Case Study: Woolworths Human Resource Management & China Expansion

This case study examines Woolworths' human resource management strategies, specifically focusing on the factors considered when selecting expatriate and international staff for its expansion into China. It emphasizes the importance of intercultural competence, highlighting the affective, cognitive, and ability dimensions necessary for successful adaptation to Chinese culture. The study also underscores the significance of soft skills such as relational abilities, attitudinal competencies, and communication proficiency in ensuring effective knowledge transfer and cross-cultural interaction. Furthermore, the analysis delves into Woolworths' selection procedures, considering the company's stage of internationalization, the role of HR, and the use of both formal and informal processes, including recommendations, interviews, and assessment centers. The case study concludes by stressing the need for comprehensive training and compensation strategies to support expatriate performance and facilitate successful business operations in China. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Running head: CASE STUDY ON WOOLWORTHS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Case Study on Human Resource Management of Woolworths
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1CASE STUDY ON WOOLWORTHS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Executive Summary
Factors those must be considered by the company in analysing expatriate and international staff
selection was analysed through this report. It was revealed that selection of expatriates by
Woolworths in China must depend on affective dimension of intercultural competence that
reflects emotional attitude of staff towards foreign or Chinese culture. Moreover, for ensuring
best performance of the expatriates, the company must consider that the stage of international
business will impact the performance success of these employees. It was also gathered that third
country nationals (TCN) being transferred to another subsidiary and HCN transferred within
parent -country operations training methods are vital in making expatiates conscious with the
demands of the international assignment.

2CASE STUDY ON WOOLWORTHS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................3
2. Factors Considered by Woolworths in Evaluating Expatriate and International Staff
Selection..........................................................................................................................................3
2.1. Competence..............................................................................................................4
2.2. Soft Skills Needed....................................................................................................6
2.3. Selection Procedures.................................................................................................8
2.4. Performance Management Criteria.........................................................................10
2.5. Role of Training and Compensation.......................................................................12
3. Conclusion.....................................................................................................................15
References..........................................................................................................................17

3CASE STUDY ON WOOLWORTHS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
1. Introduction
Woolworths is one of the largest Australia based retailer that has expanded its business
operation as a multi-national company in several countries of the world. The supermarket retailer
has recently launched “Tmall Global” that is an overseas platform which can facilitate Chinese
consumers in acquiring range of exceptional quality products directly from Woolworths (Branco,
2018). The objective of the report is to analyse the case study of international human resource
management in Woolworths for establishing successful business operation in the selected nation
China. Considering same, factors those must be considered by the company in analysing
expatriate and international staff selection will be analysed through this report.
2. Factors Considered by Woolworths in Evaluating Expatriate and International Staff
Selection
International human resource involves developing necessary human resource capabilities
for addressing diverse needs of the multinational companies. The expatriate selection criteria for
the international business operations of Woolworths considers evaluating the candidates
technical ability, cross-cultural suitability along with family requirements those fall under
individual factors (Care & Donohue, 2017). In addition, organization-specific requirements,
language and MNC needs are greatly impacted by working situation of Woolworths. In order to
execute the planning of business expansion of Woolworths in China, the organization focuses on
regularly filling the vacant positions with qualified candidates. Positioning itself as Australia’s
largest supermarket it has attained a sustainable position in the word as an MNC through
expanding and addressing consumer needs. Certain external factors are considered by

4CASE STUDY ON WOOLWORTHS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Woolworths those ensure evaluating fairness of the company’s selection procedure such as
social, legal, economic and political factors of the host countries.
There are certain factors those must be considered by Woolworths in evaluating
expatriate and international staff selection for ensuring successful business establishment in
China (Sinangil, Ones & Wiernik, 2018). Certain important factors are focussed on competence,
necessary soft skills, and selection procedures, criteria of performance management along with
the training and compensation role. The selection decision for the people is based on the
criteria’s those are indicated in the figure below:
Figure 1: Factors in Evaluating Expatriate and Individual Staff Selection in
Woolworths
(Source: Oh, Lee & Oh, 2018)

5CASE STUDY ON WOOLWORTHS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
2.1. Competence
Woolworths employ staff belonging to diverse national cultures and for this reason in
sustaining successful business expansion in China the company must consider the cultural
environment of the country. This serves as an important factor in determining successful
performance in which intercultural competence along with capability to adjust to international
culture have important roles in selection process of expatriates (Ott & Michailova, 2016). Along
with the technical ability and managerial skills those are necessary for working in Woolworths;
the international staff selection process of the company must also consider that expatriates
require cross-cultural capabilities which enable people in operating within new environment and
for ensuring efficient functioning of culturally diverse employees. This factor is termed as
interpersonal competence where expatriates attain ability to function effectively within other
culture. The desirable attributes those must be attained by candidates in ensuring their
intercultural competence includes cultural empathy, diplomacy, adaptability, language ability
positive attitude, emotional stability and maturity. Woolworths must consider that these
competence factors are associated with three basic structural dimensions of intercultural
competence (Qureshi et al., 2017). Selection of expatriates by Woolworths in China must depend
on affective dimension of intercultural competence that reflects emotional attitude of staff
towards foreign or Chinese culture. The cognitive layer is associated with Chinese culture
specific knowledge and most vital is the ability dimension as this encompasses the actual
intercultural behaviour of expatriates.
In analysing intercultural competence for selection of international staff by Woolworth’s
cultural indulgence must also be considered as an important factor to be attained by candidates.
Cultural intelligence along the expatriate selection of Woolworths will consider analysing factors

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such as candidate’s specific form of intelligence centred on capabilities to grasp reason and
behave efficiently in situations resultant from cultural diversity in China (Sarkiunaite & Rocke,
2015). It is similar to fulfilling the criteria of intercultural competency and also includes
necessary abilities such as perceptual, cognitive, and motivational along with ability elements
that are centred majorly on cognitive dimension of such construct. Woolworths must consider
interrelating international staff selection factors such as intercultural competence, intercultural
sensitivity cultural intelligence along with global mindset which includes capability to appreciate
elements of various cultures. Such factors will facilitate Woolworths in analysing candidates
global management competencies those can be employed as a comprehensive approach in
explaining the type of management skills those must be attained by candidates selected as
expatriates. Certain factors related with competence also can facilitate Woolworths in selecting
employees for its business expansion in China (Swanson & Swanson, 2016). The suitable
expatiates must include cross-cultural relationship skills, traits and values, cognitive orientation
and global business competencies along with international visioning and organizational
expertise. Competence necessary for selection as Woolworths expatriate in China will also
include the factor technical ability that must consider basic understanding of their tasks and their
belief in task accomplishment ability.
2.2. Soft Skills Needed
In recruiting international staff or expatriates for Woolworths store on site to sell a small
and selected range of predicts directly to Chinese consumers, the company must consider the
selection factor of necessary soft skills. These skills serve as the major criterion to be acquired
by selected staff of the retail company as they are a precondition for obtaining intercultural
competence (Dowling, 2008). Soft skills of the expatriates are considered to be a vital success

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factor in addition to the technical knowledge and skills. In evaluating necessary soft skills
needed for selection of expatiates certain factors must be checked by Woolworths while selection
that includes psychological and personal features, international experience and language
knowledge. Moreover, the selected employees’ ability to internationalize along with providing
necessary training to local personnel must also be considered. Such soft skills ability can have an
important role in ensuring success of Woolworth’s business expansion in China because of its
crucial importance of technology and knowledge transfer. Soft skills factors among expatriates
such as relation skills impacts their success significantly that also includes cross cultural
communication skills along with personal characteristics in dealing with host country consumers
(Fatehi & Choi, 2019).
Relation skills must also be evaluated by Woolworths while selecting their expatriates for
business location in China as it is important for adjusting to new cultures. Attitudinal soft skills
competency is of increased importance in ensuring success of Woolworth’s business success in
China. Necessary soft skills those are necessary for the candidates to qualify as international staff
for the retail company includes open-mindedness, risk-taking, flexibility, patience, respects for
others beliefs along with spousal communication (Nilsson & Nithenius, 2016). It is also gathered
that certain effective soft skills such as being caring about co-workers and being considerate of
others are considered as exceptional ability to transfer knowledge to host nationals. In business
operations of Woolworths within diverse cultures it is considered important that selection of staff
must be based on the ability of the individuals in dealing efficiently with superiors, peers,
subordinates, business associates and consumers across diverse cultures (Harari et al., 2018). In
order to ensure success of the Australian retailer Woolworths in China, the international staff
must be shortlisted based on their communicative ability in native language and apart from that

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attaining foreign language mastery served as most important factor for a skilful expatriate. For
this reason, the candidates that quality the factors explained as necessary soft skills including
relational and technical skills will be more likely to be successful expatriates for Woolworth’s
business in China.
2.3. Selection Procedures
Selection decisions of Woolworths are influenced by specific situation of the MNC. For
instance, in Australia, the retail organization considers the proportion of expatriates to local staff
in following selection procedures that is majorly because of its staffing philosophy. However,
operations of Woolworths in certain nations such as China require more employees of diverse
cultures. Additionally, the operation mode involved requires being considered in selecting staff
to work within international business setting (Collings & Isichei, 2017). The selection procedure
will also consider analysing language skills that might be considered important for qualifying in
the expatiate position of Woolworths. The selection produce of the retail company will also be
based on analysing common corporate language as this can facilitate in analysing diverse
candidates ability to standardise reporting procedures and systems in the company. Lack of
fluency in the corporate language can therefore serve as a selection barrier. Selection processes
are important to be decided by Woolworths in measuring candidate fit with the selection criteria.
Wan, (2018) elucidated that selection processes in the multinational companies is an ad-hoc
process that is also described as “coffee machine system”. This is an information expatiate
selection process which can be implemented by Woolworths though initiating casual
conversations regarding cannot international staff position.
In the selection process the colleagues in Woolworths might volunteer the name of
potential expatriate which initiates informal short listing of international staff. Then, Woolworths

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can initiate a formal selection procedure for staffing in China. The factors those are to be
considered to develop an expatriate selection process includes the company’s stage in
internationalization process, its size or industry (Dickmann et al., 2018). In addition, the type of
position involved in Woolworths, the HR function role in the selection process and based on the
fact that the retail company is reactive in operating business in China formal as well as informal
selection process must be followed by the MNC. The selection process of the expatriates of the
Woolworths in China considers the formal selection of the candidate through recommendations
and self-selection techniques that is followed by the tests of the intercultural skills. Woolworths
must also take into account interviews along with assessment centres for selecting personnel for
the international positions.
For selecting international staff in its business location within China, a selection board
could be set by Woolworths that will include a group of internationally experienced managers
and IHRM specialists. This board can be developed for interviewing the candidates along with
evaluating the suitability of their skills within the international assignments (Dickmann et al.,
2018). Whole recruiting international staff in the Chinese business location, Woolworths can
take into consideration the candidates previous international experience, their capability to adjust
within a foreign business location, acquired soft skills within Chinese intercultural context. The
selection procedure based on analysing adjustment of the candidates within Chinese intercultural
context will be based on their skills on intercultural communication abilities along with the
personality of these likely expatriates in working successfully within the Chinese business
market. Selection of candidates by Woolworths will be based on their analysis of high
intercultural competence skills that includes tolerance for ambiguity, empathy, non-
judgementalism, flexibility and learning orientation within the international business context

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(Dickmann et al., 2018). For selecting expatiates in Chinese business location of Woolworths the
into-firm networking procedure can be employed where the multinational company attempts to
place the accompanying partner within a suitable job within another business location of the
company. Moreover, certain other effective selection procedures for the multinational company
include testing and interview procedures and adjustment process. Within adjustment process,
Woolworths can employ anticipatory adjustment through carrying out cross-cultural workshops
or seminars or in-country adjustment through analysing candidate’s skills to maintain ability of
having a positive outlook within the high pressure situation in interacting with host nationals in
international market.
2.4. Performance Management Criteria
Performance management is the processes that can facilitate the MNCs like Woolworths
in evaluating align with continuously enhancing individual, subsidiary unit along with corporate
performance against the previously defined objectives. Expatriate performance management can
be successfully conducted by Woolworths in determining the performance of their international
staff within global business environment or particularly within its business location in China
(Dickmann et al., 2018). Performance management of these employees will be conducted in
consideration to impact of the following variables:
 The compensation package- Woolworths must consider importance of developing
suitable remuneration and reward in the performance equation for its employs recruited
within the business location in China. Perceived financial benefits and the progression
potential related with international assignment are considered as vital motives for
expatriates in accepting the positing. In case such expectations of international staff are

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not addressed, the motivation and commitment level might decrease impacting their
performance.
Figure 2: Variables Affecting Expatriates Performance in Woolworths
(Source: McNulty & Vance, 2017)
 Headquarters support- An expatiates assignment is distinct from a domestic location as
it involves transfer of individual within foreign environment outside their cultural
comfort zones. The headquarters support level from Woolworths provided to expatiate
and the family serves as vital performance variable (Mol, 2015). For ensuring best
performance of the expatriates, the company must consider that the stage of international
business will impact the performance success of these employees. Moreover, Woolworths
must also consider the type of operation assigned to the international staff as conflicting
goals between parents organizations might be a common issue in international business
that can make expatriates’ job highly difficult.
 Cultural adjustment- The cultural adjustment process might be a vital determinant of
the job performance of international staff. For instance, in case Woolworths expatiates