Job Description for a Retail Sales Associate - Research Paper Example

Job for a Retail Sales Associate The main purpose of a retail sales associate is to provide services to s and help themmake decisions regarding their purchases. Retail sales associate’s job is to greet the customer, show him different variety, and try to make as many sales as possible. The job demands a customer focused attitude and involves satisfying customers who visit the shop. The job also involves arranging inventory, making the sales, and taking down customer details of contact. Job duties will also include managing inventory of the shop and making sure that customers have no issues throughout their stay in the store. The main qualifications required for the job are previous experience in a similar field, good communication skills, and excellent presentation. Organization Behavior Modification Plan The three behaviors necessary for job performance are customer focused attitude, taking initiative, and excellent communication skills. All these behaviors are extremely important for job performance at the retail store. Customers focused attitude should be enforced in employees by rewarding employees on a per sales basis. Employees who take initiative should also be recognized and employee of the month competition should be used to encourage employees to take initiative. Taking initiatives involves doing something that is not a necessary part of their job description. Communication skills should also be rewarded and customers can be asked to fill a feedback form to evaluate communication skills of employees. Organization behavior modification is known to influence performance of employees and, therefore, can effectively be used to enhance performance of employees of retail store (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1997). Evaluating Performance and Informing Employees Performance of employees can be evaluated different techniques. One obvious way is to observe change in sales pattern in order to understand whether employees are exhibiting key behaviors or not. If employees have a customer focused attitude then sales should definitely improve. Also it is important to see whether employee behavior is having a positive financial effect on the business. The second method to evaluate employee performance can be to take customer feedback and observe results of ‘employee of the month’ competition. Employees who are lagging behind in such competitions are the ones who are not exhibiting key behaviors. Another method can be to take customer feedback as it can also provide first hand information regarding the performance of employees. It is also essential to inform employees about the new performance standards set in the organization so that they can also mend their behavior according to the new standards. One simple way is to email employees or give them a small pep talk in which manager can explain about the new performance standards and how employee performance will be measured from now on. A better approach would be to conduct training session in which all employees should be explained why new performance standards are implemented and how these standards might improve the overall business of the store. All small details of the performance standards should be explained and manager should communicate what he expects from his employees. It is important to communicate with employees in a detailed manner on a regular basis when any organization is going through a change process (Vakola & Nikolaou, 2005). This is why communication with employees regarding performance management is so important for managers. Feedback Plan and Methods to Reinforce Positive Behavior The two methods to provide feedback to employees will be through email and via face to face interaction. These two methods can be used together to communicate the employees about their performance. Email is important because employees should have a record of their performance. Also it is a personalized way to provide feedback as other employees will not know about the performance of the employee. Face to face interaction with employees will also be done in isolation so that employees do not feel humiliated or embarrassed about their performance. Face to face feedback will involve a candid chat regarding the details of employee performance and difficulties he or she is facing in the company. The frequency of email feedbacks should be 1 month and face to face interaction should be done after every 2 months so that employees have a chance to improve on their behavior. Positive behavior can be reinforced by offering monetary rewards and by providing recognition to employees. Monetary rewards should be offered to employees when they display positive behavior so that occurrence of positive behavior can be more frequent. It will also communicate to other employees that positive behavior will be bring rewards. With monetary rewards, non monetary rewards also hold significant importance as they can also have an influence in promoting positive employee behavior (Bartol & Srivastava, 2002). Recognizing positive behavior can also boost employee morale and in turn reinforce positive behavior in employees. Benefits of MBO Approach There are many benefits of the MBO approach in the organization. Firstly, organization profitability will increase as a result of aligning employee goals with organizational goals because employees are at the forefront of any retail store. They are the ones that actually make the sale to the customer. Their role is essential and if their goal is set to achieve high sales target then the whole organization will benefit. Secondly, organization will benefit due to increase in efficiency as everything employee do will be adding value to the organization under MBO approach. Employees will not indulge in activities that are not giving any advantage to the organization. Thirdly, a level of bond will develop between employee and organization as both will have similar priorities. Both will be working towards the same direction and this will help the company retain employees for a long time. It is important to align pay with performance because monetary rewards attract employees and make them work hard. Money is something that can encourage employees to work hard to achieve set targets. Another reason why aligning pay with performance is important is that this approach increases efficiency and discourage free riding among employees. Some employees do not work hard themselves and then rely on the work of other employees. Aligning pay with performance will help a firm recognize slackers and discourage free riding. References Bartol, K. & Srivastava, A. (2002). Encouraging Knowledge Sharing: The Role of Organizational Reward Systems. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 9(1), 64-76 Stajkovic, A. & Luthans, F. (1997). A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Organizational Behavior Modification on Task Performance, 1975–95. Academy of Management Journal, 40(5), 1122-1149 Vakola, M. & Nikolaou, I. (2005). Attitudes towards organizational change: What is the role of employees’ stress and commitment? Employee Relations, 27(2), 160 – 174 Read More