Arcadia Group Ltd: HRM Practices and Employee Engagement Research

This business research project undertakes a systematic analysis of qualitative information to examine the human resource management (HRM) practices and their impact on employee engagement and retention, specifically within the Arcadia Group Ltd., a multinational retail company. The research investigates the existing literature and contemporary HR practices, evaluates relevant theories and frameworks, and analyzes qualitative data to present how HR practices mediate the relationship between employee engagement and retention. The project explores the concept of HRM practices in the UK retail fashion industry, the impact of these practices on employee engagement and retention, and the challenges encountered during implementation. The methodology involves qualitative research to gain an in-depth understanding of the topic. Findings include the importance of HRM practices like employee compensation, training, and development in fostering employee engagement and retention. Challenges such as adapting to innovation and managing diversity are also addressed. The conclusion and recommendations provide insights for improving HRM practices in the retail sector. This research benefits the Arcadia Group Ltd. and other retail fashion companies by providing insights on how to implement effective HRM practices to retain skilled employees and improve productivity. The study also provides a foundation for further research in HRM practices and their impact on employees.

BUSINESS RESEARCH
PROJECT
Name:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Background..................................................................................................................................3
Aim and Objectives.....................................................................................................................3
Rationale......................................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
Theme 1: Concept of Human resource management practices in retail fashion industry of UK 5
Theme 2: Impact of the HRM practices on employee engagement and retention.......................5
Theme 3: Challenges in implementation of HRM practices.......................................................6
METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................................................7
RESEARCH & FINDINGS...........................................................................................................10
Theme 1: Concept of practices of HRM in the retail fashion companies of UK.......................10
Theme 2: Impact of HRM practices on employee engagement and retention...........................11
Theme 3: Challenges faced while implementing the practices of HRM...................................12
CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

Title:
To undertake a systematic analysis of qualitative information with the aim to analyse the
practices of human resource management and its impact on employee engagement and retention
INTRODUCTION
Background
The research is solely based on the Human resource management practices and the ways
in which it affects the employee engagement and retention. This research will focus on the
Arcadia Group Ltd. which is a multinational retailing company which is famous for owning the
clothing retailers of high street such as Evans, Topman, Wallis etc. The group is having more
than 2,500 outlets in UK along with performing operations in various other countries across the
world (Arcadia, 2021). The main aim of the organisation is not only selecting the right person at
the right position but also fascinating and retaining them in the organisation (Nasir and
Mahmood, 2018). The HRM of the companies like Arcadia carry out various practices such as
employee compensation, appraisal system, employee training, employee empowerment etc.
which helps in engaging and retaining the employees.
Aim and Objectives
Aim: To undertake a systematic analysis of qualitative information with the aim to analyse the
practices of human resource management and its impact on employee engagement and retention
of Arcadia group Ltd.
Objectives:
1) To critically analyse and discuss existing literature and contemporary HR
practices
2) To evaluate and select appropriate theories/frameworks based on employee
engagement and retention of Arcadia Group Lite
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3) To undertake a systematic analysis of qualitative information and present how HR
practices mediate relationship between employee engagement and retention of Arcadia
Group Lite
Research Questions
 What are the theories and frameworks written on HR practices?
 What theories and frameworks written on EE and ER?
 What recommendations can be made from the analysis of qualitative information to
improve employee engagement and retention?
Problem Statement: The research focuses on the HR practices in Arcadia group and its impact
on the employee engagement and retention. It will focus on some practices of HR which can help
in engaging and retaining the employees by focusing on various theories and frameworks.
Rationale
The major reason behind choosing the topic of the HRM practices is that the retail
fashion companies are facing many challenges and among all the challenges the major challenge
is retaining the talented employees in the company. The effective human resource practices help
in gaining the competitive advantage among the competitors. If the company is able to retain its
talented and qualified employees along with engaging them in all the practices of the company,
then the productivity of the company can increase which will help in leading the competitors in
the retail fashion industry. The major practices like training and development and rewarding the
employees help in engaging the employees along with retaining them as they feel a sense of
belonging at the workplace (Papa and et.al., 2018). This is why, the topic chosen for ensuring the
effectiveness of the HRM practices in engaging and retaining the employees can be proved to be
beneficial for the Human resource of Arcadia Group Ltd. to improve the implementation of their
practices such as organising training programmes and rewarding the employees. This research
will also benefit the other retail fashion companies in implementing the practices of HRM so that
they can retain the skilled employees and become able to increase their productivity and
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profitability. The study will also facilitate the other researchers who wish to study about the
HRM practices and its impact on the employees of the organisations (Azeez, 2017).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is basically a narrative review which helps in presenting the second hand data
which is already published by the researchers and the authors. There is no original or new
experimental work done in it. The data is collected through various books, journals, articles,
research papers, websites, blogs, academic sources and many more. The books and journals are
selected such that they are relevant and related to the topic of the research which can help in
gaining significant outcomes and optimal results. Various themes are made in this which helps in
segregating the broad topic in which the critical analysis is done regarding the data collected
from various sources. The themes made to examine the impact of the human resource
management practices on the employee’s engagement and retention is as follows which will help
in achieving the research objectives.
Theme 1: Concept of Human resource management practices in retail fashion industry of UK
According to Kundu and Lata (2017), the HRM plays a very important role in building
the blocks which helps in shaping the organised retail sector. The HRM and the functions
associated with it help in bringing many transformations which needs the engagement of
employees. The practices of HRM are considered as the catalysts which enables the
establishment which helps in achieving the organisational objectives.
Furthermore, Bibi, Ahmad and Majid (2018), also elucidated that there are many HRM
practices such as selective hiring, providing security to the employees, effective and self-
managed teams, compensation which is fair and based on the performance of the employees,
training according to the skills of employees, creation of egalitarian and flat organisation,
making the information accessible to the employees and the workers who need it and many more
employees which not only benefits the employees but the company itself is also facilitated by the
implementation of these HRM practices.
Building blocks to the above points, Bibi and et.al., (2017), elaborated that the practices
carried out by the HRM deals in the policies, practices and the systems which helps in
influencing the behaviour, performance and attitudes of the employees. This can be considered
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as the system which helps in attracting, developing, motivating and retaining the employees for
ensuring its effective implementation and the organisation’s survival. Various theories can also
be integrated in the HR practices such as organisation behaviour theory, motivation theory,
agency theory, institutional theory and many more which can help in retaining the talented
employees in the company. Every theory focuses on different aspects of organisation which
indirectly or directly aims at satisfying the employees so that they can prove to be the biggest
assets for the company. For instance, Abraham Maslow Model suggests the five basic
hierarchical needs which must be applied in the company. These needs include physiological
needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, self-actualisation. When the
HR strives hard to satisfy the needs then the employees become more engaged which increases
employee retention and satisfaction towards the company.
Theme 2: Impact of the HRM practices on employee engagement and retention
As per the view of Fahim (2018), the HRM practices gained much greater attention than
any other things since many years just because of its impact on the retention of the employees.
The HR practices if implemented effectively can help in minimizing the employee turnover. HR
practices are the activities which are performed in the organisations for managing the human
resource team and also to ensure the engagement of the workforce for fulfilling the
organisational goals. It is the responsibility of the HR to create a convincing environment which
helps to retain the employees of the retail fashion companies. Though this requires more
investment but it helps in earning lots of profits.
Supporting the above statements, Khalid and Nawab (2018), further elaborated that the
companies can even fail when they do not focus on the workforce retention. The companies
realized the need for bringing modification in the training models, balance between family and
work and the growth opportunities for getting the competitive advantage by retaining the skilled
employees. Training is basically a systematic way of developing the skills, knowledge and
attitude of the employees so that they can perform the tasks more effectively and efficiently.
The above point was further laid emphasis upon by Fletcher, Alfes and Robinson (2018),
that when trainings are given to the employees, they feel more engaged and committed which
leads to creation of emotional feelings towards the organisations. This lessens the chances of the
employee turnover. This was examined that when the training is less, then the turnover rate is
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high. The employees feel more engaged in their work by working with the colleagues and the
trainers.
Braga and et.al., (2019), also analysed that providing rewards to the employees also
enhance the employee engagement and performance. Rewards create a sense of satisfaction in
the employees as their hard work is paid off. Rewards can be in the form of incentives, extra paid
leaves, benefits, extra salary, less work, friendly colleagues and many more. This is how, HRM
practices helps in retaining an engaging the employees.
Theme 3: Challenges in implementation of HRM practices
According to Abba (2018), there are various challenges which are faced by the
companies in implementing the HR practices. The retail fashion companies need to adhere to the
laws such as employment laws and regulations imposed by the government. The management
also changes frequently which creates a need for coping with the changes which can help in
maintaining the productivity of the company.
Another challenge is identified by Azeez (2017), which is adapting to innovation. The
challenge is getting the employees for embracing the innovation and learning new technology.
The diversity is also another challenge which creates a need to protect all the employees
irrespective of the gender, age, caste, religion, ethnicity or any other factor. The HR needs to
face the challenge of recruiting the talented employees also as their performance decides the
profitability and success of the organisations. This cannot be predicted that the employee will be
good fit for the organisation as the skills cannot be analysed until the person does not work for
over a month or more. These challenges must be met up for smooth functioning of the
organisation by effective implementation of the HR practices in the retail fashion companies of
UK.
METHODOLOGY
Research type
Research is that mode or work which is being performed in systematic way in order to
create a detailed knowledge about the topic. This is usually done to raise the level of
understanding. Type and mode of research can be broadly categorized into quantitative and
qualitative modes. For carrying the research on human resource management qualitative mode of
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research is chosen. Qualitative research is that mode which is carried out for getting the in-depth
knowledge about the topic by using the non numeric data. While on the contrary quantitative
research is purely based on numeric data which is being carried out for getting the information
about the patterns or finding the accurate or average results (Aspers and Corte, 2019). Since, this
research is wholly concerned with human resource whose nature and outcomes can only be
identified through theoretical study. Also, this mode enables the research to provide a better
understanding about the concept along with generating detailed knowledge regarding the
behaviour of human resource so qualitative mode is considered as suitable for performing this
research.
Research approach
They are the plans and strategies for carrying out research. Research approach sets the
detailed steps and methods for carrying out the research. It is also classified mainly in two types
which include inductive and deductive approaches. Since, inductive research enables to carry out
the research from specific to general perspective. This results in creating understanding about the
specific terms to the generalized information with a creation of new theory (Woo, O'Boyle and
Spector, 2017). While deductive research is that approach which is based on the study of already
researched facts and figures. This is being researched to draw conclusions and hypothesis of the
study. For carrying out the research on human resource management inductive approach is being
selected. The reason behind the selection of this approach is to finding the detailed facts about
the concept in addition of being its association with qualitative mode of research. Since human
resource and its scope is highly wide so in order to study the detailed concept and creating better
understanding about the topic inductive approach is being selected.
Research philosophy
It is considered as a mode or belief which is being used for collecting, analysing and
using the information for creating further development of knowledge about the topic. It is mainly
of two types including the interpretivism and positivism. Interpretivism philosophy is mainly
concerned with researcher which means that researcher has major role in finding the fact
regarding the concept. As this philosophy is purely based on human resource thus this
philosophy works and depends on the principles which are being adopted by researcher (Alase,
2017). On the other hand positivism is an individualistic approach. This means that the
researcher will be away from using his own principles. This approach focuses on the fact that the
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society is responsible for shaping an individual. For carrying out this research interpretivism
philosophy is being chosen. The reason behind the choosing of this approach is to develop more
detailed clarification regarding the qualitative data or inductive approach along with the topic.
Research Design
This is basically a framework which helps in explaining the type of research and also
includes the methods and techniques in which research is done. There are various research
designs such as experimental, correlational, descriptive, diagnostic and explanatory. This
research is based on the descriptive research design which helps in describing any case or
situation. This will help in analysing the need of the research on the topic which is the impact of
HRM practices on employee engagement and retention (Mohajan, 2018). This will also help in
gaining in-depth insights about the implementation of HRM practices in the companies like
Arcadia.
Data collection
This deals in collecting the data from different sources like primary or secondary.
Primary data collection is collecting the first hand data by the researcher itself through
questionnaires, interviews, surveys etc. while the secondary data collection deals in collecting
the data which is not raw but is already collected by someone else and not the researcher. This
research uses the secondary data collection in which the researcher goes through various
secondary sources such as books, journals, research papers, articles, blogs, websites and many
other sources (Rahi, 2017). Literature review is done in order to critically analyse the
information gained through various sources and various themes are made which helps in
segregating the overall wide topic. This will help in gaining deeper knowledge and insight about
the impacts which HRM practices has on the retention and engagement of employees (Kerdpitak
and Jermsittiparsert, 2020).
Data analysis
Data analysis is analysing the data which is obtained from various sources like primary
and secondary. There are two major methods in which data can be analysed which are Thematic
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and SPSS. Thematic analysis is used for analysing the qualitative data whereas SPSS is used to
analyse the quantitative data. This research uses the thematic analysis to analyse the data which
is obtained from the secondary sources i.e., the literature review (Ruggiano and Perry, 2019).
The data collected from the secondary sources will be closely examined for identifying the
common themes which will help in gaining deeper insights about the topic. This will also help to
broaden the minds of the researcher regarding the impact of the HRM practices like training,
rewarding etc. on the employee engagement and retention in fashion retailkers of UK like
Arcadia .
Reliability and Validity
These factors play a very important role in any research as it increases its credibility. The
sources which are considered for gaining the information for the literature review came either
from the government or reputable commercial source. The internet sources are also authenticated
and copyright protected. All the books, journals, blogs, research papers and the articles chosen
are published by well-known authors and publishers. Also, the publications which were recently
published not before 2016 were gone through by the researcher. The consent of the authors was
taken before using the information from the publications (Atmowardoyo, 2018). Furthermore,
the sources were solely related to the topic which is the impact of HRM practices on the
employee engagement and retention. This is how; the reliability and the validity of the secondary
sources chosen for this research are chosen.
Limitations
The research was based on the qualitative data which helped in gaining the deep insight
regarding the HRM practices and their role in engaging and retaining the employees. The time
and the cost available for the research was less but the researcher made the justified use of
available money and time. There is no statistical or numerical data involved in the research and
no numerical data was analysed but the qualitative type of research proved to be the most
effective one for the topic chosen which does not need the analysis of the any statistical or
numerical data.
Ethical consideration
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The ethics considered during this research include taking the information from the
secondary sources which are copyright protected. The sources are taken in such a way that they
are published and written by very well known publishers and authors who have a vast knowledge
regarding the subject and topic. Also, the books and journals selected for obtaining the
information were published between the years 2016-2021 which means in last 5 years. This is
why; the information is not old instead it is updated and renewed.
RESEARCH & FINDINGS
This section of research includes the analysis as well as findings of the study which is
completely based on the information gathered as a result of the methodology which is applied.
This section will help in stating the findings without any sort of bias or interpretation and are
also arranged in a logical sequence. The thematic analysis is used for analysing the qualitative
data so various themes are made according to the objectives of the research which will help in
analysing every theme made in the literature review also. The themes and the findings in each
theme are as follows:
Theme 1: Concept of practices of HRM in the retail fashion companies of UK
Human Resource Practices are considered as the guidelines for many professionals in the
team of HR. This was analysed that the HRM practices do not work in one organisation or two
but it helps in all the HR professionals universally. The HRM practices are the processes which
help in increasing the business performance. These also help the companies in gaining
competitive advantage in all the companies among the competitors. For example, the HRM
practices if effectively implemented in Arcadia can help in competing with its major competitors
in UK such as Debenhams, Next, Pimark Corporation, Inditex and H&M.
It was also evaluated from the secondary sources that HR practices are mostly strategic in nature
which is considered as the guidance system which also helps in coordinating with the executive
business plans. For example, the HRM practices in the retail fashion companies like Arcadia
helps in measuring the impacts of the rewards program of the employees.
This was also analysed that the human resource make use of the practices for developing the staff
leadership. These can be done effectively by gaining developing extensive training courses and
the programs for motivation (Aktar and Islam, 2019). This can also be done by assisting
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management and devising systems for performing in the performance appraisals. The employees
also gain various opportunities when the HR practices in the companies are implemented
effectively such as in the form of regular promotion which leads to growth towards the positions
of leadership.
Theme 2: Impact of HRM practices on employee engagement and retention
This was explored that there are various HRM practices which are implemented in the
organisations in the retail fashion in industry in UK such as providing security to employees, self
managed and effective teams, selective hiring, developing an egalitarian and flat organisation,
performance based and fair compensation and many more. These practices are specially made for
providing well-being to the employees as well as benefit the organisation. All these practices
impact the employees but among all these practices, some practices like providing trainings,
giving rewards etc. helps in increasing the engagement and retention of the employees in the
company (Presbitero, 2017).
Furthermore, it was elucidated that employees are the biggest assets in the organisations so
it is important for the HR department of the companies to evaluate, explore and improve all the
aspects of the performance of the employees. For this, it is important to improve the employee
engagement and retention in the companies. The satisfaction of the employees plays a major role
here. In order to satisfy the employees, the companies must invest into the employee
development for analysing the existing talents and skills of the employees and the weaker areas
to be improved.
Trainings are the best ways to engage the employees as they get various opportunities to
interact with each other and become aware of the skills and abilities of each other. This was
examined that the engagement of the employees helps in increasing the productivity, efficiency
and the innovation (Sun and Lipsitz, 2018). This is because if the employees are engaged in most
of the processes in the company, they will give their best in all the tasks to be performed with
sheer dedication and determination. This will help in increasing the productivity of the
employees and the retail fashion organisations like Arcadia. The companies also provide training
to the employees for increasing the employee retention as these two things possess a direct
relationship with each other. When the organisations provide training to the employees, the
employees have a feeling that the organisation has interest in them and it really wants to develop
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