John Lewis company anaylsis

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Emma Porter                Business Studies

                AS Level

        

Introduction to John Lewis

The roles and responsibilities of employees

AO1

John Lewis

 My investigation is on John Lewis’ Department Store. The John Lewis I have carried out my investigation on is located in the centre of Welwyn Garden City:

John Lewis 

Bridge Road

Welwyn Garden City

Herts

AL8 6TP

Introduction to John Lewis as a Company

The John Lewis Partnership’s 68,000 Partners own the leading UK retail businesses; these are Waitrose, John Lewis and Greenbee. Their founder’s vision of a successful business was a business powered by its people. All 68,000 permanent staff, are partners who own 26 John Lewis department stores, 185 Waitrose Supermarkets, an online and catalogue business, John Lewis Direct, a direct services company, Greenbee. Also the John Lewis Partnership has three production units and a farm with a current turnover of nearly £6 billion, the Partners share in the benefits and profits.

The John Lewis Partnership's reputation is founded on the uniqueness of our ownership structure and our commercial success. The John Lewis Partnership’s main purpose is:

'The happiness of all our members, through their worthwhile, satisfying employment in a successful business'

Their Strategy is based on three interdependent objectives – Partners, customers and profit. This can be explained in three key points:

  • Building a sustainable business through profit and growth
  • Serving their customers to the very best of their ability
  • Caring about their communities and their environment.

Description of the Main Roles and their Responsibilities in John Lewis

At the John Lewis Partnership, employees are all classed as Partners. This means they are all owners of the business and share in its success. The John Lewis founder, John Spedan Lewis, had the ambitious vision of employee co-ownership with the happiness of Partners as the ultimate purpose, and his vision lives on in the modern Partnership of today.

Managers

The Manager’s aims are: To control and organize the business or a department:

  • Plan – Rota’s, Tasks, Finance (Wages)
  • Motivate - Staff
  • Control – Budgets, Staff
  • Power – To make decisions

The roles and responisibilities of a Manager

Across the Partnership, high-caliber managers are the key to maintaining the position as one of the UK’s leading retailers.

The John Lewis Partnership managers come from a wide variety of backgrounds:

School and college leavers, graduates, experienced retailers, career switchers and those returning to work after a break. This is why the Partnership offers such a wide range of training schemes.

A flexible Management Development Programme is run in the Partnership. Within the department stores this development attracts people from all kinds of backgrounds, and with different personalities and ambitions. By this it is meant, those with proven experience in retail management; people wishing to switch from their current careers to retailing; and those now ready to resume their careers after a necessary break.

To join the programme, it is recommended you’ll need energy, enthusiasm and initiative, excellent customer service skills, and the ability to identify problems and offer practical solutions. You are also informed that you should also relish the idea of leading and working as part of a team. The rewards in being a manager at John Lewis are if you join the Partnership as a manager, your pay range would be competitive and reviewed in the light of your progress.

Join now!

An example of a manager’s role within John Lewis is a Trainee Section Manager. With this job role it would become his or her responsibility to be passionate about retail with the ability to inspire and motivate others and also you would need leadership skills, strong commercial awareness, strategic thinking and have the ability to be able to work as part of a team.

A day in the life of a Manager

A Manager in John Lewis would have a role such as a Department Manager. Within John Lewis this job is very much officed based. Every two years ...

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