Strategic HR Decision Making: A Workforce Plan for Tesco's Growth

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic decision-making in an HR context, focusing on Tesco as a case study. It explores the aim, scope, and purpose of strategic workforce planning, examines internal and external influences on HR functions, and evaluates strategic and operational considerations. The report connects contemporary theory with practical applications, demonstrating how HR strategies support business objectives, performance, and sustainable growth. It also includes an individual strategic workforce plan for Tesco's talent management director, evaluating change management models, HR's role in sustainable business performance, and methods for monitoring and evaluating HR strategy success. The report concludes with recommendations for applying specific techniques to monitor the potential impact of the workforce plan. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

Table of Content
Introduction ………………….………………………………………………………… pg
Part 1 Strategic decision making in an HR context for the success of
the overall organisation
…………………………………………………………………………….. pg
1.0 Aim, scope and purpose of the strategic workforce plan………………… pg
2.0 An analysis of the key internal and external influences on the HR function of
the
Organisation …………………………………………………………………………… pg
3.0 An evaluation of key strategic and operational considerations of
the organisation................................................................................................... pg
4.0 Contemporary theory must be linked to practice to demonstrate how this
supports HR strategy and meeting business objectives for meeting performance
and sustainable growth ……………………….…………………… pg
5.0 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………. Pg
6.0 References ………………………………………………………………………. Pg
Part 2 Individual strategic workforce plan for
the organisation’s talent management director (this part will be
prepared on power point slides)
5.0 A critical evaluation of how change management models can support HR
strategy, including specific examples to support the case…………………… pg
6.0 Evaluation of how HR management can support sustainable business
performance and growth…………………………………………………………….. pg
7.0 How to monitor and evaluate the success of HR strategy in meeting
sustainable business objectives …………………………………………………. pg
8.0 Fully justified recommendation(s) for applying specific techniques for
monitoring an evaluating the potential impact of the workforce plan …….. pg
9.0 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………. pg
10.0 References ……………………………………………………………………… pg

Introduction
Human Resource management plays a very important role in achieving growth and
development in an organization. Various strategies are prepared in order to handle any
company's human resource. Strategic Human Resource management's main objective is to
improve performance and identify needs of human resource to achieve objectives. It is related to
create proper plans for handling an individual in organization. The Organization which is
selected for this Report is Tesco. Tesco is known as biggest grocery and general merchandise
Retailer in UK. The Company was founded in 1919 in Welwyn Garden City, UK. The current
report includes trends and developments that influence an organization’s HR strategy in addition
with external and internal factors influencing HR practices. There is proper theory in reference to
growth and development in relation to HRM strategies. It also involves Change management
models in HRM Practices in addition to that how HR outcomes can be monitored to apply in
organization’s situation and how effective HR development and management can support growth
and sustainable development to achieve objectives in addition to this how SHRM is important to
achieve goal and productivity. Furthermore this report describes how SHRM is useful in
handling people within organization.
Part 1 Strategic decision making in an HR context for the success of
the overall organisation
Strategic Decision Making involves decisions relating to company's goals or missions
and evaluating pros and cons of situations and developing solutions to achieve goals. In current
times both HR management and firms realize how important decision making is for proper
functioning of organizations. The decision making process also impacts the overall success of
organizations as the decisions have direct impact on operations of company(Nudurupati,
Garengo and Bititci, 2021). All HR decisions have direct link with goals of companies and there
is no organization where HR functions that not operates. Strategic decisions are intended to
provide competitive advantage and provides scope to the company. It helps in formulating plan
of action . There is a Five-step model to develop strategic decisions -

1. Define The problem - It includes questions relating to main problem , objectives and solutions
to problems.
2. Gather Information - It involves gathering data and information from various stakeholders ,
constraints and available data.
3. Develop and Evaluate Options - It includes generating wide range of options and predicting
the consequences.
4. Choose Best Action - It includes factual data , emotional intelligence when deciding a course
of action.
5. Implement and Monitor the decision - It includes developing plans to implement through
various steps and allocating resources and timeline for implementation.
1.0 Aim, scope and purpose of the strategic workforce plan
The main aim of Strategic workforce plan is to constantly analyse and evaluate
performance of workers and preventing it from any ever changing needs of workforce. In
addition to that it involves strategies to ensure that right person are available for right job(Bilgic,
2020).The main purpose of Strategic workforce plan is to design a process that can predict
current and future needs of hiring within an organisation.
Main purpose of strategic workforce planning is to design a process that can anticipate
future and current hiring needs that will ensure that organizations have sufficient amount of
resources to meet organizational goals. The plan is created through use of business analytics and
input from HR Resulting in creating a strategic plan to meet desired goals and it will help to
build an organization across various levels with right skills in right positions for Higher return on
investment.
Workforce has a wider scope in an organization as it matches duration of plan with
organization's strategy and analysis of elements of contract deliverables .
2.0 An analysis of the key internal and external influences on the HR function of
the Organisation

HR department plays a significant role in areas related to employee , labor relations and
workforce planning , training etc. It may not be involved in production of goods but it plays a
vital role in success of organization and comprises of things that are not present within the
organization yet can affect its working(Sanchez, Langer and Kaur, 2020).
HR practices involve internal and external factors which are given below:
Internal Factors
Use of Technology -
One of the internal factors includes Technology use that affects HR department and
management of company. In order to achieve more growth and free up some time use of online
employee management can help in reducing workload and areas like training and recruitment
could be more focused.
Organization’s Culture:
Another internal factor that helps in shaping human resource management strategies is its
Company's culture. Culture is collection of expectations, practices and values that guides
members within an organization. The culture of organization includes two elements abstract and
material elements.
Marketing Strategies -
Development of new product and entry in new market requires neccessary changes to
structure of organization and recruitment of new sales team. These strategies can have a direct
impact on workforce planning
External Factors -
Political and Legal Factors -
Legislation on areas such as employment rights and maximum working time can directly
impact on workforce planning and remuneration.

Social Factors -
It includes factors such as personality, behavior of person working in an organization.
This factor influences managing HR practices within an organization(Yang and et.al., 2018). In
context to Tesco, the HR managers focus on adopting such kind of strategies to maintain
subordinate in proper way.
Technological Factor -
It’s very important to adopt and implement technology for maintaining information of
human resource. In today's time a company cannot function properly without use of latest
technology. They need it for growth and development of organization. In context to Tesco, the
HR department focus on adopting latest technology to undertake plans related to HR.
Current Trends in Human Resource Management-
Due to rapid changes, HRM had to deal with various changes and effects that might
affect its operations. To deal with changes, HR employees need to understand the current trends
which includes -
 Impact of Globalization – There are no boundaries when it comes to business, and due to
rise in multinational corporations the HR department need to ensure that employees have
required skills, knowledge and cultural adaptability to handle global projects(Pedreira
and Rodrigues, 2017). They need to have proper knowledge of cultural factors in order to
meet the challenges of globalization.
 Workforce Diversity- HRM includes workforce which includes gender, age, personality
factors, religion, physical appearance and other factors. In order to take decisions related
to strategy diversity is mainly linked to organization. Also in order to ensure better
working, HRM should be aware of age groups to deal with each other.
 Corporate downsizing- Downsizing leads to reduction in number of workforce for an
organization. HR department plays a major role in downsizing. In order to ensure
effective communication, the HRM people need to minimize rumors to keep the
individuals informed.

 Continuous Improvement Programs – In order to ensure long term benefit, an
organization need to focus on quality and better customer experience. Continuous
improvement programs involves steps to improve productivity and better quality.
 Changing skills requirement- It is important for a company to develop skilled labor and
hire qualified employees to ensure production, better quality and managing workforce. In
today's world there is increase in number of jobs and so the requirement of skilled
workforce arises. To deal with workforce diversity, HRM department need to provide
proper training to balance skills gap and deficiency.
With changes in current environment of business, technology has developed rapidly
which had a major impact of HR functions and major impact on recruitment and selection
process. With introduction of new technologies, recruitment process involves internet, chatbots,
mobile applications etc. Technology has supported the selection process and made it easier to
save time and money. In addition to that, technology helps in improving employees performance
and help in effective working and reduces burden of repetitive tasks and promotes job
satisfaction.
Cloud technology provides access to files, software, storage through various internet-
connected devices. It means the ability to access data over internet. It helps HR in various ways
such as Data security, recruitment process, innovation and efficiency.
HR issues in various sectors-
 Public Sector- There are various factors affecting the HR employees in public sector
which includes change management, leadership management, learning and development.
 Private Sector- The main challenges in private sector includes issues related to managing
the advancement of technology and various other factors that affect the working of
private sector employees.
 Third Sector- Other sectors related to heath, education has also dealing with various HR
challenges which involves staff shortage, turnover rates, employee burnout etc.
3.0 An evaluation of key strategic and operational considerations of
the organisation

HRM is a method to evaluate strategies and to maintain interconnection with human
resources of organization’s regulations. Human Resource management allows organization to
gain competitive advantage and address various inconveniences and challenges in workplace. It
solves all problems and help workers to result in better and creative strategy procedures. There
are various factors that are evaluated in any organization which includes, transparent
communication, collaborative and inclusive process and commit to making changes. Strategic
plans helps in developing and executing a plan for business success and includes guidelines for
primary planning. Main primary considerations include financial strength, competitive advantage
and human resources(Carbery and Cross, 2018).
4.0 Contemporary theory must be linked to practice to demonstrate how this
supports HR strategy and meeting business objectives for meeting performance
and sustainable growth
HRM theory came into introduction with the Harvard School Harvard Analytic
Framework in 1980. In the early 1900 , factor machinery was established to minimize labor costs
and in order to manage employees and responsibilities relating to workers relations ,
communication , job division and control methods.
Impact of theory and HR practice -
HRM had major difference when it comes to understanding in theory and while applying
in practical life. There is huge difference between theory and practical applications. Various HR
models and theories are developed and applied in order to understand better functioning and
ensure proper HR practices in order to achieve effective goals(Johns, 2018).
When it comes to understanding the link between organizational strategy and HR strategy, there
has been a better chance of success in organizational strategy as employees understand the plan
better whereas in HR strategy there is liaison among management and staff which has major
impact on employee's behavior and attitude towards strategic planning.
Contingency theory -

This theory demonstrates various factors such as size, age of business, technology, degree of
unionization, placement between relevant dependent and independent variable. It suggests
possible relationships between HRM elements and performance indicators between contingency
factors and HRM parameters. In addition to this it allows organization to handle any challenges .
In contingency theory it is assumed that management of human resources is not recognized
generally. Therefore, managers must behave internally and externally according to
environmental circumstances.
Human capital theory -
According to this theory, education helps in increasing knowledge and person's
competence that helps in increasing earning of subordinate. Therefore training enhances
efficiency of a person that helps in transforming human resource like capital of organization. In
reference to Tesco, HR managers focus on providing essential training program for
employees(Orna, 2017).
On the basis of above discussion, there are different theories like organization behavior and
motivation used by organizations for increasing success and development of Human Resource.
Organizational Behavioral Theory -
This theory is connected with study of attitude and behavior of person and group within
organizations. There are various subordinates to perform work but it can differ in behavior with
one another thus organization must be connected with study of individual's attitude within an
organization . It defines the method by which subordinate interact with each other. In reference
to Tesco , they uses this theory to understand behavior of subordinates.
5.0 Conclusion
By evaluating the above report, it can be concluded that SHRM plays an important role in
regulating several activities of business enterprises. It includes taking into consideration several
models and theories in the process which initiate better and effective growth of an organizational
firm within its resources and marketplace. In addition to this, managers of given firm could also

pursue to their respective company's sustainable goals which adds value towards goodwill of
respective corporate.
6.0 REFERENCES
Books & Journal:
Nudurupati, S. S., Garengo, P. and Bititci, U. S., 2021. Impact of the changing business environment on
performance measurement and management practices. International Journal of Production
Economics, 232. p.107942.
Bilgic, E., 2020. Human Resources Information Systems: A Recent Literature Survey. Contemporary
Global Issues in Human Resource Management.
Sanchez, D. R., Langer, M. and Kaur, R., 2020. Gamification in the classroom: Examining the impact of
gamified quizzes on student learning. Computers & Education, 144. p.103666.
Carbery, R. and Cross, C. eds., 2018. Human resource management. Macmillan International Higher
Education.
Yang, Q. and et.al., 2018. Association of reproductive history with hypertension and prehypertension in
Chinese postmenopausal women: a population-based cross-sectional study. Hypertension
Research, 41(1). pp.66-74.
Pedreira, L. L. and Rodrigues, A. C. D. A., 2017. Managing Commitment: The effect of HR practices on
employee commitment. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2017, No. 1. p. 13734). Briarcliff
Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Johns, G., 2018. Advances in the treatment of context in organizational research. Annual Review of
Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5. pp.21-46.
Orna, E., 2017. Information strategy in practice. Routledge.

Part 2 Individual strategic workforce plan for
the organisation’s talent management director
Individual strategic workforce planning refers to developing an effective plan to ensure that an
organization has capable individual in the right job at the right time for optimal performance of a
business (Ghosh and et. al., 2020). It involves various steps to be developed and assists an
organization to have an effective workforce and avoid overstaffing or understaffing (Albats,
Fiegenbaum and Cunningham ., 2018). The various steps to develop individual workforce plan
for TESCO’s talent management is given below:
Consider long-term goals:
The talent management at TESCO need to effectively identify their overall organizational
goals before developing a workforce plan to keep employee’s aligned with business objectives.
Analyze current workforce:
The current workforce of TESCO needs to be analyzed by talent management to identify
current workforce performance and what the organization requires to enhance its performance.
Find future skills gaps:
The talent management after analyzing its workforce has to determine its future skills
gaps to ensure they can hire capable individuals in their organization as previous employee’s
leave.
Prepare for different scenarios:

The talent management at TESCO needs to anticipate various scenarios in order to come
up with combination of attributes such as retiring and re-skilling to avoid large lay-offs in future.
Company culture:
The talent management at TESCO needs to make sure that it understand it organizational
culture as it has a huge impact on corporate values and need to be considered while developing
workforce plan.
Monitor and adapt:
The talent management needs to monitor the workforce strategic plan in order to ensure it
performance optimally and efficiently. Moreover, that the management is able to have the ability
to adapt relative to future situations to avoid any hindrances.
1.0 A critical evaluation of how change management models can support HR
strategy, including specific examples to support the case
The change management is a systematic method that assistant an organization to implement
change in management, tools and overall resources. It consists of selecting, adopting and
identifying changes relative to business environment through business strategies, structure,
methods and technology (Akpenyi and et. al., 2019). To understand the change management that
promotes HR strategy in context to TESCO the Kotter’s change management along with Lewin
and Nudge tool are utilized and elaborated below:
Kotter’s change management:
It is among the most recognized change management theory which consists of eight stages, each
stage focuses on the reaction of employees relative to change (Roper ., 2019).

Increase urgency:
The management at TESCO needs to involve employees in its process of decision
making and strategic planning in order to instill a sense of urgency among employees to work
towards organizational goals.
Build guiding team:
The management at TESCO needs to identify the correct set of talents and individuals in
order to develop an effective team within the business essential for a changing organization to
ensure efficiency.
Develop the vision:
It is important for the management at TESCO not to just plan but rather focus on
innovations and sentiments along with objective of employees as well to develop a vision for
effective management change.
Communication:
In order for the management at TESCO to promote change it has to communicate clearly
and effectively with its employees. This will assist with employees being aligned with
organizations objectives and core values.
Empower action:
The management at TESCO has to focus eliminating hindrances by building an effective
feedback form employees in order to understand their perspective on changes being made. This
will help instill harmony within the workforce.

Create short-term wins:
The management at TESCO has to pay emphasis on shot term winds rather than the final
and focus on small accomplishments in order to keep the moral of employees high which helps
in effective change.
Implementing transformation:
It is vital for the management to strengthen and transform a portion of their
organizational culture as it will help the employees to adapt to their new conditions and keep
effectiveness in the workforce.
Don’t give up:
It is crucial for the management at TESCO to be patient as changes take time and barriers
are inevitable. This makes it vital to be persistent during the process for it to be effective and
optimal in its functioning.
Lewin's 3 Stage Model of Change:
This model consist of 3 steps unfreezing, changing and refreezing. The overall process of
changes focuses on creating the perception relative the the need of change and moves towards
the new, level of desired behavior and establishing the new set norms. The model in context to
TESCO is mentioned below:
Unfreezing:

This stage of the model is crucial of the management at TESCO, as this stage will help
them introduce the need for change to their employees and improve their motivation for
acceptance in order to achieve better results.
Change process:
This stage is also refereed as the transition stage where the actual changes are implement.
This stage of the model will assist management at TESCO to enable its employees to accept the
changes and introduce the new ways if doing things through effective communication and
promoting individuals for endorsing the change.
Refreezing:
This stage of the model refers to the transition of individual from the change process
towards a relativity stable state. The management at TESCO will be able to use this model at this
stage effectively as it will provide assistance in making employees accept or internalize the new
changes of working and accept it as a part of their life along with new relationships.
Nudge theory of change:
This theory of change refers to small actions or nudges that can influence on the choices of
individuals or the way they behave. It focus on engaging individuals by understanding them and
their perspective . The theory in context to TESCO is mentioned below:
Define changes:

The management at TESCO need to appropriately define proposed changes to their
employees in order to develop effective HR strategies.
Consider employees point of view:
The management at TESCO need to take into account the point of view of employee
while developing HR strategies in order for it be successful.
Use evidence:
The management and HR department need to justify the need for change and use
appropriate evidence for it before developing the HR strategy for it to be optimal.
Present choice:
The management need to present various choices and choose a suitable one while
developing its HR strategy to introduce effective changes.
Listen to feedback:
The management at TESO need to take feedback form its employees relative to proposed
changes in order to develop effective HR strategy to reduce resistance from employees.
Limit obstacles:
The management need to understand the various obstacles it will face during the change
process and must focus on minimizing these obstacles in order to develop and effective HR
strategy.
Keep momentum

The management has to focus on short-term wins and keep employees motivated when
changes are introduced through an effective HR strategy.
2.0 Evaluation of how HR management can support sustainable business
performance and growth
It is vital for every business to achieve sustainable growth for enhanced performance. The HR
management and workforce planning pay a key role in influencing growth and performance of
the business (Chappell and et. al., 2021). It is the primary function of HR management to hire
capable individuals and retain them for the long-term. The impact of HR management on
performance and growth in contest of TESCO is mentioned below:
Hire to value and invest:
It is crucial for the management at TESCO to hire capable and valued individual for their
organization to fit values of innovation, compassion and establishing an effective team-spirit as it
will assist them in increasing their retention rates and build potential leaders which are important
for a sustainable business.
Promote from within:
The management at TESCO in order to promote growth and performance within its
organization has to determine whether to promote employees from within the business for new
and higher positions or hire new capable employees. This is important as investing in employees
is vital for a sustainable business.
Create a long-term leadership solution:

The management at TESCO needs to focus on creating long-term leadership solutions as
it is an essential way HR can provide support for sustainable growth and performance of a
business. The long-term leadership solution will allow in establishing a talent pool to bring
valuable employees within the organization.
7.0 How to monitor and evaluate the success of HR strategy in meeting
sustainable business objectives
It is crucial of any business to monitor and evaluate the success of its HR strategy by measuring
its effectiveness through KPIs and evaluating set standards. The KPIs provide assistance to an
organization to measure and monitor the effective of employees relative to the HR strategy
where as, the set stands help the management to evaluate their performace of its employees
within the Hr strategy Given below is how KPIs and set standards can assist TESCO in
monitoring its Hr strategy:
KPIs:
Benefits satisfaction:
This KPI can assist HR managers at TESCO to monitor and evaluate their employee’s
level of satisfaction through survey and help the organization to reduce its overall turnover rate.
Employee productivity rate:
This KPI is difficult to measure but will assist the HR manager at TESCO to evaluate the
capacity of growth in terms of production of human capital for effectiveness.
Employee engagement rate:

This KPI will enable the HR managers at TESCO to effectively monitor and evaluate
employee’s engagement relative to their productivity, performance along with assistance in
reducing turnover.
Absence rate:
This KPI will assist the HR managers at TESCO to monitor and evaluate is HR strategy
by effectively identifying their employees absence rate for better utilization of financial
resources of the organization.
Set Standards:
The set standards consist of 3 stage where the management is able to monitor and
evaluate its HR strategy on the bases of their employees performance (Manivannan and
Chithirairajan ., 2019) Given below are the stages of set standards relative to TESCO:
High performance:
The management at TESCO can set standard and expectations relative to their employees
performance and evaluate if the criteria are being met. In the high stage the management can
monitor that the employees are highly productive thus the HR strategy is effective.
Average performance:
This stage will state that the employees at TESCO are performing at average performance
and have room for improvement in order to reach optimal levels of efficiency and performance.
Low performance:

This stage will help management at TESCO to determine if their employee are lacking in
their performance and the reasons through feedback ind personal interviews. HR strategy needs
to be altered to support employees in this stage.
8.0 Fully justified recommendation(s) for applying specific techniques for
monitoring an evaluating the potential impact of the workforce plan
There are various impacts of effective monitoring and evaluating on the workforce plan of a
business. This helps a business to bring efficiency and productivity in operations of an
organization (Diaz‐Carrion , López‐Fernández and Romero‐Fernandez ., 2020). Moreover it
leads to sustainable growth and performance in the long run. Given below are justified
recommendations for applying specific techniques to monitor and evaluate the potential impact
of the workforce plan in context to TESCO:
Track progress:
The HR managers at TESCO will have the ability to track their overall progress through
effective KPIs which will enable them to understand if any changes need to be introduced if their
progress is declining.
Examine organizational health:
The KPIs will assist the HR managers at TESCO to develop an efficient workforce plan
which will help the management to evaluate health of the organization and determine if it is able
to achieve its goals and objectives.

Identify new risk:
The HR managers by utilizing KPIs will be able to identify threats in an effective manner
by evaluating and analyzing the overall performance of their employees. This will assist them in
preparing for different scenarios for workforce planning.
Adapt to changes:
The KPIs will help the HR managers at TESCO to develop an effective and efficient
workforce plan which will be able to adapt to dynamic business environment. Moreover, it will
help them in monitor and evaluate the functioning of their developed workforce plan in an
optimal manner to ensure sustainable growth and high performance of the company.
9.0 Conclusion
From the above presentation it is concluded that, HRM plays an essential role within an
organization for its effective functioning and ensuring capable and highly valuable individuals
are acquired for the business. Moreover, how HRM enables a business to be sustainable relative
to its growth and performance in the long-run. In addition to this it was also observed how KPIs
help HRM to monitor and evaluating the HR strategies in order to ensure that their strategies are
in line with organizations goals and objectives. Furthermore, it helps in establishing that
workforce plan is optimal in its functioning within the company.

10.0 References

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Akpenyi and et. al., 2019. An evaluation of an innovative workforce development
strategy. Practice Nursing, 30(2), pp.92-97.
Albats, E., Fiegenbaum, I. and Cunningham, J. A., 2018. A micro level study of university
industry collaborative lifecycle key performance indicators. The Journal of Technology
Transfer, 43(2), pp.389-431.
Chappell and et. al., 2021. Workforce segmentation: Connecting workplace supply and
demand. Corporate Real Estate Journal, 11(1), pp.15-31.
den Hertog, C., 2019. An Implementation Framework for Integrated Planning
Transformations. Journal of Business Forecasting, 38(2).
Diaz‐Carrion, R., López‐Fernández, M. and Romero‐Fernandez, P.M., 2020. Sustainable human
resource management and employee engagement: A holistic assessment
instrument. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(4),
pp.1749-1760.
Ghosh and et. al., 2020. Maximising profitability of quaternary sector organisations through
workforce optimisation. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
Roper, I., 2019. Critical Issues in Human Resource Management: Contemporary Perspectives.
Red Globe Press.
Ying, F., Tookey, J. and Seadon, J., 2018. Measuring the invisible: A key performance indicator
for managing construction logistics performance. Benchmarking: An International
Journal.
(Manivannan and Chithirairajan ., 2019)(KHAN and KARUNAGODA ., 2019)(SMIT ., 2021)