7BSP1303 - Coles HRM: Analyzing Best Practice and Best Fit Models

This essay explores the advantages and disadvantages of implementing best practice and best fit approaches to human resource management (HRM) at Coles, a leading retail chain in Australia. The analysis considers the impact of these approaches on employees and organizational performance. The essay argues that while best practice HRM offers benefits such as guaranteed outcomes and faster implementation, it may not always align with employee expectations or specific organizational needs. Conversely, best fit HRM, which tailors strategies to the unique requirements of the organization, can enhance employee performance and internal management but may require more time and resources. The essay concludes that both approaches have their merits and drawbacks, and the optimal choice depends on Coles' specific circumstances and strategic objectives.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human resource management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction
Human resource management will be effective and productive for the business
organizations provided that they are being implemented according to the business situations.
However, in this case, chances of conflict between the nest practice and best fit is inevitable.
This is due to the reason that there are arguments, which states that best practices of the human
resource management should be implemented in the organizations irrespective of their different
organizational situations while some other states that best practice depends on organizational
situations and thus human resource management strategies should be implemented based on best
fit (Fratricova and Rudy 2015). Companies implementing these approaches are having different
level of consequences including both positive and negative.
Coles is the leading retail chain in Australia with having their presence across the country
and enjoying the market leadership status. They are having more than 110000 employees across
the country and thus having the need for extensive approach of human resource management to
manage the diverse workforce. Moreover, considering the rapidly changing business
environment, it is also important for Coles to follow the best practices of human resource
management, which will be the best fit for the company.
This essay will discuss about the advantages and disadvantages to be gained from
initiating nest practice and best fit approach of the human resource management. In addition, the
consequences from both the approaches on the employees and the organizational performance
will also be discussed.

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Advantages and disadvantages of best practice approach
One of the major advantages that can be gained by initiating the best practice approach of
human resource management is the guaranteed and known outcome. According to Al Ariss,
Cascio and Paauwe (2014), with the help of the implementation of the best practice of human
resource management in the workplace; human resource managers are having lower sets of risks.
This is due to the reason that best practices of human resource management are being selected
based on their effectiveness and performance on different scenarios. For instance, providing
financial benefits to the employees helps in motivating them proved fruitful in different
organizations. Thus, this strategy is being considered as a best practice to motivate the
employees and is being implemented in different organizations. Thus, as per the authors, human
resource managers stay in competitive position in implementing the best practices of human
resource management in the workplace. However, on the other hand, it should also be noted that
implementing this best practice will also cause challenges in determining the real world impact.
As per Alfes et al. (2013), it is not obvious that the similar strategy of human resource
management will have similar sets of outcome in different organizations. For instance, the
remuneration for the employees helped Walmart in motivating their employees in the United
States. However, Australian employees are having different mindsets and they may get
motivated more by recognition in the workplace. Thus, implementing the same strategy by Coles
will not have positive outcome.
Aguinis and Bradley (2014) further stated that implementation of the best practices of
human resource management will also spare the human resource managers from involving time
and resources in surveying the organizational scenario. This is due to the reason that as the best
practices of the human resource management are already proven in different scenarios, thus there

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are not needs for further research to identify the needs of the employees. Moreover, it should also
be noted that with the help of the initiation of the best practices of human resource management,
the rime consumed in the implementation process will be lower and thus can be implemented in
less time. This is making this approach a bit more strategic compared to the best fit strategy.
However, on the other hand, the major challenge that will be faced by the human resource
managers in implementing the best practices is resistances from the employees. This is due to the
reason that as per Podsiadlowski et al. (2013), best practices are being implemented based on
their outcome in different scenario and not on the basis of the requirement and expectations of
the employees. Thus, the chances for emergence of resistances from the side of the employees
will be more in this case. Thus, it can be concluded that best practices of the human resource
management will have certain advantages as well as disadvantages for the organization.
Implementing the best practices of the human resource management will also help the
human resource managers to measure the performance of their respective strategies against the
best gathered outcome in the industry. It is stated by Alfes et al. (2013) that with the help of the
best practices of the human resource management, managers will be able to have the idea about
the extent of the outcome. They can compare the performance of their organization against the
best performance in the industry. Thus, fewer limitations will be faced by the human resource
managers in terms of evaluating the performance and effectiveness of the practices. On the other
hand, it is stated by Theriou and Chatzoglou (2014) that outcome of the best practices of the
human resource management may be different in different business situation. This is due to the
reason that utility and effectiveness of the best practices can be measured on the basis of
particular business factors. Thus, the criteria for measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of
the best practices of human resource management will be different in different cases. Therefore,

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it can be concluded that human resource managers will face the challenge in measuring the
performance of the best practices on the basis of the universal criterion. Moreover, it is also
being stated by the authors that even if the best practices are having positive outcome, then also
the differences in measurement will be different and will provide different results.
In the case of Coles, implementation of the best practices of the human resource
management will help in taking lower time for strategic implementation. Thus, Coles will be able
to change their direction and objective of the human resource management in less time by simply
following the best practices in the industry. On the other hand, implementation of the best
practices will increase the distances between the managers and the employees. This is due to the
reason that expectations of the employees may not get considered in implementing the nest
practices of the human resource management. This will affect their performance and motivation
level. From the perspective of the organizational performance, this will also take the toll if the
average productivity of the employees gets lowered. Thus, it can be concluded that the best
practices of the human resource management should be implemented on the basis of respective
requirements of the organizations in order to have the maximum outcome from it.
Advantages and disadvantages of best fit approach
Apart from the best practices approach of the human resource management, best fit
approach is also being followed by the human resource managers. This approach refers to the
process of implementing the human resource management strategies in accordance to the specific
organizational requirements and pattern. Thus, in this case, there is no need of identifying the
best practices in the industry but implementing that is best fit for the organization. According to
Paauwe and Boon (2018), implementation of the best fit approach of the human resource

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management will help the business organizations to have the maximum utility. This is due to the
reason that the strategies to be implemented will be the best for the organization. Moreover, it is
also stated by the authors that as these strategies are being initiated based on the specific
organizational factors, thus the probability of emergence of resistances is less from the side of
the employees. On the other hand, it is stated by Sikyr (2013) that initiation of the best fit
approach of the human resource management will also help in having the maximum positive
impact on the employee performance. This is due to the reason that in the case of implementing
the best fit approaches, feedback of the employees is being considered and analyzed regarding
what will be the best fit. Thus, all the requirements and expectations of the employees are being
met, which further helps in increasing the performance of them.
For instance, Coles is having diverse workforce in their Australian business operation and
thus it is important for them to consider the cultural differences in implementing the human
resource management strategies. However, there are number of organizations operating in
Australia, which are having lower sets of diversity in the workforce. Thus, the strategies being
initiated by them to manage their employees from a particular social group will be different in
the case of Coles even if these strategies are proven success. This is due to the reason that Coles
is having diverse workforce and thus single social group cannot be considered in initiating the
human resource management approaches. In this case, it is important for Coles to initiate the
diversity management strategies, which will be effective for the business pattern of Coles. In
addition, the particular approach of the diversity management should be fit for them.
Even though there are number of advantages of the best fit approach being stated by
different authors, but still this approach is having a few limitations for the business. According to
Alagaraja (2013), it is stated that implementation of the best fit approach of the human resource

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management will cause the human resource managers to invest more time and money. This is
due to the reason that they have to first initiate research survey to identify the relevant factors
and trends in the organization. Based on these factors, the strategies should be implemented.
Hence, the entire process of initiating the human resource management strategies is time
consuming and cannot be accepted as strategic approach. Furthermore, it is stated by Hauff,
Alewell and Hansen (2014) that implementation of the best fit approach of human resource
management should be periodical and continuous in nature. This is due to the reason that
organizational environment and trends are rapidly changing and it is important for the human
resource managers to change their approaches according to the changes in the organizational
trends.
Even after the discussion on both the advantages and disadvantages of the best fit
approach of the human resource management, it is should be noted that maximum utility from
the employees can be achieved from it. This is due to the reason that best fit approach is being
initiated on the basis of the expectations and requirement of the employees. Thus, it will have
positive impact on the performance of the employees. On the basis of the organizational
performance, effectiveness of the internal management will get enhanced due to the reason that
resistances from the side of the employees will have lower probability and thus fewer issues
should be faced. It should also be noted that implementation of the best fit approach will have
involvement of more resources in the process for the organization. Thus, the strategic
competitiveness of the human resource process may be affected.
Conclusion

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This can be concluded that both the best fit and best practice approach of the human
resource management are having advantages and disadvantages for the employee and
organizational performance. In this essay, all the relevant factors are being discussed and
evaluated. It is identified that with the help of the best practice approach of the human resource
management, Coles will be able to enhance their strategic intent and can implement the strategies
in less time. On the other hand, implementation of the best fit approaches of the human resource
management will help Coles to have more effective management of the employees with having
lower risks of emergence of issues. This essay also discussed about how both these approaches
can help Coles in gaining competitive advantages. It can also be concluded that best fit
approaches of the human resource management considers more of the requirement of the
employees while the best practice approach considers the existing practices in the industry with
highest success ratio.

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Reference
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Alagaraja, M., 2013. HRD and HRM perspectives on organizational performance: A review of
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