HARRODS Harrods is a brand that is recognised all over the world. Its Knightsbridge store has 1 million square feet of selling space with over 330 different departments. Its global reputation and prestige is instilled through its brand values. Brand values represent what an organisation stands for. Harrods values are British; Luxury; Service; Innovation and Sensation. Harrods has been in business for over 160 years. It employs 4000 employees with an additional 3,500 agency and concession employees. In 2010 Qatar Holdings purchased Harrods from Mohamed Al-Fayed. The new owners are strongly committed to all of Harrods employees. They recognise that engaged employees are essential to the continuing success of the business. Such employees are likely to be happy and consistently high performers who want to progress their careers with Harrods. One of the reasons why Harrods is so successful today is that it gives its employees a voice for change. All employees are encouraged to give feedback on every aspect of how Harrods operates. Harrods leadership focus is at the democratic end of the spectrum. Employees are listened to and their advice and ideas are used to make continuous improvements. The culture is thus one of trust and respect and is the key to Harrods employee engagement. Harrods management is committed to fully developing its people so that employees, the business and its stakeholders are fully satisfied. There are three main elements of the democratic leadership approach at Harrods which encourage the development of its employees: Talent spotting. This involves identifying talented people who can make important contributions to Harrods. Laura Gorse who works in the Learning and Development Department at Harrods illustrates this: I had been training new starters my total enthusiasm for the role must have been spotted by Harrods. At the time I was unsure about a new opportunity so I didnt push myself but Harrods nudged me in the right direction and gave me a chance to succeed. Mentoring and coaching. Mentors and coaches are people who act as advisors and guides, usually to those less experienced than themselves. Mentoring and coaching takes place through structured feedback and advice as well as through informal conversations. Line managers at Harrods are encouraged to communicate targets and advice to employees through face-to-face interactions. This might involve sitting down in the restaurant, or in a more formal setting, to agree objectives and to give advice about improvements and new ways of working. Acting as a coach helps the line managers to develop their managerial skills, build relationships and reinforce trust at Harrods. Support networks. Managers meet regularly with other managers to share ideas and issues. For example the Retail Managers meet once a month with the Head of Retail to share insights and assess retail plans at both strategic and operational levels. Each of the processes outlined above provides Harrods employees, both managers and front-line staff, with the confidence that they can make a difference and that their contributions are valued. Research into Human Resource Management indicates that the factors that really motivate employees are intrinsic ones which are based on meeting the personal needs of an individual. Human beings have a number of key psychological needs including: The need to feel that you can do something well. The need to be part of a group. The need for respect and encouragement from others. These needs are typically met from non-financial rewards, for example, by providing opportunities: for promotion to make decisions to contribute to a team to do a variety of tasks. -II- 2 Harrods recognises these intrinsic needs and encourages job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment to provide career development opportunities. Job rotation involves periodically changing jobs and work areas to develop new skills in different areas of the business. Cross departmental experience is viewed as important for personal development. Harrods offers a range of many different types of job opportunity including face-to-face customer operations, merchandising, recording and reporting of sales and online customer communications. Job enlargement involves encouraging and supporting staff to take on new and more challenging tasks. Job enrichment involves building existing job roles by enabling employees to engage in a wider variety of interesting tasks, for example, taking on some team leadership responsibility and removing unnecessary supervision. Having an informed and engaged workforce has resulted in many tangible benefits. There have now been four employee surveys. Each survey has seen a higher return from employees and an improvement in the indicators of employee engagement. Significantly, 91% of employees have stated in the most recent survey that they are proud to work for Harrods and employee turnover has halved in the last five years. The ultimate proof of the success of an employee engagement exercise is that it needs to be lived by employees. They need to feel that the culture has changed and that they have played a part in the improvements. Harrods places a high importance on brand values so it is essential that these values are reflected in how employees behave. Employees have to live up to the Harrods brand because customers are aware of it and expect excellence. Engaged employees are committed ones who help the organisation to achieve its targets and to live its values. Harrods recognise that this is a democratic process. Employees are not just a key part of the visual representation of the organisation - they are the organisation. The engagement of employees is admirably reflected in the following quote from Jennifer Glyn, a Creative Team Project Manager at Harrods: I like being part of a big brand, it is stable but exciting I feel pride coming in on a Monday Morning. I enjoy telling people what I do and where I work. Similarly Laura Gorse who works in Learning and Development states: I never dread coming in to work, I actually look forward to coming in you dont want to miss out on whats going on. The values come from what we do. Human Resource Management should be seen as a strategic function of an organisation. It helps to build a competitive edge for an organisation by positively engaging its employees. Key ingredients of effective Human Resource Management are having in place an appropriate leadership style and effective two-way communications with employees. This creates an open and honest environment where employees feel that their ideas are being listened to and that they can make a contribution to decision making. Engaged employees are more likely to be proud to work for their organisation and therefore will believe in and live out the values of the organisation. Adapted from: www.businesscasestudies.co.uk

1.1 Evaluate Harrods use of intrinsic factors to motivate its employees. (20 marks)

1.2 Analyse the different leadership styles, according to the Emotional Intelligence Model, that Harrods uses to lead and engage its employees. (20 marks) -II- 3 SECTION B [60 MARKS] Answer ANY THREE (3) questions in this section.

QUESTION 2 (20 Marks) Formal teams or groups are created deliberately by managers and are charged with carrying out specific tasks to help the organization achieve its goals. Explain how the dynamics each type of formal team or group contributes to the achievement of an organisations goals.

3 (20 Marks) It has been said that effective communication is a building block of successful organizations and that to communicate effectively, the message needs the correct medium. Using a contingency model for selecting media, explain the effectiveness of communication media. Illustrate your answer with an appropriate diagram.

QUESTION 4 (20 Marks) Leadership and Management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action. Explain the distinction between management and leadership and show how both roles can also be complementary to each other.

5 (20 Marks) As a Human Resources consultant for an organisation that is involved in a merger, you are required to advise the management on ways to deal with any potential conflict that may arise out of the different organisational cultures of the merging organisations. Using an appropriate diagram, recommend succinct strategies that can assist the organisation.