Customers - the customers have a big influence at any business because if they do not buy products then Sainsbury’s would not make any profits and would not be able to expand.
Environment - the environment has a big influence to Sainsbury’s because they have to make sure
Conflict of Stakeholders
Employees – employees might have problems working with another employee, this would have a negative effect on Sainsbury’s and it would be putting the business down. Sainsbury’s could solve this sort of conflict by holding a meeting involving the employees who have a conflict.
Supplier’s conflict – the suppliers at Sainsbury’s conflict might be that they have not received the correct payment for products from Sainsbury’s; this may force the suppliers to stop providing Sainsbury’s. This would not only leave Sainsbury’s short of products but also it might give them a bad reputation. Sainsbury’s can resolve this conflict by calling the supplier or writing a letter explaining the reason they didn’t pay the correct payment.
Customers Conflict – a customer may not be happy by the way he/she was treated by a Sainsbury employee. The customer may not shop at Sainsbury’s and go to shop at a competitors company. This would also give Sainsbury’s a bad reputation and they would probably lose other customers as well.
Task 2
Customer service
Customer service
Free car parks for customers – Sainsbury’s in Greenwich offers free cars parks for its customers. It’s easy for customer to load their products on the cars than taking a bus. It is fulfilling the needs more effectively. this is also a good to retain and attract new customers. This is a very good customer service.
Self Checkout - Sainsbury’s in Greenwich also has self checkout so customer don’t need to get in queues in order to checkout and they can do it themselves. If a customer is in a rush he/she can just self checkout which is quicker or if a customer only has brought very little product and instead of getting in long queues he/she can just do a self checkout which would be much quicker for them.
Open 24 hour – Sainsbury’s in Greenwich is open 24 hours a day, this means customer can come anytime. This may attract more customers because some of Sainsbury’s competitors do not offer this service. It also helps the customer because they can go to the shop at any time to buy any products.
Toilets – Sainsbury’s in Greenwich offer good toilet facilities for its staff and customers. If the customers need to go toilet they could just go to the Sainsbury’s one and continue. This may also attract new customers because some other shops near Sainsbury’s in Greenwich do not have toilets for customers and the customer is likely to come to Sainsbury’s and may buy products as well as use the told. Providing toilets is a good customer service because it helps the customers and makes sure they don’t have many problems.
Customer Service Desk: - Sainsbury provide Customer Service Desk because they want their Customer to know all the necessary information about the company and if the customer needs any things to report they will go to the customer service desk.
Customer Service Continued ….
Sainsbury’s provides information to its customer in several ways. These are the ways they provide information; Internet, leaflets, face to face and they also famous people for advertising such as Jamie Oliver for adverts on TV and posters. They also send letters and magazines to members which show any reduced pricing for products. By using all these ways to provide information for customers this will also increase Sainsbury’s customers.
Sainsbury’s try to keep the customers happy and want to keep them customers and get more customers this is called customer retention. They want their customers to come again and again because it’s cheaper to keep a current customer than get a new one. Sainsbury’s will try to keep their customers happy in any situation.
How are customers protected at Sainsbury’s?
Consumer protection is making sure the customer is receiving what they want i.e. goods and service. The goods and service should be ‘As described’, ‘Fit for the purpose’ and ‘of merchantable quality’. Sainsbury’s customer protection is also to make customer happy and to retain them. To do this the products should be in high quality and the product should be in good condition as well as the quality.
Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and 1972 - Sainsbury’s must not give false or misleading descriptions on goods, service, accommodation and facilities. Sainsbury’s cannot miss describe the chocolates they sell i.e. says its nuts free when it contains nuts.
Sales of good act 1979 – the products that Sainsbury’s sell must be ‘Fit for the purpose’, as described and of merchantable quality. Sainsbury’s cannot sell products which are not ‘Fit for the purpose’ i.e. hair straightness must be able to straighten hair.
Food and drink act 1955, 1976 and 1982 - Sainsbury’s must not sell food which is unfit to eat and all food and drinks must be correctly labelled. For example they must label all the ingredients in a chocolate bar and it must be fit to eat.
Weights and measures Act 1974 – Sainsbury’s must weight and measure their products correctly. Inspectors will visit Sainsbury to check the accuracy of scales i.e. if Sainsbury say there are 100 grams of rice but there’s only 80 grams they are breaking the law.
Consumer Credit Act – this requires Sainsbury to be licensed to offer credit to borrowers. Sainsbury’s will be breaking the law if they do not give a written statement to the customer.
Organisational chart
An organisational chart is used to show the different positions/roles in a business. Different jobs are organised in different ways to achieve their objectives. This is used in stores like Sainsbury’s to show the upper and lower level workers. It also shows who the head of each function is and shows how different jobs within a business fit together.
Job roles at Sainsbury’s
Bakery manager is someone who is in charge of the baking department. A bakery manager has many responsibilities. One of the responsibilities is that the bakery manager is responsible for the trainee baker. A bakery manager would be looking at how the trainee has being working and all the other things the trainee does such as committed and the quality of the product which the trainee produces. The bakery manager at Sainsbury’s would try to motivate the trainees. The manager is also responsible to sort out any employee’s conflict within the bakery function.
Trainee baker is someone who wants to become a baker. Sainsbury’s would put anyone interested in bakery in a training programme to become qualified and have bakery skills and gain experience. During the training programme Sainsbury’s will train the trainee bakery skills and health and safety within the store and in the bakery function. They would also be taught how to prepare dough and then bake it in many different ways/styles. At the end of the training programme the trainee would be a qualified baker and will receive a NVQ qualification. Sainsbury’s also offer discounts to the trainee and the trainee will also get a 22 day holiday and will receive healthcare, cash plans and many other rewards.
Questionnaire results
From my questionnaire I find out most of the people I questioned were not regular customers at Sainsbury’s however they all think that the facilities provided by Sainsbury’s are very good. They also are happy with the customer service. Most of the people do not own a Nector card. They all seem to have had a bad experience with the staff. Most people like the range of products provided by Sainsbury’s and they think the prices are affordable.
The Recruitment Process
The recruitment process is the process which Sainsbury have to do to find the right person for the right job; it’s usually undertaken by recruiters. This can be difficult and time-consuming for Sainsbury. Recruitment process is very important in every business because they business have to employ the right person in order for the business to be successful. Sainsbury’s would start the process by advertising it in places like job centres so people know about the vacancy. They would then make a shortlist and interview the people and would select the right person. They are many times when Sainsbury’s have to employ someone, this can be short term if an employ leaves for an maternity leave or full time, if an current employ quits or retire or maybe if an current employee is fired. Sainsbury’s can employ internally or externally. They may also employ if the company opens a new store.
I went to Sainsbury’s in Woolwich to ask about the recruitment process. I found out that the recruitment process is good and fair. I was also told that new employees or trainees are offered a high level of training. Overall I thought that Sainsbury’s recruitment process is very good.
Employee and Employer Rights and Responsibilities
Resolving Disagreements
In Sainsbury’s they are two procedures to solve disagreements. Grievance is an employee with a complaint or problem in the business. The second one is disciplinary procedure this is when a employee has done something wrong and will be disciplined by the manager of the function he/she works in. a disagreement which may occur is Sainsbury’s is if two member of staff have an argument about wage pay.
Staff development and training
In any company staff and development and is important. In Sainsbury’s they would train employees to be flexible with their work by teaching then a variety of tasks. This is also called multi-tasking. Sainsbury’s would try to offer their employees with the best development and training the can because they want their employees to develop quickly. Sainsbury’s would teach all the employees ICT skills which are important to modern businesses. If Sainsbury’s don’t train and develop their employees it is likely that their staff wouldn’t be performing at a high standard. If they do not computer skills it would slow the business down because the use of ICT has really speeded by business and all companies use it.
Sainsbury’s have an appraisal system; the purpose of the appraisal is to review an employee’s performance. The employee would have an interview with the manager which is head of the function which the employee works in. during the interview targets may be set and look at pervious targets and see if they have being completed. By doing this Sainsbury’s hope the employee performs better and to better standards to meet targets set.
Recruitment
Identify the vacancy
Sainsbury’s will firstly need to identify the vacancy. New jobs can be created if Sainsbury’s open a new branch. But if Sainsbury’s want to employ someone in a current branch they will need to identify if it’s a temporary or permanent employment. An employee may need a maternity leave this means Sainsbury’s will employ someone temporally. Sainsbury’s could employ internal or external.
Drawing up a job specification
The HR function at Sainsbury’s would make a specification for what the job entails and what qualifications and experiences are needed such as flexibility or to take extra hours. This specification would usually include the main duties of the job, the working times and conditions as well as where the job is located and other necessary details.
Person specification
The HR function will also need to make a person specification for the ideal employee. The specification will have what qualifications and experiences are required. It may also have the desirable characteristics for the applicant. They want qualities that make the applicant more suitable for the job. This may include skills and qualification that would be useful for example ICT skills.
Advertise the vacancy
The human resources function will need to advertise the vacancy at the right place and at the time. A good place for Sainsbury’s to advertise is a Job Centre.
The Recruitment Process Part 2
Equal Pay Act states that both male and female in a company, who do the same work or work of equal pay should be paid exactly the same amount. This may affect the recruitment process at Sainsbury’s because they will need to consider the equal pay act when recruiting; they have to pay men and women the same amount. Also people from different backgrounds or who have different abilities will have to be paid the same amount if they are doing the same work or work of equal pay.
Race Relations Act states nobody should be discriminated because of the colour or background. This will affect Sainsbury’s during the recruitment process because they need to be fairly recruiting people from different backgrounds. Every employee in Sainsbury’s will have to be treated in an identical way to everyone else.
Disability discrimination Act states that more than 3% of the workforce should be disabled in some way. Disabled employees have to be treated the same and should not be discriminated during recruitment. This will affect Sainsbury’s during the recruitment process because they must not discriminate disabled people during recruitment. They cannot choose a non disabled employee over a disabled employee because of their disability but the can choose one over the other because they have better ability suited to the job. They must not be discriminated against in recruitment process, in training and development and during the dismissal process. Sainsbury’s should adapt the workplace for the disabled.
How can the recruitment process be improved?
Sainsbury’s could improve the recruitment process the way in which they recruit people from different races. They may do this by make sure the public are aware of this by putting anti-racism posters in and around their stores or running anti-racism schemes. They could aim to recruit more employees from different background in each store so the public could see that they do not discriminate. Another thing that can be improved during the recruitment process is the way in which they recruit disable people. They could make the public aware that they recruiting more disabled people in different stores, so the customers could see the disabled people doing their jobs. They could also adapt the workplace for the disabled and the public would be aware Sainsbury’s does not discriminate disabled people. Finally, Sainsbury’s could improve their recruitment process by making sure they pay both men and women same amount of money.
Sources Page
GCSE Applied Business Studies by Neil Denby 2006
Personal knowledge
Teacher
Businessstudiesonline.com
