Strategic approach of human resource management: A case study on Tesco

Introduction

Human resource management is the strategic approach of all the corporate firms to manage the employees and staff members in the workplace so that they can retain long term employees for achieving success by enhancing organisational performance and serving best care to the customers (Noe et al., 2017). The aim of the study is to analyse the approach of managing human resource in the organisations and acknowledge the strategic planning of the company Tesco to maintain people at the workplace across the international markets such as China. with a focus on HRM dissertation help. Through this paper, it is also possible to understand the convergence and divergence planning of human resource management as well as recruitment and training process in the organisation Tesco which is a famous retail firm doing their operational activities worldwide as well as explore the impacts of culture on the employee and review the reward system in the company for running the operational activities efficiently in China. The study also provides a scope to recommend some suitable SMART suggestions to the organisation for managing human resource and retain the staff members for long run to achieve the organisational aims and objectives.

Background of the organisation

Tesco plc is a British Multinational groceries and general merchandise retailers providing quality products including books, clothing, cosmetics, health and beauty products, electronics gods, furniture, homeware and appliances, accessories, toys, software, telecom service and financial services through which the company is efficient to strengthen their customer’s base across the international borders and run in the business operational activities strategically. It is the third largest retailer in the world, and the firm is operating across the UK, Ireland, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Hungary (Tesco, 2019a). total revenue of the organisations in the last year 2018 was approximately ₤57.491 million as well as total number of employees of the company is more than 460,000 (Tesco, 2019a). The company is operating through more than 6569 shops across the world and it is successful to manage their employees and retain them for long run (Tesco, 2019a). Quality products and efficient services of the organisation are the success factors for retaining the customers across the globe and on the other hand, the company focuses on managing the employees at the workplace as employees is one of the important stakeholders who are efficient in managing organisational operational activities and achieving success in near future. through human resource managements strategic planning, the company Tesco aims at managing the people at the workplace across international countries like China and creating values for them so that it is posisbel to satisfy them by providing them proper rewards and incentives (Tesco, 2019a).

There are differences between domestic and international human resource management strategic planning where the domestic human resource management planning only considers the national level practice but in the international management planning, the organisations need to consider the international practice and human resource management planning for managing their employees across international borders (Wright, 2018). The domestic human resource management is an easier strategy as compared to international human resource management, as the employees in the domestic nation belong to same culture, but for the international human resource management, the employees belong to different cultural background and the multinational corporate firms are concerned about managing cultural diversity and understanding the perspectives of the employees, their values and beliefs so that it is possible to manage them and develop an effective team at the workplace (Cascio, 2015; Wilton, 2016). There is less influence of external environut factors in the domestic human resource management strategy, but in the international human resource management planning, there are several external factors such as cultural diversity, internal conflicts and institutional strategies as well as differences in government policies and legislations across the international borders.

Convergence and divergence of human resource policy and practice in the international context

There are convergence and divergence human resource management practice in the international context, where under the convergent human resource policies and practice, the firms are focusing on the large corporations, preferences of all the stakeholders engaged with the business, following worldwide system, but under divergence human resource management policies and practice, the managers and leaders of the company focus only on the domestic policies, local culture and legal requirements at the domestic nation and the managers also follow the local human resource management laws for running the organisational operational activities strategically (Bratton and Gold, 2017; DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016). For example, Tesco as a multinational corporate firm in the UK, it is necessary for the organisation to focus on convergence human resource management practice for maintaining international rules and legislations in China so that the managers can handle the employees worldwide. Through convergence human resource management practice, Tesco can develop international human resource strategy for managing the staff members across the international country China through managing cultural diversity in the country, implementing employment rules and legislations and maintaining standard of employment.

International recruitment strategies

Recruitment proves refers to developing a pool of qualified applicants who can manage the organisational working practice and contribute in achieve organisational success. the companies adopt different recruitment strategy such as internal, external and alternative ways (Albrecht et al., 2015). The internal recruitment strategy, there are the tactics of job post, promotion and transfer of employees even in case of expatriates employees, employee referral and on the other hand, under eternal recruitment strategy, there are job advertisement, employment agencies, walk in interviews, e-recruitment and college compassing through which the companies are trying to recruit the right applicant who can manage the organisational activities proficiently (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016). The company Tesco utilise both the internal and external recruitment strategy in China for fulfilling their vacancies. Tesco promotes the existing employees to higher level as well as use employee referral for recruiting suitable candidates who can manage the organisational working practice successfully. On the other hand, the company is also efficient in utilising e-recruitment as an external recruitment strategy in the country for recruiting efficient workforce for the organisation to manage international operational activities across China. Job advertisement through the official website of Tesco as well as advertisement post in Tesco Intranet and internal e-recruitment are also other internal recruitment strategy for selecting the right candidates for the vacancies in the workplace across China. On the other hand, the company is efficient to utilise the expatriate employees where the managers try to transfer the employee to another international border China with family or without family as per the convenience of the employees. Skill transfer and cultural diversity can be posisbel through this strategy, where the performance of the company can be enhanced.

Discussing the training system in the organisation

Training is one of the important factors in enhancing skill and knowledge of the employees at the workplace so that it is possible to achieve the organisational aims and objectives (Brewster et al., 2016). In this regard, Tesco is also efficient in designing proper training for the employees in the stores at Chinese market and there are huge numbers of employees at different stores of the company across China and it is important for Tesco to provide in depth training process so that it is possible to improve the skill and abilities of staff members. At the first session of the company’s training includes the history of the organisation and working system at the workplace such as design, working time etc. through which the employees in China can understand the disciplines and internal environment of the company. After that, at the second session, the company provides information about safety, security of the employees, accidental concern, prevention method, internal regulations and fire exit, so that it becomes a safety place of the employees and this further helps to improve employee’s trust and loyalty to work safely. At the third session, the leaders and managers provides proper information about the technology and working practice and it is about 12 months training where the workers are learning through working with other senior colleagues as well as on the job training and of the job training are helpful for the staff members at the organisations to improve their skill and abilities to enhance their individual performnace. Moreover, in the recent era of digitalisation, Tesco provides e-learning facilities through which the company provides 24*7 services where the employees can log into the online training page po the company as well as get proper information about the job, technological enhancement at the organisations and working culture through which the staff members can improve overall performnace of the company Tesco.

Exploring the impact of culture and institutions on employee voice mechanisms

There is strong relationship between the organisational culture and voice mechanism of the employees where the leaders and managers can understand the voice of the employees and listen their perspectives at the workplace (Reiche et al., 2016). In this regard, the organisation Tesco is efficient in managing cultural diversity in doing business in China though there are a huge number of employees form different cultural background. Tesco develops cultural training as well as use common language for communicating with the employees in China. This would provide a scope to the employees to improve their interest to interact with others and communicate positively with respect and values. Cultural training program in this regard is effective in Tesco for the employees where the staff members can understand each other’s perspectives, values, beliefs and culture and respect each other for working together. In addition to these, the company Tesco enhance the opportunity to create group discussion and arrange general meeting for the staff members where all the employees can take active part for sharing their views and perspective in front of others where in the Chinese culture greeting to each other, showing positive attitude and respect are helpful for employee’s voice mechanism. Moreover, the organisational culture of empowering the employees in the organisational decision-making practices another strategic planning of Tesco to manage employee’s voice and create values for them were the employees provide proper views about their thoughts and understanding. As per the Chinese culture, they tend to extend negotiation for gaining advantage and maintain composure during the meeting to understand the employee’s voice and manage them efficiently. Open conversation and group discussion help the employees to manage their voice and express their thought. The Chinese culture believe on small talk where the employees can share their views through discussing their thoughts with others and it is effective for enhancing communication among them for managing employee’s voice. There is cultural diversity presented in the workplace and it further provides scope to Tesco to manage internal conflicts and resistance to change at the organisations. In addition to these, feedback mechanism is another important strategy of managing employee’s voice mechanism, where the leaders and managers of Tesco manages the employees and gather feedback from them so that they can be empowered properly. As per the Chinese culture, they prefer on building string communication where they can interact and enhance trust and loyalty for working cooperatively. Continuous motivation, group discussion, the culture of team work and cooperation, enhancing communication and flexibility at the workplace of Tesco are the major strategic way to manage organisational culture and improve the employee’s voice mechanism in China successfully. hereby, the organisational culture as well as Chinese cultural believes in the business context are beneficial to manage employee’ voice mechanism through small talk, building strong relationship, effective decision-making practice through cooperation and enhancing communication.

Reviewing the reward systems in the organisation

Organisational rewards system is important to retain the employees for long run and in this regard, Tesco is efficient to retain its employees in China through managing rewards system. The company aims at maximising the performnace of the organisation as a whole and the objective of providing reward to the employees at the workplace of the organisation is to attract, motivate, align and remain the people at the workplace. Motivating the people and giving them the sense of achievements through providing positive feedback as well as encouraging their creativity at the workplace are the non-monetary rewards towards their employees to satisfy and motivate the staff successfully across China. On the other hand, annual bonus provided to the employees which enhances the business performnace and it is one of the important strategic planning for rewarding the staff members successfully. Annual bonus with considering the profitability, sales and individuals performnace are effective for the managers to provide reward to the employees and encourage them to stay at the organisation for long run. through providing annual bonus, the company tries to satisfy the staff member and create values for them at the workplace.

In addition to these, shared incentives and the strategy of Performnace Share Plan is another effective strategic planning for successful rewarding of the people at the workplace. In this regard, performance related pay further influences and motivate the staff in China to perform better and achieve the organisational goals and objectives successfully. On the other hand, colleagues as shareholder scheme is another effective strategic planning of Tesco where the managers a leader of the Tesco stores in China provides an opportunity to become the shareholders of the company. Over 150,000 of their colleagues become shareholders by taking active part in this scheming for investment on share and it is considered as earning scheme for the employees. Pension scheme of Defined befit (DB) is another effective way to reward the employees and hereby, the company is successful in providing monetary and non-monetary rewards to the staff members successfully (Tesco, 2019b). In addition to the above-mentioned strategic planning for reward system, Tesco focuses on giving effective salary to the Chinese employees which is important to retain the employee and strengthen their employee’s base at the workplace. Providing appropriate salary to all the employees motivate them and encourage them to work positively with their full potential to enhance organisational as well as individuals performnace. Respect, positive attitude, cooperation and communication are also considered as important factors for promoting collaboration in the Tesco stores in China and this is also effective for motivating the staff members at the workplace. Long service awards, college club board, investing in share as a shareholders and pension schemes are therefore beneficial for the organisation to provide rewards to the employees of the company and retain them for long run (Tesco, 2019b).

Recommendations

The company Tesco needs to focus on human resource management through providing safety and security by providing insurance to the employees, so that the staff member can feel free to work at the workplace. Moreover, gathering feedback through employee’s portal on the official website of the company Tesco in China will be beneficial for the company to improve engagement with the employees and create values for them. Providing holidays packages to the Chinese employees as well as expatriates and proper increment of salary after a basic period of time would be another effective suggestion for the organisation to retain the employees for long run and satisfy them for successful motivation of the staff at the workplace. In addition to these, the leaders and the managers try to empower the employees at the decision-making practice and in this regard the managers need to arrange general meeting for successful participation of the staff where they can express their thoughts and understanding, and this would be beneficial for sharing knowledge and strategies for enhancing organisational performnace successfully.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, the organisations in the recent era of globalisation focus on managing human resource so that they can strengthen the employee’s base at the workplace and retain them for long run for enhancing the organisational performnace as a whole as it helps to gain highly competitive advantage and establish the organisation in the market efficiently. Tesco is also efficient in managing their human resource which is the main organisational asset to achieve success. The leaders and managers try to create values through provides rewards to the employees as they are the important stakeholders of the company to perform better and contribute with their full potential to achieve success. In addition to these, the training strategy as well as recruitment planning through using external internal sources are effective for the company Tesco to manage the employees for long run.

Reference List

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