Tesco's Organizational Analysis: HR Activities, Structure, and Culture

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Tesco, a leading retail company. It begins by outlining Tesco's goals, products, services, and customer base. A SWOT analysis is conducted to assess the external environment's impact on the company's business activities. The report then delves into Tesco's hierarchical and functional organizational structure, detailing how different functions such as sales and marketing, HR, and finance work together to optimize performance. The company's culture, emphasizing employee empowerment and customer focus, and its influence on operations are also examined. Furthermore, the report explores various HR activities, including recruitment, training, and fostering a healthy work environment, and how they support Tesco's strategy. The roles of HR professionals and line managers are discussed in the context of achieving company success. The analysis highlights Tesco's commitment to employee development, customer satisfaction, and adapting to the changing business landscape.

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1.1: Company: Tesco
The goal of Tesco is to make sure that every customer experience better services provided by
the company with the aim of leading in retail supermarket. The company ensures to provide
best products and services quality at low costs when compared to its competitors. Tesco’s
purpose is to helping its customers to enjoy easy way of living and better life quality for
being the champion for them across the globe. Tesco chosen “Serving Britain’s shoppers a
litter better every day” as its new core purpose (Lewis & Stewart, 2016). So, the goal
represents making sure to deliver best customers experiences by better services.
1.2: Products and services and its customers
Tesco provides groceries and financial services to its customers both current and potential in
terms of product and services based on geographical locations such as the US, the UK, China,
Argentina, China, Greece, Brazil and others along with enhancing customer relationships by
satisfying their needs. The company is specialised in drink and food within other diverse
areas such as electronics, telecoms, clothing, pet and dental insurance, financial services,
healthcare, and renting and retailing music downloads, DVDs, CDs, and software and internet
services (Shuang, 2014). Tesco also operates in proving financial services online, consumer
goods and telecommunications along with grocery home-shopping service as well. Tesco is
focused towards its product, customers and channels where customers are primary and central
for delivering and serving the company’s purpose to millions of them through stores and
online (Marr, 2019).
1.3: External environment
SWOT for analysing the impact on the company’s business activities
Strengths
 In the UK, Tesco is the largest chain
of supermarkets.
 The company has a strong financial
power and brand name.
 Across the globe, Tesco is largest
retailer after Carrefour and Walmart.
Weaknesses
 The company face difficulty due to
increasing spread geographically
while not able to focus on specific
markets.
 Tesco requires dealing highly with
insurance and phone markets due to

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 The company has its international
presence in over 13 countries.
 Tesco uses better technology for its
best in distribution and marketing
mainly (Samantara & Sharma, 2015).
lack of experience (Babu, 2012).
 The company is more dependent on
market of the UK.
 Tesco has its high costs of
transportation.
Opportunities
 Tesco has an opportunity to make a
strategic alliance with different
companies.
 There can be wide online platform to
market and sell the company’s
products and services.
 Tesco can go for opening new store to
attain competitive advantage and
better expansion.
 The company has an opportunity of
entering into new markets of Asia
(Wood, et al., 2016).
Threats
 The threat faced by Tesco is its tough
competition with giant companies
such as Carrefour, Walmart, and
others across the globe.
 There is a fluctuation in taxes that can
impact the financials of Tesco.
 The company can face trouble when
other supermarkets will start making
innovation.
 Tesco face the threat of increasing
costs of raw material (Fatricia, 2017).
2.1: Tesco’s structure
Tesco follows a hierarchical structure for achieving the aims and objectives which is mainly a
functional structure that focuses on different business departments due to the company having
multiple layers and is large opposing on the location functioning. This structure helps in
clarifying the roles of people, easy to use, every individual department can focus on their own
work and there is division of responsibilities. However, if communicated closely, can lead to
lack of focus, it will get hard to for departments to resist change, and coordination can get
time consuming due to the gap between top and bottom level co-workers (Sherr & Thomson,
2013). The company’s employees are spread all over the globe where it is impossible to keep
eye on each and every one with the range of thousands where this structure is helpful to the
company while managing different departments in different countries among different people
and different stores. The company will able to focus on taking best care of their customers in
the business through this structure which also helps Tesco to fulfil its purpose (Wood, et al.,
2016).

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2.2: Working of functions together
Tesco’s functions are divided based on the company placing members at the higher level
which provides them a power and there is a long commands chain. The management of Tesco
performs various functions such as policy creation, planning, directing resources, organising
and controlling for achieving its policy objectives with a broad geographical area through
utilising the company’s structure (Evans & Mason, 2018). It is differentiated based on the
smaller companies in distinct countries covering up various markets areas and different
product varieties. The functions summarise sales and marketing, human resources, research
and development, designing and production, administration, and finance which also helps in
optimising the performance of the company. Each and every department comes along to
perform together for achieving goals (Xie & Allen, 2013). Finance helps is establishing
business which is not possible with Tesco’s manpower to perform operations where the
process of supply chain helps in completing the task on time. The department of production
helps through coordinating with designing department and vendor management depart where
finance department provides capital for purchasing raw material. Furthermore, human
resource department helps employees to accomplish specific job; also, marketing and sales
department provides budget for performing and advertising with other companies externally
(Felsted, 2015). The department of IT is also important for the company that manages
Tesco’s information system of every department working together at the right place and time
or not. Hence, this shows the functioning of departments helps in optimising the company’s
performance by showing efforts altogether starting from customer needs identification to
providing them best experience overall.

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Organisational Structure of Tesco at store level
Source: (Dudovskiy, 2016).
2.3: Tesco’s culture and its ways affecting operations
Tesco is one of the companies working with employees overall which is its uniqueness and
shows the ownership culture of being team-oriented. This culture of the company helps in
fostering personal growth, innovation and empowerment. Also, Tesco shows its desire to
serve quality products and meaningful solutions to its clients. The culture of Tesco shows that
the company listen and talk to people along with making innovation and changes to meet
customers’ needs (Butler & Farrell, 2014). Tesco makes sure to maintain the respect and trust
of its employees to move towards achieving success efficiently and effectively. Tesco focuses
on employees to maximise their contribution and potential towards the company which
represents the culture of concentrating on movement and meeting objectives in business
through managing diversity. The culture also affects operations of the company where Tesco
represents its mission and values based on its business methodology and code for
accomplishing the work (Dekker, et al., 2012). Factors such as conservatism, traditional,
aggressiveness, or intellect represents culture where it is hard for the company to adopt new
one differentiating form others. Tesco has its in-built value mechanism introduced for
keeping employees motivated and provides them guidance towards working and achieving
the goals of the company for growth with the help of investors as well. Organisational culture
Regional
Manager
Store Manager
Food Trading
Manager
Fresh Food
Section Manager
Ambient Food
Section Manager
Non-Food
Trading Manager
Electrical Section
Manager
Clothing Section
Manager
Personnel
Manager
Personnel
Assistant

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affects brand performance of the company as well where Tesco is fully dependent on its
employees’ cooperation and teamwork while conducting day-to-day operations. Moreover,
pattern of culture affects the need, behaviour and demand as well where it is essential for the
management of the company to fulfil the needs of customers by analysing their demands and
culture (Warden, et al., 2012). Tesco is affecting in terms of handling functions in and outside
the company by working consistently together with employees while keeping them motivated
to generate a positive environment as well for better outcomes.
3.1: HR activities supporting Tesco
Tesco carries HR activities that support the company which are training and development,
recruitment and pay revision, and providing healthy working environment. In the UK, the
company follows a strict recruitment procedure along with taking care of acts such as Race
Relations Act 1976, Equal Pay Act 1970, Employment Protection Act 1978, Sex
Discrimination Act 1975, Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and others (O’Brien, 2020).
Tesco has its different procedure for every candidate based on the procedure such as for
online system, the company requires an individual as a customer support agent along with its
immediate higher appointments level. Candidates are short-listed before getting selected for
direct interview through an online procedure including the test of general aptitude. There is
an availability of direct application as well in store while for the positions for higher
management; Tesco appoints direct reputed institution and external agencies along with
internal job posting as well (Alam & Raut-Roy, 2019).
Another activity of training and development after selecting the right candidate requires
going through a process were transformation is done as per the potential of candidates with
the help of resource availability to convert them in becoming standard employee. Tesco go
for process training and on-the-job training where the management makes sure about
employee is able to handle responsibilities or not taken care by HR department as well
efficiently. Tesco takes care of new employees by providing them training about payment
options while demanding proficiency through carrying different programs in relation to
career advancement and personality development for boosting their morale (Gopalia, 2012).
The process of the company’s learning and development process help employees to achieve
the Tesco’s objectives that are to maximise sales and increasing profits, decreasing prices,
introducing healthy eating products, development to be largest shopping site on the Internet,
and providing job opportunities in the local community. Lastly, the company makes sure to

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provide healthy working environment to their employees while adapting multicultural society
(Wood, et al., 2017). It involves HR department as their duty to discuss and evaluate such
information among employees to keep them updated. It is essential to adapt “personal health
and safety” that encourages employees within the better working environment. This helps
employees to perform their best along with having information about their rights where Tesco
provides flexible opportunities to them such as weekend and part-time jobs. It is the duty of
HR department to make sure that proper shifts are allocated to each and every employee for
preventing confusion along with preparing them to handle reoccurring issues. There is
prohibition of consuming alcohol and other products as relatable within the workplace to
enable safe working environment as well (Haddock-Millar & Rigby, 2015). Hence, these HR
activities shows the support towards the company while reflecting vision and capability of
Tesco and its employees to provide best workplace experience along with customer
experience.
3.2: HR professionals
In Tesco, HR professional and line managers work together with their similar interest of
making sure that the company’s success is achieved. Line managers working with HR
professionals make them to work more proficiently along with using tactical HR functions
(Firoz & Chowdhury, 2013). This helps HR professionals to devote their time towards the
strategic HR management. One of the functions is department staffing where HR department
supports the workforce with fulfilling the needs of Tesco. Another function is use of
workforce strategy where HR and line mangers involve together to review projections
concerning towards determining the business demands through strategic planning to take
decision in relation to training current employees or not for making them prepared about
recruiting or promoting other candidates having high level of skills for enhancing the current
knowledge base of an employees (Mayhew, 2020). Another functions consists of conflict
resolution and performance management that involves HR professional and line managers
together where HR professionals support line managers to develop skills in handling
leadership tasks to perform better in future and different concerns related to work styles,
cultures and personalities for resolution. Hence, HR professionals support line managers in
terms of better communication, job analysis, and performance management. Tesco kept on
leading its ways in terms of learning and development with the help of larger employers to

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support line managers and other co-working within the company for beating strong
competition in the UK and across the globe (Scullin, 2014).

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