Strategic HRM Report: HRM in Retail Sector and Competitive Advantage

This report delves into the theories and processes of Human Resource Management (HRM) as a strategic activity, particularly within the retail sector. It begins by examining the "Resource-Based View" (RBV) and how organizations can adapt it to achieve a competitive advantage. The report highlights the importance of strategic resources, talent pooling, staff role designing, rewards and appraisals, and developing good employee relationships. The main body also identifies and discusses two major threats currently faced by organizations operating within the United Kingdom labor market: automation of retail operations and the evolving labor market. The analysis emphasizes the need for HRM to adapt to these challenges, leveraging strategic resources and practices to maintain a competitive edge. The report underscores the importance of understanding and responding to both internal and external factors to ensure sustainability and success in a dynamic market environment.

Theories and processes
related to HRM as a strategic
activity

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
1. “Resource based view” adapted that help in achieving competitive advantage.....................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................6
Two major threats currently faced by organisations operating within the United Kingdom
labour market, using evidenced examples..................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is the approach that is being used in every company for
conducting recruiting, selecting, inducting, providing training and development, performance
appraisal activities with the aim of hiring or firing staff in the organization. It also manages the
work culture and people. They have to maintain employee relation, payroll, motivation and
evaluating the performance of employees by applying 360 degree feedback. The present report
will cover the details about strategic HRM function's which are been carried out by the retail
sector organisations.
It deals with the issues that are related to compensation, salary, safety and security of
employees in the organization. HRM plays an important role in organization by managing the
work and enhances employee engagement in the company. It handles a different functions like
maintaining relationship with employees, provides them safe working environment etc. It has to
coordinate all the activities of the organization. It hires people based on the talent management of
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the company. Review based resources are used to analyse the competitiveness in the
marketplace.
MAIN BODY
1. “Resource based view” adapted that help in achieving competitive advantage
Resource based view is the theory that is used to determining the resources that has
potential to achieve the competitive advantage of the organization. The resources are fully used
by the company to gain sustainable competitive advantage. It focuses on internal and external
resources that is being used in the company that helps to identify those assets, competencies of
the firm that deliver competitive advantage. Achieving competitive advantage is the main part of
the company to achieve success. Resource based view offers strategic resources that is used for
gaining competitive advantage. The resources that are used in this view is not gaining equal
importance and they are not able to become the proper resource for the company. The
sustainability of competitive advantage depends on the resources that is being used by the firm.
In this, understanding the relationship between sources that is being used and strategies that is
implemented is difficult (Cascio, 2015). Management of the company have to invest in learning
to develop and maintain the resources so that it will deliver competitive advantage. As Resource
based view help in achieving the competitive advantage for the company. Human resource
management by using resource based view achieve the competitive advantage.
In resource based view, strategist select the strategy or competitive advantage and use the
resources fully so that it can gain the best opportunities in future. Strategic resources helps in
building the network between the assets and capabilities that are adopted to achieve possible
competitive positions. In this view, many managerial task is used to identify the potential key
resources. Evaluation of these resources is being done to fulfil the criteria of using the valuable
resources effectively and efficiently. Some resources are so rare that they are not available to
other competitors. Resources are of the nature that is not easily implemented by others in the
marketplace. Resources are not replaced by another resources. Company can achieve the
competitive advantage by applying many models (Noe and et. al., 2017). As capabilities also
plays an important role in achieving competitive advantage. For achieving competitive advantage
it has to offer the market offering that are either achieved to get superior value of resources.
Resources helps in achieving the competitive advantage through price positioning, quality,
innovation through which it can be achieved by the firm.
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Competitive advantage used by the firm to become best from its competitors in the
marketplace. Efficient resources can be used to gain this advantage as there are so many
competitors that attract customers towards it. Company can achieve competitive advantage by
adopting Resource based view. For achieving the competitive advantage company have to fully
used the resources that are available in the market. Company have to used different strategies so
that they can get the resources from the outside and achieve competitive advantage. There are so
many competitors in the market that are offering same product to the customers so consumers
may shift to them. So due to shifting, the company cannot survive and may close down after
some time so for beating competitive advantage, they have to implement strategies for achieving
it. Customers are the king of marketplace so company have to deliver products that can meet
their expectations and wants so they cannot shift to competitors (Petrick, 2017).
Human resource management adapt resource based view to analyze the competition in
the market so that it can beat the competition. Surviving in the competitive market is too difficult
for the companies because new entrant also create threat for the companies. HRM plays an
important role in the company that manages all the activities of it. By adopting the concept of
RBV company can achieve sustainable competitive advantage. For achieving this, organization
have to implement different strategies and resources to compete in the market. Using high skilled
labor, establishing stores in various location and low cost product helps in gaining competitive
advantage (Morley, Heraty and Michailova, 2016). Its not necessary that all the competitors are
following same technology to manufacture the product so it becomes another positive way to
achieve this advantage. For gaining competitive advantage, it's necessary to identify the internal
and external factors that affect the working of firm. It formulates the strategy to analyze
sustainability in the company.
Sustainability also help in gaining competitive advantage for firm which enable to carry
out activities. Competitive advantage can be achieved only when there are different resources
available that differs from competitors. This allows maintaining the balance between short term
and long term plan of the company (Wirtz and Heracleous, 2016). It focuses on developing the
resources that is being used for gaining competitive advantage in market. Hence, Human
resource management can adapt this view by fully utilize the strategic resources that are
available to it. Availability of proper resources is the biggest problem in the present scenario so
companies lack in getting advantage. Achieving competitive advantage is the biggest factor that
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companies have to achieve to sustain in market. Thus, competitive advantage is best option for
companies to attract more customers towards that enhances the sales in the market.
Various good practices which are been carried out by the organisation or an enterprise
which will help in carrying out of their HRM related operations. All the measures that will play a
significant role in the setting up of the operations will help in getting a competitive advantage
and achieve an organisational success. All these measures that are taken in consideration by
organisation to have a good analysis of their reviews and operations that will help in improving
the quality of services and operational capability of a retail organisation. Some major good
practices which are been taken in consideration by organisation supporting execution of activities
related to an sustainable competitive advantage and success of organisation.
Talent Pooling: This process will look after accessing of talented work force while
carrying out the HRM operations like recruitment and selection processes supporting proper
planning of services. It also assists to carry out of the selection or accessing the knowledgeable
and skilled work force. This will help in gaining a good accessibility of the organisation to
improve the effectiveness of the resource planning measures which are been taken by the
organisation.
Staff role designing: The HRM department of an organisation will look after the proper
planning of the service measures which are carried out by the organisation. All these staff role of
a retail organisation management system will help in defining the job role and allocate them as
per the employee's capability or skill set. All these measures will support an effective analysis
and carrying out job roles improving employee satisfaction level.
Providing rewards and appraisals: As the roles and responsibilities taken into
consideration by the organisation are allocated to employees, it will include a monitoring of their
service. This helps in effective planning of the rewards and appraisal practices which are been
carried out by the organisation. All these measures will help in improving the employee's trust
and loyalty level towards the organisation. Besides this, providing effective rewards, recognition
or rewards distribution that are been carried out by the organisation supports a positive rise in the
setting up of the goals that encourages an employee to work with more dedication and
determination.
Developing good employee relationship: The retail sector organisations which will
work within the country will look after the proper development of and thus, supports a proper
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handling of the action services which will help in improving the communication and
understanding among the organisation. This will help in developing a good communication and
relationship between the management of an organisation and its work force. Developing of
proper strategies supports the resolution of issues and lead the organisation to enhance the
overall performance and HRM functions.
MAIN BODY
Two major threats currently faced by organisations operating within the United Kingdom labour
market, using evidenced examples
While operating in the labour market of UK, the organisation will need to look after the
proper assessment of various dangers or threat factors that can affect the overall performance of
the organisation which will influence the setting up of suitable growth measures which will lead
to hinder the performance level of organisation (Boselie, 2016). The Labour market of UK
consists of the employees from various level of operational and functional capacity. The various
skilled and non skilled labours that are operating within the organisation will look after the HRM
related operations. However, the labour market of UK is highly susceptible to various risk factors
or measures which can impact the setting up of suitable strategic operation measures. Hence, the
organisation is required to identify, monitor and keep a close check over the threats or risk
associated with HRM operation within enterprise. These risk factors will impact the sales and
carrying out the HRM related operations within the organisation. Especially, in the retail sector
organisations like M&S, Tesco plc, Asda etc. will look after the effective risk factors and
challenges which will influence the overall labour market within country (Van der Wal, 2017).
The management of different retail operations which are carried out by the HRM department will
support a good accessibility of handling these risks or threats affecting performance of business
enterprise. It will help in improving the two significant threat factors which are affecting the
labour market carried out by the organisation are:
Automation of the retail operations: As the technological advancements are improving
day by day, they are significantly overpowering and replacing the real man power within an
organisation or industry as the organisation is influencing the overall performance of the
organisation, this will influence the setting up of operations which will help in proper measures
which will impact the overall performance of labour force within the retail organisations. As
formerly in the retail sector, majority of operations are relatively followed by the organisation
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were in manual manner. Such practices which has used an effective involvement of HRM
policies and practices that supporting rise in execution of practices assisting in growth of retail
organisation. This led the organisation to effectively have a higher HRM related functions like
recruiting high number of labours performing significant quality of services. Besides this,
planning of automation operations is also necessary for the purpose of effective growth of
organisation. Hence, in this case, a blue print is required to be drafted by management of a retail
business enterprise. It assists in setting up of operational measures related to retail operations in
an effective way. In such case, the company needs the large number of employees which will
look after the proper implementation of automation or digitalization measures leading to setting
up of proper execution of retail operations (Sarvaiya, Eweje and Arrowsmith, 2018). But with
the automation of the operations which are been carried out by the organisation, the labour force
that was working within these retail sector enterprises faced a huge challenge to their
employment. All these automated retail operations which are carried out by organisation will
reduce a significant number of employment or job opportunity within retail sector of UK. For
example, the use of the latest technology like online transaction, self sustained automated billing
system and effective ERP management software are taken in consideration by the firm. Now all
these digital tools and services will lead the labours or employees in UK to face an adverse
condition. It may cause a lack of suitable employability opportunities leading the increase in
dissatisfaction and agitation level among the retail labour force to a greater extent. The retail
organisation are required to have a suitable monitoring of services which will lead to carrying
out of the operations which led the organisation to have a good control over the functionality
measures to mitigate the negative impact of this challenges over the functionality (Common and
Gheorghe, 2017). All these measures will lead to improvement of strategic HRM operations
within the organisation. Besides this, the automation will also require a higher and advanced
skilled labour which will create an employability threat and challenge condition for unskilled or
lass skilled labour force in retail industry. This will also emerge as a major challenge for
organisation in getting highly skilled and advance employee's, threatening the functionality and
overall performance level of a retail enterprise. Other than this, the revenue or profitability of a
merchandising enterprise is also affected to some extent.
Lack of skilled and talented labour: This is another bigger challenge that is faced by
UK's labour market affecting HRM operations which are carried out by the organisation. This is
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efficiently required to be monitored and controlled by a retail enterprise to have a higher level of
implementation of HRM operations by the firm. These issues cause the failing of effective
execution of retail operations which are implemented and followed by the organisation. Other
than this, the skill set and knowledge issue is closely related to implementation and utilization of
digital tools and techniques by retail enterprises. Although the number of labours or employees
have increased over the course of time, but their proper training and improvement in their
personal skill set is a major challenge affecting implementation of SHRM operation's and
carrying out of retail services with a greater level of efficiency (Tregaskis and Almond, 2017).
The retail sector is suffering from a relative shortage of proper and skilled labour force that is
able to operate and carry out the advance retail functions in a suitable manner. The HRM
department of a retail organisation is liable to draw and develop suitable and significant Human
Resource Management related operations. The lack of proper HRM functions and accessibility to
a skilled and knowledgeable work force. For example, the retail firms like Asda, M&S, Tesco
plc etc are using the latest and advance technologies which are incorporated by the organisation
to improve theior perfoermance. These operations or tools needs the work force or labours with
proper skill set and knowledge to use them effectively. Hence, in order to get these tools and
technologies tilized in order to cater the operational needs of the organisation on a higher level,
the retail firms needs skilled work force. However, the lack of proper facilities of training and
skill improvement measures which are required by these retail enterprises will impact significant
growth and development of skills and understanding of service measures which are taken by the
organisation in an effective way. The lack of proper skill improvement measures and training
facilioties which are required to cater the needs of work force is leading to a creation of crisis
condition within UK. As the employees or the potential candidates are not significantly trained to
operated of digital tools used by the organisation, Their chances of getting recruited are getting
diminished. Hence, the employees are required to gain a suitable knowledge about the tools and
techniques that are implied within the organisation. As they are not aware about these measures,
their confidence level and standard of dedication towards the work decreases to a greater extent.
Besides this, the lack of proper knowledge and skills will also impact employee's personal
achievement and ensuring implementation of strategic HRM operation within the organisation
(Analoui, 2017).
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These challenges of the threat factors which are faced by UK's labour market will
influence the overall setting of effective HRM operations in a significant manner. The retail
organisation's are required to effectively carry out significant planning in order to reduce the risk
factors. As the scale of these challenges is relatively high and complex, the HRM department of
organisation is required top look after proper action measures which will lead to setting up
suitable automation and digital services in an effective way. Besides this, the management of
these retail enterprises is also required to see through accessing of efficient, skilled and
knowledgeable work force to properly implement appropriate HRM functions.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of the proper evaluation measures which are been carried out by the
organisation this can be said that the strategic human resource planning measures which are
carried out by the organisation will help in improving the quality of HRM operations and
activities which are carried out by the organisation. All these activities will lead to setting up of
suitable HRM functions improving the overall performance of the organisation. The essay covers
the details of the review based service objectives which are taken by HRM department of the
firm for the competitive advantages and organisational growth. Also, the good practices for the
organisational growth are discussed. Besides this, two major challenges related to labour market
in UK are analysed that can impact the scale of performance and may impact the proper
execution of the retail operations by the work force within UK.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Analoui, F., 2017. Politics of Strategic Human Resource Management: A'Choice'Model. In The
Changing Patterns of Human Resource Management (pp. 13-31). Routledge.
Boselie, P., 2016. Strategic HRM. In Encyclopedia of human resource management. Edward
Elgar Publishing Limited.
Cascio, W.F., 2015. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
Common, R. and Gheorghe, I., 2017. Assessing strategic policy transfer in Romanian Public
Management. Public Policy and Administration. pp.0952076717730427.
Morley, M.J., Heraty, N. and Michailova, S., 2016. Managing human resources in Central and
Eastern Europe. Routledge.
Noe, R.A and et. al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Petrick, J., 2017. Total quality in managing human resources. Routledge.
Sarvaiya, H., Eweje, G. and Arrowsmith, J., 2018. The roles of HRM in CSR: strategic
partnership or operational support?. Journal of Business Ethics. 153(3). pp.825-837.
Tregaskis, O. and Almond, P., 2017. Multinationals and skills policy networks: HRM as a player
in economic and social concerns. British Journal of Management.
Van der Wal, Z., 2017. Small Countries, Big Performers: In Search of Shared Strategic Public
Sector HRM Practices in Successful Small Countries. International Journal of Public
Administration. 40(5). pp.443-458.
Wirtz, J. and Heracleous, L., 2016. Singapore Airlines: Managing human resources for cost-
effective service excellence. In SERVICES MARKETING: People Technology
Strategy (pp. 695-703).
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