IHRM Report: Carrefour's International HRM Strategy Analysis

This report analyzes Carrefour's international human resource management (IHRM) strategy, focusing on its expansion plans and associated HRM challenges. It begins with an executive summary and an introduction to Carrefour's background, particularly its HRM practices. The report critic...Read More

1Running head: IHRM
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

2IHRM
Executive Summary
The international business atmosphere can be understood to be highly vibrant in nature and in
relation to this; all the firms who are present in the business environment would be required
to confirm that they are being able to undertake steps which will assist them in performing
well in the international business environment. The aim of the report is to ensure that the
overall analysis of the concept of Human resource management can be made. The company
which has been chosen for the drive of the report is the Carrefour in UAE. The firm is a
supermarket brand and has planned to expand internationally to the United States. Hence, this
report aims to highlight the overall human resource performance of the firm which will then
be followed by the overall leadership theory applied in the international environment. The
best practices in the field of the human resource management shall be discussed so as to
ensure that the strategy to survival in the business environment can be understood. Certain
recommendations have been provided which assists in understanding the manner in which,
the human resource department will be able to gain long term success.

3IHRM
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................5
Application of theory into practice............................................................................................6
Review of existing HRM practices........................................................................................6
Analyze the importance of HRM and its practices................................................................8
Review of leadership theories................................................................................................9
Review of two theories of leadership.....................................................................................9
Traits Theory..........................................................................................................................9
Contingency theory..............................................................................................................10
Assess the suitability of one of the leadership theory..........................................................11
Discuss the behavioral dimensions that would be required in the management of human
resources in the new foreign context....................................................................................12
Identify some of the key challenges.....................................................................................12
Strategies to attract and recruit local talent..........................................................................13
Integrating cultural differences that results out of the internationalization plans and the
organizational plans to respond to these challenges............................................................13
Review and critically synthesize the various influences on behavior in organizations and
the interface with management in integrating and balancing these.....................................14
Analysis of best practices in IHRM.....................................................................................15
Analyze other organizations belonging to similar industry for their international HRM....15
Conclusions and Recommendations........................................................................................17
Recommendations................................................................................................................17

4IHRM
Change in the nature of the firm..........................................................................................18
References................................................................................................................................20

5IHRM
Introduction
The Human resource management is an imperative part of the society and in a
scenario where the organization desires long term success then, it can be considered highly
beneficial for the organization to engage in a strong relationship with their different
employees. When a business plans for international expansion, then in such a case, the
business would be required to undertake considerable steps so as to gain long term business
sustainability (Banfield, Kay and Royles 2018). The aim of the report lies to inspect the
overall human resource management of the organization of the firm which has been chosen
for the assessment. The organization which has been chosen is the Carrefour. The Carrefour
is one of the largest supermarket chains around the world and was launched in 1995 by Majid
Al Futtaim which comprises of the exclusive franchisee to operate the supermarket in 28
countries across Asia, Africa and Middle East. The company has opened 175 stores in 15
countries across the region and serves 200000 customers a day.
The firm tends to operate on different hyper markets and supermarket stores so as to
meet the needs of the customers and is largely committed to providing the widest range of
quality goods to the different households. It also rewards the customers and offers them
access to unique and pleasant experience of shopping (Carrefouruae.com 2019). The
organization also employs 28 hypermarkets, 43 supermarkets and more than 9200 colleagues.
The Human resource Management forms an integral part of the activities of the
organization and in relation to this, the firm functions on a shared vision that 380000
Carrefour employees will be primarily focused towards attaining overall organizational
success. The commitment is largely shared by all the employees who are present at Carrefour
and adequate training and related development is provided to all the employees as present in
order to ensure that diversity can be inculcated in the organization. According to
Carrefouruae.com (2019), Human resource is center to the overall operations which tend to

6IHRM
take place at the organization and in relation to this, the firm tends to engage in various
activities which make the overall work easier, trains and assists the employees in the right
manner and encourages them to show their full potential at the workplace. In addition to this,
the organization also undertakes several initiatives which help them to accommodate work as
well as training (Cascio 2015). The policy of HR can be considered to be all about the overall
manner in which the employees will feel comfortable and can contribute to the overall goals
of the organization (Banfield, Kay and Royles 2018). Employee autonomy is greatly
encouraged amongst the different team members at the organization and the overall
motivational aspect related to the employees is also encouraged to a great extent. A
comprehensive system of performance management is adopted at the firm which assists it in
ensuring that the employees are treated in a fair manner.
As a global firm, Carrefour also promotes diversity within its overall operations. The
report will highlight the overall manner in which the different Human resource Management
activities are carried out by the business and how the firm will be able to ensure long term
success by carrying out the operations in this manner. The Leadership theories and
Organizational Behavioral theories shall also be tested.
Application of theory into practice
Review of existing HRM practices
The Human resource management at Carrefour is largely based on various activities
which range from including talent analysis, developing a good working environment,
including the programs which are largely aimed towards ensuring that the employees are
treated equally. In addition to this, the divergent trends of the Human resource management
are also paid attention to. According to Berman et al. (2019), the firm undertakes
considerable initiatives so as to ensure that it is successfully able to indulge in the overall
self-worth of the employees and make them feel valued. The different customers are allowed

7IHRM
to interact with the different employees and pertaining to this, they are able to successfully
engage in a long term relationship with them and the employees who have a comparatively
sound performance are retained within the firm. In addition to this, the firm also ensures that
there exists considerable equality within the workplace which shall encourage the different
members of a firm to feel that they are functioning in a safe environment (Bratton and Gold
2017). Moreover, this not only maximizes the potential for higher profit returns but also
ensures that, consideration to all the members of a firm are provided which enables them to
protect themselves from various cases of bullying.
According to Brewster (2017), Carrefour has adapted to this trend based on the
external environment forces and to maintain the employee relations, it has undertaken means
to encourage the workers to work from their homes and this has been identified as the green
initiatives. Moreover, the concept of the shift work allows the different employees to engage
in a strong relationship with the firm by allowing them to function within their requisite
working hour and related scope (Cascio 2015). Additionally, this also allows the firm to
engage in building a large multicultural society whereby the Human resource Management
can ensure that the unions of the firm are involved in the overall market aspirations.
Moreover, Carrefour also ensures that it is able to embrace the health and safety regulations
which will allow them to function in a safe environment.
To guarantee that the business is able to meet its core objectives, it has to ensure that,
the firm is effectively being able to get into an overall committed format which will allow the
different employees to contribute effectively into the overall objectives of the firm and be
able to engage in the motivation and reinforcement of the firm (Carrefouruae.com 2019). The
employee opinions are taken into deliberation so as to ensure that it helps the firm in gaining
long term success. This model not only assists in keeping the employees at the forefront but
also allows them to help in sustaining the motivation which takes place.

8IHRM
Analyze the importance of HRM and its practices
Over the years, various practitioners have placed extensive importance on the overall
concept of HRM and it is in relation to this, that it becomes extremely critical for the different
firms as present in the field of the Human resource management to occupy in a long term
affiliation with the different employees as present. The HR professionals generally tend to
talk about the overall concept of employee morale, employee commitment and the turnover.
According to Carrefouruae.com (2019), the HR function can also be viewed as an expense
generator and functions as an administrator function which will allow the firm to add value to
its operations. The Human resource department is often known as the business partner of
strategic management because it functions with the role of assisting a business to perform the
overall strategies which have been designed for the purpose of the business. According to
Wilton (2016), the Human resource has a strategic role to play and it engages in the
evaluation of the internal as well as the external environment of the business which allows
the different members of the firm to ensure that, aspects like Political, economic, social as
well as the psychological changes need to be considered adequately (Chelladurai and Kerwin
2018). Factors which drive change in an organization comprise of the factors like the
globalization, technology, change in workplace economics, elimination of bureaucracies and
balancing the work and family life issue (Brewster et al. 2016). The overall understanding of
the potential of an organization comes from the optimization of the output of resources such
that the different changes can be carried out adequately and the Human resource can be made
use of to create a competitive advantage for the firm.
Hence, the HR professionals as present in the firm must not only focus on the daily
work activities of the different members of the population but also tends to focus on the
overall deliverables of the work. The Human resource development department is not only
responsible for the overall work activities of the different members of the firm but is also

9IHRM
mainly responsible for the deliverables of that work (DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst 2016).
It is the duty of the Human resource department to add value to the overall operations of the
firm and encourage the key players to add to the profitability of the firm and make a
difference.
Hence, as a business partner, the department will be responsible for engaging in a
strategic, operational and the financial roles. They are also required to act as an innovator and
ensure that, the professionals work as collaborators with the senior leaders and ensure that the
facilities of the firm can be supported throughout (Chelladurai and Kerwin 2018). Hence, it is
the duty of the HR department to maximize the value which is created in an organization and
to understand the overall impact of these operations on the firm.
Review of leadership theories
Review of two theories of leadership
The Leadership as a function tends to focus on the overall manner in which the senior
management would be required to deal with the different personnel as present and guide them
accordingly so that they will be able to carry out the overall operations in a successful manner
(Antonakis and Day 2017). To understand the overall concept of Leadership at Carrefour, it is
integral to ensure that, certain theories of Leadership are adopted which will assist the firm in
engaging successfully with the different members of the firm and seeing that they are able to
manage the functions and their overall goals successfully. In the following section, the traits
theory and the Contingency theory of Leadership will be discussed which will assist the firm
in being able to carry out the operations which will ensure long term success in the external
environment of the firm.
Traits Theory
The trait model of leadership can be understood to be based on the overall
characteristics of various leaders both who are successful or unsuccessful and is a predictor of

10IHRM
the leadership effectiveness. The resulting list of traits assists in comparing the qualities and
aspects of the successful leader as compared to the leader who has not been successful.
According to DuBrin (2015), the trait theory of leadership tends to identify various
physiological which are appearance, height and weight along with the demographic aspects
like economic background, education and age. In addition to this, aspects such as the
aggressiveness, self-confidence and intellectual aspects like intelligence and judgment are
often considered. Very often social aspects like the cooperativeness of the leader and the
sociability of the leader also assists in leader emergence and leader effectiveness (Brewster et
al. 2016). Hence, according to this theory, a leader can be deemed to be successful in the
long run if they comprise of certain treats and these traits tend to assist them in achieving
their overall goals as well as the objectives.
Contingency theory
The contingency theory on the other hand, can be understood to be a Theory of
Leadership which comprises of the overall effectiveness of the leader and talks about the
manner in which the leadership style matches the situation which the leader is placed in.
Hence, according to this theory, a sound leader must comprise of the capability to understand
the right kind of leadership style or a scenario which is deemed to be important and the
leadership style needs to adopt the overall situational aspects (Antonakis and Day 2017).
The contingency leadership concepts states that the manner in which the leader
interacts with the employees tends to be a determinant of the leadership style adopted and the
overall task structure can also be understood to be a function of the manner in which the tasks
are set up by the leader. According to Jabbour and de Sousa Jabbour (2016), the positional
power of a leader needs to follow the kind of followers which they have with the followers
who are present.

11IHRM
Hence, based on this, the three factors combine the overall scenario and then the style
of a leader needs to be determined. In case these factors match up with leader style then in
such a case, it is projected that, the leader can work according to the scenario faced by it.
Assess the suitability of one of the leadership theory
Once the overall leadership theory needs to be examined successful, it needs to be
defined with respect to the overall international plans of the firm. At present Carrefour is
present in Asia, Europe and Africa (John and Taylor 2016). In the future, the organization
aims to expand in America. Hence, based on the analysis of the two different leadership
styles which have been assessed, it can be understood to be critically important for the firm to
adapt the Contingency Leadership theory which will enable the different Leaders of the firm
to adapt the leadership style which is most suited to the overall operations of the firm.
Moreover, the Contingency leadership style can be considered to be extremely crucial
because of the following reasons:
The contingency approach is very forceful in nature. With deference to this, it tends to
change according to the overall scenario. Moreover, it also allows the different managers to
change the policies as per the scenario (Morgeson, Brannick and Levine 2019). As the
business environment is largely dynamic in nature, the application of this leadership theory
for the business shall assist in accepting the style in which the overall strategies can be
applied successfully. Moreover, the contingency theory also allows the different managers to
enhance their overall leadership and decision making style which allows flexibility within the
scope of the firm and assists in ensuring that the operations of the firm can be achieved
successfully.
In addition to this, the contingency leadership also allows the different members of
the firm to grow and share ideas successfully and assists in the overall design of the
organizational structure and the informational decision making system.

12IHRM
Discuss the behavioral dimensions that would be required in the management of human
resources in the new foreign context
Identify some of the key challenges
Carrying out the different business operations of the business successfully is not any
easy task and with relation to this, it becomes extremely imperative to ensure that they are
being able to adopt adequate measures as well as steps which will assist in ensuring that, the
goals as well as the aims of the firm can be carried out successfully. However, the following
changes might be faced by the business while carrying conducting the business in a
comprehensive manner.
 Hiring of employees: Sometimes it becomes very difficult for the business to hire the
right number of employees and to hire them in a manner such that, they will
successful be able to ensure long term success (Nankervis et al. 2016). In addition to
this, when a new firm comes in the market, very often it becomes rather difficult for
the organization to ensure the right talent is hired.
 Pay related issues: Moreover, there might take certain disparities relating to the
overall pay and package which has to be provided to the different employees as
present. This is because, the different managers may be under the belief that they are
required to pay as per their overall budget but in reality this may not be the case and
the employees of a specific country may feel the opposite.
 Alignment with the company culture: Moreover, it is crucial to ensure that the
company culture can be aligned with the employees (Noe et al 2015). However, very
often this is not the case and the different employees who are present in the firm
would be required to adjust to the given culture but they may not be having the
capability to do so which can lead to an overall clash.

13IHRM
Strategies to attract and recruit local talent
The different strategies which may be adopted by the organization to attract and
recruit the local talent may be understood to be as follows:
1. The firm may choose to get into an association with the different employees through a
Human resource agency. This shall enable the firm to engage in a successful and
trusted relationship with the different employees. Moreover, the trust of the
employees in the agency will be much higher than the trust of the firm due to the fact
that the agency can be considered to be local.
2. Paying well. When the different employees of the firm are being paid comparatively
well then in such a case, it can be measured very convenient for the firm to ensure that
the employees are being able to get attracted to the overall operations of a firm in a
successful manner (Noe et al. 2017). In addition to this, the organization will be able
to build a good image for itself in such a case.
Integrating cultural differences that results out of the internationalization plans and the
organizational plans to respond to these challenges
As the organization is based in Asia and other parts of the UAE, the expansion plan
which the firm has set out for itself to expand in America can be considered to be very
difficult if the cultural differences are not taken care of. Hence, the plan where Carrefour
aims to engage in international plans and related aspects can be considered to be highly
useful for the firm as it will enable them to build trust and adapt to the culture of the
organization (Noe et al. 2017). Moreover, all the employees as present in the organization
will be made to undergo a strategy with respect to which, they will be able to ensure that, all
the goals of the firm can be achieved and that the firm is magnificently able to ensure that the
cultural differences can be met with adequately.

14IHRM
Review and critically synthesize the various influences on behavior in organizations and
the interface with management in integrating and balancing these
The behavior which exists in an organization can be understood to be a factor relating
to the various aspects of the firm and external forces as well. It lays the duty of the
management to understand that the firm will be able to mitigate these aspects and be able to
balance such issues as present in the overall organization. The different aspects which
influence the overall behavior of the employees can be understood to be as follows:
 People
 Structure
 Technology
 Environment
Figure 1: Factors affecting Organizational Behavior
(Source: Wilton 2016)
People: The people tend to form the internal social system of the organization. In relation to
this, the system comprises of various individuals and collective groups which may influence
the employees to act in a certain manner. The nature of the groups may however understand
to be dynamic in nature. The different groups as present in the firm tend to change very often
and hence, the managers must take initiatives to ensure that this is not the scenario.

15IHRM
Structure: The organization structure can also be understood to be a major determinant of
the manner in which a firm technically tends to behave and determines an overall layout
which has to be followed by the firm in the long run (Reiche et al. 2016). This assists in
achieving all the overall goals of the firm and ensures that the overall work can be carried out
successfully.
Technology: The technology can be understood to be the resources which are provided to a
firm. In line of this, it can be understood that, the different resources which are offered to the
different managers would assist them to gain long term success as all the overall tasks of the
organization can be completed successfully (Stewart and Brown 2019).
Environment: The environment in which the firm is present also tends to affect the overall
operations of the firm.
Analysis of best practices in IHRM
Analyze other organizations belonging to similar industry for their international HRM
The International Human resource management can be understood to be a business
concepts which states that the different firms as present in the business environment need to
ensure that they have a Human resource system such that it will enable the firm to perform
considerably well and in a manner similar to this, it also needs to reflect upon the overall
operations of the firm. With respect to the International Human resources management, the
best practices which can be designed can be understood to be as follows:
1. Standardizing global processes and localizing the general requirements: This means
that it can be considered to be very crucial for the organization to engage in a human
resource system which shall assist in standardizing the global processes and in
addition to this, localize the overall other operations (Stewart and Brown 2019). In
line with this, it also becomes impotent that a standardized system is followed based
on which, the Human resource activities of a firm can be carried out successfully.

16IHRM
2. Using cloud technologies: The usage of cloud technologies can be considered to be an
effective system which can be made use of by the business. This way they will be able
to manage the overall data as present and accordingly manage the operations of the
business (Stone et al. 2015). Moreover, any firm which uses cloud technologies will
be able to maintain transparency in the system.
3. Employee engagement: The employee engagement can be understood to be a critical
part of the organization and in a scenario whereby the firm aims to expand to an
international base, it is crucial that the firm engages in considerable employee
engagement which would allow the firm to interact with the different employees in a
free manner and additionally, it will also allow them to engage in a successful
relationship with the different members of the firm (Reiche et al. 2016).
4. Consider change management as a critical success factor: The change management
can be considered to be an essential part of the organization and in relation to this, if
the change management in an organization is carried out effectively then in such a
case, the firm would be able to engage in diverse operations.
The direct competition of the firm can be understood to be Tesco in the Europe and
the IHRM at Tesco involves initiatives like recruitment, provision, talent analysis and other
programs which are aimed towards ensuring that the employees perform considerably well
(Sparrow, Brewster and Chung 2016). The firm ensures that the employees are motivated
and that the compensation which is provided to the different employees is adequate in nature.
The firm understands that the compensation has a greater role to play in building the trust in a
firm and with relation to this, the firm would be required to engage in programs which would
assists the firm to be successful. The key aspects of the organization in this case can be
understood to be good employee relations, employee engagement and flexible shift timings
which will enable the firm to perform in the right manner at the right time.

17IHRM
Conclusions and Recommendations
Consequently, from the particular analysis it could be implicit that, the employees are
crucial to the organization and with respect to this, the human resource function of a business
are an integral part of the organization. The human resource function assists the different
managers in a firm to manage the different personnel in a right manner. In addition to this,
the international human resource management can be considered to an essential part of the
organization especially for those organizations which are involved in international business.
The given report followed a systematic format with respect to which, the overall background
was discussed and this was followed by the discussion on the Human resource department of
the firm. Additionally, the leadership traits in the firm have also been discussed which is then
followed by the overall style of leadership to be adopted. The impact of Organizational
Behavior can be considered to be an indispensable aspect of the organization and impacts the
management of the human resource. Hence, in the next section certain recommendations have
been provided for the organization which was taken as Carrefour to enable the firm to ensure
success.
Recommendations
Hence, it can be understood from the previous section that HRM is not an easy task
and in order to ensure that all the operations of the firm are being aligned in a manner such
that they will be able to provide assistance to the HRM from a domestic to a multinational set
up. The aim of the section is to provide certain recommendations which can be undertaken by
the organization and will enable them to attain success in the long run. The different
recommendations which can be followed by the business are as follows:
1. Embracing Technology: It can be understood to be the overall purpose of the business
to embrace the technology which it has adopted in the correct manner and to be able
to use it in managing the different functions of the firm. In addition to this, the

18IHRM
embracement of technology also allows a business to be able to undertake initiatives
which will assist in gaining the trust of the different customers as present.
2. Undertake fast initiatives: The organization Carrefour would be required to increase
the speed. This means that, in order to be successfully able to carry out the different
operations, the customer value speed of the organization needs to be such that it will
allow the different customers to maintain a reasonable trust in the firm (Sparrow,
Brewster and Chung 2016). Hence, the employees who are fast and efficient will be
successfully able to see to it that, they are being able to provide adequate services to
the different customers and hence, build a name for itself in the market.
3. Employee engagement: The employees of a firm form the overall backbone of the
organization and in relating to this, it turn out to be significantly critical for the
organization to ensure that, the different employees who are present in the
organization can be engaged in the overall operations. This means that, if the firm will
be able to take in their opinion, then in such a case, the work will become easier and
the firm will be able to ensure that its objectives are achieved successfully (Stone et
al. 2015).
Change in the nature of the firm
Bringing about these recommendations in the organization will allow the different
members of the firm to be able to engage in a healthy competition with respect to the
business environment of the firm. In line of this, it can be considered to be essential for the
firm to bring about initiatives through the different employees of the firm which shall enable
the firm in carrying out the change effectively. These changes will be required to bring about
greater earning capacity of the business, better brand image of the firm and healthy
competition. Moreover, it will allow the firm to have a peaceful environment which will
enable the members to flourish.

19IHRM

20IHRM
References
Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. eds., 2017. The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Banfield, P., Kay, R. and Royles, D., 2018. Introduction to human resource management.
Oxford University Press.
Berman, E.M., Bowman, J.S., West, J.P. and Van Wart, M.R., 2019. Human resource
management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. CQ Press.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C., 2017. Policy and practice in european human resource management: The Price
Waterhouse Cranfield survey. Taylor & Francis.
Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W. and Morley, M. eds., 2016. New challenges for European
resource management. Springer.
Brewster, C., Vernon, G., Sparrow, P. and Houldsworth, E., 2016. International human
resource management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Carrefouruae.com 2019. About mafretail [online]. Available at:
https://www.carrefouruae.com/aboutmafretail (Retrieved on: 20. Aug. 2019).
Carrefouruae.com 2019. About mafretail [online]. Available at:
http://www.carrefour.com/content/being-a-retailer (Retrieved on: 20. Aug. 2019).
Cascio, W.F., 2015. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2018. Human resource management in sport and recreation.
Human Kinetics.
DeCenzo, D.A., Robbins, S.P. and Verhulst, S.L., 2016. Fundamentals of Human Resource
Management, Binder Ready Version. John Wiley & Sons.
DuBrin, A.J., 2015. Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education.

21IHRM
Jabbour, C.J.C. and de Sousa Jabbour, A.B.L., 2016. Green human resource management and
green supply chain management: Linking two emerging agendas. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 112, pp.1824-1833.
John, R. and Taylor, B., 2016. Human resource management.
Morgeson, F.P., Brannick, M.T. and Levine, E.L., 2019. Job and work analysis: Methods,
research, and applications for human resource management. Sage Publications.
Nankervis, A.R., Baird, M., Coffey, J. and Shields, J., 2016. Human resource management:
strategy and practice. Cengage AU.
Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2015. Human resources
management. Instructor, 2015.
Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2017. Human resource
management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Reiche, B.S., Stahl, G.K., Mendenhall, M.E. and Oddou, G.R. eds., 2016. Readings and cases
in international human resource management. Taylor & Francis.
Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016. Globalizing human resource management.
Routledge.
Stewart, G.L. and Brown, K.G., 2019. Human resource management. Wiley.
Stone, D.L., Deadrick, D.L., Lukaszewski, K.M. and Johnson, R., 2015. The influence of
technology on the future of human resource management. Human Resource Management
Review, 25(2), pp.216-231.
Western, S., 2019. Leadership: A critical text. SAGE Publications Limited.
Wilton, N., 2016. An introduction to human resource management. Sage.