Strategic Resource Management Report: Waitrose Case Study Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic resource management, focusing on the case study of Waitrose. It begins by defining strategic resource management and its importance, followed by an in-depth examination of Management Information Systems (MIS) and their impact on Waitrose. The report identifies key features of data and information, along with criteria for selecting appropriate data to support strategic decision-making. It further explores legal responsibilities in sourcing, sharing, and storing information, and evaluates various information formats. The analysis extends to identifying patterns, trends, and their impact on strategic decisions, as well as evaluating decision-making tools and information sources. The report concludes with a discussion on methods for evaluating management information and developing information capture processes to inform strategic decision-making, providing valuable insights into resource management practices within the organization.

Strategic Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
A1.....................................................................................................................................................4
A.1.1 Identification of the features of data and informations.....................................................4
A.1.2 Determination of the criteria to be applied when selecting appropriate data and
information to support strategic decision-making.......................................................................5
A.1.3 The impact of a management information system to an organization..............................6
A.2....................................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Determine the legal responsibilities in sourcing, sharing and storing information...............7
2.2 Discuss when information should be offered and access allowed........................................7
A.2.3 Critically evaluation of the formats in which information can be provided and the
impact of using various formats..................................................................................................8
A.3....................................................................................................................................................8
A.3.1 Critically analysation of information to identify patterns, trends and impact on strategic
decision making..........................................................................................................................8
A.3.2 Evaluation of a range of decision-making tools and techniques available to support a
strategic decision.........................................................................................................................9
A.3.3 Determination of data and information sources available to assist in strategic decision
taking...........................................................................................................................................9
A.4..................................................................................................................................................10
A.4.1 Critically identifying methods of evaluating management information within an
organization...............................................................................................................................10
A.4.2 Formulation of processes and methodologies for analysing the impact of information on
the strategic decisions made......................................................................................................11
A.4.3 Determination of methods of developing information capture to inform and support
strategic decision making..........................................................................................................11
Information Quality:..................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Strategic resource management is a framework which is used to measure the performance
and integrated decision-making (Strategic resource management. 2019). It is essential for a
company to manage its resources because resources are the backbone of any company. The
resources could be humans, machines, raw material etc. The organization taken in this report is
Waitrose. This is a chain of British supermarkets having its headquarter in Bracknell, Berkshire,
England. In this report, Management Information System with its impact on Waitrose is
discussed. Different types of information with its responsibilities and format of information is
explained (Albrecht and et. al., 2015). Critically evaluation of decision-making tools, importance
of MIS, value of internal and external sources are also discussed. In the end, methods of
evaluation of MIS, impact of information on decision-making and methods of developing
information are also explained in this report.
A1
A.1.1 Identification of the features of data and informations
Data is all about the unfiltered facts and statistics collected for research and analysis. This
can be in the form of text, images, videos, graphics, etc. When data is collected to analyse the
required facts and statistics, the resultant is known as information. Information is basically the
filtered, useful data which is required further to perform as specific task. While MIS is a
computerised database used in different functions of an organization such as process, sales and
marketing, inventory control etc. The key features of MIS is stated as below:
Data Collection:
MIS is used to collect the data. In case of Waitrose the data is stored in MIS in two ways
such as relational database and hierarchical database (Aryanto, Fontana and Afiff, 2015). The
data stored in relational database is in the form of information which is related to each pother.
When client ask the system to retrieve the information than a comparative information is fetched.
In case of hierarchical database there is no relative information available, the information is
stored in the form of a tree.
Accessibility and Integration:
This is an important feature of MIS in which the stored data can be accessed from any
where within the organization and outside the business. The different department of within

Waitrose such as production, marketing, finance, HR etc. are integrated with the help of MIS.
This provides two important outcomes in the organization. The company can update the
information within organization at any place and the decision-making within organization can be
done at an ease.
Centralization:
MIS provides the most important feature to any business which is known as
centralization. In this feature, Waitrose' different departments are integrated with the basic
platform of MIS database and with the help of which all the departments are centralized with
each other.
A.1.2 Determination of the criteria to be applied when selecting appropriate data and information
to support strategic decision-making.
Information is collected from a bulk of data to support the specific process. There is a
criteria to select the desired information from a range of data (Bailey and et. al., 2018).
Following is the criteria to select this information from data.
Task-Centric:
The information collected from the bulk of data should be task centric i.e. the information
should be centric with the required amount of data because selecting irrelevant data creates
redundancy and inaccuracy. Selecting accurate data creates accuracy in the desired result. If
desired data is collected properly this will create accuracy, robustness, relevancy in the result. In
case of Waitrose, the company has to select the desired information because it is required by the
company. When relevant and accurate data is collected by the company, thus will help it in
attaining better options from making good decisions.
Collaboration:
The information collected from data sometimes required collaboration in between
resources and employees (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Therefore the information should be like it
will provide collaboration among different resources of Waitrose. If it is not happened, the
collected information will not necessary fro the company. When collaborated information is
collected this will help the leaders of company to make essential decisions.
Rapid Access:
Rapid access of information helps the managers of Waitrose to make quick decision-
making. When accession of information is rapid and accurate then the information collected

through data will helps the leaders of Waitrose to make proper and efficient decision in favour of
company.
A.1.3 The impact of a management information system to an organization
Although there are many positive and negative impact of MIS on the functions and
operation of a company but some of them are as follows:
Decision-making:
When MIS is used in the company, it will help the managers to access the data which is
centralised in the whole organization. This centralised data can be accessed from any part of the
company. Therefore when there is a time for the managers to take quick decision than this
centralised data helps a lot (Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley, 2016.). The managers can found
the desired amount of data related to different departments of organization a same place. This
will help them in taking quick decision. In case of Waitrose, the managers of company can make
quick decisions with the help of information accessed from MIS.
Efficient management:
With the use of MIS, the management of different departments of Waitrose can be
managed with efficiency. The departments could be production, marketing, human resource,
finance etc. Since all these departments are interrelated with each other and MIS integrates these
departments. Thus the leader of manager are helped to check the progress of these departments
with just a single click. The information required by finance department from the production
department helps them in cutting the cost of inventory, thus proper management can be done
with the help of MIS.
Pushing the goals:
Since each and every organization wants to manage its departments with achievement of
its goals and objectives, thus MIS does the same (Clark and et. al., 2016). The different
departments of Waitrose are integrated and collaborated with each other so that common goals
can be set to them. When common goals are pushed by thousands of workers in Waitrose, the
achievement of these goals are for sure.
A.2

2.1 Determine the legal responsibilities in sourcing, sharing and storing information
There are different legal responsibility in sharing, sourcing and storing information of
Waitrose effectively. Some essential and important legal responsibility in context of company
are determined as under:
Copyright and software protection: Any kind of data, software and information must be
applied under the act of copyright and software protection. It means that following someone
work or activity must be approved by that employee or any enterprise to which it belongs.
Confidentiality and privacy: Particular care must be seized when storing, sharing and
sourcing information such that it must completely compliance with the act of data protection.
Information regarding Waitrose and its workers must not be discovered or disclosed within out
their permission (Hollenbeck and Jamieson, 2015).
Contractual obligations: In conditional agreement case, information sharing, storing and
sourcing must not failure the situations for example: all operations of an organisation must be
run according to the contract of terms and conditions.
2.2 Discuss when information should be offered and access allowed.
Information processing, accessing and obtaining must be as per the data protection act,
which provides the rights or power to employees, company and so on in order to understand
what type of information is held regarding them. Along with this, the motto of such information
holding and ensure them that individual information is managed in proper manner. Anyone who
is processing personal information of employees must comply with the 8 principles of data
protection act (Jabbour and de Sousa Jabbour, 2016). These principles are determined as under:
1. Fairly and lawful process: In this personal data or information must be processed in a
lawful and fair manner.
2. Process for limited purpose: Personal data or information be process and obtained for a
specific motive like one or more lawful and specific process.
3. Adequate, relevant and not excessive: Personal data or information must be relevant,
adequate and not excessive in regards to the motive it is processed and obtained.
4. Accurate and up to date: Personal data or information must be up to date and accurate if
necessary.
5. Not kept for longer than is necessary: In this personal data as well as information must
not be record longer time than is needed for the motive after it is processed.

6. Process in line with a person’s right: Personal information or data shall be prepared with
the content subject power under the act of data protection.
7. Secure: In this personal data security must be ensure in an effective and systematic
manner.
8. Data Transfer: It is last principle in which personal data or information must not be
conveyance external the European Economic area like to outside countries.
A.2.3 Critically evaluation of the formats in which information can be provided and the impact
of using various formats
There are various formats through which information can be provided. Some of the
formats are stated as follows:
Electronic/manual:
Electronic type of information which is provided through computer systems through
emails, e-books, research papers etc. While in manual source of information is the hand written
books, journals, magazines, letters, reports etc. The impact of electronic type of format of
information is that it will provide e-data which is paperless and can be modified as desired
(Jamali, El Dirani and Harwood, 2015). While manual data is a type of universal data which is
written by professionals to support decision-making in the business.
List of individuals:
This is a type of information which is generated through computer or manually in which
details of employees, their contact numbers etc. are included. This type of information helps in
gathering the knowledge of employees working within the organization.
Folders:
This is source of information which is captured through computer systems. These types
of folders can include information such as media, pdf, invoices, reports etc. This can help
Waitrose in finding the knowledge by just typing the name of folders (Reiche and et. al., 2016).
A.3
A.3.1 Critically analysation of information to identify patterns, trends and impact on strategic
decision making
To critically analyse information, there are two types of information taken in the
organization. The information of inventory control and production management. These two

information are now critically analysed to identify the trends and patterns within Waitrose. In
case of inventory control, the company increases its turnover of about 10% from the past four
years. This is the trend which the company follows. With the help of this trend the cost of
inventory declined with every year. Thus reduced cost of inventory help the company in gaining
profit over the past four years. In the other case of information such as production management,
since the cost of inventory is cutting regularly from the past four years therefore the production
of goods and services within the company also managed properly, thus it can be said that there is
a trend and pattern within the company through which the inventory cost and production
management are managed properly (Shen and Benson, 2016).
A.3.2 Evaluation of a range of decision-making tools and techniques available to support a
strategic decision
There are different types of decision-making tools and techniques which are used by
entrepreneurs to help them support a strategic decision. Some of them are as follows:
Market research:
It is an essential tool for the entrepreneurs to make their decision effective. The leaders
use this tool in identifying their potential customers, stage of market, impact of external factors
etc. This is can be a effective tool for Waitrose' leaders to make effective decision. Some leaders
not always rely on this tool because it requires a experience interviewer which can deeply study
the market.
SWOT analysis:
This is a tool which is identifies by the leaders to make their decision effective. In this
tool a leader can identify the strength, weakness, opportunity and threats to Waitrose in taking an
effective decision (Stone and Deadrick, 2015). There is a negative aspect of this analysis also
because a opportunity for the company can sometimes be threat.
A.3.3 Determination of data and information sources available to assist in strategic decision
taking
There are two types of data sources available in the assistance of making strategic
decision which are as follows:
Primary data:
This is the data source available to the leaders through market research, questionnaire etc.
This is a practical source of data collected from market. The interviewer should be well

experienced so that it can identify the required information rather than non-useful information. In
case of Waitrose, while launching a new product to the market company has to identify the
market research through which a questionnaire is prepared. The respondents are asked about the
product so that required changes can be added to it. Thus it will help the company in making
strategic decision.
Secondary data:
This is a type of data source available through books, journals, magazines etc. This is a
universal data collected to identify the rules and regulation of performing a business (Taylor,
Doherty and McGraw, 2015). This data is given by management experts which will help
Waitrose in taking strategic decision.
A.4
A.4.1 Critically identifying methods of evaluating management information within an
organization
There are different methods of evaluating management information some of them are as
follows:
Data governance
It is known as the total management of the data covered in the organization. The
management of data include availability, usability, integrity and security of the employed data. A
defined set of body is responsible in maintaining the integrity and assurance of data. There are
some of elements of data governance which are as follows:
Use of timely, reliable and trusted information:
The data governance body should be responsible in maintaining the reliability and trust of
information. This type of information is helpful for the company so that they can take proper
decision-making (Taylor, Doherty and McGraw, 2015). The source of information should be task
centric and available according to the requirement of information, otherwise it will result in the
failure of task.
Improving the quality of decision-making:
The data governance body should be responsible in allowing the type of information
which will help Waitrose in improving the decision-making. When decision-making is improved
the progress of company will be on top.

A.4.2 Formulation of processes and methodologies for analysing the impact of information on
the strategic decisions made
Setting up of objective of organization:
The leader who is responsible in the organization to make decision is required to set
objective to the organization and it is also responsible in allocation those resources to Waitrose
so that strategic decision can be made easily. Thus strategic planning can be made through top
level management within organization.
Evaluation of goals achieved:
The information system in Waitrose help the leaders in identifying whether the goals of
organization are achieved or not (Aryanto, Fontana and Afiff, 2015). If it is not possible to
achieve the goals of organization than the having information is modified and processed again.
This will help the leaders in making effective decision.
Revise and implement new approaches:
In this feature of information, if the set information is not accurate to the desired goals
than the set of information is changed and if it is required to change the goals it is also possible
in this case. This will help Waitrose in implementing the goals of organization.
A.4.3 Determination of methods of developing information capture to inform and support
strategic decision making
DIKAR model is used in this question to the quality of information to support strategic
decision-making.
Data quality:
The data collected to capture the information should be quality approved because data is
the source through which different types of knowledge and information is collected. If data is up
to date to the quality than it will help Waitrose in attaining its organization's goal.
Information Quality:
The quality of information should be good enough so that desires of Waitrose can be
achieved (Albrecht and et. al., 2015). To capture the desired information from data, an expertise
is required in this filed. Thus quality approved information will result to support strategic
decision-making.
Knowledge Quality:

Knowledge is captured through specific information, if information is right in accordance
to the task than the learner will gain right and accurate knowledge so that it can help Waitrose in
support of strategic decision-making.
Action Quality:
In this step the actions taken to implement the decision should be appropriate in the
quality so that they should match the desired actions required in taking decision. This will help
Waitrose in implementing proper actions (Albrecht and et. al., 2015).
Result Quality:
When tasks and actions are objective oriented than quality of result will also good
therefore Waitrose will be helped to make effective decision to achieve the goal of organisation.
CONCLUSION
From this report, it can be concluded that information is a vital resource for a company to
meet its objectives and goals. There is a requirement of proper and accurate knowledge so that
desires can be achieved. Management information system helps the organization in integrating
the departments of an organization so that database can be accessed with an ease. Different types
of sources of information helps the organization in choosing one of the sources which is best
applicable to them. The sources of information should be specifically accurate and robust so that
no other company can use that same information in their advantage. The impact of accurate and
clear information is that organization can leads to the achievement of their targets and can gain
maximum profit from market. DIKAR model also helps in identifying the quality of data,
information, knowledge, action, and result.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational
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Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W. and Morley, M. eds., 2016. New challenges for European resource
management. Springer.
Clark and et. al., 2016. Boundary work for sustainable development: Natural resource
management at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113(17). pp.4615-4622.
Hollenbeck, J. R. and Jamieson, B. B., 2015. Human capital, social capital, and social network
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Jamali, D. R., El Dirani, A. M. and Harwood, I. A., 2015. Exploring human resource
management roles in corporate social responsibility: the CSR‐HRM co‐creation
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Reiche and et. al., 2016. Readings and cases in international human resource management.
Taylor & Francis.
Shen, J. and Benson, J., 2016. When CSR is a social norm: How socially responsible human
resource management affects employee work behavior. Journal of Management. 42(6).
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Stone, D. L. and Deadrick, D. L., 2015. Challenges and opportunities affecting the future of
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