Human Resource Strategies And Practices For Tesco

Prepare documentation required to recruit and select new staff members in your organisation.

Assess the impact of the legal, regulatory and ethical considerations in recruitment and selection process and identify the areas of improvements. In doing so, you must use relevant legislation and current regulatory frameworks to support your analysis.

As part of personnel selection, write abo u t how you took part in the selection process and evaluate your own contribution to the selection process in your capacity as the Company Manager responsible for recruitment and selection. Use appropriate theories and models to support your evaluation.

Using appropriate leadership and management theories explain the skills and attributes you need to be an effective manager and leader in your organisation.

Using the context of your organisation, explain the differences between leadership and managerial skills.

Using leadership theories, compare two different situations where you applied two different leadership styles and explain two motivational theories to e n c o u r a g e your staff to follow you and achieve organisational objectives.

As a manager how would you assess the benefits of teamwork in your organization?

According to some academic studies, managers spend an average of 25% of their time managing conflict in teams. Demonstrate how you would resolve conflicts in teamwork in your organisation? Use theories relating to teamwork to strengthen your analysis.

Review a possible strategy to improve the effectiveness of the team in your organisation. 

Explain the factors involved in plaing the emonitoring and assessment of work performance of the employees in your organisation.

How would you plan and deliver the assessment of the development needs of your employees?

Evaluate the success of the assessment process used in your organisation to support the development needs of employees.

The function of human resource management plays a vital role in the success of the organization. The continuously increasing competition in the global and domestic market makes the organizations focus on developing their strategies, which eventually increase the investment on the human resources department. It has been long recognized that appropriate investment in the human resource department can provide the organization a sustainable foundation of the competitive advantage with a visible increase in the probability of a successful implementation of the business strategies of the organization. The development of the human resource capabilities are broadly seen as an essential part of enabling the business specific competitive advantages. Many scholars argue that the management of the human resources is not a separate function, rather than it is the means of implementing all the necessary business strategies (Dmitrieva et al. 2014). This report discusses and reviews the Human resource strategies and practices of Tesco, a giant retailer of UK. The company has introduced model with highly committed employees who have been offered sufficient training and development to all the employees. Tesco has developed the culture through a commitment model and extended their logo that proves the commitment of the company with not only their employees, but also to their customers. The company has implemented several new strategies during the past years which indicated the increasing significance of the function of HR practices within the organization. The retail sector of UK is a gradually increasing competitive market that has numerous companies competing to provide outstanding performance to the consumers. The consumers now also want to merge the traditional retailing service and the expediency of technological usages. Therefore the companies are determined to provide a flawless experience of shopping to the consumers. The retail sector in UK is mostly an Omni-channeled retailing. The annual growth of the industry is around 10% on an average in the online sales and consumers now continue to order a reliable and rapid delivery of their products, therefore the need of sophisticated supply chain management systems are required for all the companies in retail sector. Now the company has planned to develop a core team which selected members who can perform as expected out of their job roles, so that the company can enhance its chances of achieving the business goals. Considering the strategic development plan of the company, the board members need to recruit some more employees to the team. This report will discuss the process of recruitment of the employees which will benefit the company in future. The report will prepare a detailed documentation for selecting and recruiting new employees and assess the impact of the regulatory, legal and ethical concerns that can be involved in the selection process. It will use suitable leadership and management theories and explain the fine line between the managerial skills and leadership. Later the report will shed light on the benefits of teamwork and discuss the conflict management within the company. Therefore the report will evaluate the assessment process of the developmental needs of the existing employees.

Task 2

Documentation of recruiting and selecting new employees 

Several companies spend quite a lot of money and time for the recruitment process of the selection and recruitment policy but most of the times they fail at the final hurdle (Rothwell et al. 2015). There have been several times when the new recruits go clueless about what they have to, or where should they go. For the new recruitment process, Tesco will implement a new documentation procedure for the recruitment and selection process. The company will prepare an organized set of documents that will be provided to the new staff members.

The offer letter will accompany the primary details about the recruitment and the contract. It will include:

• Job Specification – It is the statement that includes the necessary components regarding the job, summary of the specific works that are to be performed, basic responsibilities and duties and the primary qualifications that are required to perform the job.
• Person Specification – This is a description of the skills, qualifications, knowledge, experiences and the other selection criteria that the candidate needs to have for performing the primary duties of the job. These specifications generally form the foundation of the recruitment process.
• Short Listing Matrix – The basic purpose of the short listing matrix is to identify the potential candidates who meet the selection criteria for a specific post. This matrix decides whether the candidates are capable enough to carry out the primary duties of the job.
• Advert – A job advertisement contains the details as such: short description of the company, description of the overall profile of the job, how the person will be responsible within the job profile, the perks and benefits of the company and the necessary skills of the job.

The employment contract is essential for both the employee and the employer as it sets the base of the employment relationship and ensures the necessary terms and conditions of the employment.

The employee handbook will contain the necessary details of the staff benefits and the terms of contract. However it will not link itself to the employee contract as it can work as a breach of the claim in the contract (Bush and Middlewood 2013). The employee handbook will contain an introduction of the employees with a brief history of the organization, the joining details, the code of conduct, communication systems and employee relations, employee benefits and incentives, entitlement of holidays, family leaves and other leave policies, security policies and other necessary information.

Legal, regulatory and ethical considerations are the basic standards that guide the regular business activities according to their established organizational value. In this selection process, Tesco will consider all the legal, regulatory and ethical impacts. For this reason, Tesco needs to consider the Equality Act 20110, which states the types of discrimination that can occur at the workplaces and makes them illegal. These kinds of discriminations include direct and indirect discriminations, discrimination by perception, harassment, victimization, and discrimination by a third party. The team for the selection process will also consider the sections of the recruitment and selection process such as, disability, age, marriage and civil partnership, gender reassignment, race, pregnancy and maternity, religion, gender and sexual orientation. The European Working Time Directive will also be considered to ensure the basic rights of the employees are secured. The National Minimum Wage rate per hour depending on the age and appropriateness of the employees will also be considered while recruiting the employees. Apart from that, Data Protection Act 1998 shall be considered as well (Klingner, Nalbandian and Llorens 2015).

There will few ethical considerations in the recruitment process as well. The selection and recruitment process will hire the employees who are to be respected as human beings. The company will follow the rights, utility and justice, so that there is no discrimination throughout the recruitment process.

As the hiring manager of Tesco I have taken part in the selection process and made successful use of the major responsibilities. The first role was to plan the possible outcome of the recruitment process that considered the organizational design of Tesco, competencies, leadership team placement etc. I had also looked at the internal talents of the company who can be further promoted for the required posts. Therefore, I have generated a specific job description of the role with the help of the HR partner and the recruiters. At this stage the present labour market has been analyzed and reviewed, so that the company has an overview of the possible outcomes. Therefore the recruitment process had occurred avoiding the potential pitfalls. Before the recruitment process, a critical agreement has been done on the hiring profile so that all the recruiters are able to send a consistent message to the potential candidate about their job role. As it has observed in the past that multiple interviewers tend to increase the quality of the management decision, therefore four interviewers were selected for the hiring process. I have taken active part on the decisions so that there is no common drawback in the entire system. I have also taken initiative to avoid the bias and prejudice in the decisions with the help of the halo effect. This effect refers to the tendency of using the international evolution of making judgments regarding particular characteristics. This effect can also be considered as a mental short cut that helps the management to make decisions about the person while judging their behavior. I also make the drafts of the panel questions that are to be asked to the potential candidate and briefed it to the panel. 

Task 3

The Skills and Attributes for an Effective manager and Leadership in Tesco 

Being a retail manager, one has to do a lot of work. I have to ensure that each and every section of the retail outlet is functioning properly. A retail manager has to take care of the sales associates, deal with the consumers, and every other thing that needs to be done. This is the reason why the employers in this industry look for versatile people who can adopt whatever is required in the job (Rock 2014). There are few skills and attributes that are required for an effective manager and a leader in Tesco. These skills are:

As a manager in Tesco, I will a leading a team which will mostly comprised of the inexperienced individuals, which is a tough job. According to the leadership theories, a retail manager should be an example in front of his subordinates. By providing examples I will be able to motivate the other employees.

Most of the retail employees are responsible for the development of the sales. Therefore as a retail manager, I have to work as a background manager in the sales department as well.

Retail is fast changing sector, therefore as a retail manager I need to be flexible enough to accept the changes.

Retail is one of the dynamic industries in the world, so a lot goes into to be a retail manager. Therefore a retail manager needs to be a good planner, organized and a strong troubleshoots. In other words, the retail manager should be a multi-tasker.

As a retail manager I need to be a good communicator, as it is the most important think while work with the employees and the consumers. As a manager I might need to direct the store meetings and may also need to confront various internal and external situations. I may also need to face negative consumer facing situations where I have to deal with the clients alone, therefore a good communication skills will help to communicate with them in an effective way.

Leadership is the ability of leading a certain group of people, also inspiring them towards a common goal. In is an interpersonal procedure than includes inspiring a group to make sure the achievement of the organization. This is not something that can be taught to people, rather in a quality that is actually possessed by a small group of people. Therefore in an organization, the leaders are accountable for their teams and the outcomes. For any particular achievement the employees are divided into teams and given tasks (Peterson 2016). In the business scenario the ability of leadership is not only limited to the individuals, but the organizations can also called the market leaders by defeating other companies.

However management refers to the skill of an individual for the controlling and dealing of the persons who are from different backgrounds or age groups and ensuring that they work towards shared objective. However management is not only limited within the individuals, an effective management comprises of a balanced 5Ms – Man, Material, Money, Methods and Machine (Welch 2014). There are diverse functions in the management sphere such as controlling, planning, organizing, motivating, leading and decision making.

Task 4

Therefore it can be said that these two terms are inseparable by their nature, as management always comes with leadership. Therefore the manager needs the leadership qualities. In any organizations both the things reside together as both are necessary for the organizational development.

There are different kinds of situations that can be faced in the retail outlet. Being a manager I should have sufficient qualities to control the situation.Few days back I had faced a situation where the workers seem to be irritated and unhappy in the staff members meeting. In order to find out the reason, I started being with them in the workplace. Therefore I found out the basic reason which was the dirty pantry. The workers were not at all happy with the food quality as well. According to Hertzberg’s two factor theory the hygiene factor works as a strong motivator, therefore I renewed the pantry which motivated people to work harder. I also used the behavioural theories that offer a new perspective on the particular behaviours of the leaders. As a leader I have used by behavioural traits to convince the employees. According to the contingency theory of the leadership, there is no specific way of leading; the leaders are required to adjust their decisions according to the decisions. In this situation, I have adjusted my decisions ensuring that the employees are provided a healthy environment.

Few days back I experienced employee retention. After a detailed analysis of the situation I got to know that this is mostly because the employees are feeling that their not being rewarded enough. According to the expectancy theory, the employees work harder on the basis of the reward they are going to get as a result to that work. However, the workers were not feeling they are adequately rewarded for their hard work and leaving the organization. Therefore I changed the situation by implementing few reward and recognition system that had decreased the employee retention.

Assessing the benefits of Teamwork in the Organization 

An efficient team can help the organization in achieving incredible outcomes. Working in a team can benefit both the employees and the organization at the same time. Assessing the benefits of teamwork involves improving the skills of the employees, building complementary strengths and teaches them the necessary conflict resolution skills (Parmenter 2015). The benefits are as follows:

• Teamwork fosters the learning and creativity in the group of workers. The team can brainstorm new ideas as a group and it enhances the chances of coming with a great idea which might not be possible in solo thinking (Boulmetis and Dutwin 2014). Thus, teamwork maximizes the sharing of the knowledge in the organization and helps everyone to learn new skills.
• Working together helps the employees to build on other’s talent in the team. While one’s strength is creative thinking, the other co-worker can shine in the planning and organization part (Kuehn 2016). Relying on each other’s individual talents will enhance the teamwork.
• The team projects help the employees to tackle the obstacles and create a common working environment together. Working together and towards the shared goal of the company help the employees to feel more connected to the organization (Boulmetis and Dutwin 2014). Therefore, this helps the organization in the long run, as this will improve their employee retention policy.
• A solo employee working on a project might not take any innovative steps due to the potential risks related to it; however, sharing the risk, failure or success together in a team will enhance the chances to take healthy risks regarding a project (Kuehn 2016). Once the team gets success together, it will work as a bonding experience for the team members.
• Synergy is the combination of the power of the group when few individuals are working together and it is greater than working separately. Therefore teamwork can be fruitful in fulfilling any particular task than working alone.
• Teamwork also enhance the shift of risks as when a groups makes a decision about any risky situation that tends to be different in a positive way than a decision made alone.
• Teamwork also improves the productivity of the organization to a great extent.

It is no secret that team conflict is part of the regular life in an organization. People have different point of views under the same circumstances, therefore these differences are often seems difficult to escalate. As a manager, the primary job is to resolve the conflicts between the team members. However, conflicts do not always have a bad impact on the team, but a constructive and healthy conflict improves the functioning level of the team (Albrecht et al. 2015). However, the manager needs to understand and appreciate all the viewpoints of the team members while resolving the team conflicts. In doing so, the manager can pursue the following steps:

• The specific conflict needs to be acknowledged before managing or resolving. Most people ignores the initial signs of the conflicts considering it to be a trivial one, however this may create problem in the future.
• The manager should also discuss the potential impact of the conflict on the team.
• The most significant part of the resolution would be keeping the communication process open for everyone (Bolden et al. 2015). Listening to the problem actively can enhance the procedure.

• Whatever may be the reason of disagreement, it is vital to clarify the positions of everyone. This may be a time taking procedure, as it will be helpful for the manager to check the facts objectively and without emotion.
• The manager may make a list of the facts, potential assumptions and beliefs that underlie every position.

This is the most necessary part of the resolving a conflict as the manager needs to analyse and evaluate the entire situation, therefore plan to reach to the shared agreement within the specific timescale. According to the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI), the behaviour of the individual in the conflict situation can be defined in two dimensions – Assertiveness and cooperativeness. These two can also define five ways of dealing with the conflicts.

Figure 1: Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

Source: (Parmenter 2015)

Team effectiveness generally refers to the coordination of getting the employees of the organization to work together in an effectual way. The skills for team building are very much essential for the organization (Bolden et al. 2015). Therefore, in this section, a potential strategy for improving the effectiveness of the team will be discussed.

In order to improve the team effectiveness, the manager should follow few basic strategies. The primary strategy for setting the employees up for more effectiveness within the team will help the organization and it will also incorporate a sense of belonging in the team employees. The primary strategy that the manager can follow for this is to set the common team goal. The goals will support the purpose and the mission of the team. The goals should be measurable, so that each of the team members should understand the specific requirements (Bridges and Bridges 2017). For instance, putting a vague term in front of the, the manager may specify the required goals. A measurable aim will help the employees to evaluate their own performances as well. The goals should also have a specific date to finish off their work. Having a specified goal in the team will enhance the team bonding, thus improve the team effectiveness.

Factors Involved in Planning and Monitoring and Assessment of Work Performance 

Due to the increasing pressure in the business world, the organizations are required to execute more effective business strategies. For this reason, it is necessary to plan, monitor and assess the performance of the workers in an organization. This procedure focuses on the progress of work and improving the efficiency. The organizations are now implementing various innovative solutions in order to make sure that the work procedure is delivering efficient results and improving the business performance (Wagner and Hollenbeck 2014). In Tesco, the managers are now using several assessment tools for the performance assessment. It is a procedure that enables the managers to measure and evaluate the efficiency of the employees so that they can optimize and improve the overall productivity in future. The factors that are involved in this procedure are:

• Efficient goal setting
• Using the suitable assessment tools for tracking the progress in various outlets of Tesco, recognize the issues and report the outcome.
• Aligning the individual actions of the employees with the objectives of Tesco
• Having a transparent communication in defining the daily tasks and setting particular performance expectations for all the employees.
• Documenting the performance of individual employees so that the manager can support their further career planning choices.
• Focusing on the specific areas of skill improvement and employee competency, so that the learning activities can be chosen carefully
• Documenting carefully so that the decisions of human resource department can be supported and the employee dispute can be reduced.

The purpose of planning and delivering the assessment procedure is to examine the employees and aligning their competency level with the targeted efficiency and productivity of Tesco. The assessment will enable the manager to examine whether an individual employee is meeting the necessary level of performance, therefore he or she can plan the further intervention policies such as providing training and development to the employees, improvising the compensations, promoting them, recommending for further leadership roles etc (Glykas 2014). However, if the assessment reveals that there is a huge gap between the performance level and the target, there should be immediate release or demotion of the employee. Planning and delivering the assessment of the developmental needs of the individual employee can be done following these steps:

• Effective goals – Setting the particular performance expectation for the employees would clearly show the outcome of what are they capable of.
• Communication – A clear and transparent communication regarding the task and the anticipated result should take place.
• Support – The supervisors at every outlet should provide effective resource and necessary support to all the employees.
• Performance Assessment – The suitable tools should be utilized to assess the level of performance.
• Feedback – After the reporting of the findings of the assessment, the supervisors should discuss the areas of strengths with the employee. If there is a scope for training and development, the organization should provide that.
• Monitor the development – In order to sustain the improvements and constantly retool the employees for further complicated tasks, individual development should take place. This procedure of constant evaluation will help the organization to determine the appropriate remuneration packages.
• Appraisal Interview – This is a process of exchanging between the employee and the manager which is specifically designed to examine the performance of the employee and create a further career development plan.

For the evaluation process the manager should create a questionnaire including the questions such as:

• What are the goals of the assessment? Were they clear?
• Were the used ways for conducting the assessment convincing?
• Were the tools and the assessment process utilized for measuring the performance rate reliable?
• Was the methodology realistic?
• Was the assessment process transparent?
• Did it include adequate feedback?
• Did the assessment policies employ a huge range of tools and methods?
• Were the assessments suitable?
• Was it free from any kind of bias?

If the assessment process is efficiently implemented, the assessment can result in the best practices with all the employees and managers of Tesco.

Conclusion 

This report has assessed the necessary requirements in the retail outlets of Tesco. If all the requirements are fulfilled and methods are efficiently implemented, the assessment can result in the best practices with all the employees and managers of Tesco. These procedures not only make the job of the human resource depart easier, it will also motivate the employees to a great extent.

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