Report on Human Resource Management at Harvey Norman

This report provides an overview of the human resource challenges encountered by Harvey Norman, a multinational retailer. It delves into issues such as recruiting efficient managers, maintaining employee quality, managing compensation, and addressing employee retention and turnover. The report highlights the importance of training programs and the impact of cross-cultural gaps within the organization. Recommendations are provided, including employment restructuring, improved training processes, and effective management of change and retention strategies. The report emphasizes the need for an effective HR plan to enhance competitiveness and suggests training and development initiatives to improve employee awareness and address cultural diversity, which has become increasingly important in a globalized business environment. References to relevant academic literature are also included.

RUNNING HEAD: Human Resource Management 1
Human Resource Management
A report on Harvey Norman
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A report on Harvey Norman 2
Executive summary
The report comprise of the human resource challenges faced by Harvey Norman on day-
to-day basis. It focuses on the necessity of an effective human resource policies to meet the
organizational effectiveness. This is important for an organization to develop a better plan to deal
with the situation. It is recommended to formulate an effective training plan to gain
competencies. These market competencies help in managing the business functions in
coordination with each other. This is the preliminary requirement in an organization to develop a
better HR plan to meet up the expectations of the employees.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Challenges........................................................................................................................................4
Recruiting efficient managers......................................................................................................4
Employees Quality.......................................................................................................................5
Compensation...............................................................................................................................5
Employee Retention.....................................................................................................................6
Training Programme....................................................................................................................6
Cross- cultural gap.......................................................................................................................6
Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
Employment Restructuring..........................................................................................................7
Training process...........................................................................................................................7
Management of change................................................................................................................7
Retention......................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Human resource management is one of the critical issues in the organization. The report
is based on the challenges faced by Harvey Norman in recruiting and retaining the employees.
Recruitment is one of the toughest decisions for a HR manager. The possibility of an
organization to overcome challenges directly depends upon HR department. Harvey Norman is a
large Australian-based, multi-national retailer Consumer durable goods and electronic products.
It mostly functions as a franchise with the chief brand and all company-operated stores owned by
them. The company has more than 280 company-owned and franchised stores in Australia, New
Zealand, Europe and South-East Asia (CompanyProfile.2008).
Human resource management include managing human in an organization. For a
multinational organization it is even more difficult to develop human resource practice. Harvey
Norman operates globally; hence it is difficult to manage the HRM function. Incorporating
human resource policies internationally is a difficult task to manage. Harvey Norman has to
operate well in managing the HRM activities in the best effective way. The purpose of an
effective HRM is to allocate the resources in the best possible way. For any business
organization, managing human resources is one of the most difficult tasks. Harvey Norman
faces issues in managing human resources due to heavy market pressure (Armstrong & Taylor,
2014).
Challenges
Recruiting efficient managers
The challenge faced by Harvey Norman is relating to managing human resource. The
HRM department is facing issues in hiring efficient manager. The purpose is to hire managers
who can manage the employees. The purpose of human resource manager is to find the better
employees. The Australian market is surrounded with lot many market players with a high level
of accuracy in the market. This is the reason; Human Resource Department pays an extra
attention on recruitment of efficient employees. The purpose of recruitment and retainment fail
in case of hiring of inefficient employees. Harvey Norman faces problem in retaining employees

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due to existence of competition in the industry (Sparrow, Brewster and Chung, 2016). This
affects the overall purpose of the organization in dealing with the upcoming issues. Employees
tend to switch to another organization in case they get a better opportunity. In order to stop them
from doing such an activity, it is important to manage the organizational goals by hiring the most
efficient employees (Purce, 2014).
Employees Quality
One of the problems faced by the modern organization is in relation with the quality of
the employees. Changing trends in the business process is creating gap in managing the business
functions. Employees with better knowledge and experience are taken by the other competitors.
A long-time hiring process affects the employees and in turn hampers the growth of the
organization (Marchington, Wilkinson, Donnelly and Kynighou, 2016). HR department is
looking on hiring employees with better quality and efficient who can be retained for a longer
time-period. There are majority of issues faced by the business organization in order to deal with
the crises. A decline in the hiring process does affect the growth of the organization in meeting
results. The purpose here is to hire quality employees in order to meet the desired result. With a
decline in the quality employees, there is a fall in the organizational efficiency (Purce, 2014).
Compensation
Another challenge faced by the business organizations is in term of better compensations
and perks. Employees switch to another organization n case they get a better opportunity.
Growth is important for an employee in order to grow. An organization failing to provide growth
to its employees fails in meeting the regular targets. This is important in achieving desired targets
and organizational accuracy. Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation is important in motivating the
employees. In achieving the long term goal, motivation is important for retaining employees.
Incentives and perks act as a motivational factor in dealing with the employees (Jackson, Schuler
& Jiang, 2014). Harvey Norman should implement a creative strategy in order to gain market
effectiveness. Employees are upset of not getting result as per their expectations. In such a
condition, it is important to handle the issue in the best possible way. This is affecting the
overall organizational productivity. Employees should be handled in an effective way so as to
reduce the inefficiencies. A competitive incentive strategy will allow in managing the

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organization in the best possible way. In turn, one can see the best result out of the given
activities. Employees are facing issues of trust in the organization. They are failing to gain
results due to disparities in between the organizational objective and the purpose(Morgeson,
Aguinis,Waldman & Siegel, 2013).
Employee Retention
Organizations these days are facing issues related to employee retention and turnover.
This is challenging for the business organization to retain the employees for a longer time-
period. There is a problem in dealing with corporate culture. Some employees leave the
organization in search of better opportunities whereas some leave it due to excess pressure. The
high employee turnover affects the organizational efficiency. An employee faces issues in
managing the organizational growth and development (Bamberger, Biron & Meshoulam, 2014).
This in result creates pressure on the HR to recruit employees who will at least work for a year or
more. A high employee turnover reflects upon the issues faced by the business organization.
This is one of the major challenges faced by Harvey Norman. This must be dealt with high
efficiency with better output. Restricted organizational growth hampers the organizational
efficiency. Employees who do not get a better opportunity tend to switch to some other
company. Harvey Norman sees a heavy employee turnover. Employees are switching to some
other organization in search of better opportunities. There is an urgent need to create better
opportunity in order to gain certainty (Marler & Fisher, 2013).
Training Programme
Training program is important for retaining existing employees and to deal with the new
one. Employees can only be retained if provided with a better opportunity. Training and
development hold the interest of an individual and helps in gaining knowledge regarding an
organization (Bamberger, Biron & Meshoulam, 2014). Timely training is important for an
organization in managing desired result. Most of the organization fails at understanding the
importance of training. In such a situation, it is important to manage the training and
development. In managing the organization, it is important to gain competencies in order to
manage organizational growth. Harvey Norman faces problem in retaining employees due to

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existence of competition in the industry. This affects the overall purpose of the organization in
dealing with the upcoming issues (Shields, et al 2015).
Cross- cultural gap
People belonging to different cultural background are involved in an organization. It is
difficult for a HR to handle people with a different cultural background. It is a herculean task for
the HR manager to deal with every individual belonging to a different cultural background.
Harvey Norman is a multinational organization working in different nation. In such a situation, it
is important to develop effective policies to manage the cultural gap in the organization (Kehoe
& Wright, 2013).
Recommendations
Employment Restructuring
Challenges are an integral part of managing human resource activities. A strategic
implementation of goals is necessary to overcome the issues related to human resource. Above
mentioned are the challenges faced by Harvey Norman in dealing with the human resource
function (Brewster, Mayrhofer & Morley, 2016). Diversity is the part of an organization that
multiplies the task of a HR manager. The human resource manager has to frame effective
policies to manage the functions in a better way. There are issues in the organization due to
difference of opinion. This terribly affects the organizational growth and development. In order
to manage the organization, it is important to frame effective policies to gain market
competencies. A HR manager finds difficulty in achieving a balance in between the
organizational and individual goals (Gelens, Dries, Hofmans & Pepermans, 2013).
Training process
In order to gain better results, training and professional growth programs are important to
gain competencies. An organization can gain better results by implementing the growth plan by
aligning the competencies in an effective way. Training helps in addressing the issue in a better
way (Brewster, Mayrhofer & Morley, 2016). This is suggested to manage the organizational goal
and to deal with the problems on daily basis. A better understanding is important to deal with
the training and development process. The process of training and development is help in

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balancing the cultural gaps. A multi-cultural environment creates difficulty for the manger. It is
tough for the HR to meet the requirements of each individual in the organization. In order to gain
competencies, it is evident to manage the functions in the best possible way. Growth is important
for an employee in order to grow. An organization failing to provide growth to its employees
fails in meeting the regular targets (Al Ariss, Cascio & Paauwe, 2014).
Management of change
Change is an integral part of an organizational growth and development. HR Department
has a duty to meet with the aspiration of each and every individual associated with the
organization. It is important to create a healthy organizational environment so as to deal with the
issues. A proactive approach of the organization will help in dealing with the issues in a better
way. These organizational changes are important to be managed on a long run. This is the
necessity in dealing with the problems an organization is going through (Aryee, et al 2016).
Retention
Retention is important for the organizational growth. Employees are getting freedom to
switch from one organization to another in search of better opportunities. There is a necessity to
come up with a lucrative package, so as to deal with the issue of retention (Rao, 2014)...
Conclusion
Harvey Norman faces the HR challenges like other organization. In order to gain
competitiveness, it is necessary to develop an effective HR plan. This plan will help in gaining
better results. Training and development is recommended to create awareness in employees.
Cultural diversity has become an integral part of an organization in the age of globalization. To
deal with such a scenario, it is important to develop an effective plan to gain distinguished
results.
References

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Al Ariss, A., Cascio, W. F., & Paauwe, J. (2014). Talent management: Current theories and
future research directions. Journal of World Business, 49(2), 173-179.
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Aryee, S., Walumbwa, F. O., Seidu, E. Y., & Otaye, L. E. (2016). Developing and leveraging
human capital resource to promote service quality: Testing a theory of performance. Journal of
management, 42(2), 480-499.
Bamberger, P. A., Biron, M., & Meshoulam, I. (2014). Human resource strategy: Formulation,
implementation, and impact. Routledge.
Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W., & Morley, M. (Eds.). (2016). New challenges for European
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CompanyProfile.(2008). (Online).Available at:
http://www.harveynormanholdings.com.au/companyprofile.htm Accessed on 27 September
2017
Gelens, J., Dries, N., Hofmans, J., & Pepermans, R. (2013). The role of perceived organizational
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Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Jiang, K. (2014). An aspirational framework for strategic human
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resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 23(1), 18-36.

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Morgeson, F. P., Aguinis, H., Waldman, D. A., & Siegel, D. S. (2013). Extending corporate
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