SECTION C [25 MARKS]

Read the Following and Answer the questions that Follow:

Aldi

Introduction

Aldi is a leading retailer with over 8,000 stores worldwide. It continues to expand in Europe,

North America and Australia. The Aldi brand is associated with value for money. Its stores

provide customers with a wide range of products. There is an emphasis on high quality

products and providing excellent value for customers. Aldis slogan is spend a little, live a

lot. It works hard to keep prices low for its customers. The company buys large quantities of

products from carefully selected suppliers. Its buyers are experts who choose the best quality

products at the most competitive prices. Training is the process of providing employees with

the necessary knowledge and skills to perform their tasks and roles competently. It can also

ensure that it has training and development programmes in place to meet these needs. Aldi

identifies future training needs through an ongoing analysis of company performance in key

areas at all levels. For example, the company monitors the availability of its products to the

customer within its stores. If the level of availability drops below the targeted level then a

programme of training on order accuracy would be undertaken. It also considers future

developments within the business and within the grocery retail sector in order to predict both

the total numbers of staff it will need and, more crucially, the skills and competencies that

will be required. Aldis rapid expansion means that its current workforce cannot meet its

future staffing requirements. The company will need to recruit more than 4,000 new members

of staff within the next 12 months to meet the requirements of current exceptional sales

growth and new store openings. To attract the best candidates, it offers industry-leading

salaries at all levels.

Aldi organizes high-leveltraining for recruits to all levels. For example, in their first year,

graduate recruits receive training in all areas of the business. This ranges from training instore

to understand how the retail operation works, to regional office tasks such as logistics,

trading and financial planning. All new recruits go through a comprehensive structured

training plan. New employees learn about the philosophy of Aldi and its expectations of

them. This is important in making new employees quickly feel part of the Aldi family. This

training will be appropriate to the role, so could be in a store or at an Aldi regional office.

On-the-job training

On-the-job training is training that takes place while employees are actually working. It

means that skills can be gained while trainees are carrying out their jobs. This benefits both

employees and the business. Employees learn in the real work environment and gain

experience dealing with the tasks and challenges that they will meet during a normal working

day. The business benefits by ensuring that the training is specific to the job. It also does not

have to meet the additional costs of providing off-the-job training or losing working time.

There are several methods of providing on-the-job training. Four frequently used methods are

briefly described here:

Coaching an experienced member of staff will help trainees learn skills and processes

through providing instructions or demonstrations (or both).

Mentoring each trainee is allocated to an established member of staff who acts as a guide

and helper. A mentor usually offers more personal support than a coach, although the terms

mentor and coach are often used interchangeably.

Job rotation this is where members of staff rotate roles or tasks so that they gain

experience of a full range of jobs.

Sitting next to Nellie this describes the process of working alongside a colleague to

observe and learn the skills needed for a particular process. This can be a faster and more

useful way of learning a job role than studying a written manual. The colleague is always on

hand to answer any questions or deal with any unexpected problems. For most on-the-job

training at Aldi stores, the store manager acts as the trainer. A typical format is for the

manager to explain a process to the trainee, then to demonstrate it. The trainee then carries

out the process, while the manager observes. Once the manager is happy that trainees are

competent, they can then carry out the process unaided. This process is used, for example, to

teach a store assistant how to operate the till and to instruct a trainee manager how to order

stock accurately. All positions from apprentices through to trainee area managers follow this

type of structured tell, show, do training. Trainee area managers also undergo job rotation.

They have the opportunity to experience all aspects of the business to give them a complete

overview of how Aldi operates. They can then see how each department and business

operation relates to and links with other parts of the company and other processes.

Off-the-job training

As the name suggests, off-the-job training is provided away from the immediate workplace.

This might be at a specialist training centre or at a college or at a companys own premises.

This type of training can be particularly useful for developing transferable skills that can be

used in many different parts of the business. It may be used, for example, to train employees

in the use of new equipment and new methods or to bring them up to date with changes in the. law.

Development

Development is not the same as training. Development focuses as much on personal growth

as skills that are directly related to the job. A development programme is designed to make

individuals more skilled, more flexible in their approach and better qualified for their chosen

careers. Through a development programme, employees can obtain transferable qualifications

that benefit the individuals concerned as well as the business. This can have disadvantages

for the business, as it gives workers greater value in the job market. However, Aldi is willing

to take this risk as it believes in providing what is best for its staff. Development options for

apprentices include working for various qualifications. Aldi has a fast-track approach for

graduates.

Conclusion

Aldi seeks to provide its customers with quality products at prices that provide value for

money. It wants efficient operations, with its stores staffed by people who are keen and

competent. Aldis success is shown by the fact that it is expanding rapidly. It is opening new

stores and experiencing sales growth that requires it to take on more staff. This means that it

needs to combine good recruitment policies with robust selection processes. Staff are

recruited from school or college into Aldis apprenticeship scheme or directly into stores for

positions from store assistant up to trainee Store Manager.

Required:

a. Analyse the similarities and differences between training and development. (10 marks)

b. Which between training and development is most important to Aldi and why? (5 marks)

c. Evaluate the different ways that Aldi attracts and trains new staff. Which of these do

you think is the most important route for Aldi? Give reasons for your answer. (10 marks)