Case Study

G&K Limited is a chain of warehouse-type, out-of-town stores with branches throughout the UK. A typical G&K store would set out to supply all their customers' requirements in areas such as: holiday and leisure wear; camping equipment and tents; sports kit including running shoes; fishing rods and other fishing tackle; gardening tools; golf clubs, cricket bats, tennis rackets, and so on. More recent events have forced G&K to retreat from its strategic and competitive aspirations. The economy has experienced a severe recession; overall unemployment was increasing until recently; levels of disposable income have dropped; and although life expectancies have increased, more people seem to devote their leisure time to shopping or to inactive (and inexpensive) activities like watching TV or multi-tasking on-line. In addition, G&K has to cope with ruthless competition from more specialised retailers in such fields as sportswear. The popularity of electronic games with exercise functions and applications for mobile technology means people can exercise in their own homes and will often prefer to do so. As a result of all these pressures, G&K is in difficulties, losing market share to the point where it is now unprofitable. Some strategic choices have already been made. A new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has been appointed, other directors have left, and some senior managers have resigned. He has therefore recruited a former colleague from his previous company, Louise Perkins, as the new HR Director. Louise has a strong orientation to business and a recognition that although she is employed as the Human Resources (HR) Director, she needs to focus on the business first and its people second. Without any business there will not be any people. She also admits that without any people there will not be any business. Louise's initial investigation into the characteristics of the G&K workforce reveals the following: More than 80% of the employees have worked at G&K for at least 15 years. High labour turnover in some stores with the average staff member staying only a few months. Management style is 'command and control'; 10 hierarchical levels between the CEO at the top and trainee shelf-stackers at the bottom of G&K. Comprehensive rules govern every aspect of G&K's operations and constrain decision-making. For example, when a customer complains to a frontline employee, the complaint has to be passed up through a supervisor to the store manager before it can be resolved. This may take up to a week. Recruiting and selecting a new member of staff may take 12 weeks from the moment a staff requisition request is made, to when the new recruit is inducted. Inadequate staff numbers may also be one of the causes for the company's poor relationships with its customers. Customer feedback questionnaires are not analysed reliably because many are "lost" without ever finding their way to the HR department where they should be analysed. When received, they indicate at best that customers are "satisfied". They are seldom "very satisfied" and the majority are either "mildly" or "strongly dissatisfied" with: the products, the service, the prices, the retail environment, the treatment they receive when they complain, the attitude of the staff, and a culture which seems to them to be old-fashioned, bureaucratic, intimidating, unhelpful and unfriendly. The employees in each store seem more concerned with talking to each other, texting their friends, or hiding in stockrooms. Managers too, spend a good deal of their time in their offices, completing forms for Head Office. Supervisors see their jobs as largely concerned with correcting any behavioural deviations, negotiating shift changes, and "interviewing" subordinates who arrive late or who have been absent without any identifiable cause. In effect, supervisors and store managers in the G&K hierarchy are the company's corporate policemen. Louise Perkins has concluded that a major part of the solution for G&K is to create a workforce that is truly "engaged". You have been brought in by Louise as her HR Adviser to help prepare the ground for the kind of transformation which she believes to be essential. 12 What am I required to do in this assignment? Use the provided case or choose a company of your own from any country and business. Critically evaluate the leadership and people management strategies of your chosen company. Do you agree with the company's existing leadership and people management strategies? If you were the company's leader, how would you improve the company's performance through learnet strategies and topics given your unit sessions. You will submit a report of 3000 (+/- 10%) words. The report needs to include the following information: Give a small introduction to the company and justify why you have chosen the company Critical evaluation of the leadership and people management strategies of the company Build evidence led argument about whether you agree with the existing leadership and management style Provide solutions to improve the company's performance through the learnt theories/concepts/or topics in this unit. Your report must be based on the theoretical framework. Your 3000 (+/10%) words report must show evidence of critical thinking, wide reading and essential research Report must contain in-text references and a Harvard style reference list Report Content 1- Intoduction 2- Literature review 3- Link between literatures and the chosen case 4- Recommendation and conclusion 5- Referencing 6- Reflection (use Gibbs' reflective cycle)

note: kindly include Harvard referencing and literature review of the case study and some recommended text books/materials