The Human resource department of Woolworths Ltd
Question:
Select an Industry (or specific organisation) as the case study for your report. Identify some of the key challenges for planning and recruiting the workforce for this industry.
Background Statement
Extensive research on Human Resource Management has been helpful to identify the different ways in which business organizations all around the globe manage and utilize their Human Resource. In this following report the investigator has identified the use of the Human resource in the organizational structure. The report prepared by the researcher has chosen Woolworth Company of Australia as an example to demonstrate the nature and importance of Human Resource practices in the following organization and the issues faced by the managers in solving these problems (www.woolworths.com.au). The report has followed an organized format starting with the introductory part where the readers will have the basic but compact idea on what is being delivered to them in the following report. This is followed by the body of the report having a number of subheadings under its head like the planning, the strategies and many other such related issues. The study will also reveal the workplace diversities and the working culture that will help the organization to be one of the very best in the business.
Statement of Purpose
The aims of the research are to identify any sort of problems that arises from any one of the main sectors of the labor market and also provides adequate recommendations for solving the issues.
Scope of the Paper
The following paper deals with one of the most critical research topics of the modern business. The following topic has a very few takers in it and thus this work will have a huge scope because of its rarity and also its importance in the market. Woolworths was established in the year 1924 and are a setoff Australian supermarket and grocery stores. The company is the largest super market chain of Australia and New Zealand and has one of the largest strength of human resource in the island continent.
Human Resource Strategies
Woolworths Limited is one of the major Australian companies with an extensive presence in the retail marketing sector in Australia and New Zealand. In terms of revenue it is the second largest company of Australia and has one of the largest workforces in the industry (www.woolworths.com.au). The company being one of the most famous in the country has its own Human Resource department which has the aim to focus on the effective management of all the employees working for the mentioned organization. The department has been established based on the lines of some key as well as significant Human Resource applications. Some of them include;
Development and recruitment of talent- The development and recruitment of the employees is one of the main functions of the mentioned business organizations. There was a time when the ageing, manual and complex Human Resources of the organization threatened its existence in the market (AO, Svensson, & Padin, 2014). The management of the organization was quick to respond to the immediate crisis and implemented new strategies to transform into a company with the “vision of great people delivering high performance at the workplace” The company has a dedicated recruitment team which identifies the best talent from the market and recruits them according to their capabilities. The company implemented SAP success factors into the business which helped them to stay ahead in the race and help people meet the complex needs of the customers. .
Issues faced with Human Resource planning at Woolworths Ltd
Retention of the Employees- The mentioned retail company employs the best possible techniques to make sure that their employees are taken well care of and are rewarded and recognized if they are able to achieve certain special goals and objectives of the organization. Apart from these the company also provides certain special benefits to the employees which helps them to earn their trust.
Matching Staffing with the Requirements of Business- Staffing is one of the most important organizational functions that deal with the acquisition, retention and the proper deployment of the employees in a business organization (Zarkada, & Fraser, 2015). The human resource department of the mentioned retail stores has its task cut out to identify the perfect place for the different talents within the organization. An employee having a financial background will be the best fit within the financial department of the organization.
Downsizing- There are times when the organization can have different problems and they may face a crisis situation (Armstrong, & Taylor, 2014). The management of the company intervenes in such situation and accordingly downsizes the strength of the employees in the organization. The downsizing helps them to make up for the losses they have acquired as a result of the crisis situation.
The main issues to do with the Human resource planning at Woolworths are the high amount of labor turnover. Most of the people who were earlier employed with the organization have moved on to other high status jobs (Beardwell, & Thompson, 2014). This has led to a high number of staffs leaving the company on a regular basis. However the actual problem lies at the roots as because most of the employees of the organization are part time students who wish to pursue a job to meet their daily expenses (Wilson, 2014).
The HR management of the organization has divided the planning to different stages according to the demands, they are;
- Stock Taking
- Forecasting the labor supply
- Predicting the demand of the employees
- Implementation and review
All these various steps combined together help the Human Resource Management of the organization to formulate a proper and efficient strategy for the recruitment of the best talents for the company.
Recruitment Strategies
Each and every organization of the globe needs to perform a strong recruitment and selection process that will help in the recruitment of the best talent from the market (Haas et al. 2014). The mentioned retail giant of Australia candidates are selected based on the amount of available jobs and positions within the organization. The basic criterion for the examining the availability of the candidates are on the basis of merits and expertise of the candidates for the particular vacancy of the organization. The Human Resource Management of the company considers both the internal as well as the external factors to ensure the best strategies for the company.
Internal Factors- As mentioned earlier there are lots of internal factors that have a direct connection to the recruitment and selection process in the mentioned organization. Some of them are;
- Recruitments policy- Recruitment policy of Woolworths is most important to determine the objectives and preferences of the company. The policies are clear enough to understand and are applied to every field of the business organization. The candidates are chosen based on the recruitment policy which helps to identify the best talent within the industry.
- Size of the organization- The size of the organization is one of the key factors that have an impact on the recruitment and selection procedures (Hubbard, Rice, & Galvin, 2014). If the management of the company decides to increase the product line or plans to expand its operations then they have to recruit more people in the organization to meet the new demands. The maintenance of the rules and regulations during the recruitment and selection process helps the organization to retain the customers.
- Growth- As mentioned earlier the company needs to recruit much more people in the organization to meet the new demands. In order to have the best ideas from outside the company must recruit the experienced lot from the market who are able to provide ultimate solutions for the betterment of the Human resource of the organization (Jackson, Schuler, & Jiang, 2014).
- Cost- Cost is another effective factor that has an impact on the recruitment and selection process of the business organization (Marchington et al. 2016). Woolworth is one of the biggest organizations of Australia and thus the management needs to incur a huge cost in the recruitment and selection of the best talents for meeting up the necessary needs of the organization.
External Factors- Apart from the maintenance of the internal factors the external factors that has an impact on the procedures off recruitment and selection is equally important for the business. Some of them are discussed below;
- Social Factors- The mentioned retail giants of Australia needs to be careful about the social factors of the country as because they have a strong influence on the recruitment and selection process of the organization (O’Keeffe, 2017). The culture of the company must be taken into consideration while selecting and recruiting candidates and retaining them in the organization.
- Legal Factors- The HR department of the mentioned retail giants of Australia needs to follow all the different rules and regulations of the organization. The company must treat all the employees fairly and strictly follow the international labor laws to present the employees with a healthy atmosphere which will improve the performance of the employees.
- Political and Economic Factors- This is perhaps the most basic among all the external factors as the management of Woolworths need to abide by all the rules and regulations of the government while undertaking business in a smooth manner. On the other hand economic factors that are considered by the organization include the economic situation of the company as well as the present economic situation of the island continent (Purce, 2014).
The management of the aforesaid retail giants of Australia has to face a lot of different challenges while recruiting and selecting people in the organization for different posts. Some of the most crucial challenges are;
- Balancing the Speed and Equity- The balance of speed along with maintenance of the quality is essential for the company as the company cannot afford to invest upon a incapable employee. The speed that the modern market has adapted to has had a negative impact upon the Australian retail giants (Sparrow, Brewster, & Chung, 2016). They are now forced to recruit the employees in a very short notice which makes them vulnerable to select the wrong candidates. However a constructive strategy can help to overcome this problem.
- The prehistoric strategies of recruitment- Woolworths is among some of the oldest companies of Australia that still uses some traditional sources of recruiting their workforce. The fact that the company fails to follow the advanced recruitment procedures present in the market makes them lose their competitive advantage in the market.
- Problems with the retention of employees- The latest corporate world makes the employees to believe in a more fluid career rather than staying loyal and bound to in only one or two organizations (Storey, 2014). There has been a paradigm shift of the mentality of the people from security to avail for new and exciting opportunities.
- Limited Resources- The Company faces new challenge in the market from some local as well as some international retail companies and thus needs to make sure that they have enough resources in their disposal in times of need. However the present economic condition of the country has led to a certain amount of pressure and a decrease in the resources of the organization (van, 2014).
Conclusion
The research has been a standout one as because each and every single aspect of the company has been taken into consideration which has made it more compact. After a thorough analysis of the research the readers will be quite well acquainted with the recruitment procedures of the mentioned organization and can assess the positives as well as the negative impact of the recruitment and selection procedure. The more efficient is the recruitment strategy of the organization, the more is the chance of the organization to attain high performance.
References
AO Dos Santos, M., Svensson, G., & Padin, C. (2014). Implementation, monitoring and evaluation of sustainable business practices: framework and empirical illustration. Corporate Governance, 14(4), 515-530.
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Beardwell, J., & Thompson, A. (2014). Human resource management: a contemporary approach. Pearson Education.
Haas, K., Costley, D., Falkmer, T., Richdale, A., & Sofronoff, K. (2014). Optimising the recruitment and retention of adults for longitudinal autism spectrum research: a mixed methods study.
Hubbard, G., Rice, J., & Galvin, P. (2014). Strategic management. Pearson Australia.
Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Jiang, K. (2014). An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 1-56.
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R., & Kynighou, A. (2016). Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
O’Keeffe, D. (2017). Tackling pay in’the forgotten industry’. Australian Ageing Agenda, (Jan/Feb 2017), 26.
Purce, J. (2014). The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.
Sparrow, P., Brewster, C., & Chung, C. (2016). Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.
Storey, J. (2014). New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
van Eeden, D. (2014). The Role of the Chief Human Resources Officer: Perspectives, Challenges, Realities and Experiences. Knowres Publishing.
Wilson, P. (2014). The Twenty Second Kingsley Laffer Memorial Lecture Sydney University Business School University of Sydney 26th November, 2014 “Australia in a Globally Competitive Workplace–Challenges and Opportunities”.
Woolworths.com.au. (2017). {{metaController.metaData.title}}. [online] Available at: https://www.woolworths.com.au [Accessed 14 Dec. 2017].
Zarkada-Fraser, A., & Fraser, C. (2015). Integrating social and economic orientated marketing: A study of retail management. In Proceedings of the 2000 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 219-223). Springer, Cham.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
