Strategic Human Resource Management Report: TESCO Policies & Practices

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) at TESCO Plc, a major UK retail organization. It begins with an introduction to SHRM and its significance in achieving competitive advantage. The main body delves into the analysis of TESCO's HR policies and practices, evaluating them against the High Commitment HRM (HCHRM) framework, including selective hiring, promoting teamwork, effective compensation policies, and performance appraisal. The report also examines the impact of external forces like manpower demographics, economic conditions, technology, and unionization on HR decisions. Furthermore, it analyzes the organization of HR functions within TESCO, including recruitment and training, and details how HR policies and practices are delivered using Ulrich's Model, encompassing strategic partner, change agent, administration expert, and employee champion roles. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and implications of SHRM practices within TESCO.

STRATEGIC
HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Analysis of HR Policies and Practices...................................................................................1
External forces and their effect on HR decisions...................................................................3
Analysis of organisation of HR function and delivery of HR policies and practices within
TESCO...................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) refers to the procedure that is
undertaken by a company to build a strong connection between human resources of the
organisation with its objectives and strategies. It is quite an important aspect of an organisation
which wants to achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace (Sikora and Ferris, 2014).
The report below is based on TESCO Plc, which is one of the biggest retail organisations in the
UK. It briefly includes HR policies and practices and impact of external forces on HR strategic
decisions within the company. The report also analyses organisation of HR function and how
policies and practices are delivered.
MAIN BODY
Analysis of HR Policies and Practices
There is a huge workforce working in TESCO and there are various levels of employees
operating within the company. Moreover, there are various concepts that govern the operations
of Human Resources within the company. These concepts are necessary to be applied in order to
get the best outputs of the employees. Below is the analysis of HR policies and practices within
TESCO against Hight Commitment HRM (HCHRM) (Best Practice and High Commitment
HRM, 2018).
High Commitment HRM are those aspects and practices of Human Resource, that are
focused towards enhancing performance of the organisation. The emphasis of this management
is on increasing labour turnover, improvisation of employee behaviour, enhancing customer
services and so forth. The best practices under this approach of TESCO are mentioned below:
 Selective Hiring:
Every company needs to hire employees that promote to their growth and long-term
establishment in the market. For this purpose, it is necessary that a firm must conduct effective
recruitment and selection methods to hire employees. Within TESCO, there are rigorous
procedures for hiring employees and they have to undergo various tough selection process before
successfully making it into the company. However, the firm instead of being lenient in hiring
employees, must selectively hire employees for their firm. Precise techniques, structured
interviews and effective work simulators must be employed by the company to hire effective
workforce for the TESCO organisation. For example: The specific of selection process of
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TESCO company is that in the first stage Tesco selectors will look carefully at each candidates
resume. As resume summarizes the applicant job history and education to date. Therefore a well
written and positive resume help the TESCO to make proper analysis about the candidate ,
whether the applicant matches the person specification for the job or not. In addition to this
company also render 'job type match' tool on its careers web page, so the individual interested in
working for TESCO can look upon whether they might fit for a specific job or not before
applying. After after screening, a applicant who passes screening attends an assessment centre,
which take place in store and are run by managers. Therefore it helps to render consistency in
selection process. In addition to this during assessment test applicants are being given with
various exercises like problem solving exercise, team working activities etc. After the candidates
are approved by internal assessment centre then they have an interview. Thus, line manager for
the job on offer take part in interview process in order to be sure that the candidate selected must
fit as per the job requirement.
 Promoting Teamwork:
Where performance enhancement and effective problem solving is concerned, it is imperative
that the firm promotes teamwork which provides creative problem solving and innovative
solutions for each of the organisational problems. Within TESCO, there are various activities and
task that require collaboration and effective teamwork of employees. HCHRM requires the firm
to provide training to employees in a way that they become indulged with each other and form
effective and competent teams to achieve the activities. In addition, they must also communicate
the benefits of working as a team in a way that teamwork provides satisfaction to the employees
of TESCO.
 Effective Compensation Policy:
There are two aspects which must be considered for such practice, these are average
compensation and performance related rewards which are concerned of rewarding the employees
on the basis of their higher contribution in the organisation (Taylor, Doherty and McGraw,
2015). This is one of the major policies in TESCO and it awards its employees for their higher
performance in the organisation. The agenda of the firm in implementing this policy is to
develop higher satisfaction and better commitment in the employees for the firm. Thus, for its
long-term success, it is imperative that the firm continue this policy within the organisation.
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 Performance Appraisal:
Another policy that is crucial for high commitment HRM is performance appraisal. This means
that standards must be set for the employees and they must be communicated about expectations
that the firm has from them. Within TESCO, regular team meetings are held to communicate the
staff about their performances and feedbacks are given to the employees by performance
appraisals. The main focus of these appraisals is on performance reviews of their employees. In
case they fall below the expectation, the company also provides effective training to ensure their
future growth. Such policies also help the firm in engaging the employees and regular feedbacks
of their performance build better commitment in the employees towards the company.
As per the above analysis, TESCO performs practices and follow policies that help the
firm in implementing High Commitment HRM within the organisation to retain their employees
in an effective manner. Thus, it is clear that firm is committed to high quality products to its
buyers by aligning HR policies and practices with business strategy.
The policies that could be adopted by the firm in this approach is: Disciplinary Act Policy: These policies are implemented by the firm to ensure quality
practice and work from each employees. This policy says that an employer could take
disciplinary actions against employees in case of misconduct, inferior work or
absenteeism. It is necessary to ensure consistency of TESCO's employees and fair good
quality of work regularly.
 Fair Labour Standards Act: It is another policy adopted by TESCO that ensures high
employee commitment. As per this policy, each employee is subjected to a minimum pay,
overtime pay, equal pay and effective record keeping of their work. They also receive
regular breaks during their work hours. Such policies encourage employees to work
harder and stay committed to the firm.
External forces and their effect on HR decisions.
Human resource plans are affected by internal and external environment so prediction is
necessary for effective planning. HR manager of Tesco is aware of what is going inside the
company in relation to the factors that influence change. Following are the factors that affect the
decisions in an organisation: -
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 Manpower Demographics: When people are retired from the organisation and new
manpower is hired then HR department of TESCO looks for numerous ways to attract
and retain the candidate (Sheehan, 2014). Economic Conditions: Economy has a major impact on the human resource to address
hiring, employee engagement, compensation, etc. For instance, when economy is
downturn, HR of TESCO has to lay off a lot of employees or cut pay to raise money for
the company until economy becomes stable and saturate. HR also helps in developing
communication material with changing economy which includes e-mail, planning
department meetings, etc. Thus, decisions are to be taken by considering economic
conditions (Paillé and et. al., 2014). Technology: Technology is becoming advance day by day. It changes the way people do
business. It is an external influence because when new technologies are introduced then
the HR department of TESCO will start looking at how to minimise and look for ways to
save money. With this, HR will introduce employee self service module which allow
workers to check their benefit status, update personal information, supervise their tax
rates, etc.
 Unionised and Non-Unionised: In unionised workplace, contracts are legal document
between the HR of TESCO and worker that clearly defines all the rules, regulations,
benefits, etc. HR decision will have impact on this as they are bound with those rules and
regulations and cannot take decisions which are against those rules. In Unionised
employee are belongs to same union like trade union etc. Non-unionised workplace, all
the rules are made by employees, decisions are taken by employees regarding promotions
and working hours.(Kramar, 2014).
Analysis of organisation of HR function and delivery of HR policies and practices within
TESCO
TESCO is very large in size, and with such magnanimous structure composed of various
levels, it is imperative that HR functions are effectively organised within the firm. Various ways
in which these are organised are as follows: Recruitment: As one of the main functions, recruitment is organised in a very effective
manner where individuals are shortlisted on the basis of experienced and qualifications
and called up for various aptitude and mock tests before segregating the best employees
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for selection. Various managers along with the HR executive mark the standards upon
which the judging criteria is set.
 Training: This function in TESCO is a repetitive and consistent. The firm pays heed to
train the employees since the very beginning and provide them with induction programs
to make them familiar with the companies work and provide various other training
programs to employees according to their posts (Knies and et. al., 2015).
However, there are various methods that are used by TESCO to effectively deliver the HR
policies and practices. One of the most important methods for their delivery is Ulrich's Model for
Human Resources. Under this model, it is described that there are 4 roles that are effectively
played by HR Professionals in a company and each role has a specific output to offer to the
company. These roles and their outputs in case of TESCO are mentioned below: Strategic Partner: HR Professionals in TESCO are required to effectively communicate
to the internal customers of a company. These customers are employees, shareholders,
creditors and so forth. This role requires them to channelize each internal customer by
giving feedbacks about quality of experience. Another way in which they play this role is
by identification of top talent within the firm and share HR objectives with employees to
promote productivity (Jamali and et. al., 2015). Change Agent: To fulfil this role, HR professionals communicate the changes in the
internal organisation in case the organisation plans to evolve, expand and in case of
alterations. Training programs are organised to make them familiar with the new skills
required by them. Administration Expert: In the administration point of view, the role of HR professionals
in TESCO effectively follow changes in regulations, legislations, rules and laws and help
the firm in adapting and complying with these laws. They are also responsible to organise
information of employees and updating them as per needs of the firm.
 Employee Champion: HR professionals are required to stay updated of the interests of
employees as well as protecting these interests. They motivate the employees to improve
their morale and enhance satisfaction as well as create a positive environment for the
employees to work in. With various methods like surveys, they determine the satisfaction
of employees and ensure that they are treated with fair practices (Bailey and et. al., 2018).
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(Source: Ulrich Model, 2018)
In delivering the HR policies and practices, TESCO uses this as an effective method to
achieve the purpose effectively.
There are certain HR policies too which are specified below:
 Grievance Handling: A grievance is termed to be the feeling of injustice which is
connected with one's employment situation and is brought to the attention of
management. For example grievance might take place in the employees of the
TESCO company because of poor working environment facility like poor
physical conditions, defective tools etc. so its the prime responsibility of leader
and a manager of TESCO company to make sure that they handle out such
grievance by providing good working environment. Thus,grievance handling will
help to increase the profitability ratio and the productivity of an organisation.
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Illustration 1: Ulrich Model

 Staff Retention: It is defined as the degree to which present workforce of an
organisation remain within the business over a given time period. Many staff
retention policies are aimed by TESCO in order to address the needs and
preferences of employees so as to enhance their job satisfaction level. For
example by rendering monetary and non Monetary benefits such as salary
increment, by appraising and appreciating the employees performance. Thus, it
help to reduce substantial cost which is involved in hiring and training new
applicants.
Apart from HR professionals and policies, line managers too have a prominent role in
TESCO in delivering the Human Resource Management. They are the individuals within the
firm who are responsible for directly managing the work of employees and business operations
while reporting the same to senior managers. The role of Line Managers in delivery of HRM is
mentioned below:
 They help the firm in recruiting and hiring talented employees to fill positions in the
organisation.
 They cross-train employees using effective methods and techniques to ensure
minimisation in gaps in assignment coverage and job rotation. This also helps them
ensuring teamwork within the company (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
 For compensations and appraisals, they ensure proper monitoring of performance of
employees and measure the same with the set targets
However, there are various challenges that are faced by Line Managers TESCO in
delivering Human Resource Management that are mentioned below:
 The first challenge faced by these managers are the long working hours. They are
required to manage employees daily and effectively which needs them to spend more
time in the office for the same.
 The teams that are allotted to these managers are large in number. This becomes complex
for them to manage the performance of the employees effectively.
 In TESCO, they are given the responsibility of minimising expenses that are required to
measure the performance and employing tools and techniques for the same. This is a
challenge that they face during performance appraisals.
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However tough the challenges, they are required to fulfil their responsibilities effectively
to ensure tough efficient working in TESCO and better Human Resource Management (Albrecht
and et. al., 2015).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded by the report that strategic human resource management is required
to effectively manage human resources in the organisation. High Commitment HRM is one of
those prominent concepts against which firms could measure the implementation of their HR
policies and practices. The external factors have a crucial role in impacting strategic decisions
taken by HR. Lastly, Ulrich's model of HR could effectively be used to deliver HR policies and
practices and line managers have a crucial role in delivering human resource management within
the firm.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Albrecht, S.L., and et. al., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices
and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational
Effectiveness: People and Performance. 2(1). pp.7-35.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bailey, C., and et. al., 2018. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human
resource management. The Academy of Management Annals. 8(1). pp.1-56.
Jamali, D.R., and et. al., 2015. Exploring human resource management roles in corporate social
responsibility: the CSR‐HRM co‐creation model. Business Ethics: A European
Review. 24(2). pp.125-143.
Knies, E., and et. al., 2015. Special issue of International Journal of Human Resource
Management: Strategic human resource management and public sector performance.
Kramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource
management the next approach? The International Journal of Human Resource
Management. 25(8). pp.1069-1089.
Paillé, P., and et. al., 2014. The impact of human resource management on environmental
performance: An employee-level study. Journal of Business Ethics. 121(3). pp.451-466.
Sheehan, M., 2014. Human resource management and performance: Evidence from small and
medium-sized firms. International Small Business Journal. 32(5). pp.545-570.
Sikora, D.M. and Ferris, G.R., 2014. Strategic human resource practice implementation: The
critical role of line management. Human Resource Management Review. 24(3). pp.271-
281.
Taylor, T., Doherty, A. and McGraw, P., 2015. Managing people in sport organizations: A
strategic human resource management perspective. Routledge.
Online
Best Practice and High Commitment HRM. 2018. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.ukessays.com/essays/management/best-practice-and-high-commitment-
hrm-management-essay.php/>.
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