Strategic Approaches of HR in Sainsbury

This report explores the strategic approaches of HR in Sainsbury, including the linkage between business strategy and HR strategy, vertical alignment and horizontal integration, models of SHRM, HR practices for performance management, theories in employment relation, and the role of actors in employment relation.

STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT HUMAN
RESOURCES

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management is primarily the process of planning, monitoring, assessment as
well as analysis of various activities which are necessary for meeting the organizational goals ans
well as objectives. Sainsbury is basically the renowned retail organization being established in
1869 by John James Sainsbury and headquartered in London, U.K. It currently operates in more
than 20 countries and have its presence in large markets. The main aim of this report is to
understand the strategic approaches of HR in Sainsbury and to study the importance of employee
relation.
This report gives a overview of linkage between business strategy as well as HR strategy,
vertical alignment as well as horizontal integration, models of SHRM, HR practices for
performance management, recommendation, theories in employment relation, actor's role in
employment relation, changing nature of employment relation and employee participation in
improving employee relations.
MAIN BODY
Task 1
Overview of linkage between business strategy as well as HR strategy
Business strategy is basically the mixture of various decisions which are being taken as
well as the actions which are performed by the organizations for accomplishing their business
goals and securing competitive position. Human resource strategy on the other is primarily the
creation of long-term plan by organist ion for managing the human capital and align it with the
various business activities. Business strategy and human resource strategy has a defined relation
and thus both in cooperation imposes a profound impact on Sainsbury. Developing the human
capital is highly essential for the longevity of business and thus forms an important part of
business strategy of Sainsbury (Noe and et.al.,2017). The major function that comprises the HR
strategy of the company is recruiting the right kind of staff and thus building the great workforce.
When organization have the right employees who have capability to achieve organizational goals
then it leads to the success of organization which is paramount part in business strategy. Thus,
HR strategy forms the vital part of Sainsbury which helps to achieve business strategy. On the
other hand, HR strategies also have a great impact on business strategy. When the HR
department of Sainsbury have talented and skilled workforce then they endeavors to create a
well-structured and defined business strategy which will help organization to attain competitive

advantage. Hence, these both the strategies are linked to each other and provide an effective
strategic view to organization. Along with this, the HR strategy consist of providing an effective
training to the employees to incorporate effective skills and knowledge in the in handling
customers and the primary objective of business strategy is to attract the customers. Thus, when
HR will provide effective training to employees then they will be able to attract and serve
customers better and this will fulfill business strategy.
Vertical alignment as well as horizontal integration
Horizontal integration as well as vertical alignment are predominately the two strategies
which are used by organizations within similar industry and production process. Talking of the
horizontal integration, it occurs when organization takes over the another company which
operates at similar level in value chain within industry. On the other hand, vertical integration is
when organizations acquires business operations at similar production level. Sainsbury has
shown both horizontal integration as well as vertical alignment. The most common example of
horizontal integration is Sainsbury acquisition to Asda which is another retail organization and
thus. Sainsbury took over this organization in the year 2005 and the main aim here was to
increase the size and diversify their services across the world along with reducing competition.
Apart from this, in the year 2008 Sainsbury acquired Booker group which produces food items
and various dairy items (Brewster, 2017). Although, this does is not exactly similar to the
operations of Sainsbury but operates in the same industry. The main reason behind this vertical
integration of Sainsbury was to strengthen the supply chain and capturing the downstream profit.
Besides this, this vertical integration helped Sainsbury to access different distribution channel.
The outcome of the horizontal integration is the increased revenue ratio together in comparison
to operating isolated. Apart from this, the major outcome of vertical alignment having new and
different distribution channel which are spread across the world and reduced production cost.
Models of SHRM

Best fit/contingency Best practice/universalist RBV
Best fit is basically the
contingency approach and thus
emphasizes on the importance
and need to ensure that various
HR strategies are correct and
appropriate to circumstances
of organization. Best fit
approach basically implies that
the HR strategy are more
efficient and thus become
effective when they are lined
to surrounding context. For
example- When the HR
strategy of Sainsbury are in
congruence with the outer
environment like customers
preferences, competition then
this will result in making it
more effective and worth
(Stewart and Brown, 2019).
Best practice approach is the
another approach which
stresses that various bundles of
the HR activities prevails that
universally assist the
organizations in attaining
competitive advantage no
matter whether it is
organization or industry. This
claims that the organizations
will definitely see an
improvement in their overall
performance when best
practices will be implemented.
For example- when Sainsbury
will make use of various best
practices like rewarding the
employees, appraising them,
providing effective training to
them then this will lead to their
development and hence the
better position of organization
(Brewster and Söderström,
2017).
Resource based view is
basically the framework which
is used for determining
strategic resources which
organizations can exploit in
order to attain competitive and
sustainable advantage. There
are four types of resources
which makes this framework
and effective one. Talking of
the Sainsbury, the most
tangible resources which helps
them to differentiate
themselves from other
organizations is their physical
resources which are land and
capital. The building of
Sainsbury does not confer
much advantage to them
(Delery and Roumpi, 2017).
Besides this, their intangible
asset which is their brand
reputation helps them to gain
competitive advantage.
Sainsbury is a renowned brand
in promoting best practices
and standards and supporting
development.

HR practices for performance management
HR practices are predominately the means and way through which human resource
professional are able to develop the skills and leadership in their employees. Theses HR practices
are directly linked to increasing the performance of employees and thus contribute to enhance
their productivity. uses a wide range of practices or increasing performance.
Offer feedback
This is one of the most significant and important strategy which this organization uses.
The HR in provides feedback to their employees on how they are performing, where they are
lacking behind, areas of improvement etc (Hecklau and et.al.,2016). This feedback helps the
employees to understand their lack points and cons and eventually reinforces the strong skills as
well as positive behaviour in them.
Performance linked benefits
This is the another strategy being used by HR professional of where the directly link the
performance of employees with various monetary and non monetary benefits. This means that
the employee showing excellence and best practices in their work are being rewarded and
appreciated. Sometimes they are motivated with monetary benefits like promotion and
sometimes with non monetary benefits like vacations with family etc. This practice helps to
increase the confidence ad motivation level of employees and thus their performance increases
(Guest, 2017).
Knowledge sharing
This is one of the most important and significant HR practice which the Sainsbury uses
for increasing performance of their employees. Sainsbury stores the knowledge within their
database for providing a greater access of information as well as data to the employees on their
knowledge portals. This eventually helps the employees to increase their performance by
enhancing their knowledge base and thus improves their productivity (Rees and Smith, 2017).
Recommendation
Developing the effective performance management system is highly essential for
ensuring the smooth functioning of organization thus in order to design the efficient system, the
most important strategy which organization should adopt is first identifying the organizational
goals. Until and unless the management is unaware of its goals and objective, they would not be

able to set the criteria as on what basis employees are expected to work. Thus, initially the
organization should recognize their objectives.
Once the client has been aware of the organizational goals, the next step which the
organization should take into consideration is setting the performance expectations. The top
management should clearly lay down the various performance expectations for their employees.
Without setting these expectations, the employees would not be able to know that what they have
to accomplish and what how to accomplish thus for effectively designing the system of
performance management, organization should clearly st these expectations (Bailey and
et.al.,2018).
Besides this, another strategy which client should adopt in redesigning performance
management system is effectively monitoring and designing the feedback tool. In framing the
system of performance management system, organization should train their evaluators
thoroughly in order to deliver feedback and provided guidance to the employees. In establishing
the successful system, organization should provide training to their evaluators so that the can
guide the productivity of employees in right direction (Mondy and Martocchio, 2016).
Task 2
Theories in employment relation
Employment relation is basically the efforts of organization to build and maintain the
positive relation with their employees. By having the constructive as well as positive
employment relation, organizations are able motivate their employees and are also able to
increase employee engagement. There are various theories in employment relation which has
helped Sainsbury to maintain a positive relation with employees.
Unitarism
This is the most important theory of employment relation. This theory mainly stresses
that workplace conflict are inevitable between employer as well as employees. Under this theory,
it is being addresses that employment relationship are vital for the organization survival. In this
theory, it is being assumed that conflict might arose periodically between employer as well as
employee but this will be the outcome of anomalies within normal operations. The perspective of
the unitary theory claims that employers as well as workers operate within teamwork for
achieving common objective in organization (Cherkesova and et.al.,2016). Sainsbury has utilized
this theory in the most imperative way for fostering employee relation. This company focuses on

the team work and for avoiding conflict in their company, the management of Sainsbury focuses
on fair recruitment, wise promotions, effective communication etc.
Pluralism
This is the another theory in employee relation which has shaped the operations of
Sainsbury. This theory addresses that conflicts at workplace are inevitable and thus operates on
assumption that the organizations are highly complex in terms of social structures which are
made up of different interest groups (Ridder and Baluch, 2017). Among the interest groups,
management as well as employees are most important. As per this theory, management and the
employees have contrasting values and goals in their mind. Due to this, there are various points
of authority within organization who remain vulnerable to conflict over organizational tasks.
Sainsbury consist of wide range of employees as well as diverse workforce and each one of them
have their own interest and objectives which results in the occurrence of the dynamic tension.
When inevitability of conflict is being recognized in Sainsbury then most of the personnel regard
this as healthy activity. They belie that through this conflict, employees in company are
effectively sharing their views and problems and bringing it to surface. Thus, when the conflict
emerge in Sainsbury, its managers are compelled to explore new alternative for handling the
grievances and ensuring best outcomes.
Actor's role in employment relation
The major actors which are highly essential in fostering employment relation within
organization are employers, employees, management and trade union. These are the four pillars
of Sainsbury which helps them to gain competitive advantage and establish the position in
market. Employer in Sainsbury plays a vital role in boosting their relation with employees and
other level of hierarchy. They Employer ensures the effective communication with all the
hierarchical level regarding any activity or issue and thus maintain a free floe interaction. This
eventually helps them to maintain a healthy relation with them (Nankervis and et.al.,2016).
Another actor which are employees in Sainsbury have an inevitable role in employment
relation. The primary responsibility of the employees in Sainsbury is to perform their work
ethically and thus comply to the rules and regulation. When the employees works towards the
interest of company for achieving its goals and objectives and exhibit the positive behaviour
towards their management ten this lead to the strengthening of relation between them and other
entities of the organization (Lasserre, 2017).

Management is the prime actor which has a direct role in employment relation as well as
retaining employees. Managers forms an integral part of Sainsbury and thus helps to maintain a
healthy and constructive relation among different levels. The major role of managers is to
motivate their employees and thus guide them in the correct direction through having effective
channels of communication. Thus, these managers in Sainsbury maintain a close contact with
their employees in order to provide right path for increasing their productivity (Caldwell, 2018).
Trade union are the core entity of Sainsbury which indirectly helps to boost employment
relation in the company. Trade union in Sainsbury usually negotiates with the employers as
representative of their members. And advocates for the improvements like improving working
conditions, job security, compensation etc. If trade union have good relation with the employers
in company then this results in effective negotiation and peace and harmony is being maintained
between them. Trade union will also respect the decision of employer and employer will also
give equal importance to trade union. Thus, a healthy relation is highly essential between them to
maintain harmony in organization (Noe and et.al.,2017).
Changing nature of employment relation
The employment relation has taken a drastic turn from past few years in Sainsbury and
thus nature of activity as well as employment relations are rapidly developing. The effect of
different lab our markets, economy, security system as well as taxes have somewhat affected the
employment relation and has transformed the operations of Sainsbury. For example- In UK, the
government has recently bring an immense change in employment legislation where it has given
a new form to health and safety act. This has impacted the Sainsbury in a great way. The changes
in this act have compelled the employers to strictly monitor the safety of their employees and
thus oversee the various activities which might pose a threat on the safety of workers. Besides
this, the roles and responsibilities of employers as well as employees has also changed and now
each and every employee have the freedom to surpass the hierarchical level and communicate
with the top management regarding any grievance (Brewster, 2017).
This changing role has given a momentum to the business environment of Sainsbury and
thus have created a collaborative culture. This has also helped the management of Sainsbury to
manage the activities of their employees and thus work towards the interest of their personal
goals. Therefore,the changing nature of the employment relation has been a great opportunity for
organizations to achieve competitive advantage by working in cooperation and thus have helped

them to establish a great position in market. Besides this, the government of UK has made
various amendments in the the employees legislation like the government has removed the
mandate to work for 8 hours a day and thus have allowed the organizations to change their
working hours and days. Following this, Sainsbury have removed the rule of completing the 8
hours and have allowed employees to leave when their work is finished. This step taken by
management has fostered the relation of employees with various hierarchical level and have
increased their satisfaction level (Stewart and Brown, 2019). Therefore, this changing nature has
not only enabled to maintain harmony in their organization but has also helped them to achieve
competitive advantage.
Employee participation in improving employee relations
Employee participation is basically the process through which employees are made to
participate in various decisions-process and thus are empowered at the workplace. The major
determinant in fostering employee relation within organizations are employees voice as well as
their participation. Just making them aware of the various decisions of organizations are not
important but persuading them to participate in various decision-making activities is equally
important. If the employees are not ready to present their views or ideas on a problem then this
shows the destructive employee relation between employers as well as employees. The
management of Sainsbury should continuously encourage their employees to participate in the
various discussions as well as activities of company for boosting the healthy relation in
organization (Delery and Roumpi, 2017).
When the employees speak up and raise their voice on any issue or present their ideas
then this contribute to effective employment relation as the management appreciate those
employees which willingly helps to achieve business objective. Thus, their relation with those
employees strengthens and the management continuously look for ways which can motivate
those employees to constantly contribute towards organization. On the other hand, when the
employees notices that the organization appreciate their participation in from of benefits and
rewards then eventually their relation with the different hierarchical level in company is
nourished. Therefore, Sainsbury in order to create healthy competition in company and for
enhancing employment relation should motivate employees to speak and participate. For
example- they can provide rewards and appreciation to the employees for making them to
participate. Besides this, giving them more exciting job responsibilities will go far for improving

relation of the employees with management. Like giving them, autonomy will increase the
satisfaction level of employees and they will effectively communicate with each other (Guest,
2017).
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that business strategy and HR strategy pays a vital role in the
functioning of organizations and are interlinked with each other. Its effective linkage helps the
organizations to incorporate vertical alignment and horizontal integration efficiently and enhance
the revenue ratio. There are various models in SHRM like RBV, best practice etc which helps the
organization to gain competitive advantage and motivate employees through inculcating good
practices. Besides this, organizations uses a wide range of HR practices which help them to
increase performance of employees and enhance their productivity. Employment relation forms
the integral part of every organization which helps them to maintain harmony and peace in
company along with ensuring favourable outcome. There are different actors who are involved in
fostering employment relation within organization like employees, trade union etc. For
strengthening this employment relation, participation of employees highly matters and
organizations are continuously engaged to encourage them for raising their voice.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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competitive advantage: is the field going in circles?. Human Resource Management
Journal.27(1). pp.1-21.
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Stewart, G.L. and Brown, K.G., 2019. Human resource management. Wiley.