Human Resource Management Report: Unilever's Global HR Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within Unilever, a multinational corporation. It begins by examining how Unilever creates value through its HR strategies, emphasizing the importance of strategic HRM in aligning HR with business objectives. The report then investigates the impact of regional and national cultures on HRM practices, recognizing the need for tailored approaches in diverse global markets. It explores the application of employment models, specifically the STAR model, and identifies organizational levers used by Unilever to enhance value creation. Furthermore, the report benchmarks Unilever's practices against Storey's 27 points of difference between HRM and Personnel Management, assessing whether HRM or Personnel Management principles are dominant in Asian and African countries where Unilever operates. The report also addresses the significance of local culture in hiring and firing decisions within the context of international HRM. It examines the differences in employment laws across various regions and concludes with recommendations for employers to improve organizational performance through effective HRM practices, supported by corporate examples and relevant literature.

Human Resource
Management

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
Examine how value was created by the firm by using HR strategies. Use of concepts of
strategic HRM should be evident...........................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Analyse the impact of regional and national culture on the practice of HRM in the chosen
country....................................................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
Use appropriate organisation’s model of employment and state the organisational levers used
by the firm to create value......................................................................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
Using Storey’s 27 points of difference between HRM and Personnel Management as a
benchmark, state what is being practised by the firm in the Asian / African Country- HRM
policies or Personnel Management or both?..........................................................................8
TASK 5..........................................................................................................................................10
When it comes to hiring and firing do you consider the importance and significance of local
culture and HRM practice needs to be undertaken in general and the practices need to carry
out HRM in transnational/international-subsidiary..............................................................10
TASK 6..........................................................................................................................................11
Examine the differences in terms of employment laws when international HRM changes local
business systems...................................................................................................................11
TASK 7..........................................................................................................................................11
Use corporate examples of firms using good HR practices and literature to justify your stand.
..............................................................................................................................................11
TASK 8..........................................................................................................................................12

Based on the discussion and debate what suggestions / recommendations would you make to
employers regarding HRM practices to ensure that the organisational performance is high?12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human restaurant management is the most important function of an organisation. It is
responsible to manage all the humans that are employees in other stakeholders of the company.
From recruiting training till their exit everything is in the hand of human resource manager. If
the human resource often organisation is strong it helps to keep the employees motivated and this
enhances performance of the business. This leads to gaining golden objectives and also getting
advantage over the competition. This report is based on Unilever. It is a multinational company
that has its headquarters in London, UK (Obeidat, Tarhini and Aqqad, 2017). The company has
operation all over the globe basically in 190 countries. The products offered by the company
are food confections, consumer healthcare products, pharmaceutical, cereals, personal
care, beauty products, pregnancy tests, juice, frozen pizza, chewing gum toothpaste, bottled
water, pet food coffee cleaning agents, tea soft drinks, cheese, baby food and energy drinks. It
is leading producer of soap in the world. The report is beast on various HR strategies Backed off
national and regional culture on HRM policies. Model of employment are also part of this report
and Storey’s 27 points of difference is shown between HRM and Personnel Management.
Traditional and international HRM is different and discussion on the same also discussed. In the
end of the report there are recommendations on the basis of the same.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
Examine how value was created by the firm by using HR strategies. Use of concepts of strategic
HRM should be evident
Strategic human resource management is the link between the human resource of the
company and aims, objectives, goals. The main aim of strategy human resource management is
to enhance the overall performance of the organisation by aligning it with business strategy. The
focus is to gain competitive advantage by using all the innovative measures the organisation can.
You never always focus on formulating strategies with help of strategy human resource
management. The company focuses to 1st identify the goals and objectives of the company and
then form strategies that help them to achieve the targets (Li, Loyalka, Rozelle and Wu, 2017).
Human resource manager of Unilever And then formulate the strategy by aligning their goal with

the goal of organisation. Human resource is the one that helps to create value to the first. The
way in which HR of Unilever adds value to the organisation are mentioned below:
Talent acquisition and retention: All the employees are selected by the human resource
manager of the company. If skilled and talented employees ate hired it directly impacts the
productivity of the organization (DeFries and Nagendra, 2017). So it is analysed that human
resource management place a vital role in creating value to the firm. In Unilever there is a strong
recruitment and selection process that helps to hire skilled employees that work productively and
this leads to success of the organisation. There are various ways to retain the employees like
motivating them to work this helps to engage the employees in the organisation and this helps to
enhance the success of the company.
People and Performance: The employees are the one that work for the organisation. It is
duty of human resource management to provide training and development to employees. In
relation to Unilever the employees are provided training on every stage so that can learn all the
process and work effectively (Tetiana, and et.al., 2018). The better the employees of an
organisation work the more is the value of the company.
The human resource department of an organisation plays a vital role in success of a
company. As they are the one that manage the employees of the company and solve all the
conflicts that may arise. Through strategic human resource management the HR of an
organisation can create value of the organisation.
TASK 2
Analyse the impact of regional and national culture on the practice of HRM in the chosen
country
Culture of an organisation means the norms values, believes that are shared by the
organisation. There is direct impact of culture on the employees of the company. Culture is the
external factor that has influence on the HRM practice (Garavan, McCarthy and Carbery, 2017).
The cultural values have come on the employee's behaviour. It is important to keep them
employees motivated and engaged so that person can work effectively in the organisation.
Culture has an important role in the satisfaction of the employ. In Unilever the culture is to focus
on the performance and quality of services.

There is difference in regional and national culture on the operation of the company. As in
relation to regional employees are comfortable with the language and know about the place. The
place and language they use are similar (Mosala-Bryant and Hoskins, 2017). It is easy for
Human Resource Management to manage the employees and let them work effectively in the
organisation. There are chances of less conflict in the company. In relation to Unilever the
employees that belong to home country feel more personal in the organisation and take less time
to adjust in the company. The HR has to make fewer efforts to make them feel comfortable in the
organisation.
In regard to national culture there are various countries in which the business of Unilever
operates. As there are diverse employees that come from different location. The employees do
not feel comfortable while working at a place that has different background. It is vital for the
company’s HR to formulate strategies in such a way to motivate the employees. It is important to
motivate the employees from the different location. Engaging the employees is vital for the
organisation so that they work effectively and achieve the goals and objectives of the
organisation (Bakker and Demerouti, 2018). There is diversity in the language and religion they
belong to so it is important for HR to formulate strategies in the same away. There is requirement
of good training and development so that the employees can understand the place and nature of
work. It is not easy for an organisation to manager diversity of employees. The HR manager of
Unilever makes team in such a way that people of same culture are grouped together that helps to
feel comfortable and they can work effectively and efficiently (Benson, McIntosh and Vaziri,
2020). Also by motivating them the individuals can able work for the organisation.
The HR has to formulate and implement the strategies in different ways as the people
have different background and skills. It is important to understand the employees and make them
feel comfortable. The HR is important for an organisation.
TASK 3
Use appropriate organisation’s model of employment and state the organisational levers used by
the firm to create value
Employment is the main task of Human Resource Department of the organisation. The better the
employees that are selected for the company the more is company successful. It is important to

decide the criteria of employees that are required (Luo and Tung, 2018). The employees help to
gain advantage over the competitors by working to achieve goals and objectives.
STAR Model of Employment
It is one of the widely used models of employment. It involves four key concepts that help
employee to answer the question. It is important to study all the parts of the STAR. That are
written below:
S- Situation.
T- Task
A- Action
R- Result
Situation: The situation at work is described here. The work that the employee has to do. The
real situation that the individual has to face after getting the job (Park, Oh and Lee, 2020). It
helps to tell about the work experience of the person.
Task: This is important part of the STAR. It tells about the task of the employee. The
main role that the person will play in the organisation. The roles and responsibilities are told to
the person.
Action: This involves the actions that the employee has to play in the organisation. The
action plan is prepared at this stage and this helps the employee to achieve goals and results
effectively.
Result: The results of the action are measured at this stage (Gholami, 2017). It is important to
measure the performance of the employee. The person has taken actions and completed the work
now it is time to measure the actions and check the results. This helps to tell about the deviations
and gaps in the performance of the employee.
The levers that are used by the organisation to create value
It is important for an organisation to know about levers that help to create the value of the
firm. The main levers that help the organisation to create value are as follows:
Reduce Accounts: The organisation should focus on reducing the accounts. This helps them to
focus on their clients and manage them effectively (Kumar and Zaveri, 2017). This helps the
organisation to enhance the share. The same is focused by the Unilever and helps the company to
create value.

 Auto attach: It is important for an organisation to attach inclusive deals for customers. It
is important for the company to grab the opportunity and present in solution to all the
customers.
 Outsource Sales: The main purpose of company is sales. It is important for an
organisation to focus on enhancing the sales. The helps the company to increase value.
TASK 4
Using Storey’s 27 points of difference between HRM and Personnel Management as a
benchmark, state what is being practised by the firm in the Asian / African Country- HRM
policies or Personnel Management or both?
Dimensions Personnel Management HRM
Beliefs and assumptions
1. Contract More careful while doing
contacts
The aim is to go beyond the
contacts
2. Rules It is important to follow
the rules
The rules are made
3. Management action Procedures Business-needs
4. Behaviour Norms and practice Values and mission
5. Managerial task Monitoring Nurturing
6. Nature of relations Pluralist Unitarist
7. Conflict Institutionalized De-emphasized
Strategic aspects
8. Key relations Labour management Customer
9. Initiatives Done in small time Integrated
10. Corporate plan Marginal Central
11. Speed of decision Slower (Smirnov, 2019)
(Kaushal and Srivastava,
2021)
Faster
Line management

12. Management role Transactional Transformational leadership
13. Key managers Personnel specialist General and business
managers
14. Communication Indirect Direct
15. Standardization High Low
16. Prized management
skills
Negotiation Facilitation
(Abdurakhmanova, and
et.al, 2020)
Key levers
17. Selection Separate and marginal
task
Integrated and key task
18. Pay Job evaluation Performance-related
19. Conditions They are separately
negotiated
Harmonized
20. Labour-management Collective bargaining
contracts
Individual contracts
21. Thrust of relations with
stewards
Provide training Marginalized
22. Job categories and
grades
Many in number Few in number
23. Communication Restricted flow Increased flow
24. Job design Divided among labours Teamwork
25. Conflict handling On temporary basis By managing culture
26. Training and
development
Have controlling over the
employees
Learning companies
27. Focus on interventions Personnel procedures
(Rabenu and Yaniv, 2017)
Different cultural, personnel
and structural strategies

TASK 5
When it comes to hiring and firing do you consider the importance and significance of local
culture and HRM practice needs to be undertaken in general and the practices need to carry
out HRM in transnational/international-subsidiary
The organisation makes all the efforts to keep the employees working in the organisation. But
hire and fire is also an important part of human resource management of the organisation. It is
not an easy task to always retain employees (Lee, 2018). It's natural that some will go and new
will come. Human resource management has its own theories to Hire and fire the employees.
In relation to Unilever they have their own policies that are made whether human resource
management by country drink all the important factors to hire and fire the employees. In regard
to taking interview and selecting an employ it is vital to check the culture of the individual.
While selecting a person for local and home country it is easier to communicate and select but
when they employ belongs to a different nation or selected for International market it is difficult
to select and understand the person. The policies of her are made in such a way by universe debt
it has and it covers all the aspects while selecting the staff. The culture is different at different
places so there are chances and it is important to be flexible while hiring the employees if they
are selected for International subsidiary (Hasibuan and Syahrial, 2019). The difference of timing,
food, religion, culture and places a vital role while formulating the strategy for hiring and firing
the employee. At the same time it is also taken care by Unilever that there is similarity in their
process of selecting so that there is no future problem that is associated. As companies transfer
their employees from one place to another to criteria of recruitment in selection should be seen
so that they do not face any problem while transferring the employee one branch to another.

TASK 6
Examine the differences in terms of employment laws when international HRM changes local
business systems
Employment laws are important to be followed by organisation. The government forms the
laws for the benefit of the employees that are working in the country. These laws show a
relationship between the employees, government, trade unions and employing entities. It is vital
for all the organisations to have knowledge about these laws and follow them. The company that
follow the rules are beneficial and get support of government.
The company that has operation in various parts of the world has to take care of various laws and
regulations. As the government is different and the places are different the laws also vary. All the
laws are formulated for the benefit of the employees. International HRM is a broad and wider
concept that considers various points as culture is different the thinking process, perception all
the aspects are different. There are various chances of problems and diversity takes place in case
of international HRM. A multination company like Unilever gets prepared for changes in local
business system (Piccarozzi, Aquilani and Gatti, 2018). There are various changes that are due
culture of the place. All these laws are designed in such a way the benefit of employee is taken
care. The multinational company take care of the local as well as international laws. The policies
and plans are designed by HR of Unilever in such a way that helps the company work for the
benefit of employees. As t
They also get prepared for all the situations that may occur. As the environment is dynamic
it is see that in Unilever the policies are flexible to deal with all the changes that occur and come
in path of the company. To successfully operate it is vital for all the organisations to work
according to laws and get ready of all the changes that may occur in future.
TASK 7
Use corporate examples of firms using good HR practices and literature to justify your stand.
Unilever has strong brand image and a positive image in the market. The company is
successful due to its hard working team. The human resource plays a vital role in success of the
organisation. Examples that support good HRM practice in Unilever are mentioned below:
Motivation: Unilever treats the employees as asset and take care of them. For success of a
company and increase in productivity it is important to keep the employees motivated. It is seen

that in Unilever the employees are motivated and recognised for the hard work done by them.
This helps to keep them engaged in the company and they work effectively. They provide both
financial and non-financial benefits to the employees so they are motivated and work for success
of the company.
Training and development: The employees work as per the training provided to them. Training
and development prepare the employees to work for the company and achieve the goals and
objectives (Dubey, Gunasekaran and Papadopoulos, 2017). In respect to Unilever the Human
Resource manager focuses to provide proper training and development to all the employees. This
helps to learn and develop skills and grab knowledge. All this makes the employees feel
confident and work effectively.
These are some HRM practices that are used by Unilever to make the employees work
smoothly and all this contributes in success of the company.
TASK 8
Based on the discussion and debate what suggestions / recommendations would you make to
employers regarding HRM practices to ensure that the organisational performance is high?
Unilever is performing well and is making all the efforts that will lead to success of the
company. It is vital for employers of the company to take care of some points that are
recommended below:
 It is vital that the talented staff is recruited. The process of recruitment and selection
should be strong enough so that the employees are skilled and talented. The process of
employment should be based on all the important factors. The better selection of
employees will help Unilever to spend less on training and development.
 The working environment of the organisation should be balanced as it helps employees to
work effectively. The environment of the place has direct impact on the performance of
the employee. It is important that the stress of employees is managed and there are
regular activities that engage them in the organisation. Also in Unilever there are
programmes that help to improve the relation between employers and the employees.
 Training and development also plays a vital role. No doubt in Unilever the employees are
given proper training and development sessions. They should also take care about the

innovation. They should also provide training related to innovative technology so that
they are able to use it.
 The employers should also be given training related to understanding the employees. This
will help them to resolve the conflicts that occur among the employees.
All these will help the company to achieve success and manage the employees effectively.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that Human Resource Management plays a vital
role in success of an organisation. It is important for an organisation to formulate strategies that
helps the company to achieve the goals and objectives successfully. As all the work of an
organisation is done by Human resource management motivates the employees to work for
accomplishing the goals of the company. The difference in national and regional culture impacts
the company. Model of employment is also mentioned in the report. Significance of local culture
on HRM is also described in the report. Storey’s 27 points of difference are discussed to
Personnel management and HRM is also stated in the report. The employment laws are different
if considered in local market and in international market. HR manager of a company forms all
the strategies and make efforts to implement them in the organisation. They take care of the
employees and make efforts that all the individuals are comfortable while working in the
company. All the conflicts that arise are solved by the HR of the organisation.

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