Role of Effective HR Practices in Dealing with COVID Impact: A Case Study on Tesco

This research report analyzes the role of effective human resource practices in dealing with the impact of changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on Tesco, a multinational grocery and general merchandise retail brand, and examines the strategies it employs to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic. The report aims to evaluate the importance of HR practices, assess the role of HR management in dealing with external changes, and formulate strategies to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on Tesco's profitability.

Research
proposal
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Research Title:........................................................................................................................3
Background to research topic.................................................................................................3
Background to research organisation.....................................................................................3
Research rationale..................................................................................................................4
Research Methodology...........................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
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Research Title:
“To evaluate the role of effective human resource practises in dealing with the impact of
changes taking place in context of present covid pandemic”. A case study on TESCO
INTRODUCTION
The main aim of present research report is analyse the way human resource management is
contributing towards managing the changes that are arising in external dynamic environment.
Human resource management is a basic strategic approach that is adopted by businesses for
enhancing the effectiveness and employee management. It is related with achievement of higher
competitive advantage according to the working standard to enhance the overall effectiveness in
functioning of organisation. Human resource management is a basic practice that is adopted by
organisations for the purpose of managing their workforce in order to standardise their
performance level. Present report is based on evaluating the role of effective human resource
practices in dealing with the impact of changes that are taking place in external environment. The
research report is based on analysing the role played by effective human resource practices.
Further, there is evaluation of the way it can handle the present situation of covid virus on overall
functioning of Tesco. There is an assessment of the human resource management to deal with the
changes. Further, there is formulation of suitable strategies to reduce the negative impact that is
arising because of this pandemic.
Background to research topic
TESCO being part of food retail sector has to take several measures so that they are able to
deal with this situation of COVID virus. As the overall workforce has to be trained and educated
regarding taking of various measures for the purpose of staff safety. It includes sanitisation and
cleaning measures, disinfecting high touch points. There is need to analyse the way there can e
experiencing of positive sales as the effects of COVID-19 has also lead to high demand for
grocery and food sectors across globe. It has resulted in increasing in sales of 9.2 percent in year
2020 as compared to 2019. The major importance of this research area is to analyse the way the
present workforce will help the business in dealing with the negative impact of COVID 19
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scenario. This research will lead to development of an analysis of the way implementation of
user index analysis so that Tesco can respond to the situation of covid-19 and its overall
performance. For implementation of all research strategies there is requirement effective human
resource contribution.
Background to research organisation
Tesco plc is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retail brand that is
having its headquarters in Welwyn, Garden city, England. It is the third largest retail brand
according to the measurement of its gross revenue and is the ninth largest according to the
measurement of revenues. They are having presence across Europe and are one of the market
leaders of grocery in UK. It was founded in the year 1919 by Jack Cohen. They have expanded
across globe since 1990 and are having operations across 11 other countries. They are having
businesses in diversify their areas that are retailing of clothes, books, furniture, electronics, petrol
software, toys, and internet and telecom services. Tesco plc is listed on the London stock
exchange and is also part of FTSE 100 index. There are 423,092 employees working in TESCO.
Ad per data of 2020 and 2209 TESCO annual revenue has been amounted to 53 billion. The
overall profit in UK and Return on investment has rise by 360 million pounds that was up to 2.2
billion in year 2019/2020 (Average number of employees at Tesco worldwide in 2017 to 2020).
Research rationale
The main objective of present research report is to evaluate the role played by human
resource workforce. It is necessary to understand the way employees can assist an organisation in
dealing with over all changes of dynamic external environment. There is a complete
transformation in the functioning of various organisations because of the pandemic impact. The
instances of lockdown situation have resulted into a complete shift in the way customers perceive
their way of purchases. Tesco is focusing on development of different online shopping
experiences for its customers (Schuh and Woelk, 2017). So, that there can be maximization of
effectiveness in terms of new strategy implementation. The present topic is very relevant to
evaluate the way organisations are using their human resources to manage the implications of
this COVID scenario. The major reason behind this report is to analyse different strategies that
can be formulated in order to reduce the negative impact of COVID 19 pandemic on profitability
of TESCO. The main skills that will be improved through this research work include analysing.
Time management skills that are essentially required to successfully complete the research work.
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Research aim and objectives
Aim:” “To evaluate the role of effective human resource practises in dealing with the impact
of present covid pandemic”. A case study on TESCO
Objectives:
 To analyse the importance of effective human resource practises in context of TESCO.
 To evaluate the impact of human resource management in dealing with external
environment changes in retail sector organisation.
 To formulate suitable strategies in order to reduce the negative impact of COVID 19
pandemic on profitability of TESCO.
Research questions
1. What is the importance of effective human resource practises in organisations?
2. What is the overall role of human resource management in TESCO to deal with situation o
COVID pandemic?
3. What are some of effective strategies that can be used to deal with negative impact of
COVID 19 pandemic in context of TESCO?
Research Methodology
Research methodology is a procedure that is used for inducing better specification and the
various types of technique that are to be selected in a particular research work. It is assisting in
the process of selection, identification and further analysis of the collected relevant information
about a particular specific topic. It also allows readers for making critical evaluation of
knowledge that has collected under for the purpose of managing validity and reliability. In the
present research work related to analysing the way human resource is contributing to deal with
the instances of COVID 19 pandemic. For this there will be use of research onion that is
explained below.
Research philosophies: Research philosophy is concept where there is collection of relevant data
& information for the purpose of analysing and teaching to relevant conclusions (Devi, 2017).
This is very effective for the purpose of collecting required information in a more systematic
manner. There are two types of research philosophy that is positivism and interpretivism. In the
present case the use of positivism philosophy will help researcher in collecting the required
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information for achievement of better outcomes. Positivism philosophy is used because it is
related with use of genuine knowledge that is derived from natural phenomenon and other
properties. The overall information that is derived from experience will help in interpretation of
the information by a logical form.
Research approach: Research approach is related to a process where researcher can collect the
information and further integrate it to reach to a successful mode. There are different methods
associated that include qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods. There is also inductive and
deductive and inductive approach according to requirement of a particular research report.
In the present research report there will be application of deductive approach of research so that
there can be numerical analysis for accomplishment of standardized aims & objectives.
Deductive approach is very helpful in the overall process of reasoning that is arising from one or
two statements to reach to some logical reasoning. It is used so that there can be drawing of some
logical conclusion in course of present research work.
Research strategy: Research strategy is related with making a study about a particular research
topic. There is induction of planning, execution, controlling, monitoring and implementation of
the collected information with regards to the present research topic (Mishra and Alok, 2017). The
information is collected by use of case study, interviews, quantitative, survey methods.
In present research report, researcher is using a survey strategy. Further there is use of
questionnaire as a method for the purpose of collecting suitable information from the target
segment of respondents.
Choice of method: It is used as a basis for collecting the information. In present in research
report there is use of quantitative method for the purpose of checking the authenticity of
collected information. It will lead to accomplishment of the objectives with the amount of
reliability and authenticity of the whole research report. According to laid objectives there can be
collection of information that is related with the overall human resource practises that is used for
managing various functions.
Data collection and analysis: It is a method where data has to be collected by support of primary
and the secondary mediums of gathering of relevant information (Kumar, 2018).
In present research report for the purpose of using primary method there is use of questionnaire
in order to analyse the view points of target segment of respondents.
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In case of using secondary method there is use of literature review so that there can be for the
drawing of suitable conclusions. In the secondary method there is use of already available
sources of collecting relevant form of information that includes online articles, journal,
newspaper articles etc. It is done because some of the information related to present human
resource practises is easily available on various online mediums.
Sample size: Sampling is a method that is used for the researcher to select a particular sample
from the whole population (Dźwigoł and Dźwigoł-Barosz, 2018). It is not possible to evaluate
the whole target segment of population based on using of questionnaire so there is use of a
relevant sample size that is 40 respondents who are the employees of TESCO. For this purpose,
there is use of random sampling method where there is no systematic way of selecting the
respondents.
Analysis of data: It is a method where, there is analysis of the collected information from both
primary and the secondary sources. In case of primary sources there will be use of graphs pie
charts to analyse and interpret the collected information.
Ethical issues:
Ethical issues are related to preserving the collected information and not using it for any other
purpose apart from the disclosures mentioned to the respondents. There has to be adherence to all
the ethical considerations related to the privacy and confidentiality of the respondents
Further if there is any internal information related to Tesco that has also to be protected so that
there cannot be any misuse of the Information.
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Time scale: It is determined as the total amount of time duration since the initiation of the report
and takes the time overall objectives will be achieved (Mohajan, 2018). Gantt chart will help in
dividing the whole task in smaller parts. It will assist in present research report to ensure that all
the activities are achieved according to specific deadlines to avoid delay in the work. In present
research report the time scale is represented by the Gantt chart mentioned below.
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Resources: It is assisting in the research for the purpose of conducting the research in a more
flexible and smooth manner. There are different resources that are required for the purpose of
conducting the research which includes financial resources, technological advancements and
physical equipments all this is together combined with requirement of human resources.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journal
Mohajan, H.K., 2018. Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related
subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 7(1), pp.23-48.
Dźwigoł, H. and Dźwigoł-Barosz, M., 2018. Scientific research methodology in management
sciences. Financial and credit activity: problems of theory and practice, 2(25), pp.424-
437.
Kumar, R., 2018. Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage.
Mishra, S.B. and Alok, S., 2017. Handbook of research methodology.
Zawacki-Richter, O., Kerres, M., Bedenlier, S., Bond, M. and Buntins, K., 2020. Systematic
reviews in educational research: Methodology, perspectives and application (p. 161).
Springer Nature.
Devi, P.S., 2017. Research methodology: A handbook for beginners. Notion Press.
Macke, J. and Genari, D., 2019. Systematic literature review on sustainable human resource
management. Journal of cleaner production. 208. pp.806-815.
Stewart, G.L. and Brown, K.G., 2019. Human resource management. John Wiley & Sons.
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Online:
Average number of employees at Tesco worldwide in 2017 to 2020, by region, [online],
Available through<https://www.statista.com/statistics/490890/tesco-group-number-of-
employees-worldwide/>
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