Strategic HRM: Morrison's HR Strategy Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic human resource management (SHRM) within the context of Morrison's supermarket chain. It begins by identifying key trends and developments influencing HR strategy, such as learning management systems, digitalized rewards, online skill assessments, biometric time tracking, and wearable technology. The report then examines internal and external factors impacting HR strategy, including corporate objectives, financial changes, teamwork, market shifts, and technological advancements. Furthermore, it delves into relevant theories and concepts, specifically the resource-based view (RBV) and the VRIO framework, emphasizing the importance of integrating operational and HR strategies. The report also explores change management models, focusing on Kurt Lewin's model, to facilitate adaptation to evolving business environments. Finally, it addresses the monitoring and measurement of HR outcomes and how effective HR management supports sustainable performance and growth in meeting organizational objectives. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting to changes and integrating HR strategies with overall business goals for improved performance.

UNIT 21- STRATEGIC
HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
P1 Key trends and development which influence HR strategy of organization.........................3
P2 External and internal factors that influence HR strategy of company...................................4
P3 Relevant theories and concept relating to growth and development of strategic HRM........5
P4 Change management model supporting HR strategy.............................................................6
P5 Monitoring and measuring of HR outcome...........................................................................8
P6 Effective HR management supporting sustainable performance and growth in meeting
organizational objectives.............................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Strategic HRM is defined as the HR practices which coordinates the overall objectives of
the business together with the HRM and focuses on the improving of business performance. The
SHRM includes the future oriented approach which is mainly focused on the development and
implementation of different HR programs in order to improve the performance of the company
(Delery and Roumpi, 2017). The present study is based on Morrison which is a supermarket
chain and was founded by William Morrison in the year 1899 and is headquartered in Bradford
UK.
The present report will outline the trends that influence the HR strategy along with
external and internal factors influencing HR strategy of company. Further the theories and
concept relating to growth and development of strategic HRM and change management model
supporting the HR strategy. In the end the monitoring and measurement of HR outcome along
with how HR strategy supports sustainable performance will be addressed.
MAIN BODY
P1 Key trends and development which influence HR strategy of organization
Within the making of HR strategy by Morrison there are many different types of current
trends and development which the company has to follows. If the company will not follow these
changes then it might be possible that the HR strategy of the company is not effective and this
will affect working of company in negative manner. Thus, for this the most important thing for
the company is that they must follow all the current trend which are listed as follow-
 Learning management system- this is the major trend in the making of HR strategy is to
focus on the learning management system. This is particularly because of the reason that
if the company will not focus on the system through which the company focuses on
providing learning to the employees then this will affect the HR strategy. This is
particularly if the HR strategy will not include the latest learning management system
then this will not attract employees.
 Digitalized rewards and recognition- this is another major type of trend which influences
the HR strategy of Morrison (What are the recent trends in Human Resource
Management, 2019). This is particularly because of the reason that when the company
will focus on the rewards and recognition to the employees in digitalised manner then this

will make the employees of Morrison happy and satisfied. Thus, for making the HR
strategy more effective Morrison need to work on digitalised reward system.
 Online skill assessment- this is another major current trend which Morrison need to
undertake in their HR strategy (Boon and et.al., 2018). This is particularly essential that if
the company will undertake continuous online assessment of employee’s skill then this
will motivate the employees to work in more effective manner. This will also motivate
the employees to work in more effective manner as there will be continuous learning of
the employees.
 Biometric time tracking and security- this is also another major important trend which
must be included in the HR strategy of Morrison. this is particularly essential as if there
will be use of technology like biometric or face recognition then this will motivate the
employees to come at work on time and regularly. Thus, this will reduce the employees
leaving the company more frequently and will improve their attendance.
 Wearable technology- this is another major important current and latest trend which must
be included in the HR strategy. This wearable technology includes the use of such
devices which assist the company in measuring and monitoring the health of the
employees working in the company. These wearable technologies assist the company in
attracting more of employees as employee feel good that company is taking care of the
employees working within organization.
In the end it is concluded that all the latest trend and working must be included within the HR
strategy as these are the strategies which assist in attracting more of the employees. Further the
uses of these trends also assist the company in securing competitive position in the company.
P2 External and internal factors that influence HR strategy of company
Along with following the latest trends affecting the HR strategy there are also some
internal and external factors which influences the HR strategy of Morrison. The external factors
are the changes which are taking place in the external environment and affecting the HR strategy
(Allui and Sahni, 2016). On the other side the internal factors are those factors which includes
changes in the internal working of the company and which have impact over the HR strategy.
The different types of internal and external factors affecting the HR strategy of Morrison are as
follows-
Internal factors

 Corporate objective- this is a change in which the company will include the changes
taking place in the objective of the company. This internal factor influences the HR
strategy making of the company to a great extent. This is majorly because of the reason
that when the objective of the company has changed then this will have an impact on
making of the HR strategy (Internal and external influences on human resources, 2018).
 Financial and budget changes- this is another major internal change which affect the HR
strategy of the company. This is particularly because of the reason that if there will be
any change in the finance and this will have an impact over the making of HR strategy.
This will have a negative impact if the budget of Morrison has decreased. The major
reason for this is that when the budget reduces then the HR strategy also has to decrease
the fund allocated in the making of HR strategy.
 Effective team work- this is also an important internal factor which affects the working of
the HR strategy to a great extent. This is particularly because of the reason that if team
work pattern has changed then this will have a great impact on the HR strategy. This is
has a positive impact over the working of the HR strategy as if the HR strategy is focused
to have good impact over the team work then this will result in much better working of
company.
External factors
 Market changes- this is also an important change which affects the HR strategy of
Morrison to a great extent. This is another major change which directly impacts the
making of HR strategy. This is particularly because of the reason the any change in
market will have an impact over the current HR strategy of company. If the change is
positive then this will definitely has a positive impact over the company in working of the
HR strategy.
 Technological change- this is another major external factor which has a great impact over
the HR strategy. This is particularly because of the reason that if there is any change in
technology then the company has to adapt to these changes. For instance, earlier for the
entry of employee the register were maintained but after the technological update the
biometric machine have come (Armstrong, 2019). Thus, because of this technological
advancement there were changes in the HR strategy which Morrison has to adapt and
implement in the company. This change has a positive impact over the working of

company and the HR strategy as this advancement in technology result in betterment of
the company and its operations.
P3 Relevant theories and concept relating to growth and development of strategic HRM
Strategic human resource management is the implementation and coordination of
different practices of HRM in the direction of the attainment of the goals of the business. This is
very important for the development and growth of the business to a great extent. Earlier the
company majorly focused on getting the work done by the employees (Zehir and et.al, 2016).
Further with the development if the HRM the more preference was given to the employees and
their importance within the company. In addition to this the evolution of the SHRM was very
much assistive for the company in taking proper care of the employee as the employees are an
important asset of the company.
For Morrison to successfully adapt and implement the HR strategies the most important
thing is to make the effective use of theories and models of SHRM. For this the Morrison applies
the resource based view of the SHRM. This Resource Based View (RBV) is a representation of
the paradigm shift of the SHRM stating that the internal resources of the company are more
assistive in making the company work in more effective and efficient manner. This view mainly
focuses and states that the Human within the company are very valuable and scarce resources
which need to be managed and maintained in effective manner. This is particularly because of
the reason that when the human within the company will not be good and effective then this will
not result in the intended outcome. For instance, when the employees of the company are not in
position of understanding the work in effective manner then they will not be able to work in that
manner.
In addition to this another theory implemented in the SHRM evolvement is the VRIO
framework. This is particularly used by considering the major implication of the operation of
human resource of the company and to make the effective strategy for the development of the
humans in the company. Hence, for the effective working the most important thing for Morrison
is to make integration among the operational strategy and the HR strategy of company (Cooke,
Xiao and Xiao, 2020). The major reason for this is that when the company does not have any
integration in this then the working will not lead in the direction of the attainment of the
objectives of the business.

P4 Change management model supporting HR strategy
When the company works in the external working environment then there are many
different types of changes which the company has to adapt in its working. Thus, for this the most
important thing for Morrison is to make use of different change management model in adapting
to all these changes (Cooke, Xiao and Chen, 2020). There are many different types of changes
which the company face in while working in the external business environment and hence, it is
the responsibility of HR department of Morrison to adapt and implement these changes. Thus,
for this the model used by Morrison for adapting to the changes is as follows-
Kurt Lewin change management model- this is an important change management model which
is very assistive in adapting to any of the change taking place in the working environment. Under
this the major steps of the model are as follows-
 Unfreeze- this is the first stage of the change management model which states that the
employees first have to leave the old learning and practices. This is essential as if the
employees will leave the older practice then only they will be able to learn the new thing.
For instance if there is new technological change of use of biometric, then employee need
to be adapt to this change. For this first they have to stop doing entry in the register that is
stop the older practice.
 Change- this is the second stage of this model which states that the employees of the
company has to start learning the new concept and for this they need to do hard work. In
the example of use of biometric, the employees have to learn how to operate the new
biometric for the purpose of attendance.
 Refreeze- this is the last stage of this model as in this stage the newly learnt concept if
freeze till the time any new change is being implemented. Under this the employees of
Morrison will use the biometric machines till the time any new change is being brought
in the market.
ADKAR change management model- in addition to the Kurt Lewin change management model
Morrison can also make effective use of ADKAR model of change which is a follow-
 Awareness- this is the stage wherein the company highlights the need and requirement of
the change and how beneficial the change is for the company (McClean and Collins,
2019). For instance, if company is installing the online rewards system then first
Morrison needs to create awareness relating to this.

 Desire- in this stage Morrison tries to create desire among employees and stimulates them
to bring that change as part of their working.
 Knowledge- this is a stage wherein the company try to educate the employees that what
are the factors which drives the changes to be implemented within the company.
 Ability- Under this stage Morrison tries to incorporate the changes within the company
on regular basis and this motivates the employees of the company to adapt to the change
in effective manner.
 Reinforcement- under this stage the company keep the strategy implemented and review
it time to time to make sure that the change is being followed in the same manner.
In the end it can be said that both these models are very assistive for the company Morrison in
adapting to the changes in very effective manner. The use of this model assists the company in
implementing the changes in effective manner.
P5 Monitoring and measuring of HR outcome
Just using the effective strategic human resource management strategies is not effective
rather the company also has to make effective use of monitoring and measuring of the HR
outcome. The HR outcome is referred to as the outcome of the HR strategy that is the outcome
which the company is expecting from the strategies made by the HR (Yong and Mohd-Yusoff,
2016). this is very important for the company to make the effective use of HR strategies so that
the HR outcome can be attained. For this the monitoring and measuring of these HR outcome is
very important and because of this the different tools of measuring are being used by Morrison.
The effective tools for monitoring the HR outcome are as follows-
Benchmarking- this is a very good and effective tool which is assistive for Morrison in
measuring the outcome of the HR strategies. Under this strategy the company ties to compare the
performance of the company with some other competitors. This is very effective strategy for the
effective measurement of the outcome of the HR strategy. This is particularly because of the
reason that when the company compares the working and the HR strategy of the company with
that of the competitors then the company comes to know the actual position of the company.
This is majorly pertaining to the fact that when the company compares its performance with that
of the competitor then Morrison will come to know that what are the areas in which company
lacks and what are the areas in which company is good. Thus, this will provide an idea to the
company that in which direction they have to improve themselves.

KPI- this is another major type of measuring tool which is assistive for Morrison to
measure and monitor the HR outcome of the company. The KPI that is Key Performance
Indicator is a technique in which the company keeps an indicator fixed and against that indicator
the whole performance is compared. for instance if the company has taken profit as an indicator
then for evaluating the outcome of the HR strategy the company will compare its performance
against the profit and if it is more than it means the performance is good and if not then
performance is not good.
Hence, both these models are very helpful for the company Morrison in measuring and
monitoring the performance and the HR outcome of the company.
P6 Effective HR management supporting sustainable performance and growth in meeting
organizational objectives
The use of effective HR management is very important for the company in managing the
performance and growth of the company. This is particularly because of the reason that the HR
strategy is the one which help the company in effectively managing the work of the company and
this leads the company in the direction of growth and development. The major reason for this is
that the HR strategy deals in the making of strategies which are helpful in managing the need and
development of the company.
Hence, for Morrison to be effectively working is very important that they make the
effective use of the HR management so that they are able to keep the employees of the company
happy and satisfied. This is pertaining to the fact that when the employees of the company are
happy and satisfied then surely they will work with great efficiency and effectiveness (Bailey
and et.al., 2018). Hence, this will result in the better working of the company and eventually will
result in the attainment of all the objectives of the organization. The major reason underlying this
fact is that company works with the aim of sustainable growth and development.
The sustainable growth and development is defined as the meeting of the need of
company in present without compromising the future generation. Thus, when the company
effectively makes the HR strategy then this result in the optimum utilisation of the human
resource. Hence, if the human resource of Morrison will be optimally utilised then this will result
in attainment of all aims and objectives of the business in effective manner.

CONCLUSION
From the above whole study it is evaluated and inferred that the strategic human resource
management is defined as a managerial function which assist in framing the HR strategies in a
manner that it directs the employees of company in attaining the overall goal of business and not
focus on the personal goals. The current report highlighted the different trends like learning
management system, wearable technology and others. Along with these different internal factors
like objective change and external changes like technology, market and other change and its
impact was discussed. Further the different change management models like Kurt Lewin,
ADKAR model were used along with benchmarking and KPI as the monitoring tools.

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