HR Management Practices and Strategies: Jaguar Land Rover in Pandemic

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the HR management practices and strategies of Jaguar Land Rover, particularly focusing on the challenges and adaptations during the COVID-19 pandemic. It begins with an introduction to the company and its context, followed by an examination of the strategic changes in HRM during the pandemic, including the appointment of a creative chief and the company's response to environmental factors. The report delves into the impact of environmental factors, such as the decrease in retail sales and the disruption of the automotive industry, and the company's efforts to support communities and manage costs. It includes PESTLE and SWOT analyses to assess external and internal factors. The report further explores value creation using the HR model, specifically the Guest Model, and differentiates between personnel management and HRM using Storey's 27 points. It also examines job design, hiring and firing strategies, and corporate examples of good HR practices, concluding with recommendations for maintaining high performance in HRM.

HR MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND
STRATEGIES OF CHOOSEN COMPANY

Table of contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
The change of the HR strategies during covid.............................................................................3
Impact of the environmental factors............................................................................................4
Value creation by the firm using the HR model..........................................................................5
Storey’s 27 points of difference between the personnel Management and HRM.......................6
Job design strategies of Jaguar Land Rover................................................................................7
Hiring and firing strategies during the covid situation................................................................8
Corporate examples using good HR practises.............................................................................9
Recommendations for keeping the performance high by HRM..................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The report is about the HR management practices and strategies of the Jaguar Land Rover
in the covid situation. It a British multinational company of automotive that is producing luxury
vehicles along with sport utility vehicles. The company is a part of the Indian automotive
company Tata motors Limited. The headquarters of the firm is in Whitley, Coventry, UK. The
report discusses about the change of the HR strategies during the covid situation. The impacts of
the environmental factors are discussed in the report. The HR model is given for the value
creation of the company in the report. Storey’s 27 points of difference is discussed. The report
analyse the job design strategies of the company along with the hiring and firing strategies of the
company. The examples of the corporates using the best HR practices are given. At the end of
the report the recommendations are provide to the HRM for the high performance of the
company.
MAIN BODY
The change of the HR strategies during covid
The strategic HRM involve the alignment of the business activities with the goal as well
as objectives of the company. The strategic management ensures that the functions like
manufacturing, marketing, finance and sales get the correct resources and by doing so the HR
manage the long term success of the company. The HR in the organisation is responsible for
making the functions like payroll, hiring, training and development that result in the outcomes of
the organisation that are able to meet the strategic objective of the company. The strategic HR
uses the tools as well as the resources of the company for making the employees performance
better to meet the standards of the company, thus the HR develop the competence of the
employees (Kristi Hedges, 2014). The HR examines the operating models of the competitors and
help in identifying the gaps in the performance. They take the strategic decisions like, for
obtaining the certification credentials they require personnel for making sure that the company
have people that are qualified. The HR involve in many strategic functions that are of setting the
standards as well as training personnel for the business that is being conducted for adhering the
regulations of the state, local and federal. The HR provides the company with the high
performance workforce by attracting and retaining the most qualified candidates of the company
along with administering the system carefully (David Collings, 2021).

There are different types of strategic management theories for the modern industrial as
well as governmental organisations that are profit-maximising and competition based theory,
survival-based theory, agency theory, human resource theory and contingency theory
(Automotive news report, 2021).
Survival-based Theory
Herbert Spencer proposed the theory of survival based theory for the organisation and the
theory focuses on the concept of continuously changing and adapting to the changing
environment for surviving. In the case of Jaguar Land Rover, during the covid situation the
company appoints a creative chief for redefying the strategies in the organisation. The chief had
to deal with many challenges regarding the covid-19 along with the challenges to manage the
underutilisation of the plant, electrification and fall in the handling of the diesel sales (Shah,
2018). The underperformance of the Land rover is also been handled. The chief develop the
character, personality as well as the distinction of each brand and role by involving leading
design functions.
Impact of the environmental factors
The covid had impacted the organisation widely in all their functions and the
environmental factor like this is highly responsible for the suffering for the organisations at this
time. The jaguar Land Rover owned by the Tata Motor seen the decrease in the retail sales by
12.1 per cent at 5, 08,659 units in their financial year of 2019-20, where the coronavirus is
significantly impacting the fourth quarter offtakes. The retail sales of the company in the
previous year was at 1, 09,869 vehicles that is downed to 30.9 per cent for the in comparison to
the period from January to March of the financial year 2018-19 as said in the regulatory filing by
Tata Motors. The sales of the company were impacted by the environmental factor in all the
regions that include North America, UK and China during the financial year (Animesh,2021).
The environmental factor has disrupted the automotive industry in unprecedented ways.
The sales of the Jaguar Land Rover was showing improvement instead of the shifting
customer tastes, regulatory changes, on-going trade tensions and Brexit but the after the hit of the
corona virus pandemic the organisation is suffering with the loss of sales in the fourth quarter.
The company is everything for supporting the communities of the firm through the covid-19
situation. The company has deployed 300 vehicles to the Red Cross and emergency services, all
over the world (Van Biesebroeck and Sturgeon, 2010). The company have to temporarily have to

suspend the production that is facilitated outside China due to the on-going situation of
coronavirus. Along with this the company have to manage the investment, working capital as
well as costs tightly.
The company is not letting the environmental factor impact the operations of the
company to confine their facilities. The impact on the supply chain of the company is greater and
the company is encouraging the supplier to upholding the high standards of
sustainability (Business, 2021). The company is working closely with the
suppliers for this purpose.
For identifying the effect of external environmental factors PESTLE
analysis is done and for the internal factors SWOT analysis is done.
PESTLE Analysis
Political factors- This factor is regarding the tax incentives with the
inbound investors, the political motivation for the globalisation, along with
the trust and reputation. The factor consists of the legislative framework that
is adaptive.
Economic factors- The recovery of the economy and growth regarding
the luxury cars in the market. Strong export base with the infrastructure and
the competition of the labour cost in the market.
Social factors- The science and education culture, culture of
management along with the presence of English speaking population,
inclusion of the brand identity and the different market trends.
Technological factors- the factor is associated with the research and
development. The firm have tie-ups with the western technological
organisations and is adaptive to new technologies.
Legal factors- The firm have the scope of providing the high quality
products that able to satisfy the needs but it depend upon the environmental
laws.
Environmental factors- The firm has a scope for providing products
that are more environmental friendly and fuel efficient.
SWOT Analysis

Strengths- The firm has strong research and development and have a
good reputation as well as identity for the brand. The firm have quality rich
cultural identity along with international brand value.
Weaknesses- Lack in diverse range of products, the cars are facing
criticism and the cost cutting is raising the issue with the labour union.
Opportunities- The firm has a huge prospect of business in the
emerging countries like India, Russia, Europe and US. The opportunities for
economic growth and expansion of the market by the firm.
Threats- Strong competition from the automobile brands globally and
the increasing price of fuel. Fall in the category of premium cars due to the
unsteadiness of the financial state.
Value creation by the firm using the HR model
The HRM models serves with various purposes for the organisation such as:
 For studying the human resources an analytical framework is provided like stakeholders,
situational factors, competence and strategic choice level.
 The HRM practices are legitimized and the issue is due to the distinctiveness of the
practices of HRM. The distinctive approach for training and selection that matter and not
about the presence of the training or selection (Nagpur, 2021).
 The establishment of relationships and variables that need to be research by providing
characterization of the HRM.
 The model serves as the heuristic devices for helping the organisation to understanding as
well as discovering the world for explaining the significance and nature of the key
practices of HR.
The four models of the HRM are: Fombrun, Harvard, Warwick and Guest (Ulrich and
Brockbank, 2005). The guest model for the HR was developed by the David Guest in the year
1997 and was considered superior than the other HR models. According to the model the HR
manager is provided with the specific strategies in the beginning that demand for some practices
when they are executed and hence they result in the outcomes. The outcomes of the strategies
tend to be the financial, performance as well as the behavioural related rewards. The model
comprises of the six logical components in sequence: HR strategies, HR practices, HR outcomes,
performance outcomes, behavioural outcomes as well as financial consequences. If the sequence

is looked inversely then the financial result depend upon the performance of the employees, and
the performance is based on the result of the behaviour of the employees due to the oriented
actions. The outcomes in the behaviour of the employees are due to the result of employee’s
quality, commitment and flexibility that are all impacted by the HR practices (Guest, Paauwe and
Wright, eds., 2012). The HR practices are needs to be in accordance to the HR strategies that are
further aligned with the organisational strategies.
The claim of the Guest Model being superior is justified as it helps in mapping out the field
for the HRM and help in describing the inputs as well as outputs for the organisation.
Storey’s 27 points of difference between the personnel Management and HRM
The personnel management can be defined as the administrative record keeping function
at the operational level. The personnel management have to maintain the fair term as well as
conditions for the employment along with managing the activities in the personnel departments
effectively. It is assumed that organisational success can be achieved by the providing justice as

well as accomplishing the efficiency in the management of the personnel activities (Erik van
Vulpen,2020).
The human resource management of the organisation is concerned with the
implementation as well as development of the people strategies that are integrated with the
corporate strategies and make sure that the organisation achieves success by contribution of
culture, structure of the organisation, values, quality, commitment of the members and
motivation.
The HRM is concerned with traditional functional activities that are performed by the
personnel function like job analysis, employee relations, HR planning, recruitment and selection,
employee appraisal, training and development, performance management and compensation
management. Qualitatively distinct ways are used by the HRM in approaching the function as
compared to the personnel management.
Main differences between the personnel management and HRM are:
 The personnel management is workforce centered that is mainly directed at the
employees of the organisation like finding as well as training them, explaining the
expectations of the management, arranging them to get paid, and justifying the actions of
the management. The HRM is resource centered that is mainly directed towards the
management that involves the devolving of the HRM responsibility to the line
management and the development of the management.
 At the management interest the management functions and the personnel management is
never identified as the personnel management becomes ineffective when it is unable to
understand the as well as articulate the workforce’s views and aspirations in the same
way as the sales representative have to understand the customer’s aspiration.
 The personnel management is the operational function that is primarily concerned with
carrying out the people management activities on the daily basis. The HRM is concerned
for assisting the organisation for gaining sustained competitive advantage as the HRM is
strategic in nature.
 Personnel management is less proactive in comparison to the HRM. The HRM forecast
the needs of the organisation, continuously adjust and monitor the personnel system for
meeting the future and current requirement along with change management whereas the

maintenance of the personnel as well as administrative systems are done by the personnel
management.
The belief and assumptions of the personnel Management and HRM are:
Personnel Management HRM
Contract The contact is carefully
written.
The management aim to go
beyond the contract.
Rules There are rules that need to be
followed with clear devising.
The management can outlook
the rules and are impatience.
Guide to the management
actions
There are procedures. The guidance is made
according to the needs of the
business.
Behaviour referent The management follow the
norms/customs as well as
practices.
They follow the
values/missions.
Managerial task Monitors the labour. Nurture the labours.
Nature of relations Pluralist in nature. Unitarist in nature.
Conflict Institutionalised conflicts. De-emphasised conflicts.
The strategic aspects of personnel management and HRM are:
Personnel Management HRM
Key relations They are involved in labour
management.
They are involved with
customers.
Initiatives Piecemeal Integrated initiatives.
Corporate plan The corporate plans are
marginal.
The corporate plans are
central.
Speed of decision Slow in decision making. Fast in decision making.
The key levers of personnel management and HRM are:
Personnel Management HRM
Selection Have separate and marginal
tasks.
Have integrated and key tasks.
Pay The employees are paid
according to their evaluation.
The employees are paid
according to the performance.

Conditions The conditions are separately
negotiated.
Harmonisation conditions.
Labour management The labour is collectively
bargained with contracts.
The labour is managed with
individual contracts.
Thrust of relations with
stewards
Facilities and training are used
to regularise.
Marginalised along with some
exception for the bargain for
the changed models (Doaei
and Najminia, 2012).
Job categories and grades Many categories. Few categories available.
Communication Have restricted flow. Have increased flow.
Conflicts and handling Reach to temporary truces. Able to manage the climate
and culture.
Training and development Have controlled access to the
courses.
Learning companies.
Focus of attention for
interventions
Personnel procedures are
focused upon.
Wide ranging structural,
cultural and personnel
strategies.
The Jaguar Land Rover is practising HRM.
Job design strategies of Jaguar Land Rover
Job Characteristic Model
In 1980 Hackman and Oldham wrote the Job Characteristic Model and provide with core
dimensions:
Skill variety- The requirement of the job for the employee such as the skills and the knowledge.
Task identity- The job has an identifiable beginning or end for the completion of the work
module.
Autonomy- The independence in job. The freedom for performing the specific job.
Feedback- The objective information about the performance as well as progress that came from
the job itself.

The company use the job enlargement strategies for the adding opportunities as well as
responsibility for the personal growth of the employee. The job designing in the job enrichment
is concerned with including a great variety of work content, giving the employee higher
responsibility and autonomy along with provide opportunity for the personal growth and require
greater level of skill and responsibility. Vertical loading as well as the giving more challenge
additionally is involved in the job enrichment. This is done by the company by providing the
employees with the lifelong learning homes (Steve Fowler, 2021). They are creating learning
content that is personalised, relevant and engaging for the employees so that can impact the
organisational, personal and team performance.
The company finds it essential for the people to be curious for the things as well as be
serious for their own development so that they are equipped with the properly for moving into
the different projects, roles and careers (Smriti Chand, 2021). The company value the
development of the employees and invest in the continued development for the employees
learning and growth for optimising them in their performance for their roles (Tiwari, 2016). The

company create an environment for the employees where the managers are actively sharing the
information they learned. The managers encourage the employees for growing as well as
stretching their skills. The managers also coach and mentor the employees for maximising the
team’s performance and for continuously growing.
The company is trying to enable the people for learning, growing, creating and
supporting the other employees for doing the same thing, challenging each other for embracing
the changes and ensuring that the future is bright (People matters, 2021). The advantages of job
enrichment are: it makes the job interesting, the absenteeism as well as turnover of employees is
discouraged along with this it help in motivating the employees by providing opportunities for
the advancement and growth (Paula Caligiuri, 2020).
Hiring and firing strategies during the covid situation
Hiring can be defined as the addition of the employees at the organisation for providing
services while firing refers to the reduction of the employees from the organisation that have not
provided their services properly in the organisation.
Firing strategies-
 Firing the employee from the organisation for the workplace violence, theft, wilful sexual
harassment and actions needs to be taken for this.