Unilever: HR's Role in Organizational Design and Success Factors

This report examines the role of Human Resources (HR) at Unilever and its contribution to the company's organizational success. It explores Unilever's organizational structure, specifically its use of a line and staff structure within a divisional framework, and how organizational design impacts its goals. The report delves into the relationship between organizational design and structure, highlighting both traditional and contemporary design approaches. It also discusses the two main approaches HR uses to contribute to organizational design: qualitative and quantitative. Furthermore, the report covers various HR techniques used for employee development, including performance appraisals, employee relations, and HR planning. Finally, it addresses emerging HR developments, the need for adaptation to changing environments, and the importance of contemporary knowledge and research in supporting HR practices and driving employee performance. The report emphasizes the importance of HR in driving organizational success through effective design, employee management, and adaptation to change.

VALUE AND
CONTRIBUTION TO
ORGANISATION
SUCCESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction............................................................................................................................3
Organisation structure............................................................................................................4
Organisation design and its relation with organisation structure...........................................4
The two approaches to show how the organisation that HR function contributes in design of
Organisation...........................................................................................................................6
Recommendation....................................................................................................................8
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................9
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
Change-management..............................................................................................................9
Role of HR in change management and relation with organisation design...........................9
Organisation Design...............................................................................................................9
Recommendation....................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The human resource management is very essential as it highly contributes towards the
success of organisation. As they perform various functions for the organisation which allow them
to achieve competitive advantage(Conn and et. al., 2016 ). They emphasis that the investment in
human bodies adds value to the performance of company. The organisation chosen for using as
example is Unilever. This is a globally well named company and they has different brand in
their under such as Axe, Omo etc. This report will cover the importance of organisation design
theory in relation with the organisational structure and fulfilling organisational strategy. The
different approaches and techniques which is used to motivate, attract and maintained skilled
human resource. This will also include conduction of research to find evidence for emerging
need of HR developments. The organisation design related to the change of management and
overcoming the barriers which are not allowing to adopt changing environment.
PART 1
Introduction
Unilever is a globally well known company which transacts in consumer goods company
and its headquarter is established in London, United Kingdom. They produce goods related to
foods and beverages and earn high amount of revenue from it. They also produces other type of
products such as cleaning agents, beauty products and personal care. This is the one of the most

old multinational company and its products are almost available in 190 countries. They own
more than 400 brands. This company was founded on september2, 1929. Unilever has its four
main division which are personal care, food, Refreshment and Home care.
Organisation structure
Organisation structure refers to the activities which are involving roles and responsibility
of different levels so that the objective of the company can be achieved. The organisation
structure can be categorised into various types such as matrix, divisional, line, line and staff etc.
Unilever uses line and staff organisation structure (Corba,cioglu and Kapucu2006).
Hierarchical structure: This kind of structure allows employees to grouped with every
employee having one clear supervisor. Grouping of employees is done on the basis of different
aspects such as function, geography, product etc. This structure provides a formal
communication platform which assist employees to communicate different levels of
management, power or authority.
Flat structure: This kind of organisational structure is mostly adopted by small sized
organisation due to having less number of projects and employees. Under this structure, various
level of middle management is eliminated which makes easy for employees to directly
communicate with their respective manager and ask queries in quick manner.
Matrix structure: Under this kind of organisational structure, the reporting relationships
are rigid in nature. It is kind of organisational management under which employees with same
skills are grouped for work assignment and one manager is appointed to whom the employees
are reporting.
Divisional structure: Under this kind of organisational structure, each function of has its
own division which correspondents to either products or geographic. It is also known as M-form
due to having multi-divisional structure. The main advantages of implementing such kind of
organisational structure is the independent operational flow that means failure of one company
doesn’t negatively affect the existence of others.
Unilever is UK based organisation engaging in provide wide range of products such as
food and beverages, beauty products, and personal care products. The company owns more than
400 brands with having turnover of 53.7 billion in the year 2017. Due to selling products of
different brands, divisional organisational structure is currently adopted by Unilever.

Organisation design and its relation with organisation structure.
Organisation design is a procedure which is used for the identification of workflow
system, structures and realigning them so that this will result in achievement of business goal and
plans are formed if there is requirement of any changes. The organisation design is essential for
the success of the organisation. Unilever has their defined organisation structure which helps
them in increasing profitability, productivity and helps in adopting innovation. The poor
organisation design can lead to loss of performance which decreases productivity. This result in
more issues such as confusion in roles, lack of coordination etc. The Unilever has a clear mission
and has talented people to achieve the goals. Organisation design are of two types that is
traditional and contemporary. In changing environment, contemporary is used by the Unilever
which includes the formation of team structure, matrix structure, project structure and it make the
organisation as a learning organisation (Eriksson and Kadefor, 2017).
Types of organisational design:
 Traditional design: It consists of simple structure, functional structure and divisional
structure.
 Contemporary design: It includes team structure, matrix structure, Project structure,
Autonomous internal units, Boundaryless organisation, learning organisation.
Unilever has currently follows divisional organisation structure which is directly
connected with traditional design. This linkage between organisation design and structure of
Unilever are briefly described as below:
A divisional structure is made of separate, semi-autonomous units or divisions. This
means that within one corporation there are many divisions having their own goals and
objectives to achieve. A manager is appointed to oversee their division and completely liable for
any failure or success.
Unilever is also having different functions which have their own goals and objectives
thus using traditional design with their divisional organisation structure helps them in
maintaining the relationship among different functions and contribution towards organisational
growth and success.
The effective organisation design must be aligned with the divisional organisation structurer
followed by Unilever. The availability of right business strategy, right people and the right
resources.

Organisation Size- The type of structure depend upon the size of company. The larger
size leads to formal structure. Unilever has larger size so they require to use formal structure and
defined work system and a clear role of authority and responsibility.
Organisation life cycle- The life cycle of an organisation includes four stages which are
Birth, youth, mid-life and maturity. The Unilever has at the stage of youth as they are growing at
a rapid pace as they every time make changes in their products which maintains them to remain
at a profitable stage. The company mainly accepts the latest technology which increase the
production efficiency and this relation of structure and design benefits the organisation.
The two approaches to show how the organisation that HR function contributes in design of
Organisation.
There are two approaches which can be used by human resource in designing the
organisation structure to achieve the specified objective effectively are as follows-
Qualitative approach- This is a approach used by the subordinates so that they can make
significant effort in achieving organisation objective. This approach is useful in the organisation
as it controls the conflict taking place in the organisation and it is an effective approach as it
result in satisfied need of the workforce. The Human resource management of Unilever has to
adopt this approach as it allow the human resource to take decisions in a right way and it
positively affects the performance of staff in the company(Lord and et. al., 2015). This will also
allow their employees to take part in the decision making process and it helps in improving the
communication process as they are allowed to freely express their views and they feel valued in
the Unilever and they get motivated to perform better in the company. For this, the HR of
company formulates various policies such as providing them compensation etc.
Quantitative approach- This is the main approach used by human resource as they
transform or allow the flow of communication of superior to subordinates. The Unilever require
skilled manpower to perform various activities of company so the human resource of Unilever
has to estimate the requirement of manpower according to the changes that will takes place in
market. They perform various function such as recruitment, selection, orientation and provides
training to the selected employees. They fill the vacant position of the organisation and then
provide expertise to the selected employees so that they perform their job role effectively which
will result in achievement of organisation objective.

The above approaches used by human resource allows them to conduct the operations of
the company in an effective manner so that the goals of the organisation can be achieved.
Different approaches and techniques used to develop human resources:
There are different approaches which can be used by Unilever in order to attract,
maintaining and developing and rewarding employees to make them more dedicated towards
organisational goals and objectives. Here are some approaches to adopt:
Performance appraisals approach: This approach measures the performance level of
employees by using different techniques such as KPI, Benchmarking etc. Unilever can use KPI
tool to measure the performance level of employees which makes easy for their managers to
identify the gap between the desired and actual level of performance of employees. This will
facilitate manager to make an effective decision such as conduction of training and development
programs etc. for improvement of their productivity and performance level.
Maintaining employee’s relations approach: This approach mainly focuses on
improving the employee’s relations with their respective managers so as to bring out maximum
result. Unilever uses this approach to establish a strong relationship with their employees and
creates healthy working atmosphere within an organisation. For this, manager can provide an
opportunity to their employees to engage in decision-making process, considering their new
ideas etc. which indirectly strong their relationship with their employees.
Human resource planning: Framing an effective HR planning by involving employees
to take participate supports employee relations with their respective manager of department
which creates healthy working environment within an organisation. In Unilever, HR manager
can conduct different programs such as orientation, seminar, meetings etc. where the employees
can be invited to participate and give their new and innovative ideas to increase the effectiveness
of decision making process. It increases retention rate of employees which in results increasing
performance level of an organisation (Thite, Wilkinson and Shah, 2012).
Emerging needs of development of HR and how the chosen approaches will relate to HR
practices and its response towards the changing external environment and internal environment
of the workplace.
The development of human resource is necessary to develop the skills, abilities and
capabilities of the staff members. As It is duty of the human resource to maintain staff needs and
their performance ability in the company. The Unilever has adopting various techniques to

increase the capabilities of their staff members such as training and development. This will allow
staff members to enhance their skills and knowledge related to job they are expected to perform.
This will increase their efficiency and productivity that will allow company to achieve their
organisation objective related to changes happened in technology and implementing it in an
efficient manner by doing changes in process of communication. In relation with this, the
practices of human resource which are adopted by the managers of company is beneficial for
achieving the goals and objective of organisation in an effective and efficient manner(Magalhaes
and Mattos 2015).
The Unilever is using situational approach to plan about the changes in their production
factors as they are launching new technology which will increase their efficiency of operations.
The human resource of Unilever is focusing on hiring new staff members who has required skills
and knowledge about the changed technology and other factors of production.
Research and use contemporary knowledge to support evidence for emerging HR
developments:
HR Development and its related practices drives employees to enhance their performance
level by contributing maximum efforts with using their skills and knowledge (Emerging HR
trends, 2019). There are various emerging HR developments includes:
 Linked In for Recruitment and selection: This approach is used to recruit and select
employees who are more skilled and capable to contribute maximum efforts towards
organisational goals and objectives. Unilever uses this approach to fill the space of
workforce with skilled and knowledgeable employees by publishing advertisement of
vacated job position on different platforms such as Linked In.
 Artificial intelligence: Veriato’s AI platforms which is designed to single out employees
that may be heading for the exit door. It helps in tracking employee’s computer activities
which includes keystrokes, internet browsing etc. and keeps it for one month and
implements AI system to evaluate the data in order to determine a baseline of normal
activity patterns in an organisation.
 Evaluation system- This is the practice which is performed by the HR of Unilever so
that the performance of their staff can be evaluated which will allow company to know
where their capability is lacking and they can perform various functions to increase their
less area of skills (Moskovsk and et. al., 2016).

Recommendation
After analysing the above points of report, it can be recommended for the Unilever to
make changes in their company from time to time so they will be able to increase their
efficiency. The plans and strategies required to be modified so that the performance can be done
according to the changes in external and internal environment. The HR of Unilever has to recruit
skilled employees which will be a assets for the company and help the company in achieving the
organisation goal.
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that the structure of any organisation depends
upon the size of the company and if any company want to survive in a long run then the changes
are necessary to be applied. The human resource of the company is an essential part of the
company which allows company to achieve their target objective.

PART 2