GSB008 Human Resource Management

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management at Woolworths
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

2HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Executive Summary:
Human resources contribute towards achievement of competitive advantage of
organisations in the global market. The business organisations have to link their employees’
performances to the business objectives to ensure high business performance. Employees,
especially the employees involved in marketing interact with the business customers on a regular
basis, thus collecting external market information (Zarkada-Fraser and Fraser 2015). The
essence of HRM is not limited to management of employees but also leading them towards
embracing the changes in the environment. The study reveals that Woolworths manages its
employees efficiently and aligns them with the business needs (woolworths.com 2018). The
report shows very succinctly that the Australian retail giant has set up a contingency fund to
manage its human resources. The first scenario selected for this report is the level of easiness
and difficulty for the organization to obtain necessary skills in the employees in the present
and the future by conducting required examination and analysis of different HR policies. In
addition to, the second scenario taken is the extent HRM function promotes ethical standards
of behavior and practice within the organization by verifying whether these standards and
codes are articulated clearly within the policy of the Woolworths. However, there have been
reports of employee bullying within the premises of Woolworths. Thus, the retail chain needs to
strengthen its HRM strategies to ensure total absenteeism from these unethical malpractices. It
can finally be concluded that Woolworths should align its human resources to its business
requirements by training them in order to retain its competitive position in the fiercely
competitive retail market of Australia.

3HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................5
Overview of the Company...............................................................................................................5
Woolworths Supermarket Organizational Structure........................................................................8
Figure No 3: Management/Organizational Structure of Woolworths Supermarket........................8
Methodology Statement...................................................................................................................8
Theories of the HRM.......................................................................................................................9
Figure No 3: The Matching Model................................................................................................10
Justification for the selection of the Theory..................................................................................11
Data Gathering techniques.............................................................................................................12
Justification for selection of the Secondary Data Collection Methods..........................................12
Figure no 4: Annual Report of Woolworths..................................................................................13
Figure no 5: Annual Financial Report of Woolworths..................................................................14
Analysis of the documents.............................................................................................................14
Strengths and Limitations of the collected Information................................................................15
Assessment of HRM function........................................................................................................15
Analysis.........................................................................................................................................17
Discussion......................................................................................................................................21
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................23

4HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Training of employees:..............................................................................................................23
Development of positive organisational culture:.......................................................................23
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................23
Appendices....................................................................................................................................25
References......................................................................................................................................26

5HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Human Resource Management (HRM) is one of the most important elements of a
business organization. Human resources of business organisations consist of employees
including employees that belong to different departments of the firm. The employees are the
driving forces in both decision making as well as execution of the decisions, thus forming a very
important group of internal stakeholders (Boselie, 2016). The employees channelize their talents,
knowledge and experience into the business operations which ultimately lead to competitive
success of the latter in the market. Zarkada-Fraser and Fraser (2015) define the term human
resources as the employees along with their talent, experience and knowledge which contribute
towards high level of organisational performances. The following report would aim to explore
the concept of Human Resource Management with an example of a real life organization in
Australia. The selection of a real life organization and analyzing the ways by which it organizes
its Human Resource Management would provide a clear and transparent picture of Human
Resource Management.
Overview of the Company
Woolworths Supermarket is the leading supermarket chain based in its Australia and has
its presence in several other countries like South Africa. The supermarket chain is owned by
Woolworths Group, which is a listed company on the ASX based in Australia. The product
umbrella of Woolworths consists of fruit and vegetables, animal based food products, bakery,
beverages both hard as well as soft, products for pets, baby products as well beauty products.
The supermarket chain also sells financial products like credit cards and insurance.
(woolworths.com 2018). The wide range and variety of products that the company offers is really

6HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
unique in nature and thus attracts a large number of customers. The company has gradually
expanded itself across Australia and has presently the large size of 1000 different stores
including 976 large to small and medium scale markets along with 19 other convenience stores.
The management of the company has recently shifted their concentration on the online marketing
and has reacted by introduction of “Home-Shop” where the company provides all the available
products in the stores to the customers who order them online. With revenue of more than
Australian Dollar 40 billion (A$40 billion) the company surpasses all its nearest rivals like that
of Coles in terms of business investment and earnings (woolworths.com 2018). The company has
the unique reputation of selling different kinds of organic foods which have made it the first
choice supermarket for most of the Australian people.
Apart from the above mentioned uses, the company provides its customers with different
rewards and benefits in the form of discounts as well as loyalty cards (woolworths.com 2018).
The loyalty cards are an important component of the business as they provide the customers with
the option of saving points from each and every purchase and then ultimately redeeming it in
return of a gift or a large discount on their purchases.
Figure 1: Essential Gift Card of Woolworths