Report on Unilever: Contemporary Management Issues & Human Capital

This report delves into contemporary management issues, focusing on Unilever as a case study. It examines the external factors shaping human capital development, the impact of information and communication technology, and Unilever's existing policies regarding talent acquisition, learning and development, and change management. The report further provides recommendations for new initiatives to thrive in the 'new normal,' emphasizing the crucial role of leadership in implementing these changes. It concludes by highlighting the importance of adapting to external factors and leveraging effective policies to achieve strategic objectives, offering insights into how Unilever can maintain a competitive advantage in a dynamic market.

Contemporary Management Issues in
the 21st Century

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................1
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

Introduction
The term contemporary management is defined as the process of using modern techniques
practices by the manager and administrator in order to smoothly carry out their work (Adams,
2018). For this report Unilever is taken as the base company. It is one of the well-established
international company founded 1929 and headquartered in UK. This report highlights the
various factors shaping the enhancement of human capital along with the information and
communication technology and existing policies of talent acquisition, learning and development
and so on is also highlighted. Appropriate recommendations to survive in the new normal and
role of the leaders in implementing these new initiatives also highlighted.
Main Body
Discuss appropriate theories as well as external factors that have been shaping the development
of human capital and assess the role and impact of information and communication technology
The human capital is considered to be one of the most essential factors of any
organization which leads them towards continuous success and growth(Inkson and Minnaert,
2018).But there are various external factors that directly influence development or enhancement
of these factors such as social and cultural factors technological factor and so on. Changing
social trance and preferences of customers leads a business organization to regularly analyse the
market and enhance their services accordingly. Also enables business organization do use
effective operational techniques and marketing activities in order to satisfy the changing needs
and wants of the customers. Satisfying the needs of customers helps them to enhance their
overall performance and gain completive advantage in the marketplace. Another factor that lead
to the development of human capital is the technology. With growing use of technology among
the customer’s, large number of business organisation is moving towards the use of technology
in their operations and functions. The use of information and communication technology has
great impact on the organization that functions in today's dynamic environment (Xiang,
2018).The use of information and communication technology makes it easy for the manage and
handle their activity and leads to creating greater efficiency and effectiveness of the human
capital. Use of technology enables organizations like Unilever to attract large number of
customers which automatically leads to increasing the profitability of the business. In context to
Unilever, the company uses communication technology in order to build or create positive and
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healthy workplace environments and also to directly interact and communicate with their target
audience which leads them to their overall development (Al-Kodmany, 2018).
Critically assess existing policies in terms of its talent acquisition, learning and development and
change management process in relation to its strategic objectives.
It allows the business organisation to smoothly carry out their activity and achieve
desired goal and objectives. Each business has their own policy their talent acquisition, learning
and development and change management process in relation to their strategic objectives.
Formulation of these strategies allows the business to smoothly achieve their target goals. In
context to Unilever, their existing policies of talent acquisition, learning and development and
change management process are mentioned below:
Recruitment : It is refers to as process to analysing and determining as well as hiring
skilled and qualified employees to achieve desired goals and objectives. In case of Unilever, the
talent acquisition team is responsible for identifying, acquiring and hiring skilled and qualified
professionals as per the requirements within the company (Schultz, 2017).
Learning and development: The learning and development policy refers to as kind of
strategy implemented to determine the employees capabilities, skills and competencies the
business organization needs also hoe they cam be enhanced in order to meet organisational goals
and lead the business towards sustainable and continuous growth. In context to Unilever, the
company has their own learning and development program which is focused on offering required
training and development to the workforce in order to improve their learning and lead them to
perform better.
Change management process: It is defined as the process of making changes or working
towards managing or handling changes in the organization (De Prado, 2018). The main
objective of change is to increase awareness and understanding of the change being implemented
in the organization. In case of Unilever, the company follows effective policy in order to manage
the change process. The company's change management process policy clearly defines the types
of change and need for it along with the roles and responsibilities.
The effective formulation of these policy and strategy will allow the business organization to
have clarity of their goal leading them to achieve their desired strategic objectives effectively.
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Make appropriate recommendations on new initiatives that organisation should adopt in order to
survive and thrive in the new normal.
The organizational agility was once very essential, but at current it is the main factor
behind the growth of the business. The current situation of Covid 19 pandemic which is mainly
global health crisis has directly impacted the financial and economic conditions of the countries
around the globe as well as directly impacting the performance and productivity of the business
organizations (Carr, 2020). This new normal has lead the business to pause and has analysis
various opportunities offered in order to make effective changes. In case of Unilever, the various
initiatives that the organization can adopt in order to survive and thrive in this new normal are
mentioned below:
Combining speed and stability: The organizational agility is refers to as the functionality
of the organization to easily adjust with growing changing market. It includes two dimensions
such as speed and stability. In case of Unilever, the company needs to be responsive in dealing
with the changing time, such as being innovative and dynamic in their thinking and actions. Also
the chosen company needs to maintain their stability in dealing with the change.
Effective use of digitalisation: Another recommendation that needs to be considered by
the organization in order to survive in the new normal is the use of digitalization. Use of digital
technology allows the business organization to manage and source their labour and smoothly
carry out their activities. There is structural shifts including in case of customer preference of
digital engagement and shifting to remote working models for the workforce. In case of
Unilever, the use of effective digitalization will allow them to identify and attract large number
of customers leading to enhance their overall performance (Yan, 2020).
Implementing systematic change through cooperation: Even with the new normal and
changing working patterns there is still growing importance of multi stakeholders collaboration
and systematic resilience. In case of Unilever, in order to be successful and continue to grow in
the market, there should be trust across diverse stakeholders. Trust across supply chain or among
the employees, the effective and systematic cooperation will allow the business to grow and
enhance themselves and gain competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Discuss the role of leadership in terms of implementing these new initiatives.
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The leaders play an essential role in successful implementation of new initiatives in the
organization through leading and influencing people to achieve desired goals In context to
Unilever, the role of the leader in implementing these new initiatives is mentioned below:
 The main role of the leader is to provide motivation to change and involve employees and
staff members in it to bring required change in the organisation to perform better and
achieve competitive advantage in the marketplace(Hollebeek, 2019).
 The leader will also ensure to offer required training and development of the employees
to work in a effective manner and achieve desired objectives.
 The leader will also ensure that there is proper flow of communication among employees
and management for the clarity of roles and responsibilities, leading them to perform
better, along with ensuring that there is proper support from the top management
 A leader will also set proper vision for the business, also regularly motivating employees
along with regularly guiding them through the work process and create moral
 Another role of leader is to bring coordination and cooperation among team members so
that they can perform towards set targets(Riccucci, 2021).
Conclusion
From the above report, it had been concluded that critically analysing the external factors
helps the business organisation to implement their strategy and achieve desired objectives. This
report helps in analysing various external factors such as technology and social factors that helps
in enhancement of human capital also effective existing policies in terms of talent acquisition,
learning and development as well as change management process is also analysed in this report.
In order to survive in new normal various recommendation that organization should adopt are
also analysed along with role of leader in implementing these new initiatives.
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References
Books & Journals
(Inkson and Minnaert, 2018)(Xiang, 2018)(Al-Kodmany, 2018)(Schultz, 2017)(De Prado,
2018)(Carr, 2020)(Yan, 2020)(Hollebeek, 2019)(Riccucci, 2021)
Al-Kodmany, K., 2018. The vertical city: a sustainable development model. WIT Press.
Carr, A., 2020. COVID-19, indigenous peoples and tourism: a view from New Zealand. Tourism
Geographies, 22(3). pp.491-502.
De Prado, M. L., 2018. Advances in financial machine learning. John Wiley & Sons.
Hollebeek, L. D., 2019. Developing business customer engagement through social media
engagement-platforms: An integrative SD logic/RBV-informed model. Industrial Marketing
Management, 81. pp.89-98.
Inkson, C. and Minnaert, L., 2018. Tourism management: An introduction. Sage.
Riccucci, N. M., 2021. Managing diversity in public sector workforces. Routledge.
Schultz, K. A., 2017. Perils of polarization for US foreign policy. The Washington
Quarterly, 40(4). pp.7-28.
Xiang, Z., 2018. From digitization to the age of acceleration: On information technology and
tourism. Tourism management perspectives, 25. pp.147-150.
Yan, Y., 2020. 1. McDonald's in Beijing: The Localization of Americana. In Golden arches
east (pp. 39-76). Stanford University Press.
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