Strategic HR Value Case Study: Countdown Supermarket, Semester 1

This case study provides an in-depth analysis of strategic human resources value within Countdown Supermarket, a leading supermarket chain in New Zealand. It explores how the HR department can enhance its value to management and employees to bolster organizational competitiveness and sustainability. The study critically examines the implementation of strategic HR roles, the necessary skills and competencies, and personal skill development using the SHRM competency model. Furthermore, it delves into the importance of employee experience, highlighting key "moments that matter" and the impact of various employee experience environments. The analysis also covers external factors influencing HR strategy, the link between business and HR strategies, and the application of specific HR strategies within the organization. The case study emphasizes the crucial role of HR in balancing the relationship between management and workforce, fostering employee engagement, and driving organizational growth through effective training, performance management, and strategic alignment.

Strategic Human Resources Value
Case Study of Countdown Supermarket

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
PART A.......................................................................................................................................................4
1. Please discuss how you can provide more valuable service as an HR department/HR professional for
your management and for your employees to support your organisation competitiveness and
sustainability............................................................................................................................................4
2. Critically analyse how strategic HR roles can be implemented in your organisation and what skills
and other competencies you would expect from people in those roles. Justify your expectation.............5
3. Using an HR competency model (HRINZ or SHRM), critically analyse your own skill profile and
suggest at least two (2) development activities that would help you to improve your existing skill set...6
PART B.......................................................................................................................................................8
2. Explain the term “moments that matter” and analyse their role in employee experience. Provide an
example of two (2) positive and two (2) negative moments and discuss their impact..............................8
3. Discuss the importance of three employee experience environments and provide a successful
implementation example of each environment based on your research. Explain the impact that the
implementation possibly created regarding employee experience...........................................................9
PART C.....................................................................................................................................................11
1. Critically analyse at least five (5) external factors that have a significant input to your HR strategy.
Categorise those factors and clearly explain their possible effect..........................................................11
2. Explain the link between business strategy and HR strategy and discuss five (5) key internal factors
that need to be considered while those strategies are being established. Justify your choice.................12
3. Using a specific HR strategy (of your organisation or any other organisation of your choice), discuss
how this strategy should be applied in...................................................................................................13
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................14
References.................................................................................................................................................15

Introduction
Human resource is undeniably one of the most important functions of an organisation. The
Human resource management is responsible for managing workforce, working on employee
engagement, doing effective grievance management and finally working on the constant
improvement of performance of employees. The value of HR in an organisation is way more
than it is considered as it is the sole connection between the upper management and the
employees. It not only works on the welfare of the workforce in an organisation but also
consistently works to improve the performance of the employees to keep them on the right track
(Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).

PART A
1. Please discuss how you can provide more valuable service as an HR department/HR
professional for your management and for your employees to support your organisation
competitiveness and sustainability
Countdown Supermarket is one of the leading supermarket chains in the New Zealand market.
The organisation is a subsidiary of Woolworths NZ and has provided quality products and
services to the consumers in the country that has created an excellent customer base in the
market. The company runs with strength of 18000 employees across 184 stores and is considered
as one of the major employer in the retail industry. Being an HR manager in this organisation is
always a challenge and hence it is extremely important for the HR professional to be proactive
all the time thinking provides the best possible service to the organisation as well as the
employees working in the organisation (Paauwe & Boon, 2018).
For an HR manager the sole focus is always to balance the relationship between the upper
management and the workforce which shows that competitive and sustainability will only come
for the organisation when the relationship between these two entities are perfectly managed.
Hence, it could be said that the HR department and the HR professional of Countdown
Supermarket could provide highly valuable service by maintaining the right balance between the
workforce and the organisation. There are various aspects to maintaining effective relationship
with the workforce. As an HR professional working with Countdown it is important to
understand the business needs of the organisation like the mission, vision and objectives which
would help to accordingly convey the same to the employees in order to bring both the entities
on the same page (Bratton & Gold, 2017). Effectively imbibing the understanding of the
organisational need would help the employees to act accordingly. Countdown works with a
friendly yet a corporate culture which means the employees focus on their tasks and performs
their responsibilities and constantly communicating with the employees help to ensure the work
is in line with the objectives laid down by the organisation. The HR of the organisation would be
able to contribute valuably to the organisational operations when it understands the mission of
the organisation that is “to be one of the leading retailers in the country”. In order to become the
leading organisation in the country the people of the organisation has to contribute and the HR
helps to do that effectively (DeCenzo, Robbins & Verhulst, 2016).

The effective framing of the training program, providing understanding of the process and
increasing efficiency as well as maintaining efficiency would help the organisation to
consistently be on top. Hence, it could be said that the HR department has to thoroughly work on
the training program, develop Key performance indicators and employs effective performance
management strategies like 360 degree feedback and personal counseling to understand the
grievances. This helps to increase employee engagement and the eagerness to contribute to the
organisational growth and development. To conclude it could be said that the HR department
plays the role of a mentor and guide which helps the organisation to get proper effort from its
people to gain competitive advantage and sustainability (Ulrich, 2016).
2. Critically analyse how strategic HR roles can be implemented in your organisation and
what skills and other competencies you would expect from people in those roles. Justify
your expectation
In order address the organisational objectives in the best possible manner it is extremely
important for the HR department to understand their roles and responsibilities. Execution
strategic HR roles is given paramount importance by every HR team especially those working in
a competitive environment. It becomes essential that the strategic roles are properly addressed as
it not only enhances the efficiency of the employees but also helps to contribute to the visible
growth and development of the organisation. Some of the key strategic HR roles are employee
recruitment and selection, training and development of employees, managing compensations and
benefits, developing workplace safety et cetera (Boroughs & Palmer, 2016). It is important for
the HR department to have an effective strategy to implement the strategic roles that helps to add
to the organisational objectives. Often HR professionals face problems to implement strategic
roles because of the lack of understanding of the HR employees hence, it is important to make
them understand the organisational and HR objectives effectively.
There are few key aspects which should be taken into account while implementing strategic roles
which are: help employees to understand the strategic direction of the organisation, enhancing
and motivating employees to increase their commitment, rationalize work system and effective
realignment of functional departments of the organisation. The responsibility of the HR
professional in Countdown is to gather the HR employees and effectively communicate with
them to ensure they understand the focus of the organisation which would help to encourage the
employees to act accordingly. Being able to analyse the skills and competencies they have also

strengthens the overall strategic plan of the organisation. In order to implement the strategic roles
effectively a communicative framework and a cohesive teamwork is needed (Ulrich &
Dulebohn, 2015). The employees provided the responsibilities should have excellent
communicative abilities which stand to be the core competencies of the employees. Apart from
that each of the employees should have team working skills that would help to work in teams and
execute plans in the best possible manner. Each and every employee has to have leadership
abilities which would help to emerge victorious under complex environment. Target oriented
approach is important in achieving organisational objectives hence, it is extremely important for
the HR employees to understand the strategic roles and accordingly execute their plans. The
employees should be efficient enough which would only come with experience. Hence, it is
extremely important for the HR employees to be experienced enough which would help to
execute the plan (Angrave et al., 2016).
3. Using an HR competency model (HRINZ or SHRM), critically analyse your own skill
profile and suggest at least two (2) development activities that would help you to improve
your existing skill set
The SHRM hr competency model is an extremely effective model that helps HR professionals to
make amendments in their skill sets. It is extremely important for a HR professional to ensure
that all the skill sets are effectively managed so that the organisational objectives are effectively
achieved through efficient utilisation of HR skills. As an HR professional it is important to
critically analyse my personal skill sets which would help to constantly improve my performance
in the organisation.

Fig 1: SHRM Competency Model (Mello, 2014)
As per the model an HR should have few core skills which are communication, relationship
management, ethical practice, human resource knowledge, critical evaluation, business acumen,
consultation abilities, leadership and cultural effectiveness. It is important for an HR to have fair
amount of knowledge of these aspects. As per my present knowledge status working different
organisations in short stints have helped me to gather fair amount of experience in HR. To
critically assess my skills it could be said that I am good in communication. I am a natural
speaker. Right from my academic career I have been able to communicate with different people
that have helped me to mingle with new people and make friends. In a professional setup I have
been able to communicate effectively because I have flair for communication (Mello, 2014). I
mainly use the interactive communication model where I mainly emphasise on listening to the
other person which helps me to effectively understand the other person. The interactive
communication model helps to communicate effectively and build effective relationship in the
professional front. Hence, it could be said that I have fairly skillful in terms of communication.
However, it is important to note that sometimes during pressure situation I tend to lose my
temper which partially affects my communication abilities like my use of words and composure
which shows that I need to work on being professionally focused during pressure situations.
During these situations it becomes troublesome for me to work with the teammates due to
pressure which ends up in chaos. Hence it is important for me to work on my leadership skills
which are an extremely important aspect in a professional setting. I have effective relationship
with colleagues normally but leading them becomes tough where I become extremely indecisive.
However, I am effective in assessing situations properly which is extremely important to run a
team and assist them in difficult situations. Thus, from the above assessment it is clear that I
need to work on leadership abilities and relationship management which is extremely important
to operate in a practical workplace setup (Storey, 2014).

PART B
1 Using your selected organisation from part A, create one priority
persona profile
Name: Samantha
Job Title: Countdown Supermarket, New Zealand. The company is a super market chain.
Demographics
Age: 26 years
Gender: Female
Household income/salary: £11.54 per hour
Location: London
Education:
 Bachelor’s degree
 Courses: Organizational behaviour
 Labour and industrial relations
 Family: Family of three
Goals: My goal is to focus on career development. I want to have good career scope in
Countdown Supermarket. I want to work in human resource team of the company.
Challenges: I believe I have good capability and skill to work under the company. However, I
encounter certain challenges while working. Dealing with clients and customers can be tough
and difficult. I tend to have doubt and anxiousness before taking part in decision making process.
As its consequence, at times, my work performance is hampered. During certain times, work
flexibility tends to become an issue which restricts or limits my work productivity. I need to
make effort to better my confidence and trust myself concerning work.
Fears
Primary values: I believe in having clear communication with employees and co-workers. I
strive to treat everyone with equality. Giving training and information is necessary as a HR
manager.

Common objections: It becomes difficult to give same importance to employees, give attention
to all equally.
Likes:
 Involvement in decision making process
 Have communication fluency
2. Explain the term “moments that matter” and analyse their role in employee experience.
Provide an example of two (2) positive and two (2) negative moments and discuss their
impact.
There could mainly be three different types of moments in an employee’s journey with an
organisation which are obvious, opaque and invisible. These three moments help to regulate the
experience of the employee. In this scenario it is important to note that HR professional along
with the department of Countdown needs to work on helping the employees get effective
experience from their time at the organisation which would not only help the organisation to
develop a strong relationship with the employees but it will also make them highly competitive
and that is indispensable to survive in a highly competitive market in New Zealand (Brewster,
Chung & Sparrow, 2016).
Any employee associated with any form of organization needs to have complete job satisfaction
with respect to the designation and the job role he/she is being associated with. Without this, the
employee may never receive the exact motivation that is required in order to stay dedicated with
the job role and responsibilities and the organization as a whole and the motivation of an
employee depends, to a wider extent, on the moments being spent within the work premises.
These moments matter a lot for the employees depending on which his/her dedication towards
other employees, the working environment and the organization as a whole depends on to. 3
different types of moments that might influence the dedication and motivation of an employee
are obvious, opaque and invisible moments depending on which the employee’s behaviorism
within the organization can be identified (Chelladurai & Kerwin, 2018).
The organisation recognises the good work of the employees which helps to develop a strong
positive mindset among the employees. This is an invisible moment which is made visible to
create a competitive environment within the workplace and to thank the employees for their

effort in the organisation. This kind of experience works extremely positively in the long run as
it helps them to move through a positive experience hence, journey and creates employee loyalty
and increases engagement. Positive reviews during performance review stands to be effective for
the employees as it helps them to understand that the organisation recognises their effort (Purce,
2014).
On the other hand it has been often seen that manager employee relationship worsens employee
experience. For instance, it has happened in the organisation that managers who are not in
effective talking terms have been promoted up the order which definitely creates a negative
effect on the workforce because it doesn’t do well for them and hence have negative impact and
reduces the willingness to work in the organisation. Apart from that asking for a new facility at
the office and not getting any possible response from the upper management largely affects the
mindset of the employees as they feel the upper management turned deaf ears to the request
leading to increased unrest and reluctance among employees at the organisation
(Cascio,2015).These two moments or facts that are being suffered by any employee eventually
reduce their work morale and gradually hamper their motivation to work with a positive attitude
(Kaufman, 2015).

3. Discuss the importance of three employee experience environments and provide a
successful implementation example of each environment based on your research. Explain
the impact that the implementation possibly created regarding employee experience
The three important employee experience environments are cultural environment, technological
environment and physical environment.
Fig 2: Employee Experience Environments (Kaufman, 2015)
Employee experience depends on the way the organisation creates the ambiance within the
workplace. Workplace ambiance and employee experience are directly related with the each
other. Hence, for an HR professional it is always important to maintain the above mentioned
environments in the best possible manner. The Cultural Environment is mainly developed with
the help of the corporate culture practiced in the organisation. Every organisation follows a
particular culture which helps to run the organisational operations but also helps to ensure
effective relationship building among the employees. Culture stems from the roots, values,
attitude, mission and vision of an organisation (Kaufman, 2015). It largely works with the
physical environment of an organisation and plays a crucial role in maintaining the mindset of
the employees. For instance, in Countdown Supermarket the culture stems from the feeling of the
employees. The cultural environment creates effective experience when the employees are
supportive of each other and work together to achieve the organisational goals. The corporate
culture of the organisation Countdown is friendly in nature. However, they follow a role based

culture which is merged with friendly culture to provide the best possible result to the
stakeholders. The implementation of the cultural environment is mainly done based on the root
of friendship which is both professional and personal in nature. Being able to communicate well
with the employees and share good relationship helps to perform effectively and hence, provides
positive result (Brewster et al., 2016).
The physical environment is about the touch, feel and taste of the workplace. The physical
environment has to be effective in nature to create a positive impact on the employees. The
physical environment is all about the overall physical infrastructure of the organisation and all
possible physical support that the organisation provides. In futurist office spaces employees are
provides opportunities to move to different places and learn about different cultures which is an
excellent way to connect with employees and increase their responsibilities. This is implemented
with opening of more and more locations which helps to send employees in the role of leaders
and managers that helps to improve their urge (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang, 2014).
The technological environment in the modern day operational environment has to be effective.
Hence, Countdown has to focus on improving its technological environment. It is implemented
through a complete technological strategy which helps to provide employees with new devices
with state of the art technology (Kooij & Van de Voorde, 2015).
PART C
1. Critically analyse at least five (5) external factors that have a significant input to your
HR strategy. Categorise those factors and clearly explain their possible effect
There are some key external factors that directly act as inputs to the HR strategy for an
organisation. One of the major external factors that act upon HR strategy is government
regulations. The government regulations in New Zealand talk significantly about employment
and workforce. It is imperative for an organisation to follow the legal bindings and obligations
otherwise the organisation would face significant legal implications. For instance, the
recruitment laws and discriminatory rules and regulations are put in place by the government to
make sure the organisations stand neutral in terms of race, sex, caste attributes and simply assess
people on their efforts (Rees & Smith, 2017). The Government regulations have worked on the
recruitment strategy of organisations for a long time and Countdown as an organisation has been