HRM Report: Analyzing Challenges at Woolworths Group (Course Code)

This report, prepared for a Human Resource Management (HRM) portfolio assignment, critically evaluates three key challenges impacting Woolworths Group: globalization, employee motivation, and creativity. The report begins by defining globalization and its challenges, particularly cultural diversity and communication issues, and recommends HR strategies like cultural training and top-level management involvement to address these. The second section focuses on employee motivation, highlighting its importance and the negative impacts of poor motivation on employee turnover and productivity. It recommends recognizing and rewarding employee performance and implementing Maslow's Hierarchy Theory to satisfy employee needs. The third section addresses creativity, analyzing its impact on innovation, employee engagement, and organizational performance, and recommends fostering a culture of experimentation and providing resources for creative endeavors. Each section includes an analysis of literature, a summary of key findings, and practical recommendations for Woolworths to improve its HRM practices and strategies.

Running Head : HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive summary
Motivation is considered to be one of the key elements which needs to be implemented by
Woolworths for valuing the feedbacks and opinions which are provided by the employees. From
the literature review, it can be seen that motivated employees are capable of providing the
employees with high level of morale and it will be making them perform successfully. There are
different recommendations in which Woolworths can follow Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory for
satisfying basic needs of employees and allowing them in performing suitably. Along with this
globalization and creativity being the key trends in todays’ world would leave impact on the HR
programs of the organization. The report analyses critically the previous literature on the
selected challenges and provides recommendation to address the challenges.

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Table of Contents
Globalization....................................................................................................................................4
Analysis of Literature..................................................................................................................4
Challenges....................................................................................................................................4
The major challenge....................................................................................................................5
Summary of the key findings.......................................................................................................6
Recommendation.........................................................................................................................7
Motivation........................................................................................................................................7
Analysis of Literature..................................................................................................................7
Summary of the Key Findings.....................................................................................................8
Recommendations........................................................................................................................9
Creativity...................................................................................................................................11
Analysis of Literature................................................................................................................11
Challenges..................................................................................................................................12
The major challenge..................................................................................................................12
Summary of the key findings.....................................................................................................13
Recommendation.......................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15

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Globalization
Analysis of Literature
Globalisation is the word that makes sue of the growing interdependence of the
economies, the populations and the cultures of the world that is brought about by the cross-
border trade in services and goods, the investment flows, the technology, information and
people. The countries have developed the economic partnerships for facilitating the movements
over many centuries. However, the term has gained huge popularity after the occurrence of Cold
War in the early years of the 1990s since these are some cooperative arrangements that are
shaping the daily lives as per the views of Sharma (2016). This effects of globalization are wide
ranging and these are complex too being charged politically at the same time. The globalization
benefits the society as the whole bit at the same time harms few groups. The understanding of
the relative costs and then benefits can help in paving the way for alleviation of problems and
sustaining the payoffs in future years. Since the past years, human have the sought for some of
the distant places to settle down, produce and then exchange the goods that are enabled by some
improvements in transportation and technology. According to Wrigley and Wood (2018), it is
not until the 19th century that the global integration have taken off. The first wave of the
globalisation has been propelled by railroads, steamships, telegraph and some of the having
increased the economic cooperation among countries. The trend of globalisation and has waned
eventually and has been crashed in the World War I being followed by World War II and the
Great Depression. The United States has led the efforts for reviving international investment
and trade under the negotiated ground rules after starting a second globalization wave.
Challenges

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The globalisation is actually a worthy type of endeavour but it also welcomes certain
challenges with it. When one is quite interested in the taking of the business globally, it is quite
crucial that one has a plan for addressing few primary hurdles needed to overcome for
succeeding. There are few primary challenges for the companies who are going global or
aspiring for the global expansion. It is true that one many have the telephones and internet for
communicating overseas, but the person-to-person talking cannot be substituted by the telephone
communication. Because of the physical distance, the freight related costs also increase along
with the shipping and the logistics. The long distance business definitely enhances the distance
charges and the expansion charges. Again, there is the challenge related to the mastering of the
marketing. The learning of the best way in reaching the prospective customers is one of the most
important elements in taking the business quite globally. This is supposed to allow a person in
establishing a type of customer base that is quite necessary for becoming successful with the
globalization in the long- run. One of the best key ingredients for becoming successful in the
global market is the transcreation. The transcreation is then about to adopt a person for the
marketing content in the new foreign market. Another challenge is the organization
communication that is the way through which the team members handle the efforts of
globalization. This is in terms of reporting, communicating and tracking the efforts having huge
impact on how well one can succeed. The human resource becomes another challenge that the
organizations face when it goes global. When a company operates in a different country, there is
a need occurs for meeting the requirements of manpower to operate in a foreign country. The
hiring of the team members needs an additional investment and when one decides to send some
employees from the home country, there is obviously places left vacant to be filled up again.
The major challenge

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The major challenge of globalisation is the cultural diversity and the culture shock
because of the diversity. The unfamiliarity of the new location, people, language and culture
undoubtedly leaves impact on the organizational members. The organization might find some
difficulties for understanding the culture of the new country from various perspectives. The
organizations are also likely to recruit the new employees at local level to ensure that the
business is conducted in an easy manner. There are also few challenges that arise connected to
the culture which will halt the organizational progress. There have been researches on the cross-
cultural communication that focuses often on the understanding of the way individual differences
leave impact on the ability of people in communicating with others. It is found that most of the
individuals actually grow up in the single culture to interact with other from some different
background or the culture representing a challenge.
Summary of the key findings
Therefore, it is found that globalisation initiates the cultural and the communication
differences leading to the challenges in the adoption of new culture and people. The differences
in the corporate cultures in different locations take toll on the people of the organizations. The
HR department face the difficulty of balancing the organizational requirements and the employee
expectations. The department might be responsible for arranging necessary training programs
with all the resources to help the employees adopt the cultural differences. During conducting
and arranging for the training programs or language basic trainings, the HR department further
might face resistance or barriers from the higher management. They might face this contradiction
and fail in preparing a suitable employee training program. Most importantly, the HR managers
in the home country might find difficulty in communicating with the employees working in the
new location and understand their issues in terms of diversity. Notably, mere conference calling

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for relaying the information might not be that much proper and keep people bereft of the
elements of human interaction.
Recommendation
The HR managers can make use of certain frameworks along with the models that can be
properly applied in the case of an organization’ expansion under the globalization programs. The
top-level management along with the HR department should be focused on the estimation of
overall customer demands from a different location. They should prepare the segment map and
then recognize the target segment for positioning products in the market. The business should be
started through merging or the joint ventures for understanding the existing work culture and
conceptions. It should arrange regular programs on aspects of language and cultural barriers, the
compliance issues, the HR management and operational risks in the working scenario.
Motivation
Analysis of Literature
Employee Motivation is considered to be one of the key elements as in the complex as
well as in dynamic business environment, the leaders of the company need to create environment
wherein the different employees feel trusted along with empowered. As commented by Tokarz
and Malinowska (2019), it will be beneficial for taking the different decisions in company that
leads to enhancement to enhance the level of motivation and there is high level of enhancement
in the organizational performance. As opined by Smith and Wiggins (2017), in 2009, the career
analyst, Daniel Pink gave a proper speech on TED talk on surprising science related to
motivation. Autonomy, Mastery along with Purpose are the three major elements which can be

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beneficial in entailing trust among employees and giving them the sense of purpose in the
different tasks which are done by them.
As opined by Rožman, Treven and Čančer (2017), the strategic kind of feedback along with
goal-directed behaviour are the two aspects which enhances the overall performance of the
company and the employees as a whole. Leaders need to motivate the people through following
the participative kind of leadership in which it will be making the individuals responsible for
their performance in a suitable manner. According to Ramadanty and Martinus (2016), the
motivation provided to employees along with providing them with rewards are the most
significant duty of the managers along with strengthening them in an efficient manner.
Moreover, as commented by Ramadanty and Martinus (2016), there are different motivational
theories included in the process which includes Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory along with
Herzberg’s two Factor theory which helps in managing motivation in workplace.
Summary of the Key Findings
The effects of the poor motivation in workplace can lead to the turnover among
employees and diminished productivity which can be impacting the workplace effectiveness
negatively. In case of Woolworths, the lack of motivation among employees can create
performance related problems and it will be leading to the turnover among employees to a great
extent. In case of the Human Resource Management Department, the turnover of the employees
can create pressure on them for not recruiting the suitable employees. In the present scenario, the
higher officials of Woolworths mainly focus on satisfying the needs of the different customers.
In that respective process, the employees are made to work for long hours for getting the things
done appropriately. Due to the same, it impacts the morale of employees which leads to the
turnover and as a whole, it influences the productivity of the company negatively.

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Due to the unfair kind of treatment which is being showcased on the different employees
of Woolworths, in the future run, it will be impacting the effectiveness of the company. The
employees will be less inclined to perform the different tasks in an optimal manner. In
Woolworths, there is failure among the higher officials to recognize as well as reward
performance as the employees are not receiving any recognition of reward that is influencing the
approach of the employees towards achieving goals (Perryer et al. 2016).
As commented by Jones et al. (2019), when the different employees never receive any
reward or recognition for the work which is performed by them, it makes them feel that no one
cares about them and their opinions are not being valued. In future, the lack of motivation among
employees can create pressure on the Human Resource Program as absence of motivation can
lead to underperformance of employees and loss of competitiveness. Due to which, it will be
leading to loss of productive resources for the company. Therefore, for the respective reason, the
HR managers mainly stress on the different employees having high levels of motivation for
getting the works done.
Recommendations
Firstly, it is essential for the company to create both formal as well as informal programs
which will be allowing the different managers or the higher officials in recognizing as well as
rewarding the performance of the employees who have given their 100%. It is vital for the
managers in the company and HR department to acknowledge as well as regularly thank
employees for their hard work as well as efforts (Jiang & Men, 2017).
Secondly, in Woolworths, the higher officials need to provide proper look on the
employees who are not able to perform. There can be generation of proper feedback which will

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be helping them in overcoming the different difficulties as well as help them in bringing their
performance back up to the standard.
In addition, employees need to feel that their work is being valued and, in such scenario,
the higher management officials of Woolworths need to reduce their dissatisfaction through
introducing clear as well as fair policies. These policies can be implemented as they are
beneficial and important which will be reducing the work pressure from the employees. With the
implementation of Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory, the basic needs of employees need to be met
wherein the employees will be satisfied and it can be proving to be important for improving
morale of employees successfully.
There should be creation of positive working environment for the different employees
working at Woolworths wherein there should be generation of open communication along with
recognition that will be impacting the work of the individuals suitably. Motivation is considered
to be the key aspect in the achievement of business related success and employees are the critical
part of the company wherein they need to be provided with regular incentives and other aspects
which will be making them feel effective. The CEO and other officials of the company needs to
become the leader who is worth following as it will be creating and putting high emphasis on
encouraging friendly competition.
Positive communication is the key element for creating career path wherein rewarding
employees will be efficient in growth of the company. Therefore, it can be inferred that matching
the work of employees with their interests as well as skills are the other key elements which will
be beneficial for them in providing the highlights on the strengths as well as weaknesses of the
individuals successfully. Lastly, the motivation is the key element which needs to be

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implemented in workplace for the survival and growth of the HR related practices in the
company.
Creativity
Analysis of Literature
In todays’ world, the organizations operate in extremely global and the competitive
environment having made creativity quite crucial. The creativity is whatever is fueling the big
ideas, the way of thinking, the challenges and opens door to some new business scopes. The
innovation and creativity are used often quite interchangeably because of this reason but these
are actually two different concepts. In innovation, there is a lot of competencies which go into
the realization of innovation. On the other hand, creativity is quite different since it is a
mechanism of being innovative as found from the opinions of Zhu and Gao (2019).. The
creativity in the business is the first crucial step that needs to become prioritized through senior
leadership. It is found from the survey of IBM that, almost 1500 chief executive officers have
shown the consensus and creativity was well ranked as the number one factor for the business
success in future among all other factors such as integrity, management discipline and vision.
One such reason for hat is creative leaders being more comfortable with the ambiguity. With
the industries which continue evolving, the priorities and the business goals will require the
changing. For example, retailers like Apple and Starbucks are trying for rising the challenges
through creating some experiences. The customers usually visit more for the ambiences instead
of the seasonal beverages (Wang, 2017). It can be said that the creativity can be fostered in the
organization through many ways such as rewarding the creativity, hiring the right people, trying
for some flexible work hours, giving the employees time to recharge and others. However, the

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cultivation of creativity in an organization is critical organizational initiative. Many of the
organizations face certain internal challenges that hinder the progress of the creativity.
Challenges
It is found that most of the managers are fearing that innovation will definitely distract
the employers from the everyday allotted works they have. The result is that maximum
employees do to really feel quite empowered in taking up the risks or trying some new ideas. The
internal innovation needs the leadership support along with the managers in taking the hold
across the organizations. One such case is also that the employees are not properly motivated for
conducting creativity. The motivation initiatives such as contests, the inventor incentive
programs or the unstructured time can be helpful for encouraging the employees in spending
time in innovation as commented by Weijo, Martin and Arnould (2018).. The lack of
collaboration is another factor that is necessary and key to the innovation. There are many of the
organizations that can properly understand the significance of collaboration and the need. The
innovation ecosystems further bring the partners of the industry, the customers and the
competitors for driving forward the creativity in the industry. Again, there is lack of the success
in the offering of current program and many of the companies risk their complacency after the
current product has reached the success level. There is a fear of the pulling of investment, the
customer attention and the resources starting with the existing offering. The consistent creativity
has been considered as the key to the sustained long-term success.
The major challenge
The organizations might also face the challenge of not having an innovation strategy.
Also, in many of the organizations, innovation is found to be the responsibility of one such

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functional group as the product development or the R & D groups. According to Dean, Griffith
and Calantone (2016), there is a myth that a functional groups is quite more suitable to the
innovation than others being a severe hindrance to the innovation pace . Each of the departments
provides a rare perspective on the customer issues that can be extremely critical to the driving of
a successful creation. The R & D department is for creative process but when the whole
responsibility of creativity is put on this department solely, it becomes quite challenging
according to the opinions of Cerne (2018). The lack of ideas or inputs from different types of
departments can be quite challenging for the organization as a whole. When the inputs are not
considered equally, the strategies for creativity and innovation becomes inadequate. Therefore,
the collaboration with other is extremely important which improves the innovation as a whole.
Summary of the key findings
Hence, it can be said that due to the lack of inputs from department, loss of collaboration
and whole pressure on the R & D department could leave Woolworths in a deplorable condition
in extremely competitive market scenario. As a result, the company might not become able in
handling the needs of the customers and go with the market trends and different demands. This
would influence the future implementation of HR programs. The lack of creativity will initiate a
pressure on the HR department to hire creative people (Bouguerra et al., 2019). Undoubtedly,
hiring for the creativity does not ensure the hiring of the creative. HR programs will also have to
engage people existing in the organization already but never got the exposure. Also, in when the
creative culture is being promoted in the organization, there are debates among everyone. The
HR might also face the difficulty in being engaged in such discussions and the debates. As
commented by Zhu and Gao (2019), the HR faces issues in considering the capacities of people
for the constrictive criticism as hiring and promoting the decisions instead of considering

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whether the person is creative or not. They might undergo the pressure of creating examples for
developing a creative culture in the organization. They might face trouble of condemning the
behaviors that suppress and silence the creative ideas. Therefore, it can be said that the
development of a creative culture which is quite crucial. The efforts of the HR are extremely
critical and the HR is supposed to be a strategic actor that saves an organization from being a
collective of the self-important creative along with the masses that tolerate them.
Recommendation
In order to address the challenge related to creativity, Woolworths must strive in creating
a positive work culture and environment for the staffs of every departments. Since, most of them
work in the stores, there are periodic breaks needed for making the workers quite efficient. The
HR department should reward the innovation and creativity through a more engaging work. They
need to understand that not everyone is motivated by financial rewards but some flexible space
for brainstorming and creating ideas. The innovation and talent level both at the college and
undergraduate level should be tracked to improve the workplace environment. Instead of
depending on only one functional group, the company should arrange for meetings where every
member can put forward their opinions and ideas. A structured of formalized innovation review
process should be run in the organization. In order to have the energetic and motivated people
forward, the organizational values associated with innovation should be promoted and defined.

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