Managing a Successful Business Project Assignment Sample

Introduction Of Managing a Successful Business Project

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What talent strategies do JD Sports use to attract and retain people?

The management of talented individuals within a proper system of human resource management is one of the major aspects of recruiting new staff in the company. In addition, as per Beamond, Farndale and Härtel(2016), it is also helpful to encourage and maintain skilled individuals in the business for a longer-term. This will eventually affect the approaches that the companies take to retain and attract the talent in their workforces. In this process, the report targets to evaluate the talent management approach in JD Sports, a business that deals in the area of sports-related fashion items. Currently, the company have more than 50,000 employees working in different locations. JD Sports aims for attracting, developing and engaging talented and committed individuals, who are enthusiastic for growth throughout their careers while working within the company (JD Sports Fashion Plc, 2019).

Section 1: Project Planning

1.1 Project Aim and Objectives

Aim

The project aims for understanding approaches of attraction and retention of talented individuals in a business organisation. It targets the management of JD Sports in terms of assessing the talent management in the organisation.

Objectives

• To comprehend the notion of talent management
• To recognize strategies of talent management in JD Sports to retain new employees
• To identify the problems incurred in JD Sports to retain the employees engaged
• To formulate recommendations for JD Sports for attracting and retaining new employees

1.2 Project Management Plan

Cost:

Research costs are calculated as the total expenditure the researcher spent for the entire investigation. Therefore, the management of adequate costs is an important perspective for the entire investigation (Collings, Mellahi and Cascio, 2019). It is important to include various actions relating to the allocation of resources to identify control over expenditures. It must be carried out with the correct operation, which is connected with the result.A total amount of £1300 is allocated for the cost of the present study.

Area of Expenditure	Cost Allocated
Resource Procurement	£400
Stationary Purchase	£250
Searching for Materials	£350
Control of Project	£300

Scope:

With the execution of the current study, there is a broader scope concerning the management of talents. This research also allows JD Sports to determine policies that assist in attracting talented individuals and keep existing talent in the company. This helps to boost the programme for a longer period in terms of workplace creativity (Beamond, Farndale and Härtel, 2016). Developing creativity is the best prospective programme in the workplace. This is the best outlook for the positive market performance of the business. This study is primarily based on the JD Sports Organization and the scope for strengthening talent management programmes in this entity has been demonstrated.

Time:

A particular time is necessary to manufacture a deliverable project. The period until the end of the project is considered, as per Collings, Mellahi and Cascio(2019). The number of resources that are assigned to the project (cost) and the number of requirements or outcomes (scope) is related directly to the length of time necessary. It is important to specify a time for the completion of the whole project. It assists to generate good outcomes in determining creative work performance. The current study project takes 12 weeks to complete in this consideration. The research will be substantially finished within those 12 weeks.

Quality:

Quality management of an organisation management project ensures that all the project activities are carried out effectively (Adzmiand Hassan, 2018). Quality is another crucial point of view that helps to achieve successful study findings. All this depends on the data acquired for the study. For this study, all data is validated and acquired from credible resources. Such information will allow you to locate the solution to the questions. Thus, this data likewise leads to a valid conclusion. Authentic sites are utilised by researchers to obtain information of quality that are employed to achieve study goals.

Communication:

Communication management is the procedure of the systematic observation, execution and planning of all communication channels. Beamond, Farndale and Härtel (2016) state that to create a successful project for a business, there must be a good communication structure between all the personnel and management of the organisation. Due to COVID-19, the researcher has not regarded the people’s involvement in this research. The entire study is based on secondary analysis and findings. The researcher should therefore provide a different technique by which people can take part with email, telephone calls, etc. It is because the exchange of opinions and perspectives between individuals in the same workplace is of extremely essential importance. Furthermore, peer groups offer their opinions on ideas, which are the most important perspectives in the study to obtain genuine conclusions.

Risk:

JD Sports is benefiting from this project, but some concerns exist when a management strategy is not in place, and cost, resource and time is limited. Risk management of the corporate management project, according to Kliem and Ludin(2019), takes into account the necessary activities taken by the project manager to counter probable future risks and barriers. In addition to the lack of time and money, the researchers confront significant risks in managing this investigation. Besides this, numerous other issues like communication, engagement of people, etc. are involved. All these types of risks must be carefully controlled so that accurate and reliable information can be determined through study.

Resources:

The distribution of the resources is crucial in the situation of resource availability (Kibuti, 2020). To prove effective results, many types of resources are required. In this respect, the management of the complete study with the time allocated requires different sorts of financial and human resources.

Monetary Resource	£1300 (approx.)
Human Resource	Project Manager Finance Manager Research and Development Team Project Team
Equipment	Microsoft Word for Secondary Data Collection
Documents	Project Plan Scope Work Breakdown Structure Gantt Chart Communication Plan

1.3 Activities and Tasks through Work Breakdown Structure(WBS)

Tasks	Activities	Duration
Project Initiation		2 weeks
Generating Idea	The senior manager determines a management area to be analysed and improved	1 week
Researching Organisational HRM Strategy	The R&D unit would research the market	2 weeks
Project Planning		2 weeks
Developing Aim and Objectives	A goal is set by the management to improve the talent management section of the HRM unit	1 week
Stating the Scope	Opportunities probable to arise are identified	1 week
Cost and Resource Planning	Capital is defined from the finance unit, necessary tools are defined, and project manager and team members are recruited	2 weeks
Risk Identification	Potential risks are identified in discussion with the R&D unit	1 week
Forming WBS	Tasks and activities are outlined	1 week
Project Execution		5 weeks
Collecting Data	Collection of secondary data on JD Sports and other organisations are gathered	3 weeks
Interpreting and Analysing Data	Collected data are interpreted and evaluated for further reflection to address objectives	3 weeks
Project Closure		5 weeks
Reflecting on the Analysed Data	Reflection on the interpreted data is performed to fulfil the project objectives in reaching the aim	2 weeks
Drawing Conclusion and Recommendations	Reaching a decision about the data and formulate a conclusive remark as well as recommendations for the company to undertake in their talent management approach	2 weeks
Taking Corrective Measures	Proofreading the project and correcting all the flaws or filling the gaps, if any	1 week
Presenting the Business Case Report to Senior Management	Submitting the project report to the management to propose the implementation of TM practices	1 week

1.4 Gantt Chart

Tasks

W1

W2

W3

W4

W5

W6

W7

W8

W9

W10

W11

W12

Generating Idea

Researching Organisational HRM Strategy

Developing Aim and Objectives

Stating the Scope

Cost and Resource Planning

Risk Identification

Forming WBS

Collecting Data

Interpreting and Analysing Data

Reflecting on the Analysed Data

Drawing Conclusion and Recommendation

Taking Corrective Measure

Presenting the Business Case Report to Senior Management

Section 2: Conducting Qualitative Research

2.1 Researching TM Strategies of JD Sports

2.1.1 Research Method

The following context will illustrate appropriate research methodologies to gather effective information for briefly conducting the project. However, the discussion of talent management strategies will also become a focal point of the study and will be accommodating to fulfil the aims and objectives of the study. The utilisation of qualitative research will make the purpose of the study superior consequential (Belussi and Rakic, 2017). Secondary qualitative research methods include gathering effective information and analysingnon-numeric data, recognizing the perceptions and experiences through various journals, newspapers, and media. The selected company, JD Sports has an extended market value and is popular in the international market, thus it will be accommodating to discover significant information for accomplishing the research. Since the internet has become the most admired path for gathering effective information and also the information from the internet is easily accessible and available, can easily be downloaded within the lowest amount of attempt. Thus, a secondary qualitative research method has been considered appropriate for conducting the project. 

2.1.2 JD Sports TM Approach

Talent management has been considered an integral part of HRM practices. There are various aspects of HRM practices of JD Sports which have been discussed briefly:

1. Recruitment and Selection: Since JD Sports has been considered as the retail fashion industry and also the yearly revenue rate is exceedingly high in this company. It is indeed necessary that the company implements the rightful methodology to ensure that the recruiting procedure of the company maintains a specific protocol. In the case of recruiting procedure, the company has a moderately shapeless “informal” approach to recruit for their retail staff and often stores collect CVs around the time of recruitment (Jones and Comfort, 2019). Therefore, the selection procedure started by narrowing down candidates by their earlier practices and holding interviews in which case, the prospective employees have to screen several questions to measure the importance of their role.
2. Employee Performance: In the case of employee performance of JD, it has been measured through the setting of objectives and self-appraisal methods. However, the company provides incentives where the measurement of employee performance has been observed by assessing the development of the store which has an uppermost percentage. Yearly self-appraisals are also accomplished to consider both improvement and performance needs and to address various requirements of the employee (Jones and Comfort, 2019).

2.2 Researching on other Organisations

2.2.1 Research Method

In the process of data collection, it has been observed that the utilisation of secondary information is suitable for conducting the project as it will be easily accessible to gather effective data from the internet or other journals to complete or fulfil the project in an efficient manner. There has been an illustration of HRM practices of two similar companies and that will be accommodating in accomplishing the research. Two similar companies have been taken to improve the current HRM practices of JD Sports which are as follows:

2.2.2 Next PLC TM Approach

1. Employee Retention and Support: In the case of Next PLC, the line managers support teams under them to the line managers of this company allocate the work regarding the fact of the activities and capacities of individual employees. It has been proving to be accommodating for the company as the line managers support the team under them to make understand to process their roles effectively to obtain superior outputs (Thompson and McLarney, 2017). The HRM also encourages open communication, admission to senior management, and sovereignty to articulate effective apprehensions and that will be accommodating for the employees to connect within the line managers to developing superior relationships.
2. Training and Performance Management: In the case of Next PLC, the primal motive of the manager is to work closely with the respective teams so that they are considered as the concerned employees who can evaluate their performances in a superior way. the functions of HR managers are to gather the review and commitment of the line managers, analysing the feedback to design or create an effective training module that will be extremely efficient to increase the competency of teams in case of specific areas (Thompson and McLarney, 2017).

2.2.3 ASOS TM Approach

1. Employee Retention Strategy: In terms of employee retention of ASOS, the employee retention strategies are quite similar to Next PLC. It has been observed that the gender pay gap issues are affecting the retention policy of the company (Uysal, 2019). The HR provides the exceeding amount of effort to the employee to increase the willpower to achieve the organisational success which is quite observable. Obtaining respect and effective involvement in the decision-making progression keeps the employees motivated and they also discover a meaningful purpose to work with the company.
2. Training and Performance Management: The training procedure is not beneficial in this company as compared to the Next PLC. Regarding the fact of poor management performance, the company has been encountering numerous difficulties.

2.3 Value and Benefits of Addressing TM and Areas of Good Practice

From the overall perception, it will be accommodating for the JD sports if the company follows the employee retention strategy of Next PLC. As a matter of fact, through utilising the employee retention strategies of the company, JD will be capable to overcome the problematic situations regarding the facts of staff retention, recruiting, and training (Thompson and McLarney, 2017). Therefore, the company can increase its yearly turnover depending on the employees as they will be able to gather effective information for any projects.

Section 3: Present Findings

3.1 Analysis of the Findings

In this project, the research has gathered data that can be analysed in three themes to address the project objectives.

Theme 1: Comparison among the TM Strategies of the Organisations Chosen

It is prominent in the findings that JD Sports primarily focuses on the two areas of HRM to attract and retain talents in their workforce. The company deliberately use an “informal” approach of hiring new candidates, selects candidates for interview based on their experiences, while the incentives and appraisals are provided to the employees based on their performance and improvement. On the other hand, Next PLC mainly considers practices of supporting and encouraging employees through effective communication as core TM strategy to retain talents, along with the provision of regular training to boost the talent of the employees, and gathering feedback on them from managers to assess their post-training performance. ASOS has also the same approach as Next PLC, though their training practice is less effective to improve talented employees compared to that of the other organisation. Alongside, the company has an effective decision-making process helping it to retain its talent, but the gender pay gap is obstructing that process.

Theme 2: Identifying Issues in the TM Strategy of JP Sports

In comparison with the other two organisations, JD Sports has quite a commendable recruitment and selection process. However, merely having a strong recruiting process is not enough for the company to retain the existing talent and attract new ones. Undoubtedly, the incentives and appraisals are effective tactics to keep the employees engaged in the organisation, though the informal approach of recruiting and selecting candidates often impact organisational integrity and departmental conflicts. Alongside, lack of adequate and appropriate communication with the employees, especially the new ones, and in supporting and motivating them through regular communication from senior management always pose a threat towards the improvement of the talents, thus, eventually impacting the execution of business or team tasks negatively.

Theme 3: Importance of Managing Talented Workforce

From the data collected through the secondary process above, it can be understood that the TM is used as a tool for successful businesses in retaining and attracting their workforce. Such a talented workforce takes the business towards success in a competitive world, with innovation and commitment in their core approach while working in the organisation (Borisova et al, 2017). Different companies consider different areas of interest in terms of managing talent in the organisation, though notall of them, such as JD Sports, completely realises its importance for the overall growth of the business and which tactics are to be applied strategically in this process.

3.2 Production and Presentation of Project

The phase is for connecting the activities of the project and making it easier for the project manager in managing and controlling projects.

• At the initial phase, this project develops an idea and conduct R&D on the TM strategies in JD Sports, followed by choosing a proper methodology to collect secondary data.
• The project management plan, consisting of risk, scope, communication process and quality identification, cost, resource and time allocation, is then outlined.
• Secondary sources have been evaluated for the collection of data on JD Sports, Next PLC and ASOS. Here, the secondary sources of external company data have been selected due to their viability in providing expert and scholarly opinions on the HRM practices of those organisations (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2007). However, utilisation of primary sources could have benefited the research with first-hand data from the people working in the organisation, though it would have needed more project time and cost for online data collection process mandatory due to COVID-19 restrictions.
• The data obtained are then systematically and thematically analysed to gain enough information as the research outcome that addresses the objectives of the project. A thematic qualitative research tool, as per Flick(2015), helped gather information on the matters of concern and these themes have been analysed step by step to identify the TM strategies used in JD Sports.

However, the research has found that the company does not have strong and effective management practicesto retain and attract enough talent for sustainable development in this competitive world. Hence, based on the opinions of Poisat, Mey and Sharp(2018), Ismailet al (2019) and Almaaitahet al (2020), recommendations of tactics, alongside the existing ones, to resolve the identified issues must be implemented in their HRM:

• Training and Development: Since JD Sports have an informal approach to recruitment, it must focus on training the newly appointed candidates along with promoted candidates based on the jobs assigned to them.
• Effective Communication: From all levels of management, a systematic flow of communication demonstrates their concern for the employees, builds a strong management-employee relationship and keeps the talented workforce committed to the organisation.
• Support and Motivation:Constant support and motivation from leadership and management bodies encourage the employees to focus on improving their knowledge and skills, and implementing the full potential of their talent in their assigned tasks.
• Regular Feedback and Appraisal on Performance: It is crucial to provide regular feedback on the staff performance in a positive manner since it helps understand the strength and weaknesses within them. JD Sports can also bring modification in incentive and appraisal schemes to test which ones are most acceptable and beneficial for both the organisation and the employees.

Conclusion

If the entire project is summarised, the research shows that most of the large companiesalways believe to function in multiple fields with competent and experienced staff at their workplaces. Such talented individuals might undertake many tasks and responsibilities of their assigned positions within the company. JD Sports retain their talented workforce through incentives and appraisals. Nevertheless, if attracting more talentsand effectively managing them are not adequately taken into account, the problem is to continue in the business for a longer period. A huge lack of consideration on effective talent attraction tactics is visible in JD Sports’ HRM. Managers of JD Sports must therefore assume adequate roles and responsibilities to communicate with and motivate the employees to stay engaged.

References

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