Business Studies Easter Project Essay

IntroductinonAs you probably already distinguish Asda is one of the leading food super stocks in Britain today. Asda is part of the Wal-Mart gathering however before this Asda was on its own. Asda has been part of the Wal-Mart retailers since 1999. Asda was formed in 1965 by a group of farmers from Yorkshire, today Asda has 245 stores, with 19 depots across the U.K. Asdas aim is to cheat its products 10-15% cheaper than its main competitors. Asda sells a variety of products including fresh food, grocery, clothing, home, leisure and entertainment goods. In my report I have gained my information form the Asda website and I also interviewed the store manager of the Asda store in Longsight.In my report I will discuss the following accomplishment indicators Labour Turnover, Labour Productivity, Absenteeism and the Morale of fixers.Performance of unionAsda has recently been valued at being worth 1.3 billion, which includes all its assets. Anyway I think that it will be too complicate d to discuss the performance indicators on such a large scale. This is why I am going to just concentrate on the performance of the Asda store in Longsight. When I asked Sue (the manager) if labour turnover was high, she replied by saying that it is an average level. (i.e. not too high and not too low). I then verbalize to her that this essential symbolise that staff must feel demotivated and in that respectfore leave. She replied by saying that it was because they employed a lot of young students and this was the reason for a lot of citizenry leaving because they couldnt tot up the shifts in with their work. I believe that this means that although labour turnover is high, it is not an extremely bad point.When we discussed the labour productivity of the workers, she said that the staff, work very hard in every department whether it is the deliveries, clothing, music or work on the checkout. Many products were sold in each department but obviously some were sold much more than others. The labour productivity really determines how many products are sold, as items are obviously not being produced at the store they are being sold there. She also mentioned that everyday there are at least 2 people who are around the store to just help customers or provide tasters of foods.I believe that this helps to increase productivity, because customers may feel more welcome and more gross sales may be made. I then asked what the turnover of the store was each day. Sue replied by saying that on the weekends they generally make more currency and she said that last Saturday they had a turnover of approximately 500,000. I believe that this clearly shows that labour productivity is high at the Asda store in Longsight.I then went on to let the cat out of the bag about absenteeism. Sue said that this was generally low without any notice, and that there were hardly any people who didnt receive notice when they were going to have a day off. But she also said that absenteeis m was a good point because it gives workers a change because they can change shifts with one another. I agree and believe absenteeism with notice is not so bad.Sue said the the morale of workers was generally high. She said that staff were paid at a time rate starting from 4.15 per hour. The following incentives could be motivating particularors for the staff at Asda Tell the team- puzzleting your ideas acrossStars- can be exchange in for gifts.ABCD- A certificate for dedicated workers.Bonus payments- for reaching certain targetsShare planPrivate HealthcareDiscount on new cars run short insuranceStaff Discount CardI believe that the following incentives will make workers feel motivated. This is because it makes the workers feel that they are being recognised and that there work is appreciated. It is not only the financial incentives that are important for motivation. It is also for example the certificate for working hard which could motivate. And even the fact that workers can put their ideas across, which may make them feel a real part of the company.There are some improvements that could be made to the performance indicators. Firstly as we know labour turnover at the Longsight store is at an average level as many workers are students. We can answer this problem by allowing the shifts to fit in with the workers education, by offering them certain shifts. And then there is the labour productivity which is already very high, so I believe that this should just be kept at a constant level. And workers should just continue with the good work.Absenteeism is a problem when the workers dont come into work without any notice. To solve this problem I believe that managers should phone up absent workers to see where they are. And if they persist in not coming into work then this must mean that they feel demotivated, so managers should try to find out what the problem is. I know that the incentives that Asda offers are very good, but I generally believe that manage rs should talk to their staff a little more and just give them general assurance that they are doing the job in the right way and to show that their work is appreciated.ConclusionI believe that as Asda is worth over 1.3 billion this must mean that they are not going too wrong. And another fact that shows that Asda is doing well is that it was voted the best company to work for in the year 2000 by the Times Newspaper. And in 2001 it was also voted supermarket of the year.