in order to track satisfaction

LITERATURE REVIEW

Talking about human resource management at Superdrug, mainly the store I work in, we strongly believe not only with reward and praise but also punishment if work has not been achieved. In regards to the conversation with my store manager I understood that not only praise and rewards will always ensure high productivity rather if staff are unable to achieve even after training they need to be cohesed and punished.

back in time Rosemary Steward stated that “getting things done from people”. further Fredrick Tailor published in his words,” a fair days pay for a fair days work” he was basically characterized for autocratic management in order to achieve higher output, higher profits. This scientific management brought in to light that work was done in a systematic analysis or routine of work process and the techniques of work study and organizations, and methods in order to achieve. This did not take into consideration about employee welfare or job satisfaction thus output was high. The sole motivation was money here.therefor the more one was produced the more one was paid, in contrast inefficiency in terms of failure to meet set targets can be punishable and may lead to dismissal.

When time evolved Hendry Fayal and Lyndell Urwick challenged scientific management and proposed that human beings are not only scientific beings but they are also social beings. They demonstrated the following points-

Plan,organize,direct,control

Involving staff in developing business

Equity in the treatment of employees

Encouraging staff ideas/democratic leadership

Training and development

Ready to accept change due to the turbulent environment

(Abe manual)

Though Taylors approach to maximize output he only considered one-dimensional approach to motivation which was pay incentives and totally ignored individual job satisfaction, job security, recognition ect which was now described by Maslow’s needs theory.

Moreover the social group aspect was therefore ignored and staff would have likely been resistance to change.

Rather for the modern management instead of the early management where human beings are also considered as social beings where there is no cohesiveness rather they are motivated to work by offering financial and non-financial rewards which is also known as total reward system. They are also encouraged to work through democratic leadership ,job enrichment and job rotation which will create a sense of belongingness to staff.

This doesn’t state that Taylor’s statement is absolutely wrong. Rather I would say few characteristics from Taylor can be applied now in business. Which means if employees are continuously not performing they will have to be cohesed and punished and for employees who perform well and achieve their targets have to be recognized and rewarded, either financially or non financially.

Moreover traditional management can be used in some occasions together with modern management which we as a team in Superdrug are following the foot steps.

Individual needs organizational need

Physical well-being high productivity

Job satisfaction low absenteeism

Personal development co-operation

Achievement industrial harmony

Respect from work group low labor turnover

Pay incentives/increment profitability

If these needs are met

Contented, productive work force

Studies show that employees who are satisfied with their jobs are more

Productive, creative and be more likely to be retained by the company (Eskildsen &

Dahlgaard 2000; Kim 2000; Kirby 2000; Lee 2000; Money 2000; Wagner 2000).

METHODOLOGY

The main purpose of this research is how Superdrug motivates and retains their staff. In order to gain extensive knowledge, I have obtained various techniques and tools. Mainly primary and secondary data.

My main source of data was through interviewing the store manager to examine how he was managing to ensure job satisfaction among staff. Speaking to some motivated and demotivated staff did give me an insight. Further I also observed staff performance in order to analyse staff productivity. More data was gathered from the store intranet, store website, published articles, news papers and managerial books.

FINDING

Feeling valued by their manager in work place is the key to high employee motivation and morale. Feeling valued ranks high up there for most people with liking the work-a sense of belongingness(Maslow’s needs theory),competitive pay, opportunities for training and advancement, and feeling up-to-date on the latest news, building high employee motivation and morale is definitely a challenging task

It is also said that when it was time to update their mission statement, Superdrug asked its employees to send in ideas in late1990’s.finally the best 3was selected for the basic input of the mission statement. This explicitly reveals that they are keen in involving employees in decision making so that they feel part and parcel of the organization which is the major motivational factor.

From my analysis I understood, building high motivation and morale requires that we pay high attention everyday as to how we value our team and how to let them know that.

After the conversation with my store manager and few staff and also after the observation of staff performance the following points came to light about building morale and motivation in store.

Manager’s arrival at work sets the tone of the day

Superdrug believes in staying away from Mr. stressed out and grumpy. It only takes a few minutes for the entire work place to get the word. Manager’s arrival and the first moments they spend with staff each day makes a massive impact on positive morale. Its always best to start the day right. Smile, walking around store who have chosen to work with us today, share all goals and targets for the day. Basically they let the team know that today is going to be a great day. You can make their day is what they follow.

Using simple powerful and motivational words

A huge part of success will simply be showing that we like and appreciate your people. Superdrug management strongly follows motivational words to demonstrate that we value our people like saying please, thank you, you are doing a great job ect..

Making sure the team knows what is expected

Probably the biggest problem a manager can face is that his/her team do not really know what is expected from the organization/company. This is very essential to set brief team about expectations so that its crystal clear. This does not build confidence or morale if it is not clearly communicated to them

Providing regular feedback

Me as a member of management it is explicit that we always have a 2 way communication so that feedback can be effective. Everyone needs to know how they are doing at work. If it’s not told they would be constantly worrying whether the job was done right. At the same time if their result is disappointing they are told aswell.This is because they need direction to make sure they do better next time. It is indeed surprising how effective this tool can be in building employee motivation and morale.

Financial and non financial reward system

This works hand in hand. Such as the £50 Star Award for those who have gone an extra mile or top sales person award and prizes for most amount of fragrance sold. This creates intrinsic and also extrinsic motivation to staff

Focusing on development of people

Most people want to learn and grow their skills at work. This happens for many reasons. Some want a promotion, some want a different work which is also called job rotation, some want a new position or advancement or eventually want to attain a leadership role.therefor Superdrug strongly encourages their staff for further development depending on their potential skills. More over encouraging job swaps, new ideas and taking reasonable risks to develop their skills as well.

While speaking to my store manager he claimed these have definitely increased staff productivity as they are highly satisfied with their job.

Continuous learning and trying out new ideas

The ability to continuously learn is what keeps the staff at Superdrug moving to their career. The key message here is if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.

(Developing your people toolkit-Superdrug)

Moreover due to the continuous changing turbulent environment staff are trained and developed to adapt to any changes occurring by the unforeseen contingencies.

Providing leadership

Our tem expects the management to know the goals and share the direction in which Superdrug is heading. The more you tell them about why the event is happening ,the better.

They hold regular meetings which are called team time to share information, reward success and gain ideas for improvement. This is where Superdrug is creating a work environment where people will choose motivation.

Performance development review(appraisal/gap analysis)

This is where the team is reviewed every quarterly in order to measure their performance. This is when the store manager asses their performance between the company targets and to what extent has he/she achieved. Further if there is a gap found, steps are made to train the individual more in order to remain competent.

On the other hand if they have successfully achieved required targets, appraising them and offering more responsibility and leadership makes the team morale boost.

Pizza/cookie day

Superdrug believes in breaking up that everyday routine by having team time to help them remain motivated. Because by nature people tend to get excited over an anticipating something.

On the spot praise

When there is a situation to praise someone it is not believed in putting off. It is closely linked to recognition but here it is the timing. A praise person when achievement is fresh makes a massive impact on the team. This makes me clear that staff are intrinsically motivated.

(http://www.biztrain.com/motivation/stories/20ways.htm)

http://www.businessballs.com/employeemotivation.htm

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr017

Boyett, H. Joseph, and Jimmie T. Boyett. (2000). World-class advice on managing and motivating people. Boyett and Associates. Available on the World Wide Web at http://www.jboyett.com/managing1.htm. Date visited, March 25, 2002.

Kovach, Kenneth. (1999). Employee motivation: Addressing a crucial factor in your organization’s performance. Human Resource Development. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

http://www.willamette.edu/mba/faculty/B2B_Claus

Being flexible in terms of work life balance

As mentioned in the literature review it is said that human beings are not only scientific beans but they are also social beings. This statement proves it right because workers do value a right balance between work and life. They need flexibility to engage with their employer when it comes to day off for religious ceremonies or family or staff outings. This enhances staff to be much happier or rather satisfied at work.

CONCLISION

Motivation at Superdrug based on the above discussed factors can be properly or improperly achieved also either hinder or improve productivity level. Management do need to make it clear that they are dealing with human beings who have feelings and they are not machines.Therefor we can’t force them to be motivated rather motivation involves to get them do something which they want to do it by heart. This is where the success lies. This cannot be achieved without knowing the needs of each staff. Management must use the right tool to achieved desired results.

RECOMMENDATION

The complex phenomenon known to human is human behavior.

*available space for exciting opportunities

* Employers encourage young employees to communicate their view

* Williams, C., & Livingstone, L. (1994). Another look at the relationship

between performance and voluntary turnover. Academy of Management Journal,