Strategic HRM Report on Sainsbury's Business Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic human resource management (HRM) within Sainsbury's, a major UK supermarket chain. It begins by outlining the relationship between business strategy and HR strategy, emphasizing the importance of alignment for achieving organizational goals. The report then explores vertical and horizontal integration within Sainsbury's, followed by an examination of theoretical bases and models of strategic HRM, including the best fit/contingency, best practice/universalist, and resource-based view perspectives. Specific HR practices such as performance management and reward systems are critically analyzed, with recommendations for redesigning the performance management system to enhance employee motivation and productivity. The second task delves into the nature and theoretical perspectives of employment relations, evaluating the roles of actors within the employment relationship and analyzing the changing nature of these relations. The report concludes with recommendations to improve employment relations, offering insights into fostering a positive and productive work environment within Sainsbury's.

Strategic HRM

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Relationship between business strategy and the human resource strategy................................3
Vertical and horizontal integration across the organization........................................................5
Theoretical basis and models of strategic Human resource management....................................5
Critically analyze the strategic perspective of best fit/contingency, Best practice/ Universalist
and Resource Based View (RBV) ..............................................................................................6
Specific HR practices of performance management and reward.................................................6
Recommendations for redesigning the performance management system .................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
Nature and theoretical perspectives of Employment Relations...................................................7
Critically evaluate the roles of the actors within the Employment Relationship with analysis of
the changing nature of employment relations..............................................................................9
Recommendations to improve employment relations................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Strategic Human resource management is the process of interrelation of human resource
management with the targets, objectives and goals of the company. The main focus of the
strategic human resource management is to improve the efficiency, flexibility and productivity of
the company. A good strategy of human resource is will help in improving the competitive
position in market. There can be positive culture at organization if strategic HRM is effectively
working in the company. Organizations can have successful business by attaining the goals and
objectives of the company in less time. This report has two tasks. The first task explains
importance of strategic human resource management and second task includes necessity of
employee relation within the company. The company which is considered in this report for
understanding of these concepts is Sainsbury. This is the third largest supermarket chain of
United Kingdom. This company was founded by John James Sainsbury in the year 1869. The
headquarters of this company are located in London. Employment relationship is defined as the
bond and relation that is shared by the employees and employers of the company. This report
will help in describing relationship between business strategy and the human resource strategy
and how an organization can use HR strategy and business. This report describes Vertical
alignment and horizontal integration across the organization and Theoretical basis and models of
strategic Human resource management. Further this report will explain the importance of
employee relation in the organisation.
TASK 1
Relationship between business strategy and the human resource strategy
Human resource management is the department of the organization that take care of
employees of the company and ensuring that they are able to meet their organizational goals and
objectives. The HR strategy is the way by which an organization wants to make its employees
more productive and efficient. The HR strategy of the company must be aligned with the
business strategy so that the company can make better results.
HR strategy as business strategy

For any organization to be successful, it is important that the Human resources i.e.
employees are skilled and capable to work in organization effectively. Employees of the
company should be motivated and dedicated for working effectively in the company. A good
cooperation between strategy of business and human resource strategy will help in success of the
organization.
Communications – The organization have to ensure that there is effective
communication between employees and employers. This will help in achieving the goals and
objectives of the company in less time. communicating with the goals , production targets and
objectives of the company. If there is a good communication between employees and employers
then this will enhance the motivation level of employees. A motivated employee can work more
and achieve the goals and objectives of organization and contribute to success of the company.
Demographics, Social Trends and Technology – There is difference in perspective of
old employees and young employees towards job satisfaction. The various changes in social
trends and demographics states that managers of the organization must adapt changes according
to the latest trend and demand as this will help in successful running of business. The HR
department of company provides trainings and sessions for helping employees in recognizing the
role and supporting business strategy, budget requirement, operations and goals of the company.
Developing strategies and solutions - The human resource department and management
of company should collaborate and develop effective program. These plans should focus on
providing trainings and development sessions to employees. Other initiatives that can be taken
for motivating employees are rewards, incentives and performance appraisal. The development
of management is an important aspect for the companies to be successful in market. Management
training provides different key components such as employee selection, organizational
development, manpower planning and recruitment.
In context of Sainsbury, the managers and human resource department work together for
designing consequences for workers and subordinates who are not able to work effectively and
perform their job roles in an appropriate manner. The HR management of Sainsbury has adopted
various legal laws that must be followed for effective operations of the company. These laws

include labor laws, training procedures, good business practices, disciplinary steps and company
policies while making the strategic planning of the company.
Vertical and horizontal integration across the organization
Vertical integration is defined as a competitive strategy that helps an organization to take
complete control over one or more stages in distribution and production of a product. An
organization adopts vertical integration if it wants full control over the supply of raw material to
manufacture the products. The vertical integration in a company occurs when it is operating in
production process of same company. The different reasons for companies to integrate
vertically are strengthening the supply chain, capturing profits, minimizing production costs or
assessing new distribution channels. In context of Sainsburys, distribution and production of
products is managed effectively.
On the other hand, horizontal integration is an competitive strategy which is used by an
organization. Backward integration is one in which company decides to buy another company
which is making a product for acquiring product of the company. Forward integration is one in
which company decides to take control of post production process. This is acquisition of
business operations of a related business with same. For instance, Sainsburys is a supermarket
chain which may acquire control of farms for ensuring supply of fresh vegetables and fruits. This
is backward integration. This organization can also buy vehicles to increase efficiency of the
distribution of products. This is forward integration.
Theoretical basis and models of strategic Human resource management
The strategic human resource management depends on different strategic theories that
were developed in 1970s. The theory given by Schuler and Jackson states that there are three
generic organization strategies which consists of innovation, quality enhancement and cost
reduction with philosophies of human resource management like accumulation, facilitation and
utilization. The utilization strategy and cost reduction theory focuses on minimizing labor costs
and it does consider employee training or mobility. A facilitation strategy is for companies that
needs new innovations and techniques in the organization and this strategy focuses on
collaboration and creativity.

Critically analyze the strategic perspective of best fit/contingency, Best practice/ Universalist and
Resource Based View (RBV)
It is essential for Sainsbury to apply a good HR strategy in the organisation for attaining
the goals and objectives of the company in less time. Sainbury ensures that the company is doing
work in an effective manner and impress customers and stakeholders. These people help in
providing budget for the company. Sainsbury can use the strategy of quality or accumulation
strategy in the company as this will help managers in motivating employees for adopting the
business environment and work efficiently.
Specific HR practices of performance management and reward
The performance management and reward system are important for any organization as it
helps in motivating employees in doing work efficiently. Different strategies adopted by
Sainsbury are described below-
Define and communicate company goals and performance objectives- It is important
for the management to take care of the expectations of the employees for better results and
outcomes. The leaders and managers clarify the goals and objectives of the company to
employees for meeting the targets in less time.
Utilize performance management software - It is advisable for Sainsbury use a
performance management software in the organization for analyzing the employee engagement,
motivation level of employees and strengths and weaknesses of employees (Peppard. and Ward,
2016. ). A good performance management software system is necessary for company as it offers
traditional reviews and 360 degree appraisal of the employee.
Offer Frequent Performance Feedback - A business must clarify the goals and
objectives to employees and analyze the needs of employees for motivating them in doing good
work. Sainsbury should organize a timely performance feedback so that management should
know about the demands of employees.
Peer reviews- The utilization of peer reviews is a great way for an effective performance
management. This is also known as 360 degree reviews. The peer reviews are important as they
allow the employees to praise their colleagues. This helps workers to work together and build
good communication among employees.

Preemptive Management and Recognition - The implementation of rewards and practice
preemptive management is a good way for making positive culture at workplace. This reflects
that employees are knowing the expectation of the company.
Recommendations for redesigning the performance management system
The recommendation for Sainsbury to improve the performance management system is given
below-
Set regular meetings and discuss outcomes and results of the business
The managers of Sainsbury must organize regular meetings that will analyse the result of
strategies applied in the company. Such meetings can help the company to estimate the profits
made by company and knowing about the threats that can occur while doing business. These
meetings must describe the following aspects-
 Follow up on peer reviews
 Discussing praises and areas which require team work
 Recognition of team members for meeting the goals and objectives of the meeting with
incentives and rewards
 Discussion of plans for the next phase of project
 Discussion of data of company like revenue, marketing, customer involvement and
success of campaign, etc.
TASK 2
Nature and theoretical perspectives of Employment Relations
The employee relations are defined as relation that are shared among employees who are
working together in an organization. It is important for a company to manage and develop
relation between employees and employer and also between employees. If accompany is having
good employee relation then there will be no problem in accomplishing the tasks and activities of
the company in given time. If in an organization there is good relation between employees then
the managers and leaders can apply strategies and plans in the company effectively. In addition

to this, employee relation is helpful in easily working with subordinates and managers of the
company. It can be said that employees will work more effectively if they share good bond and
relation then they can work properly in the company and p increase the productivity of the
company. It is also said that employee relation will helps in offering fair workplace environment.
This also helps in building productivity of employees by motivation and increased effectiveness
of employees and subordinates. Moreover, an effective employee relation helps in retaining
employees and decreasing the employee turnover. Managers increase morale of employees by
giving them positive environment so that they can share good bond and affection.
Nature of employee relations
The nature of employee relation is multidimensional and complex. The reason for this
complexity is because of various employees and employers who are working in the organization.
This helps in achieving the goals and objectives of the company in given time in less time. The
relationship between employees and employers in not only concerned with the organization but it
involved other entities like government and other companies of same industry. In context of
Sainsbury, it is necessary for the human resource managers to emphasize on managing the top
level management of the company for improving the overall activities and operations of the
company. In this way the attainment of goals and objectives can be done in less time.
Theoretical perspectives of employee relations
The theoretical perspectives of employee relations are divided into three types naming
unitarist, pluralist and Marxisist perspective. In case of Sainsbury two employee relation theories
are considered which are described below-
Unitarist perspective: the unitarist perspective is stated that whole organization and it’s
employees share a loyal bond and relation. According to this perspective employees work
together and help each other and attain the goals and objectives of the company in given time.
Employees and employers have to mutually cooperate and collectively work together for
attaining the organizational goals. In this, employees are given importance and value for making
effective decisions. Trade union is not required in such perspective of company as this helps

employees in realizing the importance of value of employees. In this case, trade union is not
needed because there are very few chances of conflict among employees and employer.
Pluralist perspective: This perspective consists of two loyal sectional groups. The two
sectional groups are management team of organization and trade union. According to this
perspective of the organization, employees are not controlled and managed by the organization.
The management team of the company have to collaborate and cooperate with the trade union for
maintain the employee relation for improving performance of the company. This helps in
maintaining positive environment at workplace.
According to the above mentioned perspectives of the company, the best way for
Sainsbury to use is the pluralist perspective of organization. This has been concluded that
pluralist perspective helps the organization to support employees having a positive environment
at workplace and avoid conflicts and fights in the company. Trade Union provides employees a
protection as they have all legal rights. Trade union supports employees and employers to have
good bond and share their problem and managing the functions of the company. Moreover, this
helps the employees in convincing employers for securing them against loss.
Critical analysis of unitarist and pluralist approach – It is seen in the above discussion
that unitarist approach means employees are sharing good and strong relationship or bond. This
helps in achieving organizational goals in specified time. On the other hand, this approach is
sometimes not effective when management introduces a new regulation or policy, then
employees stand against management and conflicts occur. According to pluralist approach,
trade union and management make collaborative decisions. If they share good bond, it is
beneficial for the company. But if one of the party is more stronger than other, disputes occur.
Critically evaluate the roles of the actors within the Employment Relationship with analysis of
the changing nature of employment relations.
The employment relationship has different roles and actors of the organization and this
helps company in playing an essential role for managing the nature and environment at
workplace. In the case of Sainsbury, it is said that there are different actors of employment
relationship which includes employer, employee, government and trade union. These actors

contribute to change the nature of employee relation. The description of these actors is
mentioned below-
Employer: Employer have a necessary role in employment relationship because employers
have the opportunity for bargaining from the relationship. This is stated that the use of trade
union in an organization is important as it reduces the conflicts and fights in the company. It is
important for the company to describe the number of issues that can occur between employer and
employee. Trade Union decreases different issues of companies in the perspective of an
employee. Moreover, it has been stated that employers have own capability that will affect
employee relation because they have capability of recruiting and hiring employees or firing of
employees. In this type of organization, the management team has the power of relocating
employee without any pre notice. This could result in creation of negative relation among them
and this influence employee relations.
Employee: Employees are involved in exchanging the positive thoughts and ideas with
the organization and they together joins Trade Union for convincing management team for
making effective decisions. In case of Sainsbury, it is responsibility of the employers to maintain
good relation with employees and maintaining positive environment at workplace. The role of
employees as an actor of employment relationship will affect employee relations and its nature.
Government: The influence of government or state legislation could be seen in employee
relations in terms of rules, laws, legislations, awards, agreements etc. It can be said that sudden
change in governmental law might affect employee relation (Rees and Smith, 2017). For
instance: Government have added some more provision in terms of additional working hour
which are against SAINSBURY but are in favour of employees. This would definitely develop
negative relations among employer and employees as productivity of SAINSBURY will directly
slow down due to less working hours. As a result, it directly influences nature of employee
relations.
Trade union: Trade union is a mediator between employer and employees. Trade union
helps in affecting the relationship between relationship of both employees and employers. The
trade union of Sainsbury will help in providing employees a good managerial skill. This will
have impact on the operational and functional activities of employees. This helps in reducing

trust of employees towards organization. As a result, the relationship between employees and
employers gets disturbed because of trade union and employee relations are affected.
Recommendations to improve employment relations
On the basis of above made discussion on employee relations, its nature, theories and role of
actors for changing nature of employee relations it is concluded that both employers and
employees states that organization has to focus on providing satisfaction to employees. This can
be done by giving them positive work culture. The productivity and efficiency of organization
can be increased by providing good benefits to employees within the organization. Only
motivated employees are successful and helps in attaining the goals and objectives of the
company. As a result, company grows more and enhances its profits. There are some
recommendations made after analyzing the above theories and nature and role of employee
relation for improving the performance of the company. These are described below-
 The HR manager of Sainsbury has to engage its employees in the decision making process
of the company. This will help in motivating employees and increasing employee
engagement. The employee engagement is an essential part of organization and employers
have to realize that employees have to be valued. The engagement of employees in the
decision making will help in knowing innovative and new ideas of employees and using
them in operations of the company. These ideas may help in improving the profits of the
company. This will also result in improving the relationship between employee and
employer.
 At next, it is suggested to HR manager of Sainsbury have to conduct some brain storming
session in the company for analyzing the internal capability of employees which will help in
developing the performance of employees. This will help in developing relationship between
employee and management team as these sessions and trainings are helpful for both
employees and employers.
 HR manager should assign work to employees in teams so that they can interact more with
team members. This interaction will develop bond among employees and employer. This
will help HR manager in positive improvement employee relations within the organization.

On the basis of above stated recommendations, it can be said that by following this HR
manager of SAINSBURY can easily improve employee relations in the company which will
result in positive growth of company performance and contributes in profit enhancement.
CONCLUSION
It can be analyzed from the above mentioned report that strategic HRM is an effective way
to align business goals into human resource management of the company. If there is a good
strategic HRM in the company then the company will be able to perform more better and earn
more profits. The HRM strategies include various plans that will enhance growth and
productivity of the company. This also helps in increasing the sustainability of the company. The
human resource managers of the company plays an important role in analyzing the weakness of
employees and improving them in order to motivate them and make them perform good. It is
also analyzed from this report that an effective employee relation is helpful for having a positive
environment at workplace and in this way the retention rate of the company will be high. The
human resource managers applies different HRM theories for enhancing the environment of
business and performance of the company. If a company has effective employment engagement
then enhancement of company’s sustainability as well as profitability. It is also concluded that
that effective hr manager of the company focuses on applying various models and HRM theories
for improving business environment and performance of company. Along with this, effective
employee relations also helps organization in developing their relations with the employee which
contributes in retaining them for longer period of time.