HRM Project: Analyzing Aldi's HR Practices and Cultural Influences

This project delves into the Human Resource Management (HRM) strategies of Aldi, a global supermarket chain, examining how these strategies contribute to value creation and organizational goals. The report evaluates Aldi's approach to HRM, including its strategies for achieving organizational targets and maintaining consistency in working processes. It analyzes the impact of regional and national cultures on HRM practices, particularly in areas like hiring and firing, and assesses the company's model of employment, including its hierarchical structure and the implementation of technological advancements. The project also differentiates between HRM and personnel management, using Storey's framework, and provides corporate examples of good HR practices. Furthermore, the project considers recommendations and suggestions for improving Aldi's HRM, emphasizing the importance of adapting to cultural nuances and maintaining a balance between efficiency and employee engagement. The project concludes with a comprehensive overview of the key findings and insights into Aldi's HRM practices.

Project

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
A: Value creation through HR strategies.....................................................................................1
B: Impact of regional and national culture on HRM practices....................................................2
C: Organization's model of employment.....................................................................................3
D: Storey's differentiation between HRM and Personnel management......................................4
E: Impact of local culture on HRM practices like hiring and firing............................................5
F: Differences in HRM laws........................................................................................................6
G: Corporate examples of firms using good HR practices..........................................................7
H: Recommendation and suggestion...........................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management (HRM) is an organizational activity through which organizational
activities are being managed, so the chances of goal achievement can be increased. Aldi is the
chosen organization for the evaluation in this report. Aldi is a supermarket company which tend
to provide its products in more that 20 countries and tend to provide organizational services to
customers through the means of more than 10,000 stores. Evaluation on the different HR
strategies through which organizational valued were created is done in this report, with the
analysis on appropriate organization's model with different state organizational levers is also
being evaluated within the report. Also, analysis on the significant impact of hiring or firing
employees in context with the local culture is also being evaluated in report. Evaluation of good
HR practices by using good corporate examples has also being analyses within the report.
MAIN BODY
A: Value creation through HR strategies
Organizations like Aldi has to ensure that it is able to achieve the organizational targets
and because of which company has to establish high organizational targets by which chances of
goal achievement can be increased. Thus, for achieving this company has to establish high
organizational targets and strategies through which it can maintain a uniformity in the
organizational working processes (Claus, 2019). Thus, for achieving this HRM has to monitor
the market competition and then has to evaluate the current organizational working and then on
the basis of achieved differentiation develop organizational working strategy through which
chances of goal achievement can be increased. However, this is not as easy as it is being said
because in order to increase the organizational work productivity HRM has to provide effective
training to the employees through which it can ensure that it is able to achieve a higher
organizational work productivity. This is important for the company because through this it can
ensure that it is able to develop a higher organizational work productivity by which the chances
of goal achievement can be increased (Henfridsson and et.al, 2018). With that it is also very
important for the company because it has to ensure that Aldi is able to provide new and rare
products to the customers by which it can increase the customer's level of engagement with the
organizational activities. But on the other hand HRM has to ensure that organizational
expenditures are being done in a controlled way by which it can maintain company's efficient
economic growth.
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Therefore, by introducing new products company can establish premium pricing on
products which will provide Aldi a high profit margin which will increase company's suitability
within the market and by which chances of goal achievement can be increased. With that since
company is able to provide new products to the customers therefore because of which this will
also improve company's reputation and result in increased market share. Therefore, HRM has to
implement several creative ways by which company can achieve a improved organizational work
procedure through which the organizational customer count can be increased while increasing by
attracting new and trendy crowd towards the organization.
B: Impact of regional and national culture on HRM practices
HRM has to ensure that it is able to develop organizational working process in such a
way that it is able to achieve a higher organizational work productivity and also at the same time
has to ensure that company is able to attract the desired targeted customer customers towards the
organization (Prince, Prince and Kabst, 2020). Due to this HRM has to make recruitments of the
employees from the desired targeted group by which it can make sure that it is able to identify
the customer requirements. But HRM has to make improvisations in its practices as per the local
culture of the desired location.
This becomes very significant for Aldi because company tend to provide and services in
Asian countries as well due to which the cultural differences within the two geographic is large
enough due to which HRM has to improvise its practices as per the local cultures. Through
which it can develop a positive image in front of the customers but also for the employees as
well which will increase the loyalty towards the company and with that company can achieve
high work productivity.
HRM is responsible for managing organizational resources in such a way that it is able to
achieve high work productivity in minimum expenditures (Dantas, Moreira and Valente, 2018).
Due to this HRM at Aldi has make sure that company is able to attract the desired targeted
audience towards the organization through which it is able to attract desired segmented targeted
audience towards the company through proper positioning of organizational services and
resources.
Differences in product placement is also another factor which has to be analysed by the
HRM on the basis of local as well as national culture. This becomes significant because Aldi is
an supermarket chain which is having wide range of products and since company tend to provide
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its services in the Asian countries like India as well because of which has to change its product
placement accordingly. This becomes significant due to the fact that there are various products
which Aldi can provide in its home-town but are not allowed in India, this makes an direct
impact on HRM practices due to the cultural differences.
C: Organization's model of employment
Aldi has to ensure that it is able to maintain high level of organizational work
productivity by which it can provide high level of organizational services to the customers by
which customer's experience with the company can be improved. Thus, for achieving this and
maintaining a uniformity in different organizational departments HRM tend to develop a
hierarchy of power distribution by which it can make sure that it is able to achieve high level of
work productivity (Han, Kim and Kim, 2017). This type of working measure tend to consist of
several in store position through which customer services can be improved and with the
increment in position within the organization roles and responsible for the employees also
increases (Aldi, 2021). This happens because employees on the lower stage of power hierarchy
have to mage customers, and they are being managed by the team leads which are being manages
by the store heads. This, type of power distribution is continued to the higher organizational
authority which is responsible for managing the organizational operations in the overseas market
conditions.
In case of Aldi there are various segments of the organizational services which are
needed to the evaluated and this consists of several factors like company is having brand
managers which intended to manage the overall operations of an organizational branch. This
achieved information is then provided to areas manager which manages the operations of the
organizational branches within its cedar (Shore, Cleveland, and Sanchez, 2018). Then the
information achieved by the area manager of Aldi is being provided to domestic level of
management and then to region and similarly goes to the international market which also has to
analyse the changing international politics. With the help of this improvisation company can
make sure that it is able to achieve a higher control over organizational activities by which
chances of goal achievement can be increased. With that company also tend to implement
several technological advancements in its organizational working through which it is able to
achieve an improved organizational working process.
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D: Storey's differentiation between HRM and Personnel management
Personnel management is defines as an administrative specialization which tend to focus on the
developing and hiring of employees such that they become more valuable for the company. This
is considered as a sub category of human resource management because its actions within the
company are limited (Manap and Meor, 2020). Whereas Human Resource Management is
responsible for managing organizational employee workforces and resources such that it is able
to improve the overall work productivity of the company. Following is the Storey's 27 points of
difference between HRM and Personnel management in the form of image representation.
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Source: Devonish, 2021
Organizations like Aldi has to ensure that it is able to achieve an efficient competitive
edge while maintaining high organizational working productivity through efficiently managing
employee work forces. Due to which HRM practices is being followed by the company in the
Asian market. This becomes more important because company has to change its working as per
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Ill
ustration 1: Storey's 27 differences between HRM and Personnel management

the international market condition and also at the same time as per the regional working
conditions by which it tends to ensure that it is able to achieve a higher organizational work
procedure.
With that it is also very important for the organization due to the fact that company has to
develop organizational policies by which it can ensure that it is able to achieve a improved
working condition and develop organizational policies in context to the legal legislations and
also at the same time fulfil organizational requirements (Gurmu and Aibinu, 2018). This is
necessary because company has to ensure that employees are having an opportunity to discuss
the issues which they are having and due to which it has to make improvisations in the working
process accordingly. Aldi also tend to implement the concepts of personnel management in
specific smaller organizational levels through which it tends to ensure that fast actions are being
taken by the organization for problem solving.
E: Impact of local culture on HRM practices like hiring and firing
Culture is the knowledge and characteristics of an particular group of individuals which
tend to be encompassing of various elements like religion, language and many other factors. The
follow-ship of a culture is limited to the individuals following the culture or at a specific
geographic area because of which company has to make improvisations in its working pattern as
per the cultural background of the Asian country (Madanat and Khasawneh, 2018). This
becomes important because company has to implement several activities like recruiting new
candidates for the organizational activities and because of which it has to ensure that the process
of hiring is easy to understand for the candidates of the specific targeted location. Also, at the
same time has to make sure that it is not affecting the sentiments of the followers of the cultural
background. This is an important element because if the HRM is not able to work as per legal
laws as well as according to the cultural background of the location then company have to face
critical legal actions, which will make negative impact upon its brand image.
HRM has to follow the international working process of the firing its employees who are
not being able to work as per the organizational requirements. But has to analyse the
differentiation in the working process in such a way that it is able to identify the difference
between traditional means of firing and the specific information sharing method of a specific
cultural background.
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The main reason behind the follow-ship of specific cultural way of information is that company
has to ensure that it is able to achieve high working productivity and with that is also having an
efficient economic growth (Wajeeh-ul-Husnain, Shen and Benson, 2020). Therefore, if the
cultural ways of firing is not being followed then it will affect the actions of the employee groups
because they are being assured that company is not following the cultural heritage. This tends to
reduce their engagement with the organizational activities and also reduce employee's loyalty
towards Aldi because of which company's chances of goal achievement will be affected.
F: Differences in HRM laws
International HRM laws are the legal actions which the company has to follow when it tends to
increase its geographic from its specific home-town, so that it is able to reach to a wide section
of the customer base. Through which organizational sales can be increased. But on the other
hand company has to make improvisation in its strategic developments when it tends to develop
its engagement with the local business system (Wajeeh-ul-Husnain, Shen and Benson, 2020).
This is necessary because organizations like Aldi has to ensure that it is able to attract a wide
rand of customers through which the organizational sales can be increased. Due to this the HRM
at Aldi has to make appropriate improvisations through which it tends to make sure that it is able
to develop organizational policies. In such a way that it tend to provide employees and
opportunity to analyse the working condition and tend to showcase their creative regional ideas
through which it can ensure that company is able to achieve a high level of customer
engagement.
Source: Vermandel, 2021
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Illustration
2: Different probation periods

One of the prime differentiation which the company has to choose is the working hours
and the probation period which tend to be differentiation from region to region. This is an
important element for HRM at Aldi because the HRM is responsible for efficiently managing the
organizational operations. If by providing organizational employees an ability to understand the
organizational working measure company can achieve high level of work productivity. This
happens because when the employees are able to identify the organizational working process
then in that case their there are high probability that their level of engagement with that company
is also tend to be increasing (Mayrhofer, Gooderham and Brewster, 2019). This will resource
company with new creative ideas for performing an activity and also at the same time the
problem solving time of the organization is also reduced. Through this creative and innovative
idea HRM can ensure that Aldi is able to make concentrated efforts for improving the areas
which is making negative impact upon the organizational working.
G: Corporate examples of firms using good HR practices
EU is having a wide range of good organizations which is having an efficient economical
sales and also at the same time is having a high customer base due to which has to manage its
organizational activities such that it is able to increase the probability of goal achievement. This
can be seen in the case of Royal Dutch in which the company tend to provide products and
services like oil and gas to its wide range of customers and due to which has to manage its
organizational services accordingly (Turner and et.al, 2019). But in case of Volkswagen it can be
seen that HRM has to implement technological advancements in the working process through
which it is able to establish synchronism in different organizational branches despite its
geographic reach (Saengchai, Siriattakul and Jermsittiparsert, 2019). HRM practices with
technological advancement is efficient but in case of Total it can be analysed that high
organizational expenditures have to be made through which it can achieve an efficient
organizational working. However, it can be identified in the scenario of Aldi that organizations
can also utilize the traditional means of information sharing and through the use of appropriate
organizational working structures it can achieve high work productivity.
H: Recommendation and suggestion
It can be analysed that organizations need to make several efforts through which it is able
to increase its organizational targets through which it is able to achieve a improved working
condition. Due to which it has to extend its geographic reach through which it is able to achieve
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a improved working condition because of which it can be recommended to HRM at Aldi that it
tend to develop organizational working process in such a way that it tend to recruit candidates
from the desired geographic location. Through which it can ensure that employees are able to
showcase the customer's buying preferences on the basis of their cultural heritage. Through this
step HRM can ensure that it is able to identify the specific requirements and then can develop
working policies through the company is able to analyse the working requirements and can make
appropriate improvisations through which the chances of goal achievement can be increased.
It can also be recommended to HRM at Aldi that it must also develop organizational
teams for the achievement of a specific organizational target by which it can ensure that
employees are able to collaborate their working process. This is effective however HRM also has
to implement different theoretical approaches by which it can improvise the level of working
outcome of Aldi.
It can also be recommended to HRM that must tend to implement efforts to achieve
customer diversity within the working environment by which it can ensure that it is able to
achieve high level of work productivity. This is important for organization because in the present
time of COVID-19 organizational services are being affected due to which company must also
tend to increase its level of engagement in the utilization of social media advertisement by which
it tend to increase the chances of goal achievement. Also at the same time this is effective
because company tend to analyse the effectiveness of developed online advertisement through
the use of technological advancement which will increase the chances of goal achievement.
CONCLUSION
From the evaluation in this report it can be concluded that HRM has to continuously monitor the
organizational activities and company's external competitive environment by which it can
evaluate the differentiation. Through this it tend to develop working strategies in such a way that
chances of goal achievement can be increased and with that company can also achieve an
efficient competitive edge. However, this is not as easy as it is being said because company has
to make sure that organizational working are being done in context to the employee legislation
by which it can improve customer's engagement in organizational activities and also reduce the
chances of facing legal penalties. Apart from this HRM within Aldi also has to ensure that it is
able to improvise its working as per the regional and national culture by which it can make sure
that it is able to develop organizational strategies in such a way that high employees are able to
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identify the work requirements and are influenced to self analyse their working. Through this self
evaluation of the employees company can ensure that employees are able to make improvisations
in their working patterns and due to which company can provide efficient training to them, so
that it is able to achieve high work productivity and also the problem solving time within the
company is also reduced.
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