HRM Policies in Retailing Industry of Australia - HRMT20024 Report

This report provides a comprehensive review of HRM policies within the Australian retail sector, drawing on five peer-reviewed articles. The first article examines sustainable HRM practices and their impact on employee health and safety, highlighting the need for improved policies to maintain a positive workplace environment. The second article investigates disability-inclusive HRM practices in a large retail organization, focusing on social legitimacy and the benefits of including disabled employees. The third article analyzes the control mechanisms used by retail managers to manage part-time workers, with a focus on the supermarket industry. The fourth article explores the collaborative strategies of an Australian retail union, examining the outcomes and preconditions for successful collaboration. The final article provides a detailed review of the five articles, highlighting the key findings, methodologies, and relevance of each to understanding HRM practices in the Australian retail sector.

Running head: HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
HRM policies in retailing industry of Australia
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Name of the Author:

1
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
Table of Contents
First article...........................................................................................................................2
Outline of research objective and research question.......................................................2
Outline of the method......................................................................................................2
Discussion of the findings...............................................................................................3
Summary of the conclusion.............................................................................................3
Indication of relevance....................................................................................................3
Second article.......................................................................................................................4
Outline of research objective and research question.......................................................4
Outline of the method......................................................................................................4
Discussion of the findings...............................................................................................5
Summary of the conclusion.............................................................................................5
Indication of relevance....................................................................................................5
Third article.........................................................................................................................6
Outline of research objective and research question.......................................................6
Outline of the method......................................................................................................6
Discussion of the findings...............................................................................................7
Summary of the conclusion.............................................................................................7
Indication of relevance....................................................................................................7

2
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
Fourth article........................................................................................................................8
Outline of research objective and research question.......................................................8
Outline of the method......................................................................................................8
Discussion of the findings...............................................................................................9
Summary of the conclusion.............................................................................................9
Indication of relevance....................................................................................................9
Fifth article.........................................................................................................................10
Outline of research objective and research question.....................................................10
Outline of the method....................................................................................................11
Discussion of the findings.............................................................................................11
Summary of the conclusion...........................................................................................11
Indication of relevance..................................................................................................11
Reference List....................................................................................................................13

3
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
First article
Full reference: Mariappanadar, S. (2016). Health harm of work from the sustainable HRM
perspective: Scale development and validation. International Journal of Manpower, 37(6), 924-
944.
Outline of research objective and research question
The main aim of the study is to identify the various sustainable Human Resource
Management practices which has been taken to protect the health and safety of the people
working various industries of Australia including the retailing industry. The study also aims to
create a sustainable environment from the various practices which are followed by Human
Resource Management to maintain a sustainable workplace environment. A set of questionnaire
was developed for the employees which helped in understanding the main reciprocation of the
study. For the validation of health and safety of the employees of the company, a three
dimensional process has been followed by the help of using five-part study to get a detailed
analysis of the findings of the article.
Outline of the method
The questionnaire which was created was distributed among a total of 250 employees
across various industries. For measuring the health and safety objectives of the retailing industry
of Australia a total of 187 questionnaire was used. 23 percent of the questionnaire was sued for
the manufacturing industries of Australia which gave an accurate detail of the research questions.
In the study conducted 67 per cent of the employees were male and the remaining were females.
The selected employees were having at least 10 years of experience in the workplace. The

4
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
questionnaire which was used for this study had a total of 14 items which was measured by the
help of 6-point Linkert scale.
Discussion of the findings
After conducting a detailed analysis on the results which were gathered it was found that
a lot of employees of the manufacturing companies of Australia has sufficient ability to perform
hard tasks. But in doing so they are using up all their energy and they have stated that the human
resource management policy of the company is not enough to take care of their health. Item
rating task has been conducted by the employees in a very efficient way without the presence of
any kind of potential bias which is a very positive point for the human resource policies of the
country.
Summary of the conclusion
To conclude it can be said that the policies which has been used by the organization in
the present scenario works very positively towards the sustainable human resource management.
It has been found out from the study that High performance work practices in various
organization reduces the risk of health and safety among the employees and there is a presence of
sustainable workplace environment.
Indication of relevance
The main theme which has been studied in the article states that the sustainable human
resource management which has been used by various companies around Australia is not
susceptible enough and the Human Resource Management need to be come up with other steps
which will not only be ensuring the safety and health of the employees but also maintain a better
workplace environment. This topic is very useful for essay 3 since it depicts on one of the major
aspect of Human Resource Management.

5
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
Second article
Full reference: Moore, K., McDonald, P., & Bartlett, J. (2017). The social legitimacy of
disability inclusive human resource practices: the case of a large retail organisation. Human
Resource Management Journal, 27(4), 514-529.
Outline of research objective and research question
The main aim of this article is to assess the response of the Human Resource
Management of organization towards the employment of disabled people. A lot of detailed study
has not been conducted on this issue and so a detailed analysis of the topic has been given in this
article along with the analysis of the various literature gap which was based on the background
of disability employment. For the help of conducting the research the following questions were
followed in the report which stated that:
 What are the process which are followed by an organization regarding the legitimacy and
inclusion of disability by the help of human resource practices in the external context of
disability employment?
 What are the various internal process which are followed by organization for legitimizing
inclusive disability Human resource practices?
Outline of the method
A qualitative an embedded case study system has been selecting for assessing the various
results which was gathered. Keeping in mind that the retail industry of Australia employs the
largest fraction of disabled people the organization which was selected for the study is one of the
major retail organizations of the country. It was found out that out of 195,000 employees of the
company a total of 3000 employees were disabled. A nested organizational structure was

6
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
followed for the conduction of the study which helped in comparing the various practices and the
various sources of social legitimacy of the employment of the disabled people in the company.
Discussion of the findings
It was found from the response of the employees that disability inclusive human resource
practices exists in the organization and there are certain instances in which they have been
benefitted from the human resource practices. It was also found out that the employees get a lot
of support from the customers of the organization as well as the various local communities of the
country. The corporate reputation of the disabled employees are also maintained by the company
which is considered to be a very good step by the company. The parent company along will all
the other branches identify the disabled employees as one of the main assets of the company
which helps the employees to improve their corporate reputation.
Summary of the conclusion
To conclude it can be said that people with disability needs to be treated properly in a
specific manner and must be given a wider community values so that they can be economically
strong and will be able to survive in the community.
Indication of relevance
This topic and research will be very useful for the essay since this covers one of the
major aspect of the society and also aims towards implementing better services to the disabled
people. The retailing industry of the country is taking bolder steps to help the disabled people in
making their stand in the society. With the help of this topic a major problem of the society will
be explained in the essay along with relevant use of Human Resource Management values.

7
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
Third article
Full reference: Price, R. (2016). Controlling routine front line service workers: An Australian
retail supermarket case. Work, employment and society, 30(6), 915-931.
Outline of research objective and research question
The main aim of this article is to understand the various process which are implemented
by the retail managers for negotiating with their control over the part-time work force. For the
front line service workers of the company, the article has stated the various configuration of the
control which aids in intersecting the status of employment on the basis of the various
employment contracts of the employees. The main focus of the food retailers of Australia is to
manage and make the availability of the various cost of hiring labors. The study also identifies
the distinctive structure of the retailing industry and the various ways by the help of which the
supermarket grocery chain maintains the part-time workers. The dominance of part –time
workers is found to be very dominant in the retailing industry of the country.
Outline of the method
For the conduction of the research two biggest food retailing stores has been selected by
the authors to understand the topic in a detailed manner since the company holds a lot of
supermarket chain around the country. After gaining permission from the management of the
company for conducting the report the various documents of the companies were collected which
included the various job roles and the job rosters of the employees’ associated with the
companies. A non-participant conduction of observation was conducted by visiting three
supermarkets in a good number of times. A robust 33 interviews was conducted on 22 human

8
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
resource staff of the companies at the head offices of the companies which included the HR
managers, industrial engineers, trainers and recruiters for the company.
Discussion of the findings
After the analysation of the data which was collected it was found that the job role of the
various hierarchies of the community varies for the frontline employers of the company. The
internal job hierarchy of the employees of the company and the various key configuration of the
various roles of the leaders of the company varies from each other this is mainly due to fact that
there is a presence of predominant presence of pert-time employees in the company. The human
resource management of the company are also seen to play a major role in maintaining the
employment of the frontline employees as well as the part–time employees.
Summary of the conclusion
To conclude it can be said that the article has been successful in explaining the various
internal process which is needed to successfully run a large supermarket chain. The article has
also helped in the configuration of a new kind of control system to be used by the human
resource management of the company to control the part-time employees of the company.
Indication of relevance
This article will be very helpful in understand the various human resource management in
large retailing system of Australia and will be very helpful in understanding the various aspect of
Human Resource Management policies of the retailing system.

9
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
Fourth article
Full reference: Price, R., Bailey, J., & Pyman, A. (2014). Varieties of collaboration: the case of
an Australian retail union. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(6),
748-761.
Outline of research objective and research question
The main aspects which has been discussed in this article are the outcome, precondition
and process which are linked with the various collaborative strategies of the retail trade union of
Australia. The article states that in the world of business conduction it is very much possible for
the emergence of conflict between the employees and the employers. The main aim of this paper
is to understand the various process which has been adapted by Shop, Distributive and Allied
Employees’ Union (SDA) for maintaining their relation with the capital of the country based on
the perspective of the SDA officials. The extended research of this case states that there are
presence of hard and soft collaborations among the union and the workers across the country.
Outline of the method
For the analyzing the various process which has been followed by the union a case study
was conducted which helped in better assessment of the gathered data. An interview on 12 SDA
official was conducted and 19 SDA organizers were also selected for the interview. All the
various interviews were recorded in a device and then transcribed for future use of the
analysation of the data. The coding of the collected data was done by NVivo and also the
literature review was also kept in mind while gathering a detailed analysis on the collected data.
With the help of using this robust gathering method it has been very important to understand the
topic on which the research has been conducted.

10
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
Discussion of the findings
After gathering the relevant data for the analysis of the study it was found out that SDA
follows a conscious strategy which aids it bin finding balance between the conflict between the
employees and the employers of the company. The national leadership of SDA has been the
same from the past 34 years and this is mainly due to the process they followed for improving
the various process which are required for bridging the gap between the various hierarchies of
the company.
Summary of the conclusion
In the modern context of business world it must be said that there are immense pressure
on the workers around the world which is very serious issue. The work of ADA which is to
bridge the gaps of conflicts between the various hierarchies of the retailing industry is a very
bold process and its needs to be followed by other retailing unions around the world. The human
resource policies which has been seen in this report explains why it is very important to
implement sustainable human resource management in the retailing industry.
Indication of relevance
The implementation of the idea which was gathered from this report it will be very easy
to increase the knowledge base for the research topic in the third essay. The idea of the
implementation of human resource management process by the SDA in managing the
indifferences between the employee and the employers of the company is very useful in
understanding the broad structure of the implementation of the human resource management in
the retailing industry.

11
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
Fifth article
Full reference: Chang, J., Travaglione, A., & O’Neill, G. (2015). How can gender signal
employee qualities in retailing?. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 27, 24-30.
Outline of research objective and research question
According to Chang, Travaglione & O’Neill (2015) the occupational structure in the
retailing industry is mainly structured in accordance to the gender of the individuals. It has been
seen that the females re given the softer works as compared to the men. The technical roles and
the harder are allotted to men and the women are given the responsibility of performing the usual
and easy tasks. The article also states that signalling theory states that by the help of observable
qualities it is possible to communicate with the observable qualities. With the help of signalling
theory it is possible to decrease the asymmetry between two parties. The main points which has
been addressed in the report by the help of the literature review which has been conducted in the
report are:
 Technical oriented retailing sectors of various retailing stores are mainly dominated by
the males.
 Physical oriented department of the retailing stores are maintained by the males.
 The department of the retailing stores which are associated with the social orientation are
dominated by the females.
 The Aesthetical oriented sectors of the supermarkets are dominated by the female
employees of the company.

12
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
Outline of the method
The data which has been used in the article for conducting the research are mainly from
the study which was conducted in 2009 by the Australia at Work. The main aim of the survey
was to understand the work experience of the employees working in the retailing industry of the
country. A total of 702 employees were selected for the survey which was going to be conducted
for gathering the various data which will be needed for assessing the gender discrimination.
Discussion of the findings
After the conduction of the survey and then assessing the various data which was
collected it was found that different retailing sectors of the country depicted different gender
characteristics. It was found that the female employees’ maintained the majority of the food
retailing stores than the males. The males dominated the electronic sector of the retailing
industry.
Summary of the conclusion
The main aspect which has been shown by the article is that the discrimination of gender
in the retailing industry in Australia can have the possibility of becoming unintentional and also
act as an honest signal for the employees working in the retailing industry. Although there were
certain limitation of the study which was conducted in the article since there was presence of
limited people for the study and it might not be able to give the reader a bigger picture of the
main concept of the research.
Indication of relevance
With the help of this study it has been become very easy to understand the functioning of
the retailing industry of Australia and what are the various discrimination which has been
conducted on the retailing industry. For writing the essay for the third week this topic has been

13
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
very useful for understanding the implementation of human resource management in the retailing
industry for avoiding the gender discrimination in the workplace and everyone must be treated in
a proper manner.

14
HRM POLICIES IN RETAILING INDUSTRY OF AUSTRALIA
Reference List
Malik, A. (2018). HRM and ER: a strategic perspective. In Strategic Human Resource
Management and Employment Relations (pp. 13-21). Springer, Singapore.
Mariappanadar, S. (2016). Health harm of work from the sustainable HRM perspective: Scale
development and validation. International Journal of Manpower, 37(6), 924-944.
Moore, K., McDonald, P., & Bartlett, J. (2017). The social legitimacy of disability inclusive
human resource practices: the case of a large retail organisation. Human Resource
Management Journal, 27(4), 514-529.
Price, R. (2016). Controlling routine front line service workers: An Australian retail supermarket
case. Work, employment and society, 30(6), 915-931.
Price, R., Bailey, J., & Pyman, A. (2014). Varieties of collaboration: the case of an Australian
retail union. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(6), 748-761.