Strategic Human Resource Management: A Case Study on Harrods

The assignment content discusses the functional roles of HR (Human Resource) based on two sources: Stringer's article from 2015 and Ulrich's article from the same year. The articles highlight the importance of relationships in HR functions. Additionally, Appendix 1 provides an overview of Harrods, a UK-based department store with over 12,000 employees, while Appendix 2 reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of the report, including areas for improvement.

STRATEGIC HUMAN
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
ASSESSMENT OF ROLE AND PRIORITIES OF HR FUNCTION............................................3
Role of HR function ....................................................................................................................3
Priorities of HR function .............................................................................................................4
Analysis of internal and external influences ...................................................................................4
CHANGES TO BE CREATED AT HARRODS OVER NEXT THREE YEARS ........................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
...................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
APPENDIX 1 ................................................................................................................................11
APPENDIX 2.................................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
There are various approaches that are used by organizations for managing human
resources. Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is one such approach. It provides a
firm with a strategic framework that supports the business with its long term business goals and
outcomes (Wright and McMahan, 2011). The intentions and plans of a business for achieving
goals through people are outlined by SHRM. With the help of strategic HRM, an organization is
able to adopt a coherent approach to the design and management of personnel. The present report
explores SHRM in the context of Harrods. In the report, the role and priorities of HR function
have been assessed. Further, an analysis of internal and external influences has been carried out.
The report also attempts to discuss changes to be brought about at Harrods in the next three years
and their impact on the structure of HR function. In light of these points, some statements have
been critically analysed within the report.
ASSESSMENT OF ROLE AND PRIORITIES OF HR FUNCTION
Role of HR function
HR function exists to assist and manage the human function of a company. The role of
HR function at Harrods can be assessed as follows. It plays an important role in recruitment of
the employees. The HR function hires people and appoint them at appropriate positions in the
company (Mello, 2014). For this, HR crucially considers the abilities and skills of the employees
which are critical to success and efficiency of the organization. By recruiting and interviewing
the prospective employees, HR function plays an important role in this process (Stringer, 2015).
Performance evaluation is another area where HR plays a significant role at Harrods. Assistance
is provided by HR personnel to the supervisors and managers in conducting performance
evaluation of the employees (About Us, 2015). These affect promotions, compensations or even
terminations within the retail organization.
HR function at Harrods plays the role of a motivator by coordinating benefits,
compensations and other wage- related items. The HR functions carefully explains the insurance
coverage and wage information to the employees. They are also responsible for smooth running
of payroll system (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Moreover, HR function plays the role of a
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facilitator for managing the grievances of the employees. It functions as a haven for employees
who suffer any type of work related issues at the company.
In this regard, the following statement can be critically evaluated. “Approximately 4 in
10 HR functions saw themselves as a single HR team with a mix of expertise and that only 27
percent saw themselves as using “The Ulrich's Model”. However, it can be critically analysed
that at Harrods, the HR function majorly believes that it is a mix of expertise where the HR
personnel look after multiple areas of organization. According to Ulrich's model, HR should
match the business strategy and structure (Ulrich, 2015). As per the statement, only 27 per cent
of HR functions use Ulrich's model. However, it can be critically analysed that in large
multinational organizations like Harrods, the business strategy has a divisional, networked or
hybrid structure. These organizations use HR operating Model where centres of expertise have
deep specialized HR knowledge and insight.
Priorities of HR function
At Harrods, HR function has various priorities to be performed. The first priority is to
attract and retain “Enterprise contributors”. These are those employees who not only perform
well individually but are also efficient at working with others and getting the tasks done through
them. It is a priority for HR to look beyond individual performance evaluation and develop a
cadre of enterprise contributors. The second priority is to teach the employees how to learn
along with what to learn (Martin, 2015). In response to this, HR function at Harrods beeps
improving its learning and developmental activities. This makes the employees aware about the
necessity of constant development. Te retailer ponders upon the sufficiency of learning and
development that is provided to the employees.
The next priority for HR function is to make the HR team more valuable (Lengnick-
Hall, Beck and Lengnick-Hall, 2011). At Harrods, the HR team strives to become an effective
business partner. This is done in the best way by removing the barriers which prevent HR from
doing their job effectively. It is another priority for HR to not consider High performing
employees as the ones with high potential.
ANALYSIS OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
There are various internal and external influences which bring HR roles and priorities.
External influences which impact HR roles and priorities comprise of competition, legislation,
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economic forces, political, Technological and demographic environment (Jiang and et.al, 2012).
The extent of competition has significant impact on the ability of an organization to recruit
qualified workers. Retail industry in UK faces fierce competition. With high degree of
competition, the HR function of Harrods is under pressure to recruit employees that would help
the organization to become competent to stay in the industry. Qualified candidates have to be
placed at critical positions in the company (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang, 2014). In such scenario,
HR function evolves and develops its roles and priorities to promote the company and attract
suitable applicants.
The rules and priorities of HR are also influenced by legislation. These dictate the rules
regarding retaining personnel records and other data pertaining to employees. Legislation also
governs recruitment process (Budhwar and Debrah, 2013). Hence, HR has to develop its
responsibility and roles in response to this. Economic forces such as growth rate and strategy,
industrial production, capital markets etc. has significant influence on the priorities of HR. these
external influences lead to development of HR roles by affecting the choice for recruitment and
selection of employees at Harrods.
Along with external influences, HR roles and priorities are also governed by some
internal influences. Employee relation policies and procedures impact HR activities (Guest,
2011). For example, Harrods is committed to develop from within. In response to this, HR has to
make it a pririty that it plans appropriate training and development activities. In response to this
factor, HR also has to monitor the number of employees who are eligible for retirement and plan
potential replacements so that the organization does not suffer from departure of business
knowledge.
Organizational culture is another factor that influences HR roles and priorities. Each
organization has its own culture on the basis of which it can be distinguished from another.
Culture is concerned with sharing a set of some core beliefs and values (Marler and Fisher,
2013). HR has the responsibility of upholding the culture and maintaining as well as passing it to
the new employees who join Harrods. As a result of this, it has to develop its roles and priorities
accordingly.
In light of the internal and external influence, the following statement can be evaluated.
“17 per cent of senior HR professionals thought that they should be 'prioritizing business issues
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over what matters to HR' whereas 43 percent thought that they should be “challenging
inappropriate behaviors and actions”. From the above statement it can be analysed that minor
section of HR functions develops its roles and responsibilities by assigning more weight to
business issues rather that HR aspects (Van Buren, Greenwood and Sheehan, 2011). In contrast
to this, nearly half of HR function think that they should develop their roles and priorities in
order to improve organizational culture. However, it can be critically analysed that HR function
needs to focus equally on its roles and priorities in relation to business issues as well as
organizational culture. Also, external influences such as competition, legislation etc. should also
be taken into account.
CHANGES TO BE CREATED AT HARRODS OVER NEXT THREE
YEARS
“The most common area of focus for HR professionals was reported to be to 'work with
the organization to drive change' ”. From the statement it can be analysed that there is scope for
HR to expand its role and work as an initiator or facilitator of change within the organization.
Moreover, as HR is related to the management of people aspect of organization, it would be able
to drive change easily (Buller and McEvoy, 2012). This role would require HR to model change
to other departments and advocate change across the organization. It will also involve resolving
issues which arise from the change and implementing it through efficient and flexible processes.
However, it can be be critically analysed that in order to evolve HR role as a facilitator of
change, there is a need for a more strategic vision (Jiang and et.al, 2012). This requires
organizations like Harrods to look at their business needs and make changes in HR appropriately.
In this regard, the changes that can be brought at Harrods over the next three years are the
following:
Addition of organizational development group to human resource function
With the growth of the company, there is an increase in the administrative and
operational needs. The current workforce of the organization may not be sufficient to fulfill these
needs (Bridle, 2010). In response to this, there is need for Harrods to include on-site training,
instead of hiring contractors. The organizational development group would consist of change
agents for operational development.
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Impact- The impact of this change would be that it will lead yo operational improvement at
Harrods. By separating the compliance, transnational and administrative roles of HR, from the
strategic development responsibilities, HR function will be able to accelerate operational changes
within the organization (Ci-sheng and Shu-ming, 2012). This would be driven by new strategies
ad new business processes. As a result of this, HR would be able to develop people for new
roles. The change agents or the employees in the organizational development group will help in
facilitating changes at Harrods. The impact would be that organization will be able to respond to
the competition and other external influences in a better manner.
Make HR as strategic partner
Harrods should aim and make procedures for integrating HR professionals more
thoroughly into business processes. The day – to – day work of HR function should be aligned
with the business outcomes. This would require Harrods to focus more on deliverables rather
than on do- ables (Hafeez and Aburawi, 2013). As a business partner, HR function at Harrods
would be encouraged to measure results. Moreover, the organization should evolve HR role to
the extent that it helps in creation and maintenance of capabilities of organization.
Impact- This would have a positive impact on the working of the organization. It would lead to
positive outcomes by enabling Harrods to deliver value to its customers, shareholders, employees
and communities (Jackson and et.al., 2011). Moreover, as HR would share its part of
responsibility as a business partner, it would lead to better management of organization
functions. Furthermore, it would increase the sense of accountability all over the organization.
Bring people with extensive operational improvement experience into HR
Harrods need to bring those people into HR who have extensive experience in operational
improvement. This is because in order to improve the “people” aspect of process, HR requires
those employees who can discuss operational changes with the line managers (Wright and
McMahan, 2011).
Impact- This change would help in bringing the element of credibility on the basis of which HR
professionals will be able to challenge the line managers on whether attitudes and skills of the
employees are being improved or not (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). It will also help in finding
out if the line managers are making efforts to redesign their jobs or not. Therefore, this change
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would lead to organizational improvement at Harrods. It will also help in continuous
improvement in other aspects such as recruitment, rewards and training.
CONCLUSION
From the report, it can be concluded that HR function at Harrods plays an important role
in recruitment, training and development, performance evaluation, compensation, grievance
management. The priorities of HR are to attract and retain “Enterprise contributors”. HR also
considers it a priority to teach the employees how to learn along with what to learn and to make
the HR team more valuable. There are various internal and external influences which bring the
roles and priorities of HR. internal factors include organizational culture and employee relations
policy. External influences comprise of competition in the industry, legislation, economic forces
etc. Various changes can be envisaged at Harrods over the next three years. These are to make
HR as a strategic partner, bring more experience people into HR and addition of organizational
development group in to HR.
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REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bridle, P., 2010. HR should be buried and then given a seat on the board. Human Resource
Management International Digest. 18(1). pp.5-7.
Budhwar, P. S. and Debrah, Y. A., 2013. Human resource management in developing countries.
Routledge.
Buller, P. F. and McEvoy, G. M., 2012. Strategy, human resource management and
performance: Sharpening line of sight. Human resource management review. 22(1).
pp.43-56.
Ci-sheng, W. and Shu-ming, Z., 2012. Organizational learning and the complexity of strategic
human resource management. Kybernetes. 41(9). pp.1297-1304.
Guest, D. E., 2011. Human resource management and performance: still searching for some
answers. Human Resource Management Journal. 21(1). pp.3-13.
Hafeez, K. and Aburawi, I., 2013. Planning human resource requirements to meet target
customer service levels. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences. 5(2).
pp.230-252.
Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic
human resource management. The Academy of Management Annals. 8(1). pp.1-56.
Jackson, S. W. and et.al., 2011. HR's global impact: building strategic differentiating
capabilities. Strategic HR Review. 10(4). pp.33-39.
Jiang, K. and et.al, 2012. Clarifying the construct of human resource systems: Relating human
resource management to employee performance. Human Resource Management Review.
22(2). 73-85.
Jiang, K. and et.al, 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational
outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of
management Journal. 55(6). pp.1264-1294.
Lengnick-Hall, C. A., Beck, T. E. and Lengnick-Hall, M. L., 2011. Developing a capacity for
organizational resilience through strategic human resource management. Human
Resource Management Review. 21(3). pp.243-255.
Marler, J. H. and Fisher, S. L., 2013. An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human
resource management. Human Resource Management Review. 23(1). pp.18-36.
Mello, J., 2014. Strategic human resource management. Cengage Learning.
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Van Buren, H. J., Greenwood, M. and Sheehan, C., 2011. Strategic human resource management
and the decline of employee focus. Human Resource Management Review. 21(3).
pp.209-219.
Wright, P. M. and McMahan, G. C., 2011. Exploring human capital: putting ‘human’back into
strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Journal. 21(2).
pp.93-104.
Online
About Us. 2015. [Online]. Availabe through:
<http://www.harrods.com/content/about-us/harrods-group>. [Accessed on 7 December
2015].
Martin, J., 2015. Five Critical Priorities for HR: Trends that will shape business in 2015.
[Online]. Availabe through:
<http://www.hr.com/en/magazines/hr_strategy/november_2014_hr_strategy_planning/
five-critical-priorities-for-hr-trends-that-will-s_i4les8gi.html>. [Accessed on 7 December
2015].
Stringer, K., 2015. The Functional Roles of HR. [Online]. Availabe through:
<http://smallbusiness.chron.com/functional-roles-hr-10333.html>. [Accessed on 7
December 2015].
Ulrich, D., 2015. The future of HR is about relationships. [Online]. Availabe through:
<http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2015/03/24/the-future-
of-hr-is-about-relationships.aspx>. [Accessed on 7 December 2015].
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APPENDIX 1
About business and size of Harrods
Harrods is an upmarket departmental store of UK that is headquartered in London. The
departmental store offers products and services in the area of clothing, jewelry, electronics, food
and drink, home appliances, furniture among others. The site was opened in 1934 and at present
it has 12000 employees that are enthusiastically serving the company. The employees serve
around 300,000 customers on peak days. It is further known that the consumers are from non-
English speaking nations. Hence, more than 5000 employees work g in Harrods are from over 50
nations. The store is occupied in 5-acre site with a presence of 330 departments that cover
around one million square feet of retail space. On comparing Harrods with second-biggest shop
of UK being Selfridges, it has been found that Selfridges is over half the size with a presence of
around 540,000 square feet of selling space. It thus makes Harrods as the biggest department
store of Europe. The working of Harrods is based on the motto being 'All Things for All People,
Everywhere. The employees have ensured to make the motto its major form of working so as to
ensue towards success.
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APPENDIX 2
REFLECTION
Strength of this piece of work
While undertaking the report with respect to strategic human resource management in
Harrods, I have found many areas where I was able to do well. As a researcher, I was able to
develop a proper understanding towards roles and responsibilities of HR functions that are
followed in Harrods. I was further able to present the internal as well as external influence that
has affected the HR functions followed in Harrods. I was further able to envisage the changes for
the organization for the coming three years. An attempt was further made by me to assess how
the changes are likely to impact the Hr. working at Harrods.
I further feel that my strength of the report lied in making an attempt to proper present the report
by making use of suitable headings, subheadings as well as bullet [points. I was further able to
maintain the flow of report in the best possible manner.
Weakness of this piece of work
I personally feel that my piece of work got weak, is in terms of analyzing the statements
in light of academic literature. I have made an attempt to link the statements given with the
questions. But I found a great deal of difficulty in doing the same. Furthermore the non-
availability of appropriate content on internet about HR functions of Harrods led to difficulties in
attaining quality work. This weakness was however improvised by me in later stages when
Suggestions for improve the piece of work
In order to improve upon my current piece of work, I will have to undertake a thorough research
on the topics so as to understand the crux of statement. Hence, I will have to improve upon my
time management as well as research skills.
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