Impacts of Strong Human Resource in Mercedes Benz, London

The report examines the role of human resource management in Mercedes Benz in the United Kingdom. The study aims to examine the performance of the employees, performance of the organization and the human resource strategies to examine the pros and cons for Mercedes Benz in United Kingdom.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human resource management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Executive Summary
The report has examined the role of human resource management in Mercedes Benz in
the United Kingdom. The study had aimed to examine the performance of the employees,
performance of the organization and the human resource strategies to examine the pros and cons
for Mercedes Benz in United Kingdom. The literature review has effectively depicted the
importance of human resource management in developing effective management in any
organization. The research methodology has been developed to conduct thematic analysis where
secondary data sets has been gathered as per the need of the study. The findings show that
compared to the performance of the other subsidiaries and the global headquarter, the business is
lagging and considerable amount of changes is required in the human resource policies.

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Background of the study........................................................................................................4
1.2 Significance of the study.......................................................................................................6
1.3 Research Aim and objective..................................................................................................6
1.4 Research question..................................................................................................................7
1.4 Summary................................................................................................................................7
2.0 Literature review........................................................................................................................8
2.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................8
2.2. Concept and Functions of Human Resource Management...................................................8
2.3. Impacts of Strong Human Resource Management in Organizations..................................11
2.4. Structure and Social Responsibilities of HRM in Organizations.......................................13
2.5. Analysis of HRM Practices in Mercedes Benz...................................................................14
2.6. Research Gap......................................................................................................................16
2.7. Summary.............................................................................................................................17
3.0 Research Methodology............................................................................................................18
3.1 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................18
3.2 Research Approach..............................................................................................................19
3.3 Research Design..................................................................................................................19
3.4 Data collection.....................................................................................................................20

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3.5 Data analysis........................................................................................................................20
3.5 Sampling..............................................................................................................................21
3.6 Reliability and Validity........................................................................................................22
3.7 Ethical consideration...........................................................................................................22
4.0 Data..........................................................................................................................................23
4.1 Analysis...................................................................................................................................39
Theme 1: Performance of employees of the organization.........................................................39
Theme 2: Conditions of employees in the organization............................................................41
Theme 3: Performance of the company as a whole...................................................................41
Theme 4: Human resource management of the company.........................................................43
5.0 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................45
References......................................................................................................................................48
Appendix........................................................................................................................................53
Reflection log.............................................................................................................................53
Professional statement...............................................................................................................54

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Topic: Impacts of Strong Human Resource in Mercedes Benz, London
1.0 Introduction
This report will examine the impact of effective human resource management on the
overall performance of the employees and the organization in Mercedes Benz. Globalization has
changed the operating scenario of the companies in the global market due to the increase in level
of competition due to the free trade. Marketing orientation had been the key focus of the
companies for a long time but it has changed with time and managing the workforce effectively
has been one of the major factors for gaining sustainable competitive advantage.
1.1 Background of the study
A rapid changing economic all over the world consisting of factors such as globalization,
deregulation of markets and change in the needs and wants of the consumers in the market has
become the operating environment for majority of the companies. In order to gain competitive
advantage, organizations are looking to reduce their operational cost by improving the
organizational performance and improving the quality of the products and processes (Anitha
2014). Human resource management is the key aspect of enhancing these above mentioned
activities as it increases in employee productivity and efficiency. Effective human resource
management also reduces the turnover rate in the organization which facilitates in reducing the
operational cost. The above mentioned statements shows the gravity human resource
management has on the organizational performance. This means that human resource
management contribute to efficiency and revenue growth of the organization.
Guerci et al. (2015) states that human resource management is just a means of cost
reduction and does not create any value for the company. Therefore, human resource

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management cannot be considered as a source of value creation for the companies. On the
contrary, Jiang et al. (2017) argues that human resource management act a strategic lever that not
only has significant impact on the first bottom line of the organization that is increase in revenue
generation but has shifted their focus on value creation. The workforce in every organization are
essential for adding value to the services or products offered so factors such as employee
retention, level of satisfaction and employment creation are key for organizational success.
Talent management is another aspect of human resource management which has gained
importance in the global market due to the shortage of the high number of skilled workforce in
the market. The companies in the automotive industry also face issues due to high turnover rate
as lack of experienced and skilled employees hampers the production and comprises quality.
Automotive industry is highly competitive in nature and companies are in fierce battle to gain
majority of the shares in the market.
Mercedes-Benz is the global brand of the German company named Daimler AG which
is one of the major brands in the automotive industry. The product line of the organization
consists of products such as coaches, vehicles, buses, Lorries and luxury vehicles (Mercedes-
benz.com 2018). The brand started in the year of 1886 when Karl Benz developed the fastest car
in the world. Innovation is the key identity of the brand and they have explored different forms
of technology and design to reinvent their products. Mercedes-Benz has experienced a downhill
trajectory during the mid-2000s where the company’s growth was stagnated for a long period of
time. The competitors in the market such as Audi and BMW were 40-50% ahead of Mercedes
but the implementation of the growth strategy in the start of the last decade improved the growth
of the company in United Kingdom (Mercedes-benz.com 2018). The major issue that the
company faced in UK that it had excessive red tape where there were too many back-ups for the

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backup processes which were redundant and time consuming. On the other hand, there were less
number of processes at the point of service and point of sales. The company was able to increase
their growth by reducing the level of bureaucracy in the organization which made the businesses
easier to conduct. Human resource management has been the key enabler in improving the
conditions in the organization in United Kingdom. Therefore, the study will aim to shed a light
on the impact of the human resource policies on the employee and organizational performance.
1.2 Significance of the study
Human resource management has been one of the major factors responsible for
improving the bottom line of the organization and sustain in the United Kingdom market. The
study is highly significant as Mercedes Benz in United Kingdom as it is one of the best example
that portrays the importance of human resource management in any organizational setting.
Moreover, the study will able to evaluate the importance of the value creation in an
organizational setting and the way human resource management is essential for value creation in
the market.
1.3 Research Aim and objective
 To analyse the performance of Mercedes Benz in London over the years, in terms of
employment creation, employee retention and level of satisfaction of the employees
 To examine the human resource management practices implemented in the concerned
organization and the changes in the same over the years
 To analyse the positive as well as negative implications which the human resource
department of Mercedes Benz, London, has on the employees, their productivity,
motivation, retention and level of satisfaction and also on the overall performance of the
company

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1.4 Research question
How does the presence of a strong human resource department affect the performance
and operations of Mercedes Benz Company as a whole, in their operational framework in
London?
The secondary questions which the concerned research proposes to study are as follows:
1. What are the current human resource management practices in Mercedes Benz, London and
how have the practices changed and modified over the years?
2. How have the human resource management practices affected the employee performance,
level of satisfaction, motivation, easiness and retention of the employees in the concerned
organization?
3. What are the implications of the human resource department on the overall performance of
Mercedes Benz, London?
1.4 Summary
This chapter of the study has introduced the research problem along the background of
the research. The objectives and the research question which needs to addressed and evaluated in
this research has been defined effectively. The remaining part of the study has been developed
based on the assumptions made in the first chapter of the study.

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2.0 Literature review
2.1. Introduction
Albrecht et al. (2015) revealed that with increasing global business scenario dynamics
along with increasing level of competition in the business surrounding all over the world has
increased the requirement for effective along with productive operational framework along with
per use of human resources. This in turn has also asserted the considerable roles played by the
aspects of human resource management. There has been several reasechers regarding the
importance of various aspects related with strong human resource management along with its
need, implications, problems, benefits and prospects (Al-Sarayrah et al. 2016). Considering the
same, the literature review will focus on analyzing and discussing scholarly evidences those exist
in global organizations human resource management.
2.2. Concept and Functions of Human Resource Management
Bednall, Sanders and Runhaar (2014) explained that in order to understand the concept of
human resource management within the global business along with commercial context, it is of
great importance to realize the importance and meaning of “human resources”. The term “human
resources” has been explained and depicted by several researchers to be the employees or people
those are included within the workforce of any company particularly within the commercial
sector. In contrast, Brewster (2017) has elaborated that the human resources existing within any
organization includes the most vital resources or production means within the business
framework that contribute to the effectiveness of utilization along with allocation of several
productive resources in consideration to their expertise and skills. This can in turn facilitate the
companies in developing effective operational frameworks for their companies along with their

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employees. It is also suggested by these reasechers that human resources existing within the
companies that contributes to the effectiveness of use along with allocation of productive
resources in consideration of skills and expertise that facilitates them in attaining their objectives.
Chowhan, Pries and Mann (2017) has explained human capital to be major human resource for
companies whose knowledge and skills contributes to 85% of the total productive assets of any
specific business organization in international scenario. These reasechers also indicated that
within any business organization it is evident that human resources serve as an important
component of production and operational process along with maintaining, monitoring along with
allocating them effectively is important. This can also facilitate in making sure of productivity,
profitability, competitiveness along with long term substantiality of the organizations. Collings,
Wood and Szamosi (2018) explained that such increasing need has resulted in the development
of “human resource management” concept within international business scenario.
The major objective of the human resource department is to maximize employee
performances along with ensuring organizational success. In addition, it must also ensure
employees welfare maximization that can further enhance their satisfaction and motivation level
in their respective workplaces. According to the views presented by DeGeest, Follmer, Walter
and O’Boyle (2017) it is evident that the major functions and roles played by the human resource
management department of the organizations within the general framework that is elaborated
under:
 Selection and recruitment: Guerci et al. (2015) have explained this one of the major
functions of human resource department of any company and one among them is
recruitment important and needed human resources. These reasechers also explain the
concept of “recruiting” as a technique of attracting, screening along with choosing

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suitable candidates with necessary skills for distinct job roles in the organization. This is
conducted in this manner that the skills of the employees match suitably with the needs of
the organizations.
 Employees orientation- Jackson, Schuler and Jiang (2014) indicated that just recruiting
the suitable employees that does not make sure of increased productivity of the company
as the staffs hired, requires to adjust themselves with their new jobs, work environment
along with requirements of employers. These reasechers also stated that other major
function of the human resource department is focused on orienting workforce in their
new workplaces along with making them realizing the organizational objectives and
goals and the ways in which they can contribute in attaining the same.
 Workplace environment and safety: Kramar (2014) elaborated that the aspects of
human resource management within the companies also ahs the accountability of
developing a productive along with better work environment that can motivate workforce
to give best efforts in attaining common organizational goals. In order to motivate the
workforce, the human resource management are focused on developing monetary along
with non-monetary motivations along with advantages for increasing employee welfare
and satisfaction.
 Employee relations: Ma Prieto and Pilar Perez-Santana (2014) elaborated in their
research that employees being the foundation of the companies it is of utmost importance
for the company’s management that an effective relationship is maintained at
professional and personal level. This can facilitate in promoting a healthy along with
contributing relationship among employers and employees that falls under vital roles of
human resource department of all the business organizations.

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 Training and development: Mostafa, Gould Williams and Bottomley (2015)‐ stated that
employees’ skill and training development also serves as major functions of the human
resource department. This can also facilitate in making sure that there is a constant
increase in workers effectiveness and productivity that contributes to profitability and
competitiveness of the companies.
2.3. Impacts of Strong Human Resource Management in Organizations
Paillé, Chen, Boiral and Jin (2014) explained that the strong human resource management
is generated through dedicated along with expert human resource professionals those greatly
focus on the aspects related with suitable maintenance, management along with development of
human capital and resources in the company. With the growing years, the complexities related
with legislations and regulations is observed to be increasing all through the world within
commercial factors. Moreover, a strong human resource department is deemed to be leaders in
such aspects as it deals with the taxation laws, hiring, administration, employments, training,
terminating and certain other human resource management-based factors within a company in a
better manner. Schuler and E. Jackson (2014) indicated that the major impacts of strong human
resource department existence can be can also result in development of work environment within
the business organizations that is characterized by free flow of ideas, wealth maximization of
employees along with the employers. This can result in increasing productivity of employees,
increased profitability, competitiveness, prosperity along sustainability of companies along with
attaining the organizational objectives.
Sheehan (2014) also elaborated that there is a positive relationship between the human
resource department and organizational performance. Through maintaining effective human
resource engagement, the common goals of the companies can be shared and applied by means

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of knowledge, employee capability along with competence maintained by the company through
training along with encouraging environment. According to Shuck et al. (2014) it has been
gathered that expansion in business performance and productivity can also facilitate in expanding
the future returns. The impact of strong human resource management serves as a major aspect of
the business enterprise and it includes organizations intangible, irreplaceable along with un-
imitable resources. Sikora and Ferris (2014) revealed that effect of human resource management
policies and practices on the employee performance is an important subject within the fields of
human resource management and industrial relations. This also indicates that training positively
impacts the level of managers performance and it has also been revealed that training boost
employee morale along with increasing performance. Moreover, training also facilitates
employees in attaining increased competencies that is required to carry out jobs in a better
manner.
Stone and Deadrick (2015) also revealed that strong maintainice of human resource
system facilitates the organizations in maintaining strict division of labor along with narrowly
designing and specializing jobs. In this strong human resource system includes rules related with
career progression and compensation. It is also revealed that human resource such as labor and
business function is observed to minimize cost and potential source of efficiency gains. Voegtlin
and Greenwood (2016) added that HR decisions are deemed to be the source of value creation
and such new strategic human resource in maintaining effective workforce performance.
Research has also explained that through strong policies of human resource management
employees develop highly positive attitudes in attaining suitable employee performance. For
instance, the level of extrinsic rewards offered through maintaining string human resource
management, employees are likely to develop better organizational commitment, knowledge

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base and organization-based self-esteem. In contrast, Vomberg, Homburg and Bornemann
(2015) stated that the HR professionals are focused on maintaining continuous innovation
through responding positively to new ideas along with constantly keeping track of the new trends
in managing human resource. In addition, it has also been revealed that innovative HR
interventions is designed to make sure that employees are able to respond spontaneously to the
critical demand of companies. This also facilitates in developing better potential to develop
healthy and successful companies. Bednall, Sanders and Runhaar (2014) indicated that the
organizations those simply follow the traditional approaches of managing employees in order to
make them perform at a better level. These reasechers also stated that strong human resource
management in organizations facilitates better organizational support along with increasing
commitment and satisfaction among employees. Bednall, Sanders and Runhaar (2014) also
stated that employees are motivated when there are financial rewards directly associated with
their performance and this also facilitated in maintain association between compensation and
work performance.
2.4. Structure and Social Responsibilities of HRM in Organizations
The structure of human resource management within the organizations is focused on
maintaining better organizational performance. Moreover, Vomberg, Homburg and Bornemann
(2015) also indicated that the organizational structure and social responsibility of the
organizations include HRM output, policies, business strategies and organizational performance
model. These researchers also explained that the social responsibilities of the human resource
department are maintaining strong HRM policies that can facilitate in developing better human
capital pool through developing unique, rare and non-substitutable internal resources in
organizations. In contrast, Bednall, Sanders and Runhaar (2014) explained that HRM policies

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within global organizations has social responsibilities in maintaining necessary skills, attitudes
and behavior in enhancing workplace environment. These researchers have also elaborated the
fact that the role of HRM is immense in assisting an organization accomplish its social
objectives. The engagement of the staffs is a crucial factor in relation to social performance.
The human resource managers possess the tools as well as the opportunities for
leveraging staff commitment to and involvement in the social strategy of the organization. The
better performing social organizations boost a culture of social responsibility along with fully
integrating CSR across their operations, incentivizing and rewarding the decisions and initiatives
related to CSR (Chowhan, Pries and Mann 2017). The staffs prefer working for organizations
aligned with values; thus, taking into account CSR into the staff brand could enhance retention
and recruitment, especially in tight labor markets. The social responsibilities could be applied to
the toolkit of human resources leading to a pathway or roadmap for the HR practitioners to
follow wishing the contribution of accomplishing the business aspirations and sustainability of
the organization. This assists in enhancing environmental and social conditions from both local
and international perspectives.
2.5. Analysis of HRM Practices in Mercedes Benz
Collings, Wood and Szamosi (2018) indicates that the human resource management
practices in Mercedes Benz is focused on maintaining reputation of the organization along with
maintaining better consumer rankings. These researchers also revealed that Mercedes Benz is
observed to follow modern trends within the manufacturing sector through accepting certain
robotic technology in their human resource management technology. Collings, Wood and
Szamosi (2018) revealed that the company is maintaining strong human resource management
practices through recognizing the value of human flexibility along with adaptability of new

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HRM practices within the company These researchers have also revealed that HR planning in the
company involves collecting relevant information, developing objectives along with making
decisions those can facilitate the companies on attaining their common shared goals. Vomberg,
Homburg and Bornemann (2015) added that human resource planning serves as the most
important component in securing their future business operations. In addition, the workforce
management processes within Mercedes Benz is focused on maintaining best human resource
management practices, knowledge management along with organizational development that
maintains an increased focus on aligning changing business needs with development of the
employee competencies.
Figure 1: HRM Practices Maturity Levels
(Source: Vomberg, Homburg and Bornemann 2015)

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In order to maintain effective employee relations, Mercedes-Benz encourages its staffs to
work closer to their homes. Moreover, it provides its staffs with the freedom of transfer;
therefore, encouraging staff retention. Along with this, the utilization of shift work increases the
ability of the individuals to work for hours suiting their own timetables. Such working pattern
flexibility, which is significant for exchanging ideas and the promotion of faith or equality are all
influential dynamics. This has assisted the organization in developing a broad multicultural team
of staffs, which are attune to the attitudes of the individual communities that it serves. The
organization assures that each staff knows their rights within the organization, which could be
viewed as a technique of assuring that staff unions provide support to the market aspirations of
the organization (Collings, Wood and Szamosi 2018). Finally, Mercedes-Benz is involved in
embracing health and safety regulations, while an additional bonus could be viewed as training.
Training is provided in the form of disaster management and this is deemed to be positive for the
staffs.
2.6. Research Gap
From analyzing the existing literature on the impacts of strong human resource in
organizations it has been observed that there are certain gaps in the existing reasechers the
literature review has examined human resource management along with the meaning,
implications along with advantages of human resource departments in organizations (Ma Prieto
and Pilar Perez-Santana 2014). There exists certain gap within the practical implications of
strong human resource management on real organizations over the time periods. It is gathered
that Mercedes Benz is among the renowned organizations all around the world along with
studying a lot regarding business and organizations operational frameworks. There is also
observed to be a gap in the aspects of studying human resource management characteristics of

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the organizations (Mostafa, Gould Williams and Bottomley 2015)‐ . Focused on such gap, the
current research will explain the implications of the same along ith strengths and weaknesses of
the department. It will also explain the areas of further improvement in the human resource
department of Mercedes Benz in London. Taking int account the same, the research intends to
venture within such aspects to address the gaps identified from the existing research.
2.7. Summary
The literature review focused on analyzing and discussing scholarly evidences those exist
in global organizations human resource management. It was gathered from the paper that the
strong human resource management is generated through dedicated along with expert human
resource professionals those greatly focus on the aspects related with suitable maintenance,
management along with development of human capital and resources in the company. The
literature review revealed that the major impacts of strong human resource department existence
can be can also result in development of work environment within the business organizations that
is characterized by free flow of ideas, wealth maximization of employees along with the
employers. Moreover, there is a gap observed in the aspects of studying human resource
management characteristics of the organizations. Focused on such gap, the current research will
explain the implications of the same along ith strengths and weaknesses of the department. It will
also explain the areas of further improvement in the human resource department of Mercedes
Benz in London.

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3.0 Research Methodology
Research methodology is the systematic activity of collecting the data and analysing
based on the objective of the research to derive positive outcome. In research methodology group
of assumptions are made based on the theories for developing framework for the research. The
methodology is developed as such that it facilitates in fulfilling the objectives in the study.
Therefore, on the basis of the goals in the study, experimental research, observational method,
case study method, survey method, quasi-experimental method and correlation method are the
different types of research methods (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). This is a study where
the main goal is to explain the importance of strong human resource management in Mercedes
Benz so experimental method has been used for description of behaviours, predictions and
explanation of the cause-and-effect relationship.
3.1 Research Philosophy
Research philosophy is basically divided into axiology, ontology and epistemology. The
philosophical assumptions facilitate in identifying the approach that should be used to derive the
objective of the research. The view of the researcher regarding the research problem defines the
assumptions made in the research philosophy. The different research philosophies used in the
study are positivism, interpretivism, realism and pragmatism (Edson, Henning and Sankaran
2016). In this current study, interpretivism has been chosen as the research philosophy as it
assists in conducting subjective analysis of data. Interpretivism uses the naturalistic approach of
collecting data where interviews and observations are taken into consideration. This study will
use secondary research as interpretivism philosophy has facilitated in in-depth analysis of the
data. The collected data will be interpreted based on reality and the study will mainly focus on
interpretation of qualitative data. However, in this study, quantitative data will also be interpreted

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to form the social construct. The human aspect has been considered in the research as different
human beings react differently to same similar situations.
3.2 Research Approach
The different types of research approaches are inductive, deductive and abductive. The
different research approaches are chosen depending upon the importance of hypothesis in the
study. Deductive approach is used for verification of the existing theories and collected data is
analysed based on the theories discussed in the literature review section of the study. On the
contrary, inductive approach is used for developing or generating new theories by exploring
secondary data (Sekaran and Bougie 2016). In inductive approach, known premises are used to
develop conclusions that are untested. The abductive approach is used to modify an existing
theory or develop a new theory. The weaknesses of both the previous approaches can be covered
in the abductive approach. This study has used the inductive approach to explore the research
context and develop theories that are tentative and untested. This has facilitated in exploration of
the phenomenon and in depth analysis of the data. The research has evaluated the collected data
for identifying the possibility of new patterns that will develop new theories specific to the
research.
3.3 Research Design
Research design has been defined the general plan for collecting data and conducting the
experiment. It can be also considered as the choice between the quantitative and qualitative data
analysis techniques. Exploratory and conclusive are the two types of research designs used in
this research. Exploratory research as the name suggests aims to explore specific areas of the
research based on the objective of the study (Kratochwill 2015). The direction of the study can
also be modified as it does not aim to provide final conclusion to the research question.

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Conclusive research is used to reach definite conclusion in the study where the research uses
well-structured and defined data sources. The conclusive research can be further divided into
causal research and descriptive research design. The descriptive research design is used for
description of behaviours and the causal research establishes the relationship between the
variables. In this study, exploratory research has been used to understand the nature of the issue
in depth. Exploratory research has researched all the relevant data to choose key data that are key
to providing significant conclusion to the research. The exploratory research has tried to
research all the possible aspects of the study but have chosen those that are relevant to the
research.
3.4 Data collection
The data has been collected from secondary sources and will consist of both quantitative
and qualitative data sets. The data has been collected from websites, peer reviewed journals and
articles. The annual reports of the Daimler Group and employee review data from different
websites such as indeed has been collected. These data sets are chosen based on their relevancy
to the research objective and the data sets consists of annual reports of Mercedes Benz, balance
sheet data, income statement, employee feedback from authentic websites, statistical data on
change in workforce and average salary in comparison with the industry benchmark. These data
sets are chosen to address the objectives so that the performance and role of human resource
management can be examined. The study has tried to collect as much data available on the
online sources about the company from all possible websites. The data collected has been
crosschecked while collecting it so all bad data can be removed. The study has focused on
collecting only financial data and employee data available on the company website and other

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websites so that the impact of the human resource practices on the performance of the
organization can be examined.
3.5 Data analysis
The collected data are analysed by developing themes which means that thematic analysis
has been used to form themes as per the objectives in the study. The secondary data will be
analysed using coding where both open coding and axial coding will be used (Palinkas et al.
2015). Open coding has been used to examine the data to identify the theories mentioned which
has been able to summarize key concept as per the requirement. Axial coding has been used to
break down the themes to develop relevant results by linking the data will theories or developing
theories by identifying the pattern in the analysed text. The quantitative data has been analysed
using inferential statistics where Ms excel will be used for analysing the collected data. The
themes chosen are performance of the employees, condition of the employees, performance of
the organization and human resource management strategies. The performance and condition of
the employees will provide an all-round data on workforce conditions in the organization. The
performance of the company and the human resource management strategies will determine the
profit margins and human resource policies of the organization in the past few years. The
comparison of these collected data will facilitate in examine the impact of effective human
resource management on the organization in United Kingdom.
3.5 Sampling
Sampling is the process of choosing population sample from the overall population
sample. In research, when the sample size is huge, sampling is used to reduce the sample size of
the project for decreasing the time frame, cost and ease of calculation (Etikan, Musa and
Alkassim 2016). Sampling process starts with identification of the target sample and the in this

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study, the target sample consist of all the data available on human resources in Mercedes Benz.
The next part is selecting the sampling frame in the study which will consist of identifying the
exact set of respondents or data in the study. In this study, human resource data of Mercedes
Benz in United Kingdom and London has been used to develop the themes. The sample size in
the research consists of 5-10 online websites and articles that are chosen based on their relevancy
and convenience. There are two types of sampling, one is probabilistic sampling and non-
probabilistic sampling. Non-probabilistic sampling has been used to gather data where
convenience sampling has been used to gather data that is acquiring and specific to the study.
3.6 Reliability and Validity
Reliability is the ability of the study to replicate the results developed and validity defines
the use of appropriate instruments and data for carrying out the study (LoBiondo-Wood and
Haber 2014). However, in secondary research, reliability and validity is difficult to obtain as
different data sets acquired from different authors may or may not be accurate. Moreover,
reliability testing and validity cannot be conducted on this data as the data set is secondary in
nature.
3.7 Ethical consideration
The data has been collected from the authentic journals, articles and websites. The
content has been properly cited in the study and none of the content is plagiarised which means
that the author have been credited for the contribution they have made. Moreover, none of the
results have been exaggerated or manipulated to obtain significant result in the study.

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4.0 Data
2017 2016 17/16
Employees (December 31) % change
Daimler Group 289,321 282,488 2
Mercedes-Benz Cars 142,666 139,947 2
Daimler Trucks 79,483 78,642 1
Mercedes-Benz Vans 25,255 24,029 5
Daimler Buses 18,292 17,899 2
Daimler Financial Services 13,012 12,062 8
Group Functions & Services 10,613 9,909 7
Table 1: Change in workforce
(Source: Annualreport2017.daimler.com 2017)
Employees (December 31)
Daimler Group
Mercedes-Benz Cars
Daimler Trucks
Mercedes-Benz Vans
Daimler Buses
Daimler Financial Services
Group Functions & Services
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
2017 2016 17/16
Figure 2: Change in workforce in Fy 2017

24HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
(Source: Annualreport2017.daimler.com 2017)
2016 2015 16/15
Employees (December 31) % change
Daimler Group 282,488 284,015 -1
Mercedes-Benz Cars 139,947 136,941 2
Daimler Trucks 78,642 86,391 -9
Mercedes-Benz Vans 24,029 22,639 6
Daimler Buses 17,899 18,147 -1
Daimler Financial Services 12,062 9,975 21
Other 9,909 9,922 0
Table 2: Change in workforce in Fy 2016
(Source: Annualreport2016.daimler.com 2016)
Sales AVERAGE
SALARY
SALARY DISTRIBUTION
81 salaries reported
£36,985 per year £7,500
£76,000
Service Advisor
10 salaries reported
£23,417 per year £7,500
£76,000
Sales Trainee
37 salaries reported
£18,186 per year £7,500
£76,000
Car Sales Executive £36,712 per year £7,500

25HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
14 salaries reported £76,000
Sales Manager
10 salaries reported
£66,982 per year £7,500
£76,000
Table 3: Salary structure in Mercedes Benz
Source: (Indeed.co.uk 2018)
All Mercedes-Benz – Sales salaries
Installation &
Maintenance
AVERAGE
SALARY
SALARY DISTRIBUTION
Vehicle Technician
26 salaries reported
£28,165 per year £10,000
£47,000
Technician
11 salaries reported
£29,370 per year £10,000
£47,000
Maintenance Person
17 salaries reported
£18,242 per year £10,000
£47,000
MOT Tester
9 salaries reported
£26,676 per year £10,000
£47,000
Maintenance
Technician
4 salaries reported
£23,082 per year Min and max salaries are hidden when we have
fewer than 5 salaries
Table 4: Salary structure in Mercedes Benz
(Source: Indeed.co.uk 2018)
All Mercedes-Benz – Installation & Maintenance salaries

26HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Administrative Assistance AVERAGE
SALARY
SALARY DISTRIBUTION
Sales Administrator
10 salaries reported
£19,632 per year £8,000
£37,000
Warranty Administrator
9 salaries reported
£23,530 per year £8,000
£37,000
Administrator
12 salaries reported
£23,559 per year £8,000
£37,000
Switchboard Operator
5 salaries reported
£15,334 per year £8,000
£37,000
Receptionist
7 salaries reported
£13,918 per year £8,000
£37,000
Table 5: Salary structure in Mercedes Benz
(Source: Indeed.co.uk 2018)
All Mercedes-Benz – Administrative Assistance salaries
Customer Service AVERAGE
SALARY
SALARY DISTRIBUTION
Customer Service
Representative
24 salaries reported
£21,724 per year £7,500
£45,000
Customer Support £19,766 per year £7,500

27HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Representative
15 salaries reported
£45,000
Parking Attendant
7 salaries reported
£15,689 per year £7,500
£45,000
Parts Advisor
6 salaries reported
£27,523 per year £7,500
£45,000
Greeter
3 salaries reported
£7.61 per hour Min and max salaries are hidden when we
have fewer than 5 salaries
Table 6: Salary structure in Mercedes Benz
(Source: Indeed.co.uk 2018)
Management AVERAGE
SALARY
SALARY DISTRIBUTION
Transaction Manager
13 salaries reported
£55,806 per year £12,000
£84,000
Team Manager
9 salaries reported
£32,436 per year £12,000
£84,000
Service Manager
5 salaries reported
£40,000 per year £12,000
£84,000
Business Development Manager
10 salaries reported
£38,429 per year £12,000
£84,000

28HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Business Manager
10 salaries reported
£32,710 per year
£12,000
£84,000
Table 7: Salary structure in Mercedes Benz
(Source: Indeed.co.uk 2018)
Figure 3: Revenue, Net income and Gross margin of profit
Source: Craft.co 2018

29HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Income Statement of Mercedes Benz in United Kingdom
GBP FY,
1995
FY,
1996
FY,
1997
FY,
1998
FY,
1999
FY,
2000
FY,
2001
FY,
2002
FY,
2003
FY,
2004
FY,
2005
FY,
2006
Revenue 1.4b 1.5b 1.8b 2.1b 2.2b 2.4b 2.8b 3.0b 3.4b 3.4b 3.2b 3.3b
Cost of
goods
sold
1.3b 1.4b 1.7b 1.9b 2.0b 2.2b 2.6b 2.8b 3.2b 3.2b 2.9b 3.1b
Gross
profit
120.1m 105.0m 120.3m 150.6m 154.7m 181.5m 225.7m 206.4m 228.6m 207.2m 261.7m 232.6m
Gross
profit
Margin,
%
9% 7% 7% 7% 7% 8% 8% 7% 7% 6% 8% 7%
Operati 67.1m 69.0m 75.0m 92.2m 104.5m 130.1m 168.5m 149.2m 170.5m 159.5m 207.0m 228.3m

30HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
ng
expense
total
EBIT 53.0m 36.0m 45.2m 58.4m 50.1m 51.3m 57.2m 57.1m 58.2m 47.7m 54.7m 4.3m
EBIT
margin,
%
4% 2% 2% 3% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 1% 2% 0%
Pre-tax
profit
60.7m 43.8m 51.2m 66.1m 54.0m 55.8m 74.2m 71.4m 77.1m 63.7m 63.5m 9.5m
Income
tax
expense
(22.3m
)
(15.0m
)
(17.0m
)
(19.7m
)
(14.5m
)
(18.7m
)
(28.5m
)
(24.4m
)
(19.6m
)
(18.0m
)
(19.6m
)
1.6m
Net
Income
38.4m 28.8m 34.2m 46.4m 39.5m 37.1m 45.7m 47.1m 57.5m 45.7m 43.9m 11.1m
Table 8: Revenue, Net income and Gross margin of profit

31HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
(Source: Craft.co 2018)
GBP FY,
2007
FY,
2008
FY,
2009
FY,
2010
FY,
2011
FY,
2012
FY,
2013
FY,
2014
FY,
2015
FY,
2016
FY,
2017
Revenue 3.2b 2.6b 2.0b 2.5b 2.9b 3.3b 4.2b 4.2b 4.9b 6.2b 4.9b
Revenue
growth,
%
0% 17%
Cost of
goods
sold
3.0b 2.4b 1.8b 2.3b 2.7b 3.0b 4.0b 4.0b 4.6b 6.0b 4.7b
Gross
profit
264.8m 201.6m 177.1m 265.0m 202.7m 325.7m 215.3m 177.0m 224.6m 230.8m 256.9m
Gross
profit
8% 8% 9% 10% 7% 10% 5% 4% 5% 4% 5%

32HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Margin,
%
Operatin
g
expense
total
234.6m 257.4m 101.5m 151.9m 144.7m 154.7m 162.8m 185.2m 189.8m 202.7m 137.6m
EBITDA 38.2m 120.0m 144.7m 97.0m 209.7m 61.5m 31.9m 73.5m 69.1m 149.2m
EBITDA
margin,
%
1% 6% 6% 3% 6% 1% 1% 2% 1% 3%
EBIT 30.2m (55.8m) 75.7m 113.1m 57.9m 171.1m 52.5m (8.2m) 34.8m 28.1m 119.3m
EBIT
margin,
%
1% (2%) 4% 4% 2% 5% 1% 0% 1% 0% 2%
Pre-tax 46.5m (48.5m) 67.4m 104.3m 54.4m 169.7m 50.5m (9.1m) 34.9m 30.2m 118.9m

33HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
profit
Income
tax
expense
(14.2m) 7.1m (10.0m) (31.2m) (17.1m) (42.3m) (11.6m) 526.0k (8.9m) (6.8m) (22.1m)
Net
Income
32.3m (41.4m) 57.4m 73.1m 37.3m 127.4m 39.0m (8.6m) 26.0m 23.4m
Table 9: Revenue, Net income and Gross margin of profit
(Source: Craft.co 2018)
Balance sheet of Mercedes Benz in the past decade
GBP FY, 2008 FY, 2009 FY, 2010 FY, 2011 FY, 2012 FY, 2013 FY, 2014 FY, 2015 FY, 2016 FY, 2017
Cash 24.2m 31.7m 30.2m 42.3m 49.1m 67.3m 62.4m 65.8m 38.9m 2.8m
Accounts
Receivable
646.0m 68.1m 83.4m 91.7m 66.3m 97.4m 79.3m 167.6m 145.0m 86.1m
Inventories 333.3m 157.1m 198.8m 261.9m 201.5m 227.3m 280.9m 314.4m 560.7m 672.8m

34HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Current
Assets
1.0b 454.7m 549.3m 749.6m 803.2m 873.4m 991.7m 1.2b 1.4b 1.0b
PP&E 376.0m 326.6m 314.5m 325.4m 312.9m 286.1m 324.2m 323.3m 445.5m 353.5m
Goodwill 10.0m 4.0m
Total
Assets
1.4b 1.1b 1.2b 1.4b 1.5b 1.5b 1.4b 1.6b 1.8b 1.4b
Accounts
Payable
8.2m 7.8m 10.7m 12.8m 11.4m 13.7m 20.1m 20.4m 20.4m 14.0m
Current
Liabilities
854.8m 617.3m 703.5m 860.6m 990.0m 1.1b 981.6m 1.1b 1.2b 983.4m
Non-
Current
Liabilities
434.5m 342.5m 350.0m 368.5m 269.3m 254.4m 255.1m 316.3m 400.5m 195.7m

35HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Total
Liabilities
1.3b 959.9m 1.1b 1.2b 1.3b 1.3b 1.2b 1.4b 1.6b 1.2b
Additional
Paid-in
Capital
50.0m 50.0m 50.0m 50.0m 50.0m 50.0m 50.0m 50.0m 50.0m 50.0m
Retained
Earnings
(41.4m) 57.4m (11.9m) 37.3m 13.4m (11.0m) (58.6m) (9.0m) 23.4m 96.9m
Total
Equity
96.1m 153.5m 141.6m 178.9m 192.3m 181.2m 147.5m 159.5m 154.8m 235.1m
Financial
Leverage
14.4 x 7.3 x 8.4 x 7.9 x 7.5 x 8.3 x 9.4 x 10 x 11.6 x 6 x
Table 10: Balance sheet
(Source: Craft.co 2018)

36HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Cash flow statement of Mercedes Benz in United Kingdom
GBP FY,
2008
FY,
2009
FY,
2010
FY,
2011
FY,
2012
FY,
2013
FY,
2014
FY,
2015
FY,
2016
FY,
2017
Net
Incom
e
(41.4
m)
57.4
m
73.1
m
37.3
m
127.4
m
39.0
m
(8.6m
)
26.0
m
23.4
m
96.9
m
Cash
From
Opera
ting
Activi
ties
Divide
nds
Paid
85.0
m
114.0
m
50.0
m
50.0
m
35.0
m
Cash
From
Finan
cing
Activi

37HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
ties
Net
Chang
e in
Cash
Incom
e
Taxes
Paid
(11.6
m)
526.0
k
(8.9m
)
Table 11: Cash flow statement
(Source: Craft.co 2018)

38HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Figure 4: Employee ratings
(Source: Craft.co 2018)
Figure 5: Employee ratings
(Source Craft.co 2018)
4.1 Analysis
This chapter of the research has developed four themes to examine the role of human
resource management in improving the employee performance and organizational performance.
Human resource management not only improves the bottom line of the organization but also
adds value to the products and services of the company. This is a key factor for gaining
sustainable competitive advantage in the market. The four themes set for the project has
addressed the performance of the employees, condition of the employees, performance of the
organization and human resource management of the organization.
Theme 1: Performance of employees of the organization
There has been increase in the overall workforce in Mercedes Benz and other divisions in
Daimler Group. The table below shows that there has been slight increase in the number of the

39HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
workforce in the past two years in all the divisions. The slight increase in workforce signifies
that the organization needs more workforce due to the increase in demand of the products. The
change in the Mercedes Benz van segment is more than the change in the Mercedes Benz car
segment which show that the demand of the Mercedes Benz Van is more than the Mercedes
Benz car segment. However, this will provide the overview of the performance of the employees
working in the organization.
Mercedes Benz have developed motivated and high performing organization by removing
the bureaucracy in the organization. The organization has been constantly providing support to
the employees in dealing with the work pressure and improving the performance of the
employees. Talent and skill management are the key factors for managing performance where
employees are chosen based on their talent and skill level (Mannall 2018). Moreover, they act by
aligning to the goals of the organization which enables the organization to implement the growth
programs and improve their primary bottom line. Performance management is one of the key
areas where the company has focused on and this can be deduced from the talent management
strategies and performance management policies.
The attrition rate of the company is low in general and in the past year, the attrition rate is
quite low. This is quite evident from the fact that the number of employees has increased by 2%
in the past year which depicts the fact that new employees have joined the organization but the
already present employees have not left the organizations (Annualreport2017.daimler.com 2017).
This is the reason that the organization had increased their employee performance. The data
shows that in Mercedes Benz division, both cars and vans have steadily increased their
workforce since the financial year of 2015 (Annualreport2016.daimler.com 2016). Even though,
it has been seen that other divisions of the company have experienced decrease in workforce.

40HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
There has been steady increase in the number of workforce which means that the employees are
highly motivated and performing effectively to improve their primary bottom line of the
organization. The data shows that the company has managed to keep the attrition level low for
the past few years. However, increase in the workforce is a concern for the organization as
companies like Toyota keep limited workforce and uses minimum resources to increase the
productivity of the company. Mercedes should also use economies of scale as with increase in
work force there will be significant increase in the fixed cost. Therefore, even if the revenue
margin have increased significantly, there has not been significant increase in the profit margin.
A survey conducted on the employees in the year of 2016 to identify the ways to improve
the performance of the organization shows that 76% of the employees have high scores in
employee’s willingness and interest to assist Daimler achieving their goals
(Annualreport2016.daimler.com 2016). The survey also showed that employee commitment have
increased significantly and is above average for all the employees. This indicate that the human
resource management policies of the organization have been effective in improving the
performance of the employees. The organization also uses the workforce statistics and analytics
to implement it in resource management. They have focused on improving the growth of the
employees in the organization and they are using the analytics to understand the needs of the
employees in a better way. This indicates that the organization has been using human
information management system to analyse the growth needs of the different employees and
deliver them with effective training and management programs that will facilitate in being more
productive.

41HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Theme 2: Conditions of employees in the organization
The tables below depict the salaries of the workforce in different roles in the United
Kingdom working for Mercedes Benz. The comparison of the salaries with other luxury brands it
has been seen the salary offered by Mercedes is above the industry standards in most of the
cases. Therefore, it can say that the employees in Mercedes Benz receive market rate wages and
other benefits such as pension plans and profit-sharing pay-outs. In the year of 2017, the eligible
employees received £5,400 for the profits made by the company in the year of 2016 and
similarly, the company had offered £5,650 in the fiscal year of 2016 for the profits gained in the
year of 2015 (Annualreport2017.daimler.com 2017). The average length of stay of the
employees in Mercedes Benz in United Kingdom is 16.3 years which is an improvement from
the analysis from the previous years where 16.0 years was the average
(Annualreport2017.daimler.com 2017). This shows that the company has implemented policies
that are able to retain the employees for a longer period of time. However, when compared to the
average length of stay of the employees in Germany, the average three years short which shows
that there is scope of improvement for Mercedes Benz in United Kingdom. The review from the
employees and the feedback given has clearly indicated there has been significant improvement
in the conditions of the employees. The tenure of the employees have increased which shows
that there is decrease in the turnover rate of the employees. This signifies that there has been
improvement in the motivation level of the employees and they are willing to be a part of the
organization and its strategies.
Theme 3: Performance of the company as a whole
The theme evaluates the performance of Mercedes Benz in the United Kingdom which
consist of the revenue in the past 30 years, income statement, cash flow statement and the

42HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
balance sheet in the past decade. The first graph shows that revenue of the company has
increased over the time but the major concern for the organizations is the fact that even though
their revenue has increased significantly, there has been significant decrease in the gross margin.
This shows that even though there is significant scope of improvement in operations of the
company. The income statement reflects the same thing where after the sudden increase in profit
margin to 10% in the year of 2012, the profit margin has stagnated since the year of 2013 where
the profit margin has been varying from 4 to 5% (Craft.co 2018). The balance sheet and the cash
flow statement has shown the same thing for the company which states that the operational
efficiency of Mercedes Benz has gone down significantly. The decrease in the operational
efficiency is also due to the increase in the workforce as it quite difficult to manage such huge
and diverse workforce. The employee rating shows that majority of the employees have rated
2.5 in culture and values which indicates either two of the possible inferences. Firstly, either the
core values and culture in Germany is quite different from the values or culture of the people
working in United Kingdom or the United Kingdom division has failed to effectively portray and
incorporate the culture and values in Mercedes Benz, United Kingdom. In work life balance, the
employees have rated 3.0 which means that considerable amount of improvements should be
made in terms of the human resource policies in the subsidiary in United Kingdom (Craft.co
2018). Work life balance is a key factor for the employees and research suggest that employees
are giving more and more importance to work life balance as a key motivator at work. Moreover,
as the average age of the employees working in the organization is 42.3 years, it shows that
majority of the employees are married and have other responsibilities which means that work life
balance is important for them. The senior management have been rated very poorly which means
that senior management will have to work hard to communicate with the employees to solve

43HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
their issues. The compensation package and the benefits are good and are in accordance to the
industry standards. Similarly, the career growth opportunities are good in the organization and
the data shows that there has been implementation of the proper human resource management
strategies and the organization has focused on the overall growth of the employees. The
performance of the company as a whole shows that there is no significant increase in the profit
margin of the organization.
Theme 4: Human resource management of the company
The key objective of the human resource strategy developed by Mercedes Benz is to
increase the attractiveness of the organization as an employer and to sustain the competitiveness
of the workforce. The executives have been given the responsibility of motivating the workforce
in the organization so that they can perform at their optimal best. This is the reason that the
organization has been trying to nurture the management culture within the organization so that
they can develop leadership skills and qualities within the management
(Annualreport2017.daimler.com 2017). The organization also wants to take a social
responsibility so they are using diversity management as one of the key features of the
organization. The review from the employees show that senior management is one of the key
issues faced by the employees where they are unable to communicate with them properly. The
senior management will have to make themselves available to all the employees and effective
communication has to be developed. Moreover, the employees are not aware of the company
goals and objectives which is the reason that there are unable to coordinate their personal goals
with the goals of the organization. Therefore, it is essential for the senior management to
communicate with the employees directly so that they are able to understand the role, an
organization wants them to play in achieving the objectives.

44HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
In order to ensure that the candidates consider the organization as attractive for working,
the organization has designed their recruitment and retaining policies for hiring talent individuals
from the market competition. The primary objective of the company is to provide the employees
with fair and attractive compensation packages and create a work culture that enhances the
performance of the employees by providing them with motivation and satisfaction. The
organization also aims to provide the employee individually the best possible working condition
by including flexibility in the working hours to ensure that there is balance between personal and
professional life (Annualreport2017.daimler.com 2017). Therefore, the organization focuses on
reconciliation of the personal and professional life. Diversity management is also a key agenda
of the human resource management of Mercedes Benz. The company needs workforce with
diverse skills and talents which makes the company global. The organization would only be able
to sustain in the global market by managing a diverse workforce. The human resource
department has also aimed to raise the percentage of women working in the senior management
position to 20% by the end of 2020. The percentage of women is already increasing at a steady
rate and has reached 17.6 % in the year of 2017 when compared to the figures in the year of
2016. In order to achieve the target, the organization had been conducting programs such as
mentorship, training sessions and special events. This shows that gender equality and diversity
management has been implemented by the organization and new strategies indicate that the
organization has been focused on diversity management and employee retention. Employee
retention and performance management strategies have been implemented which is reflected
from the products developed by the organization.
The organization also makes sure that they acquire best young talents from the market
and in order to do so they are spreading and promoting the company recruitment so that it

45HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
reaches them in an attractive way. The provides attractive offers to the students in the
universities and handpicks budding talents directly to so that they can nurture the skills of the
employees effectively. The organization also hires interns on a regular basis so that they can
inspire them to and shape according to the needs of the organization. The employees need to
healthy physically and mentally so organization has attempted to develop an organization culture
that motivates the employees and provides them with health and safety sessions
(Annualreport2017.daimler.com 2017). These sessions that focuses on ergonomics, medical care,
nutrition and individual advice. Therefore, the organization promotes health and safety of the
employees at both workplace and home for better balance.

46HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
5.0 Conclusion
This final chapter of the research will effectively summarize the explored data which may
or may not address the initial objective of the research. However, the conclusion will aim to link
the analysis to the set objectives for providing relevant conclusion in the research. The findings
of the study reveal that the Mercedes Benz in the United Kingdom has been struggling if
compared to the other subsidiaries. The impact of Brexit may be strong reason which resulted in
decrease in profit margin and revenue generation in the year of 2017. The exact of Brexit cannot
be determined as it is still in process and the transition may have affected the performance of the
organization.
Objective 1: To analyse the performance of Mercedes Benz in London over the years, in terms
of employment creation, employee retention and level of satisfaction of the employees
The performance of Mercedes Benz in United Kingdom and London over the years have
stagnated where there has been increase in profit margin and the profit margin has stagnated
since 2012. Mercedes Benz have developed motivated and high performing organization by
removing the bureaucracy in the organization. The organization has been constantly providing
support to the employees in dealing with the work pressure and improving the performance of
the employees. There has been increase in the workforce in the past few years which shows that
retention strategies and level of satisfaction of the employees. However, the specific reason for
employee motivation and retention cannot be identified unless primary data analysis is
conducted. The attrition rate of the company is low in general and in the past year, the attrition
rate is quite low. This is quite evident from the fact that the number of employees has increased
by 2% in the past year which depicts the fact that new employees have joined the organization

47HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
but the already present employees have not left the organizations. The performance of the
company also reflects the fact the performance of the employees has been average and steady
improvement is required. Therefore, Mercedes Benz requires new strategies to manage their
sustainability as Brexit is about to happen in the year of 2019.
Objective 2: To examine the human resource management practices implemented in the
concerned organization and the changes in the same over the years
The major human resource management practices of the organization are diversity
management, talent management, increasing attractiveness of the organization for the new
recruits in the markets, promotion of health and safety measures and empowerment of women
employees in the workforce. These are all effective strategies that is required in the organization
but as per the review from the employees it has been seen that the relationship between the
management and the employees are not effective and considerable amount of improvement is
required. The executives have been given the responsibility of motivating the workforce in the
organization so that they can perform at their optimal best. The organization also aims to provide
the employee individually the best possible working condition by including flexibility in the
working hours to ensure that there is balance between personal and professional life. The human
resource department has also aimed to raise the percentage of women working in the senior
management position to 20% by the end of 2020. However, these strategies are generic strategies
implemented by majority of the organizations in the global environment. The company needs to
incorporate innovation in their human resource strategies and implement strategies to drastically
change the current situation in the organization.
Objective 3: To analyze the positive as well as negative implications which the human
resource department of Mercedes Benz, London, has on the employees, their productivity,

48HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
motivation, retention and level of satisfaction and also on the overall performance of the
company
The compensation package, additional benefits such as equity benefits and pension plans
are few factors that motivate the employees in Mercedes Benz in United Kingdom. However,
there are far too many problems that the human resource team needs to address to make
improvements to the organizational strategies. Firstly, there is a management and leadership
issue which needs to be addressed which has been causing a gap between the employees and the
organization. The work culture and the lack of work life balance is something that the human
resource management has not been able to implement effectively. This also shows that cultural
values need to be reinvented and modified to suit the needs of the current workforce. Moreover,
the organization will have to develop a human resource strategy to minimize the impact of Brexit
on the organization.

49HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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Al-Sarayrah, S., Obeidat, B.Y., Al-Salti, Z. and Kattoua, T., 2016. The effect of culture on
strategic human resource management practices: A theoretical perspective. International Journal
of Business Management and Economic Research, 7(4), pp.704-716.
Anitha, J., 2014. Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee
performance. International journal of productivity and performance management, 63(3), p.308.
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Appendix
Reflection log
I have gone through series of ups and downs while completing my dissertation. The
dissertation in each of its stages has provided new challenges that were tough to overcome. I had
to be committed and focused on the work while moving from one stage to another. However, I
have enjoyed every aspect of the research and it has a learning experience for me. Initially, I was
little tensed after choosing the topic of dissertation because I wanted to get every aspect of the
study right. I had gone through many difficult phases in collecting appropriate data for the
research as this is comparatively a new thing for me. However, my supervisor and colleagues
have guided me towards the right direction which has helped me to find the appropriate sources
for conducting the research.
I had collected data from authentic peer reviewed journals and articles that has helped me
in completing the literature review for the research. I have given dedicated time in selecting
content that is appropriate for the research and understood the role of human resource
management for the modern global organizations. I have spent huge amount of time in
identifying the research issue and conducted in depth evaluation of the problem. This was the
most difficult part of the research as it took a lot of time in developing the problem statement.
However, initially the problem statement was not strong enough to address the research but later
on the problem statement was modified with additional research. I have faced a great bit of
difficulty in developing the chapter as it outlines the remaining part of the research. However,
additional study on the topic has helped me in developing the objective and research questions.

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Even though I had faced challenges in developing the objectives and the research
questions effectively, developing the research methodology section is one of the most difficult
part of the research. I had to go through the Saunders research onion to understand the different
layers of research methodology. Initially, I had a tough time in understanding topics such as
research philosophy, research design and sampling. However, through extensive study and
reference taken from other research journals I have been able to develop an appropriate
methodology for the research. I choose thematic analysis as the methodology for the research as
qualitative data analysis would have been the most appropriate form of research in the study. I
have also faced difficulty in analysing the content and have taken lessons from the supervisor
about the use of thematic analysis for the research. I have gone through different research papers
that have given references for conducting the thematic analysis. This project has immensely
boosted my academic knowledge and I have acquired skills and knowledge that would prove to
be useful later on in my career. The depth of reasoning and logic required to complete the
research was one of the major learning which I will carry forward in future work. I have
acquired problems solving skills and this research has been a great learning curve for me.
Professional statement
This research has helped to gain a better understanding of the research topic that is
impact of effective human resource management on the performance of Mercedes Benz. Initially
I had very minimal knowledge regarding the automotive industry but extensive research in this
field has helped me gain knowledge regarding the current scenarios in the market and the level of
competition the organizations face in the global market. The importance of human resource
management on the performance of the organization was another area where I had minimal
knowledge but the effective research has assisted me in understanding the role human respurce

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management plays in developing a successful organization. Mercedes Benz has been able to
improve their performance over the past years even after facing tough competition from Toyota
and Volkswagen due to new human resource strategies they have implemented in the United
Kingdom. I faced tremendous issues in collecting benchmark compensation data for Mercedes
Benz and had very little awareness about the pay structure of the employees based on their skill
levels. However, I have been able to gain considerable amount of knowledge regarding this field
and this knowledge would help me in future when I work professionally in organizations.
These research project has helped me gain practical knowledge that is required to
effectively work in these type of global organizations as a manager. I have been to identify the
importance of managerial brilliance in organization and how leaders can effectively motivate
their workforce to perform diligently. The current needs of the modern workforce was not clear
to me before conducting the study. However, I have been understand the current needs of the
modern employees and the major reasons for employee attrition and high turnover rates. I had
collected all the data from relevant sources and the peer reviewed journals have been taken from
contemporary sources and all the sources have been published in the last five years. I have kept
record of all the collected data and none of the data has been falsified and fabricated to obtain the
desired result in the research. I have made sure to verify all the content collected for the research
so that the internal consistency of the collected data is high and accurate results can be obtained.
This is the first time I have worked on a project like this, but I have been able to gain
knowledge that will help for my personal and professional growth at the same time. My
awareness of the current market have increased significantly and I have developed interest in
such topics which deals with the practical implications. I had only focused on theoretical
knowledge without having significant knowledge about the practical implications. However, the

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future knowledge I have gained will assist in conducting more complicated research work both in
academic and organizational respect. I have learnt to interpret financial data and draw
conclusions based on the data. I had very little knowledge regarding different types of research
methods but the current research has facilitated in understanding the different elements of the
research onion and the different types of research instruments.