HRM, Organizational Strategy, Culture and Challenges: Rio Tinto

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between human resource management (HRM), organizational strategy, and corporate culture, using Rio Tinto as a case study. The introduction establishes the significance of HRM and its role in ensuring systematic employee performance, while the main body delves into the strengths, weaknesses, and timescales of motivational frameworks like Maslow's hierarchy within Rio Tinto's recruitment, motivation, and retention strategies. The report then explores the interrelation between HRM activities such as recruitment and training with Rio Tinto's corporate culture and strategic goals, emphasizing the impact of these activities on shareholder value and employee engagement. Furthermore, the report identifies and discusses various human resource challenges faced by the organization, such as lack of training, and the importance of addressing these challenges to ensure long-term business success. Overall, the report highlights the critical role of HRM in aligning organizational strategy and culture to achieve business objectives.

To examine the relationship
between human resource
management and
organizational strategy and
culture.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Examination of strengths, weaknesses, timescales and realistic motivational frameworks
used by the organisation in recruitment, motivation and retention of key staff..........................1
2. Relationship of human resource activities and corporate culture along with strategy of
organisation..................................................................................................................................3
3. Human resource challenges which are faced by the organisation...........................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is the process which is focused by entities for the purpose
of making sure that all the staff members perform all their jobs in systematic manner. For this
purpose, different practices are performed by the organisations. These are recruitment, hiring,
training, developing new and existing employees (Bailey and et.al., 2018). This report is based
upon Rio Tinto which is one of the largest mining firms which are operating business around the
world. It was founded in year 1873 and its headquarter is in London, United Kingdom. Total
number of its staff is more than 47000. Local and Central Personnel play major role for the
execution of business as the enterprise is required to follow all the laws, rules and regulations to
carry out operations properly. This assignment covers various topics which are examination of
strengths, weaknesses, time scale and interrelation between corporate culture and strategy and
human resource activities. Additionally, different human resource challenges are also covered in
this project which are faced by the organisation.
MAIN BODY
1. Examination of strengths, weaknesses, timescales and realistic motivational frameworks used
by the organisation in recruitment, motivation and retention of key staff
Human resource managers in all the organisations play vital role in the management of all
the staff members in systematic manner. In order to carry out all the operations in systematic
manner it is very important for business entities to make sure that appropriate efforts for
recruiting, motivating and retaining the key staff are taken (Bauer and Matzler, 2014). Rio Tinto
is one of the largest organisations which are operating business all around the world. In order to
manage the employees it is very important for the human resource managers of the enterprise to
motivate them so that they can work productively. The framework which is used by the entity for
the purpose of recruiting, motivating and retaining the staff is as follows:
Maslow's need hierarchy: It is one of the main framework which is used by
organisations for the purpose of determining actual needs of staff. There are five different stages
of it which are discussed below in context of Rio Tinto:
 Basis physiological needs: These are the basic needs of all the individuals which
includes, food, shelter, air etc. While recruiting the staff members this element is focused
by the HR manager of Rio Tinto (Cascio, 2015).
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 Safety needs: It includes personal security, employment, health and property. All of
them are focused by HR manager of Rio Tinto so that the employees working within the
enterprise can perform all the tasks properly (Galpin and et.al., 2015).
 Social needs: These wants includes belonging, family, friendship etc. In order to motive
the employees it is focused by Rio Tinto. This factor is focused by HR in the organisation
by conducting informal get together with the staff. It helps to create a positive social
environment for the employees so that they could be retained (Voegtlin and Greenwood,
2016).
 Esteem needs: Status, respect, freedom, self esteem etc. are elements of this stage where
employees want to be recognised within the company. In Rio Tinto HR managers make
sure that they meet such requirements of employees by providing them promotion or
position within the enterprise (Kramar, 2014).
 Self actualisation: It is the last element of theory in which employees want to become
the most that one can be. Here, HR manager of Rio Tinto is required to make sure that
they make appropriate efforts for retaining the staff by providing them appropriate
position according to their skills and capabilities.
Some of the strengths and weaknesses along with timescales of the model are as follows:
Strengths: Some of the strengths of Maslow's Model are as follows:
 This model guides the human resource manager to make sure that all the basic
requirements of staff are fulfilled at the time of recruitment so that skilled employees
could be hired (Nankervis and et.al., 2016).
 With the help of Maslow's hierarchy employees could be motivated because with the help
of it Rio Tinto will be able to fulfil all the safety and security needs (Kavanagh and
Johnson, 2017).
 Maslow's hierarchy is beneficial for Rio Tinto because it will be beneficial for the entity
to retain the key employees by providing the promotions and position within the entity.
Weaknesses: All the weaknesses of the model for the organisation are as follows:
 The model does not assures that employees will work effectively after fulfilling all their
needs (Shields and et.al., 2015).
 The sample size which was used by Maslow while conducting the research was very
small therefore the gathered information is not totally trustworthy (Cohen, 2016).
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Timescales: In order to recruit, motivate and retain the key people of the organisation all
the business entities such as Rio Tinto are required to focus upon the time scales. With the help
of it, they will be able to analyse the time which is needed to hire skilled labour. The time which
is taken by the organisation to recruit the staff is around 1 month in which interviews are taken,
advertisement regarding vacant jobs are posted and other steps are taken (Valmohammadi and
Roshanzamir, 2015). Maslow's need hierarchy is used by taking around 2 months in which new
staff is recruited and their needs are determined so that they could be motivated and retained for
long period in future.
2. Relationship of human resource activities and corporate culture along with strategy of
organisation
Human resource activities are the set of practices which are performed by the managers
for the purpose of making sure that all the staff members perform all the jobs systematically.
There are various types of them which are recruitment, training etc. All of them are related with
the corporate culture and organisational strategy as with the help of them long term business
goals are accomplished (Werner, 2014). In Rio Tinto different human resource activities are
performed by the managers which are related with corporate culture and strategy. Discussion of
interrelation of them is as follows:
Recruitment: It can be defined as the process of hiring such individuals who are skilled
and able to contribute in the attainment of business objectives. In other words, it can be defined
as a process which is concerned with attracting, selecting, short listing and hiring such candidates
who are skilled and suitable for the vacant position of the company. In Rio Tinto HR managers
evaluate individuals on the basis of their capabilities and characteristics which are analysed
through interview. While conducting the procedure of recruitment the management is responsible
to make sure that all the applicants who have applied for the vacant position should be evaluated
on unbiased basis (Brewster, 2017).
Training: All the existing staff members who are working within the organisation or the
recently appointed need training to be aware of their roles and responsibilities. For this purpose
training is provided to them which helps to enhance their ability of perform specific tasks.
Human resource manager in Rio Tinto is responsible for providing appropriate training to the
employees who have recently joined the organisation and who are currently working so that all
the organisational goals could be accomplished (Haddock-Millar, Sanyal and Müller-Camen,
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2016). If an enterprise is not able to train its staff then it will be very difficult to attain long term
business objectives.
Corporate culture: It can be defined as the beliefs and behaviour of staff and employer
of an organisation which is focused by them to interact with each other. According to it, all the
staff members should be treated equally and appropriately by the management so that their
engagement within their roles and responsibilities could be enhanced. Corporate culture of Rio
Tinto is focused with respect of staff so that they can perform appropriately. Overall it is highly
respectful, inclusive and very mature (DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016).
Strategies of Rio Tinto: In order to perform all the operations in systemic manner it is
very important for all the organisations to formulate effective strategies. Main purpose of them is
to increase employee engagement so that they perform all their jobs appropriately (Strategy of
Rio Tinto, 2020.). Main strategies of Rio Tinto are creating value for shareholders by fulfilling
all the requirements of clients and improving level of involvement of staff in the operations. In
order to achieve all the business goals the organised follows a specific strategy which is to focus
upon portfolio, partners, performance and people (Staff members).
Corporate culture and strategies of Rio Tinto are interrelated with human resource
activities such as recruitment and training (Armstrong and Taylor, 2020). Relation of all of them
could be analysed with the help of following discussion:
Corporate culture of Rio Tinto is mainly focused with staff respect and mature. When
employers of the entity plan to recruit new staff then they make sure that all of them re respected
by old staff so that they can work productively. In order to perform according to it and enhance
staff performance which is a part of corporate culture the human resource managers provide
appropriate training to employees so that their work quality could be enhanced. It shows that it is
directly related to human resource activities (Wilton, 2016).
Main strategies of Rio Tinto are creating value for shareholders and improving
engagement level of employees. These are related with human resource activities such as
recruitment and training. In order to perform all operational activities properly organisation
require skilled and experienced staff. For this purpose, recruitment related practices are
conducted which helps the management to hire such individuals who can help to meet
organisational values and expectations of shareholders. It is possible with their contribution in
the attainment of business goals (Delery and Roumpi, 2017).
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The another strategy of the company is to improve performance of employees and the
human resource activity which is related to it is training. HR of Rio Tinto is highly focused with
good performance of staff so that they can help to achieve organisational objectives such as
higher profits. For this purpose, timely training programs are conducted for them which helps to
enhance their skills and capabilities so that they can perform all the tasks which are allocated to
them in appropriate manner (Boella and Goss-Turner, 2019). On the other hand, all the staff
members who are recently recruited are also trained about their job roles and responsibilities
with in the help of training so that they can work appropriately according to organisational
strategies.
The above discussion shows that corporate culture and strategies of Rio Tinto are
interrelated with human resource activities such as training and recruitment. While performing
such activities the management make sure that all of them are according to culture or not. The
other thing which is focused by human resource managers of the company is to assure that all the
operations are executed by staff on the basis of predetermined strategies (Ogunyomi and
Bruning, 2016). Interrelation between these elements helps the enterprise to reach its long term
business goals.
3. Human resource challenges which are faced by the organisation
Rio Tinto is one of the largest firms around the world and it is very important for the top
level executives to make sure that all the negative situations which are affecting the business
negatively are resolved properly. With the help of it, all the difficulties which may take place in
future could be avoided (Xing and Liu, 2016). Some of the human resource challenges that are
faced by Rio Tinto while managing employees are listed below:
Lack of training: In order to perform all the operational activities properly it is very
important for all the organisations to train the staff in timely basis. In Rio Tinto the HR managers
organise training programs but the employees are not able to get required training. Due to this
their work quality get affected and they get failed to meet requirements of their job roles. This
issue if faced by the company which is creating challenges for it to enhance its performance
because less trained staff members tends to make mistakes in their work (Baumgartner and
Rauter, 2017).
Recruitment related challenges: When an organisation is willing to improve its
performance and fill the vacant posts within the company then recruitment related activities are
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performed. The main challenge which is faced by HR of Rio Tinto due to this practice is the time
which is involved n the procedure of recruitment (Guest, 2017). It is a time taking procedure and
if it is not performed appropriately then it may result in weak performance of the company
because ineffective recruitment practices will respond in selection of unskilled individuals.
Attitude towards diversity: It is very important for all the companies to make sure that
diversity is focused by them as it is one of the main element which may result in good
performance of employees (Kianto, Sáenz and Aramburu, 2017). This HR problem is also faced
by Rio Tinto because the level of diversity within the organisation is good but it results in
careless staff. Management is assigning jobs to the employees according to their skills but they
take advantage of it and perform average which is impacting performance of company. The
attitude of workforce of Rio Tinto towards diversity is adverse which is resulting in inappropriate
execution of operations.
The above discussion shows that different types of human resource related challenges are
faced by Rio Tinto. In order to carry out operational activities systematically it is very important
for the entity to make sure that all the challenges are responded effectively. There are several
initiatives which could be taken by the managers of the company (Noe and Kodwani, 2018).
These are conducting training programs regularly so that employees may get aware of their job
roles, determining actual needs of workforce, performing recruitment activities properly etc.
With the help of all these steps the organisation will be able to respond all the issues effectively
and attain business goals.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that human resource management is
the process of managing and controlling all the employees who are working within an
organization. It is very important for all the business entities to motivate, retain and recruit
skilled staff so that they can contribute in the development of company. In order to enhance level
of motivation of employees Maslow's Need hierarchy framework could be used. With the help of
it the managers will get aware of all the requirements of staff so that they could be fulfilled.
There are different types of HR activities such as recruitment, training etc. These are linked with
corporate culture and strategies of companies because while performing them management is
required to keep these two elements in mind. While performing these activities managers may
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have to face different challenges which are recruitment related challenges, attitude towards
diversity, diversity and hiring.
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Online
Strategy of Rio Tinto. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.riotinto.com/en/about/strategy>
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