Abstract

This research explores the link between human resource development (HRD) interventions and leadership competencies in retail supermarkets in Nigeria and the UK, in order to understand better how Nigerian supermarkets can improve their leadership competencies by adopting the appropriate HRD interventions learnt from their UK counterparts. The retail supermarket literature in Africa recognises the inability of indigenous retail supermarkets in the continent to outcompete some foreign entrants in their own local market. The thesis, therefore, starts by reviewing the challenges facing these indigenous retail supermarkets in Nigeria, including the specific competencies they may be lacking in comparison with their foreign rivals. With this established in chapter one, the literature review chapters then explore issues of competency creation, including the theories of learning and HRD, since competency is learnt, and the HRD construct is in the forefront of learning in the organisation. The methodology adopted was a constructivist ontological stance coupled with an interpretivist epistemology. 40 qualitative interviews were conducted and the data analysis method adopted was a thematic analysis, particularly the deductive-inductive strategy, while the method of data reduction was via categorisation, unitisation, and detecting a relationship between the empirical and secondary data collected. A set of core competencies were identified, and of these the key difference in the responses (gathered from the two countries) was ‘reflective action taking’, and which was a major competence identified in the responses from the UK supermarkets, especially, Tesco. The thesis, therefore, matched the Tesco options programme (which is a leadership development programme in Tesco) with David Kolb’s experiential learning theory (ELT), and, both correspond neatly well. The thesis, thus, recommends that the ELT should form a fundamental part of our curriculum design, pedagogy and delivery of HRD related modules in schools, but also should be adopted in leadership development programmes, especially, in developing countries. However, by building on the current debate on the link between HRD, leadership competencies and organisational transformation, this study helps to address the lack of empirical data on HRD in retail supermarkets in developing countries, and suggests ways of improving the competencies of retail supermarket leaders in Nigerian.