Amity Business School

Managing Human Resource

Project: Retail Market

 INTRODUCTION
Future Group is India’s leading business group that caters to the entire Indian
consumption space. Led by Mr. Kishore Biyani, the Future Group operates through six
verticals: Retail, Capital, Brands, Space, Media and Logistics:

· Future Retail (encompassing all lines of retail business),

· Future Capital (financial products and services),
· Future Brands (all brands owned or managed by group companies),
· Future Space (management of retail real estate),
· Future Logistics (management of supply chain and distribution) and
· Future Media (development and management of retail media.

The group’s flagship company, Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited operates over 5 million
square feet through 400 stores in 40 cities. Some of its leading retail formats include,
Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central, Food Bazaar, Home Town, EZone, Depot, Health &
Beauty Malls and online retail format, futurebazaar.com. Future Group’s vision is to,
“deliver Everything, Everywhere, Every time to Every Indian Consumer in the most
profitable manner.” The group considers ‘Indian-ness’ as a core value and its corporate
credo is - Rewrite rules, Retain values.

INDUSTRY PROFILE
Retail is India’s largest industry, accounting for over 10 percent of the country’s GDP
and around 8 percent of the employment. Retail industry in India is at the crossroads. It
has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players
entering the market. But because of the heavy initial investments required, break even is
difficult to achieve and many of these players have not tasted success so far. However the
future is promising; the market is growing, government policies are becoming more
favorable and emerging technologies are facilitating operations. India has one of the
highest savings rate in the world with Rs 29 of every Rs 100 of its national income being
saved. These extremities leaves a lot of opportunity for marketers, both Indian and
international. One of the key growth factors has been the shift to service sector, which
accounts for 50% of the total GDP. Led by services such as IT, telecommunication,
healthcare and retailing, the services sector is likely to play an even more important role
in the Indian economy.
India has a large number of retail enterprises. With close to 12 million retail outlets India
has one of the highest retail densities in the world. In terms of the structure, the industry
is fragmented and predominantly consists of independent, owner managed shops

BIG BAZAR
Big Bazaar is a chain of department stores in India currently with 100 outlets. It is owned
by Pantaloon Retail India Ltd, Future Group. It works on the same economy model as
Wal-Mart and has been successful in many Indian cities and small towns. The idea was
Pioneered by entrepreneur Mr. Kishore Biyani, the CEO of Future Group. Currently Big
Bazaar stores are located only in India. It is the fastest growing chain of department
stores and aims at having 350 stores by 2010. Big Bazaar is the destination where you get
products available at prices lower than the MRP, setting a new level of standard in price,
convenience and quality.

MANAGEMENT FUNCTION

It was described by Henry Fayol in the year 1800 when he was the CEO of a large mining
company. Fayol has noted managers at al levels operating in a for profit or not
for profit organization, must perform each of the functions of :
Planning

The organization’s long term goal is to capture a major pie in the market share and earn
good profits. For this purpose the organization has:
• A Procurement plan where it procures its finished goods (apparels) from various brand
manufacturers.
• A outlet site selection plan (to open at convenient and profitable location)
• A marketing plan where (Collect apparels, footwear etc from companies and allocate
store space etc., Advertising.)
• A finance plan on revenues and expenditure and how many stores to open, how many
brands to keep.

Directing

• New products/ designs to be introduced (Quantity-wise and Variety-wise).

• Identification of proper stores location
• Continuous supply of inventories from suppliers (Preparation of Procurement schedule)
• Inventory planning, monitoring, and tracking of work in process.

Coordinate and Controls

• Inventory control to keep the cost at optimum level.

• Orders placed to the suppliers for inventories.
• Volumes of the orders from the customers that the company can handle
• Organized reports at all levels.
• Competitors

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The effective use of people to achieve both organizational and individual goals. It is
actually effective recruitment, selection, development, compensation, and utilization of
human resources by organizations.

Key functions

Human resource management serves these key functions:

1. Recruitment & Selection
2. Training and Development (People or Organization)
3. Performance Evaluation and Management
4. Promotions
5. Redundancy
6. Industrial and Employee Relations
7. Record keeping of all personal data.
8. Compensation, pensions, bonuses etc in liaison with Payroll
9. Confidential advice to internal 'customers' in relation to problems at work
10. Career development
In a business where individuals comprise the principal asset, the structure of the people
pyramid influences the quality of knowledge captured, the speed with which decisions
are made and the morale of the organization. Human Resource is one of the critical
support functions and forms another key element of the corporate backbone.
 BIG BAZAAR People Management
System
BIG BAZAAR People management system is built on 5 pillars of people based growth:

a. Culture Building

b. Performance Management through Balanced ScoreCard

c. People Processes

d. Management Processes

e. Leadership Excellence

Organization Structure

Our organization is headed by our Managing Director. We follow an inverse pyramid

structure; as a result decisions are taken closest to the point of customer action. Sales
executive are encouraged to think customer first. They are empowered to run their
respective departments like ‘small siness owners’.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT OF

BIG BAZAAR
The HR department of Big Bazaar is very dynamic. Employees are the biggest strength
and asset of any organization and the HR dept realizes this very well. This is very evident
from the way the HR department handles all its employees. They take utmost care to
select, train, motivate and retain all the employees. They have continuous developmental
Programs for all the employees. There are two shifts for the employees. The first shift
employees arrive at 10AM in the morning and leave at 7.30 in the evening, while the
second shift employees report at 12.30 in the afternoon and leave at the time of Store
closing (10pm).
For any hr activity one of the major activity is recruitment of the employee. The
following are the main sources through which Big Bazaar recruit it employees.

Sources of Recruitment

a) Consultancy Services: For top level management, employees are recruited through
private consultants. They are usually appointed as Departmental Managers.

b) Walk-ins: This is the main source through which Big Bazaar recruits its employees.
People seeking job usually themselves approach the HR department for job vacancy.
Employees usually selected from this source are appointed at the entry level as team
members.

c) Employee Referrals: This is the other main source through which employees are
selected. Candidates who have given their previous employer as referrals are first
interviewed and from their previous employer, opinion is taken about their behaviour and
performance in the job. If they receive a positive opinion from their previous employer
they are selected.

d) Campus Recruitment: Young people bring new ideas and fresh enthusiasm. Therefore
Big Bazaar visits some of the reputed educational institutions to hire some of the most
talented and promising students as its employees.

e)Selection Procedure:

The following is the selection procedure that the HR department practices to hire its
employees.

i) Interview: For entry level jobs, the candidates are interviewed by a HR person. They
are asked a few basis questions about their education, previous work experience if any,
languages known etc. This is done to evaluate the candidate’s ability to communicate
freely and also other skills.

ii) Psychometric Tests: For higher and top level jobs, candidates are asked to answer a
few questions which basically test their sharpness, analytical ability, ability to handle
stress, presence of mind etc. This is done as Managers are required to work under stress
all the time and still maintain a cool head to make some vital decisions.
iii) Group Discussion: In campus recruitment students are involved in a Group
Discussion, where they will be given a topic on which the group has to deliberate, discuss
and arrive at a solution or a decision which is accepted by the whole group. Along with
the G D they are also given a written aptitude test. Finally a formal interview will be
conducted to assess the overall skills of the student.

Induction

New employees selected will be given a 13 day induction and training program. They
will be given information about the company’s business, different departments etc. They
will be informed of their roles, duties and responsibilities. They will also be informed
about the HR policies and rules of the company. The new employees will be on probation
for a period of 6 months. After this period the HR period along with the department
manager will review the performance of the employee. If the employee’s performance is
good and encouraging, the employee’s services will be confirmed.

Compensation & Rewards

The employees are rewarded suitably with attractive pay packages. The salary of an
employee includes basic pay. HRA, special allowance, PF,ESI, Mediclaim etc. Annual
bonus will be given at the time of Diwali. The employees and their dependents are also
entitled for medical treatment in recognized hospitals with cashless hospitalization with
whom the company has tie-ups. If a hospital is not recognised, the amount spent by the
employee will be reimbursed. Along with these all the employees are given a card known
as ‘Employee Discount card’ (EDC) through which they can buy any product at Big
Bazaar at a special discount of 20-30 %.

Leaves and other rules

An employee during his probationary period is entitled for 7 days of leave. A confirmed
employee is entitled for 30 days of leave in a year. There is only one type of leave the
employees can take which is known as All Purpose Leave (APL). All the employees will
be given identity cards which they have to wear and also swipe while at the time of
entering and leaving the Store.

Performance Appraisal

The HR department conducts performance appraisal of all the employees annually in the
month of April. Based on their performance increments will be given in their pay. In
addition to this if an employee achieves or exceeds the target given to along with their
team members will be provided with attractive cash and other incentives. Training &
Development Future group has its own training division for all its employees, known as
‘Future Learning & Development Limited’ (FLDL). All the employees are given training
for 20 days in a year spread over different periods.

Retention Strategy

We strive to foster a feeling of well-being in our employees through care and respect, we
have several structured processes including employee mentoring and grievance
management programmes which are intended to facilitate a friendly and cohesive
organisation culture. Off-site activities are encouraged to improve inter-personal
relationship. We also acknowledge the efforts exerted by our employees by organisation
an annual celebration called ‘Pantaloon Day’ where we recognize employees who have
shown exceptional talent, sincerity and dedication. We have implemented an employee
suggestion programme called ‘Prerna’ wherein the employee can give their suggestions.
Every quarter the best suggestion received per zone per format is awarded prize called
“Golden Cap”.

Work Culture at Big Bazaar

At Pantaloon Retail, Empowerment is what you acquire and Freedom at Work is what
you get. We believe our most valuable assets are our People. Young in spirit, adventurous
in action, with an average age of 27 years, our skilled & qualified professionals work in
an environment where change is the only constant. Powered by the desire to create path-
breaking practices and held together by values, work in this people intensive industry is
driven by softer issues. In our world, making a difference to Customers’ lives is a Passion
and performance is the key that makes it possible. Out of the Box thinking has become a
way of life at Pantaloon Retail and living with the change, a habit. Leadership is a value
that is followed by one and all at Pantaloon Retail. Leadership is the quality that
motivates us to never stop learning, stretching to reach the next challenge, knowing that
we will be rewarded along the way. In the quest of creating an Indian model of retailing,
Pantaloon Retail has taken initiatives to launch many retail formats that have come to
serve as a benchmark in the industry. Believing in leadership has given us the optimism
to change and be successful at it. We do not predict the future, but create it. At Pantaloon
Retail you will get an opportunity to handle multiple responsibilities, and therein, the
grooming to play a larger role in the future. Work is a unique mix of preserving our core
Indian values and yet providing customers with a service, on par with international
standards.
 At Pantaloon you will work with some of the brightest people from different spheres of
industry. We believe it’s a place where you can live your dreams and pursue a career that
reflects your skills and passions.

CONCLUSION
Big Bazaar is undoubtedly the number one retailer in India. It has built a very emotional
and cordial relationship with its customers. It is also very intending to build long-term
relationship with all its stakeholders, which is very essential for a successful business
venture. It is observed that the organisation hierarchy is professional as all the
departmental Managers directly report to the Store Manager who in turn reports to the
Zonal Head. Big Bazaar, with 25 years of experience in the field of weaving fabrics, is
the leading Apparels and fashion design Fabric Company. There exist a healthy and
positive relationship between employees and managers. The employees accept their
responsibilities wholeheartedly, accept that it is their responsibility to carry out a part of
the activities of the company and they will be held accountable for the quality of their
work. It is found that more than 60% of employees are of the age group of 20-35. From
this it reveals that company is having young and energetic workforce who are very
creative, enthusiastic and also very determined to grow in their career and in turn helping
the company to grow. Working environment is good and also the various facilities
provided helps in motivating the employees. The company is reaching out to all the
sections of the society as it is creating a hypermarket where not only the rich people shop
but also the middle and the lower class customers come to enjoy the whole shopping
experience.