Assignment task:
Blue Bookshop was an independent bookshop fighting for survival during the Covid19 pandemic. From April 2020, the Singapore government announced an unprecedented mandate that all non-essential businesses must be closed for entry by any individual. This mandate was meant to prevent or control transmission of COVID19 in Singapore. Blue Bookshop, a non-essential business, had to comply with these orders and business profits and employees were severely affected.
Struggling to stay profitable, Blue Bookshop pivoted to digital e-commerce systems. Employees had to pivot and develop new skills to manage new systems for online marketing and online transactions. Two years later, companies returned to pre-Covid operations and Blue Bookshop's employees could return to their physical workplaces to work. Blue Bookshop decided to allow their employees to choose flexible work arrangements that best suited their needs. This means that during the week, employees were allowed to choose between working at the physical bookstore or carry out their work at a location away from the physical bookstore.
It is the start of a new performance management cycle. Mr Soo, the manager of the bookshop, was responsible for setting goals with his employees. Sally, a newly-hired bookstore associate, was responsible for customer service, cashiering and displaying books on the shelves. While working from home during the pandemic, Sally was also responsible for ordering books and merchandise online, handling customer queries online and updating contents of the website. In line with the company's flexible work arrangements, Sally chose to work three days a week in the physical bookstore and two days a week at home.
(a) Do a competency development plan for Sally that takes into account the new context of flexible work arrangements. Apply the features of good development plans outlined by Aguinis (2019) in creating Sally's competency development plan and explain the implications of flexible work arrangements on development activities.
(b) Sam is an experienced bookstore associate whose primary responsibility is to sell medical books. Sam has been working at the bookshop for two years and has sold just enough medical books to meet his sales target. At the start of the new work year, Mr Soo invited Sam for a one-on-one discussion to set his work goals for the year. Mr Soo told Sam, "Do your best". Explain why the statement "do your best" is ineffective in enhancing individual performance. In your answer, you must also explain the relationship between goal difficulty and task performance.