Functions of HRM in Sainsbury: A Presentation

This presentation provides an overview of the functions of HRM in Sainsbury, one of the largest supermarket chains in the UK. It discusses the importance of HRM in workforce planning and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches used in Sainsbury's HRM. The presentation also emphasizes the role of HRM in contributing to the success of the organization.

Assignment 1
(Presentation)

INTRODUCTION
• Sainsbury has emerged as the second largest chain of supermarkets in United Kingdom. The company
had gained recognition as one of the largest grocery stores in the year 1922.
• As one of the leading retail sectors, the company has expanded its operations across the globe. The cited
firm also employs around 1,61,000 employees who are offering their productive services at different
locations.
• In recent past, Tesco took over Sainsbury and emerged as the market leader within an economy.
However, Sainsbury still has a large market share and enjoys premium goodwill within UK.

FUNCTIONS OF HRM
• HR manager undertakes different functions in order to ensure stable and smooth business operations (Marler and Fisher,
2013). Further, it emphasizes on reducing the chances of conflicts at workplace in the long run. Some of the important
functions are:
• Recruitment and Selection
• Training and Development
• Performance appraisal
• Employees’ engagement
• Ensuring legal compliances
• Employees’ retention

PURPOSE OF HRM FOR
WORKFORCE PLANNING
• Workforce planning is the set of procedures that the organization implements for the proper functioning. As a
workforce planning, the business unit strives to retain the most of talented employees (Hoque, 2013).
Further, it helps in maximizing the profit and also ensuring long term success of the enterprise.
• Workforce planning is generally of two types as follows: operational and strategic.
• Proper allocation of resources is necessary so that employees in the organization can contribute to their best
for achievement of organization’s goals and objectives (Bratton and Gold, 2012).
• If workforce is not optimally utilized as resources then the competitors will gain an upper advantage.

WORKFORCE PLANNING THROUGH
APPLICATION OF HRM FUNCTIONS
• Recruitment and selection: In order to have organized and productive workforce to meet organization’s goals, it is
necessary to plan recruitment and selection process with high proficiency (Woodward and et.al., 2012). HR manager at
Sainsbury is responsible to attract large number of candidates towards vacant position. Further, the best applicant
should be selected after mapping the requirements of vacant position.
• Training and development: Another important element for proper workforce planning is to enhance skills of
employees. It is through continuous training and development programmes that staff can be productive enough to
generate valuable output. As a leading retail organization, the Sainsbury organizes various training and development
programmes for its employees from time-to-time.

CONTINUED
• Performance appraisal: A healthy performance appraisal system is necessary to motivate
employees’ towards accomplishment of business objectives (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang, 2014).
The monetary and non-monetary rewards should be directly linked to individual’s performance.
At Sainsbury, employees are motivated through continuous appreciation and rewards.
• Employees’ engagement: In order to manage workforce, it is necessary to increase employees’
engagement into various activities. Sainsbury do provide a platform where workforce can
participate into decision making process at various levels.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES IN SAINSBURY
• There are different methods which HR manager can consider for selecting
skilled employees within business unit. Some of the common methods are:
• CV’s short listing
• Interviews
• Induction

CONTINUED
• Short listing of CV is one of the simplest method where the HR manager sees resume of the
candidate and judges him/her as per their education qualification and skills they hold (Jiang and
et.al., 2012).
• In the interview method, candidates are called for a group or personal interview. In this, manager
ask them all the questions personally and see their responses towards the particular situation. It is
also important when some prior information is left in the CV which can be discussed at the time of
face-to-face interview.

MAJOR FUNCTIONS OF HRM
Recruitment and selection:
• Recruitment is a process of identifying current requirement and attracting large pool of candidates towards the vacant position
(Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). On contrary, selection is choosing of the best candidate who fits to that particular post.
Training and development:
• Training and development can be seen as a vital part of the organization where the employees’ abilities are improved
(Woodward and et.al., 2012). It is an educational process which leads into sharpness of skills, concepts and knowledge of
employees. Further, employees’ attitude is changed by improving performance of employees which has been recruited in the
Sainsbury.

CONTINUED..
• Talent development is the process of enhancing skills and capabilities of individuals who are working for the growth and
development of the business enterprise (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang, 2014). Some benefits of training and development
sessions are:
• Efficiency in productivity
• Satisfaction of job
• Less supervision
• Development of skills
• Being a retail venture, Sainsbury requires skilled and multi-talented employees who can understand the needs and demands of
customers in clear and effective manner.

ADVANTAGES OF SELECTION
PROCESS
• HR manager in Sainsbury works development of employees’ skills within business unit
(Brunckhorst, 2013). Manager focuses on retaining the existing talent and emphasize on
recruiting the best so that they can get ahead of their competitors.

CONTINUED
• Selection process which is used by Sainsbury is:
• Identifying the vacancy and evaluating the need of recruitment.
• Preparation of job description and specification statement
• Setting up of recruitment plan
• Deciding a panel of experts
• Reviewing CV of applicants and shortlist them
• Conduct interview and select the best
• Award employee with joining letters and terms of contract.

DISADVANTAGES OF SELECTION
PROCESS
• Sainsbury has large employee-base and thus it is important for firm to boost their morale and
retain them for long-term.
• The major drawback of selection process in Sainsbury is that cited firm majorly focuses on
online recruitments because it has many branches.
• It is utmost necessary for the venture to skip the same because clarity in the interview is
necessary (Buller and McEvoy, 2012). Further, there does not exist any personal touch with the
employees who has been recruited.

REFERENCES
• Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice.
Kogan Page Publishers.
• Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Marler, J.H. and Fisher, S.L., 2013. An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human resource
management. Human Resource Management Review. 23(1). pp. 18-36.
• Jiang, K. and et.al., 2012. Clarifying the construct of human resource systems: Relating human resource
management to employee performance. Human Resource Management Review. 22(2). pp. 73-85.
• Brunckhorst, D.J., 2013. Bioregional planning: resource management beyond the new millennium.
Routledge.

CONTINUED..
• Hoque, K., 2013. Human resource management in the hotel industry: Strategy,
innovation and performance. Routledge.
• Woodward, G. and et.al., 2012. Continental-scale effects of nutrient pollution on stream
ecosystem functioning. Science. 336(6087). pp. 1438-1440.
• Buller, P.F. and McEvoy, G.M., 2012. Strategy, human resource management and
performance: Sharpening line of sight. Human resource management review, 22(1),
pp.43-56.
• Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic
human resource management. The Academy of Management Annals. 8(1). pp. 1-56.

Thank You!!