This report discusses the concept of human resource management and its implications on Countdown New Zealand, a supermarket chain. It covers topics such as communication strategies, reward system, organization culture, recruitment and induction process, performance appraisal, and HR policies.
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RUNNING HEAD: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 0 Human Resource Management Student Name 4/18/2019
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Human Resource Management 2 Introduction Human resource management is the process that includes the management of people and human resource of the organization in an effective manner. HRM focuses on maximizing the employee performance through efficient utilization of resource, by achieving harmony in the relation between employees and employers and through maximizing the individual growth in the organization. The human resource department of any organization is mainly responsible for recruitment process, performance appraisal, reward system, human resource policies and practices and for training, development and induction of the employees(Price, 2011). For understanding the aspects of human resources management a company has been chosen from New Zealand so Countdown a super market chain is selected. Countdown operates in the country in supermarket segment and serves 2.5 million customers. The company has 18,500 team members who work in the organization to deliver qualitative services. Countdown recruitment team focuses on hiring the best talent and work on their training and leadership development through different programs that give the opportunities to the employees for their personal growth and in enhancing their skills(Countdown, About us , 2019). This report consist implications of human resource management concept on Countdown New Zealand, a supermarket chain. The project includes the insight on communication strategies used by Countdown, their reward system and the organization culture in which employees are working in the Countdown. Through that study give the learning by using all theoretical aspects of the subject into practical scenario. The assignment focuses on the ethical human resource management, recruitment and induction process performed by the company, advantages of performance appraisal to the employee performance and the reward system of the company. Furthermore, succession planning strategy and the problems and recommendation related to the company HR polices is assessed.
Human Resource Management 3 Task 1 The strategic direction or goals for the Countdown are to focus on corporate social responsibility, strategy alignment and environmental sustainability that all are the goals or objectives in which countdown employees are working and the human resource of the company is trying to deliver high value services to the customers, and company focus in development of employees so that they give innovative ideas for achieving the goals (Countdown, 2019).Corporate social responsibility strategy of the company is to encourage diversity, using environmental friendly processes and giving back to the society. Strategy alignment is related to using the practices and policies that helps in aligning individual goals with organizational goals it directly impact on the performance of the employees as by achieving on organizational objectives their goals are also fulfilling. Environment sustainability practices includes introduction of energy efficient processes in countdown, freezers that reduce cold air loss and overall contribute to energy reduction all that initiatives by the countdown prove to be advantageous for employees as they get eco friendly working environment that improve the morale and motivate employees to work with best of their ability for the society as well as for the organization. Alignment human resource activities with the organization are one of the ways to contribute towards achieving the goal of the company(Collings, Wood, & Szamosi, 2018).For countdown, goal is to align strategies with the departmental goals and implementing strategies in a way that is supported by the employees and improve their performance. Strategy alignment is directly related to change and it impact the employees as many of them resist change due to number of factors some of them are increasing responsibilities, loss of control, status quo and many more. The strategy alignment is done in an ethical way or by following ethical HR practices, as high ethical standard affects the performance of the employees. In countdown employees get proper training and strategic alignment is done by communicating to each department about their role and responsibilities and need to implement new strategies.
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Human Resource Management 4 The goal of strategic alignment is achieved through employee development programs like communcating them regarding need of change, train them for their new roles , using democratic style of leadership while doing strtaegic alignment and focusing on maintaning employee relation. The main HR factors that contribute in achieving strategic alignment in the organization are: Employee Development Communication Leadership Motivation Human capital is an important element of an organization and managing them is also essential for achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.To achieve Countdown strategic goal it is important that company should focus on development of employees as they will learn the new roles and technologies that will be helpful in improvement of their performance and through that they can understand the need of aligning their goals with organization goal and can contribute more. Communication and style ofleadershipalso affect the performance in greater extent so countdown managers should focus on communicating the actual need and goals of the company to the employees and welcome their feedback and ideas that encourage and boost productivity(Mupepi, 2017). Task 2 a.)The factors that are to be considered in the recruitment process or for hiring employees in Countdown are organization culture, growth rate of the organization, salary structure and the working conditions in which people work.Organization culture is an aspect that is considered more as each employee wants to work in an organization where best and ethical working practices are used because that culture help in building and
Human Resource Management 5 development of employees. Growth rate is the opportunities and benefits an employee get while working in the organization. Salary structure is least prefered factor if above two were present as accordance to the demand of employee.In countdown recruitment processit was found that most of the employees are motivated and attracted towards the culture and working conditions in the organization. All factors are important for countdown because it these factors help in getting the right candidates and retaining them for the longer span of time . By focusing on these strategies or practices the employees contribute in higher percentage for achieving the goals. All these factor directly impact on employee productivity(Cushard, 2019). b.)Induction process in an organization helps the employees to become familiar with the practices and policies of the organization. The process starts with giving right information to the employees that facilitates the organizational improvement as employees start understanding and fulfilling their roles and responsibilities(Swart, Mann, Brown, & Price, 2012).The Countdown provides induction program to the newly joined employees to make them aware about policies and practices of the company and to ensure that the employee will work on the prescribed obligations and deliver their best. Induction process facilitates the Countdown improvement by reducing the stress level of the employees and by motivating the person about the new job and make them involve in the organization culture. Hence the employee and organization improvement is facilitated by induction process held in the Countdown. Induction process in many ways benefits he employees and organization that includes introduction of employees with the company procedure and policies that is to be followed, face to face introduction amongst the team and department, explaining safety and emergency guidelines to the employees, assigning and stating the organization expectation from the staff. All the things are part of the induction process that needed to be done for making them feel part of the organization(Nankervis, Baird, Coffey, & Shield , 2017).
Human Resource Management 6 c.)In countdown the workplace learning programme can be done for 4 days for the new employees. The day starts with the introduction of new employees to the staff and department heads followed by communicating mission, vision and polices of the Countdown. A day is needed to make them familiar about the organization environment and working for that orientation and a tour of supermarket stores of countdown is conducted that give the knowledge to the new employees how the company work in team and deliver best to their customer in the supermarket chain in New Zealand. On second day, new employees will be given knowledge on their job roles and responsibilities that they have to follow in the Countdown. Seminars will be conducted to make the employees aware about the methods, application, procedure used by Countdown and the chain to supply the product in the market that will make the employees.To improve the performance of staff in retail segment some modular training session will be given realting to inventory management through Epicore software and a role play can be conducted that give the new employeesan idea on sales training and they can observe the skills and communication required for their job role(Taylor & Yue, 2017). Countdown Learning Programme TrainingObjectivesResourcesTime period Benefit 1.Orientation & Introduction To make employees familiar with the staff of Countdown Time, Flexible environment, Staff and Handbook for new employees 1 dayMake new employees aware about the policies and rules and the authorities. 2.Tour of the Countdown Supermarke ts To inform new employees about working environment and the chain of supply Time, Expert or trained staff, and convenience 1 dayTo build the better relationship with others or coworkers in the retail stores 3.Seminars and Training To enhance the skills of employees and to give knowledge about the tools and application used in the company Time, Internet connection, Training head, working areas 2 daysIncrease efficiency of the new employees and getting them engaged in their roles
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Human Resource Management 7 Task 3 3.1 Advantages of Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal is a process to evaluate the performance of the employees on the basis of some targets and the objective of the organization that is done to know the most effective and high performers in an organization and to motivate them or appreciate them for their efforts and hard work(Albrecht, Bakker, & Gruman, 2015).Some of the advantages of performance appraisal are; Performance Improvement: Appraisal of the employees is assessing the work of employees according to the standard given to them. It gives clear picture about the high performers and employees who are not contributing in the organization so that manager influence or motivate them to improve their performance. Motivation: The process of performance appraisal is a way of motivating the employees to do their best and rewarding them on the basis of their efforts, this helps in bringing the positive working environment in an organization. Clarify Expectation: Through this process individual get to know about the expectations and roles that they have to fulfill in order to be productive and the performance appraisal help in clarifying all the expectations with the employees. Feedback: This process give manager the authority to provide feedback of the performance of the employee in a fair and transparent manner so that any improvement can be made accordingly or it increases the scope of development in an individual personality. Career Planning:The performance appraisal adds value to an employee in a positive note that helps an individual in knowing the strengths and weaknesses of themselves. It serves as a valuable tool for career growth of the employee and to gain the future opportunities.
Human Resource Management 8 3.2 Two advantages that can improve employees performance in Countdown Looking into improving the performance of employees in the Countdown, it is necessary to motivate the employees on regular basis than only it become easy to add value on each side of the supply chain and to satisfy the customer in this segment.Countdown use performance appraisal as a tool to identify high performer employees and low performer employees and than give the high performers monetary benefits and recognition as best performer of the month. On the basis of customer feedbacks Countdown give awards to the most courteous and polite staff who deal customers queries efficiently. Another advantage of appraisal process is the feedback system that gives the employees the idea about where they lack and where they are the best.Countdown employees get feedback on the basis of working in stores, inventory handling, solving customer problems, maintaning footfall in stores, providing ideas and marketing strategies and achieving targets of selling in supermarket stores.Countdown employees are always motivated and ready take the feedback and work accordingly to change and implement the new learning in their job (Countdown, 2019). Task 4 4.1 Propose three rewards plan Reward plans have benefits for employees as they will get appreciation or positive feedback in monetary terms for their performance in the organization. The three reward plans that help in improving or motivating employees to contribute to the greater extent in achieving organization goals include incentives or bonuses to the staff, stock options or perks and opportunities in form of international tours or non-monetary benefits to recognize the employees.Here monetary benefits are in term of money that include bonus that is extra payment to employee for his good work and non-monetary rewards includes perks, international tours to employees, development programs and flexible working hours.
Human Resource Management 9 4.2 Evaluation of two rewards plan Countdown plans the reward system of the employees keeping in mind the current New Zealand legislation; the company designs the payroll structure and pay on weekly wages and monthly salaries on time. The company can use two major reward plans that will be evaluated for the employee and employer both that includes a.)Bonuses and cash rewards:The cash and bonuses given to employees will help in improving employee attitude and working atmosphere, and other also put extra efforts in work to get extra pay so overall bonuses and cash rewards increase productivity but on other side this way of giving incentives demotivate employees as salesperson of countdown believe that they are not getting cash rewards as per their work. b.)Employee Recognition: To recognize the employees is beneficial for developing the culture of the company because it gives value recognition to employee instead of money. Most of the time employee recognition does not work all the tim as it is not possible to motivate employees that put their lots of efforts. Countdown give letter of gratitude and gestures of appreciation for motivating and boosting the confidence of employees. Task 5 Succession planning is done by the organization in perspective to fill higher position within the organization members or employees. It is a process to make an employee capable of handling different work and roles so that when a recruitment is done for the higher position or when a position in vacant in the top management the employee from the organization get promoted to take the higher responsibilities.Succession planning is identifying the future needs, key positions that would be vacant and then accordingly finding out the high potential employees within the organization then analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, and selecting the training program accordingly and then implementing it in order to improve the
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Human Resource Management 10 skills of potential employees. For that career development programs are used , countdown used this strategy for succession planning(Gordon & Overbey, 2018). Career development program by the countdown includes identifying high performers employee and then preparing their career path that help in their development and than posting them to top level positions . The role of HR manager in Countdown is to to succession planning strategy that will be require to fill the vacant position of the CEO that is a top level management. Proper strategic implementation will be done and most deserving employee who has experience and can handle the role will be promoted whenever the CEO resign. This become easy because of the proper succession planning strategies and this career development strategy benefits the Countdown in a way that include an analyses on the current employees and recommending some best employees to the board. The person who is selected for the position will be given proper or enough time to understand the increased responsibilities and role that will be beneficial for the person and company to know whether the selected person can handle the role and consider a best fit or not and top management should support the employee in learning new skills as per the requirement of the CEO position and help them to manage the overload till the person feel confident about taking all the responsibilities. Succession planning is done in a thoughtful and strategic manner for long term by choosing the right candidate with the right skills and experience and then invest on them to make them more capable and knowledgeable according to the demand of role and responsibilities (Schepker & Wright, 2018). Task 6 One of the HR problems faced by the Countdown in recent years is related to employee recruitment and management, company doesn’t get enough applicants or skilled one according to the job description. The main problem for Countdown is lack of higher skills; it is an important aspect for any organization dealing in supermarket segment to have skilled workers or employees to ensure long term sustainability in the market. Recruitment of employees is a main problem for 91% of companies in the New Zealand; Countdown also facing it as it is difficult for the company to get skilled workers even after company is investing good amount of
Human Resource Management 11 resources in the recruitment process(Malikus, 2019).This problem affect the productivity and growth of the company in current competitive environment as human resources are asset for the company that help in developing and building the brand image in the market. Efficient human resource is a necessary requirement for a company to grow(lles, 2019). This problem can be solved by shifting to e-recruitment process and doing all process on online portals. The growth of web or use of online sources impacted on the process of recruitment and selection. Now Countdown has to focus on getting talent from different areas by making its presence in the online portals or it can be done through recruitment service provider. It reduces the cost and resources used in hiring process and also help the Countdown to get skillful human resource. This enables recruitment manager to have relationship directly with potential candidates. Countdown should make job pages on their website to accept the application from applicants and to get pool of skilled candidates and can use recruitment software that enable the company to boost its recruitment process and have fast and personal interaction with the candidates. This problem is managed on timely manner so that it can’t affect the growth of the company and don’t leads to mismanagement in the organization. Effective workforce helps the countdown to deliver its services to its best and to satisfy the customers in supermarket chain. Recruitment is the key element in human resource management as it is inducing pool of skilled people to apply so that company get more alternatives for selection and hire most productive and suitable employee for the company.
Human Resource Management 12 Conclusion Human resource management includes recruiting, selecting, training, development and managing employees in an organization as the human resources are asset for the company that help a company to grow and develop. It is concluded that managing human resources in an organization is an important consideration if not properly done it affect the overall growth of the company. After assessing the human resource practices and policies of Countdown it is known that it is essential to have an effective workforce to attain the strategic goals of the company and for that some human factors that helps are training and development of employees, and motivating them on a specific interval towards achieving the goal. The report concluded the human resource activities done by countdown in order to remain the market leader in the supermarket chain in New Zealand. From study it was found that recruitment process of the company is affected by salary structure, organization culture and the opportunities for growth in the company all these factors are found to be important while recruiting and a workplace learning programme is developed for Countdown keeping in mind the time and cost factor and the induction period. It is conclude and understood from the analysis of Countdown HR policies and practices that company adopted different strategies to manage and retain the workforce but the HR problem that was faced by the company is related to recruitment and getting skilled staff for the company that can be solved by shifting to e recruitment process or outsourcing recruitment activities to the recruitment service providers.
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Human Resource Management 13 References Albrecht, S. L., Bakker, A. B., & Gruman, J. A. (2015). Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach.Journal of Organization Effectiveness: People and Performance, 7-35. Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T., & Szamosi, L. T. (2018). Strategic HRM.Human Resource Management- A Critical Approach, 25-29. Countdown. (2019, April 22).2017 Corporate Responsibility Report. Retrieved from countdown.nz: https://www.countdown.co.nz/media/8652/countdown-cr-report- 2017.pdf Countdown. (2019, April 22).About us. Retrieved from Countdown.nz: https://www.countdown.co.nz/about-us/our-company Countdown. (2019, April 22).Career path. Retrieved from countdown.nz: https://www.countdown.co.nz/about-us/careers/career-path/human-resources Countdown. (2019, April 22).Emerging Diversity and Inclusion. Retrieved from diversityworksnz: https://diversityworksnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Countdown.pdf Countdown. (2019, April 22).Greenbond for supermarket. Retrieved from coutdownstrategy: https://www.countdown.co.nz/news-and-media-releases/2019/february/countdown- named-nz-organisation-of-the-year Cushard, B. (2019, April 22).Do your employees feel proud to come to work like they do at countdown new zealand. Retrieved from blogservice: https://blog.servicerocket.com/adoption/do-your-employees-feel-proud-to-come-to- work-like-they-do-at-countdown-new-zealand
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