Developing Employees as Organisational Assets
- •
- The Person Specification
commercial and afterwards in key functions
The Kingfisher Management
- How KMDS is evolving
- Recruitment
INTRODUCTION
The Group requires from prospective KMDS trainees:
Kingfisher plc is one of Europe’s leading retailers based around three main sectors - DIY, electrical and general merchandise. The company employs over 130,000 people in 2,900 stores across 15 countries and has some of the best known retail brands in Europe, including B&Q, Castorama, Comet, Darty, BUT, Woolworths and Superdrug among others. This case study focuses on Kingfisher’s belief that employees are assets requiring growth and development. Through the KMDS – Kingfisher Management Development Scheme – the company aims to produce managers with a sense of loyalty and pride in the organisation as a whole, as well as the flexibility to adapt to differing business cultures. Whilst the KMDS has been designed to recruit external graduates to the Group, it is now being adapted to recruit the best internal candidates as well.
The KMDS was launched in 1995 and today has 172 individuals on the scheme working across the Group. All individuals following the KMDS route joined in their early 20s. Recently Kingfisher has recognised that there are benefits in opening up the process to existing highpotential young managers across the Group. This will bring a new set of individuals to the fast-track process, and motivate existing ambitious employees. It has been decided that internal recruits will join the process at the equivalent stage of year 3 to 5.
•••a post-graduate certificate in management studies from Templeton College, Oxford
Investing in a trainee over ten years involves significant cost as well as risk. The risk includes choosing the wrong type of person and equally importantly losing the person to another organisation during the training process. For this reason, Kingfisher places a great emphasis both on where
it recruits and on the person specifica-
tion used to select the right people.
Development Scheme
••excellent interpersonal skills
The KMDS represents a key invest- ment by the organisation in its human assets. The scheme takes high-potenenthusiasm and drive to become senior managers within 7-10 years
- a
- ‘skills tool-box’ consisting of
day-release training to develop personal skills
••innovative approach to challenges tial graduates who want to make
career in retail, and provides them with range of experiences and training athe ability to analyse and make clear and effective judgements based on data and other forms of information
- a
- ‘buddy’ who is already on the
scheme to provide help and guidance.
Years 3 – 5
adesigned to support their development to become senior managers within seven to ten years of joining the Group. The main objectives are:
- •
- the opportunity of working in
another operating company, perhaps overseas
••an interest in retail, either at a general or specific level (e.g. finance, supply chain etc.)
- •
- Graduate recruitment
Graduate recruitment involves marketing the KMDS through visits, presentations and careers fairs both in the UK and Europe. Candidates’ application forms are screened according to set criteria. Selection is then via a first interview and if successful at that stage, candidates are invited to spend one and a half days at an assessment centre.
•••to support Kingfisher’s intention to fill 80% of senior management posts with internal candidates by 2005
•••developing the trainee’s specialist expertise a ‘team player’ who can adapt to different business cultures quickly and effectively continual training through workshop-based training
How KMDS has evolved
to develop a cadre of managers who see themselves and are seen to be a resource to the Group
•••creativity and ability to work on own initiative
Following an induction in which the
technical mentoring by experienced staff.
Kingfisher is Europe’s leading DIY retailer and its third largest electricals business. It is also exploiting the opportunities of e-commerce through its new sector e-Kingfisher.
- KMDS trainee is given
- a
- general
linguistic ability (at least one other
language) to develop managers who will add value to the Group’s operations at every stage of their career, not just on completion of the course. overview of retail, they can expect:
Year 6
Years 0 – 2
- •
- time to consolidate the skills and
a variety of interests and evidence
of a wide range of experiences. expertise learnt, whilst continuing to receive support and mentoring.
••
3-6 months in a store 2-3 further placements, one in
Years 7 – 10
- •
- preparing for the move from
middle to senior management. This involves one-to-one support and coaching as well as experiencing
different operating companies
and departments.
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information on the organisation
printouts of the case study hotlinks to:
GLOSSARY OF KEYWORDS
••Company: Comet
How was your trip to France?
ing stock levels and developing supplier relations.” men’s toiletries. I then moved company to B&Q, where I was Buyer Designate first for lighting products and now for garden tools and housewares.”
Underlying
Project: Analysis of information requirements
“My three week visit to Darty in Paris
philosophy of KMDS
Assets: Something, or someone possessing value and forming part of the wealth of the owner. Human assets can depreciate in the same way as buildings or machinery if they do not receive ongoing training and development – as well as appropriate reward.
Person Specification: This sets out
the qualities the business looks for in candidates.
“My role as a business planning analyst gave me a clear overview of how the different components of the business fit together.”
- was
- a
- fantastic opportunity to learn
Kingfisher operates the KMDS for two reasons. First, it acts as an incentive to aid recruitment and retention of high quality external and internal candidates who can add value to the business throughout the process. Second, Kingfisher recognises that business success in a competitive market relies on being flexible and able to operate within different cultures. Therefore, its future senior managers need skills and expertise which are both portable and adaptable. about an international Kingfisher company and to benchmark against my knowledge of Comet. We visited Darty’s Head Office as well as its depots, stores and after-sales centres, and gained a valuable insight into how the company operated and, even more significantly, how it had managed to gain its unrivalled reputation for its excellent customer service.”
What was your first role?
“Buying is a very rewarding and varied career. You can be doing anything: for example, planning product ranges, working on new product development, calculating volume requirements, making sure the space on the shelf is as productive as possible, and being responsible for delivering millions of pounds of sales a year.”
Recruitment: The process of attract-
ing and selecting those candidates who best meet the needs of the business. This can be an expensive process, involving time, risk and resources.
“I gained my initial in-store experience at Kingfisher as a sales manager for Comet. I co-ordinated sales advisers, supervised work shifts and recruited extra staff to cope with the Christmas rush. It was fairly manic, but provided a valuable insight into how stores operate, the pressures they face and the basics of people management.”
“After experiencing some very varied roles at Kingfisher, I arranged to work for one of Superdrug’s chief suppliers, P&G, on a three month secondment.”
Employee Induction: The process of
introducing an employee to the organisation or department. It often includes information dealing with the layout of the firm’s operating facility, health and safety measures and security. It is important that this is given at the commencement of employment.
Retention: In order to justify the cost of attracting and recruiting high calibre individuals, organisations have to ensure they retain them. Retaining an employee is a vital aspect of the firm’s success. The cost of recruiting people is expensive. Further high turnover of employees can be de-motivating to other workers, as well as prejudicial to the development of a strong corporate culture.
How was your secondment?
“I worked chiefly on P&G’s skin care category, which includes brands such as Oil of Ulay. Part of my research was to analyse where Superdrug stood
“I find B&Q very exciting, particularly with its expansion into Europe and its position at the cutting edge of the market. There are masses of opportunities here - you just have to maximise them.”
Kevin O’Sullivan is now chain manager in Paris.
- a
- supply
What did you achieve?
Motivate: This can be understood as
the desire to do a particular task, whether this is due to job satisfaction, interest in the function or to the remuneration which accompanies the job.
“The way you grow the next new successful management cadre is to make sure that people come through who are able to understand these cultural differences and not just deal with them at a distance but close up.” says Louise Sproule, KMDS Resourcing Manager for the Group.
“My next role as assistant product manager for Comet’s Marketing department at Head Office gave me a great opportunity to get involved with all areas of marketing, advertising, promotions and merchandising.”
- within the Skincare market place.
- I
Emma Cahill, 24
liased with Superdrug’s skin care buyer and presented my initial findings about the definition and role of the Skincare
•••Current Role: Buyer Designate Company: B&Q
Conclusion
- category to her. She agreed that
- a
Project: B&Q Garden Tools,
Housewares & Motoring
Category Management trial would be appropriate and went ahead with it.”
The KMDS, in common with other management training schemes offers an attractive set of opportunities to the employee whilst at the same time serving the basic business objectives of the firm. The KMDS chooses as its emphasis the combination of portable skills and expertise together with the ability to adapt to different roles, within different stores, departments and countries.
“I worked on building a specific range of products for that year. I had to learn about all the different products available and analyse previous years’ sales figures to establish what was selling and what wasn’t. I worked closely with both the advertising and merchandising departments to produce press and TV ads, along with in-store display stands.”
Tell me about some of your experi- ences at Kingfisher
“My secondment with P&G taught me about the upstream part of the supply chain, and the crucial yet complex relationship between suppliers and retailers.”
Case Studies
“My initial KMDS placements gave me a clear grasp of the supply chain from conception to shelf. I gained valuable shop floor experience, contributing to retail operations at the sharp end. I then spent time in Logistics, manag-
Kevin O’Sullivan, 23
What’s it like in Buying?
- •
- Current Role: Data Warehouse
Analyst, Management Information Systems Department
“After my secondment, I returned to Superdrug as Assistant Buyer for
QUESTIONS
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With reference to the case
1
a) Outline the difference
2
With reference to the case study, explain the importance of corporate culture.
With reference to the case study and your own knowledge, what aspects of the firm are involved in allowing it to be ‘flexible’?
Is the KMDS motivational?
- 3
- 4
- 5
- study, define the objectives of
- between a job description and a
- induction and training.
- person specification.
b) Prepare a job description and person specification for either a job that you know well or the job of a teacher.
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