HR Practices and Strategies of Unilever: Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

This report analyses the HR practices and strategies of Unilever in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses the differences between HRM and personnel management, impact of national and corporate culture on staff management, organisational levers for managing human resources, and job design strategies of the company.

Individual Report

Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Drawing on strategic HRM models and concepts, discuss the differences between HRM and
personnel management and the ways in which your chosen organisation’s HR strategies
should align with the demands of labour market.........................................................................2
Analyse the impact of national and corporate culture on the management of staff ....................4
Critically evaluate the organisational levers available to manage human resources in such a
way as to contribute to sustainable competitive advantage.........................................................5
Analyse the job design strategies of the chosen firm. (350 words).............................................7
Use corporate examples of local and transnational firms to illustrate good HR practices and
relate your discussion to relevant HR literature to justify your stand..........................................8
Based on the discussion and debate what suggestions / recommendations would you make to
employers regarding HRM practices to maintain organisational performance? ........................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Human resources management plays an essential role in the company for dealing with the
certain issues relates with performance management, compensation, safety, organisational
development, wellness, employee motivation, benefits, training and many more in order to
manage their people and working environment properly. The report summarise the HR practices
and strategies of Unilever that helps them to response COVID -19 situation. The report includes
HR models and concepts along with the impact of national and corporate culture on the
management of staff. It further includes organisational lever of human resource management that
helps in increasing their sustainable competitive advantages as well as job designing strategies of
the company. In addition to this, it describes good HR practices of the company.
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INTRODUCTION
Human resource management refers to a strategic approach that in making efficient and
effective management of human resources within in an organisation and helps to gain its
competitive advantages as well as achieve their goals more effectively (Agarwal, 2021). In the
following individual report, selected company is Unilever which a multinational company based
in United Kingdom and provided service of consumer goods in all over the world. The company
was founded in 1929 by Lever Brothers and Margarine Unie and its headquarters is in London,
England. The report cover examination of company's HR practices and strategies in order to
response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
MAIN BODY
Drawing on strategic HRM models and concepts, discuss the differences between HRM and
personnel management and the ways in which your chosen organisation’s HR strategies
should align with the demands of labour market.
Strategic HRM models and concepts
There are many models and concepts related to HRM are present that provides proper
framework in order to study or understand Human resource management properly. This makes
company to analyse HRM models and concept appropriately in order to manage their human
resources in better manner (Boella, 2017). In context of Unilever, the models and concepts of
HRM that help them in order to develop their HR strategies are described below:
The Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna Model- This refers to the first model that describes
four functions of human resource management and their interrelationships and these are
selection, development, appraisal and rewards. This makes HR manager of Unilever to focus on
these function in order to manage employees properly and make them perform effectively in the
organisation.
The Harvard Model- This model describes six important component of human
resources management that makes company to focus on these in order to make their
communication more better. These dimensions are interests, stakeholders, HRM policy choices,
situational factors, HR outcomes, feedback loop through and long-term consequences. This
makes essential for HR manager of Unilever to focus on these dimensions in order to get best
outcomes from it.
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The guest model- This model makes HR manager of the company to develop specific
strategies in order to start their HR process, execute certain practices in order to get best
outcomes from it. By using this model, help HR manager of Unilever to influence the behaviour
of the employees and improve their performance as well as get effective financial rewards from
it.
The Warwick Model- This model was given by the two researchers that was Pettigrew
and Hendry In Warwick university (Curado, 2018). This model also describes 5 important
elements of HRM live other models of HRM in order to help company to manage their human
resources more effectively. The five elements are HRM context, HRM Context, Business
strategy content, inner context and outer context of the company. This will manager of Unilever
in order classifies and identifies influences of environment that help company to manage their
business.
Difference between HRM and personnel management
Personnel management refers to the component of management that usually deals with
hiring, recruiting, staffing, compensation and development of the labour as well as their relation
with the company that help in achieving the organisational goals and objectives effectively.
Human resource management refers to the organised and specialized branch of the management
that concerned with the maintenance, acquisition, utilisation, development and coordination of
work force in effective manner in order to influence them to give their best in the organisation.
Personnel management mainly concerned with the workforce of the organisation and their
relationships with the company (Gigauri, 2020). On the other hand, human resource management
focus on effective utilisation manpower of the company in order to achieve organisational goals.
Personnel management is a traditional approach whereas human resources management is a
modern approach. In personnel management decision making process is very slow and make
indirect communication in the organisation. In human resource management, decision making
process is faster than personnel management and make communication direct in the organisation.
The ways in which an organisation’s HR strategies should align with the demands of
labour market
HR strategies refers to a roadmap that are used to solve the biggest challenges of the
organisation that align with people centric solutions. Labour market describes the supply and
demand of the labour in which employers provided the demand and employees provided the
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supply. As the Unilever is an multinational company and operate their business in many
countries for which demand of labour market for the company is low which makes company to
hire highly skilled and experienced employees in the organisation (Hendy, 2021). The company
uses various strategies in order to align the demand of the labour market. The company is focus
on providing best job offers in order to align the labour market and recruit high talented people
for the organisation. This will help company to achieve their goals and objectives in proper
manner.
Analyse the impact of national and corporate culture on the management of staff
The national and corporate culture plays a important role in the company in order to
manage the employees more effectively in the organisation. The national culture helps in
influencing the decision making of the managers, human resource management practices and
leadership styles. This describes the culture that an employee share with other subordinates of
same nation, group or region but not with others that belongs from different nation, region, or
group (Huemann, Keegan and Turner, 2018). As this culture also affects the some managerial
functions also organisational design, motivation, communication, people's expectations, reward
systems and organisational design also. The strongest corporate culture in an organisation helps
in making employees to better understand what are expected to them and what they are working
towards. The corporate culture makes strong influence in order to improve their economic
performance and helps them to achieve their goals more effectively. The national culture of the
company its corporate culture in order to create difficulties for the company in order to operate
their business more effectively. In case of Unilever, the impact of national culture that affects its
corporate culture in order to manage their employees in relevant manner are:
 It discourage the other employees in order to perform their work. The same national
employees does not like involve the employees which makes discouragement in the
employees.
 It also affects the proper communication in the organisation because other national
culture will hesitate in order to communicate with other nation culture employees. This
makes employees to found difficulty in order to understand what other says and perform
their work in proper manner.
 It demotivate employees in the organisation because the national culture makes
employees to share any information and message to each other, which makes other
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employees demotivated and easy involved in the organisation. This will also affects the
performance of the company and create problems in order to achieve their goals and
objectives in effective manner.
Critically evaluate the organisational levers available to manage human resources in such a way
as to contribute to sustainable competitive advantage
The human resources of the company contain effective potential in order to make
important assets for the company that helps in managing their human capital in order to make
them better to work efficiently in the changing environment. The HR managers is the one who
recruit right people for the right job, provide proper training and development, retain employees,
provide various compensation and rewards in order to help organisation to get effective
outcomes from it and achieve their organisational goals in effective manner (Kehoe and Collins,
2017). There are four organisational lever exist that help HR manager of the company in order to
manage their human resources effectively for gaining their sustainable competitive advantages.
These organisational levers are personnel costs, personnel quantity, personnel quality as well as
transformation and management. In context of Unilever, the organisational lever that are
available in order to manage and control their human resources efficaciously for contributing in
sustainable competitive advantages are described below:
Personnel Quantity- This organisational lever, makes HR manager to ensure that the
company has right number of employees in the right roles according the right employment
conditions which includes part-time, full time or flex time. This lever help in addressing the
imbalance between demand and supply of the worker, determining the right talents as well as
develop their internal talents as well as hire external sources in order to manage human resources
effectively and aid in achieving the organisational goals in appropriate manner (Klein and
Potosky, 2019). This makes also important for them to understand more about external factors
of the organisation because this help them to provide effective talents for the organisation. This
lever helpful in forecasting the needs of the workforce of the company in order to make HR
manager to considered it while managing their employees in the organisation. This makes
management of Unilever to focus on recruiting right talent for the right job of the company in
order to help employees to perform effectively in the organisation and help company to achieve
their goals. By ensuring right candidates help company to increase their sustainable competitive
advantages also which means make more strong competitive position in the market.
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Personnel Costs- This refers to the second lever that help company for the financial
significance of the workforce within the organisation. This make important for the HR manager
of the company to be able in order to make more detail accounting for analysing the current
employment costs of the company. This make important to them to analyse the wages and total
compensation of the employees properly in order to make them to perform their work in more
effectual manner. Mapping the future scenarios for the company budget target is important for
every organisation in order to influence their employees to give their best in their performance to
help companies to achieve their organisational goals and objective (Mariappanadar, 2019). This
makes essential for the HR manager of Unilever to determine how an effective benefits fit with
the employee offerings in order to encourage better performance in the organisation. This makes
important for the company to understand the current labour market properly in order to provide
effective offer that helps in hiring the highly talented people for the organisation that helps in
gaining the sustainable competitive advantages for the company.
Personnel quality- This is the third organisational lever, that makes HR manager to
make their focus on assessing and developing the skills and competencies of their employees in
order to make them to perform their task in more effective and efficient manner (Morgeson,
Brannick and Levine, 2019). This lever is focus on how a company meet their objectives in well
manner as well as it determines how their employees will develop time to time for meeting their
future business goals in proper manner. The company who has top performing HR function
consist proper training and development programs as well as strong talent management which
helps them to allocate resources and make largest payoffs for the company by developing new
skills, certifications and capabilities of their employees. This makes HR manager of Unilever to
develop a strong training and development program in order to enhance the skills and
competencies of the employees effectively. This also makes them to set priorities in order to
allocate resources in proper manner and increase their sustainable competitive advantages
Transformation and management- This is the last organisational lever that help
company in managing the changing process within HR departments as well as entire company
also. This plays crucial role for those HR manager who used more innovative and strategic
method for supporting the transformation and efficiency program of the company in successful
manner. This makes useful for the HR manager of Unilever in order to make implement
transformation in the organisation in appropriate manner. This will also help in establishing the
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processes for planning the workforce for the organisation in effective manner. This lever
contributes in increasing the sustainable competitive advantage of the company.
Analyse the job design strategies of the chosen firm. (350 words)
Job design refers to the process that help company to organise the tasks, duties as well as
responsibilities in order to maintain employee engagement and job satisfaction successfully
(Newell and Scarbrough, 2017). This is essential for the company as it allows them to stay
relevant as well as creates more jobs in order to fulfil the needs of employees and organisation.
In respect of Unilever, its job design strategies are described below:
Helping their people to become future-fit- This describes that the technology like
artificial intelligence and robots are changing rapidly which also change the natures of the jobs.
This needs new skills and method in order to perform the job properly. The HR manager of
Unilever always focus on providing proper training and development programs to their
employees in order to improve their skills and make them to perform their task in proper manner.
Providing their people with flexible employment- Due to Covid-19 employees are not
allowed in order to sit together to work. Which affects the environment of the company in order
to influence employees to work effectively in the organisation. This makes HR manager of
Unilever to make their working environment open and adaptive in order to maintain flexible
employment in the organisation.
Developing more people's skills- The skills are important for every organisation in order
to perform their task and achieve their goals in more relevant manner. The HR managers of
Unilever is focus on developing their employees skills for making them to work effectively in
the organisation. This makes them to effective in order to perform in changing environment in
order to help company to achieve their goals and objectives.
Creating momentum around the future of work- Providing proper training to their
employees makes employees to become effective for their future (Shah, 2019). In Unilever the
company makes their focus on creating momentum for their future work by creating Future of
Work Summit. This is an interactive conference for the business leaders, academics,
policymakers as well as thoughts leaders.
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Use corporate examples of local and transnational firms to illustrate good HR practices and relate
your discussion to relevant HR literature to justify your stand.
In order to influence employees to work effectively and engaged them long-term in the
organisation HR manager need to perform certain HR practices in the organisation more
relevantly. In Tesco, their HR manager maintain security in the organisation by creating healthy
and safest working environment in the organisation which makes their employees to perform
their work in safest manner (Syed and Kramar, 2017). It is the main duty or role of HR manager
in order to recruit right people for the right job in order to make them to perform their task in
proper manner and help company to achieve their goals in effective manner. The other important
practice that its HR manager need to consider is to make self managed and effective team that
help in achieving the success in proper manner. Further, it need to provide fair and performance
based compensation that help in motivating the employees to perform their work in efficient
manner.
Based on the discussion and debate what suggestions / recommendations would you make to
employers regarding HRM practices to maintain organisational performance?
As per the above discussion, it is analysed that the company need to follow certain HR
practices in order to encourage their employees as well as maintain their organisational
performance in effective manner. In aspect of Unilever, it is recommended to them to follow
certain HR practices in the organisation in order to maintain organisational performance, that are
described below:
Providing security to employees- This refers to most important HR practices for the
company because the life of their employees is unpredictable as well as their work are stable.
This makes important for the company to provide employment proper security to their
employees. This makes important for the HR manager of Unilever to focus on providing safest
working environment to their employees in order to make them to perform their work in safest
manner.
Selective hiring- This is more helpful HR practice for the company that enables in
bringing those employees in the organisation which add values effectively (Word and Sowa,
2017). This makes important for the HR manager of Unilever to recruit, hire and select most
valuable and talented employees for the jobs in the organisation in order to make them to
perform their task in effective manner.
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Fair and performance based compensation- This describes that the company need to
provide fair and proper compensation to their employees according to their performance in order
to make them to give their best in the organisation. This makes HR manager to use effective
compensation and benefits strategies that helps in making their employees to perform their task
more effectively in order to achieve organisational goals more effectively.
Training in relevant skills- This implies that the company need to invest heavily in
order to provide proper training to the employees in order to make them to perform their task
properly. This will help in improving the skills of the employees in order to make them to
perform their task in changing environment and technology.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it is concluded that HRM is an important function of the
company that help in retaining the talent as well as achieving the goals more effective manner.
The Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna Model, The Harvard Model, The guest model and The
Warwick Model are important models and concepts of HRM that help company to improve their
organisational functions effectively. Personnel Quantity, Personnel Costs, Personnel quality as
well as Transformation and management are most essential organisational lever that help HR
managers to increase the competitive advantages of the company in proper manner. Helping their
people to become future-fit, Providing their people with flexible employment, Developing more
people's skills and Creating momentum around the future of work are some job strategies of the
company that help their employees to perform their task in the organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Agarwal, P., 2021. Shattered but smiling: Human resource management and the wellbeing of
hotel employees during COVID-19. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 93, p.102765.
Boella, M.J., 2017. Human resource management in the hotel and catering industry. Routledge.
Curado, C., 2018. Human resource management contribution to innovation in small and medium‐
sized enterprises: A mixed methods approach. Creativity and Innovation
Management, 27(1), pp.79-90.
Gigauri, I., 2020. Influence of Covid-19 crisis on human resource management and companies’
response: the expert study. International Journal of Management Science and Business
Administration, 6(6), pp.15-24.
Hendy, N.T., 2021. The effectiveness of technology delivered instruction in teaching Human
Resource Management. The International Journal of Management Education, 19(2),
p.100479.
Huemann, M., Keegan, A. and Turner, R., 2018, September. Human resource management in the
project-oriented organization. Project Management Institute.
Kehoe, R.R. and Collins, C.J., 2017. Human resource management and unit performance in
knowledge-intensive work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(8), p.1222.
Klein, H.J. and Potosky, D., 2019. Making a conceptual contribution at Human Resource
Management Review.
Mariappanadar, S., 2019. Sustainable human resource management: Strategies, practices and
challenges. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Morgeson, F.P., Brannick, M.T. and Levine, E.L., 2019. Job and work analysis: Methods,
research, and applications for human resource management. Sage Publications.
Newell, H. and Scarbrough, H., 2017. Human resource management in context: a case study
approach. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Shah, M., 2019. Green human resource management: Development of a valid measurement
scale. Business Strategy and the Environment, 28(5), pp.771-785.
Syed, J. and Kramar, R., 2017. Human resource management: A global and critical perspective.
Macmillan International Higher Education.
Word, J.K. and Sowa, J.E. eds., 2017. The nonprofit human resource management handbook:
From theory to practice. Taylor & Francis.
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