Woolworths HRM Case Study: Ethical Practices and Analysis

This case study examines the ethical practices within Woolworths' human resource management (HRM). The analysis explores how Woolworths, as a major Australian supermarket chain, integrates ethical standards into its HRM to ensure effective employee management and organizational growth. The study highlights the importance of ethics in HRM, emphasizing fair opportunities, employee development, and adherence to industry standards. It discusses Woolworths' commitment to providing a fair and equal environment, promoting employee skill enhancement, and maintaining open communication with stakeholders. Furthermore, the case study references various sources to support its findings, including the company's code of conduct and social and ethics committee reports, concluding that Woolworths effectively manages ethical values and integrates them into its HRM processes, fostering a culture that encourages employees to voice concerns and contribute to the organization's success.

ethics and hrm
Case Study of Woolworths
Student details
JANUARY 1, 2020

HRM 1
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Ethics in HRM practices at Woolworths....................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................3
References..................................................................................................................................4

HRM 2
Introduction
The ethics are required to be followed in HRM practices, to ensure that the management is
effectively focusing on the employee’s management and development activities, and the
policies developed are focused towards both organisational as well as the growth of the
employees (Gama, et al., 2012). Woolworths is the largest supermarket chain in Australia and
has set up its stores across the nation, along with employing 115,000 team members that are
focused across providing the customers with effective, valuable and range of services that
satisfies their needs and requirements and contributes towards organisation growth
(Woolworths, 2020).
Ethics in HRM practices at Woolworths
The organisation effectiveness within the industry is based on the effectiveness of its
employees and the activities performed. Therefore, it is required that they are effectively
managed and retained within the organisation. Human Resource Management (HRM) deals
with managing employees and ensuring that they have competitive skills and capabilities to
provide results so that organisation can compete within the industry (Jiang, et al., 2012). In
order to ensure that the activities conducted are moral and beneficial for both the organisation
as well as the stakeholders, management focuses on business ethics, which acts a guideline
for the managers within the industry to make decisions that help in focusing on the multiple
aspects that ensure the long-term sustainability of the organisation (Collings, et al., 2018).
Woolworths has employees working within the organisation with the aim of achieving the
strategic goals and objectives. Therefore, it is required that the management focuses on
implementing ethical and moral standards to ensure the development and growth of the
employee’s skills and competencies that can contribute towards organisational development
(Kalshoven & Boon, 2012). Woolworths has effectively established ethical practices that are
required to be followed at the workplace in order to ensure the effective management of the
human resource and to achieve the satisfaction level of the employees within the
organisation.
The ethical policies at Woolworths include providing fair and equal opportunity to prove
their skills and capabilities at the workplace, provide them with opportunities to enhance and
develop their skills, maintaining ethical and moral standards as per the industry standards,
effectively interacting with the stakeholders of the organisation to ensure that the activities

HRM 3
performed at the organisation meets their needs and requirements, the ethics have been
integrated with the human resource management effectively and as a result, the organisation
is able to manage its human resource and achieve the strategic goals within the industry.
Also, to promote the ethical culture, Woolworths encourages its employees to speak up
against any issue that they face against the management while working within the
organisation (Woolworths, 2019).
Conclusion
Woolworths has effectively managed ethical and moral values within the organisation and
integrated it with the management of the human resource, along with the organisation is
required to focus on developing effective leaders within the organisations that can as a guide
to improving the skills and competencies. The management has positioned various managers
as well as line managers, but apart from the managers, it is required that the organisation has
certain leaders who are not directly the mangers but are present to help the employees in
difficult situations (Woolworths, 2016).

HRM 4
References
Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T. & Szamosi, L. T., 2018. Human Resource Management. 2 ed.
London: Routledge.
Gama, N. d., McKenna, S. & Peticca-Harr, A., 2012, 'Ethics and HRM: Theoretical and
Conceptual Analysis' Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 111, no. 1, pp. 97-108.
Jiang, K., Lepak, D. P. & Hu, J., 2012, 'How Does Human Resource Management Influence
Organizational Outcomes? A Meta-analytic Investigation of Mediating Mechanisms'
Academy of Management Journal, vol. 55 no. 6, pp. 1264-1294.
Kalshoven, K. & Boon, C. T., 2012, 'Ethical Leadership, Employee Well-Being, and Helping'
Journal of Personnel Psychology, vol. 11 no. 1, pp. 60-68.
Woolworths, 2016. Our Code of Conduct,
Accessed 16 April 2020, <https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/content/Document/Dec
%202016_Code%20of%20Conduct.pdf>.
Woolworths, 2019. 2019 Social and Ethics Committee Report, Accessed 16 April 2020,
<https://www.woolworthsholdings.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/WHL_SOCIAL_AND
_ETHICS_COMMITTEE_REPORT_2019.pdf>.
Woolworths, 2020. Woolworths Supermarkets. Accessed 16 April 2020
<https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/about-us/our-brands/supermarkets/
Woolworths>.