Respect for our environment
Making a positive difference to our community
A great place to work
I think these chart has contributed to Sainsbury’s aims and objectives, because
Their aims and objectives are to help an organisation know where they are, where they should be the differences and how to measure the short fall and keep positive results going.
Secondly to also
- Provide high quality service to customers and also maximize or provide good financial return to stakeholders.
- Their aim is to exceed customer’s expectations for healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food to make their lives easier everyday. Almost all theses targets have been met.
This shows that they are working towards their objectives.
Financial overview
I think the financial results for the 28 weeks to 6 October 2007 ('half year') represent how Sainsbury is working towards their aims and objectives. This continued strong performance in line with the Making Sainsbury's Great Again plan.
- I think Sainsbury’s Bank has been fully consolidated until the Group sold five per cent shareholding in February; thereafter it has been equity accounted as a joint venture.
- Net finance costs pre financing fair value movements (2007: pre financing fair value movements and debt restructuring costs).
This Income statement shows how Sainsbury is meeting their objectives, because so far they have successful Income statement from 2006 to 2007.
Income statement
Retailing sales (Inc VAT) increased by 4.7 per cent to ½9,998 million (2006/07: ½9, 549 million). Underlying profit before tax was up 27.0 per cent at ½240 million (2006/07: ½189 million). Profit before tax was ½232 million (2006/07: ½194 million) an increase of 19.6 per cent. Underlying basic earnings per share increased to 9.7 pence (2006/07: 7.3 pence), up 32.9 per cent. Basic earnings per share increased to 9.4 pence (2006/07: 7.5 pence), up 25.3 per cent. An interim dividend of 3.0 pence per share has been approved by the Board (2006/07: 2.4 pence), up 25.0 per cent.
Relevance of External environment on the organisation
The environmental system is the natural system in which life takes place. Increasingly businesses have become aware of the relationship between their economic activity that is making goods and services for profits and the effects that have on the ecosystem.
Various external environment factors that could have a significant impact on the business could include interest rates, employment levels, country’s minimum wage, and consumer laws. For example If Sainsbury launch a new supermarket in an area of high unemployment levels, then this will be beneficial for the business given that it is easy to recruit new staff in area like this.
I think Sainsbury operate business in the context of these external environments. There are various factors associated including those outside its control like laws and regulations standards, each of these factors can have a positive or negative impact on Sainsbury business outcomes and achievements.
In order not to miss the opportunities to grow or suffer setbacks, like losing business to a competitor, J Sainsbury’s plans and strategies try to anticipate these effects of the external environmental changes.
The following are some of the environmental management achievements implemental to build customer’s confidence, high quality and sustainable services:
Sainsbury and Environmental sustainability
I think J Sainsbury was the only major supermarket to be given an 'A' by Greenpeace for its environmentally responsible timber and paper sourcing having converted its entire range of own-brand tissue, toilet paper and kitchen towel to FSC or recycled paper. Sainsbury's was also acknowledged in a Local Government Association report as having the highest level of recyclable food packaging among major food retailers. All packaging for Sainsbury's ready meals is moving to 100 per cent Compostable material by March 2008.
How Compostable Packaging works:
Sainsbury and Public image
Sainsbury raised £6 million for different causes in the UK and around the world as part of Comic Relief in 2007.
I also think Sainsbury in partnership with GOAL aims to reduce in a number of street children and alleviate child vulnerability in Ethiopia. It does this by providing street children, including those affected by HIV/AIDs, access to basic facilities, counselling, and information and referral services. This is provided through a drop in centre, with limited on site services providing care and support and which acts as a central point for the referral of street children to other services in the community.
I think these have raised the public image for Sainsbury and have well established public consumer’s confidence and satisfaction in the provision of high quality services.
SAINSBURY´S GROWTH AGENDA: RECAP OF CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE SPEECH.
Philip Hampton, Chairman, said: "They have delivered another strong performance during the first half of the year and have increased our interim dividend by 25.0 per cent. They recovery is well advanced and ahead of plan. Since March 2005, they have grown sales by ½2.3 billion and they are ahead of their target to reach ½2.5 billion by March 2008. Their underlying profit before tax for the first half was up 27.0 per cent to ½240 million.
I think everyone at Sainsbury's has been focused on serving customers better despite the potential distraction of corporate activity and these results are a credit to the hard work and commitment of our 150,000 colleagues. Sainsbury now have 16.5 million customers each week and in the first half they grew like for like sales excluding fuel by 4.0 per cent despite tough comparatives from the previous year and challenging weather conditions during the summer. Furthermore this takes their recovery plan into its third and final year and builds on the excellent results delivered last year. Their two-year like for like growth is around ten per cent and strong operational gearing provides a firm base for future growth.
This means how Sainsbury is working towards its aims and objectives.
The grocery market today
I think the one-stop grocery market is largely competitive today, Sainsbury’s is part of a diverse competitor set, all of whom adopt different positioning on price, quality, range and service. They believe that competition is enhanced by Sainsbury’s strong and distinctive offer. Sainsbury’s offer is designed to appeal to all consumers, driven by a focus on great food at fair prices.
Real food prices have continuously declined since 2000, driven by the intense competition in the market.
Sainsbury’s enjoys strong and balanced relationships with both its branded and own label suppliers and operates in partnership to deliver a choice of innovative, high quality products at fair prices for our customers.
I think that supplier Code of Practice helps to underscore this and they believe that suppliers would be well served by the expansion of this code to include all competitors operating in the one-stop market.
Furthermore, they do not believe there is evidence that supports the arguments for the existence of either a waterbed1 or tipping 2 effects.
In convenience, they believe the market is highly competitive with more than 51,000 stores across the UK.
I think the entry of supermarket groups, including Sainsbury’s with around 300 stores, has improved choice, price, quality and service for consumers, as confirmed by customer research.
Marketing activities
Marketing activities are processes responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer’s demands profitably.
Marketing therefore for Sainsbury means:
- Putting their self internally and externally in the customer’s shoes.
- Understanding their marketing
- Being market driven
- Looking at what makes their excellent areas and transferring them to other areas as best practice.
- The right product mix and services to best meet customer needs?
- Pricing structure maximise your profits (how much are customers willing to pay)?
- What best ways to get their message across?
- Determining a reasonable budget for their marketing requirements?
Marketing is everything they do to make their activities as focused and successful as possible.
Identifying consumer needs
I think in other to gain a competitive edge if the correctly identified the customer needs. I think in order to identify customer needs and make use of this information you will need to do three things:
- Communicate with the customers and find out how they can satisfy their needs better.
- Establish ways to record and interpret customer feedback.
- Use this information when making important decisions about marketing, buying, merchandising and selling.
The resultant competitive edge should:
- Attract more customers than their competitors.
- Increase the amount that their customers spend.
- Persuade their customers to shop with them more regularly.
Merchandising
How do you best display stock to maximise sales?
Selling
How do Sainsbury most effectively match customer needs with the benefits of your products or services?
Customer needs
In Sainsbury, Customers have six basic buying needs pertaining to the product:
- Safety.
-
Performance.
- Appearance.
-
Comfort.
-
Economy.
- Durability.
I think finding out which buying needs are most important to Sainsbury customers will allow them to match these needs to the benefits of their products. For example, a customer’s buying need might be for comfort and economy .These slippers are made from wool and are padded with foam, so therefore will be extremely comfortable.
Customer expectations
In Sainsbury customers will have differing needs and wants, however customers have common expectations. The importance of these expectations may vary, depending on the type of product or service they require. Common expectations are:
Service
Customers expect a level of service that they think is appropriate for their type of purchase. Someone who makes a small, spontaneous purchase may have a lesser service need that a customer who makes a large purchase.
Price
In Sainsbury the cost of everything they purchase is becoming increasingly important; therefore the price component becomes a vital issue. The temptation for a Sainsbury business is to compete on price is financially dangerous. I think it is a practice that should be avoided unless they have set out to be a ‘discounter’.
Alternatives to price cutting can include value adding (Sainsbury has added value to their products or services to make their business more competitive?).
Quality
Customers have expectations of quality and durability. They are less likely to question price if they are in Sainsbury Company that has a reputation for quality.
Action
In Sainsbury Customers need action when a problem or question arises. Everyone has a need for recognition and liked to be treated as a priority.
Appreciation
In Sainsbury customers need to know that they appreciate their business with them .Saying thank you through words and actions is a good starting point. Sainsbury has let customers know that they are glad that they have chosen to do business with you. This conveys a positive message and encourages them to come back.
In Sainsbury they have made customers to understand that, they have expectations of how their needs should be met. They will find out what their expectations are and exceed them with exceptional customer service this is a sure way of winning life long advocates for their business.
Sainsbury improve their business profitability by: Becoming familiar with their customers and establish trusting relationships with them.
Sainsbury ask their customers what they expectations are.
They also live up to their expectations and plan to exceed them whenever it is possible.
They are consistent and courteous when serving their customers.
Keys for successful selling to Sainsbury are:
To know their customers: Gather information about as many of their customers as possible and develop a personal relationship with them. They have thought to try to understand their customer’s needs. I think it may be useful to know personal details such as their lifestyle, occupation and interests to help them.
Sainsbury is becoming successful by introduce new initiatives such as Customer Focus Groups, Customer Surveys, or even a Suggestion Box: These initiatives send a clear message to customers that they are interested in their input. In a focus group they can also find out valuable information such as what people like and dislike about the offerings of their competitors.
I think Sainsbury want to listen to customer complaints: they are grateful when a customer complains. They let them know that they appreciate feedback and don’t ignore it. Handled sensitivity, a dissatisfied customer often becomes their most loyal customer. The alternative of Sainsbury is to let the customer relate their experience to others, resulting in negative, rather than positive, word of mouth advertising. Sainsbury want customers to know the characteristics of their target market. I think this knowledge will assist them with overall business and marketing decisions and also to help them to achieve their aims and objectives.
How Sainsbury collects information on its customers.
Sainsbury has various ways of collecting information from its customers, amongst them are:
- The nectar collection system collects information on brands, captures information about what's actually in people's shopping baskets, more detailed information on the products customers buy, which will use for marketing purposes etc.
This goes into a database, which is use to see whether, for example, customers in a certain area like buying healthy food, or look at what kind of products are popular with women aged 20 to 30.
This helps Sainsbury to decide to send out customer offers to people in those categories." We are the biggest in the marketplace and as such I think we have to be the most protective and careful about how we use our customers' information.
Integrated Marketing learning points
Since its Sainsbury’s aim to satisfy its customers, their research programme has developed an Integrated Marketing Diagnostic Audit that identifies vital parameters that influence business success. The Sainsbury’s programme is particularly effective in 14 areas:
1. The brand cares about customers as people to serve.
2. The brand works at thoroughly understanding its customer communities.
3. The brand treats different kinds of customers in ways appropriate to them.
4. Leaders encourage shared learning across the organisation.
5. There are effective enterprise-wide routines for collecting unduplicated Customer information.
6. Quality customer information is available in a timely way at every point of need.
7. Leaders have a win-win attitude.
8. Leaders are promoting what they practice.
9. There is effective co-operation across the marketing teams.
10. Marketing is appreciated for communicating what the brand means.
11. Customer relationship investment focuses on optimising customer acquisition, retention and upgrade.
12. The company and its agencies work together in partnership.
13. Investment is focused on the most valuable customer opportunities.
14. Communication planning routinely reviews all customer Touch points.
15. Communications for each type of customer/person are planned in whole series or sequences.
The Marketing mix
The marketing mix is the most famous marketing term used to describe the basic, tactical components of a marketing plan. Also known as the Four P's,
In order for Sainsbury to achieve their marketing objectives they need to have a strategy that includes different elements. These elements identify clearly what the customers need, where and when it’s needed and the cost involved.
The marketing mix consists of four elements and they are Product, Price, Promotion, and Place.
Product
At Sainsbury’s it’s their priority to provide healthy organic foods to their
customers. Their second principle Sourcing with integrity is about the way they do business, from the products we sell, to the way in which we procure them.
Sainsbury’s at the industry's leading retail Quality Food and Drink Awards last December, 30. Sainsbury's products were short listed, the most from any retailer. Every nomination in the fresh produce category was a Sainsbury's product. We won nine category awards, and for the third year running were given the overall award for quality. They're obsessed with ingredients and have developed clear and exacting product standards for all ranges, together with a new tracking system that ensures these are adhered to.
At depots they’ve improved the way they check the quality of products before accepting them into our supply chain, and customers are now giving us their highest rating for healthy, fresh and tasty food since they set out on their recovery programme. Furthermore they improved or introduced around 3,000 food products, and they re-ranged and simplified every product category to ensure the best choice of products is in place for customers.
Price
There are many ways to price a product. At Sainsbury’s they look at various situations (pricing strategy matrix) to arrive at a price.
Premium Pricing.
Sainsbury use of high price where there is uniqueness about the product or service. I think this approach is used where a substantial competitive advantage exists. Such high prices are charge for luxuries.
Penetration Pricing.
Sainsbury price charged for products and services is set artificially low in order to gain market share. Once this is achieved, the price is increased.
Economy Pricing.
In Sainsbury this is a no frills low price. The cost of marketing and manufacture are kept at a minimum. Sainsbury often have economy brands for soups, spaghetti, etc.
Price Skimming.
Charge a high price because you have a substantial competitive advantage. However, the advantage is not sustainable. The high price tends to attract new competitors into the market, and the price inevitably falls due to increased supply.
Promotion
The elements of the promotions mix are integrated to form a coherent campaign. As with all forms of communication Sainsbury does. The message from the marketer follows the 'communications process.
A promotional strategy that has really increase Sainsbury’s customer base to achieve its aims and objective is the online enrolment of “The Sainsbury’s little ones club when gives away free packages to its members.
Life-stage analysis produced four customer groups:
• Pregnant women
• Families with young children between 0-2
• Families with young children between 2-5
• Families with young children between 5-11
I think the resulting “matrix” of family community types by child age group helps discriminate between, say an affluent family with a 2-year old and a health conscious family with a 4 and 7-years old. Sainsbury’s can now provide customer communities with more focused offers and therefore work towards enhancing the value and the quality of the relationships.
In Sainsbury Customers receive mailings targeted to the age of their child or situation, for example pregnancy. The mailings can be in the form of Welcome packs, little ones Collection Information packs, Magazines, Calendar or leaflets that support in-store events. All mailings contain a selection of coupons that are also targeted to the age of the child.
Mass and niche marketing.
Mass marketing is creating a product which appeals to all types of consumer. Mass marketing often ends up with the brand name being used instead of the product name. Sainsbury make use of global mass markets which means selling the same product with similar marketing techniques all around the world.
Niche marketing is to Sainsbury aiming a product at a specific type of consumer. Moreover a niche market is usually a smaller segment of a larger market. Sainsbury using a niche market often get less sales than they would if they aimed at a mass market so they have to make up for this by charging a higher price as the product is often more specific to consumer needs, the customer is normally willing to pay more. It is easier for smaller firms to operate niche markets as there is less competition from bigger companies.
Quality assurance
In order to satisfy customer’s needs, Sainsbury want to Organise need to assure the quality of all their provision rather than taking a piecemeal approach to pursuing excellence.
Providers that assure quality set about the task systematically. Sainsbury aim to achieve consistently high standards in every activity in which they are engaged, and at all stages from the learner's first contact with the provider to the completion of the learning programme. Quality assurance to Sainsbury is to achieved by: having comprehensive policies and procedures in place to ensure that standards are maintained or bettered planning quality assurance into all new developments to 'get it right first time' fostering an organisational culture that recognises the benefits that quality assured provision brings and values it.
Quality control
Quality control systems and processes check and monitor the provision and its impact on learners and other stakeholders. Using quality control systems and processes rigorously and consistently demonstrates quality assurance. The outcomes of quality control systems and processes trigger quality improvement.
In order to maintain quality control and assurance J Sainsbury plc (Sainsbury) believed that the current Milk Marque selling system was not as effective in clearing volume and delivering sustainable income returns to dairy farmers as the end-use pricing system in place before deregulation. The processors’ use of the selling system had led to recent low average producer prices. The long-term effects of this could be severe for the farming community, and could lead to a serious long-term impact on employment. Sainsbury believed there should be a more independent mechanism for the supply of milk, not a free market, but a managed system to establish the market price.
Sainsbury regarded traceability of milk as vital. It expected the ultimate supplier to have records identifying the farms from which each tanker had collected and it reserved the right to audit these records. Milk Marque’s system currently met Sainsbury’s requirements.
On the issue of farm assurance, Sainsbury said that it had agreed a long term comprehensive programme with its suppliers and their producers which incorporated components including: food safety; animal welfare; animal feed; veterinary medicines; and environmental protection and enhancement.
Over the past four years, since its dairy welfare policy had been introduced, Sainsbury had worked closely with its suppliers and associated organizations like Milk Marque. All its suppliers met these requirements from December 1998.
Retail prices of dairy products
Sainsbury said that it endeavoured to price its food products competitively against other leading retailers. This applied to dairy products, including milk. It had not loss led on any of these products in the last five years.
Describe enterprise in a business, how its behaviour could affect the success of the organisation. Describe enterprise skills of employers and employees.
Sainsbury’s enterprise in a business is the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects with the use of computer. The term enterprise applies much more often to larger organizations than smaller ones.
Successful company like Sainsbury makes sure that they focus their efforts strategically. Strategy for Sainsbury is it should be a stretch exercise, not a fit exercise. To meet and exceed , the business team needs to follow an overall organizational strategy. A successful strategy adds over the long run by consistently meeting their needs better than the competition does.
In Sainsbury there are effective ways of overcoming problems set by change; one adapts to change by seeing what is changing and how it is changing and estimates what is likely to happen, plans ahead and acts accordingly. Employees may be expected to work to targets which are set annually. The way targets are agreed, progress monitored and individuals reward are crucial for the success of the organisation or enterprise.
Sainsbury’s attempts are made to introduce a system of procedures and reports to take the place of responsible person to person management and delegated work, where attempts are made to impose a system of tougher management direction and control in terms of employment, then costs are high and benefits uncertain and even unlikely.
Success depends to a large extent on commitment of employees towards the organisation's aims and on cooperation between them. This means identifying with the company. What benefits the company needs to be seen and felt by the employees as also benefiting them.
To achieve commitment of employees towards the organisation's aims, appraisal and target setting meetings can be carried out in accordance with the proved and effective technique described below. These include:
-
Directing and managing change : - this includes: Adapting to Change, Deciding What Needs to be Done;
Planning Ahead, Getting Results, Evaluating Progress;
Appraisal Interviews and Target-setting Meetings
-
Style of management: depends on the size of the enterprise and related to company effectiveness and results. The different problems faced by small and large companies are outlined as well as how to overcome problems of size, how to improve the effectiveness of management, and the need for teamwork. Smaller companies are more effective than larger ones, and the effectiveness of larger companies can be increased by about 25 percent by training.
-
Organising : what we are discussing here is how to arrange matters so that people can work together to get the work done, looking at the division of work between people and groups, at the work done by managers at different levels, and at co-ordinating the work of people and groups to enable aims and objectives to be achieved. (These consist of the organisational chart, division of labour, work done – responsibilities carried out at various levels, line relationship, coordinating work between people, behaviour between managers and subordinates, behaviour between employees and work group).
In Sainsbury to ensure effective teamwork between work units, the division of work between them has to be clearly stated and functional relationships have to be defined.
In Sainsbury an effective organisation each work unit has to be responsible for, and carry out, a separate specialist functions essential to the carrying out of the organisation's task. In the case of a chemical plant contractor, for example, the organisation's task is to provide chemical plants and this task may be subdivided functionally into 'direct' and 'indirect' work tasks.
A direct work task is one which is directly concerned with the carrying out of the work of the organisation as a whole. Examples are the designing of a plant for a customer, or research into new processes so as to extend the range of plants offered to customers.
The executive responsible for carrying out a direct work task is the 'responsible' executive.
An indirect work task is one which is indirectly concerned with the work of the organisation as a whole. Examples are the work done by a personnel department or that done by an executive in one work unit who is providing a specialist service for the 'responsible' executive in another work unit.
The executive responsible for carrying out an indirect work task acts as specialist adviser; that is, he is the 'prescribing' executive.
Relationships between executives in different work units are functional relationships. Of the two executives concerned, one is 'responsible', the other 'prescribes'. The responsible executive is fully responsible to his executive superior alone for obtaining specialist advice, for accepting or rejecting this, and for reporting useful results back to the prescribing executive. The prescribing executive is fully responsible to his executive superior alone for giving specialist advice and for the quality of his prescription.
The same executive may be responsible for the carrying out of both direct and indirect work tasks. Where this is not clearly seen, and when the difference between the two types of tasks is not understood, then difficulties may be expected. It is important, therefore, that the type of task be clearly realised, in each case, by the executive who is carrying it out.
ENTERPRISE SKILLS
Enterprising has played an important role in the day to day activities of Sainsbury; this has helped to make their dream of making Sainsbury great again effective. A critical look at the following factors explains how these skills have brought about change.
Examples from 2006/07 (directing, management, and organising)
- They are keen to encourage excellent leadership qualities in their business and, to date, 10,000 management colleagues have attended our ‘Making Sainsbury’s Great Again’ Leadership development programme
- In 2006/07 they will pay around 118,000 colleagues a bonus totalling approximately £56 million
- They are the first food retailer and the largest private sector company that has qualified for Investors in People status, which has been held since 2001
- One of their aims is to encourage more disadvantaged people into the workplace. This includes those who are long-term unemployed as well as those with a disability. They are currently working with the Learning and Skills Council, looking at an opportunity to get disadvantaged young adults leaving school into work
- They have increased the proportion of women in senior management positions from 20% in 2005/06 to 28% in 2006/07
- In 2006, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) awarded us a silver Health and Safety award for the performance of their Store Support Centre.
- In 2006/07 they piloted a colleague wellbeing programme within two of our supply chain sites and have had positive results in both colleague feedback and injury/absence performance.
- They have introduced a new ‘Reporting Wrongdoing’ policy and external fraud line number so that colleagues can report issues in confidence. Their policy enables colleagues to report any serious misconduct, fraud, or other malpractices that could expose the
- Company to loss, liability or embarrassment.
Provision for Their disable customers
Sainsbury want all their customers to be able to shop at Sainsbury’s easily including disabled people, the elderly and people with young children. They make specific provisions at stores for people with special needs but their home shopping service is also available for people who do not want or are unable to shop in our stores.
Sainsbury's recognises that each of its customers is an individual with individual needs. As part of delivering excellent customer service, all store colleagues receive disability training as part of their induction programme to ensure that they have an awareness of the needs of disabled customers.
Sainsbury’s provides the following facilities and services to make their customers’ shopping experience easy and enjoyable:
Accessible toilets
Selected stores have specially designed toilets for their disabled customers.
Designated disability parking spaces
All car parks have designated disabled parking spaces. These are situated near the main store entrance for any of our customers with a mobility/access requirement.
Guide/Assistance dogs
Guide dogs for visually impaired customers and assistance dogs for the hard of hearing and other customers with disabilities are welcome in all of their stores.
Help with your shopping
They always endeavour to offer their customers any assistance they require with their shopping. Personal shoppers are available to accompany customers around the store and do their shopping with them. Further help is also available at the checkouts if customers would like assistance with packing shopping. They are also happy to carry shopping bags to the car if requested.
Induction loop system for hearing impaired
The majority of their stores now have hearing induction loops installed to help hearing aid users interact with colleagues at specific locations around the store, including selected checkouts and the customer service desk.
Service call in petrol stations
The majority of their petrol stations have a service call facility, enabling disabled drivers to request assistance without leaving their vehicle. Their petrol colleagues will be happy to help.
Wheelchairs and specially adapted trolleys
These are available in every store and electric scooters are available in selected larger stores. The latter can always be requested for a specific customer, where space permits.
They are also trialling new designs of trolleys to ensure that they cater for all of our customers with disabilities.
TEAME AND ENTERPRISE
A team is a small group of people with complementary skills and abilities who are committed to a common goal and approach for which they hold each other accountable. Members of a team may be selected for their complementary skills, not a single commonality. Each member of the team has a purpose and a function within that team, so the overall success depends on a functional interpersonal dynamic. There is usually not as much room for conflict when working as a team.
The best size for teams is 7-12 individuals. Larger teams require more structure and support; smaller teams often have difficulty meeting when members are absent. Members have skills and abilities that complement the team's purpose. Not all members have the same skills, but together they are greater than the sum of their parts. On teams, members share roles and responsibilities and are constantly developing new skills to improve the team's performance. Teams identify and reach consensus on their common goal and approach, rather than looking to a leader to define the goal and approach. Most importantly, teams hold their members accountable. In practical terms when they experience conflict with a member, they speak to that member directly rather than to a supervisor. When a member isn't performing to the level required, the team addresses the performance problem.
Sainsbury team may consist of an accountant a salesman, a company executive and a secretary, for example. A team, by comparison, does not rely on "" to arrive at its conclusions. An accident investigation team would be a good example of a real world team dynamic. Each member of the team is assigned to evaluate one aspect of the accident. The team's expert on crash scene reconstruction does not have to consult with the team's expert on evidence. There may be a team member working as a facilitator for the process, but not necessarily a specific leader.
On the other hand a group can be defined as people with complementary skills and abilities who are committed to a leader's goal and approach and are willing to be held accountable by the leader. In Sainsbury group supports the leader's goals and the leader-dominated approach to goal attainment. A group drives individual accountability rather than shared accountability. Leadership is predominantly held by one person rather than the shared. In a group, the dominant viewpoint is represented; in a team, multiple, diverse viewpoints are represented. Decisions in a group are made by voting or implied agreement; decisions on a team are typically made by consensus.
A better question to ask is: when do you use a group and when do you make the extra effort to develop a team? Groups are far easier to create than teams, so it makes sense to be a group when the following exist: the decisions and process are already determined, buy-in is not necessary, time is a critical factor and there is split or minimal management support for teaming. To form the group, identify a strong, effective leader and empower the person to recruit group members, formulate the goal and approach and drive decision making. This approach would be practical for short-term projects with outcomes already defined.
Teaming, on the other hand, should be used when you need broad buy-in for the best results, when no one person has the answer and when shared responsibility is important to the success of the goal. To achieve a real team is difficult and time-consuming. One cannot transform a group into a team overnight. It takes time to develop the skills to work well together and understand how to solve problems and make decisions effectively.
To structure teams within a business structure, management needs to identify the nature and scope of the work needed to be accomplished. The organization's objectives are needed to determine work classification and work unit design.
Division of labour, or work specialization, is the degree to which tasks in an organization are divided into separate jobs. Work process requirements and employee skill level determine the degree of specialization. Placing capable persons in a particular job ties directly with productivity improvement. In order to maximize productivity, supervisors match employee skill level with task requirements.
The value of Belbins team-role theory enables an individual or team in Sainsbury to benefit from self-knowledge and adjust according to the demands being made by the external situation.
Belbins Team Roles describe a Pattern of behaviour this fingerprint isn’t fixed as many factors influence how we behave – for example a change in job.
Teams within Sainsbury business and the key roles.
At Sainsbury they work hand in hand to achieve their aims and objectives. And to make this very effective responsibilities are shared so as to arrive at their goal.
Here are few roles along with a brief explanation which explains the activities of Sainsbury.
Conclusion
This research followed the quantitative approach in investigating the research questions outline in my earlier submissions. The research started basically with a formal hypothesis which was translated into specific research questions. The entire study has been an attempt to answer those questions and thereby investigate the validity of the hypothesis. In addition to the quantitative approach, through empirical data collection and analysis of surveys, an in-depth case study has also been conducted for the development of Food retailing and Financial Services.
The questions investigated during the research are attempted to construct a framework for enterprises pursuing global transition through the adoption of information technology for Food retailing and Financial Services. On customer service, J Sainsbury has taken some steps in their daily activities to improve services this includes recreating universal customer appeal through giving their customers an ever improving shopping experience. Good interpersonal relationship with customers is of prime importance to J Sainsbury since they continually ask customers what they think. No wonder they came first in the National Consumer Council survey 'rating retailers for health', especially as the survey focused specifically on how retailers address health issues from customer’s point of view.
On a broader spectrum, Sainsbury Plc’s plan is oriented to creating a business, which will satisfy the wants and needs of customers, rather than producing a product or providing a service. Their market orientation helps avoid the pitfalls of opening a business to satisfy the desire of owning a business. The best possible situation is where skills and abilities mesh with the wants and needs of the customer to form an efficient high demand business.
Further investigations proves that Sainsbury implores a whole lot of mechanisms from building on the weakness of basic competitors, studying their geographical market definitions, achievements, team work in all fields of the business and set targets met in all their businesses to measure their success.
Philip Hampton, Chairman, said: "They have delivered another strong performance during the first half of the year and have increased our interim dividend by 25.0 per cent. Our recovery is well advanced and ahead of plan. Since March 2005, we have grown sales by ½2.3 billion and we are ahead of our target to reach ½2.5 billion by March 2008. Our underlying profit before tax for the first half was up 27.0 per cent to ½240 million.
"These results demonstrate our continued ability to grow the business. Sales
Growth has remained ahead of the market (4) with a good first half performance towards the new targets outlined in May 2007. During this period we held protracted discussions with Delta Two. It has announced it will not be
Proceeding with an offer for Sainsbury's, and we continue to focus wholeheartedly on delivering our targets. Sainsbury's has great potential under the leadership of its strong management team and the company remains committed to completing its recovery plan and continuing to deliver improved performance."
Justin King, Chief Executive, said: "Everyone at Sainsbury's has been focused on serving customers better despite the potential distraction of corporate activity and these results are a credit to the hard work and commitment of our 150,000 colleagues. We now have 16.5 million customers each week and in the first half we grew like-for-like sales excluding fuel by 4.0 per cent despite tough comparatives from the previous year and challenging weather conditions during the summer. This takes our recovery plan into its third and final year and builds on the excellent results delivered last year. Our two-year like-for-like growth is around ten per cent and strong operational gearing provides a firm base for future growth.
I think by the above submissions and the two statements by the Chairman and the Chief Executive respectively, J Sainsbury is doing relatively well.