Job 2
The job description for the Sales and Marketing Manager will be the responsibility and accountability of all the employees in Argos Extra. Sales assistant operate cash registers and accept payment, or prepare finance documents, such as, invoices, delivery notes, etc. Their duties mostly include packaging goods for customers, working within the till.
Sales and Marketing Managers organises a team of sales representatives and come up with a strategies for the team to sell their company’s products or services. It is possible that Sales and Marketing Managers could be responsible for selling any kind of products or rendering services to staff within the business or customers.
Job 2 – Main Terms of Employment
Name: John Martin
Job Title: Sales and Marketing Manager
Type: Full-time
Company: Argos Extra
Place of work: Romford
Date of commencement of employment: 12 September 2002
Salary: £20,000 per annum
Date paid: 27th day of each month
Hours of work: 37.5 hours each week over 5 days, Monday to Friday
Holiday pay: Normal rate for all holidays including bank and public holidays
Sick pay entitlement: You be entitled to be paid to sick leave or injury under the company’s sick pay scheme.
Health and safety at work: All employees must comply with the health and safety policy and also the rules laid down by the Health and Safety at Work Act and any other relevant regulations that regards to the health and safety at work.
Disciplinary rules and procedures: The disciplinary rules and procedures are fully explained in the employee handbook.
Date of issue of this document: 22 July 2002
Signed ………………………. (Employee)
Signed ………………………. (Employer)
Job 2 – Job Description
Sales and Marketing Manager
Title: Sales and Marketing Manager
Reports to: Sales and Marketing Director, Newtown
Based at: Romford
Job purpose: To plan and carry out direct marketing and sales activities, so as to maintain and develop sales of SNP's ABC machinery range to UK major accounts and specifies, in accordance with agreed business plans.
Key responsibilities and accountabilities:
- Maintain and develop a computerised customer and prospect database.
- Plan and carry out direct marketing activities (principally direct mail) to agreed budgets, sales volumes, values, product mix and timescales.
- Develop ideas and create offers for direct mail and marketing to major accounts by main market sector and SNP's ABC products.
- Respond to and follow up sales enquiries by post, telephone, and personal visits.
- Maintain and develop existing and new customers through planned individual account support, and liaison with internal order-processing staff.
- Monitor and report on activities and provide relevant management information.
- Carry out market research, competitor and customer surveys.
- Maintain and report on equipment and software suitability for direct marketing and sales reporting purposes.
- Liaise and attend meetings with other company functions necessary to perform duties and aid business and organisational development.
- Manage the external marketing agency activities of telemarketing and research.
- Attend training and to develop relevant knowledge and skills.
(Date and reference)
Source: (http://www.hrvillage.com/hrjobdesc/Supervisor.htm)
Job 3
The job description for the Supervisor will be the role or the responsibility of the employees. Supervisors employ or supervise an employee. They tell the staff they are supervising what to do; if they can work over time; communicate with other supervisors and managers to know how other staffs are contributing to the work and bring up ideas on the tasks they would give to the staffs they are directing.
The Supervisor is expected to supervise, oversee and monitor newly employed staff and any other staff who are confused about a certain product or thing within the business/organisation they are working at. The Supervisor is also expected to guide and instruct duties to staff.
Job 3 – Main Terms of Employment
Name: Elizabeth Baker
Job Title: Supervisor
Type: Full-time
Company: Argos Extra
Place of work: Romford
Date of commencement of employment: 22 October 2002
Salary: £15,000 per annum
Date paid: 27th day of each month
Hours of work: 37.5 hours each week, Monday to Friday
Holiday pay: Normal rate for all holidays including bank and public holidays
Sick pay entitlement: You be entitled to be paid to sick leave or injury under the company’s sick pay scheme.
Health and safety at work: All employees must comply with the health and safety policy and also the rules laid down by the Health and Safety at Work Act and any other relevant regulations that regards to the health and safety at work.
Disciplinary rules and procedures: These are fully explained in the employee handbook.
Date of issue of this document: 20 July 2002
Signed ………………………. (Employee)
Signed ………………………. (Employer)
Job 3 – Job Description
Supervisor
Source: (http://www.hrvillage.com/hrjobdesc/Supervisor.htm)
The qualification expected from Store Manager is for the Store Manager to have a gained experience as a sales assistant and a good general education of sales qualification is needed. The qualification that is expected could be two A levels or equivalent qualifications. After the candidate has studied and gotten his/her certificate as a higher national certificate or diploma (HNC/HND) or a degree if possible. To gain a good qualification, retail, business and marketing related subjects would be appropriate. The entry to a HNC/HND requires four GCSEs (A-C) grades plus one A level and Degrees usually require five GCSEs (A-C) plus two A levels.
The expected skills of Store Manager are:
- Be a good team leader with lots of self-motivation
- Be able to communicate clearly with a variety of people at all levels
- Be committed to the needs of the customer
- Be adaptable and a quick thinker who is prepared to make decisions
- Be willing to take on responsibility at an early stage of the career
- Have the ability to understand relevant laws, etc
The qualification expected from Sales and Manager
The qualifications expected from Sales and Marketing Manager is for them to have a three or four years experience in sales and good and strong record of achievement. To be Sales and Marketing Manager, a degree or an HNC/HND is expected.
The skills of Sales and Marketing Manager are:
- Be able to manage existing sales accounts;
- Have an excellent relationship skills;
- Be highly organised;
- Should be able to know how to organise and communicate properly;
- Able to manage and motivate people;
- Have a good interest in the business specific products, services and sales too, and many more skills.
Supervisors’ experience is to oversee the work of sales the supervisor is directing, such as retail sales persons, cashier, etc. The supervisor needs to be experienced to interview, hire, train new workers and also be able to prepare them work schedules and be able to assign workers to specific duties. Supervisors’ needs to be experienced to answer customers’ complaints and they are expected to know how to deal with purchasing, budgeting and accounting.
The supervisors needs to be experience on how to supervise employees in arranging products, putting them on display, clean and organise the shelf in the stock room so that it can be easily to locate in Argos extra. The supervisor could make personnel decisions that could help in the success of the business.
The Supervisor needs to be experienced in handling a busy, noisy area and also have an excellent organising of people/things within the business; an excellent time and management skills to be able to complete required tasks. The supervisors should also know how to deal with injuries and accidents when there are no managers take charge.
The qualifications expected from Supervisors are:
- To have a good business sense;
- Have a strong customer service.
The skills expected from Supervisors are:
- To be able to know a lot about computer because the cash registers, the sales, etc are all computerized;
- Have a good knowledge of calculating;
- Organise work for new employees;
- Be able to direct new employees;
- To have a good and strong public relations skills;
- Be able to communicate clearly and persuasively to new employees, customers, and other staff within the business;
- Should have a good team leadership and management skills;
- A good supervisory skills;
- An excellent decision making skills;
- Time management skills.
Task 2a
The terms of employment of the job may be adapted with the job holder to cope with temporary difficulties such as when staffs is needed urgently from another department to come and work in a different department and have a total different duty.
However, adjustments could be made to accommodate these temporary difficulties, such as, a staff in a higher rank calling someone from Sales and Marketing department to work in Finance department because the staff that works in Sales and Marketing department could be on a maternity or sick leave or could also be off duty and he/she is unreachable. Another method could be that the Sales assistant would be contacted to know if they would like to work extra days/hours which is out of their contract agreement being signed for the hours he/she would wish to work for.
Task 2b
The job holder could be made to become more experienced and capable of carrying out additional or more responsible tasks in Argos Extra by giving the job holder a good management skills that would help make him/her more experienced and also would help the in the success of the business and would also be improved due to the job holder becoming more experienced. For the job holder to be experienced, they need to involve them in job enrichment, job rotation, role shadowing, mentoring and coaching, etc for the staff to be able to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.
An example could be the Manager; he/she could supervise the entire store to ensure every staff is doing what they are meant to be doing or what they were given to do in the store. Staff needs to be supervise in order that they do not do anything wrong that would make the business fall. Staffs are only supervised in order for them to have a good knowledge of the business and have their own skills when they would be left on their own.
Job Rotation – This means that the staff would be given different jobs to do, that is, they would have to move around to various sections to do different job. By the staff given different job, this would help them to be more skilled to be able to work in different job within the business/organisation and also be knowledgeable of everything the business/organisation.
Training and Development – When staff are on training, it would help them to improve their skills and be able to also understand their job because when they are on training course they would know what that could be helped in improving and expanding their own business.
Job Enrichment – This would help the staff in being more talented in having new skills and if they are given more tasks, it would keep them less busy. For the staff to have new and developed new skills would help the business to expand.
Mentoring and Coaching - The staff that needs mentoring and coaching could go to a another branch and have someone mentor and coach him/her on how to handle some things for the success of the business, e.g. a Manager mentoring or coaching someone else because he/she needs to be properly skilled in running their own business
Task 3a
Recruitment means someone that is going to be employed into a business/organisation. However, this is done by the business/organisation attracting people’s attention to their business/organisation by informing them to consider the possibility of taking up employments. After recruitment has happened then selection process follows after recruiting employees. When more staff are into a business and they are new that means they are being recruited into the business.
While Selection is all about choosing the reliable and confident candidate amongst other candidates that enrolled for the job. Candidate can be selected from other candidates that were called in for interview because of their confident during the interviews and the test that was being taken before they were being employed into the business/organisation. The employer identifies job specification and then looks through each ones then the staff might be called in for a test or interview in order for the employer to see their reaction and responds to their question during the interview process. When they notice their reaction and responds, then the employer would think if they should recruit the staff or not through their interview.
The Person Specification is a profile of the personal skills, qualifications, abilities and experiences that will be looked at during the recruitment and selection process. The information should be related to the duties of the job description and contain the essential requirements to do the job effectively.
The purpose of CV is that it should be prepared honestly, accurately and be able to read and understood by the individual is going to read the CV. The information needs to be presented in a format that highlights experience, skills and achievements, in a way that can be quickly noticed, understood. When reviewing CV's a recruiter or employer will appreciate the documents that communicate effectively.
Recruiting a new employee
The Human Resources department is usually responsible for recruiting new staff and for training to their job. When job vacancies arise, it draws up documents for specific purposes, organises and runs interview.
The Human Resources department has to follow certain procedures before a job can be advertised. The different stages of recruiting are:
-
Vacancy occurs – Three reasons why a vacancy may arise in a business:
- Retirement
- Promotion
- Going to new job, etc
-
The Human Resources manager then draws up a job description - The job description should contain these basis details about the vacancy:
- The job title
- The position in the organisation chart
- A list of duties and responsibilities
-
Person Specification being drawn up – The Person specification should include the following details. This specification represents the ideal qualities of the person required to fill the vacancy:
- Qualifications
- Work experience
- Personality
-
The job is advertised – The Human Resources manager needs to consider the following:
- What details need to go in the advert, e.g. advertise external recruitment
- Where the advert should be placed
-
Candidates apply for the job – The advert will usually say what the candidates needs to send in as part of their application. This will properly include:
- A letter of application and/a completed application form
-
A copy of their curriculum vitae or CV. The CV contains personal information about their qualifications and interests.
-
The application forms are sifted by the Human Resources manager to reduce the number or shortlist the candidates being considered – If these documents are being compared then the candidates application forms can be accessed to know the person that has got the rightful skills for the actual job:
- The CV
- The job application form
- The job specification
-
Arrange the interviews – Why are the candidates interviewed?
- Whether a certain person gets the job or not but it depends on their performance at interview.
-
The interview is held – What are the interviews looking for?
- Good answers to all the question
- The candidates’ attitude and dress code
- Body language
-
Follow up references – What is a reference?
- The names and address of people who can provide details of their performance with a previous employer or give evidence of their good character
-
Appoint candidate to the job – What happens if references are not satisfactory?
- The job offer will be withdrawn and offered to someone else
- It might be necessary to re-advertise
Task 3b
In most organisation/business, procedures are undertaken in recruiting staff into their business/organisation. Argos Extra also has a procedure the business uses in recruiting employees into their business. The process of recruiting staff is as follows:
Recruiting Staff Process
In Argos Extra, the store would have to recruit new staff at some point because the store needs new staff into their store. For the recruitment to take place, the Human Resources Department would be involved in the recruitment process because they would have to discuss with other department on which applicant that should be contacted.
When staff is being recruited, it may be due to some certain reason, such as, someone leaving the post to another job, retiring, having children, etc. Staff could also be recruited due to the reason that the vacancies in the store has arise because of the growth of the business and newly employed staff would be needed to meet the needs of this expansion.
Planning for Recruitment
When recruitment is being planned for, the recruitment process has to base on the job wish for call for. Recruitment has to be planned in way that someone is leaving then the position in the business then the post has to be filled in immediately so that job does not piled up for the next employee. The recruitment process has got a certain time when everything has to be planned, that is, the planning, selection and appointment for the new post.
The planning of recruitment has to be understandable in way the written document is relevant, the application is received, and also sort through the application, arrange for interview, the appointment is being confirmed and then all the arrangements would be completed in order for the position to be handed to the newly employed staff.
When recruitment is being planned, the job that is required has to be made clear in order for the people to understand. There are two documents that are important during this process, which are the job description and the person specification.
The next thing to do is for the job to be advertised so that people can see the post that is being advertised for everyone to see. Then the job has to be advertised so that people can see the post that is being advertised for everyone to see. There are different ways in which this job can be advertised so that business can get the awareness of the people. The newspaper is one source for advertising jobs and it is also one of the most common source of advertising jobs or any other thing and when this job is being advertised, it would target those that are interested in business area, for example, Sales Assistant, senior Administrator, etc.
After the job has being advertised, then it would take some time before the application forms start to be received from the candidates. There is normally a closing date for all application forms to be given in. Then when all application forms has being received on/before the closing date, then the copies would be made and given to all members of staff that would be involved in the selection process. When the selection process has being considered then candidates would be given application pack which would include details about when the interview would take place, what the format of interview would be in and so on.
Once the closing date has been reached then the application forms would have to be screened. The application forms are screened in order for the business to know the candidates that have met the criteria and have the rightful job description and person specification from all other candidates’ application forms. Those that do not meet the criteria that has being laid down would be safely discarded.
Selection Process
This is about selecting the rightful candidate required for the job in Argos Extra. Argos Extra have to employ candidate that have met business criteria and who also would be right for the role requested for and the candidate would fit into the business perfectly.
Candidates being interviewed
Every organisation/business have got their own way of interviewing candidates, some organisation/business may interview candidates on separate days so that forthcoming candidates never meet. There is a possibility that the interview may last one or two (or sometimes even more) days depending on the organisation/business. The interview may contain a series of discussion sessions, presentation, written tasks, tests and sometimes video session. For the session to take place, the business/organisation is trying to build up a picture of the candidate and the employers are also trying to decide whether they can do the job and if they are fit for the job within the organisation and if the candidate can work effectively and efficiently with the rest of the people in the business/organisation.
When the interview is taking place, the candidate could be asked to take a test; this test is basically a series of questions that would be asked by the employee to the candidate. When this test takes place, it gives the team members that are asking the candidates questions a way of seeing their strength, weakness, attitude, communication skills and also their understanding.
Task 3c
Appraisal means a report made by a qualified person setting an opinion. While performance review system could be defined as a meeting and then use the opportunity to receive and discuss feedback on performance of staffs; to talk about progress and identify achievements; to consider individual contribution to the section, department or centre and; to highlight hindrance to more effective performance; and to identify training and development needs. This is to ensure that members of staff have a structured framework for reflecting on their work.
The way in which a typical appraisal could be designed is as follows:
- To is always advisable to have written records of the appraisal to provide a feedback to employees and to allow more senior managers to monitor effectiveness and attitudes of appraisals.
- The job description helps to focus attention on the employee’s performance at work.
- Some appraisal techniques are:
-
Rating – A number of employee characteristics are rated on a on which employee ranges from outstanding to unacceptable.
-
Critical incidents – The appraiser records incidents of employees’ positive and negative behaviour during a given period.
-
Narrative report – The appraiser describes the individual’s work performance in his or her own words.
-
Comparison with objectives – Employers and their employees should agree on their objectives. The appraisal is based on how far these objectives have been met by the appraisee.
-
The procedure for employees to appeal against their assessment could be preparing for the interview. Employees should be given adequate notice of appraisal interviews. Self-assessment forms needs to be completed by employees before their interviews can help them note what they think have been their strengths and weaknesses; what they see as difficulty to effective performance; the plans for the coming year and their development and training needs. Self-assessment forms are associate members to the individual and they do not have to be shown to the person conducting the appraisal.
The steps/procedures in an appraisal system are listed below:
-
Step 1 (Notification): This is when the employee is being told either through a letter or through the telephone by the employer about their appraisal is to occur soon and the employer is always told in advance. The employer would set a date, time and area for the interview to take place.
-
Step 2 (Documents being given out): Documents, which is about the appraisal process, would be given to the employee to read through and this appraisal process would be explained to the employee. This documents being given to the employee would involve the employee’s past performance plans, self-assessments, performance reviews, and action plans.
-
Step 3 (Preparation of appraisal process): When the employee has being notified of the date, time, and the place of the interview then the employee would have to complete an appraisal form before their interview so that it can help them note what they think have been their strong and weak points; their plans for the coming year; their development and training needs and also if they have met their target since the last appraisal. The seating should be comfortable and also be arranged in way that atmosphere could circulate around the room during the interview. There should not be any interruption when the interview is taking place by both the employee and employer.
-
Step 4 (During the appraisal process): When the interview is taking place, the employer should ask questions that they would be able to draw out the employee’s reactions and ideas. It is always good to discuss the employees’ strong points first and give him/her good comments about their work they have already done. In the beginning of the interview, the employer can ask the employee the success they feel they have achieved and the things they are at least pleased with. It is important to encourage employee to discuss their weakness openly and freely and the employer should try to encourage them by suggesting ways in which they can improve on it.
-
Step 5 (After the appraisal process/after the interview): Employee should be encouraged to suggest on how their good work can be continue to be effective and also their views on how they can achieve further improvement. Both employer and employee would agree on how to improve on the employee’s changes.
-
Step 6 (Writing out results): After the interview, the employer should summarise in writing out the main points of the discussion and the action that was being agreed by both the employer and employee. The employee and employer should have a copy of the discussion during the meeting. The employer could suggest organising a training course or assistant to overcome any problem to the to the employee’s effectiveness during the appraisal process.
-
Step 7 (Training being provided): The employer should try to provide adequate training for the employee if they need to improve their skills and knowledge. Both employer and employee have to come in terms of agreeing if they need the training course that would help the employee improve his/her skills. When the training course is taking place, the employee should be given the opportunity and have the confident to discuss his/her appraisal reports with others in the training group.
Advantages of an appraisal
- It provides a sufficient evidence to support their conclusion and recommendation for the appraisee.
- It would be able to determine the employees’ strength and weakness.
- The employee would be able to express his/her ideas/opinions during the appraisal or performance review system.
- The employer would understand the employees’ needs and recommend assistance to the employee.
Disadvantages of an appraisal
- It could cause stress to the employee because they would have to always remember their target has to always be met at all times.
- The appraisee would be worried because they have to meet their target and if they do not then the appraiser would feel they are not serious or willing to learn.
- It can take considerable amounts of time to bring together the record search strategies, time limits.
- It can be frustrating to find that there is insufficient evidence to answer the questions being asked
The form being attached behind is an appraisal form that is used for the recording of an assessment of an appraisee’s performance, potential and development needs. The appraisal form is an opportunity to take an overall view of work content and to look back on what has been achieved during the reporting period and the agreed targets/objectives for the next appraisal or performance review system.
Task 3d
The interviewer should explain the purpose and of the interview; discuss the job in terms of its objectives and demands; encourage the employees to discuss his/her strengths and weakness; discuss how agreed objectives have been met and how further it has gone; agree on future objectives; discuss any development needs appropriate to the existing job or the individual’s future in the organisation, e.g. training, work experience, education; summarise the plans which are agreed and if there are any disagreements then the interviewer should explain how the employee can appeal against his/her appraisal markings.
Appraisal documents are used to:
- To provide the opportunity to discuss with the individual, members of staff in order know their performance in their jobs against agreed objectives.
- To be able to identify strengths this could help to improve the opportunity for career development.
- To identify the methods of performance that could be improved and agreed methods for improvements.
- To identify training and development needs.
- To be able to identify opportunities for career progression.
- To improve efficiency and effectiveness.
- Identification of changes in organisation or the way it is operated that could help to improve the performance.
Task 3e
The benefits of appraisals
Appraisals can help to improve employees’ job performance by identifying strengths and weaknesses and determining how their strengths can be best be used for success of the business/organisation and to overcome the weaknesses. They can help to reveal problems, which may be limiting employees’ progress, and causing inefficient work practices.
Some employers may talk to their employees regularly about their problems and performance at work and the employer may not see the need of the employee having a formal appraisal review system. The employer should try to encourage the employees about their work performance instead of degrading them. An appraisal review system can develop a greater degree of consistency by ensuring that managers and employees meet formally and regularly to discuss performance and potential. Appraisal review system can help in improving communication by giving employees an opportunity to talk about their ideas and expectations and to be told how they are progressing.
Task 3f
Recruitment and monitoring procedures helps to benefit Argos because the store could employ new staffs if the store is lacking staffs because some of them might have retired; be dismissed, maternity/sick leave, etc and this helps to benefits the business because when candidates are being recruited it helps the business run effectively and grow too. It helps to benefit the business because they might work on extra hours when employed.
Recruiting helps to benefits the business because of the candidates’ high academic profile which of good profile when presenting their CVs to employers. Furthermore, after the interview and the employer notice the employee has got good communication skills and presentable and satisfied work experience from other business and this would help to increase customers and the business are well known to the public.
The monitoring process could be sets of realistic tasks and targets for the employee, that means, the manager might set targets for the staff, such as, being helpful, handling problems respectfully and be sure that the customers are satisfied with whatever the enquiry is all about, good manners in approaching the customers, being polite, etc. However, this helps to achieve its aim by having goods manners and helps also in the store being effective. In addition, the candidate that has been assigned the job has to be monitored for a while because he/she is still new to the job/task.
Bibliography
- BTEC First Diploma in Business by Carol Caryforth & Mike Neild
- (http://www.hrvillage.com/hrjobdesc/Supervisor.htm)