HRMT20026 Assessment: Carlsberg HR Strategy Report Analysis

This report examines Carlsberg's HR strategy, particularly the 'Winning Behaviors' approach, implemented after the merger with Orkla. It outlines the strategic priorities, including a common group culture, employee development, and a winning culture. The report details the rationale behind the Winning Behavior Strategy, its alignment with HR practices like equity, diversity, workforce planning, social responsibility, and work-life balance, and the difficulties faced during implementation in Malaysia. The analysis further extends to the Australian context, providing recommendations for successful implementation. The report highlights the importance of team development, cultural integration, and the impact of the strategy on employee morale and overall organizational success, offering insights into the challenges of global HR strategies and the need for cultural adaptation.

Running head: CARLSBERG
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The Carlsberg can be considered to be a successful organization with an improvised human
resource strategy. The company makes use of the winning strategy. The use of the Winning
strategy can be understood to be a comprehensive strategy which has enabled the firm to attain
success in the long run. This means that, as the firm enables to make a human resource strategy,
the organization has made the employees the center of the operations and in line of this, it has
aimed to build the overall strategy of the organization by building a team of competent
employees who will perform well and help Carlsberg to attain more success in the long run. The
report will outline the overall implementation of the strategy and the manner in which the firm
will attain success with respect to the same.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Strategic Priorities purchased by Carlsberg.....................................................................................3
Rationale of Implementing the Winning Behavior Strategy...........................................................5
The manner in which the 'Winning Behaviors’ strategy align with other HR practices such as:
equity and diversity; workforce planning and development; social responsibility; and work-life
balance.............................................................................................................................................6
The difficulties the company faced when implementing this strategy in Malaysia........................8
An analysis of how well the 'Winning Behaviors’ strategy would work in an Australian context,
along with recommendations for how such an implementation could be successfully managed..10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
When the operations of the Carlsberg were merged with that of the Norwegian brewery
Orkla in the year 2001, the overall dynamics of the organization changed considerably. The firm
was fast spreading its overall operations in the different parts of the world and hence, the
managing director arrived at a conclusion that, the firm was required to come up with a new
winning strategy which would have enabled the firm to achieve its overall goals as well as
objectives (Zhang et al., 2015). The given report outlines the overall winning culture strategy
which has been adopted by the organization and the manner in which it has an impact on the
overall culture and operations of the firm.
Strategic Priorities purchased by Carlsberg
The strategic priorities which the firm was aiming to pursue can be stated to be as
follows:
A common group culture:
The main strategic priority which Carlsberg aims to attain can be stated to be the common
group culture. In line with this, it can be understood that the different people as present in the
organization would be required to have a common culture which would then enable them to
ensure success in the long run (Wright, Coff & Moliterno ,2014). This would enable them to
work together and understand the needs of one another easily.
Developing the overall capacities and capabilities of the people:
In order to ensure that the different members who are essentially working for the
organization are capable of working well for the overall purpose of the organization, the

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organization wants to ensure that the different employees are provided with adequate training,
skill development and other such capabilities. In addition to this, the organization also aims to
ensure that the firm will be successfully able to inspire a winning spirit in the different
employees as present (Albrecht et al., 2015).
Winning culture:
The winning culture is also considered to be an essential priority which the firm has set out
for the different employees present. In line of this, it can be mentioned that it wants its
employees to feel a part of the firm and in accordance with this, the firm wants the organization
to prosper will with the different employees and their overall contribution (Aryee et al., 2016).
Team development:
The team development can also be understood to be an essential part of any firm`s
success and hence, even Carlsberg has taken considerable initiatives to ensure that it is
successfully able to develop the different teams as present and undertake crucial steps so as to
see to it that, the firm is being able to achieve success in the long run and contribute effectively
(Hogan & Coote, 2014).

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Figure 1: The Ambition of Carlsberg
(Source: Carlsberggroup.com ,2019).
Rationale of Implementing the Winning Behavior Strategy
The Danish participants of the company came up with a strategy named the Winning
Behavior Strategy. Under this strategy, the winning culture is followed with respect to which the
organization tends to inculcate a sense of spirit in the different employees by assisting them to
attain considerable success. In line of this, the winning behavior strategy is focused on the five
behavior strategy which concentrates on the `together , we are stronger `, `we want to win`, our
customers and consumers are at the heart of every decision we make`, `we are each empowered
to make a difference` and `we are engaged with the society`. With these motives in mind the
organization will be able to ensure that they are imbibing team spirit within the organization and
that this strategy will help the firm in attaining its overall goals. The primary motive of the firm
behind this strategy can be stated to be to integrate the overall strategy of the firm with the
strategy of the people (Buettner et al., 2015). As the company was engaging in the International

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Human resource strategy, it aimed to ensure that, it will be successfully able to meet with the
needs of the business along with encouraging the employees to perform considerably well. In
line of this, it has to ensure that the local culture as well as beliefs of the employees can be
integrated with that of the overall goals as well as the strategy of the organization. Hence, it can
be stated that the Winning strategy has encouraged the glocal way of thinking whereby the firm
like Carlsberg will be successfully able to integrate the global strategy of the organization with
the local employee beliefs as well as the efforts (Wehrmeyer, 2017). However, although the
strategy of the firm can be understood to be adequate in nature, the organization has some offices
where the employees are not being able to align accordingly with the goal of the firm (Collings,
Wood & Szamosi, 2018).
The manner in which the 'Winning Behaviors’ strategy align with other HR practices such
as: equity and diversity; workforce planning and development; social responsibility; and
work-life balance.
The Winning Behavior strategy of the organization has an aim to make the different
employees largely competent and capable of performing well. It enables the employees to
achieve their overall goals as present and in line with this, it focuses on the team development
and skills of the employees (Chan et al., 2018). The winning behavior tends to align with the
concept of the equity and diversity by promoting the concept of team work. The strategy focuses
on the concept of `we` which states that equality can be understood to be an effective part of the
organization. Moreover, Carlsberg tends to engage in the concept of workplace planning by
encouraging the fact that the firm empowers to make a difference (Gallardo-Gallardo et al.,
2015). This means that, in order to ensure that the different goals of the team are achieved, the
firm tends to make the employees feel that they’re making a difference and hence, engage them

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in the planning procedure of the organization. Through this procedure, the different employees
are able to feel one with the firm and are thereby motivated to perform for the overall benefit of
the firm at large (Guest, 2017).
Figure 2: The priority of Carlsberg
(Source: Carlsberggroup.com ,2019).
An organization has a social responsibility towards the different members of the firm and
the members of the society as well and hence the winning behavior strategy the organization
aims to operate this service to the society as well and encourages the different employees of the
firm to perform as per the needs of the company at large (Deery & Jago, 2015). In the same
manner, even Carlsberg has some priorities for itself.
Moreover, the work life balance concept can be stated to be an essential concept which
has to be undertaken by any strategy of the organization which helps them to ensure long term
success in the workplace. If the employees at Carlsberg are provided with an adequate work life

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balance, then in such a case, the morale of the employee tends to increase considerably and they
are motivated to do well. The winning strategy is focused on the overall employee development
and helps them to maintain a good balance with the personal life as well.
The difficulties the company faced when implementing this strategy in Malaysia
The Carlsberg in Malaysia can be understood to be one of the most popular offices of the
brand around the globe. The particular office of the firm also undertook or implement the
Winning behavior strategy. The three different cultures which are present in the particular
country can be understood to be the Malay, Chinese and the Indians (Jabbour & de Sousa
Jabbour, 2016). The brand has a well-established business in the country. In the year 2007, the
particular subsidiary underwent a series of critical changes with respect to the leadership,
production and the organization (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang, 2014). The main purpose of this was
to ensure that, the overall culture of the firm could be improved upon considerably. In addition to
the Winning Behavior of the firm, the local firm also involved the FAST technique as a measure
to excursive responsible behavior within the organization as present (Hatch, Schultz & Skov,
2015). In line with this, it has to be understood by Carlsberg that, the `fearless, ambitious, smart
and team` tends to assist the employees in contributing to the overall objective of the firm in the
right manner and ensure that the team development is able to be on the top of the firm`s priority.
Hence, the given branch in Malaysia aimed to ensure that the winning behavior strategy could be
assigned with the local FAST program (Kramar, 2014). This simply means that as the as the
Winning Behavior reflects the local cultures traditions which the firm is required to follow, the
alignment with the FAST program ensures that, the different employees will be able to function
in adequate harmony which is the overall culture of the firm and the country .

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Figure 3: The winning behaviour at Carlsberg
(Source: Carlsberggroup.com ,2019).
The organization arranged various training and related workshops which could be
rightfully used to ensure that the behavior of the different employees could also be used as a
competency measurement so as to see to it that the employees of the firm are able to reflect the
winning behavior at the workplace (Marchington, 2015). However, although the overall
intentions of Carlsberg could be understood to be considerably good, there were certain
challenges which were faced by the organization in ensuring long term success. This means that,
firstly, the winning behavior concept was understood difficult to be undertaken by the local
people as present. This means that, they were not being able to effectively incorporate the
concept because they failed to understand it. In addition to this, as Malaysia can be understood to

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be a predominantly Muslim country, the selling of the alcohol is banned and taxed heavily (Shen
& Benson, 2016).
Hence, in line of this, Carlsberg took time to gel with the employees of the firm in this
aspect. It can be understood that these issues occurred because, the employees believed that, they
were not being able to understand the culture and hence, felt demotivated. Moreover, the
employees also were not being able to align themselves with the overall objective of the firm as
it went beyond their culture and according to Paillé et al. (2014), the culture has a critical role to
play in the performance of the different employees.
An analysis of how well the 'Winning Behaviors’ strategy would work in an Australian
context, along with recommendations for how such an implementation could be
successfully managed.
Hence, it can be largely understood that the Winning strategy concept can be understood
to be a comprehensive concept which intends to ensure that the firm will be able to perform
adequately well by developing the different teams as present and not only fulfilling the overall
goals and duties of the firm towards the organizational objectives, but also towards the
employees of the firm (Stone & Deadrick, 2015). In line of this, it can be rightfully understood
that, the Winning strategy helped Carlsberg to achieve considerable success in the long run. If
the winning strategy is applied within the Australian context. It can be understood that the
overall strategy of the firm will not be as successful as the demographics and the overall culture
of Australia can be understood to be considerably different from that of the other countries
(Søderberg, 2015).

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The people in Australia can be understood to be largely independent in nature and
according to the Hofstede`s theory of cultural difference, the Australians are independent and
work oriented (Stone et al., 2015). They understand the different duties which they are required
to undertake as an employee of the organization, however, they fail to understand the concept of
family at the workplace. The Australians like to ensure that they separate their work life with
their personal life and in line of this, it would be difficult to let them follow the winning culture
which exists.
Therefore, in order to provide certain recommendations to the firm in line of this, it can
be largely understood that, the Winning strategy of the firm would be required to be altered in
the following measures:
The winning behavior will be required to include the incentive scheme policy which will
encourage the different employees to perform considerably well. In addition to this, the
employees need to be encouraged to perform considerably well but on their own terms.In
addition to this, The `we` concept will be required to be replaced with the `I` concept and the
confidence of the individuals will be required to be built effectively (Tung, 2016). Lastly,
another recommendation which would help the Carlsberg in ensuring considerable success can
be stated to be that, the firm would be required to redefine the meaning of team work in this case
which means that in place of the closeness of the team members as a family, the team should
only be gathered for professional purposes only and their objectives need to be set accordingly
(Tung, 2016).