Developing HR Policies for Primark in Morocco: A Cultural Approach

This report provides an analysis of human resource management practices in Morocco for Primark, comparing them with those in the United Kingdom. It explores the Moroccan context, including cultural heritage, literacy, and unemployment challenges, and contrasts them with the UK's emphasis on industrial stability and structured management through organizations like CIPD. The report details key HR steps, focusing on recruitment strategies (both internal and external) and the importance of talent management. It also examines organizational behavior in Morocco, highlighting the impact of culture on organizational performance. Furthermore, the report discusses various HRM theories, including motivation theories (Maslow's hierarchy of needs, expectancy theory, equity theory, two-factor theory, and reinforcement theory) and McGregor's X-Y theory, to provide Primark with recommendations for effective HR implementation, employee empowerment, and performance evaluation in the Moroccan market. The ultimate goal is to assist Primark in establishing successful HR policies and practices that align with both organizational objectives and employee needs.

Student name : Bahia Chtioui
Module name: managing people at work
Module number : BHL4016
Student number : st20190791

human resources
management theories
and practices.

Table of content
 Introduction
1. HR practices in Morocco……………………………………………….1
2. HR practices in UK in light of international standards and
modern standards…………………………………………………………2
3. Major step of HR management:
 Recruitment…………………………………………………………….4
4. The organizational behaviour…………………………………………7
5. HRM theories:
 Motivation theories
 Reward management
 Performance management
 Personality
 People management
 Talent management
6. Induction program implementation and feedback mechanisms
of training and recommendation
Introduction
Primark is a global brand that sells the most up-to-date clothes,
cosmetics, as well as home ware at the best prices. In other words,
Amazing Outfits at Amazing Prices. On the other hand, Primark,
formerly known as Penneys, opened its first store in Dublin in 1969
and now has over three hundred and eight thousand locations in
thirteen countries across Europe and America (Primark, Nd.). After

much anticipation and demand, Primark is preparing to open a store
in Morocco mall in Casablanca. To put it another way, the
organization needs assistance in establishing good human resource
policies in Morocco.
The aim of this study is to provide Primark with an analysis of
Moroccan human resource management activities and how they vary
from those in the United Kingdom, as well as to assist them in
implementing a successful HR and creating a perfect recruitment and
talent plan as well as demonstrating how recruiting Moroccan
workers would assist the organization in contributing to the local
society, all of this will be focused on cross-cultural material.
Furthermore, the organization would be supplied with the
appropriate recommendations for determining the appropriate
personalities, trained individuals, and competencies.
On the other hand, the organization will learn how to ensure that
workers continue to help them accomplish their goals as much as
they want to achieve their own personal goals, and how to keep
them empowered to do better by gathering input, engaging with
them, and providing positive criticism, as well as completing the
performance evaluation. Furthermore, employees will also benefit
from a training course that will help them improve in their positions.
The training program would be close to what Primark has already
implemented in Bangladesh.
Through human resource management, Primark will learn how to
perform in an effective and in an efficient manner in the Moroccan
market. Human Resource Management is the method of hiring,
interviewing, and inducting workers, training, and advancement,
evaluating employee performance, assessing salaries and providing
bonus as benefits, empowering employees, and ensuring proper ties

with employees and their labour unions (whatishumanresource.com,
nd.)
1. HR practices in Morocco
Human resource management (HRM) in its current form is a
relatively new concept in Morocco, driven by political and
economic factors that are practically unrelated to HRM
(Baayoud and Zouanat, 2010). Morocco has seen significant
growth in its organizational behaviour over the past period,
adapting strategies from other countries that have been
tailored to the Moroccan background. Furthermore, Morocco is
grappling with severe illiteracy and unemployment issues,
which are stifling the progress of the country’s economy and
affect the way of behaving over the organizations. Morocco is a
Muslim country that has a distinct cultural heritage, which
could pose an obstacle to significant growth and a sustainable
organizational behaviour. In other words, any of the concepts of
work ethic are derived through religion. Moreover, Human
resources is a topic that has increasingly been adopted by
emerging multinational corporations and is now becoming a big
concern for small enterprises to consider in Morocco.
Specifically in Morocco, many businesses seem to be hampered
by a shortage of financial capital and, more importantly, a lack
of knowledge about human resource management, which can
be a critical component of a company's success. In reality,
company failure in this country is attributed not only to a
financial challenge, but also to an inexperience, coordination,
competency, and talented employees to maintain the success
of business goals. It is not a question of money in this case, but

of having large human resources that can do a lot for their
businesses and with little finances. Human capital is a term that
is not well appreciated in Morocco. also it is difficult to find
important details about Human resource management in
Morocco. Companies are not expanding the area of human
resources in general, preferring to limit it or assimilating it to
activities such as recruiting and selection and training and
developing employees. The Moroccan world lacks trained
people who are experts in the area of human resources, which
may be a major strategic edge. According to an empirical
analysis of HRM activities in a study of Moroccan firms, the
external environment plays a significant role in convincing
Moroccan managers of the need to restructure their
organisations, especially the efficiency and HR functions. The
greater the need for consistency from economic partners, the
greater the commitment to adapt (Budhwar and Mellahi, 2006).
 HR practices in UK in light of International standards and
modern standards
In the other hand, industrial stability was the biggest HR concern in
the UK sectors, which led to the extension of HR activities in order to
establish a more structured management. Furthermore, Human
resources management was a critical feature for the United Kingdom,
which explains why competence grew so quickly. In other words, HR
management was a crucial role for the United Kingdom, which
explains why professionalism grew so quickly. Industrial stability was
the biggest HR concern in the UK sectors as well, which contributed
to the extension of HR activities in order to build a more structured
management. In light of international standards, UK has formed the
CIPD for a best human resources management practices. The purpose

of the organization (CIPD: they consciously directing and improving
these British and international human resource practices as well as
setting the tone for the UK strategy, emphasizing that handling and
improving individuals needs a solid ethical foundation.) is establishing
a globally recognized benchmark for HR and people growth, ensuring
that the management sector is widely trusted and respected as a
principles-driven, evidence-based, and outcomes-driven group of
experts capable of making work produce value for everyone (CIPD,
Nd.).
2. Major step in human resources management
 Recruitment
Recruiting is a practice of attracting potential job
candidates to an interview by using a variety of methods
such as daily newspapers, employment newspapers
(which are specifically designed for employment news and
notices), broadcast media, online, and professional
networking channels, that have been popular tools for
recruiting and hiring people (whatishumanresource.com,
Nd.). For a quicker selection process and a faster time to
productivity, the company must know how many
candidates should be hired before planning recruitment
process. Because certain candidates are not suitable or
may decline job opportunities, a company may hire more
workers than it plans to employ. Employees are recruited
in two ways: internally and externally. Internal
recruitment which means when a company's talent is
sourced from other staff within it (from another
department). In other hand, internal recruiting helps the

organization to keep its most important employees.
Employers who have successful internal performance
management programs have a greater rate of employee
satisfaction (Talentguard, nd.). In the internal recruitment
the organisation notifies current workers about work
opportunities via bulletin boards, corporate newsletters,
or personal letters. The aim of the employment posting is
to let people know that there is an available position
(whatishumanresource.com, Nd.). Since former workers
have links to the organisation they are called internal
sources. Any former workers may be happy to return to
work on a part-time or may be able to refer someone who
is keen to work for the firm. Furthermore, old
employee who have left the business to start a family
might also be able to return to the company after
achieving their own goals. The compossiate appointment
is also considered as an internal recruitment. As for the
external recruitment, having someone from outside the
company puts in fresh strategies and working methods,
and will make things interesting. You should also draw a
larger net to recruit the right people with the most
appropriate qualifications and experience. You can lose
out on recruiting employees with better expertise and
ideas if you rely entirely on internal hiring (Wilkinson, nd.).
Picking the best workers is a never-ending problem for
several Moroccan organisations, made much more
difficult through the fact that job opportunities across the
country are at historically low levels, and the labour
demand for talented people is thriving. There is no doubt
that the challenge of attracting, promoting, and

maintaining top talent dominates many executive
meetings (Vernon, Nd.).
The recruitment and talent management strategies approach can
allow an organization's talent management to go beyond the basics,
such as talent selection and performance appraisal and a great talent
management strategy. This combines the organization's priorities and
expectations with the professional growth goals of its current and
potential employees.
3. Organisational behaviour
In Morocco, throughout the last decades, the company's structure
has evolved significantly. In other words, the organizational
behaviour has evolved somewhat from human
resources management theories into its own domain. Furthermore, it
is agreed that somehow a significant myriad of challenges are
impacting today's organizations, so these challenges can cause
changes in human resource management theories. In developing
nations including Morocco, organizational culture analysis seems to
have been ineffective. The impact of organizational
culture/behaviour on the performance of the firms has not been
investigated in the Moroccan context yet. Moreover, the
organizational behaviour, like so many popular philosophies and
concepts, has changed significantly as individuals respond to changes
in environment. People must first understand human resource
management theories in order to comprehend organizational
behaviour (Lumen, nd.). Mainly, an organization's intention is
influenced by its workers' desire to learn and accomplish defined
goals. HR managers must know which theories are necessary for the
advancement of the company.
 Motivation theories

Nevertheless, in order to encourage workers, human resources
administration must eliminate differences in employment
relationships, monitoring as well as enforcing compliance. The
working environment motivation consists of the following strategies,
each of which takes a completely different strategy to the
consequences and effects of employee motivation. According to
Sandilands Nd. All people have five levels of needs, according to
Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. Physiological, safety,
cultural, personality, and self-actualization are listed in order of
importance, from lowest to highest. He believed where each degree
of need had to be fulfilled first before individual could move on to the
next level. Furthermore, whenever an employee can concentrate on
its self-completion, as this is the measure that extends to the
workplace, they could be inspired by rewards which address these
needs. As for the second motivational theory which is expectancy
theory by vroom, employee motivation is determined by how
strongly a person needs a reward (Valence), the probability that the
motivation will lead to expected success (Expectancy), and the
expectation that the performance will lead to a reward (Belief) (MSG,
nd.). Stacey' equity theory is focused around the principle of equal
compensation and how it can positively inspire employees. It
considers the work environment's inputs and outputs, as well as their
effect on employee motivation. According to the hypothesis, inputs
like equal treatment and incentives inspire individuals, resulting in
better outputs, while inputs like unequal treatment often do not
(Sandilands, Nd.). Furthermore, Employee relates his work inputs to
its performance and attributes it to that of another worker of similar
position when assessing justice. Moreover, according to the Two-
Factor Theory, employers must place a premium on ensuring the
sufficiency of the hygiene criteria in order to minimize worker
frustration, employers must also ensure that the job is motivating

and satisfying so that workers feel encouraged to work harder to
achieve higher results (MSG, Nd.). The fifth and the last theory of
motivation is the reinforcement theory by skinner where Sandilands
nd. States that positive reinforcement of achievements leads to more
successes, according to this principle, while negative reinforcement
gives the message that the action can not be replicated.
Furthermore, one of the management theories is the X-Y hypothesis
that was introduced by McGregor where his theory provides a
foundation for explaining how management style affects employee
satisfaction. His theory proposes two basic approaches to human
resource management. Theory X administrators are those that lead in
an authoritative manner and theory Y managers where most people
want to make an effort at work (Opentextbooks, nd.) Despite the fact
that motivation has been thoroughly explored previously, the Human
resources department role as well as the importance of
organizational behaviour in empowering workers is not being
covered yet.
 Reward management strategies
There are many ways to inspire workers to contribute effectively
where the role of reward management in rewarding workers based
on their external and internal motivation needs is highlighted.
Following that an organization can introduce a structured
performance appraisal program and give a proper feedback to
workers, determining the appropriate rewards to the results of the
appraisal performance system. Rewards are an expense to
employers, but they are the only form of income for workers.
Furthermore, there is a strong connection between corporate
performance and successful reward systems, showing that how

workers are rewarded should be directly proportional to their total
contribution to the company (Mercury, Nd.). As a result, pay/ reward
management is structured around dispute resolution. Abourezk (Nd.)
states that organisations use reward management to motivate
workers by rewarding them for their accomplishments and
performance as well as to meet those goals, the organization creates
guidelines for its workers to follow to ensure that they are well-
informed of the goals, regulations, and rewards offered for high
results. Employees may be rewarded in a multitude of ways in return
for their time and commitment. These rewards are either extrinsic or
intrinsic. Employees receive intrinsic rewards for doing jobs
efficiently. Furthermore, they're called intrinsic because they're
internal to the work being performed, and gaining them relies heavily
on employee effort. This reward system is allowing workers to do
more self-management and bring value to their jobs by innovating,
problem-solving, and improvising (Bravo, 2019). Completing
substantive tasks, allowing employees to make their own decisions,
developing a sense of competence, making measurable strides, and
becoming motivated to take on more responsibilities, also being an
influential member of a group or association and feeling
accomplished as well as mastering a talent or experience, and feeling
proud are indeed forms of intrinsic reward (Indeed, 2021). As for the
extrinsic reward, Economic times (2021) states that a tangible and
visible reward provided to a person or employee for doing something
is known as an extrinsic reward which is normally monetary in
nature, such as a raise in salary, a promotion, a grant, or public
recognition, also this kind of rewarding is the appropriate way for the
Moroccan employees. Since total reward generates effective business
findings and outcomes, especially in the Moroccan context (money is
always the main and first motivator) implementing it may be the
biggest motivator especially at the beginning of the business.

However, total rewards implementation poses several difficulties.
Furthermore, the total reward must be granted to the worker who
performs exceptionally well and extremely competently, and it
should be based on reliability as well, but first the rewards system
should meet the company's financial needs, according to the overall
rewards plan.
 Performance management
Efficient reward strategies aid in recruiting results-oriented
employees who achieve success and thrive in performance-based
conditions (MSG, Nd.). In other words, performance management
leads to determine the right reward for each employee within the
organisation. To increase company effectiveness, using Performance
management will help it to improve and maintain job performance
between employees. Performance management is an essential
system for hiring and training, improving, and maintaining staff, as
well as monitoring their performance for the HR Team. It might be
more crucial for people to successfully guide their employees without
a structure in place to identify tasks, consider individual strength and
weaknesses, provide input, prompt interventions, and providing
them with the right rewards (Valamis, 2021). In the Moroccan
context, the employee efficiency and performance has a significant
effect on an organization's sustainability and should not be
neglected. Furthermore, worker output is described as its ability to
complete given task efficiently. A high performance management
helps the employees to be engaged. Furthermore, Understanding
and appreciating the employees' efforts, as well as respecting their
goals and aspirations, providing them with a consistent path for
career growth within the organization, as well as trusting and
soliciting their suggestions, are all important factors that will

motivate employees to help the company accomplish its goals along
with their own personal goals.
 personality
In the context of performance and motivation, personality has a
significant role in the organisation behaviour regarding the
achievement of its goals. Furthermore, personality is described as the
sum of a person's emotions, thoughts, attitudes, and reactions to
various circumstances and individuals in the context of
organisation behaviour. Our personalities place us apart from others,
and knowing someone's personality will give us insight into how they
will behave and feel in a variety of situations. Understanding the
personalities of various workers will help you handle workplace
activity more efficiently (Ledunote, nd.).
 People management
on the other hand, strong leaders steer their staff and organisations
to development, managers and company leaders must learn the
values that underpins on people management and build practical
skills. Schooley (2021) states that Hiring and educating the best staff,
guiding and inspiring each employee to achieve their full potential,
efficiently collaborating with all departments, and leading all team
members toward a shared purpose are all part of successful people
management.
 Talent management strategy
Talent management strategy for an organization begins by
identifying personal expectations of its employees, rather than
adjusting to out-dated templates, and aligning them with the overall
corporate strategy (Hocking, 2019). In other hands, the following

recommendation may improve the recruitment and talent
management strategies in the Moroccan context, the organizations
must advance the concept of recruitment and talent management
especially, laying the groundwork for the talented
employee’s professional growth and strong internal relationship with
the company also when making business decisions the emphasis on
versatility enables for the consideration of talent's ambitions.
Furthermore, to draw talent, share the company's expertise is one of
the best ways to strengthen your talent management strategy. New
functionalities must be seen in the context of the workplace and the
technological consequences. In other words, the technological
advances would not only obliterate thousands of jobs, but also
generate new that need more human qualities such as innovation,
creativity, etc. Mainly In the workplace, an emphasis on diversity and
equality must be a priority. Furthermore, the organization needs to
develop a practical progression strategy (so if it doesn't offer
advancement to its talented employees, many may quit) and allow
sufficient period for new workers to adjust to their new roles also
mentoring must go through the few days on the job and through the
training and mentoring services.
4. Induction program implementation and feedback mechanisms
of training and recommendations
Training may be the most popular and on-going activity of any
organization for keeping workers' skills and expertise up to date in
light of new conditions. Open text books (Nd.) states that lack of
training will lead to decreased productivity, lost customers, and
unstable relations between workers and managers. In order to train
employees effectively, first and foremost, I recommend that the new

workers have to be better informed on the policies and procedures of
the company in a face to face session, where this will not only
provide the new worker with the details that they may need, also it is
a chance to welcome them. As a second step, Primark has to make a
short term mentorship program leaded by workers and that already
exist in Primark stores in the MENA region and by Irish mentors to
keep that Irish touch. Furthermore, the company may use
mentorship software to gain time and make it easy for the managers.
The company may also make a training pairs session that is included
in the mentorship program where the new hired worker with a
seasoned employee from other companies that Primark is having a
partnership with. I also propose to make session to teach and train
the employees how to use the customer relationship management
system which is very important system in the sales and retail field.
Making team training will increase team cohesion by encouraging
new employees to know one another as well as facilitating social
interaction. Furthermore, providing new employees with a soft skills
program will help them to interact easily with customers and gain
and develop strong communication skills. Last but not least, provide
the new workers with an online or an in house training about
customer service training and a multicultural and safety training.
Before these training sessions made, the company may make an
individual assessment to each of the employees to provide them with
the right training.
 Other recommendations
The anonymous survey, in which workers share their opinions
without apprehension, is one of the simplest and most common ways
to gather feedback from employees. In the other hand, asking
workers about their thoughts and opinions about their productivity
and whether they need some change in those areas, as well as asking

them if they do have any specific problems that can affect their work
and make it deficient, all of the above are the perfect ways to give
constructive criticism.
 Conclusion
In conclusion, the success of an organization's HR management
organs determines the organization's level of success.
furthermore, it is essential to mention that an organization's
success and market sustainability are dependent on the type of
employees and how they behave. Human Resource
Management is important and play a significant role within the
organizations. both soft and hard HR practices, influences
businesses and allows them to grow quickly. Furthermore, it
will boost employee motivation in a corporation and increase
adherence to company policy and regulation, resulting in
increased company productivity and profitability.
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