Human Resource Management Practices in Coles: Issues and Recommendations

This report discusses the current human resource practices of Coles, including motivational practices, effective recruitment approach, organizational culture process, and leadership approach. It identifies the issues in their existing practices and recommends steps to overcome them. The report concludes with the expected outcome of effective implementation of the recommended steps.

Running head: PEOPLE AND MANAGEMENT
People and management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Executive summary
The aim of this report is to discuss about the approach of the existing human resource
management practices in Coles. In addition, the limitations of their current practices are also
being identified in this report. This report concludes with a few recommended steps that will help
in overcoming the issues. It is expected that effective implementation of the recommended steps
will help in enhancing the level of engagement of the employees.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Current human resource practices of Coles.....................................................................................3
Motivational practices.................................................................................................................3
Effective recruitment approach....................................................................................................4
Organizational culture process....................................................................................................5
Leadership approach....................................................................................................................6
Recommended steps........................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference.........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The current business scenario demands effective policies and practices of human resource
management in the business organizations. This is due to the reason that the human resources are
currently one of the major sources of gaining competitive advantages for the business
organizations. Moreover, human resource management should be effective enough in order to
maintain the level of motivation and engagement of the employees (Alfes et al. 2013). This is
leading to the initiation of different innovative approaches by the organizations in order to have
right employees in right places with right level of motivation.
Coles is one of the leading retail chains in Australia with having more than 100000
employees. Thus, they are having effective and extensive policies of human resource
management in order to order this huge number of employees (Coles.com.au 2018). Human
resource management practices of Coles are diverse in nature due to the reason that they are
having diverse workforce in place.
This report will discuss about the current human resource practices of Coles along with
identification of the issues in their existing practices. In addition, this report will discuss about a
few recommended steps that will help in overcoming the identified issues.
Current human resource practices of Coles
Motivational practices
There are various practices initiated by Coles in order to motivate their employee. One of
the major practices of motivating the employees is the reward and recognition of the employees.
It is identified that contribution of the employees is recognized and acknowledged by the upper

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level management and reward is also provided accordingly (Aguinis, Joo and Gottfredson 2013).
This helps the management in motivating the employees by proving them different benefits in
accordance to their job performance. This enables the employees to perform better in their
workplace in order to have more reward and recognition (Hofmans, De Gieter and Pepermans
2013). Thus, the employee productivity and performance for Coles remains positive.
Effective recruitment approach
It is identified that Coles follow geocentric approach of recruitment for their global
business. This refers to the recruitment of the employees from different nationality and social
groups and in accordance to the qualification and organizational requirements (Ployhart and
Weekley 2014). Thus, it is one of the most effective recruitment strategies practiced by Coles in
their business operations. They are having number of benefits from the initiation of the
geocentric approach of recruitment. One of the major benefits for them is having diverse
workforce in place. This enables them to have employees from different social and cultural
groups in every level of the organizational hierarchy. Thus, the effectiveness of diverse
workforce for Coles is more.
Another benefit that is being gained by Coles from the initiation of the geocentric
approach of recruitment is having more options or talent pool for recruitment and selection. This
is due to the reason that having no criterion for selecting employees from a particular county or
social group is helping them to have global and universal talent pool in place. However, apart
from the benefits being gained from the recruitment approach, there are few issues or areas of
improvement are being identified (Sinha and Thaly 2013). One of the major issues for them
being identified is the lack of effective process of recruitment and selection. It is identified that

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assessment tests for the selection process are not effective and full proof in nature. Coles mainly
concentrates on the interview process of selection for selecting new employees. Thus, this caused
non-identification of all the attributes of the employees. Another issue identified from the
recruitment approaches of Coles is the non-coordination among the departments in the
recruitment process. This causes non-identification of the requirements in the entire organization.
Organizational culture process
Coles is also having effective and positive organizational culture in place. This includes
providence of training to the employees, communicating them with the organizational vision and
having effective communication process in place (Hogan and Coote 2014). Coles is having
online portal for all their internal stakeholders. This enables the lower level employees to
communicate directly with the upper level management and convey their issues and grievances.
On the other hand, it also helps the upper level management to convey their vision and strategies
to their subordinates. Training and development program is being conducted periodically for the
employees of Coles (Jehanzeb and Bashir 2013). This helps them to have equipped and trained
employees in place and this also enables them to deal with the organizational challenges.
However, one of the major issues identified in the existing organizational culture is the
lack of having 360 degree feedback mechanism in place. This is identified in the existing
organizational culture of Coles that internal stakeholders are not having the access to the 360
degree feedback system (Horng and Lin 2013). This is restricting in gaining knowledge and
feedback from the employees regarding the organizational effectiveness. In addition, absence of
having any 360 degree feedback system is also limiting the effectiveness of the employee

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appraisal process. It is one of the major gaps being identified in the existing organizational
culture of Coles.
Leadership approach
Currently, democratic approach of leadership is being followed in the organization. This
is identified by the way employees are involved in the organizational decision making process.
The major positive factor in the existing leadership approach of Coles is gaining of opinion of
the employees in the decision making process. Thus, customer service of Coles is also favorable
in nature. This is due to the reason that the more will be the engagement of the employees, the
more be the quality of the customer service. However, there are issues also being identified with
the current leadership approach of Coles. Having only democratic leadership approach is
reducing the competitiveness of Coles in their business operation. This is due to the reason that
in the current competitive business scenario, democratic leadership approach will reduce the
control and authoritative power of the upper level managers.
Recommended steps
There are some issues being identified in the existing approach of human resource
management for Coles. The following sections will discuss about the recommended steps that
should be initiated in order to overcome the identified gaps.
It is recommended that Coles should also consider about the different methods for
motivating the employees. This is due to the reason that providing only reward and benefits will
not motivate all the employees. There are different and diverse needs for the employees that
should be made in order to keep them motivated in their workplace. According to the Maslow’s
need hierarchy theory; there are different types of need that should be fulfilled in order to have

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motivated employees in place. According to this theory, some of the major needs for the
employees are the financial stability and safe and hygiene working environment. Thus, it is
important for Coles to consider all these factors also in order to have motivated employees in
place. Fulfillment of the needs of the employees will ensure that they will be motivated in their
workplace and will be less dependent on the reward mechanism. The more effectively
employee’s will get fulfilled; the more will be their engagement in the workplace.
It is also recommended that Coles should have situational style of leadership in place of
their existing democratic style of leadership. This is due to the reason that having situational
style of leadership will help Coles to have the flexibility in their managerial roles. In addition,
initiation of the situational style of leadership will also help them in having different leadership
approaches in accordance to the organizational situation. For instance, the competitive market
scenario for Coles is requiring less complexities in the decision making process. Thus, with the
help of the situational leadership, directional approach can be initiated in this case. Having
effective style of leadership will help the managers to manage their employees in accordance to
the organizational situation and thus employees will be better guided in different situations. This
will also enhance the level of engagement of the employees.
It is also recommended that 360 degree feedback mechanism should be initiated in the
employee appraisal process of Coles. In addition, it is also to be considered that 360 feedback
mechanism processes should cover all the stakeholders of the organization in order to make
ensure that the feedback gained are diverse and from all the employees. The more effective will
be the feedback process in the organization, the more effective will be the process of employee
appraisal. In the case of the employee engagement, performance appraisal is important due to the
reason that having diverse information in the appraisal process will ensure that employees will be

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appraised in accordance to their performance. It will create positive impression among the
employees and will help in having more level of engagement in the workplace.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that the existing human resource practices of Coles are
effective and efficient enough and it helps them in having motivated and engaged employees in
the organization. However, this report identified different issues in Coles and recommended a
few steps that will help in overcoming the issues identified in the existing human resources
practices. Effective implementation of the recommended steps will help in enhancing the level of
engagement of the employees.

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Reference
Aguinis, H., Joo, H. and Gottfredson, R.K., 2013. What monetary rewards can and cannot do:
How to show employees the money. Business Horizons, 56(2), pp.241-249.
Alfes, K., Truss, C., Soane, E.C., Rees, C. and Gatenby, M., 2013. The relationship between line
manager behavior, perceived HRM practices, and individual performance: Examining the
mediating role of engagement. Human resource management, 52(6), pp.839-859.
Coles.com.au. (2018). www.coles.com.au. [online] Available at: https://www.coles.com.au/
[Accessed 14 Apr. 2018].
Hofmans, J., De Gieter, S. and Pepermans, R., 2013. Individual differences in the relationship
between satisfaction with job rewards and job satisfaction. Journal of vocational behavior, 82(1),
pp.1-9.
Hogan, S.J. and Coote, L.V., 2014. Organizational culture, innovation, and performance: A test
of Schein's model. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), pp.1609-1621.
Horng, J.S. and Lin, L., 2013. Training needs assessment in a hotel using 360 degree feedback to
develop competency-based training programs. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Management, 20, pp.61-67.
Jehanzeb, K. and Bashir, N.A., 2013. Training and development program and its benefits to
employee and organization: A conceptual study. European Journal of business and
management, 5(2).
Ployhart, R.E. and Weekley, J.A., 2014. Recruitment and selection in global organizations. The
Routledge companion to international human resource management, pp.155-171.

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Sinha, V. and Thaly, P., 2013. A review on changing trend of recruitment practice to enhance the
quality of hiring in global organizations. Management: journal of contemporary management
issues, 18(2), pp.141-156.