Human Resource Management Practices in Tesco PLC: A Report

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes Tesco's HRM practices.

Human Resource Management

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Table of Contents
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
1. Definition and Purpose of HRM..............................................................................................2
2. Various Functions of HRM.....................................................................................................2
3. Two Main Functions of HRM.................................................................................................2
4. Various Approaches to Recruitment & Selection....................................................................4
5. Two main approaches to Recruitment and Selection..............................................................4
6. HRM Practices in Tesco PLC..................................................................................................5
7. Benefits of the HRM practices to Tesco and its Employees...................................................6
8. Productivity and Profit Related benefits of Training and Employee Relations.......................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Task 1
1. Definition and Purpose of HRM
Human Resource Management (HRM) could be defined as a formal mechanism devised and
applied in an organisation to manage the personnel in the organisation. HRM department in an
organisation is responsible for providing the resources to execute the various processes in the
organisation (Bratton and Gold, 2017). The purpose of HRM is to make sure that the
organisation has skilled and experienced workforce that could implement the business strategy of
the organisation and carry out the organisational operations.
2. Various Functions of HRM
Some of the important functions of HRM in an organisation are:
a. Recruitment and Selection
b. Training and Development
c. Performance Appraisal
d. Planning and Organising
e. Controlling
f. Employee Welfare
g. Employee Relations
h. Human Resource Research
3. Two Main Functions of HRM
Two main functions of the HRM are Recruitment & Selection and Training & Development.
These two are explained in detail here:
a. Recruitment & Selection
An organisation needs employees who could contribute in the success of the organisation.
As an organisation expands, it needs to hire more employees who could attend the extra
work created during the process of expansion (Bailey et al, 2018). Resignation by the
existing employees also creates vacancies in an organisation. The HRM department in the
organisation analyses the vacancies in the organisation and plan a recruitment process for

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hiring new employees. Job Description and Person Specification are created by the HRM
executives in the organisation after discussing the job requirements with the department
managers and line managers. Once the job description is developed, job requirements are
advertised by the HRM department. HRM department uses the website of the company,
newspapers, magazines and other online job portals for the job advertisement.
After the job advertisement, applications from the candidates are received by the HRM
department and resume shortlisting is carried out to short list the candidates who suit the
job description and person specification (Banfield, Kay and Royles, 2018). Short listed
candidates are called for the written tests and interviews. HRM department also
contributes in the designing of the interview panel which consists of the relevant
managers, technical experts and human resource executives. After the selection, HRM
department sends offer letter to the selected candidates and arranges the induction
programme.
b. Training & Development
Along with the task related training, cross skill training is also managed by the HRM
department. Managing a pool of skilled employees is also the responsibility of the HRM
department. To achieve all these targets, the HRM department in an organisation designs
a training and development program for the employees of the organisation. This program
consists of the various platforms and methods for the learning of the employees. Some of
these are:
I. Class Room Training
Class room training programs are organised by the HRM department on specific
technologies and methodologies (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016). A specific
time period or numbers of sessions are fixed for the training program.
Experienced employees on the relevant technology or external trainers are hired
to execute these class room training programs.
II. E-Learning
E-Learning is a technologically advanced program in which digital modules in the
form of videos, animation, audio and Power Point Presentation are prepared on
the specific topics. Employees are asked to go through these modules on daily
basis and they have to clear a test at the end of the module.

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III. On the Job Training
In this method, employees are trained while working on a project. A mentor from
the project team is assigned to teach, monitor and examine the progress of the
employee.
IV. Seminars
HRM department also organised seminars on different topics related to work
technologies and best practices in which experts speak and answer the questions
of the participants.
4. Various Approaches to Recruitment & Selection
Some of the most used approaches to recruitment and selection adopted by the organisations
these days are:
a. Internal Recruitment
b. Recruitment through Referrals
c. External Recruitment by the HRM department of the Organisation
d. External Recruitment using the services of a Staffing Agency
5. Two main approaches to Recruitment and Selection
The 2 main approaches that are employed by the organisation these days are:
a. External Recruitment by the HRM department of the Organisation
In this approach of Recruitment and Selection, the HRM department execute the whole
process on its own. It prepares the job description and job specification, advertises the job
using various mediums, collects and short lists the applications, conduct tests and
interviews and issue offer letters (Chowhan, Pries and Mann, 2017).
In case there are a lot of vacancies, it becomes tedious for the HRM department of the
organisation to manage so many different processes during the recruitment and selection.
HRM department needs lots of resources to execute the processes which creates extra
burden on the organisation as expenses are increased.
However, there are certain benefits of this recruitment and selection approach. First of all,
the short listing of the candidates is done after the detailed analysis of their resume and

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job application and only the candidates who completely fulfil the job description are
called for further processes.
b. External Recruitment using the services of a Staffing Agency
In this approach, the job description and person specifications are developed by the HRM
department of the organisation but job advertisement, application collection and short
listing is outsourced to a staffing agency. The staffing agency is responsible for choosing
the advertising media and application short listing (Glendon and Clarke, 2015).
Sometimes, the written test or online test is also conducted by the staffing agency. The
list of the short listed candidates is then provided to the HRM department of the
organisation. From here onwards, the process of interviewing and selection is carried out
by the HRM department of the organisation.
This approach may be less costly for the organisation as less number of resources are
needed. Some staffing agencies also provide I month period during which the
organisation could reject the hired employees and a new employee is provided by the
staffing agency (Marchington et al, 2016).
However, in this approach, the involvement of the HRM department reduces a lot which
might affect the quality of the whole process. Staffing agency may make mistakes in the
short listing of the candidates.
6. HRM Practices in Tesco PLC
The HRM practices applicable to the Tesco PLC are:
a. Planning
b. Recruitment and Selection
c. Training
d. Employee Compensation
e. Labour Relations
f. Employment cessation
g. Implementation of the Employment Legislations

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7. Benefits of the HRM practices to Tesco and its Employees
The main benefits of the Training and Employee Relations to Tesco and its Employees are
explained in details here:
a. Benefits of Training to Tesco and Employees
The training and development of the human resources of an organisation is an integral
function of the human resource management (HRM) department. Whether it is the newly
hired employees or the existing employees of the organisation, HRM department makes
sure that they are in touch with the latest technologies and work practices.
Training and Development of the employees at Tesco help the employees in their
personal and professional development. It makes the employees skilled and they learn to
manage their responsibilities in a more structured manner (Nankervis et al, 2016).
According to many motivational theories, training and development helps the employees
in fulfilling their self-esteem needs.
The benefits of Training and Development of Tesco includes enhanced productivity of
the employees, increased profit for Tesco, good growth prospects for Tesco and a
competitive advantage for Tesco. Training and Development programs by the HRM
department develop skilled employees and gives flexibility to Tesco PLC in rotating the
employees across different projects. Having a skilled and experienced workforce would
help Tesco in having a competitive advantage in the market and increases its market
share.
b. Benefits of Employee Relations to Tesco and Employees
Employee Relations could be considered as a broader concept for the organisations where
HRM department tries to develop good and healthy relations with the employees of the
organisations. One of the most important benefits of good employee relations for Tesco is
that it helps in the development of good ethics and influences the employee behaviours
(Reiche et al, 2016). The HRM department organises activities that are used to develop
cordial relations between the employer and employee. A balanced relationship between
employee and employer always results in organisational growth. Because of good
employee relations, excellent working environment is created at Tesco.

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8. Productivity and Profit Related benefits of Training and Employee Relations
The profit of an organisation is always consistent with the productivity of the employees. Tesco
is known for its structured training and development program that has resulted in the company
having one of the most skilled workforces in the industry. Tesco has approximately 521,000
employees across the world which shows its reliance on the employees. Skilled employees are
also found to be motivated and work hard which increases their productivity and profit of the
company (Stone et al, 2015).
Good Employee Relations approaches have helped Tesco PLC in creating a healthy and balanced
relationship with its employees. Because of this, Tesco has not seen many strikes by the workers
in the last decade. Because of this, the productivity and profits of Tesco has risen exponentially
in the last few years.

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References
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Bailey, C., Mankin, D., Kelliher, C. and Garavan, T., 2018. Strategic human resource
management. Oxford University Press.
Banfield, P., Kay, R. and Royles, D., 2018. Introduction to human resource management.
Oxford University Press.
Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016. Globalizing human resource management.
Routledge.
Chowhan, J., Pries, F. and Mann, S., 2017. Persistent innovation and the role of human resource
management practices, work organization, and strategy. Journal of Management &
Organization, 23(3), pp.456-471.
Glendon, A.I. and Clarke, S., 2015. Human resource management: A psychological perspective.
Crc Press.
Marchington, M., Kynighou, A., Wilkinson, A. and Donnelly, R., 2016. Human resource
management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
Nankervis, A.R., Baird, M., Coffey, J. and Shields, J., 2016. Human resource management:
strategy and practice. Cengage AU.
Reiche, B.S., Stahl, G.K., Mendenhall, M.E. and Oddou, G.R. eds., 2016. Readings and cases in
international human resource management. Taylor & Francis.
Stone, D.L., Deadrick, D.L., Lukaszewski, K.M. and Johnson, R., 2015. The influence of
technology on the future of human resource management. Human Resource Management
Review, 25(2), pp.216-231.