Evaluating HR Policies for Employee Performance in Tesco: A Study

This literature review explores the significance of Human Resource (HR) policies in enhancing employee performance within a multi-cultural organization, focusing on a case study of Tesco. It begins by defining Human Resource Management (HRM) as a critical foundation for organizational activities, balancing employee expectations with strategic business requirements, especially in managing workforce diversity. The review highlights the importance of HRM in fostering employee well-being, social contentment, and organizational efficiency, particularly in a globalized and competitive environment. Key aspects of workforce diversity, including internal, external, organizational, and world-view dimensions, are examined for their impact on workplace productivity. Employee engagement is discussed in relation to motivation and its role in improving loyalty and product quality. The methodology section investigates HR practices at Tesco, including diversity management, equal employment opportunities, performance measurement methods, and strategies for improving employee engagement to enhance productivity in a culturally diverse setting. Ultimately, the review aims to provide insights into how effective HR policies can positively influence employee performance and organizational success at Tesco.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

CONTENTS
RESEARCH TOPIC..................................................................................................................1
1. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1
2. AIMS & OBJECTIVES......................................................................................................1
Aims.......................................................................................................................................1
Objectives...............................................................................................................................1
3. LITERATRURE REVIEW.................................................................................................2
Human resource management and its importance..................................................................2
Attributes of workforce diversity...........................................................................................3
Impact of diversity on productivity of the workplace............................................................3
Importance of employee engagement and role of HRM........................................................5
Ways of improving employee engagement and increase productivity at the workplace in
culturally diverse organization...............................................................................................7
4. METHODOLOGY.............................................................................................................9
Different HR practices and policies adopted at Tesco...........................................................9
Best HR practices at Tesco...................................................................................................10
Diversity management and equal employment opportunity.................................................10
Methods adopted for measuring the performance of the employees at Tesco.....................11
Ways of measuring employee engagement at Tesco............................................................12
How best HR practices can influence employee performance?...........................................13
5. CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................14
6. REFERENCES.................................................................................................................15

RESEARCH TOPIC
The main title for the current research work is “to evaluate the significance of various
HR policies in relation to the enhancement of employee performance and enhancement
within multi cultured organization: A study on Tesco”.
1. INTRODUCTION
According to Inegbedion and et al. (2020), Human resource management is being
referred as the key foundation of all the activities of the management. it is important for the
companies to maintain a steady balanced amid the human expectations of the workers and
achievement of the financial and strategic requirements of the business. Unambiguously, in
the present time, human resource management is one of the factors for having more effective
company and thus, management of the workforce along with their diversity is the most
essential characteristics of HRM in an organization which is multi-cultural. Furthermore,
diversity of the workforce is directly indicated towards the production of the workers and the
success of the firm on a global platform. Additionally, as per Arbnor and Bjerke (2014), the
current business environment has now become multifaceted as well as competitive wherein
workforce have become culturally diverse and products and services have become knowledge
based. In an organizational setting, there has been alteration in the communication because of
the rapid evolvement of technology, computing capabilities as well as networks of
communication and this has subsequently resulted into employment of human resources with
varied ethnic as well as cultural backgrounds. Since, the workforce has become more multi-
cultural and distinct, it is not only essential for human resource to acquire acquaintance of
communication however it is also crucial for HRM to be aware of the factor related to cross
culture for attaining the goals of the firm effectively.
2. AIMS & OBJECTIVES
Aims
The main aim of the current research study is “to evaluate the significance of various
HR policies in relation to the enhancement of employee performance and enhancement
within multi cultured organization: A study on Tesco”.
Objectives
For the fulfilment of the above defines aims, there will be requirement of some small
objectives and are being defined underneath:
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 To evaluate the importance of human resource management in multi-cultured
organization
 To outline different HR policies and ways of measuring employee performance in
Tesco
 To define the ways of measuring engagement of employees in Tesco
 To evaluate the role of human resource management in employee engagement
 To analyse the manners in which employee engagement can be improved and
productivity can be enhanced at Tesco
3. LITERATRURE REVIEW
Human resource management and its importance
According to Marchington and et.al. (2021), human resource management can be
explained by a human, management and a resource focus strategy within an organization.
Human resource management policy choices in the field of employee motivation, working
patterns, work rewards and movement of HR within the company. Further, for effective HRM
in an organization, well-being of the workers, social contentment and efficiency of the firm
are considered as some of the enduring objectives. As per Daft and Marcic (2016), human
resource management is defined as an important process through which people in the firm are
being managed in a structured as well as systematic way. It is both referred as tan art as well
as science. It is called as an art because it manages the people through innovative and artistic
strategies and is called as a science due to the fact of its exactness as well as demanding
application of their which is needed. HRM plays an important role in assuring satisfaction of
the employees, augmenting their level of performance and efficiency for meeting the pre-
determined goals of the firms and leading them towards the path of success and growth.
According to Saxena (2014), in the current times, recruitment of diversified
workforce is quite important for the firm for running operations and for earning revenue in an
ethical way on the global platform. As defined by Davis, Frolova and Callahan (2016),
management of diversity in the firm can results into higher performance results. Furthermore,
at times when human resource practices support the multi-cultural workforce which holds
important skills, diversity is turned into advantage for the firm. Human resource management
not only makes sure equality, this functions also values and utilizes diversity efficiently and
thus, it can be attributed that human resource management plays a very critical role when
talking in relation with the management of diversity.
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Attributes of workforce diversity
According to Abidi and et al. (2017), workforce diversity is being defined as the place
of business where both males and females’ workers with different cultural background,
ethnicities, gender differentiation, race, caste, creed and religious affiliations work together
for accomplishing a common or shared goals. This type of business might involve even
workers who have some or the other form of disabilities and those who are veterans. On the
other hand, Hofhuis, Van der Zee and Otten (2015), has defined workforce diversity assumes
four fundamental features based on the external impact, demographics, organizational
influence as well as personal experiences. The author has defined some of the major diversity
attributes in the workplace. The very first is the internal diversity, which is connected with
the individual demographic of the workers. Such kind of diversity is an intrinsic facet of the
individual such as gender, race, caste, culture, ethnicity, physical features and nationality.
The second attribute of workforce diversity is external diversity which denotes the
characteristics which impacts the workers in a multi-cultural organization (Martin, 2014).
This type of diversity is quite varied from the internal diversity as in this the workers can
make changes in them through external actions such as citizenship, financial status, personal
experience, geographic location, education, spirituality and religious affiliation.
The third one is related with organizational diversity. This signifies that a diverse
work place always has an optimistic influence throughout all the levels of the whole
company. For illustration, a workplace which is diverse can positively influence the status of
management, departments, structure of the fir, operational facets and functions of job. The
last one is workplace diversity which states that personal views of the world are always
varied as they are also subject to the earlier experiences. In the similar manner, workers are
also affected in a different way through events in their life. All these events and their
influences helps in shaping the routine viewpoints of the workers (Aslam and et al., 2014).
Impact of diversity on productivity of the workplace
According to Özçelik and Ferman (2016), human resource management is
apprehensive in relation with the management of the human aspect of the firm in such a
manner that the objectives of the organization is being attained with development of the
workers as well as contentment. At times, when the firms give employment opportunities to
human resource with differences in attitude, age, perception, gender, religion, caste, creed
and region then it is quite difficult for the management along with the workers to effectively
manage as well as make adjustment with that environment. Management of the diverse
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workforce is not easy rather it is the biggest challenge for each and every firm. Diverse
organization means, each and every individual is diverse from one another due to their
variation in religion, cultural background, caste, creed, colour, religion and viewpoints
(Huang, Ma and Meng, 2017). When all these varied types of people in relation with
generation, thinking as well as perception work together at the same place then surely a
condition might come where all these varied kinds of people might not approve at the same
point. In such a situation, the inter-personal association amid the people is being affected.
Thus, for effective functioning, it is crucial on the part of the organization to make efforts to
improve the inter-personal relationship among the workers so that they can work together to
achieve the common objectives and goals.
As per Johansen and Sowa (2019), the success of the organization along with the
competitiveness mainly relies on the capability of embracing diversity as well as realizing the
advantages. At times when the firms actively evaluate their handling and organization of
workplace diversity issues, creates and executes plans, different sort of advantages are being
reported. On the other hand, Masvaure, Ruggunan and Maharaj (2014) has asserted that
diversity has different impacts on the organization such as it helps in stimulating the
innovation as well as production level and develops a world class culture which can
outperform the competition. Furthermore, a multi-cultural firm is better suited to serve a
diverse external patron in a more progressively worldwide market. Moreover, these types of
firms have more comprehension of the needs of the legislations, economic, political, cultural
as well as social environment of the international countries. According to (Pasban and
Nojedeh (2016), in the companies which are research oriented and high technologies
companies, the wider base of talents being generated through a gender and ethnic diverse
firms always becomes an advantage which is priceless.
As said by Khoreva and Wechtler (2018), creativity is flourished on diversity. Those
firms which are multi-cultural, they are found to be better at solving the issues and also holds
enhanced level of capabilities in extracting expanding meanings as well as more likely to
represent multiple viewpoints along with interpretations in dealing with the complex
problems. Other than this, it has also been found out any many studies that those firms which
are giving employment opportunities to more diverse workforce than they can supply a
higher assortment of solutions to the issues in service and can better allocate their resources.
Further, Duarte, Gomes and Das Neves (2015) has also emphasized that workers who
belongs from the diverse backgrounds brings more talent and experience and recommends
novel concepts which are flexible in adapting the requirement of the fluctuating markets and
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demands of the clients. Additionally, a diverse collection of experiences along with the skills
enables the firm to offer services to the clients on an international basis. Further, a diverse
workforce which feels relaxed in interacting variable perspectives offers a greater pool of
experiences as well as ideas.
Importance of employee engagement and role of HRM
The principle in relation with the employee engagement is being formulated in the
ISO 9001–2015 standard which suggests the emergence of motivation, involvement along
with active participation of the employees in each and every production procedure of the
company which can positively impact the productivity of the workers. It is a known fact that
each and every employee will work effectively in the company only if they are motivated and
have passion for the same. for achieving this, it is important to develop situations that allures
maximum level of interest of the workers towards their job role (Garg, Dar and Mishra,
2018). It is also believed that satisfaction of the workers towards their job helps in
augmenting their loyalty towards the company and loyalty in turn helps in forming
engagement which enables them to enhance the quality of the products.
As per Fristin and et.al. (2019), it is worth illustrative that the idea of motivation of
employees and engagement of employees should not be confused with. Explanation and
comprehension of the engagement in different studies reflects a lack of technical agreement
in identifying the boundaries of employee engagement. There are different terms which
appears to be same within the meaning of the term employee engagement, makes it quite
difficult to observe the phenomenon as an autonomous paradigm. The notion in relation with
motivation as well as engagement varies in that motivation helps in motivating the individual
to attain some specified activity on the other hand, engagement is not just related with the
activities rather it is about thoughts and involvement along with the energy which helps in
promoting the individual towards higher level of performance. there are many studies which
have proved that engagement of the workers helps in reducing the occupational fatigue and
interest in engagement has also increased even faster than ever.
According to Alola and Alafeshat (2020), employee engagement is one of the most
crucial pointers in evaluating the satisfaction of the work. In the present time, each and every
worker desire to be involved in their work and remain passionate in regards with the firm
they work for. They also have sense of belongingness and have enough flexibility across
locations as well as schedules. As argued by Aktar and Pangil (2017), when people feel
positive emotions, they are able to think in more compliantly, inclinedly and are more likely
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to feel higher level of self-control and cope up more effectively in the workplace. As per
Schaufeli (2018), engagement of employees can be attained by development of a positive
organizational environment like encouragement of involvement and pride. All this helps in
augmenting the level of performance of the organization and lowers the turnover of the
workers and enhances their health.
Role of HRM in employee engagement
One of the main assists of the business corporations is nothing but their human
capital. Employees plays a very important role in identifying the organizational success in
attaining the objectives and goals. Particularly in the present working environment which is
being featured with intense level of competition. Even though, most of the job has been
exchanged with machines and latest technologies, human factors are still being regarded as
crucial component. They help in shaping the agility as well as creativity of the firms for
developing competitive advantage. In reality, many studies have found out that the
significance element of management is the human skills. The greater people can augment
satisfaction level of clients and therefore generate outstanding group (Rubel and et.al, 2018).
Engagement of workers and the satisfaction of the job plus rates of turnover are the main
pointers of employee centred firms, firms which values their employees and their
involvement. Additionally, as per Sattar and et al. (2015), those employees who are highly
engaged can influence the growth level of the firm. Moreover, evidences in connection with
the significance of the degree of engagement in regards with the attainment of the objectives
of the firms are augmented level of job performance, decreased intention of turnover as well
as burnout and augmented optimistic well-being plus perception of health.
According to Meiyani and Putra (2019), human resource management plays a very
crucial role in employee engagement in each and every organization. furthermore, the human
resource practices are being regarded as the most crucial factors that can impact the employee
engagement. This is due to fact that the policies along with the practices of human resource
function in relation with rewards management, training and development, comfort, well-
being of the employees, fair treatment, sources of satisfaction and motivation of the workers.
Furthermore, making use of human resource management functions, the managers can drive
the employee engagement by a collective form of steps which helps in creating a culture by a
shared vision. Engagement can be cultivated when usual predispositions of the people are
reflected in their behaviours through the types of processes along with the structures which
have evolved there.
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As per Cheema Akram and Javed (2015), human resource management encompasses
all management decisions along with the actions that influences the nature of the association
amid the firm and the workers. The human resource managers are required to make sure that
the culture along with the decisions being created by them are in the best interest of both the
firms and the workers. As stated by Guest (2014), the main role of the human resource
functions should support to enhance the capabilities of the organization. understanding the
mission and vision of the organization can develop a platform for planning to engage people
in the workplace. With the utilization of planning related to workforce and job design,
business corporation an begin harnessing engagement from the very starting of the journey of
the workers. Utilizing the model of Hackman and Oldham, creation of a job which enables
the skills assortment, individuality of task, importance of task, independence and feedback
can augment the outcomes related to work. Furthermore, the workers in the organizations can
be encouraged by offering challenges, confidence and independence being placed in them by
their employers.
In addition to this, they are also even aware about the results of their performance
and because of this they comprehend the reason behind what has been done by them.
Although having a well-designed job is considered as an important beginning, more
significantly, recruitment of the right individual for the right role is very important (Haddock-
Millar, Sanyal and Müller-Camen, 2016). Building a reciprocal association amid the novel
workers and the business from the very beginning can results into development of strong
level of relationship that becomes greater and greater with the passage of time. Recruitment
of the right individual for the right job and making sure that there is an accurate fit, also helps
in enhancement of engagement because the individual is being utilized for the best of their
abilities. Therefore, it is rightly been said that human capital if utilized appropriately, it
grows.
Ways of improving employee engagement and increase productivity at the workplace in
culturally diverse organization
According to Bajorek, Giles and Steadman (2018), engagement of employee is being
referred as the manners in which the workers feel committed in regards with their jobs as well
as companies and the ways they are passionate in relation with it. Undoubtedly, workers not
just have enhanced production level rather they have higher retention. Furthermore,
employees who are engaged are more focused towards the clients and also makes
contribution optimistically towards enhanced level of innovation and effectiveness. Thus, it
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can be said that employee engagement offers so many advantages and it is thus the main
priority for firms both for the business as well as for the human resource. Diversity inclusion
has emerged as the main driver for employee engagement in the current times. In a multi-
cultural organization, employee engagement along with the productivity can be enhanced by
adopting different practices and initiatives and these are as follows:
 Employee resource groups – There are numerous advantages of employee resource
groups. This is the technique in which employees from different cultural backgrounds
are combined together to form a diverse group and offer a safe space for open
discussions (Ashok kumar, 2014).
 Flexibility – This is another important inclusion practice which helps in enhancing
engagement and productivity of the organization. Each and every worker has diverse
requirement on the basis of their life context as well as preferences. For example,
parents of young children require flexibility in relation with the child care or a
workers might want to a child sitting at office or relaxation of some hours for taking
care of their children. Thus, through offering more flexibility in relation with flexible
working hours and location is crucial in multi-cultural organization and making the
workplace inclusion. This in turn results in higher level of engagement as well.
 Mentoring and Training – Development of employee is very crucial for engagement
and when this evolution is being emphasized in creation of an inclusive workplace,
the engagement increases even further. Offering learning as well as mentoring
prospects to all the employees in the company and special development initiatives on
the basis of the requirements of different workers creates an inclusive workplace. In
addition to this, training and development programs that pays attention on diversity as
well as inclusion such as overcoming biases or determining the micro exclusions
supports in creating an inclusive workplace as well as augments engagement (Alcázar,
Fernández and Gardey, 2013).
 Promoting transparency – Bringing workers into the fold as quickly as possible is
regarded as one of the most effective strategies related to employee engagement. It is
important that the teams and the groups in the organizations must be aware about
what is taking place within the firms so that they can completely make investment of
their energies into the firm. On the other hand, if they get the feeling that they are
being left out from the loop intentionally then they might start distrusting the
management and lose confidence in leadership.
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4. METHODOLOGY
Different HR practices and policies adopted at Tesco
Talking in relation with the human resource management at Tesco, it involves
different activities such as recruitment, talent evaluation, provision of a good working
environment, program intended at retaining workers who have good level of performance and
making sure that all are considered equally. All these different trends within the human
resource management are all crucial because devoid of team, workers might not feel
appreciated. As noted by (), augmenting the self-worth of the workers is being regarded as
one of the most important tolls in the arsenal of the successful human resource management
practitioner as those workers who feel appreciated are more likely to perform well and are
less captivated colleagues. In addition to this, for better and enhanced and employee relation,
Tesco also motivates its employees to work near their home which is observed as a green
initiative by (). It further supports in cutting down the fuel cists and also helps in reducing the
time being spent by the employees on travelling to work. Tesco also provides their workers
freedom of transfer which in turn helps in encouraging retention of the workers. Other than
this, the utilization of shift of work also supports in maximizing the capability of people to
work hours that is appropriate as per their own timetables. Therefore, for illustration a student
might be in a position to get access to evening shift that does not interrupt his or her studies.
On the other hand, a mother can also take care of their young one and can work during the
day. This type of flexible working practices and patterns is quite crucial for exchange of
notions for the promotion of equality of faith. These are also being regarded as one of the
most important factors which has helped the company in building a broad multi-cultural team
of employees which are attune to the attitudes of the individual societies that they serve.
Certainly, because United Kingdom is being a multi-cultural community across the world,
human resource management can be seen to play an important role in working towards the
development of cordial and fruitful working environment (Bajorek, Giles and Steadman,
2018).
Tesco also makes sure that each and every worker know his or her rights in the
organization which can also be seen as an important direction of making sure that the workers
union are supportive of aspirations of the market of the firm. The company also
encirclements health as well as safety rules and training might be considered as a further
bonus. Other than thus, the company also gives training to their workers on the topic related
to disaster management, which is not only optimistic for the workers however it is also quite
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positive for the customers who frequently buy products and services from the supermarket.
The staff of the company gets regular training which signifies that member of the public an
easily shop from the company in safety in the secure knowledge that in the event of a fire or
any kind of outbreak, the employees are well-trained and are also responsive.
Best HR practices at Tesco
Talking in the context of the utilization of the human resource models, the company
makes use of varied kinds of models for making sure that it accomplishes the core objectives
of the business. The most important HRM model being used by the firm is commitment-
based model which does not compels their workforce for meeting out their frameworks. In
fact, the attainment of the goals is seemed at as possible by respect, offers that there is
coordination and self-control. Furthermore, this model also calls for motivation along with
strengthening for attaining the objectives of management of Tesco. The commitment-based
model puts the employees in the vanguard and assist them to withstand inspiration (Haddock-
Millar, Sanyal and Müller-Camen, 2016).
The company functions in 14 nations of the world and has around more than 400000
workers all across the globe because of which it is quite imperative for the firm to effectively
manage as well as comprehend the requirement of their workers for enhancing the
performance level as well as production. It has been indicated that the human resource
management at Tesco generally revolves around training and development of the workers,
consultation and interaction for reducing the cultural shocks and advantages related to the
performance and attainment of the targets. The core human resource strategy at Tesco is
nothing but the training and development of the workers. Each and every year, the firms’
choses a large base of probable workers from colleges’ as well as universities. As these
probable workers are not aware of the work and culture of the firm, they are offered with a
prospect to learn in regards with the work as well as culture of the company. As the company
highly emphasize on equal employment opportunity, each and every individual is offered
with the same kind of prospects for developing indispensable skills being needed for the
work. Other than this, these workers are steadily offered with an opportunity to gain further
knowledge in regards with the culture of the organization. Tesco has executed its training and
development plan in which almost every employee that is around 99.9 percent of DC workers
were trained and offered with novel skills and abilities that bronze level (Meiyani and Putra,
2019).
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