Chern’s: A Strategic Staffing Plan

Chern’s:  A Strategic Staffing Plan

by martha,swetha,arun & tejal.

Executive summary

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Company Profile

Chern’s is a successful national chain of upscale apparel retail locations.  It was founded 20 years ago by Ryan and Ann Chern as shoe and handbag retailers which, five years later, expanded their product line to become a full-scale clothing retailer. Their corporate vision is to provide their customers with the best quality merchandise and selection.  Chern’s prides itself on its first-rate customer service that sets them apart from the average apparel retailers.  Their strategies for excellence include up-to-date customer service management and inventory software as well as extremely professional sales personnel.  Chern’s is committed to its outstanding personnel through its recognition of them as a vital element in the organization’s success and through extensive training and promotion of its personal into store management positions.  Chern’s currently has 140 stores in 28 states on the East Coast and Midwest and has plans to expand their presence within the upscale apparel market. (FROM CASE STUDY HANDOUT - MW)  The new marketing strategy

1. Business Strategy

1. Core Values

1. Customer service and care
2. Product selection
3. Product quality and value

1. Corporate “Traits”

1. See spreadsheet for “traits” provided by company

1. Strategic staffing

1. Short Term

1. Process Goals

1. Conduct job analyses on the current store-level jobs (including work trait inventories) to ensure that the appropriate KSAOs and competencies are identified and consistently is applied across all store locations to ensure alignment with Chern’s corporate brand and core values.

1. Jobs to be analyzed

1. Store Manager
2. Department Manager
3. Assistant Department Manager
4. Sales Associate

1. Full time
2. Seasonal

1. Processes to be used for job analysis

1. Questionnaires

1. Store managers
2. Department managers

1. Identify Subject-Matter Experts within each job

1. Conduct one on one interviews

1. Direct Observation and Task Inventories

1. Sales associates

1. Construct up-to-date job descriptions for each store-level job based on the results of the job analyses

1. Use the NOC as a basis for the various job description s
2. Conduct analysis of competitors’ job advertisements to ensure we are aware of any shortcomings we need to address to stay competitive

1. Outcome Goals

1. Obtain a comprehensive understanding of store-level jobs within the organization
2. Create and maintain an up-to-date database of store-level job descriptions for each job within the organization
3. Use job analysis and job description information to prepare strategic staffing plan for both existing stores and planned expansion

1. Long Term

1. Process Goals

1. Conduct job analyses on non-store level to complement and complete the process on an organization wide basis
2. Construct up-to-date job descriptions for the remaining organization’s jobs
3. Review and update employee training especially in areas that will support personnel retention and promotion

1. Sales associates

1. new employee
2. employee professional development

1. Assistant department manager

1. targeting development of skills and competencies for possible promotion to department management

1. Department managers

1. targeting development of skills and competencies for possible promotion to store management

1. Outcome Goals

1. Obtain a comprehensive understanding of all jobs within the organization
2. Create and maintain an up-to-date database of all job descriptions for each job within the organization
3. Use job analysis and job description information to prepare strategic staffing plan for both existing stores and planned expansion
4. Ensure personnel has maximum access to professional development

1. Relevance to business strategy

1. Address strategic staffing concerns expressed by Ryan and Anne Chern so that the organization is in a position to act on opportunities for effective attracting and retaining quality and professional sales and management personnel
2. Ensuring that the organizational culture, core values, and vision as well as  future strategic business goals are the guiding principles behind the strategic staffing plan so that the Chern’s brand be recognized as an industry leader
3. Proactively support the planned store location expansion including a consistent annual increase in alignment with the organization’s strategic financial and business goals.

1. Business and Staffing Strategies

1. Formal Talent Philosophy

Based on suggested talent philosophy questions that draw out an organization’s philosophy regarding the type of individual that the organization wishes to attract, Chern’s Talent Philosophy statements include:

1. An active desire to attract employees who are committed to contributing to the welfare of the firm over their entire careers
2. That there is value in diverse ideas and contributions and these can only come from diversity within their personnel
3. A mutually beneficial relationship between the organization and the employees creates a stronger and longer term commitment to each other
4. A commitment to ethical values that promotes integrity and mutual respect between employees and with the organization

1. HR Strategy

1. Identify and secure talented individuals who are interested in contributing to the welfare of the firm

1. Staffing Strategies

1. Legal Context

1. Stock

1. Sufficient ratio diversity – no one gender or race is hired significantly more than another

1. Flow

1. Percentage to hires to applicants is balance within a 8 to 11 percent range

1. Concentration

1. At the department manager level there is a gender imbalance that could lead to a ratio of more females being promoted up to store manager which would discriminate again male employees

1. More training for department manager skills for female sales associates to balance department manager promotion for female sales associates

1. Strategic Job Analysis and Competency Modeling

1. Sales Associate Job Analysis

1. Use National Occupation Classification (NOC)
2. Interview similar employee in another organization
3. Review each KSAO and decide if it should be included
4. Relate relevance of KSAO to other KSAO and determine relative time spent on job duty
5. Create a job rewards matrix

1. Forecasting and Planning

1. Conduct a transition analysis

1. See table A-5 – Transition Probability Matrix
2. See spreadsheet of current and expansion staffing numbers

1. Summarize the internal labour market and highlight any trends or forecast gaps

1. HR Skills Development Canada website data

1. Calculate how many new full-time sales associates should be hired externally

1. See spreadsheet and Table A-5 also

1. Calculate the number of applicants needed to acquire the number of new hires you forecasted
2. Use multiple sources of data to describe the current and future labour market for retail salespeople.  If you forecast a gap, determine whether the gap is temporary or permanent.  Make recommendation to address the gap.

1. Sourcing:  Identifying Recruits

1. Rank order the recruiting sources based on their ability to maximize the company’s staffing goals
2. Provide recommendations on how the internet might be more effectively used to source and recruit applicants
3. Conduct a Boolean search to source two promising applicants using the internet
4. Determine how Chern’s can improve the diversity of its applicant pool

1. Recruiting

1. Develop an outline for a recruiting guide
2. Determine how to increase fairness perceptions of the recruiting processes and reduce any negative spillover effects
3. Determine what the employer brand should be
4. Make recommendations for how the brand can be marketed and reinforced throughout the staffing processing
5. Explain why your approach would be effective

1. Measurements

1. Evaluate resumes based on Point 9 – Assessment and Selection plan
2. Create a scoring key

1. Assessing External Candidates

1. Develop an assessment and selection plan that does not exceed the remaining $4,000
2. Justify your proposed selection system
3. SUBMIT YOUR ASSSESSMENT PLAN TO YOUR INSTRUCTOR to receive candidate scores
4. Use scoring keys you developed for the structured interviews to view and score the eight structured interviews.  Also view and score the eight unstructured interviews.

1. Assessment of Internal Candidates

1. Improve internal promotion practices
2. Recommend ways to identify and develop sales associates who have the potential to become department managers

1. Choosing and hiring candidates

RESOURCES USED

Company profile - info taken from case study handout provide on Moodle

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