Analysis of Human Resource Management Practices at Adidas

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of human resource management (HRM) practices within Adidas. It explores how HR strategies create value for the organization, emphasizing the importance of aligning with the business context, building competencies, and retaining employees. The report examines the impact of regional and national cultures, particularly in South Africa, on HRM practices such as performance appraisal, strategic decision-making, and talent management. It discusses Adidas's employment model and the levers it uses to create value, including compensation and system simplification. Furthermore, the report differentiates between HRM and personnel management using Storey's 27 dimensions, concluding that Adidas primarily practices HRM. It highlights the significance of local culture in hiring and firing, emphasizing the need for compliance with employment laws. The report also outlines general HRM practices, such as workplace safety and HR department management. Finally, it provides recommendations for improving HRM practices within Adidas.

Human Resource
Management

Abstract
Human resource management is concerned with practices of managing human resources
within an organisation. This report has discussed human resource management in Adidas and
different elements of human resource management has been discussed in this report. This report
has discussed how value can be created through HR strategies and impact of culture on HR
practices of HR in Adidas. Report has also discussed about employment laws and about HR
practices within Adidas. On the basis of overall discussion recommendations were also provided
in this report.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Task A..............................................................................................................................................3
How value can be created by using HR strategies ......................................................................3
Task B..............................................................................................................................................4
Impact of regional or national culture on practice of HRM.........................................................4
Task C..............................................................................................................................................5
What is being practised by company in Asian/African Country and levers used by the firm to
create value..................................................................................................................................5
Task D..............................................................................................................................................6
What is being practised by the firm in the Asian / African Country- HRM policies or
Personnel Management or both?..................................................................................................6
Task E..............................................................................................................................................7
Importance and Significance of local culture in hiring and firing and HRM practices that needs
to be undertaken in general and practices that needs to carry out HRM in
transactional/international-subsidiary..........................................................................................7
Task F ..............................................................................................................................................8
Differences in terms of employment laws when international HRM changes local business
systems.........................................................................................................................................8
Task G .............................................................................................................................................9
Firms using good HR practices....................................................................................................9
Task H............................................................................................................................................10
Suggestions / recommendations regarding HRM practices.......................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management can be defined as practice of managing HR within
organisation and involves a process of hiring, training and compensating and retaining
employees in organisation (Michael, 2019). Human resource management plays very important
role in creating value for organisation and this report will discuss different elements of Human
Resource Management. Report will discuss how HR strategies create value for organisation and
impact of regional and national culture on policies of HRM. Followed by this, report will also
discuss practices of organisation through application of Storey's 27 points difference between
HRM and Personnel Management. Report will also discuss importance of local culture regarding
hiring and firing within organisation. Report will also discuss about employment laws and its
differences when international HRM changes local business system. This report will
contextualize Adidas for discussion, it is a German multinational company and design and
manufacture shoes, clothing and accessories and is largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe. It
was founded in 1924 and is headquartered at Herzogenaurach, Germany and has its operations
worldwide (Crasto and et.al., 2020). Company employs around 59500 employees to carry out its
operations worldwide.
MAIN BODY
Task A
How value can be created by using HR strategies
Adidas is an organisation that employs effective HR practices and strategies within organisation
and these strategies plays important role in creating value for overall organisation (Budiarti,
2017). Ways in which HR strategies create value for organisation are as follows-
Appreciate and anticipate business context- This is one of the very important way in which
HR strategies contribute and add value in firm. This means that Adidas is operating in a highly
unpredictable and frequently changing business environment and in such situation it is very
important that HR strategies are in alignment with changing business context (Santana, Valle
Cabrera and Galán González, 2019). By effective HR strategies firm can deliver value to its all
stakeholders and this is why HR strategies create value for firm.
Building right HR competencies- This is another important way in which Adidas create value
for firm through HR policies. HR strategies enable organisation to identify and develop
competencies that are required in organisation and this leads to work on building right HR

competencies (Ulrich and Grochowski, 2018). Right HR policies are very important because they
lead Adidas to achieve their goals in most effective and efficient ways.
Retention of Employees- For long term success of organisation it is vert important that it has
right type of employees and employees with experience can bring highly effective results. This
requires that employees those who have joined organisation stays with organisation. HR
strategies are very important that employees retain in organisation (Alserhan, 2017). Adidas has
strong focus on employee retention and in their strategy for retaining employees they work on
providing right and personalised reasons for employees to stay within organisation.
Bringing forward fresh and diverse perspective- It is very important that organisation gather
and recognise diverse perspectives specifically when they are operating in complicated
environment. Bringing new and diverse perspectives help in identifying different issues as well
as different solutions to problem which add value in firm and its performance (Dahlbom and
et.al., 2019). In order to bring fresh and diverse perspectives Adidas integrate diversified teams
and also encourage innovation within firm. This is also important that teams and employees
within organisation reflect diverse culture and countries where it operates.
Task B
Impact of regional or national culture on practice of HRM
Regional and national culture has significant impact on practices of HRM in South Africa
where Adidas operates. There are several ways in which culture has impact on HRM practices
and this includes performance appraisal, strategic decision-making, style of leadership,
developmental opportunities for employees and employee relations within organisation
(Wijewantha, 2019). Performance appraisal in South Africa is involved in integrated into
framework that is used for managing performance of employees through continuous
development and improvement. In South Africa diverse tools are used for effectively managing
performance of employees. Strategic decision-making is also an important element that
differentiates on the basis of national and regional culture. HRM practices of Adidas involves
providing security to employees in which they are mainly provided short term benefits because
as per Hofstede dimensions of long term orientation score is 34 and this is low score in which
individuals do not have long term orientation and their orientation is for short term. This also has
impact on recruitment and selection practices of the company (Prince, Prince and Kabst, 2020).
This means that in South Africa highly competent individuals are selected for the employment

and this is considered crucial for ensuring competitiveness of organisation. Adidas is also one of
the biggest organisations in its industry and seeks to hire best of available talent (Poór and et.al.,
2019). As now trends are changing and recruitment and selection processes are now becoming
online and through job portals in South Africa newspaper advertising and recruitment agencies
are preferred methods for selection recruitment and for the purpose of selection application blank
and interviews are highly preferred. Regarding HRM practices for creating a flat organisation,
Adidas is South Africa is more organised into hierarchy because power distance in South Africa
is comparatively higher than what it is in Germany (Prince and Kabst, 2019). Talent management
practices that Adidas undertakes also differ in context of South Africa because culture in South
Africa is different and in South Africa learning and development is highly emphasised and
learning is concerned with lifelong practice. This is why employees in Adidas are provided
training at regular intervals to ensure their skills match changing needs of business.
Task C
Employment model and levers used by the firm to create value
Adidas uses a supportive employment model in South Africa and supportive employment
model helps company in gaining employment in integrated setting (Wiźniuk and Kumar, 2018).
Followed by this employees in this model provides regular support and assistance for
maintaining their employment within organisation. In this model of employment employees are
provided support through job mentors, job coaches, supportive co-workers and business
supervisors (XIE and PENG, 2017). These are people who support employees within
organisation. This is a model of employment in which both employees as well as employer work
together and support each other so that they can maintain and retain their employment and
practices of support also improved performance of employees. In addition to this, employees are
also supported so that they can express their concerns and communicate freely to express their
opinion and preferences.
Levers used by firm to create value are-
Compensation- Compensation is one of the very important lever that creates value for
organisation (van Dam, van Vuuren and Kemps, 2017). It is very important that Adidas provides
adequate and desired compensation to employees in order to ensure they retain in organisation.
Adidas has adopted policy and aims at providing reasons to employees so that they stay with

organisation and compensation is one of the reason that employees stay within organisation and
create value for firm.
Simplifying System- This is another important lever that create value for firm (Guinan, Parise,
and Langowitz, 2019). It is important that system within organisation is simple to avoid any kind
of confusion or misunderstanding within organisation.
Task D
What is being practised by the firm in the Asian / African Country- HRM policies or Personnel
Management or both?
Storey has developed 27 dimensions for differentiating between HRM and personnel
management (Brewster, 2017). These dimensions can help in identifying what is being practiced
by Adidas in Asian/African country. 27 dimensions are-
Dimension Personnel Management HRM
Beliefs and Assumptions
Contract Focus is on developing proper contract Focus is to beyond contract
Rules Focus on developing clear rules Focus on ‘Can do’
Management
action guide
Procedures Requirement of business
Behaviour
referent
Custom/practices and norms Values and mission of business
Managerial task
vis-a-vis labour
Monitoring Nurturing
Nature of
relations
Pluralist Unitarist
Conflict Institutionalised De-emphasised (Buchelt,
Frączkiewicz-Wronka and
Kaminska, 2017)
Strategic Aspect
Key relations Labour management Customers
Initiatives Piecemeal Integrated
Corporate plan Marginal to Central to
Speed of Slow Fast

decisions
Line Management
Management role Transactional Transformational
Key managers Personnel and industrial relations
specialist
General manager, business
manager and line manager
Communication Indirect communication Direct communication
Standardisation High standardisation Low standardisation
Prized
management
skills
Negotiation Facilitation
Key Levers
Selection Sepearate marginal task Integrated
Pay On the basis of job On the basis of performance
Conditions Individually negotiated Harmonisation
Labour
management
Contract for collective bargaining
(Krishnan and Scullion, 2017)
Towards individual contract
Thrust of relations
with stewards
Regularised by facilities and training Marginalised
Job categories and
grades
Many job categories Limited
Communication Structured flow Increased flow
Job design Division of labour Teamwork
Conflict handling Work on temporary truces Work on climate and culture
Training and
development
Structured access to courses Learning companies
Foci of attention
for interventions
Personnel procedure Wide ranging culture, structural
and personnel strategies
This means that in personnel management practices were highly formalised and was
controlled through structure on the other hand in HRM things are less structured and flexibility
has increased. On the basis of these dimensions it can be said that Adidas is practising HRM

rather than personnel management in its operations in South Africa (DEVECİOĞLU, 2019). This
is because focus on Adidas is on elements like speed of decision-making, because of frequently
changing environment and demand. In addition to this, Adidas also focuses on integration and
collaboration and this element describes HRM rather than personnel management.
Task E
Importance and Significance of local culture in hiring and firing and HRM practices that needs to
be undertaken in general and practices that needs to carry out HRM in
transactional/international-subsidiary
Concerned with hiring and firing local and national culture plays very important role.
This is because in some culture people and organisation have long term orientation and because
of this employees once hired in organisation stays for long term whereas in some culture hiring
and firing are regular practices of organisation (Haak-Saheem, Festing and Darwish, 2017). In
south Africa employees can not be fired “without cause” or “at will” and it requires that
employers act fairly towards employees. In addition to this, Adidas also focuses in retention of
employees in organisation and while operating in South Africa it is important that Adidas
considers laws as well as culture of South Africa that does not involve frequent hiring and firing.
HRM practices that Adidas requires to undertake in general includes providing safe
workplace (Word and Sowa, 2017). This involves ensuring that employees are working at a
workplace that does not have any potential risk to their safety. Planning, organising and
managing HR department is also a general function that needs to be carried out in general. This
means along with managing HR and employees related requirement in Adidas it is HR
department also requires to undertake planning, organising and managing department.
HRM Practices in transnational/international subsidiary-
International collective agreement- This is one of the important HRM practices that Adidas
requires to undertake in South Africa (Brewster, 2017). This means that as Adidas operates in
South Africa it is important for HR to undertake international collective agreement regarding
terms and conditions of employment in international subsidiary.
Global succession planning- This is also important practice of HRM in Adidas in transnational
subsidiary in which it requires to develop succession planing for international subsidiary.

Succession planning involves planning for fulfilling positions within international subsidiary
when they become vacant in future.
Training- Training is also important practice because it is significantly differentiate in national
and international context (Adler and Ghadar, 2017). Training in international subsidiary requires
giving training to local employees so that they can effectively perform in international
subsidiary.
Task F
Differences in terms of employment laws when international HRM changes local business
systems
Local businesses when become international it is very important to consider changes in
employment laws that are different in local and international context. Adidas is a German
organisation and this is why it follows rules and regulations that has been developed and
implemented in Germany and all German organisations are required to follow these rules (Bales,
2019). In international context employment laws are developed by international organisations.
International Labour Organisation is one of the organisation that develops employment laws for
international organisations.
Adidas is a international organisation and this is why in its HRM practices it is very important to
consider International employment laws. Employment laws that differentiate in local and
international context includes-
Global Labour Relations- Labour relations is very important element of employment laws and
as companies expand into international market labour unions have also evolved and in order to
maintain labour relations it is important that global labour relations laws are followed by Adidas
(BARRON, 2017).
Grievance Management- There are rules and regulations to deal with and to handle grievance,
conflicts and disputes for local businesses. Concerned with Adidas it requires to consider global
laws and regulations to solve grievance and conflicts when they involve people and organisation
from more than one country. This is an important element in employment laws and is different in
international and local employment laws.
Data Privacy- privacy and safety of data of employees is very important and this becomes more
important in international context (Wright and et.al., 2017). This means that every country has
their individual data protection laws and in addition to this global data protection laws are also

there. This is why it is important that while operating in international level Adidas considers that
data protection practices of HRM in Adidas are as per global standards and global data
protection laws are considered by Adidas.
Employment and Transfer Agreement- Adidas is an German organisation and it has its law for
employment and transfer agreement however in international market this is different. It is
important that in its international operations HRM considers global regulations for employment
and transfer agreement.
Task G
Firms using good HR practices
According to Armstrong and Landers, 2018 strong emphasis on people development is highly
important for organisations' long term performance and competitive advantage. This is because
emphasis on people development enables organisation to have employees who are capable to
deal with challenges that organisation is likely to face in future. Focus people development is
also important for driving innovation in organisation to improve performance of organisation.
Oxfam is an organisation that has considered people development as critical component for
staying afloat. In addition to this Oxfam also value training as tool for retention. HR department
at Oxfam considers that future of HRM is to build alliances.
As stated by Hailikari, 2018 HR communication is very important element and is one of the good
practice of HR. Communication plays very important in giving information that they can use in
their performance and as a result improve their performance. Communication is also important
for communicating values and expectations of the company. Communication with employees is
also important for employee engagement and maintaining employee relations.
Marks and Spencer is one of the organisation that prioritise employee engagement and
communication. Prioritising Communication has been considered as backbone of success model
at Marks and Spencer.
Task H
Suggestions / recommendations regarding HRM practices
On the basis of above discussion it can be said that effective HRM practices are very
important for overall growth and success of the organisation. These practices can lead
organisation towards highest possible productivity along with employee retention and loyalty
within organisation within organisation (Rastogi and Srivastava, 2017). On the basis of

discussion it is recommended that Adidas should place strong emphasis on communication and
should develop effective means of communication with countries where it has its operations.
This will enable company to link HR practices of company with international HR practices.
Through effective communication in international context it will be able to communicate and
transfer its HR values that it consider at for its domestic operations.
Strong emphasis on training and development of individuals working within organisation.
This is because regardless of competence of employees providing them training can make visible
impact on their performance in organisation (Sánchez-Marín, Meroño-Cerdán and Carrasco-
Hernández, 2019). This is because training and development enables them to be prepared for
future challenges and they become more confident. In addition to this training have also become
important for employees as their focus towards career development have increased. Adidas has
strong emphasis on innovation and this is why training can add value in building innovative
capabilities of employees.
Adidas is also recommended to take employee engagement practices within organisation.
These practices enable employees to connect with their job as well as their organisation. Strong
and effective employee engagement leads them towards improving their performance (Kooij and
Boon, 2018). Employees does not require additional motivation and remain enthusiastic towards
their performance and work.
Effective reward practices, regardless of new and innovative HR practices rewards is one
of the most important HR tool for enhancing and improving performance of employees. With
help of reward Adidas can encourage employees to work to best of their potential.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion, it can be concluded that HR strategies play very
important role in creating value for organisation. This is because they work on improving
performance of employees ultimately leading organisation towards improving its performance
and productivity. Culture of South Africa is different from culture of Germany which is home
country of Adidas however with its adaptability to local culture Adidas have managed to succeed
in South Africa. Discussion leads to conclusion that Adidas follows a Supportive employment
model and practices of Adidas are in context of HRM. On the basis of discussion and application
Storey's 27 points difference practices that Adidas follows are of HRM rather than personnel
management. Report also discussed about importance of local culture on hiring and firing within