Strategic Context of Human Resource Management at Tesco

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategic context of Human Resource Management at Tesco. It begins with an introduction to strategic HRM and its significance, followed by an analysis of Tesco's internal and external environment using a SWOT analysis, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report then examines the evolving role and objectives of the HR function within Tesco, emphasizing its contribution to change management and business success. It further evaluates the vertical and horizontal alignment of HR strategies, assessing their impact on organizational performance. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and referencing relevant literature, providing a valuable insight into the strategic HRM practices of a leading retail organization. The report emphasizes the impact of contextual factors on HR strategies and practices, aligning HR goals with organizational objectives, and the importance of adapting to the changing business environment.

Strategic Context of
Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Analyse the internal and external context of Tesco by using appropriate analytical tool and
demonstrating an awareness of the impact of contextual factors on the development of the role
of HR, HR strategies and practices.........................................................................................1
Analyse the evolving role and objectives of the HR function in different context and its
contribution to the change management agenda and business success..................................3
Evaluate the vertical and horizontal alignment of HR strategies assessing the impact on
organisational performance....................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Strategic Human Resource Management refers to the human resource practices that is
conducted for bringing coordination and consistency within the whole organisation and its
overall business objectives with the focus of improving business performances. The concept of
strategic HRM focuses on different actions that separates the business from its competitors and
offer it a unique competitive power which is also known as competitive advantage. The present
report is developed on Tesco, a British leading supermarket store which was founded in 1919 by
Jack Cohen and headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Present report will be demonstrating
the internal and external aspects of the company for developing awareness and impact these
elements imposes on the development of different HR strategy and practices. Moving along the
evolving role and objectives of different teacher functions in organisation which contributes to
change management for business are also evaluated. Lastly, vertical and horizontal alignment of
HR strategies are discussed for assessing their impacts on organisational performances.
MAIN BODY
Analyse the internal and external context of Tesco by using appropriate analytical tool and
demonstrating an awareness of the impact of contextual factors on the development of the
role of HR, HR strategies and practices.
SWOT analysis is an analytical framework which is used and implemented by businesses
in order to understand and identify the internal strengths and weaknesses of the organisation and
work accordingly for making the best use of its strong aspects. As well as the model also
concentrate on external environmental factors that are opportunities and threats which enable the
company to identify the major opportunities it has and accordingly assist all departments to work
by mitigating all threats and their impacts on business.
Tesco is a leading business organisation belonging to Retail industry and flourishing their
operations in United Kingdom. The company is well-known and operates from its headquarters
rendering their products and services to customers worldwide. Hence the swot analysis the of the
organisation is as presented below:
STRENGTHS
 The first and foremost strength of Tesco is its large and wide presence in market around
the World holding large number of market share and also customer loyalty.

 Another strength of Tesco is its diversify product portfolio and services which it offers to
the customers around the globe.
 The employees of every organisation is its strength which needs to be managed. The
workforce of Tesco is another biggest strength of the company.
WEAKNESSES
 A major weakness of Tesco is its failure in two very large and significant markets that is
Japan and USA.
 Lack of market knowledge and understanding is also a weakness which entity face in
regards to its practices in different locations around the world.
 One weakness of Tesco is its cost leadership strategy which is causing number of
limitations for business and organisational functions.
OPPORTUNITIES
 A very basic and value adding opportunity that exist environment for Tesco is of product
development and expansion.
 Moreover, another opportunity for the business function is evolve and develop according
to the market trends and innovation taking place.
THREATS
 A major threat which is being faced by all the different organisations and businesses
around the World belonging to different industries and marketplaces face is of increasing
competition and rapid development taking place in business environment.
 Another threat which exist in business environment of Tesco is of brexit which has
recently taken place and have caused uncertainties in the environment.
These are the certain internal and external factors which do impose a certain level of
influence on different contextual factors of an organisation like Tesco. For instance, the failure of
Tesco's operations in United States and Japan have brought changes in HR strategies and
practices. Firstly the organisation had to make number of removals from the workforce as now
over employment is taking place. Another factor which is influencing the development of
different HR strategies and roles within Tesco is due to the changing business environment,
developing innovation. This is because the organisation now have to conduct training and
development sessions for people to learn and upgrade their knowledge according to the change
taken place in the operations and business surroundings.

Analyse the evolving role and objectives of the HR function in different context and its
contribution to the change management agenda and business success.
Human resource department is a separate unit in an organisation which is responsible for
a major aspect of a business that is fulfilling its workforce requirement and placing the right
person at the right place on the right job. There are a number of roles and responsibilities which
are performed by the Human Resource Department of an organisation such as recruiting and
selecting staff, performance management, rewarding and appraising people, conducting training
and development session for employees and many more.
These different roles and objectives of Human Resource Department are also played and
considered by the members of HR team of Tesco. As discussed that innovation and revolution is
taking place in business environment which is also improving impacts on development and
practices of Human Resource Department of Tesco. Since the industry is evolving the company
and its practices also developing. For example, in Tesco earlier recruitment and selection of staff
member used to be completed through internal and external recruitment practices. But nowadays
the similar internal and external practices have evolved by involvement of technology and rapid
working practices.
Today with the help of technology developing a wider pool of talented individuals that
are suitable for the organisation through recruitment process have become easy. The company
receives an opportunity to attract the best talent towards the organisation from around the world.
Moreover, with changing and developing industries the human resource practices have also
upgraded where earlier corporate governance and employee relation were neglected processes
are now being considered as the best practice phenomena’s for Human Resource Department of
different companies and it has been also adopted by Tesco.
Evaluate the vertical and horizontal alignment of HR strategies assessing the impact on
organisational performance.
The main focus and concentration of developing different human resource practices, what
is used and functions is to identify the degree to which different human resource goals and
objectives aligned with the strategic objectives of the organisation. This phenomenon is known
as vertical alignment. In simple words, vertical alignment is the practice which reflects upon the
degree or the standard of different HR goals and objectives as well as their alignment to the
strategic objectives of the business organisation.

Another concept is of horizontal alignment of HR strategies and objectives. This aspect
of strategic human resource management reflects upon the alignment of different human resource
goals and objectives with each other. Tesco is a multinational organisation which is large incise
and scope holding huge number of employees and size of workforce around the globe belonging
to different operational unit of the organisation placed in separate countries.
The large size of the organisation implies that the workforce is diverse and widely spread
around the world according to their placement of supermarkets. the concept of vertical alignment
in regards to strategic human resource management states that it is important for Tesco 2 align
the different human resource policies like training and development every six months, rewarding
and appraising employees on the basis of their performances etc. are matching with the
organisational objectives. These practices of Human Resource Department are used for
encouraging staff and keeping them highly engaged in operations of organisation. Major
objective behind doing so is to keep people satisfied at the job and make them work willingly
with their utmost proficiency.
The concept of horizontal Hemant of different HR practices, roles and its objectives with
themselves is also important. Tesco as an organisation deals in a highly competitive environment
people not only compete with external professionals but also compete internally amongst
themselves. The concept of horizontal alignment of different HRM practices is used as it
becomes important for the management to align their functions of HR management with each
other in order to render people safe and healthy working environment where they work with
positive comparative attitudes and with the focus of offering their best to the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above report the discussion conducted about strategic Human Resource
Department and the value it brings towards the organisation by involving separate practices and
activities in order to develop a competitive edge for the company in regards to the other
competitors can conclude the effectiveness of the practice that is imposed on the organisation.
Moving along separate tools and analytical framework is used to identify the internal and
external factors which influences the roles and practices of Human Resource Department of the
organisation. Furthermore, in the report the discussion is also conducted about the revolution and
changes taking place in Human Resource practices and agendas which helps in implementing
change management practices.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Armstrong, M., 2019. Strategic human resource management. pdf drive. com.
Bailey, C. and et. al., 2018. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.
Boon, C. and et. al., 2018. Integrating strategic human capital and strategic human resource
management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(1), pp.34-
67.
Brewster, C. and et. al., 2016. International human resource management. Kogan Page
Publishers.
Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T. and Szamosi, L. T. eds., 2018. Human resource management: A
critical approach. Routledge.
Delery, J. E. and Roumpi, D., 2017. Strategic human resource management, human capital and
competitive advantage: is the field going in circles?. Human Resource Management
Journal, 27(1), pp.1-21.
Haddock-Millar, J., Sanyal, C. and Müller-Camen, M., 2016. Green human resource
management: a comparative qualitative case study of a United States multinational
corporation. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(2), pp.192-
211.
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