Unit 1 Business Skills Assignment - TESCO

Unit 1 Business Skills Assignment - TESCO

Introduction

Thus unit 1 business skills TESCO assignment relates to the study and communication skills which are relevant for the business. A business problem which relates to the downfall in the performance of giant supermarket Tesco in UK has been used in this assignment for understanding and analysing study and communication skills in business context. The publications and reports about the business problem have been taken from two distinct business sources, one from newspaper and other from journal. The summary of content of these articles and their analyses has been presented in order to develop the reading and study skills useful for business. A recorded business material has been used to analyse the content. The summitry notes and comprehensive analysis of these notes is also provided as an evidence of analysis and listening  employability skills . A business case study is read in detail from the publications and reports searched on Google and the summary and analysis of the case study is presented in the report. The genre and focus of case study, written argument for the non-routine business problem related to the case study, cause and effect relationship as established in the case study and examination of significance of proof reading for a report is also mentioned in terms of the case study. In this way detailed analysis of case study is presented. The use of academic hedging and caution is made along with proper referencing in Harvard style. At the end of assignment a report to the manger is also provided to give him information about the effectiveness of presentation and communication while conveying the business ideas through business presentation. The aspects related to the effective communication and presentation skills and personal performance relevant to the business presentation and success are covered in the report. The objective of assignment is to assist in developing the study and communication skills needed in business context. (Salmon, 2011)

Task 1

Summary of report from two business sources

Business news story from newspaper Financial Times

The newspaper covered the business story on the topic ‘TESCO sales recover as focus returns to core business”. It included how the latest move of Dave Lewis to reverse the efforts done by his predecessors to turn TESCO into wide ranging retail conglomerate affected the growth and sales of Tesco. The second consecutive quarter reported growth in sales after three years decline which was increase of 0.3% in three months. The retailer grocer adopted the strategy followed by German discounters Aldi and Lidl of everyday low prices by offering heavy discounts to customers. It gained popularity by selling the products under farm brands which sells cheap meat.

Business news story from Tabloid journal “The Sun”

The business story in the journal is on the topic “Why has the public fallen out with Tesco”. The news story covers the opinion of Debbie Bullock who worked as an assistant with Tesco. She claims that when she began her job with Tesco it prided itself for excellent services at best prices. The complaints from customers were dealt with quickly and the staff and the managers worked as a team. But in order to gain more profits Tesco confused prices. The customers were told that products were out of stock and the suppliers who used to pay for premium displays were paying for empty shelves. She did not agree with this behaviour and when she turned her concerns to bosses no one listened to her. She left demoralised a year later and in August 2014 when even Tesco’s downturn in sales was also not revealed fully, she published a book on Revelations of how NOT to run a supermarket under the pen name of Debbie Maiston-Gene. Responding to her claims Tesco said that she does not represent the claims of all the employees and they do not agree with her views. Tesco stave to do best for its customers.

Comparison of facts and opinions raised in these stories

The business story of newspaper covers the facts which relate to the sales and profit performance of Tesco under Dave Lewis whereas the journal article covers the opinions of Debbie Bullock for the reasons of customers losing interest in it. The first business story is purely based on the facts covering very little of the opinions of different analysts and the second business story is completely based on the opinions and the facts are not clearly established as arguments are contained from employee as well as the retailer. The first story covers the positive aspects about Tesco whereas the second story covers the negative aspects about Tesco. The impacts on Tesco due to various factors are covered under the first business story which is not found in the second one. The newspaper article is broad covering the comparisons and analysis also which is not made in the magazine article which entirely emphasizes the opinion of one of the employee. The newspaper story covers the diagrammatical and graphical presentation of facts also covering the practical aspects whereas the journal article is completely theoretical. Although both the articles cover the similar business story that relates to the downfall and growth of Tesco but from the comparison it can be concluded that both are quite different in their approach and presentation of arguments and facts. (Yoshida, 2013)

Evaluation of key arguments in these sources and other external sources

The arguments in various business sources which covered the business story about Tesco are wide and very different from each other covering all the aspects and facts about Tesco, its downfall, disposal of its stores worldwide and recovery of sales and growth after the down turn.

The key arguments for the business story include the following:

• The supermarket Tesco which was once considered as the pivot of British corporate success has had a disastrous year with huge write-offs of its value of property, investments and stock.
• The argument made by Financial Times claims that after the worst sales performance during 40 years, the replacement of Chief Executive Philip Clarke with Dave Lewis the slide into the red adds to an "annushorribilis" for Tesco,
• With the rise of shares of Tesco from 1.15p or 0.5 per cent to 236.275p Bruno Monteyne who belongs to investment research and management firm Bernstein told the newspaper Evening Standard that Lewis has made right steps towards the journey of stabilising the company.
• Tesco faces allegations of mistreating suppliers, invoicing discrepancies and demanding rebates on exchange for prominent positioning on its shelves. Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) Christine Tacon claimed that Groceries Supply Code of Practice had been breached by the company.
• Debbie Bullock claimed that she left the company demoralised with the behaviour of company with suppliers and customers and published the book to reveal about the downfall of the company.
• When the criminal investigation was declared on company into accounting irregularities by Serious Fraud Office, Tesco announced that it will co-operate fully with the investigation.
• The news covered that the company has overstated profits by more than a quarter of billion pounds which led shareholders to take fright.
• An analyst at Shore Capital, Civil Black told the newspaper Telegraph that he warned that these are serious times for the retailer.
• When supermarket Tesco confirmed that its profits have been overstated by 263 million pounds, the Chairman of the company Sir Richard Broadbent announced his resigning and said that the matter of accounting issue with the company is a matter of profound regret and his resignation is the accountability on behalf of Board.
• After it was revealed that the profits of the company have been overstated Tesco suspended four senior executives and started an investigation into the matter. The Chief Executive Dave Lewis told the journal The Guardian that the company is responding in accordance with a serious issue reported by it.

All these arguments gathered from different business sources such as newspapers, magazines and journals covering the Tesco matter relate to different events and circumstances observed at different times. They are based on facts and opinions encountered during the events and also the statements of analysts and company officials made in this regard with regards to the company. (Aspire Training and Consultancy, 2011)

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Task 2

Analysis of content of recorded business material

The recorded business material relates to the topic “How to speak so that people want to listen” by Julian Treasure. It relates to effective speaking and verbal communication which is essential in business speech. The speaker is a sound expert and the vocal exercises and tips to deliver a powerful speech as demonstrated by him to the audience is the content of the recorded material. The content is helpful for the people to learn how to speak with empathy so that the listener is willing to listen to and the speaker is able to generate good sound and speech for the environment whether in business context or some other surrounding. The content emphasize the vision of speaker of creating sonorous world of listening and understanding by creating sound, consuming sound and designing sound for the environment across the world. The content of the lecture is appropriate and accurate in terms of empowerment of speech and voice to enable effective and conscious listening by audience. It acne be used by any individual who intend to deliver a speech or make a presentation verbally to a large group of people as an effective tool to enhance communication skills and build confidence to stand in front of large mass of people and speak. The use of methods and techniques described in the content of the lecture ensure that by using them the speaker will be able to gain the interest of audience easily and will help him in developing and enhancing his skills of presentation and communication verbally. Thus the content of the lecture is successful in meeting its purpose of delivering a speech to help people learn how to make a powerful speech which other people want to listen and appreciate and applaud. (Carroll, 2014)

Summary notes of lecture

The lecture started with the emphasis on human voice and powerful speech by the speaker in context of its relevance for making others listen to what is said by a person. At the first phase the seven habits were discussed by the speaker which shall be avoided while speaking, talking to someone, having conversation or delivering a speech. These habits are gossiping, judging, negativity, complaining, making excuses, exaggeration and dogmatism. After this the things which contribute to powerful speech were mentioned abbreviated as one word HAIL which stands for Honesty, Authenticity, Integrity and Love. The next phase of lecture included the aspects which determine the genre of voice which included register, timbre, prosody, pace, pitch and volume. After this the speaker demonstrated vocal exercises useful for warm up of voice to be done before speech. Six exercises were practically performed by the speaker along with the audience to help them learn them. At the end the speaker concluded the whole lecture by diagrammatical presentations and summary of key points discussed.   

Comprehensive analysis of notes

The ways to speak powerfully so that people want to listen are discussed in this source. For this purpose the speaker mentioned seven habits of people during conversation which they need to move away from. The first is gossip which refers to as speaking something bad about someone who is not present which is not a good habit as the person for whom gossiping is being will gossip about the same person five minutes later. The second is judging which should not be done as it is difficult to listen to someone knowing you are being judged. The third is negativity which is equally difficult to listen to during conversation. The fourth is complaining which shall be avoided as it does not spread sunshine and light in the worlds. Fifth is an excuse through which people pass the blames to others and do not take responsibility of anything which is also hard to listen to. The sixth is embroidery and exaggeration which leads to lies told by people. The last is dogmatism which means confusion of facts and opinions. It’s difficult to listen to conflicting opinions bombarded. To make the powerful speech the things to be used are covered in one word HAIL which stands for Honesty i.e., being true straight and clear, Authenticity which means being yourself, Integrity which means doing what you say and Love which relates to wishing people well. Honesty shall be tempered with love. The speaker discusses the texture of voice and types of voice which shall be included during speech. The aspects of types of voice that need to be considered are register which relates to depth of the voice, timbre that means way of voice speech as audience prefer voice which is rich, smooth and warm and can be improved with exercises through help of voice coach, Prosody which means being monotonous during speaking, pace which means getting excited quickly sometimes and again getting slow with including silence also, pitch which relates to the way of delivery of speech and last is volume which relates to the loudness or sound of your voice. Warm up of voice is very important which is done through six warming exercises discussed by the speaker by practically performing them. These exercises included breathing exercise, arms exercise, lips exercise, tong exercise, throat exercise, etc which were performed by the speaker and repeated by the audience to practically learn them. The emphasis was laid by the speaker on essentially performing these exercises before delivering speech so that the warm up of voice can be made. After p [reforming the exercises which was applauded by the audience the speaker concluded the lecture by summarising the content of the lecture delivered through the speech to the audience. The use of diagrammatical presentation was used by the speaker throughout the lecture in order to effectively communicate his content to the audience and make them understand what he is trying to convey.  While concluding the speaker said that the seven things he mentioned to avoid result in noise acoustics and speech which people do not listen to, powerful speaking leads to conscious listening and designing sounds capes, creating and consuming sound consciously results in designing sounds in the  business environment  and this will generate beautiful sounds in the world which is the idea which is intended to spread through the lecture. (Drew, 2012)

Task 3

Case study – Discount shops like Lidl and Aldi doing better than Tesco as reported in the media

Discussion of genre and focus of case study

The genre and focus of the case study is the comparison of supermarkets in United Kingdom and their performance. It relates to an event which is the connection with the downfall of Tesco and allegations on the company for profit overstatement and bullying of suppliers. As the result of bad performance of supermarket Tesco and disposal by the company of its stores located worldwide, other competitive supermarkets in the country got an opportunity to enhance their performance by availing the opportunity and gain advantage of increase in their sales and profit growth. The case study completely falls around the decline in the performance of Tesco due the uncertainty faced by the company and development and growth of other supermarkets as a result of this. The reasons of increase in performance and methods used by other supermarkets to avail the opportunity are the main focus of the case study. (Mc Donald, 2009)

A structured written argument with supporting evidence to a non-routine business problem

The strategy adopted by the Lidl and Aldi to avail the opportunity is the discounting strategy. Under this strategy high discounts were offered to attract customers. A non-routine business problem is a problem which relates to a specific business event and such problem do not occur in the business on a regular basis. Another reason of their success is that they are continuing to open online sites with the view that their growth will increase. Lodi will spend around 1.5 billion pounds in next three years for store expansion and refurbishment in order to compete with rivals. Aldi has planned to start home delivery and third party collections for wine and non-food staples but not food. T5The retailers have high end websites with detailing products and store locations but the non-routine business problem for online opening of more stores is the threat of Amazon which is already selling more than 4,000 grocery items in London and south-east through Pantry offerings. Apart from this it has the discounting policy of sticking to the knitting and is also planning to open Amazon fresh next year. The high competition from Amazon will be the non-routine business problem for these retailers since they are planning the expansion of their business online where Amazon is a giant market holder. This was published by the newspaper’ The Telegraph’. (Obitz, 2009)

A description of cause and effect relationship pertaining to the case study

The cause and effect relationship that pertains to the case study is the discounting strategy adopted by these retail supermarkets caused half of British families to shop at Lidl or Aldi who as discounters grabbed 350 million pounds of sales from the big four supermarket chains during three months. This adversely affected the supermarkets as their profits and sales declined due to shifting of the customers to these discounting supermarkets. The sales of these retailers rose at an astonishing rate of 20% per year since they succeeded in targeting the high income and middle income customers and on the other hand the sales of biggest supermarkets in United Kingdom Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburry’s started to fall as established by two separate reports of retail analysts. The takings fell by 1% at Tesco, 1.8/5 at Morrisons and highest 3.7% at Asda whereas Sainsburry’s experienced a rise of 0.1%. (Supermarket Price Wars, 2016)

An examination as to why proof-reading of a report is important

A report which specifically relates to a business problem is a public document which is addressed to a large group of general public. It is read and interpreted by a large mass of people who are associated with the business problem or who have interest in obtaining the knowledge about the business problem. The information provided in the report is used by the users in making decisions that are related to that business and have a huge impact on that business. The interpretation of information by the users of report is and its use in their area of interest is completely based on the facts and figures mentioned in the report. The analysis of the information of the report lays the foundation to generate the evaluation of the reported business problem. In case of any misstatement or omission in the report the wrong information will be communicated to the users. As a result of this the interpretation of facts and figures for decision making may be affected. Consequently, the evaluation of the reported business problem may get ahead in wrong direction leading to wrong  decision making . This can adversely affect the parties connected to the business problem and report. Thus a little mistake in the report may create huge losses and threats for a business or a party to the business as a result of wrong interpretation of facts and figures which is used as relevant information by the users and analysts of the report. Proof –reading of report before its publication helps in identification of mistakes, misstatements and omissions well in advance which can be rectified easily before the report is published or communicated to the intended users. As the mistake will be rectified before publication it will not come into the notice of any user and communication of wrong information will not be made to them. As a result the use of correct and appropriate information will be made by the users for the analysis and evaluation of the information for decision-making. The interpretation of facts and figures will also be accurate which will result in accurate generation of results for the associated parties. In the reports published about the case study of Tesco and the discounters Lidl and Aldi the figures of sales growth and performance of different supermarkets are very crucial part of the report which has the potential to adversely affect the decision of users of these reports about the business performance of these supermarkets. If proof-reading of the report is not done it is likely that the numerous amounts of figures and facts used in the report may be misstated. This will definitely result in communication of wrong information to the users which will surely affect the decision of retail analysts in analysing the information about the various supermarkets. Thus proof-reading of report before its publishing is very important in order to avoid confusions and ambiguity and communication of accurate and appropriate information to the intended users of the report. (Lowe, 2012)

Task 4

Report to Manager

To,

The Manager

Date – 13^th July, 2016

Subject: Provide information about importance of effective communication and presentation while portraying the business ideas to a group of people.

This report discusses the significance of effectively presenting and communicating the business ideas by the employees of the organization or members of group or team to a group of audience which may include senior managers, leaders, Board of Directors, clients or other stakeholders of business. It covers various aspects that are essential and important part of effective presentation and communication and the way in which they affect and are affected by the skills and performance of person communicating the business ideas.

Importance of effective communication and presentation while portraying various business ideas

Effective participation in business situations and working groups

The participation in business situations and working groups willingly leads to the overall development of employees in the context of business. By participating in different business situations the ability to deal and cope up with emergency situations related to the business is gradually developed within the employee since it helps him learn and grow through experience. It helps him discover the practical aspects of business which can be explored only through dealing with the practical situations of business which arise from time to time. By working in groups the employees learn to work in co-ordination with each other and build healthy relations. Due to the development of team spirit and co-operation the employees will be able to effectively communicate with each other which will result in easily exchanging the business ideas among them. While making presentations for portraying the business ideas the use of practical aspects of business gathered from participation in the spontaneous business situations arising under various circumstances and effectiveness of communication channel development through group working makes the presentation and communication of creative ideas about the business appropriate and effective which meets its purpose of communication to the concerned. In this way effective participation in business situations and working groups result in improvement of presenting and communicating business ideas to shareholders, managers and other stakeholders of the business. (Memari, 2013)

Essence of allowing others to contribute their ideas and opinions

While making presentation of business ideas the active involvement and participation of the audience is very important to ensure that the information is effectively communicated to them. Two-way communication during the presentation helps in making improvements in the business plans instantly without delay and develops the interest of the audience in the ideas and thoughts which are purported to be communicated to them for meeting the goals and objectives. When others are allowed to contribute their ideas during presentations the points which are left or omitted are also covered within the presentation without making any extra efforts. Along with this a wide range of ideas is made available for the managers about the business. The active participation and contribution of others through presentation of ideas and opinions enhance the effectiveness of presentation and makes it interesting for the audience rather than dull and boring. Thus it is very essential for the effective presentation to allow others also to contribute and present their ideas and opinions in business context. (Burke, 2014)

A possible strategy to improve access to systems of information and knowledge

Information and knowledge is essential for developing a foundation on which the business ideas that will be presented and communicated will be based. It is very important that the business ideas relate to accurate facts and figures which can be done only through gathering relevant information and acquiring knowledge about the business. This can be done through correct access to the systems of information and knowledge. There shall be an effective and proper strategy that helps in easy and timely access to the systems of information and knowledge about business. The strategy can be acquisition of information from publications about the business in business sources such as business newspapers, financial magazines, economic and business journals. Apart from these internal publications within the organization about the business shall also be considered such as public notices, journals, enterprise magazines, financial records, annual reports, valuation reports etc. The system shall be in place to identify and determine the authority to access the information from internal sources and use it in the presentation and generation of business idea for the development and expansion of business in long term. (Brink, 2015)

Appropriate presentation skills and non-verbal skills during a business presentation

Presentation skills play an important role in effective business participation. It relates to developing the confidence and ability to stand in front of audience and speak well and be able to communicate the ideas and views to a large group of people. Neon-verbal communication refers to as communicating to a group of people without speaking or through use of sign language, hand movements, gestures, body language, facial expressions and eye contact. The effective presentation and non-verbal communication skills include making eye contact with the audience to ensure them that the communication and presentation is made to them, not shouting or doing intimidating things and actions, making positive facial expressions, having relaxed body language, etc. It is very important to have not only good but also appropriate presentation skills for a business presentation because it helps in effectively communicating the business ideas and views to the group of people. (Summers, 2014)

Gist of direct discussions in achieving objectives

Discussions refers to as the expression of ideas and opinions by each member of group and team in order to convey his thoughts, opinions, views and ideas about the business problem to the group of people. In discussions every member of group is allowed to express his ideas thus there is a variety of opinions on a single business problem which results in availability of numerous options for the decision makers to take decision about solving the problem in the best interest of the business. By selecting the best alternative through arriving at the conclusions from the discussion of numerous opinions achievement of business objectives becomes easy for the organization. In this way direct discussions among the employees And managers about a business problem is the gist of achieving objectives of the organization. Not only this direct discussions helps in motivating the employees as they are allowed to contribute their ideas freely in the discussions and present them to the managers in the best possible manner. Thus direct discussions are essential for achieving the goals and objectives efficiently. (Goldberg, 2014)

A critical reflection on personal performance to set future learning and goals

The personal performance of an employee in the organization determines his long term success in the organization. The personal performance of an employee is evaluated in terms of his productivity, use of skills, creative ideas and business presentations. The consistence of performance shall be monitored regularly in order to find out the mistakes made by him and rectify them. This helps in determining future learning goals and the skills that need to be enhanced by him through training, development or practice of tasks. The experience gained from performing the business activities regularly help in building the confidence and enhance the personal performance. The use of practical skills and communication skills developed by performance of job role results in improvement of personal performance in long run. Due to this the employees are able to make effective presentation for business ideas and appropriately communicate them to the seniors and managers. In this way the reflection of personal performance not only helps in effective presentation and communication of business ideas but also results in identification and determination of future learning goals. (O’Toole, 2014)

In this way from the above discussed aspects about the communication and presentation of business ideas by an individual to a group of persons it can be concluded that the business ideas which are crucial to the achievement of business goals and objectives shall come from the employees of the business and shall be effectively communicated to the concerned authorities so that this may help them in making best business decisions. The business ideas which generate in the minds of the employees go in vain if they do not reach to the appropriate person for making decisions.

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Consultant

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Conclusion

From the above mentioned discussions and analysis done through the use of study and communication skills in terms of business problem as reported in various publications and reports and the analysis of case study related to the business problem, it can be concluded that the assignment emphasize the use of effective communication skills while making business presentations and reports. Also it can be concluded that the use of presentation and communication skills result in the improvement in the personal performance of an individual in an organization. The report to the manager has covered all the aspects which contribute to the significance of communication of relevant information which relates to the business ideas. In this way the publications and reports gathered from various business sources such s magazines, newspapers, journals etc assisted in understanding and developing the skills which can be used for effective communication of a business idea or business problem and its proper analysis and evaluation. Due to the variety of business sources used to collect the information, the skills of analysis and communication through various sources have been developed. (Addams, 2015)

 References

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