The field of strategic HRM is still evolving and there is little agreement among scholars regarding an acceptable definition. Broadly speaking, Strategic Human Resource management is about systematically linking people with the organisation more specifically; it is about the integration of HRM strategies into corporate strategies. HR strategies are essentially plans and programmes that address and solve fundamental strategic issues related to the management of human resources in an organisation Schuler (1992). They focus is on alignment of the organisation's HR practices, policies and programmes with corporate and strategic business unit plans Greer (1995). Strategic HRM thus links corporate strategy and HRM, and emphasises the integration of HR with the business and its environment.
Working Title:
The impact of human resources strategies on the organizational
Performance (Employee satisfaction & Performance)
It is believed that integration between HRM and business strategy contributes to effective management of human resources, improvement in organisational performance and finally the success of a particular business Holbeche and Schuler and Jackson, (1999). It can also help organisations achieve competitive advantage by creating unique HRM systems that cannot be imitated by others Barney, (1991) Huselid et al. (1997). In order for this to happen, HR departments should be forward-thinking (future-oriented) and the HR strategies should operate consistently as an integral part of the overall business plan Stroh and Caligiuri (1998). The HR-related future-orientation approach of organisations forces them to regularly conduct analysis regarding the kind of HR competencies needed in the future, and accordingly core HR functions (of procurement, development and compensation) are activated to meet such needs Holbeche (1999). Two core aspects of strategies HRM are the importance given to the addition of HRM into the business and corporate strategy, and the devolvement of HRM to line managers instead of personnel specialists. Brewster and Larsen (1992) define integration as 'the degree to which the HRM issues are considered as part of the formulation of the business strategy' and devolvement as the degree to which HRM practices involve and give responsibility to line managers rather than personnel specialists. Moreover, because within a firm, the participants and the interests are many it is difficult to identify the role and the significance of each particular organizational element particularly when there is no specific corporate plan for such an investigation.
Reason for choosing this topic:
As the human resource is essential for all the organization and there development is must. Organizations in the UK are very much concerned with providing better work life balance which respects its employees, customer and organization especially in the context of major socio economic changes being happened in the public as well as private sector in order to achieve a "win-win" situation where employees' preferences correspond with employers' desire for adjustments of working practices.
It has been argued Conaghan, Fischl and Klare (2004) that globalisation has brought substantial change in the method, time, place, and career structure which have varying degree of impact on our society. So the policies should be reformed for the purpose of giving better life for the employees to maintain their services for long term. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has suggested major endorsement for the benefits of flexible working through connecting the rural area of Britain with broad band internet connection which will facilitate flexible working environment without compromise over the life. For example if the call centre executives has trained so as to work from their home at midnight they could have reduced their travelling expense and spend their valuable time with their families in home. Human resource has become an important aspect in the organization.
Literature Review
Human resources should be considered as a significant organizational asset. In this context, the application of the appropriate strategies for its development, can lead to the improvement of the corporate performance both in the short and the long term. However, there are also companies where human resources are not considered as having particular importance for the firms' growth. In this context, Haines (1997) supported that there are firms that "view their human resources as an expense rather than an asset an element that is expendable and perhaps discarded when the skills possessed becomes obsolete however when human resources are viewed as an asset, companies enhance individual value through training and human development and ensure continued contribution to the organization". The importance of human resources for the corporate performance has in any case proved both in the literature and the empirical research conducted in all industrial sectors. In accordance with the above, in order for a firm to achieve a stable and continuous growth, it is necessary that its employees are satisfied as this term has been explained in the literature. More specifically, in accordance with Kim (2005) "job satisfaction is an affective or emotional response toward various facets of one's job. Job satisfaction has been a topic of great interest for researchers and practitioners in a wide range of fields, including organizational psychology, public administration, and management". On the other hand, the existence of job satisfaction has been extensively related with the level of payment of employees in the particular sectors of a specific organization. Indeed, the study of Rudman (2003) showed that "paying for performance is a big issue in contemporary human resources management; organisations have long believed that production and Productivity improve when pay is linked to performance, and have developed Payment-by-results (PBR) systems and incentive schemes to support this belief". In the same context, it is noticed by Blinder (1990) that "employees usually feel that profit sharing and gain sharing are good for personal effort, company growth and productivity, and workplace atmosphere". However, in order for the firms to achieve the maximum level of growth, it is necessary to design and apply the appropriate HR policies as indicated by each particular firm's needs. The use of 'fit' as a criterion of evaluation of the appropriate corporate strategy has been extensively used in practice. Towards this direction Wright (1998) mentioned that "the basic theory behind "fit" is that the effectiveness of any HR practice or set of practices for impacting firm performance depends upon the firm's strategy (or conversely, the effectiveness of any strategy depends upon having the right HR practices)". In other words, the issues that need to be considered by a firm before applying any relevant HR strategy are many. Indicatively, Katz ell (1975) tried to identify the relationship between the employee satisfaction (as a result of a specific HR strategy) and the corporate performance and found that "policy-makers must face up to a serious dilemma and find some way to resolve it; the dilemma is this: policy-makers would like to achieve two objectives for work organizations, on the one hand to enhance productivity and performance, and on the other to improve the quality of working life and job satisfaction for employers because under certain conditions, improving productivity will enhance worker satisfaction and improvements in job satisfaction will contribute to productivity; what it does mean is that there is no automatic and invariant relationship between the two". Under these terms, corporate performance has been found to be related with the employees' performance within a particular organization. From a different point of view, Lawler et al. (2003) supported that 'HR's greatest opportunity to add value may well be to play a role in the development and implementation of corporate strategy HR can make a logical case for being an important part of strategy development, because of the importance of human capital in the ability of the firm to carry out its strategy". In other words, HR strategy can influence the firm's growth in accordance with the measures provided for the personal and professional development of the firm's employees even in the long term. The implementation of appropriate diversity strategy has to be considered in this case as absolutely necessary because in case of inequality in the workplace, no cooperation would be regarded as existed even if such cooperation exists, it will be problematic. In this context, Mathews (1998) noticed that "before diversity strategies are implemented, the organization's cultural environment, management and evaluation systems should be examined to ascertain if existing personnel/human resources processes will support or hinder diversity in the organization then, appropriate strategies can be designed to develop and manage diversity based on these findings". From the same point of view, Ramlall (2003) supported that "given that several large-scale studies have proven that HRM is a critical driver in an organization's financial performance, it is imperative for HR and other leaders to understand the critical nature and utmost importance of understanding the effectiveness of all HR activities in creating value for the organization". To a more thorough examination of the problem, Christensen managed to identify the five elements that are considered as most crucial in the improvement of the employees' productivity (as this improvement is expected to lead to the increase of the corporate growth). More specifically, Christensen supported that there are five elements which are extremely important for the effectiveness of employees within a particular organizational environment. These are a) The technical organization of the group b) The social structure of the group c) The individual task motivation, i.e. the willingness to work hard that each member brings to and maintains toward his job d) The rewards he receives from doing the job, and e) The satisfactions he obtains from being an accepted member of the group. The above elements can exist in any organization and can influence the productivity of its employees either in the short or in the long term.
Review of Tesco Plc:
Tesco is recognized to be United Kingdom's biggest supermarket, dominating in British retail sector with both global sales and domestic market share. It originally caters in food but expanded it scope of service to clothing, consumer electronics, consumer financial services, internet service, and consumer telecoms. Tesco's strategy is focused in long term engagement and based into four key parts namely: core UK business, non-food business, retailing services, and international presence in 2004, stores continue to expand from ninety-eight (98) to an intended two hundred seven (207) in 2005, half of which will be located in Asia. Tesco's triumph as the company explains is due to an excellent Operating Strategy and Management team.
Tesco started off with self-service supermarkets in the U.S. during the 1930s. After a few years of operations, Tesco management then realized that selling a wider variety and larger stock volumes, and employing fewer staff dramatically lowered product prices. This was the start of great things for the company. Even as everything else crumbled into pieces during the war, Tesco was at the onset of its prosperity, thriving in the midst of adversity. It was in the 1940s when Tesco came to Britain to introduce self-service stores. About 20 years after, Tesco had become a familiar name, not only for groceries, but also for fresh food, clothing, and other household goods (2003).
Tesco has built its 100th superstore by 1985, and in 1987, it announced a £500 million plan to build 29 more stores. By 1991, the success of its petrol filling stations earned for the company Britain's biggest independent petrol retailer. In the 1990s, the company built on its success by developing new store concepts and new customer-focused initiatives. Tesco broke new ground in food retailing by introducing, in 1995, the first customer loyalty card, which offered benefits to regular shoppers whilst helping the company discover more about its customers' needs. Other customer services followed, including grocery home shopping, Tesco Direct for catalogue shoppers and the Tesco Baby club for new parents, as well as the launch of Tesco Personal Finance a joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland. It continued its winning streak in the new millennium.
HR and Organization's Performance in Tesco Plc:
Creating the employees as champions and as a significant aspect of the organization naturally results to other positive outcomes. One of which is the improvement of the overall organizational performance (2000). A number of empirical studies have concluded that HRM practices have a significant effect on the organization, which leads to high performance Tesco (1999). One good example that identifies this relationship was the study conducted by Tesco (1996). Utilizing 590 profit and non-profit-oriented firms, the researchers concluded that HRM practices like staffing selectivity and training are positively associated with organizational performance.
Organizational performance is achieved through HRM functions as they mould the employees as significant contributors to the firm. Having the appropriate skills that are honed to the maximum level, HRM practices will then lead to the attainment of various goals of the organization. From this relationship, it is then appropriate to conclude that the function of the HRM in a firm is not totally focused on hiring employees.
With Tesco and its management, organizational performance is reaping the fruit of success with the apparent results of effective HR strategies that goes hand in hand with the powerful marketing strategies that are put into operations. Today, as Tesco operates globally, the need to focus on international and strategic planning of HRM is necessary. Managing the diversified members of the labour force as well as the target market requires further involvement of the company to future feasibility studies and marketing probing. But with the existing resources of Tesco today, its operations will continue to flourish as it proves the assumption that effective HR strategies as well as practices serve as a competitive edge among other businesses both domestic and worldwide in operations. The competitive advantage of Tesco is credited to the suitable strategic plans of its administration including its HR. Indeed, effective HR strategy will result to a competitive advantage.
In sum, HR strategies or HRM in general, is a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an integrated array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques. It is about understanding, researching, applying and revising all human resource activities in their internal and external contexts as they impact the process of managing human resources in enterprises throughout the global environment to enhance the experience of multiple stakeholders, including investors, customers, employees, partners, suppliers, environment and society.
Research Question:
Do Tesco as an organisations show a 'tight fit' between their HRM and organisation strategy where the former is dependent on the latter? Do specialist people managers believe they should develop HRM systems only for the effective implementation of their organisation's strategies?
Do Tesco managers consider their human resources as a cost and use them sparingly? Or do they devote resources to the training of their HRs to make the best use of them?
Do HRM strategies in Tesco vary across different levels of employees?
Aims and Objectives of the Research
Current research as already mentioned above will focus on the examination of the relationship between HR strategies applied within a particular organization and its performance. In order for the above task to lead to valid results, a series of other issues are going to be examined at a secondary level. These issues are indicatively:
a) Which is the significance of the HR for the organizational operation?
b) How the HR strategies can be more effective?
c) Is there any chance for innovation in firms with specific HR plan or any relevant initiative has to be adapted to the existed Framework?
d) Which are the main aspects of organizational growth and
Research Methodology
The research methodology will be based on the qualitative analysis, i.e. on the presentation and the analysis of a series of findings retrieved by researchers in the literature (textbooks, journals). The presentation of appropriate primary sources (statistical indexes, graphs, tables of primary data) will be also used in order to support the views of the literature and the personal assumptions on the particular subject. In other words, the research will be mainly secondary mostly because of the 'objectivity' of data involved.
More specifically, the use of primary research would not be particularly helpful mostly because the existence of possible problems in the HR sector or the financial performance would not be likely to be revealed by firms, no matter the industry in which they would operate. For this reason, a research that would be 'free' from personal influences or interests has been chosen.
Critical literature review:
Review will be based on the wider database consist of books, journals, and reliable online sources. The plenty of data available with respect to the evolution and concepts of work life balance practices will be critically analyzed through this. The first three research aims and objectives is intended to be dealt through the literature review method. The literature review will start with a historical perspective of the evolution of the work life balance concepts from the previous human resources concepts. There will be a critical analysis of the concepts, its advantages and disadvantages and the influences on better human relationship practices for the employee and the organization. Part of the fourth objective which is the change requirements, difficulties in implementations, frictions among the management and staff and within the staff will also be dealt with the literature review method.
Conclusion
Industries in the UK is giving more importance to human resources provisions due to the increasing demand from both workers as well as the policy makers as it could have high influence in reducing cost of job and job related stress. Over a short span of two decades many amendments have been taken place for regulating working conditions, especially in the public sectors that rigorously provide flexible working conditions for the talents. Tesco approach to maintaining the employee satisfaction and also maintaining the strategy has helped them to increase there market presence. This has reflected in their recruitment and retention figures. Efficient management of work life balance means competitive advantages for both employers and employees. Companies perceives that every employee perform best if they have given a chance to balance their work and other aspects of life.
It is intended through this research that a better perspective will be evolved on the concepts and practices of human resource policies practices in the UK. The research intends to focus on the present work life methods, practices, its advantages and disadvantages to both employees and the organisations and the various implementations
