Holistic HRM and Strategic Formulation: A Tesco Plc Case Study

This dissertation investigates the importance of developing effective Human Resource Management (HRM) from a holistic perspective within an organization, focusing on its impact on strategic thinking and formulation, using Tesco Plc as a case study. The research explores the concept of a holistic perspective and its role in business growth, determines the significance of implementing HRM from this perspective within Tesco, and evaluates its influence on strategic thinking and formulation. The study employs both secondary data, including literature on holistic organizational development and HRM practices, and primary data, potentially gathered through surveys or interviews, to analyze the alignment of HRM strategies with Tesco's overall business objectives. The findings aim to provide insights into how a holistic approach to HRM can contribute to improved strategic decision-making, employee engagement, and organizational performance within a multinational retail context. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for Tesco and other organizations seeking to leverage HRM for strategic advantage.

DISSERTATION

Table of Contents
TITLE .............................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1
1.1 Overview of research............................................................................................................1
1.2 Background of TESCO.........................................................................................................1
1.3 Aim of Research....................................................................................................................1
1.4 Objectives of Research..........................................................................................................2
1.5 Questions of Research...........................................................................................................2
1.6 Rationale and significance of study .....................................................................................2
CHAPTER 2: LITERARTURE REVIEW......................................................................................2
Concept of Holistic Perspective of an Organisation and its Role in Business Growth...............3
The Significance of Implementing HRM from the Holistic Perspective in Tesco Plc...............4
Potential Influence of Effective HRM from the Holistic Perspective of Tesco Plc. on the
Strategic Thinking and Formulation...........................................................................................6
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.............................................................................7
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS/FINDINGS.............................................................................................9
CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS/EVALUATION OF RESULTS/FINDINGS.....................................12
Evaluation of secondary data....................................................................................................12
Concept of Holistic Perspective of an Organisation and its Role in Business Growth.............12
The Significance of Implementing HRM from the Holistic Perspective in Tesco Plc.............13
Potential Influence of Effective HRM from the Holistic Perspective of Tesco Plc. on the
Strategic Thinking and Formulation.........................................................................................13
Evaluation of primary data........................................................................................................13

CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................26
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................27
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................29

TITLE
“An investigation to analyse the importance of developing effective HRM from the
holistic perspective of an organisation and its impact on strategic thinking and formulation. A
case study on Tesco Plc”.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Overview of research
Human resource management introduces as an useful process of recruiting, selecting,
providing orientation, inducting employees, appraising employee's performance, imparting
training and development etc. (Mazur, 2015). All these are consider effective process which will
help an organisation to retain employees for long time and accomplish better outcomes within
given time period. Along with this, Holistic organisational development refers as development
activity looking at the entire organisation, people culture, system etc. Development of human
resource management is most essential for an organisation in its whole development and success.
Holistic perspective in an enterprise is more essential for developing proper human resource that
supports an organisation in accurate strategic thinking and formulation. For this dissertation,
TESCO is a given British multinational general and groceries merchandise retailer in UK.
1.2 Background of TESCO
TESCO is a British multinational general and groceries merchandise retailer. It was
founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen and headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire,
England, United Kingdom. In this organisation, HRM department work with many other
departments with aim to achieving long term goals and objectives within given time duration.
Main aim of the organisation is to holistically develop human resource management in regards to
aid the strategic thinking as well as formulation also. Thus it develop value in processing the
operations and functions of TESCO within the commercial centre.
1.3 Aim of Research
Main aim of this research is ”To analyse the importance of developing effective HRM
from the holistic perspective of an organisation and its impact on strategic thinking and
formulation”. A case study on Tesco Plc.
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1.4 Objectives of Research
 To understand the concept of holistic perspective of an organisation and its role in
business growth.
 To determine the significance of implementing HRM from the holistic perspective of
Tesco Plc.
 To evaluate the influence of effective HRM from the holistic perspective of Tesco Plc. on
the strategic thinking and formulation.
1.5 Questions of Research
 What is the concept of holistic perspective of an organisation and its role in business
growth?
 What are the significance of implementing HRM from the holistic perspective of Tesco
Plc?
 What are the potential influence of effective HRM from the holistic perspective of Tesco
Plc. on the strategic thinking and formulation?
1.6 Rationale and significance of study
Main rationale behind selecting and doing this research is to analysing significance of
developing effective HRM from the holistic perspective of an organisation and its impact on
strategic thinking and formulation (Rok and Mulej, 2014). This research is most important in
both perspective such as academic and personal manner. It is biggest topic which will help an
investigator by improving its time management skills, literature review skill, data analysis and
data interpretation skill. This research will also support an organisation by providing accurate
information about the significance of human resource management in thinking and formulation
of strategy.
CHAPTER 2: LITERARTURE REVIEW
Literature Review can be defined as the already published information by an individual
or group of individuals on a particular research area or topic. The main purpose of literature
review is to present the ideas and research of another person in context of the the topic whether
in favour or against of. Literature Review is based on the findings or research done by an
individual that is presented as the secondary source for the use of other people.
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Concept of Holistic Perspective of an Organisation and its Role in Business Growth
According to BILLY CHEUNG, 2018, Holistic refers to the overall development of an
individual, organization or anything else. But the consideration should focus on not only on one
aspect but on the overall aspects of the business in order to be considered as the Holistic
Approach. For example, if we consider Holistic Marketing Strategy so this does not mean that it
will focus on only one concept but everything which relates to marketing of the product. As
marketing is not only linked with the the promotion of the product, but also covers other aspects
such as the arrangement of marketing campaign programs that could also help in the growth and
development of the programs. The implementation of the marketing processes are also linked
with holistic marketing concept.
According to James Birrell, 2018, the concept of holistic perspective for organisations is
considered with the overall growth and development of the organisations. The following
approach relates with the development of organisations in all the related contexts. It is related to
the departmental development of organisations, infrastructure developments, workplace
development, rules an regulations development and many more. Development does not relate to
any one factors but it is the consistency of overall factors of an organisation that helps in creating
the overall positive impacts on the image of the organisation (Pluta and Rudawska, 2016).
Seems to sat that in case the workplace is developed than it will be beneficial only for the
employees and the satisfaction of the employees will increase, but it will not impacts upon the
satisfaction level of the customers at all. So for making improvement in the customers
satisfaction, the importance to product design, quality, marketing, marketing campaigns,
promotional activities should also be taken into consideration and initiated. Likewise the
consideration should also be taken about the government, suppliers and many more people that
impacts upon the working of an organisation. The collection of these helps and contributes
towards the overall development of the organisations. So with the application of this perspective
in the organisation, it will be possible for it to ensure proper growth and development of the
organisation. It will also provide them with various benefits such as the increase in the quality of
products and services of the company, increase employees and customer satisfaction and many
more. Due to these reasons, it will be helpful for the company to adopt the holistic approach in
the working of the company so that improvement could be ensured.
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In accordance with James Birrell, 2017, with the help of the holistic perspectives, it will
become easy for the companies to ensure proper growth and development of the organisation, it
is because of the changes in the ways of working of the company, use of new and automated
machines and equipments which will help in increasing the pace of production and reduce the
cost of production of the company will also related to creating better relation and coordination
among the employees and with the management also. So the contribution made will help in the
proper and sustainable growth and development of the organisation. As the companies will work
on the overall perspectives of development, so the impact will be positive as the company has
worked on all the level of development and the satisfaction of all the aspects covered will
provide about the growth and development of the organisation. As such for the companies the
satisfaction of customers, suppliers, government, shareholders, stakeholders, managers,
employees are very important and the company should look onto the satisfaction level of all the
aspects that could contribute in the success of the organisation. Overall, in the holistic
perspective of the organisation, it can be said that the focus of the organisation should be on the
all the aspects that could impacts the organisation in both the positive and negative ways. For the
example, the consideration about the government could also be taken as with the help of
following properly the rules and regulations made by the government, it will be possible for the
company to reduce the government intervention in their working and could also get some help
and support from the government.
The Significance of Implementing HRM from the Holistic Perspective in Tesco Plc
According to Anna Pluta, 2019, the application of holistic approach in the human
resource department will prove to be very beneficial for the companies such as Tesco. There are
many benefits that could be availed by companies with the application of Holistic Approach in
their working such as the organisational acceleration. As there are many changes in the
organisation that takes place from time to time and for the adoption of these changes it is
important for the companies to look over the personnel as they are ready to accept the changes.
As the businesses are operated in ever changing environment and for this it is miportant for the
human resource department to make rectuiment of those people woh are ready to accpet changes
easily, it is not for the benefit of the organisation but also for the benefit of their employees also.
As the employees will get many new things to learn and this will also lead to the development of
their own skills and abilities.
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Their skills and efficiencies will also increase. It is because fir the development in their
skills and abilities they will be provided with the some training and development programs
where they will be taught about the new ways of working, the problems faced by them will be
resolved in order to create confidence in them that they could also do that and in this way the
process of implementatin of change in the organisation will take place. So the development of
the skills and competencies of the employees will also contribute towards the success of the
organisation because the investment made by the company on the training and development of
the employees will directly provide benefit to the organisations such as Tesco. The employees
will work with the new ways of working of the organisation which will impact positively on the
cost of production of the organisation which is reduced cost of production and with the help of
this, Tesco will achieve efficiency in its working and will earn more profits or will provide the
products to their customers at affordable prices which will help in good image of the company in
the markets. It will be easy for lower level people also to have the products and services of the
company and this will help in increasing the customer base of the company. So it is important for
the companies like Tesco to focus on the implementation of Holistic Perspective in the Human
Resource Management that could help in the overall growth and development of the organisation
by Tesco.
So the improvement by Tesco could be made in the strategies related to their recruitment,
selection, training rewards, job design, status and security and many other factors of employees
and the company and the outcomes of which will result in the motivation ,cooperation,
involvement, high productivity, low employee absenteeism and many more. These factors will
provide the company with many positive outcomes that could help in the growth and
development of the company. As the improvement in these terms will also help the company in
getting the right people and who really wants to work for themselves and the company. For
example, the improvement in recruitment and selection methods will reduce the crowd of
candidates appeared for the interview by making the process more complex and this will also
help the interviewee to conduct interviews in a better way and free mind so that the decisions
could be made best in the favour of the companies.
An organisation like Tesco when looks from the perspective of HR than the main
consideration taken is about the people working in their organisation and this relates with the
employees and the human potential available to the business. The main purpose of HRM is to
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ensure that the organisation is able to achieve success from the employees working in the
organisation. Human Resource Department is mainly considered with the personnel so this
department will make sure that the performance of organisation is not lacking behind due to the
lack of personnel in the organisation. HRM can be defined as the philosophy of people
management in an organisation as this philosophy is based on the assumption that human
resources are uniquely important for the success, growth and development of an organisation.
The holistic approach is closely related to the system approach which is a system of set of
interrelated elements, which forms a single functional entity. So, due to the above provided
benefits and significance, the application of Holistic Approach in HRM Perspective of Tesco is
important.
Potential Influence of Effective HRM from the Holistic Perspective of Tesco Plc. on the
Strategic Thinking and Formulation
According to Tom Starner, 2019, in many terms the influence of HRM could be seen on
the way of thinking and formulation of strategies by an organisation. As the Holistic Perspective
takes into consideration about the overall situation or it can be said that the consideration about
the overall development of the organisation is taken. This will help the individual who is
formulating the strategies to think critically more and more times on the work he is working
upon. It is because the consideration about the overall perspective of the organisation should be
taken into consideration. This makes the strategy formulator to come to conclusion at the when
the strategy has been formulated for the welfare as a whole. The HRM of Tesco should also take
into consideration about the vision of the organisation as the strategies formulated should also
take into consideration about the vision of the company, it should not loose its directions. For
example, the HR Department while formulating the policies for the organisation could make sure
about the pay and compensation of the employees, workplace security and condition could be
taken into consideration. Looking at some more could be about the culture that should also be
taken into consideration at the time of making strategy for the company. It is because the
performance of employees are mostly dependent on the culture of the organisation and how
much the strategy formulated is looking upon the culture (Kowalski and Loretto, 2017).
For the strategy development for the overall organisation, the HR Department could
create effectiveness only in relation to the duties for which this department is provided with.
There are many models which are propounded by different authors and could be implemented in
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the practises of organisation for the development by applying the Holistic Approach. These are
models are the Harvard Model, Guest Models, Becker et al. Model, Jackson, Schuler Model,
Armstrong Model. The following above mentioned models are used for the purpose of
implementing holistic approach in the working of organisations such Tesco. For the betterment
of employees working in an organisation, the HRM could think off the monetary and non-
monetary benefits to be provided to their employees which could also prove as to be their means
of motivation and will help in increasing the efficiency of the organisation. It is because the
employees of Tesco will be motivated and this will lead to increase their performance. With the
help of motivated workforce, it will become easy for the organisation to achieve their goals and
objectives in the easiest way possible.
The main focus of these models are on the improvement in the outcomes and
consequences which should be positive (Gyepi-Garbrah and Asamoah, 2015). With the help of
these models, the HRM Practises could be improved such as delegated levels of authority,
responsibility, power, recruitment, selection, appraisal, pay systems, motivation and many more.
The improvement made by the HR Department in these practises will help the organisation in
increasing the outcomes and performance of the working of the employees. So good
implementation of the strategies will provide Tesco with many positive benefits such as the
increase in commitment, competence, cost effectiveness, individual wellbeing, and social
wellbeing. These kinds of positive impacts will be drawn on the employees and on the
organisation with the help of good implementation of the strategies. This could only be possible
with the help of effective decision making process of strategy formulator that is able to
understand the condition the employees of the organisation and could work for the benefit of all.
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is the scientific and theoretical aspects about different methods
which are implemented for completing investigation. With the help of research methodology
framework, it is easy to know about different tools and techniques which makes reader aware
about reason behind use of specific technique. In order to understand research methodology
completely and in- detail, “Research Onion”. Some tools and techniques are discussed as under-
Research philosophy: Research is one of the concise work which involves theories to be
the involves in its own completion. For the purpose of this project, there are mainly two types of
researcher philosophy are classified which are classified into two types: interpretivism and
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positivism. According to the topic, interpretivisim philosophy is applicable, in this research
project which would be easily assisted to evaluating data or information effectively (Stariņeca,
2017). On different side, there is also one more positivism philosophy which has not been
applicable here appropriately in order to forward out the research activity in the systematic
manner. These philosophy will be applicable, understanding situation of this research project and
then apply accordingly.
Research Approach: Inductive and deductive are consider best approach of research used
by researcher to collect quality and in-depth information about the study. According to the topic,
inductive approach is more suitable because it will help an investigator to gather proper
information about the topic and gain better outcomes for further research. The major reason
behind selecting this approach to conduct the research effectively and reach out to the valid
conclusion or results in less time period (Panos and Bellou, 2016) This approach is one necessary
approach, with the help of which business outcomes is expected to be achieve in lesser time
period. For purposes of this report, inductive approach will also be carry forward to complete
this project in given time point.
Research Choice: There are basically two types of research which is qualitative and
quantitative. Under qualitative research, information or data are gather in form of quality
manner. On the other side, in case of quantitative research, information are collected in the form
of numbers, facts or figures. (Dundon and Rafferty, 2018). Both type of research are essential but
according to the study, qualitative research is more suitable and valuable because it will help an
investigator to identify accurate response from selected respondents. In the research, variable of
it is defined and fixed, but variable to extent of methodology will be useful in it.
Time horizons: Time horizon is considered as the most prominent tool for the research
which would assist researcher to led clear commencing and completion of the time duration for
completion of this project report activities. Gantt chart will be uses here as the productive kind of
the graphical presentation tool which is helpful assist researcher to finishes each and every
activity of this project even before given time period. (Haddock-Millar, 2016) In this research
project, time duration of the project is need to be defined and plans in advance to ascertain
productive outcomes to ascertain productive results in given time period.
Research methods- There are specific methods in which research are conducted to make
it reliable and authentic. There are two methods of conducting investigation i.e. qualitative and
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quantitative method. Qualitative research method refers to the understanding about opinion,
ideas, and thoughts through hypothesis for potential investigation (Pereira, Malik and Froese,
2017). This method covers uncovered trends and thoughts which might affect decision making of
research regarding solving problem. Under this method, sample size is small and respondents are
selected to fulfil quota. While quantitative research method is effective in order to quantify the
numerical data with use of statistic approaches.
Under this method, there is use of scientific tools for collecting view. This method is not
understood by reader because of complex techniques, but structure of this method I easy as
compared to qualitative research. In this investigation, qualitative research method is used
because representation of information is simple as graphs and charts which is understood by
reader. Under this method, subject knowledge is evaluated in more detailed form and this gives
data on the basis of human experience and their observations.
Data sources- Data sources is the method to collect appropriate and correct data from
different sources for the purpose of providing relevant recommendations and conclusions. There
are two sources for collecting information i.e. primary and secondary information. Primary
information refers to the process to collect information from respondents. In this method, there is
direct relationship between researcher and individual so this method gives correct and authentic
information about importance of developing effective HRM policies for holistic development of
Tesco plc (De Prins and et. al., 2014). Primary information can be collected through survey,
questionnaire, personal interview, etc.
While secondary source of information refers to method in which information which is
collected by someone else is used for providing recommendations and conclusions. Under this
source information is collected from newspaper, magazines, journals, online sources, etc. With
the help of secondary method, conceptual ides can learn.
Primary information is collected in this investigation through questionnaire.
Questionnaire is the form of method in which questions related to effective HRM policies for
holistic development of organization is asked with respondents. In this dissertation, both primary
and secondary sources of collecting information are used through which complete and absolute
information can gain (Chung, Sparrow and Bozkurt, 2014).
Research sampling- Sampling is the method through which information is collected from
some respondents because it is not possible to collect information from whole population. There
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