International HRM Report: Woolworth's UK HRM Challenges and Solutions

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Woolworth's International Human Resource Management (IHRM) strategies, specifically focusing on its operations in the United Kingdom. It begins by outlining the core differences between the company's HRM practices in its origin country, Australia, and those implemented in the UK, considering social, political, economic, and institutional factors. The report then identifies key challenges faced by Woolworth in managing HRM in the UK market over the next five years, including communication issues, employee training and development gaps, knowledge transfer difficulties, waste management concerns, and cost and sustainability challenges related to environmental initiatives. Furthermore, the report offers recommendations for recruitment and development programs, particularly focusing on the qualities a new CEO in the UK office should possess, such as leadership, decision-making abilities, conflict management skills, participative management style, and the ability to challenge the status quo. The report also suggests various training methods that can be applied to different levels of employees to improve performance and address identified challenges.

Running Head: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 0
International Human Resource
Management
(Student Name)

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 1
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Key Differences between the MNC Country of Origin and the Target Country.............................2
Key Challenges for MNC managing HRM in Target Country over the next 5 years.....................4
Recommendations for Recruitment and Development Programs for new CEO in the Target
Country Office of the Organisation.................................................................................................5
Importance of Training Program.....................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 2
Introduction
Human resource Management means a resource centred that directly aims for the resources of
Humans that shall deployed and provided to them. There are various activities that includes
human resource planning job analysis, employee relations and team building exercises,
recruitment and selection, performance management and appraisal, career development and
KPI’s, pay management and bonus structure, training and development (Cascio, 2015). There
are various academics who had argued that harmony is evolved in HRM due to globalization.
Businesses today in the modern climate tend to works in the international climate and that has to
lead to the development of the International Human Resource Management (Noe et al., 2015).
The IHRM is also said to be the management side of the Human Resources in the majorly
MNC’s (Albrecht et al., 2015). The selected company in this report is Woolworth which is
Australian based organization. It is one of the best retail companies of Australia. The company
provides the quality product at very affordable rates. It is the most famous and renowned
organization because of his dedicated Human Resource Management that has a major focus on
the effective employee management. The company has developed their strategies with using
significant approaches in the various countries (Parkinson, 2018).
In this report the human resource management in UK of Woolworth will be discussed. The aim
of the paper is to discuss that how the companies operate their HRM strategies in the country in
which they origin and how it differ in applying HRM strategies in other country like UK due to
political, social economical and institutional reasons. In this report it will also been discussed
that what challenges the companies faced in the market of UK in applying the HRM strategies.
Key Differences between the MNC Country of Origin and the Target Country
 Social – The social factors heavily affects the external and internal influences on an
organization. The basic reason of success of Woolworth in the market of the Australia is
due to its social factors. The social factors in which the employee productivity and the
retention of employees is very important factor that can affects the organization in a huge
way. The social practice that affects in the market of Australia is worker unions at the
place of the work. The company provides health benefits to the employees in their

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 3
organization and provides job security to them. Through this social process the company
has managed to retain its employees in the organization and that has lead to success in the
Australian market. However the UK market is different and the employee culture and
social culture is different from Australia. However some of the social activities are same
as applied in the Australia. The retention rate of employees as compared to Australia is
less and the company has to work on that factor that how employee can be retained and
what strategies for that shall been applied (Richards, Kjærnes and Vik, 2016).
 Political- The political market of Australia is very flexible and for the retail sector the
government had not made any restrictions on the companies in the retail sector. However
in the UK the government encourages companies to employ people who belong to these
categories that are middle aged people, elder people and students. In this sector the
company Human Resource Management has to work to employ these categories people
as compared to Australia there are no such issues. The government encourages retail
sector in a huge way in Australia as compared to UK. In UK the more emphasis has been
given to IT sector than the retail sector. The company has to face a huge competition in
the market of UK as there are already big established companies of retail sector are there
(Akiba and Howard, 2019).
 Economic – The economic condition of the country of Australia in regard to the retail
sector is very good. The company in the retail sector invests a huge amount and provides
resources in a huge way. The company hires a huge number of employees for their stores
because of the good capturing of the market in Australia. However in UK the recession
had came in the recent years. The company has to hire employees in a limited number
who can give maximum productivity. The Human Resource management has to focus on
quality of employees rather than quantity to succeed in the market of UK. The economic
power of buyer is become less and that becomes the great challenge for the HRM that
how to manage the employees and can get more productivity from them. It is said that the
company has to face challenge in UK economically rather than their origin country
(Abed, Al-Najjar and Roberts, 2015).
 Institutional- The institutional arrangements in the retail sector in the origin country

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 4
Australia is very systematic. The labour has been regulated in Australia in a very
systematic way and there are various institution are working for the workings of labours.
There are strict rules and regulation which are required to be followed both by
organizations and the labour. These institutions help in maintain in a systematic
environment that benefits both the organization and labours or employees. However in
UK there are also institution working but there is a formal way of working and the
interference of institutions is less and the company’s regulation is more on the labours
and employees. The Human Resource Management has to deal with the systematic
working in the organization as in Australia this is not the big issue due to the interference
of the institutions but in UK there is more emphasis is required (Chimhundu, McNeill
and Hamlin, 2015).
Key Challenges for MNC managing HRM in Target Country over the next 5 years
 Communication – The most important function of any organization to get succeed is
communication. In any organization the HRM role is to communicate with the employees
of the organization. In the context of communication the company is required to be
effective. The key challenge the company is facing in the UK in HRM function is the
communication. The Woolworth is the big retail chain and for that it is required to have a
good communication. The company is headquartered in Australia and therefore the most
of the things HRM has to communicate from there. The company in this long process had
faced a huge problem in UK (Flax, Bick and Abratt, 2016).
 Training and development- The company responsibility to keep their employees trained
and developed. It will help the employees to keep them updated with the latest
requirements. The company is facing a challenge in UK that the employees are not
skilled as required by the company due to very less training and learning programs. It is
the big challenge that the company is facing in the UK (Powell, 2016).
 Knowledge Transfer- In the modern business where the business has become globally.
The recruitment has also started globally and in this context the company is way behind.
The company hire employees from the UK. The labour rate of UK is high and that creates
a huge amount of investment. The company can hire employees from the cheap labour

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 5
countries and that is the big challenge that the company has to overcome.
 The Greening Retail Plan is an international measure that requires the operations,
supply chain and market transformation should been adhere for the creation of
sustainable environment rather than exploiting the market. In this issues the companies
has failed to adhere with these requirements in UK and that becomes the challenge for
HRM. The company has made the company and that has allowed the company in
managing the task (Munir, R. and Terry, 2018)
 Waste Management- the Human Resource Management has faced challenges in the
waste management. The company has not focussed on these types of issues and this has
created a lot of loss in the market due to their ignorance.
 Cost and Sustainability- the Company has faced the issue of sustainability as the
programs initiated by the company in UK has various shortcomings. The cost and
expenditure has been increased in a huge way that becomes the huge challenge for the
HRM. The efficiency of the organization in timely delivering of products has been
reduced due to the participation in the carbon emission programs of the company. The
HRM has the huge challenge that how to deal with these situations and how the company
get succeed with the Corporate Social Responsibility.
 Environment friendly production- The UK government has focused on the products
that should been environment friendly. The company is facing the challenge as the
environment friendly products increases the cost and that becomes the challenge for teh
HRM to deal with this problem. The HRM has to make cost effective to overcome this
challenge (Lai et al., 2016).
Recommendations for Recruitment and Development Programs for new CEO in the Target
Country Office of the Organisation
There are various skills that the company sees in hiring an employee. The HRM has the basic
role to hire people who have the capability to work in the companies’ condition and possess
the required skills. The CEO of Woolworths in UK required seeing these qualities while
hiring an employee in UK that are:-

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 6
 Leading People- the Company must hire a person who can lead a team and motivate
other people of the team. In a centre for creative leadership survey it has been found
that the success rate of 73% of business is because of the leadership. The CEO should
know that the person they are recruiting has the leadership skills (Morphet et al.,
2015).
 Decision Making- The CEO must see that the hiring should been made of the person
who cannot only lead but make strategic decisions that should been in the interest of
the companies long term and short term goals. The person can make decisions in
every type of business climate.
 Conflict Management- The conflict in the workplace is required to be managed and
for that a good leader is required. While hiring an employee it can been seeing
whether it can manage the conflicts in the organization. It is required that in resolving
the conflicts in an effective way not by choosing a side to satisfy one employee and
dissatisfy the other (Ryan et al., 2018).
 Participative Management- The leaders should not be that who can rule from far and
took down decisions without collaborating. The leader should been one who can work
on the participative management. The models should be where planning, execution
and design where all employees can participates and for taht they will feel motivated
and that can benefit the company.
 Challenging the status Quo- For the growth of the company its is required to go
extend the status quo. The goal of the company shall been reflected by the leader and
shall employ critical thinking skills and the reflection has been provided to find the
innovative ways for elevating the business. The company must find the person who
can implement innovative thinking into the culture. This will help the company to
move far from the status quo (Paul, 2019).
There are various training programs that have been provided to the people at different levels.
There are various training methods that can be applied to the different types of people that can
assist the CEO of the organization.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 7
 Lecture, case studies, group discussions, conferences and Role Playing- the people of
the management have to deal with this type of training. There are various management
games that can help the employees in developing the decision making (Scholten and
Witmer, 2017).
Importance of Training Program
There are various other training programs
Training related Technical - The practical exercise that is called that sort of training which has
the aim to teach employees for a particular technology or the machine.
Quality Training – Companies which carry on physical production use Quality Training where
employees are taught how to recognize defective goods and permit faultless goods to go out of
the marketplaces. It helps the company to improve the efficiency and quality of the products of
the company.
Skills Training – Training assumed to staffs to perfectly execute their respective businesses
come under Skills training. For e.g. A car mechanic will be taught how to repair cars.
Soft Skills – It includes personality development, greeting clients, sexual harassment training,
rapport building, etc.
Training Related Professional – Specialized training is through for dynamic and evolutionary
trades (like in the field of medicine and research). Employees employed in these segments have
to frequently update themselves on the substances of the manufacturing.
Training in Team – It creates synchronization and faith amid team associates for augmented
competence.
Training helps in improving the quality and quantity of the staff. The assistances as well as
awareness of the staffs have been increased. The money as well as time of the corporation and it
will reach the company’s goals. The exercise supports to classify the extremely expert and
brilliant staffs and the business shall provide who can handle the higher responsibilities. These
programs help to make the employees efficient to compare to the untrained ones. It will help in

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 8
improving the job satisfaction of the employees and will boost the morale of the employee. It
will help the company in the extended development and shall existence of the business (Danvila-
del-Valle et al., 2018).
Conclusion
Managing human resource play a vital for the growth as well as success of any business. The
company has adopted various strategies in recruiting as well as retaining the employees in the
organization due to the reason, the employee are the key resources of the company. One of the
leading companies Woolworth has expanded its business in the international market. The
company was founded in Australia and now available in most of the countries. Woolworth has
also expanded its business in UK as well. The company faces various challenges in retaining its
employees in UK due to the main reason of culture differences that is faced by the company to
the certain extent. The working culture in Australia and UK is different that create challenge for
the company to satisfy its employees in UK in an efficient manner. Due to inflexibility in the
market of UK create challenge for the company to manage its employee in an effective manner.
It faces challenge in communicating providing training, managing coordination and so on that
affected overall performance of the company to the certain extent. Therefore, it is required for
the company to analyze the situation cording to which the hiring will be done. Moreover, it is
required for the company to make proper decision making as well as manage conflict to maintain
healthy working environment in the organization. The company should also make participative
management to grow in the competitive market. Furthermore, the company should provide
proper training program to its employee to grow in the competitive market in an effective and
efficient manner.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 9
References
Cascio, W.F. (2015) Managing human resources. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., and Wright, P. M. (2015) Human resources
management. Instructor, 2015.
Albrecht, S.L., Bakker, A.B., Gruman, J.A., Macey, W.H. and Saks, A.M. (2015) Employee
engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated
approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), pp.7-35.
Parkinson, M.M. (2018) Case Study 4: Woolworths Group plc. In Corporate Governance in
Transition. London: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Richards, C., Kjærnes, U. and Vik, J. (2016) Food security in welfare capitalism: Comparing
social entitlements to food in Australia and Norway. Journal of Rural Studies, 43, pp.61-70.
Akiba, M. and Howard, C. (2019) Comparative Research on Teacher Learning Communities in a
Global Context. The SAGE Handbook of Comparative Studies in Education, p.419.
Abed, S., Al-Najjar, B. and Roberts, C. (2015) How to Measure Annual Report Narratives
Disclosure? Empirical Evidence from Forward-Looking Information in the UK Prior the
Financial Crisis. Managerial Auditing Journal, forthcoming 32(14).
Chimhundu, R., McNeill, L.S. and Hamlin, R.P. (2015) Manufacturer and retailer brands: Is
strategic coexistence the norm?. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 23(1), pp.49-60.
Flax, J., Bick, G. and Abratt, R. (2016) The perceptions of supplier-buyer relations and its affect
on the corporate brand. Journal of Brand Management, 23(1), pp.22-37.
Powell, S.M. (2016) Journal of Brand Management–Year end review 2016. Journal of Brand
Management, 23(6), pp.601-611.
Munir, R. and Terry, C. (2018) Accountants and the Ethics of Profit: The Case of the Australian
Retail Industry. Journal of business ethics education, 15, pp.327-348.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 10
Lai, Y., Saridakis, G., Blackburn, R. and Johnstone, S. (2016) Are the HR responses of small
firms different from large firms in times of recession?. Journal of Business Venturing, 31(1),
pp.113-131.
Morphet, J., Kent, B., Plummer, V. and Considine, J. (2015) The effect of Transition to Specialty
Practice Programs on Australian emergency nurses’ professional development, recruitment and
retention. Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal, 18(4), pp.204-211.
Ryan, M.S., Leggio, L.E., Peltier, C.B., Chatterjee, A., Arenberg, S., Byerley, J.S., Belkowitz,
J.L., Rabalais, G.P. and Barone, M.A. (2018) Recruitment and retention of community
preceptors. Pediatrics, 142(3), p.e20180673.
Paul, S. (2019) Managing development programs: the lessons of success. London: Routledge.
Scholten, C. and Witmer, H. (2017) The opaque gendered lens–barriers to recruitment and career
development. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 32(1), pp.47-65.
Danvila-del-Valle, I., Lara, F.J., Marroquín-Tovar, E. and Zegarra Saldaña, P.E. (2018) How
innovation climate drives management styles in each stage of the organization lifecycle: The
human dimension at recruitment process. Management Decision, 56(6), pp.1198-1216.