Resourcing the Organisation: Unilever PLC and Labour Market Dynamics

This report examines resourcing strategies within organizations, with a specific focus on the dynamics of tight and loose labour markets. It explores the impact of these market conditions on human resource planning and talent management, using Unilever PLC as a case study. The report delves i...Read More

Resourcing the organisation

Table of Content
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Resources are required by the organisation for turning their plans and goals into
outcomes that they aim to achieve. Various strategic plans are formulated by the companies so
that they can implement them (Ayentimi, Burgess and Brown, 2018). Resources which the
employees emphasis upon are human resources, technology, materials, machinery, equipments,
finance etc. All the units of work are identified along with the required resources with the help of
which they can execute such tasks and activities effectively. The purpose of this essay is to
develop an understanding of various concepts related with human resources planning such as
tight and lose labour market along its impact on resourcing and planning for the talent. Apart
from this the essay includes in depth analysis of various concepts, insights and principles of the
tight and lose labour market. For this the organisation that is chosen is Unilever PLC which is a
multinational organisation offering a wide variety of goods and services to the customers.
MAIN BODY
Labour market is the employment market in which an organisation competes with other
organisation for procuring better and suitable candidate. This can be on local national and
international level. At this place the employer and employee interact with each other so that they
employee can get and job and employees can get a right fit for their job role (Boroughs and
Palmer, 2016). Labour market is considered as an economic function in which the demand and
supply of the labour is studied. The demand and supply for labour if fluctuating as it depends
upon the prevailing marketing conditions. While managing the human resources of the
organisation it is important for the organisation to consider various types of market so that they
can resource efficient employees to different departments of the organisation. The two types of
market that must be taken into consideration include tight labour market and loose labour
market.
Tight labour market is the one in which the rate of unemployment is very low due to
which the people have ample opportunities. It is a situation in which the employees do not quit
their jobs so often and even if they do so then the unemployment spell is average as with ample
opportunity they can easily find another job. In such a market the wages are highly pressured as
with significant opportunities the employees bargain for the wages. This leads to organisation
facing fierce competition in procuring better candidate for them (John, and Björkman, 2015).
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Loose labour market is a market in which the employers have a large number of candidate
out of which they can select the most suitable one for them. This situation arises in case of scarce
job opportunities due to which a large number of people compete for a job role. It is a market in
which the unemployment rate is high and this is due to excess supply of labour in the market.
The impact of loose labour market is that an organisation can shrink the pay, for the scare jobs
overqualified people can apply etc. From organisation point of view this situation is better as in
this they tell the employee what has to be done rather than persuading them, wages can be
managed by them and many more.
Individual bargaining is the concept with the help of which an employee and employer
negotiate for various terms and conditions of the employment. In this situation the employers are
in upper hand as they can efficiently negotiate for their terms because of lack of collective
strength of the employees. But this has positive impact on the organisation as with the help of
this the employer can efficiently manage relations with the employees. Individual bargaining
offers various benefits such as it reduces the chances of conflicts in various matters, an
individual can express their opinions and views which will enable them not to compromise. But
the adverse impact on individual bargaining is that it can affect the decision making of the
company as the terms and condition of the negotiation may not be as per their existing policies.
For the organisations it becomes important to analyses the differences between tight labour
market and loose labour market so that they can determine various strategies that can be adopted
by them while planning for the human resources and talent management. In tight labour market
the wages can be reduces as pressure of the employees is much due to more of demand than
supply but in case of loose labour market the wages can shrink as supply of the labour is more
than the demand. With the help of this the employer can determine the amount that they have to
spend as wages or salaries. On the basis of this they can determine the budget for the recruitment
and various programs for the development of the employees (Link, and Müller, 2015). The
amount to be spent on recruitment will be more in case of tighter market while due to surplus of
people willing to work requirement of the funds will be lesser as they can negotiate on the basis
of their greater powers. In case of tight labour market the organisations can faces an issues in
recruiting suitable candidate as in such scenario the employees do not change their jobs
frequently and the one who want to change they provides various terms and conditions. Whereas
in case of loose labour market condition the employer can easily determine efficient employees
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as in this situation they have a pool of candidate. Further for managing the talent better
significant policies must be formulated by the HR managers of the organisation. For tight labour
market the strategies need to be more specific as per the prevailing market situation while for
loose labour market situation the polices and strategies can be formulated which do not require
much research and efforts.
The labour market has various impacts on resourcing and talent planning in any
organisation. This is because labour market is determines the demand and supply of labour. The
demand of the customers is dependent upon the level of education, skills, experiences, trainings
and many more which has direct impact on the human resource planning. The people are
recruited on the basis of these factors only as the organisations also aim to procure better and
highly qualified candidate. But the prevailing market situation affects the strategies, policies and
planning of the organisations (Athamneh, 2018). Various impact of labour market on resourcing
and talent planning are change in recruitment activities, with the changing conditions more
sophisticated polices need to be used by the HR department of the organisation. Tight labour
market situation leads to changes in the advertising strategies of the organisation as with the help
of this can attract new talent, a large pool can be created, ex- employees can be attracted back to
the organisation. while in case of Loose labour market situation existing strategies may be
changes rather the requirement of advertising from various sources reduces which will lead to
cost saving for the organisations. The another impact will be on the retention initiatives of the
organisation as the managers need to understand the mindset of the employees an reasons behind
leaving the organisation. By identifying such reasons they can take various initiatives that can
enable them in retaining their employees. The requirement of reviewing and modification in
retention strategies increases in case of tighter market as in such situation it becomes important
for the organisation to retain their employees so that the need recruitment does not create in the
organisation. Such policies are important in case of loose market also as employee turnover will
increase their cost of managing employees. Further labour market has impact on reorganisation
activities. This is the strategy in which the organisation focuses upon skill mix process so that
they can achieve overall organisational objectives as employees with different skills can enable
them in performing better. In situation of tighter market this strategy of the organisation will
have impact as for this the HR managers need to procure more and more employees for
developing the employees mix that can increase their overall capabilities (Ashton, Maguire, and
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Spilsbury, 2016). But due to lesser supply the recruiting of new candidate will not be easy and
thus will directly affect this policy. Whereas in case of loose labour market, this strategy will not
get affected much as they will be available with significant number of people to be recruited.
Also they will have impact on the developmental initiatives that are taken by the human resource
department of the organisation. With the help of this strategy the organisation tries to improve
the capabilities of their existing employees with the help of various training and development
programs. In case of the tight labour market the focus of HR department on this strategy increase
as with the help of this they can improve the efficiency of their existing employees that will
enable them to deal with the prevailing situation. But in case of loose labour market the company
may not focus on this as this strategy increase cost of the company. They have ample candidate
which can be recruited so the impact on this strategy on this type of market is not much.
The impact of loose labour market on the organisation is significant as this has impact on
the behaviour of the employees working in the organisation such as this make the employees less
engaged, less enthusiastic. This has impact on their performance as they will not put their efforts
in an effective manner thus it reduces their contribution in accomplishing the goals. But in case
of tighter market organisation do not faces such issues (Theodoropoulou,2018).
All these impact of the labour market increase the requirement of the organisation for the
human resource planning and talent management as with this they can focus upon their existing
employees and better strategies of procuring new employees.
Human resource planning is a continuous process that help the organisation in systematic
planning so that the resources of the organisation can be utilised effectively. With the efficient
human resource planning a fit can be managed by managers of Unilever between the capabilities
of the employees and requirements of the job. By planning various activities the HR mangers of
the organisation link their overall organisational objectives with their recruitment strategies.
There are different stages in the process of the human resource planning that facilitate managing
the employees effectively. Various activities are undertaken by the human resource department
while planning which includes analysing organisational plans and objectives. In this the business
plans are divided into sub-sectional and functional plans so that they can assess the requirement
of the human resources among different departments (Wood, and Horwitz, 2015). Another
activity that is undertaken by them includes analysing the objectives of the human resource
planning as with the help of this the managers of Unilever can determine the area where they
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need to focus such as they need to focus upon procuring new employees or they need to develop
the skills in the existing employees by way of various training and development sessions. The
managers are forecast the demand for the human resources in future. For this they need to
analyse the external and internal business environment as on the basis of which they identify
staff mix, quantity of the number of employees. This enables the Unilever to have adequate
number of employees so that tasks and activities can be completed on time. Another activity that
has to be undertaken while planning for the human resources includes forecasting the supply of
human resources. With the help of this the market situation can be assessed that will enable
Unilever in determining budgets for various activities, along with this they can determine the
requirement of promotion, transfer, changes in various working condition etc. The another one of
the most important theory that must be undertaken by the HR includes the monitoring and
controlling of the employees. This facilitates them in analysis the performance of the employees
as on the basis of their performance and behaviour various compensation and benefits are
planned for them. This facilitate the managers of the Unilever in motivating their employees and
retaining them for a longer period of time. In addition to this various corrective actions can be
analysed with the help of which they can make their employees capable enough of dealing with
the change and in managing their existing performances (Zewdu, 2018).
The managers and leaders of Unilever formulate various plans for managing their
employees. For this various components that are included in their plans are determination of
supply, utilisation plans for the employees, formulation of various learning and development
plans etc. For instance the learning and developments plans of Unilever are taken into
consideration. With the help of this plan they can determine the learning and developmental need
of the employees which has impact on the performances of the employees. Various trainings and
development need of the employees are identified by the managers through media as Unilever
focusses upon more use of media. It is because they believe that designs of various such plans
can be developed easily with the help of media. Along with this the organisation various on-the-
job training programs are organised by them which enable them in learning and understanding
the existing role effectively.
The another activity that is taken to be taken into consideration is the communication
planning. It is one of the important aspect that is to be taken into consideration while planning
for the human resources as in an organisation effective communication is must as with the help
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of which they allocate various tasks and responsibilities to the employees ( Berloffa and et. al.,
2016). The medium which they have using within their organisation for effective communication
includes by way of letters, manuals, fax, email, intranet, meetings, telephone and video
conferencing. In the organisation all the formal messages are send through emails, fax, letters
etc. while for making the customers aware of various actions and activities of the organisation
various manuals are published. This make their employees capable of developing effective
understanding which enable them to reduce the chances of various conflicts, effective
communication can further leads to reduced chances of misunderstanding among the employees.
This will improve decision making process of the companies.
With the use of effective HRM theory a supportive team can be formulated by the
organisation which will enable them in increasing the productivity, growth and development of
the people and of the organisation both. Various theories that are used by Unilever for
accomplishing their goals includes Harvard model of human resource management. This model
includes six components that includes situation, stakeholder, HRM policy choices, HR outcomes,
long-term consequences and feedback loops (Leroy and et. al., 2018). With the help of these
components overall performance of the organisation can be increased. This model provides
various HR policy that are considered by the managers so that they can effectively manage the
employees. Various such policies includes human resource flows, reward systems, employee
influence, work system. With the help of human resources flows they manages recruitment,
selections, placement, promotion, termination etc. of the employees so that they can manage the
number of employees. It will enable them in ensuring the availability of capable employees on
the right time. Then the other strategy is reward system and this strategy will facilitate the
managers of the organisation in deciding an appropriate pay and benefits for the employees.
Efficiency in this strategy enable them in keeping their employees motivated and to build healthy
relations with them, this can lead to better relations with the employees so that they can be
retained for a longer period of time. The another role is influencing the employees by way of
delegating various responsibilities to them. In addition to this various authorities and
responsibility are also delegated which made the employees of Unilever feels integrated part of
the organisation. Another HR policy which is focused by the Unilever are work system and this
will enable them in alignment of the people as per their capabilities to various jobs (Zhang and
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et. al., 2016). This will make the managers and the leaders in utilising their human resources in
such a manner that they can accomplish their objectives.
Identification of various policies and strategies that are adopted by the organisation
facilitates the human resource department in effectively utilising their resources. Along with this
they can identifying the impact of labour market conditions that can enable them in determining
various aspects such as the capabilities that they require and requirement of various plans that
can enable them in managing the organisation efficiently. Retaining the talent of the organisation
is another important challenge that they need to focus upon as with the help of this they can
make them understand various strategies.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that the organisation must analyse the labour market
efficiently so that they can determine its impact on the organisation. With such analysis they can
determine various strategies and policies that can facilitate them in dealing with the impact. In
managing such situation HR planning and talent management strategies plays significant role.
For developing better understanding various examples are taken into consideration so that they
can deal with the situation effectively. Further various theories of human resource management
are used so that better understanding can be developed and efficiency can be improved.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
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implications for youth. Springer.
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21st Century. IntechOpen.
Ayentimi, D.T., Burgess, J. and Brown, K., 2018. HRM practices of MNEs and domestic firms
in Ghana: divergence or convergence?. Personnel Review.
Berloffa, G. and et. al., 2016. Youth employment security and labour market institutions: A
dynamic perspective. International Labour Review. 155(4). pp.651-678.
Boroughs, A. and Palmer, L., 2016. HR transformation technology: Delivering systems to
support the new HR model. CRC Press.
John, S. and Björkman, I., 2015. In the eyes of the beholder: the HRM capabilities of the HR
function as perceived by managers and professionals. Human Resource Management
Journal. 25(4). pp.424-442.
Leroy, H. and et. al., 2018. Managing people in organizations: Integrating the study of HRM and
leadership.
Link, K. and Müller, B., 2015. Delegating HR work to the line: Emerging tensions and insights
from a paradox perspective. German Journal of Human Resource Management. 29(3-4).
pp.280-302.
Theodoropoulou, S. ed., 2018. Labour market policies in the era of pervasive austerity: A
European perspective. Policy Press.
Wood, G. and Horwitz, F., 2015. Theories and institutional approaches to HRM and employment
relations in selected emerging markets. In Handbook of human resource management in
emerging markets. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Zewdu, G.A., 2018. Ethiopian female domestic labour migration to the Middle East: patterns,
trends, and drivers. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal. 11(1). pp.6-
19.
Zhang, J.A. and et. al., 2016. The interactive effects of entrepreneurial orientation and capability-
based HRM on firm performance: The mediating role of innovation
ambidexterity. Industrial Marketing Management. 59. pp.131-143.
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