Challenges and Strategies of International HRM at Tesco: A Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of international human resource management (HRM) practices at Tesco, a prominent British multinational retailer. It begins with an overview of the case study, highlighting the impact of globalization on Tesco's HRM, including employment patterns, training, communication, technological developments, employee expectations, and work practices. The report then explores effective management strategies for HRM in international markets, emphasizing communication, relationship-building with employees, identification of appreciation, understanding mistakes, and proper recruitment processes. Key HR practices such as employee security, selective hiring, performance-based compensation, and training in relevant skills are discussed. The report also addresses challenges in employee relations, including conflict management, salary issues, leave disputes, and career development. Finally, it proposes strategies for improving HRM in the international market, such as enhancing the hiring process, fostering diversity and inclusion, and promoting employee well-being. The report concludes with recommendations for Tesco to optimize its HRM practices in a globalized environment.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN
RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Overview of case study................................................................................................................3
Impact of Globalization on HRM of Tesco.................................................................................4
Effective management of human resource management in international markets......................5
Key HR practices related to International HRM..........................................................................6
Challenges faced by employee relation issues.............................................................................7
Strategies for improving HRM....................................................................................................8
Recommendations........................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management (HRM) is known to be one of the most value adding
practice which involves selection, recruitment, management and retention of human resources
which can accomplish organisational activities (Farndale and et.al., 2017). With global
expansion of services, it has also become a challenging aspect for the organisations to train and
develop a work force capable of meeting global and cultural diversity. For gaining competitive
benefits it is mandatory for the organisations to not only adopt cultural competent practices but
also to follow changing trends of globalisation. Tesco is one of the successful British retailer
which not only operates in European culture but has been successful in different cultures across
the world. The report will critically evaluate the major challenges and developments in
international HRM practices. It will also discuss about the impact of globalisation and cultural
variation on HR practices.
MAIN BODY
Overview of case study
Globalization is HRM are the practices which the human resource management deal with
during the management of their business's human resources all different parts of the world.
Globalization is company has many impacts over the HRM practices of the companies. Those
companies which practices globalization are also known as MNC's which stands for
multinational companies. The MNC chosen for the discussion of HRM practices in global market
is Tesco plc. Tesco is a UK based MNC which is the retailer for groceries and other general
home related products. Tesco has its majority of the business in UK however it has spread itself
in multiple countries in Europe and Asia. Therefore, the HRM of this company has faced the
impact of globalization many times. Tesco has been successful many times in the international
markets however it has failed in some countries including Japan (Chakraborty and Biswas,
2020).

Impact of Globalization on HRM of Tesco
This company has been indulging in the international market many times. The impact of
which was seen on the HRM of the MNC. The impact on the HRM directly or indirectly effects
the business of the company as well. Some of these impacts are,
Employment Patterns :
Globalization for a company means it has to face new and more competition in the
country it has decided to operate in. This means that the HRM has to change the pattern of
employment in order to compete with the competition in that particular market. This
responsibility of changing the pattern of employment is of HRM. Employment Patterns is
structure in which the HRM of the company manages it employees. The HRM of Tesco had to
employees of that particular country where the company was doing business in order to better
understand and communicated with the customers (Hermans, 2018).
Training :
All the newly hired employees which become the part of the project of globalization need
the training regarding the policies and procedure of the company. Specially the local employees
which got hired by Tesco needed significant training about the rules and regulations of the
company.
Communication :
International market expansion for a country directly impacts its HRM because of the
new language. Therefore, the HRM has to come up with new strategies so that the
communication between the employees and customers can be simplified. Tesco HRM
management introduced training for some employees which were new to the language and this
was another reason for the company to hire local individuals.
Technological Developments :
Globalization can make differences in technologies of the company depending on the
availability of the technology. In some countries the HRM may face introduction of new
technologies in the business activities which requires the employees to be trained for attaining
the skill of the specific technology. Some countries lack the facilities of technology which the
company is used to in such cases the HRM of Tesco needs to find alternatives for that (Singh,
2019).
Employee Expectations :

International market has major differences in their social and cultural implications. This
can increase the expectation level of the employees due to their countries cultural or social
implications. Tesco HRM has to manage the employees of the company and their expectation
which has been increasing significantly. These expectations are not always about monetary terms
but also about the treatment of the employees.
Work Practices :
Globalization effects the Work practices of the company. HRM of Tesco has noticed this
because it has faced difficulties in managing the newer concepts that affects the work because of
globalization. Many of the times the HRM has seen concepts like employee empowerment, work
and life balance and options of alternative schedules (Tzabbar, Tzafrir and Baruch, 2017).
Effective management of human resource management in international markets
For the HRM of Tesco it is very important to manage the organization effectively
specially when it comes to globalization. International markets causes different impacts on the
HRM practices of this company. For the development of effective management in their HRM the
company follows these strategies.
Communicating with employees :
For effective application of HRM in Tesco company specially in international market it
becomes very important to properly communicate with the employees. Commanding the
employees with their objectives is not considered as effective as communication does. This will
allow the employees of the company to take responsibilities. When the employees of the
company get appraisals for their good work it encourages them to continue with better
performances. This improves the behaviour of the employees as well. Which is important for
Tesco as its supermarket require employees which can behave properly with the customers. In
international market where the brand name of the company is not so dominant these factors make
a lot of difference for the success (Otoo, 2019).
Relationship with employees :
It is important for HRM to maintain proper relationship with the individuals. In
international market the social and cultural differences in the employees might cause changes in
ideologies and behaviour of the employees. Due to this the HRM of Tesco needs to initiate
themselves with the individuals for gaining their trust, respect and support. This will build the
relationship between the employees and the management. With the help of good relationship the

HRM can be able to maintain effectiveness in the management of HRM which will decrease the
chances of conflicts and inequality in the teams. Teamwork is very important for the business of
Tesco as supermarkets of this company requires proper management which can be achieved with
the help of teamwork (Aust, Matthews and Muller-Camen, 2020).
Identification of appreciations :
The company Tesco is having success in the UK market because it has been able to
maintain proper work culture and its employees. The employees of a company play a very
important role despite the market. For bringing effectiveness in the management of the
employees the HRM of this company needs to identify how to keep their employees motivated.
One of the best way for motivating the employees is to Identifying the appraisal deserving
employees and then rewarding them. With the help of appraisals HRM motivates the employees
of even international markets thus effectiveness is achieved in the company (Turulja and
Bajgoric, 2017).
Understanding Mistakes :
In an organization which has employees there will be mistakes made it is the duty of the
HRM to develop such culture in the organization in which mistakes are not pushed by an
employee on to another. The aim of HRM is to create such culture in which the person making
the mistake accepts it and all the people help and take responsibility about the mistake.
Neglecting this can create conflicts in the organization which is not good for the company which
is trying to indulge in the international market (Talentedge, 2021).
Proper Recruitment :
Hiring individuals properly cannot be more important for Tesco company in international
market as the products and services which is provided by the company are the reflection of the
employees which are hired by the HRM. Thus is the responsibility of the HRM to hire talented
individual for their respective jobs in order to maintain effective management in the company.
Key HR practices related to International HRM
Some Key HR practices the HRM needs to maintain in the international market are,
Employee security :
It is important for the HRM to make sure about the security of their international
employees. This means the HRM needs to make sure about the premises of the company and
also provides security to the belongings of the employees by the help of security officers. Job

security is also very important for the employees, Neglecting these things can result in bad image
of the organization in the international market (Talentedge, 2021).
Selective Hiring :
It is important for the HRM to hire talented individuals which can affect the business of
the company in a positive way. If the HRM neglects this practices and hires individuals which
have only negative impact over the business it will affect the productivity of the company and
also might damage the reputation of the company. (Uddin, 2019).
Performance based compensation :
For keeping the employees of a company motivated the company needs to provide
compensation with respect to their performances. This is very important for the company
specially if it is operating in international market this practices might be the key for attracting
new employees to the company. This will develop positive attitude in the company.
Training in relevant skills :
For the international market it will be important for the company to provide its employees
with proper training and of the required skills. This is important because the company if the
employees do not have proper skills they will not be able to do their work properly (Bannikov,
and Abzeldinova, 2021).
Challenges faced by employee relation issues
Some challenges which the HRM of Tesco had to face during their practices in
international market are,
Conflict Management :
Conflicts are challenges which every organization has to face. Conflicts occur when the
two or more people disagree over a certain topic and their management becomes an issue for the
company. It can also occur due to discrimination, politics and also because of power. Due to this
the HRM of the company tries its best to manage. It is important to be dealt with in the
international market because the company.
Salary Issues :
In some countries the HRM of Tesco has to face issues related to salaries as the demand
of salary differs from place to place. This also means the employees might demand high salaries
in a certain country.
Leave Disputes :

The differences in culture of different companies affect the leave demand of the
employees. This can occur due to a certain festival for which the employees demand leaves in a
particular country. It is an issue which only HRM can deal with because it becomes very
important for the company to provide the employees with leaves otherwise it can result in
negativity in the organization.
Career Development :
Most of the employees which are working for a company want to develop their career
while working for a company. If they believe that the company is not making any efforts for their
development they might leave the company. This is the reason why HRM of an organization
needs to think about the career development of the employees.
Strategies for improving HRM
There are few basic strategies which can be used to improve the HRM in the international
market.
Improving hiring process :
In international market the need for hiring individual us just as important as it is local
market. Globalization means the company needs to address customers of different languages
therefore the company like Tesco has decided to hire employee which can speak local languages
this helps the company to connect better with the customers.
Educating Employees :
This is a very commonly used and effective strategy to improve the HRM. According to
this strategy the HRM educates the employees about the rules and regulations of the company.
HRM also educates the employees about the goals which company has planned to achieve.
Clear Expectation :
The HRM should be clear about the expectation it has from the employees. This helps the
company to make it clear to the employees on what they want as an organization. Expectation
should be told to the company in such a manner that the company gets proper (Savov, 2018.).
HR software :
The latest HR software which the HRM uses are very effective in their performances it
proves to be a great strategy for an HRM to use this HR software as they avoid the chances of
mistakes and acts as virtual managing authority.
Rewards :

The HRM of a company needs to provide it employees with proper rewards based on
their performances. This motivates the employees making them work even harder to achieve
their goals and expectation.
Recommendations
For HRM practices in international markets certain recommendations can be made.
Whenever any company enters a new international market it becomes very impossible for it to
survive without proper training to the staff. For this the company should use key regular HR
practices which will allow the company to take proper measures before entering a market. Some
practices which the company should follow are, firstly the company should make sure that about
the security of the employees (MONICA., 2020).The premises of the company and also provides
security to the belongings of the employees by the help of security officers. Job security is also
very important for the employees. Secondly, the company should hire talented individuals in the
company which can affect the business of the company positively. The hiring of the individuals
should be done according to the market and customers. HRM should also provide the employees
with proper rewards and appraisals for their good performances as this encourages them and
builds motivation in the employees (Talentedge, 2021). For avoiding Conflicts in the
organization HRM should develop good relationships with the employees which will help in
understanding the issue which lead to conflicts. HRM proves to be very important for any
business to operating multinationally as it has been seen with Tesco.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above study that organizations cannot survive in global
competitive environment if their staff members are not trained or developed as per global
cultural demands. It has been analysed from the above study that the variation in culture, beliefs
and HR trends and regulations can affect the way in which HR policies are implemented and
adopted by the organization. It can also be concluded that if organizations do not make necessary
changes in their international HRM policies then it may not be able to establish its prominence in
international boundaries. Without exploration of international HRM strategies company may also
not be able to understand its diversified customers.

REFERENCES
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