1

NORTH SOUTH UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
MBA PROGRAM
BUS 601 : HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT [Section-4]

Submitted to:
Professor Dr. M. Mahmodul Hasan
School of Business, NSU

Submitted By:

GROUP MEMBERS:
1.Nusrat Minallah Shoshi- 142 1301 660
(Team Leader)
2. Zubayer M Rakib- 141 1923 060
3. Anisur Rahman-142 1811 660
4. Fariya Tasmin Chaity - 142 1648 060
5. Rounak Ahmed - 143 0638 660
Date of Submission: 12th August, 2015

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
To
Prof. Dr. M. Mahmodul Hasan
Course Instructor,
Human Resource Management (BUS 601: Sec-4)
MBA Program
North South University
Subject: Submission of Corporate Analytical Term Paper.

Dear Sir,
It is a pleasure to submit the CORPORATE ANALYTICAL TERM PAPER for the
course, Human Resource Management (BUS 601).
This term paper is very much relevant to what we have learnt in this course. It truly
reveals the real essence of Human Resource Management and certainly helped us to
understand the course better.
We have tried to make this term paper as correctly as possible within the given time and
instruction and we would feel gratified if the paper serves its purposes. Therefore, we
would be obliged if you could please accept this paper.
Sincerely yours,
BANGALI VHOOT GROUP
GROUP MEMBERS:
1. Nusrat Minallah Shoshi- 142 1301 660 (Team Leader)
2. Zubayer M Rakib- 141 1923 060
3. Anisur Rahman-142 1811 660
4. Fariya Tasmin Chaity - 142 1648 060
5. Rounak Ahmed - 143 0638 660
Date: 12th August, 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This is a submission of a CORPORATE ANALYTICAL TERM

PAPER of BANGALI VHOOT group of Human Resource
Management Course, BUS 601, Section-4, MBA Program, to our
honorable teacher, course instructor, Prof. Dr. M. Mahmodul
Hasan.
We are highly indebted to our BUS 601 course instructor, and want to
acknowledge for his guidance and constant supervision as well as for
providing necessary information regarding the term paper & also for
his support in completing the total project.
We, the group members have taken efforts in this term paper and its
presentation. It would not have been possible without the kind support
and help of all the group members who participated in the making of
term paper and gave realistic opinion on the topic.
We would like to express our special gratitude and thanks to those
individuals who gave their opinion, recommendation and valuable time
for accomplishing our paper and making it more valuable.
Our thanks and appreciations also go to our classmates in developing
the term paper and people who have willingly helped us out with their
abilities.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Corporate Analytical Term Paper is about the Human Resource Management
of four renowned foreign companies, Marks & Spencer, Selfridges & Co, Primark
and Sainsbury's. We have tried to prepare the report on the basis of analytical
tools provided to us, like what type of HR management, the four companies are
running in this 21st century, what can be the management challenges for them.
Also we have tried to put lights on the impact of information technology on the
HR management of these four companies.

We tried to discover their

Recruitment and selection system and also their performance appraisal methods
and reward systems as reward system of such old age sustainable and profitable
companies are always replicable. We found that to apply in the four companies
job everyone needs to register in their e-recruitment system. Company provides
a link or reference number from which we can see the application status. An
applicant needs to sit for online assessment test. Then successful candidate are
called for interview. After successful completion of interview they offer the job.
Wherever you are you can apply in any job of the four companies if you have
qualification they want. They practice the equal employer opportunity. Next we
tried to find out their career development and training programs which they
provide to their employees and the amount of financial budget they allocate for
them in terms of training, salary, increments, bonuses, pay holiday, pension, life
insurance and others.. We tried to cover the health and safety issues and ethical
standards that they are maintaining, and finally we tried to provide a comparison
of all theses information among these four companies to understand which
company is maintaining the highest standards. At the end, we gave some
suggestion and recommendation how they can improve their HR practices.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Content

Page

Definition of Human Resource Management

Chapter 1 : HR Practices of Marks & Spencer's (a)

Chapter 2 : HR Practices of Selfridges & Co (b)

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Chapter 3 : HR Practices of Primark (c)

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Chapter 4 : HR Practices of Sainsbury's (d)

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Compare & Contrast HR Practices among (a) + (b) +

(c) + (d)

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Conclusion

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References

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Definition of Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management is the policies and practices involved in carrying out the
people or human resource aspects of a management position, including recruiting,
training, appraising, and compensating employees, and of attending to their labor
relations, health & safety, and fairness concern. Or, in other words, according to Gary
Dessler & Biju Varkkey, in their book of Human Resource management (13e),
"Human Resource Management is the process of acquiring, training, appraising
and compensating employees, and attending to their labor relations, health and safety,
and fairness concerns."
According to Decenzo and Robbins: "Human resource management is a process
consisting of four functions-acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance of
human resources

HR Management in the 21st Century: Challenges for the Future

Over the last two decades, there has
been an unprecedented increase in the
number of organizations that have
internationalized their operations,
including Marks & Spencer. The
international movement of labour that
has been concomitant with such
expansion of international business
has meant that issues associated with
the management of human resources
across International borders are
increasingly important to international human resource managers and academics. This
poses a lot of challenges to HR managers.
The rapidly transforming business landscape means that there are currently many
human resource management challenges which will continue to evolve for years to
come. Companies, like M&S, are recognizing that they will need to take steps to retain
their workforce. This could be through an increased emphasis on training and
engagement programs or by investing in areas that will optimize expenditure, such as
integrated technology systems or improved candidate attraction schemes.
Due to the fluctuating economy as well as local and global advancements, there are
many changes occurring rapidly that affect HR in a wide range of issues.
Some of the human resource management challenges for Marks & Spencer are as
follows:

Change management (48%),

Leadership development (35%),

HR effectiveness measurement (27%),

Organizational effectiveness (25%).

But, typically, the main challenges of HR manager include Value Addition and
Talent Management within the organization trying to attract and keep talented
and hard-working people in the organization, managing globalization, Information
Technology, business control, Information-workers and info-management.
The modern business can not effectively operate in the business world if the human
force is not well equipped with the latest technology and techniques. This is the
responsibility of the human force manager to properly train the work force and to see
the basic things the human force needs to achieve the competitive advantages of
business in 21st century.
Becoming and remaining an Employer of Choice is also one of the most topranking HR-related challenges for M&S. Establishing employer-of-choice status is HRs
responsibility, and if HR does this well, all other practices become subordinate to this
goal. The most important objective on the people side of the business is establishing a
place where individuals want to work and remain working. HR should be concerned
with providing potential, current and even past employees with this environment.
Employees need a culture, a place in which to grow and feel good about their
surroundings.

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The Impact of Information Technology on HR Management:

Opportunities & Challenges

IT has benefitted M&S in HR in the

following ways:

Cost decrease: First, IT reduced costs of processes and works. For example, transforming
from traditional HR to eHR reduced costs of some HR applications, such as, postal cost,
announcement cost and data processing cost. E-selections and e-recruiting decrease costs of
staffing and selections due to reduced employee turnover, reduced staffing costs, and
increased hiring efficiency.
Saving Time: IT allowed HR professionals to spent less time on routine tasks and made it
easier to acquire and analyze information.
Increase in Efficiency: Intense use of IT aromatizes and standardizes routines. HR
Professionals may focus less on administrative activities and more on interpreting
information. Thus, HR professional can access more information, reduce errors, respond to
problems in a timely manner.
Enabling communication and collaboration: IT is a tool for effective
communication and collaboration. E-mail, messaging, discussion lists, videoconferencing,
virtual teams, electronic workgroups, and teleworking have changed the nature of workplace
communication and collaboration. These make workplace interactions possible for
employees even when they are not physically present in the workplace.
Competency Management: IT tools enable HR professionals both to reach larger
candidate pool, make decisio- making more objective, and effective to employ more relevant
and competent candidates by means of decision making techniques in the selection and
recruiting process. Improving and shortening the recruiting process increases competencies
of incumbents and as a result quality of works.
Knowledge Management: Using IT tools such as intranet, virtual collaborations, data
storage and data mining has improved skills for knowledge acquisition and distributions.
Knowledge Management tools also facilitate knowledge participation and empower the
specific task areas, and access to and disseminate information more efficiently.
Structuring Strategic HR: IT builds stronger HR units and allows HR to engage in more
significant strategic roles. IT solutions free HR from the burden of routine administrative
tasks.

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Challenges of Information technology for M&S:

New skills required
Downsizing
Collaborative work
Business environmental change
Development of technology
Service improvement

Recruitment and Selection Process of Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer has a wide
range of jobs vacancies ranging
from retail stores, head office,
distribution centres and shared
services centre. They mainly use
online application forms for
recruitment as this attracts a
wide pool of applicants from all
over the country, but they also
use internal and external search
methods.
One of Marks & Spencers current objectives is to accelerate the growth of its
international business in order to increase market opportunities. The key to this
expansion is to offer outstanding value for money and good customer service. The
objective of accelerated growth can only be met successfully if Marks & Spencer attracts
and retains the best available staff. The new stores have been groomed for success by
adapting to local markets, business practices, cultures and consumer preferences.
Marks & Spencer recruits around 250 university graduates in the UK each year. They are
well known and have a good relationship with graduate career advisors. Marks &
Spencer also has a presence on campuses and a well-deserved reputation for training. A
long-term presence in this labour market helps Marks & Spencer to find the high calibre

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graduates required for the opportunities it has to offer.

The first stage in the recruitment process is the completion of an application form. This
form is then carefully checked to determine whether to invite the applicant for an
interview. Before attending an interview, candidates must be prepared to answer
probing questions. They may also be asked to carry out some research for discussion at
the interview.
Marks & Spencer uses a structured behavioural interviewing format. This means that
interviewers seek evidence of predetermined selection criteria. At the initial stage, these
are:

Leadership

Planning and organizing

Assertiveness

Analytical consideration

Job motivation

Interviewers explore, in depth, candidates experience in activities drawn from

education, social life or work (including placements) to determine the degree to which
they possess these skills.
The next stage of the selection process is an assessment centre. Candidates are given the
opportunity to actively demonstrate these qualities by performing a series of business
related management exercises over a 24-hour period - in which both group and
individual work is involved. Assessment centres measure candidates against all sevenselection criteria they have been proven to be the most effective method of predicting
successful performance on the job.
After the assessment centre, successful candidates will be offered a job. Before they
accept, they are invited to spend a day with Marks & Spencer to find out more about
their role and to make a final check on whether they think a career with Marks &
Spencer is suitable for them. The considerable evidence gathered at the assessment

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centre enables a development needs profile to be drawn up. This is feedback to the
trainee on starting work and forms the basis of his or her individual development plan.

Performance and Reward Systems

The 766 stores that Marks and Spencer
has in the UK is an indication of the
extensive range of jobs in Marks and
Spencer. Marks and Spencer offer high
standards of customer service to all of its
customers. Therefore, employee
motivation is an important aspect of
maintaining the level of quality in the company.
The following are the types of benefits that are offered to employees in Marks and
Spencer to ensure they are satisfied:

Pay and performance related awards to recognize individual

achievements for jobs in Marks and Spencer

Employee discount of 20%

Pension plans for new employees for jobs in Marks and Spencer

Bonus schemes for employees with jobs in head office and retail
departments

Perks such as 1,500 discount deals to be used across leisure activities

and products for jobs in Marks and Spencer

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Career Development and Training & Development Program

There are always two sides to an employment
relationship. Marks & Spencer wants the
training and development of knowledge,
skills and attitudes of its employees to fit
corporate goals, while individuals will want
their career to develop to meet their own
personal expectations and aspirations.
All managers at Marks & Spencer are able to
create a career planning profile. This enables
them to focus on their next target role. They
can then develop a career path to support this
ambition. Staff identify specific training needs based upon the technical skills and
business competencies for that role. The profile also highlights what programmes of
training Marks & Spencer needs to plan for. There are two forms of training:

On-the-job training: This takes place while employees are carrying out an activity in
their place of work.

Off-the-job training: as its names suggests, takes place away from the workplace.
On-the-job training
On-the-job training might include having an attachment to a section manager
responsible for inspiring and motivating a team. An employee gets to see first-hand
what it would be like to work in that role. On-the-job training also involves practical
learning. This could mean being involved in a range of projects to improve technical
skills and business competencies. The key to this training is to get Marks & Spencer
employees 'to enjoy their work and feel they have all the skills they need to do their job
to the best of their ability'.

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Coaching

An important way of increasing skills is performance coaching. This is a form of

coaching by line managers. They review a person's performance and give feedback on
their strengths and any development needs. Together, they agree how to improve and
identify the opportunities to demonstrate these skills in their own jobs. The coaching
gives the trainees confidence and is a successful element of the training programme.
An important way of increasing skills is performance coaching.
Off-the-job training
Marks & Spencer uses a range of different methods to help its employees with off-thejob training. For example, within the organisation there is an intranet. Staff can find
learning materials on this that enable them to develop their technical skills and business
competencies. Other resources for training and learning include workbooks that are
used by staff, often for open learning. Workshops and other more formal activities
provide opportunities for employees to practice their skills with the opportunity for
feedback from other staff.

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Financial Budget of HR
Employee Compensation is $204,444. An increase of
$204,444 in Personnel Services reflects $128,914 for a
2.18 percent market rate adjustment (MRA) in FY
2013, effective July 2012, and $75,530 for a 2.50
percent performancebased scale and salary increase
for nonuniformed merit employees, effective January 2013.

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Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics

Marks and Spencer have been working with Highfield for the past 10 years to develop a
compliance training system that can rival any in the UK.
Induction Training
As part of induction training staff are given sessions on health and safety and food
safety. Members of staff are presented with a copy of the customized compliance book,
containing essential information and quizzes to test understanding.
Training Materials for Food Handlers
Highfield training materials provide delegates with the support they need to obtain a
Level 2 Food Safety qualification. These training materials highlight the food safety
issues critical to the Marks and Spencer operation.
Food Safety Experts
Every site has 2 managers trained by Highfield in Food Safety to L3. These managers
also participate in an additional days training, which covers the Marks and Spencer
HACCP system and their role for overseeing this on site.

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Health & Safety

Every site has a Fire, Health and Safety Officer who trains using Highfield materials.
The Fire, Health and Safety Officer works with the Management team to oversee health
and safety. This blended bespoke course includes distance learning, manual handling
train the trainer and Marks and Spencer specific policy, and the HABC Level 3 Health
and Safety qualification.
Security
Highfield developed a customised CCTV course for all operators. This course is taught
using Highfield books.

Licensing
Marks and Spencer has an internal training system for staff on age-restricted sales,
which uses Highfield training materials. In Scotland all sellers of alcohol are trained
using the interactive A Question of Licensing for Scotland book which covers the 2
hours of required training. Personal Licence holders sit the HABC APLH and SCPLH
qualifications.

M&S Health & Safety

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Code of Ethics & HRM Policies

Maintaining highest standards of honesty and integrity to their customers,

employee, shareholders and supplier

Making sure that their forms of communication are clear, honest and accurate

Welcoming of their customers feedback in other to improve their services

Committed to an active equal opportunities policy.

Formation of business involvement group known as BIG constitution to enable

the Employee to share their ideas

Provision of occupational health services to the employee

Recommendations
The following suggestions may transform some of the current challenges of M&S:

Decentralized management approach,

Cut or design store space to suit different demographics and also vary their range
of products for the food offering sections,

Sell both own labeled and branded goods (food and non-food) to drive sales
conversion,

Have a consistent store layouts to facilitate easy navigation and comfort for
customers,

Revamp the HR and finance departments with new strategies in the payment of
pension funds,

Review its pricing strategy in order to attract a broad range of customers.

New shares should be floated in the stock market to get more funds to run the
company,

Effective leadership,

Use of scientific change management models,

Utilize technological advantages to the changing market,

Use of micromanagement in the changing process

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CHAPTER 2

Selfridges is one of the world's finest departmental stores that dominate the west end
of Oxford Street, London, United Kingdom. Selfridges, also known as Selfridge & Co.
is a chain of high-end departmental stores in the United Kingdom. The flagship store on
London's Oxford Street is the second largest shop in the United Kingdom after Harrods
and was opened on March 15th, 1909. The shop has six floors offering ten acres of
shopping space, eleven places to eat. From high fashion wardrobe co-ordination to
wedding lists, it has every shop you'll ever need. Recently, Selfridges opened three more
stores around United Kingdom.

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HR Management in the 21st century: Challenges for the Future

Human resources are a term used to describe the individuals who comprise the
workforce of an organization. The use of the term 'human resources' by organizations to
describe the workforce capacity available to devote to the achievement of its strategies
has drawn upon concepts developed in Organizational Psychology.
Before we go further, lets look at some of the things that managers tell the employees
make their jobs more difficult and that they cant directly control. Every time that
employee survey managers in any industry, in any department, about managing others,
they bring up the following issues as among the most important and most difficult
things that they deal with:
1. Productivity Productivity is the amount of output that an organization gets per
unit of input, with human input usually expressed in terms of units of time.
2. Job satisfactiona feeling of well-being and acceptance of ones place in the
organization
3. Turnoverpermanent loss of workers from the organization (People who quit
would be considered voluntary turnover, while people who were fired would be
involuntary turnover.)
4. Absenteeismtemporary absence of employees from the workplace.
5. Recession a recession is a business cycle contraction. It is a general slowdown in
economic activity
6. Offshoring the process of moving jobs out of one country in to another country.
7. Mergersjoining ownership of two companies. The number of mergers in recent
years has steadily increased worldwide and presents new challenges to HR professionals.

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The Impact of Information Technology on HR Management:

Opportunities and Challenges
Technology has had a positive effect on internal operations for organizations, but it also
has changed the way human resource managers work. HRM professionals have become
the primary source of information in many organizations. Information can quickly and
easily be communicated via company Web sites and intranets, e-mail, and messaging.
Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) allow HRM professionals to better
facilitate human resource plans, make decisions faster, clearly define jobs, evaluate
performance, and provide cost effective benefits that employees want. Technology helps
to strengthen communications with both the external community and employees.

Recruitment & Selection Process

Great companies first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and
the right people in the right seats and then they figured out where to drive it.
Recruitment is not about filling jobs that are currently vacant it is about making a
continuous, long-term investment to build a high quality workforce capable of
accomplishing the organizations mission now and in the future.Recruitment is a critical
management function that all levels of the organization need to be involved in planning
and implementation.
Before an organization begin recruiting applicants, it should consider the most likely
source of the type of employee it needs. Some companies try to develop new sources,
while most only tackle the existing sources they have. These sources accordingly, may be
termed as internal and external.
Internal Recruitment:
As a conscious focus of the organization to nurture high potential talents by providing
them suitable career growth opportunities within the organization, efforts would always
be made to fill in specific vacancies from its existing human resource pool and this is
known as internal sources.
External Recruitment:

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External recruitment is the assessment of an available pool of job candidates, other than
existing staff, to see if there are any sufficiently skilled or qualified to fill and perform
existing job vacancies. It is the process of searching outside of the current employee pool
to fill open positions in an organization.

Selection process
Selection activities follow a standard pattern, beginning with an initial screening
interview and concluding with the final employment decision. The selection process
typically consists of eight steps.

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Performance and Reward systems:

As if working for a world famous department store wasnt enough, one can
also look forward to a whole host of great benefits. These include:

Generous holiday entitlement (which increases the longer someone stay with
Selfridges)

Extremely generous discount throughout the whole store

Contributory pension scheme

Life cover

Long service awards

Performance related incentive

Career Development and Training & Development Program:

If youre keen, committed and ambitious to learn and develop in retailing,
then Selfridges can offer you one of the most positive and supportive
environments in which to build your career.
Selfridgess Learning and Development team works with all business areas to ensure
that everyone is given the full opportunity and encouragement for their talents to
flourish. Their activities are the key to maintaining Selfridgess customer service
standards at a constant peak.
They want from an employee to get the most out of his/her role because they want to
make the most of his/her abilities. And as well as three months' induction and

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continuous on-the-job training, one can also take advantage of a broad range of
programs and workshops, designed to help him develop his particular sales,
management or technical skills.
All Sales Associates enjoy weekly training sessions, focused on delivering excellent
customer service. As a Manager, one can explore ones potential through a range of
development workshops, designed to build world-class leadership skills. Furthermore, if
his role requires a professional qualification, the authority will be happy to talk to him
about financial support.
At Selfridges, your career is what you make it. Selfridges strongly believe that every day
their reputation rests on their employees shoulders. So if someone has the talent, they
can guarantee that they will offer his/her the opportunity to develop.
Financial Budget of HR
HR Budget is a systematic accumulation of financial data that helps in to project the
amount of finances required to support a companys mission or goals is known as
budgeting. The same holds true for the HR department of any organization and thus,
referred to as HR budget. A lot of commercial organizations use one of the following
two ways to create a budget for their HR department:

Zero-based budgeting Each and every item that makes it to the HR budget
should be evaluated prior to their inclusion. So, the process of creating an HR
budget flags off with a clean slate that increases its chances of getting the final
nod from the concerned people.

Incremental budgeting - Keeping the present budget in mind, a fresh budget

is prepared after making due adjustments. These adjustments can be upwards or
downwards with respect to each item included in the budget on the basis of their
expected ROI.
Information is required to prepare an HR budget:

Expected annual turnover of the company.

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Projected cost increment for employee benefits.

Number of employees slated to increase in the next financial year.

Plans for fresh programs or benefits.

Real cost to the company in the present fiscal year.

Various other alterations in the company policy, its strategy, rules and
regulations that may, in turn, affect the companys cash flow.

Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics

Health and safety are important issues in all workplaces and as such, organizations are
required to comply with health and safety regulations and acts.
Health and safety is usually regulated by provincial or territorial legislation, unless
yours organization falls under federal jurisdiction. While all provinces and territories
have not similar legislation, there are differences among them. It is very important to
visit province or territorys health and safety website for information that is relevant to
organization.
One need to consult health and safety legislation on a variety of issues, including but not
limited to:

Refusal to work because of unsafe conditions

Violence in the workplace

Dangerous equipment/material

Emergency procedures

Lifting heavy objects

First aid skills requirements

And others

Paying attention to business ethics is an important part of any business owner or manager's job. The
human resources function deals with a variety of ethical challenges; being the department that deals
directly with people employed by a company, HR includes numerous ethical pitfalls that can damage a
company's reputation or financial sustainability if not handled properly. Understanding the importance of
ethics in human resources is crucial for any business owner, whether in a local startup or a multinational
powerhouse.

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Recommendation
Some recommendations for Selfridges are:
! Periodical staff/management meetings including collective team-feedback -rather
than individual one- would be a big plus.
! Very poor cross-department communication, concession partners treated poorly,
long hours that change with little notice, poor work life balance are some
common cons that need to be concentrated and the authority should take
necessary steps to prevent these.
! Adequate training for every staff is mandatory as it is related with selling luxury
goods.
! There should be an equal opportunity for every employee and the workplace has
to be favorable with them.
! Listening to own staff and learning from them are other important prerequisites
for Selfridges.
! The integrity and honesty from the authority is a must.
! Long working hours is another drawback for Selfridges which needs to be solved
efficiently.
! Because of its tremendous goodwill, it can create more market segmentation
rather than just holding with the one and only Retailing.

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CHAPTER 3

Adored by fashion fans and value seekers alike Primark is widely established as the
destination store for keeping up with the latest looks without breaking the
bank. primark offer a diverse range of products, stocking everything from baby and kids,
to womens, mens, home ware, accessories, beauty products and confectionery. Primark
opened its first store in Dublin in 1969 under the name Penneys and today operates in
over 270 stores in nine countries in Europe and growing with the first US store opening
in Boston in 2015.Primark is our company name and identifies our entire company,
while Penneys is a trading name that is used in the Republic of Ireland only. You may
have noticed that when we used the name Penneys in Ireland we always follow this with
Operated by Primark which you can see on our shopping bags.

HR Management in the 21st Century

HRM includes conducting job analyses, planning personnel needs, recruiting the right
people for the job, orienting and training, managing wages and salaries, providing

29

benefits and incentives, evaluating performance, resolving disputes, and communicating

with all employees at all levels. Examples of core qualities of HR management are
extensive knowledge of the industry, leadership, and effective negotiation skills,
formerly called personnel management.
Typically, HRM is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of,
management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization.
HRM can also be performed by line managers. It can also be described as the
organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation,
hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits,
employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.

Human Resource Management Challenges for the Future

Over the last two decades, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of
organizations that have internationalized their operations. The international movement
of labor that has been concomitant with such expansion of international business has
meant that issues associated with the management of human resources across
International borders are increasingly important to international human resource
managers and academics. This poses a lot of challenges to HR managers.
The rapidly-transforming business landscape means that there are currently many
human resource management challenges which will continue to evolve for years to come.
Tom Marsden, Director of Professional Services at Alexander Mann Solutions says that
HR departments really need to be adding real business value to their organizations.
Although the restrictions of the recession arent over yet, companies are recognizing
that in 2010, they will need to take steps to retain their workforce. This could be through
an increased emphasis on training and engagement programs or by investing in areas
that will optimize expenditure, such as integrated technology systems or improved
candidate attraction schemes. The signs are that HR departments are preparing to
maximize their resources and staff as organizations look to grow.

30

The Impact of Information Technology on HR Management:

Opportunities and Challenges
The modern business cannot effectively operate in the business world if the human force
is not well equipped with the latest technology and techniques. This is the responsibility
of the human force manager to properly train the work force and to see the basic
things the human force needs to achieve the competitive advantages of business.
Because of technology use they can do recruitment, selection, training, reward base on
online. HR manager can use variety of software. These software make easy of HRM
work and also it consuming time for HR manager and employees.

Recruitment & Selection Process

Recruitment process has been shown on below:

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There are many way of recruitment and selection. Primark has their own website. Those
are willingly try to work Primark they apply on online. Those are involving in HRM then
they do recruitment on online. HR manager send all needed information to people those
want to work. Not only they use Online recruitment on online but also they give
advertisement on newspaper. After recruitment they do selection process. They send
information to employee to face interview . Overall those are good they get selected as a
employee.

Performance & Reward Systems

In Primark high level management and managers are responsible for monitoring of the
performance of teams and employees. The main and basic idea includes fro monitoring
to ensure that:
" All the assigned responsibilities are being full filled as per required goals,
" To identify the opportunities and chance for improvement in the work,
" To make out the progress against the goals,
" Evaluate the progress against the internal and external standards.
Primark

provides

salaries

that

are

competitive

and

subject

review Other benefits include:

" Structured training and development programs
" Promotional opportunities for everyone
" Contributory pension scheme
" Childcare Voucher scheme
" Competitive annual leave entitlement
" Health insurance (dependent on the role/level/function)
" Bonus scheme (dependent on the role/level/function)
" Flexi-time scheme for certain head office functions
" Variety of shift patterns available to suit individual's lifestyle

to

annual

32

Career Development and Training & Development Program

Primark have a world class Management Development Program to help build its
employee's career at all levels. Whether he/she is in stores or head office, Primark aims
to build its employees talents and skills during their amazing career journey. Primark
encourage ideas, team spirit and passion across all their functions. As a new employee
in any role with Primark, he/she will be given a structured induction program to
welcome into the new role and team. Primark offers various programs to either assist to
become a member of management, or to develop further in one's role. The development
programs start at all levels from entry level through to senior leadership programs.
Primark advertise promotional opportunities within the business to its existing
employees. Employees are encouraged to play an active part in self-development where
they will be given ownership of their career with the support and guidance of Primark's
experienced managers. Primark provide its employees the tools and resources needed
for their dedication and enthusiasm.

Financial Budget of HR [Salary + Bonus + Increments + others]

Primark offers competitive and attractive salary packages to their employees and
workers which motivate them to have higher productivity. Employees above 21 years old
will get 6.080 per hour, which is higher than the government set minimum wage limit.
Staffs working during the night shifts will get 15 extra pay and if the week day staffs
who work during the bank holidays will get double pay of 12.016 per hour. Apart from
this, the firm also offers attractive reward and benefit facilities to their workers which
motivate them to increase their productivity. They have bonus schemes, health
insurance, competitive annual leave facilities, flexi-time facilities for certain head office
functions and variety of shift pattern in conducting duties and responsibilities. These
rewards and benefit system is the key to success of the firm since it motivates the
workers and employees.

33
Employee Costs

2013

2014

Salary

42m

48m

Childcare Voucher scheme

1.8m

2m

Contributory pension scheme

8m

10m

Health insurance

6.5m

7m

Bonus scheme

12.5m

13m

Total

70.8m

80m

Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics

Ensuring healthy and safety work environment is mandatory for every organization.
Primark follows these issues in a strict manner. In store workers need to maintain a tidy
and clean environment of the store. On the other hand, factory workers must have to
wear mask, gloves, factory overcoat whenever required. HR ethics are strictly
maintained in this organization. Employees are freely chosen which means there is no
forced or compulsory labor in any form. Moreover, they have the right to bargain with
the employers with the help of the trade association.
Workers need to ensure health working environment according to the ethics of HR.
Child labor is strictly prohibited in Primark. Employees and workers are paid equal
wages and salaries as per their grades. Workers are not required to work in excess of
48hours a week with at least one day off. Regular employment practice is maintained
firm without any discrimination. Primark is committed to full compliance with the laws
and regulations. No bribery or corruption is tolerated as per the code of ethics of the
organization.
Rana Plaza Tragedy Many of Primarks suppliers were involved in the 2013 Rana
Plaza factory collapse tragedy in Bangladesh. Primark announced that they would
contribute a payment of $1 million to workers who produced garments for other
retailers. This money was paid into the Rana PlazaDonors Trust Fund. This is in

34

addition to the $2 million which they already distributed to these workers or their
families through their short-term financial assistance program. Together, this brings
their total aid payments to $12 million.
The assistance programs are:
o Emergency food aid Primark gave emergency food parcels to over 1265
households for five weeks in partnership with a local NGO.
o Short-term financial assistance Primark provided short-term financial
assistance equivalent to nine months' salary for 3639 workers and their
families.
o Long-term compensation Primark worked with international organizations
and local experts to provide long-term financial compensation to the 625
workers and their families.
o Medical support Primark provided support for workers who remained in
hospital or were receiving medical treatment, working with the United
Federation of Garment Workers, a trade union body.
o Building safety Primark conducted structural surveys in Bangladesh on
buildings that contained factories producing Primark clothing. The surveys
were conducted to the highest international standards by an expert team of
structural and civil engineers.

Recommendation
" After reviewing the Primarks HR Management policies and practices, we came
up with the following recommendations:
" Ensure flexible working practices for the employees
" Providing more lucrative salary and wage packages to keep up with the market
" Ensure strict adherence of safety policies in their overseas suppliers.

35

CHAPTER 4

Sainsbury's is the third largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom with a
share of the UK supermarket sector of 16.4%. Founded in 1869 by John James
Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company became the largest grocery
retailer in 1922, pioneered self-service retailing in the UK, and had its heyday during the

36

1980s. In 1995, Tesco overtook Sainsbury's to become the market leader, and Asda
became the second largest in 2003, demoting Sainsbury's to third place. The holding
company, J Sainsbury plc, is split into three divisions, Sainsbury's Supermarkets
Ltd, Sainsbury's Convenience Stores Ltd (Sainsbury's Local), and Sainsbury's Bank. The
group's head office is in the Sainsbury's Store Support Centre in Holborn Circus, City of
London. The group also has interests in property.
As of May 2011, the largest Sainsbury family shareholders are Lord Sainsbury of Turville
with 4.99%, with Judith Portrait the trustee of various Sainsbury settlements and
charitable trusts holding 3.92%. The largest overall shareholder is the sovereign wealth
fund of Qatar, the Qatar Investment Authority, who holds 25.999% of the company.

HR management in the 21st century: challenges for the future

There are many factors contributing to HR managers functions of the Sainsbury and
these activities are constantly changing. The most of the challenges and issues which are
being faced by the HR of Sainsbury in 21st century are
Organizational

effectiveness,

change

management,

workforce diversity,

globalization,

leadership

development, E- commerce, technology, health and safety, learning and development,

recruitment and skill labor, succession planning, compensation, retention of the
employees, multicultural work force, retrenchment of the employees, change in the
demand of the government, ethical consideration of the organization which may directly
or indirectly affect the organization competitive advantages. In this modern business
world, markets have become more challenge where both the domestic and foreign
competitors try to capture as maximum market shares as possible. However, they have
no value without the human resource because knowledgeable and skill workforce
facilitates a company that will make competitive advantage over other. Therefore, all the
HR Managers make several strategies to develop and retain such human resource
because human resource is the resource which makes an organization successful in the
field of globalization. The human resource functions of the Sainsbury in the 21st century
are human resource planning, job Analysis design, recruitment and selection,

37

orientation and induction, training and development, promotion/transfer/termination,

compensation and remuneration, motivation, welfare, health and safety, industrial
relation and maintenance & equal employment. In order to manage such diverse human
resources effectively, business organization adopt and make the policies and practices
according to the culture and environment. HRM needs to customize this change by
ensuring that the organization has the right people with sufficient knowledge, desire
skill and abilities to build such culture in the organization which effectively contribute
and enable the organization towards change.

The impact of information technology on HR management: opportunities

and challenges

Information systems play an important role in planning and management of human

resources in the Sainsbury. The new opportunity and challenge of HRM of Sainsbury is
the technology. The ways and methods of living and work have been changed by the
modern technology. The information technology has changed everything. It covers all
the information and ideas which will be beneficial for the organization. The way to
develop and retain human resources is to create such an environment which compete
them to stay in the organization and it is a main challenge for HRM. The trading
activities can be done by the electronic commerce through internet. Internet is now the
new business era. It has changed customers expectations and needs about convenience,
speed, price and services. Knowledgeable workers make on-line businesses. Now, such
on-line business has become a challenge for HRM and the HR managers make several
strategies to control on-line business. HR managers also try hire & develop human
resources who have the ability to attract, motivate, retain, and to serve as maximum
customers as possible. Information technology (IT) can assist the HR department to do
their jobs. These include systems for e-recruitment, online short listing of applicants,
online performance management and appraisals, e-learning, online psychometric
testing, as well as IT systems to help with payroll, employment data, recruitment
administration, references and pre-employment checks. Sainsbury use HR shared

38

service centers where they bring many of the HR services together and use technology
such as email, a company intranet or telephones to provide HR information in order to
deal with HR queries and provide expert advice for people working at various locations.
Sainsbury uses the web 2.0 to more involve the employees and it has approaches to
recruitment and selection, and learning and talent development. By these way,
Sainsbury not only control or reduce costs through using IT but also get better quality
information, better decision-making and with the latest developments, increased
involvement and engagement of the workforce. Increasing use of IT gives the Sainsbury

Recruitment & Selection process:

Recruitment: Sainsbury offers large numbers of job opportunities that are available in
different stores. They look for people with good customer skills and job is available in
clerical, stockroom and technical. Flexible contract, term time contracts and dual
contracts offer colleagues to work on hours basic. Job opportunities are advertised on
in-store job board, in local newspaper and at job centre plus. When Sainsbury open new
supermarkets and local and central stores in many towns that creates job vacancies in
advance, Sainsbury recruit staff two or more months before in order to allow staff
training. Sainsbury offers recruitment for graduates. Sainsbury recruit around 100
graduates colleagues every year and more than 70 works within stores. Graduates
recruitment is conducted through online at Sainsbury graduate recruitment website.
Graduates are trained in all aspect of store management under trainee management
scheme. Under this training period, they will work in all areas of store and later doing
their jobs under manager supervision. Sainsbury offers part time jobs for the students
these jobs are organized at a local level. Students work in different department during
their particular period of time and gain work experience.
Selection Process:
1. The first method that Sainsburys use to collect curriculum vitaes (C.V) and letter of
Applicant.

39

2. Then, Sainsbury will shortlist candidate. This process is done by recruitment manager.
This shortlist of candidate is done to meet the requirement of the company that they are
looking for, right person for the right job.
3. Then Sainsbury conducts Interview stage. Interview is the main stage of selecting
applicants. A number of planned question are designed to discover candidates
knowledge. An interview allows candidates to represent their skills and knowledge for
the selection. It will get to know for the interviewer who is good at paper and those who
have communications skills.
4. Suitable person who best suit according to the company requirements will be selected
for the job.

Performance & Reward Systems:

Reward System: Sainsbury considers employee reward is a strategic issue. It plays a

key role in realization of the Sainsburys business objectives in terms of being able to
attract the right talent employees to the organization for competitive, retain their
services and further develop these talents into vital assets for the organization.
Sainsbury rewards employees for their value that is created at work. Sainsbury offers
rewards employees to help motivate employees and to gain their commitment to the
organizations goals and objectives. Sainsbury offers the financial and the non-financial
rewards to develop a positive employer- employee relationship and further boost the
psychological contract of employee.
Performance management system: Sainsbury has created a single, common
performance management system to unite goal setting, performance appraisal, and
development for ensuring employees performance that will support the companys
strategic aims. By this Performance management, Sainsbury measures the employees
training, set the standards, performance appraisal, and feedback relative to how the
employees performance should be and is contributing to achieving the companys goals.
Sainsburys achieve the performance of its employees effectively so as to remain
competitive in the market. S Managers of the Sainsbury control organization and

40

individual level through development by planning objectives and targets, performance

value creation, perceiving actual performance, compare actual performance with
standards and adjusting mistakes and taking any necessary corrective action. Sainsbury
frequently measure the goals of management in which the performance of the individual
against objectives and targets which have been fixed by managers and employees. The
manager at Sainsburys presents the corporate objectives. The individuals and team
members state how the things can be achieved what they feel.
Career development and Training & Development Program
Training: At the beginning of the Sainsburys training period, all new employees are
gained a general overview of the organization and clear understanding of their rights
and responsibilities. a general introductory training program is given to the trainees
during the first eight week of their employment period. Under this training program,
introduction and overview of the company are given to the trainees on the day one.
During introduction period of training, a series of modular workbooks is provided to the
trainee and the trainees are required to complete the modular workbooks.
Staff development: Sainsbury provide right opportunity to everyone to develop their
skills and knowledge so that they perform well in their jobs. All employees in the
Sainsburys have a performance development analysis to discuss their career
development with their managers, measure their progress or training needs at least once
a year. Sainsbury has a have career development committees team in each area of
business for evaluation of training and development and plan for the future. Sainsbury
use various types of training approaches such as course, workshops, mentoring,
qualification, self-development books and videos. Sainsbury offers senior management
training. Sainsbury conducts senior management training to meet the business and
individual needs. Senior management capabilities, knowledge and skills can develop
through promotion, external recruitment and training. Sainsbury offers training courses
to achieve specific benefits and training needs that are restructured. Sainsbury improve
quality and service and therefore productivity can be raised through running training
and development.

41

Financial budget of HR:

Employee Costs
Employee costs for the Group during the year

2014(m) 2013(m)

amounted to:
Wages and salaries, including bonus and termination

2150

2051

Social security costs

141

133

Pension costs defined contribution schemes

77

44

Pension costs defined benefit schemes

34

59

Share-based payments expense

33

33

Total

2435

2320

benefits

Source: Sainsburys annual report of 2014

Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics:

The HR of Sainsbury has a safety policy. Safety policy is a legal requirement and the
policy signifies the health and safety of employees. The actions of the key members of
staff are responsible for carrying out the policy. The policy will include arrangements of
training and instruction and companys rules and emergency. This safety policy will be
signed by the senior manger and it is revised regularly to be kept up to date. The main
unique for the HR of Sainsbury is that it has own codes of practice. This codes of
practice states what employees should do in an event of an emergency such as a fire,
bomb scare etc. It says how to contact a first-aider, where a medical room is, calling a
doctor and so on. Sainsburys HR has a health and safety office in all their stores. These
offices have the responsibility for all health and safety policies and training. This office
also responsible for giving advice and suggestions to store managers about their
responsibilities for healthy and safety and make sure that all employees working in
stores are informed about them. This is the health and safety laws in the Sainsbury.

42

Laws require all store managers and employees who work there to comply with the
health and safety legislation. Human resources of Sainsbury record all accidents in an
accident book to see where improvements need to be made. HR of Sainsbury also
conducts training session for their staffs for health and safety jobs which include roles
being health and safety officers, safety committee meeting holders etc. Customers are
also accounted into the health and safety acts for Sainsburys HR such as Sainsbury
provides wheelchair access, lifts, helpers etc for disability needs, Sainsbury regularly car
parks for trolleys causing hazards, etc, Sainsbury keep clear customer fire exit at all
times, Sainsbury provides shelves for all stacks at the lowest, put warning signs that can
be always visible and heard, Sainsbury banned smoking, drinking and eating in all
stores, Sainsbury keep substances and solvents in unreachable areas for childrens safety
(3rd or 4th level shelves) and Sainsbury check toilets every half an hour for staffs and
customers.

Recommendation:

The HR department of Sainsbury controls the workforce and main challenge is to

keeping them happy. Rivals may look for Sainsburys existing employees by offering
them better pay and promotion. The HRM department at Sainsburys should be more
alert of this problem and may offer their employees more pay and promotion in order to
keep existing employees.HRM needs to ensures that Sainsbury maintains the right
employees quality and quantity workers. HRM department at Sainsburys should have
to plan in advanced. If a manager is leaving in near future, then advance planning for
recruitment, interviewing and selection will be important in order to safeguard
department from getting suffer a member of staff leaving. The HRM of the Sainsbury
should analyze labor turnover rate and absenteeism rate. High absenteeism can cause
lack of commitment, poor motivation and poor management by the HRM. Since most of
the organizations are competing globally for their best reputation, the HR mangers
should take responsibility to train all the young workers to provide them best rewards.
As a result, they will show their commitment and loyalty. Since technology has changed
each and everything with great extent, modern technology should be introduced and

43

purchased by the organization. HRM of the Sainsbury should implement proper training
for the manager in worldwide to cope with the issues of globalization. Human resource
manager should develop such a HR system which consistent with other organization
elements such as organization strategies, goals and organization style, and organization
planning. HR of Sainsbury must develop the ability to compete in the international
market and should make broad strategies which help to adjust employees in global
organization. Organizational culture should be like to shape their behavior and beliefs to
observe what is imperative. The HR of Sainsbury should develop sound organizational
structure with strong interpersonal skill to employees to address the issues and
challenges like work force diversity, leadership development, change management,
organizational effectiveness, Globalization, E- Commerce, succession planning and
compensation etc, which can be best management by HR manager when they will work
with HR practices such as rigid recruitment and selection policy, division of jobs,
empowerment, encouraging diversity in the workplace, training and development of the
work force, fostering innovation, proper assigning of duties and responsibilities,
managing knowledge and other functions.

44

COMPARISON & CONTRAST OF HR

PRACTICES AMONG (a)+(b)+(c)+(d)

HR
management

M&S ignored the

changes in the
marketplace while
its competitors
quickly reacted to
changes.
Poor organizational
structure,
autocratic style of
leadership and lack
of good employee
management
relationship

The HR
Management of
Selfridge
emphasizes upon
the customer
satisfaction through
the motivated
employees

Mostly focused on
traditional
administrative and
compliance
activities

HR Excellence
Awards-2010. HR is
now seen as part of
the business team,
playing a crucial
part in the overall
turnaround

The Impact of
IT on HR
management

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Standard

Standard

Online based
Graduade programs
Succession planning

Recruitment & Graduate

recruitment
Selection

schemepercentage
bonuscontributory
pension schemes
Investment in
sharesLoans for
public transport
ticketsGrants for
bicycle purchase
Skill & Job
knowledge Training
BehavioralTraining
Leadership Training
Diversity Training

Performance
& Reward
System

Bonus paid every

quarterAdvisor of
the monthSalary
Sacrifice
schemeHeath &
Well-beingPension

Generous holiday
entitlementContribu
tory pension
schemeLife
coverLong service
awardsPerformance
related incentives

Pension
SchemeAnnual
LeaveHealth
IsnuranceBonus
schemepercentage

Training &
Development

360 training
program but short
on advanced level
training

Advanced T&D
Creates Difference
among 4

Support for New

StartersCompetenc
ies, competence

Financial
Budget of HR

Payment of pension
funds create
Doing Good
internal conflicts

Doing Good

Doing Good

Health And
Safety Issues
and HR ethics

Doing Good

Doing Good

Doing Good

Doing Good

45

M&S recruitment and selection process recruit most potential candidate in the past also
their performance appraisal is also been effective. They formulate new strategy to cope
with the market, investing on ecommerce bring competitive advantage. Different
training and career development programs offered to employee. M&S provide 360
training program but short on advanced level training alike Selfridges. Development
needed on management models, payment funds and market analysis over HR practice.
Primark human resources function mostly focused on traditional administrative and
compliance activities rather to operational improvement. It is clear that HRM has
become increasingly systematic during their evolutions. The challenge for Primark is to
continue to develop innovative systems by focusing on the integrated functions and
systems of organization. HR practices of Primark like recruitment, performance
appraisal reward system matched with the market beta. Considering corporate strategy
before planning can lead them to a new height.
Selfridges advanced training and development creates difference between all four of
them. Selfridges should use flexible training program. Online recruitment as
organizational need help to hire the most efficient employee .large number of candidate
could be assessed within short period of time.
At Sainsburys, human resources management is the most important department. They
control the workforce and overlook how the employees perform. Working in team is
important for Sainsburys as it creates friendly environment which can increase
companys profit. Rivals may look for Sainsburys existing employees by offering them
better pay and promotion. Sainsburys should be more attentive of such problems and
may offer their employees more pay and promotion in order to keep existing employees
satisfied. HR planning is lacking part from other three.

46

Human Resource is one of the most important resource of any organization. So, the
most important work by the HR is to develop sound organizational structure with strong
interpersonal skill to employees and also to train employees by introducing them the
concept of globalize human resource management to perform better in the global
organizations context. The HR manager has a responsibility to manage all the issues
and challenges like work force diversity, leadership development, change management,
organizational effectiveness, globalization, e- commerce, succession planning and
compensation etc, when they will work with HR practices, such as rigid recruitment and
selection policy, division of jobs, empowerment, encouraging diversity in the workplace,
training and development of the work force, fostering innovation, proper assigning of
duties and responsibilities, managing knowledge and other functions as are shown.
When the HR of four companies like Marks & Spencer, Primark, Sainsbury and
Selfridge works enthusiastically with all modern HR practices, competitive advantages
can be accomplished, organization efficiency can be enhanced, and the organization will
be sustained to survive long time against competitors. The fundamental role of HRM for
the four company like Marks & Spencer, Primark, Sainsbury and Selfridge should be
strengthen the organization's capability and maximize everyone's potential right across
the business. They should focus employee development strategy which is associated to
convey the business goals. In every organization, proper recruitment and selection plays
a major role to select right person for the right job. The new technology will give the way
on how employers recruit and select staff. The four companies like Marks & Spencer,
Primark, Sainsbury and Selfridge should use the process of talent acquisition to discover
the sources of manpower to meet necessities of the staffing program. These companies
should always conduct training and development strategy to improve the employee
skills and knowledge so that they perform their responsibility effectively. The companies
can employ diversity at workplace to motivate all employees to perform to their highest
ability resulting in higher productivity and profit. Performance management is very
essential for these companies to meet business strategy needs.

47

REFERENCES
Dessler, Gary & Varkkey, Biju, Human Resource management (13e), Pearson
Education Limited, 2013.
Decenzo, David A. & Robbins, Stephens P., Fundamentals of Human Resource
Management (11/e), John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2010.
Marks & Spencer, Official Website http://www.marksandspencer.com
Primark, Official Website, http://www.primark.co.uk
Sainsburys, Official Website, http://www.sainsburys.co.uk
Selfridges, Official Website, http://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/