Managing

Human
Resources

Introduction
Human Resource Management (HRM) is a very important department of any
Organization. HRM is supposed to be taking care of all the resources in the company. The
various functions which come under HRM are hiring the employees, Induction of the new
employees, training of the employees, managing the different policies regarding the human
resources of the company, Personal development, Feedback and Compensation of the
employees, retention of the employees and exit process of the employees (Kehoe & Wright,
2013, pp. 381).
To run a company it is very essential that HRM recruits the talented professional for the
requirements given to them by the managers. HRM also have to consider all the legal
policies of the government and the labour rules. According to the experts in the market,
employees are the greatest assets of an Organization and having them satisfied is the key to
retain these valuable resources.

TASK 1
1.1 Explain the Guests model of HRM at TESCO
The model of HRM presented by David Guest says that HRM in an organization depends
upon the strategic business practice at the organization. Guest says that this strategic
management is very much different from the traditional approaches to HRM. The Guests
model of HRM at TESCO is based on the following six elements:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Human Resource Management Strategy

Human Resource Management Practice
Human Resource Management Outcomes
Behaviour Outcomes
Performance Outcomes
Financial Outcomes

In his model Guest has given Commitments a special place while deciding the strategy.
But it is very difficult to stick to the commitments when there are so many market issues and
tough competition (Boxall & Purcell, 2003, pp. 84). TESCO has implemented the Guest
model of HRM and because of that the performance outcomes have become the points of
main concern. TESCO is trying very hard to link High Performance with its Commitments
in the market. Implementing this model with old personnel management techniques is also
very difficult which used a traditional approach instead of following the above mentioned
six elements.

1.2 Compare the differences between Storeys

definitions of HRM, Personnel and IR practices at
TESCO
Professor John Storey is known for his works on Human Resource Management. Storey
has provided a model of HRM which is based upon the 27 elements and clearly states how
these 27 elements make HRM different from Personnel Management. Storey also
differentiated the IR (Industrial Relations Practices) from HRM on the basis of the same 27
points. Storey categorized these 27 points under the following four different types of areas:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Beliefs and Assumptions

Strategic Concepts
Line management in the organization
Key levers
According to Storey, personnel management is a different thing from the general

management of the company, while the HRM model by Guest says that personnel
management is a part of the overall HRM of the company (Becker & Gerhart, 1996, pp.
780).
TESCO has adopted the model provided by Storey for HRM, but there is a little problem
with that. Storeys model of HRM is very good to analyse the practices and performing a
research on HRM in the company, but applying it completely is not very much easy and
Practical. Because of that, TESCO also uses IR model wherever necessary.
ASDA also used the same model of HRM as TESCO and doing very well in the
department. ASDA is known for his values and ethics and so is TESCO. It is the
responsibility of the HRM to understand these values and protect them. In both the

companies, HRM takes care of the Personnel Management which is basically used for the
administrative management.

1.3 Asses the implications for Line Managers and

Employees of Developing a Strategic Approach
to HRM at TESCO
Line Manager at TESCO is a very responsible position at TESCO. Line managers take
care of almost all the employees of the company, especially the new people coming onboard. Since Line managers at TESCO are very experienced people, they share their
knowledge with new employees. It could be said that line manager works as a guide and
coach to the younger generation of the employees. Line managers work as a link between
the HRM of the company and the resources. There are times when line managers might not
agree with a decision made by the HRM and when this happens, line managers talk to the
HRM department and let them know what is happening at the root level of the business.
In this manner line managers are involved in the strategic management at TESCO and
also take care of the Personnel Management. Keeping track of the performance of the
employees and providing their feedback to HRM is also one of the major responsibilities of
the line managers. If an employee is not performing very well line managers coordinate with
the HRM and arrange the training sessions for him. In this manner line managers helps in
growing the knowledge base of the company and also creates a long term relationship of the
employees with company.

TASK 2
2.1 Explain how a model or flexibility might be
applied at TESCO
Flexibility at work place is always a major concern for the employees. This flexibility
could be of any type, but the main aim of flexibility is to make employees comfortable while
they are working in the premises of the company. TESCO has taken many steps to assure
flexibility at work place and HRM at TESCO always defines the company policies which
adhere to the flexibility. If the employees are having a good time with the flexibilities
provided to them, it means that company is always ready to change.
An informal definition of flexibility at work place could be How and when the work is
done in the company. Now this How and When comes under the practices implemented
by the HRM at the company. It is the responsibility of the HRM to provide the flexibility to
the workforce because it could increase the production of the company and so is the sales
and profit (Delaney & Huselid, 1996, pp. 981).
A good way of applying the flexibility model at TESCO is taking care of the flexibility
needs of the workforce while developing a strategy. For example, employees leaves for the
year could be defined in the start of the year so that employees are aware of their leave
account and plan their leaves accordingly. Going a step ahead HR could provide the

flexibility to the employees in adjusting the one type of leave to another category, e. g.
converting the casual leaves to sick leaves. Providing the paid leaves in some special cases is
also a good idea to be flexible, even after the employees have used all the leaves.

2.2 Discuss the types of flexibility which may be

developed by the TESCO
Harrods has implemented the following strategies to make them flexible:
1. Flexible working Methods part time and full time jobs
2. Working from home In case of managers and senior staff if they have something
unavoidable at home.
3. Flexibility in working hours At Harrods employees could customize their working
hours with the permission of their reporting manager. In this manner they could work for
less hour on a particular day and compensate those hours on some other day.
4. Location Flexibility Employees at Harrods are given the location flexibility. Employees
are free to choose the location at which they want to work (based upon the availability of the
same profile at other location and the reason given by the employee to change the location.)
5. Flexibility in employee leaves As explained above, leaves matter so much for any
employee that if any kind of flexibility is available in the leave management system of the
company, it could be a big deal for the employee. Different types of leave flexibility are
explained in the prior section of the paper.
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2.3 Assess the use of flexible working practices

from

both

the

employee

and

the

employer

perspective of TESCO
The use of flexible working practices needs to be analysed from both, the employee and
the employer perspective. These flexibility working practices defines the culture of the
company and also becomes the base of many other human resource policies. If we talk about
TESCO, the flexible working practices have worked in a good way for both, the company
and the employees of the company. Due to the flexibility provided at the work place,
employees are found to be more satisfied with the company. When employees has the
freedom of flexibility offered at TESCO like, leave flexibility, work method flexibility,
location flexibility and working hours flexibility, they kind of feel motivated towards their
work. This motivation increases their performance which directly affects the performance of
the company (MacDuffie, 1995, pp. 203).
Flexibility in working hours let the employees choose their shifts according to their
needs. Due to this flexibility, there are some employees who are more comfortable working
in the night hours when no other employee agrees for that easily. This flexibility also helps
the company keeping their store running 24 / 7.

So it could be said that providing flexibility at work place is working well for the
employees and also for the company. TESCO has become a second home for its employees
because of these flexibilities and their production and sales are increasing day by day which
in turns is earning more profit for TESCO.

2.4 Discuss the impact of changes in the labour

market on flexible working practices at TESCO
In the case of companies like TESCO, labour market plays an important role because
almost all the work is dependent on the labour, whether it is the production or sales or
marketing. To embrace the changes in the labour market, TESCO had to change its HRM
policies and had to make them more flexible. There are some companies which outsource
the labour from other companies, but this is not the case with TESCO. TESCO has their own
workforce which is more adaptable to the changes in the market than the outsourced labour
in other companies. TESCO is trying very hard for making the work place more flexible and
friendly for the workers. But there are many changes in the labour market which affects the
flexible working practices at TESCO. The reason behind this is that Government is also
supporting the flexible working practices and forcing the companies to make their policies
accordingly.
One of the major changes in the labour market which has affected the flexible working
practices at TESCO is the extended leave demands by the parents in some cases. Labour
market is forcing the companies to be more flexible in the cases of maternity leaves and
paternity leaves. TESCO is facing the issues with this change because sometimes when an
9

employee is on a long maternity or paternity leave, they might not return to work. Some
employees find other jobs in this period which suits them better than TESCO (Ulrich, 2013,
pp. 376).
Another change in labour market which has affected Harrods is making more flexible
arrangements for all the employees. Previously this flexibility was provided only to the
workers who have the children below the age of 17 or 18 (in case of child being disabled).
But now government is planning to make this arrangement compulsory for all the employees
which are going to affect all the operations at TESCO.

TASK 3
3.1 Explain the forms of Discrimination that can
take place in TESCO
TESCO is a big organization having more than 1.4 million employees across the world.
This huge number of employees and different locations may cause some kind of
discrimination in the company. One form of the discrimination at TESCO could be the
majority of the local employees in a store. The majority of any kind is always a threat to the
culture of the company because the people in the majority always tend to think that they are
more than just employees in the company and the rest of the people from other locations
should follow them (Gatewood, Feild & Barrick, 2010, pp. 97).
Another form of discrimination is the racial discrimination which has already happened at
one store of the company. The licenses of the two employees of the Harrods were revoked
by the company. These two employees were Mrs Remick and Mrs Seely who were Asian
10

and Black respectively. The license of Mrs Remick was revoked because she failed to follow
the companys code on dressing while the license of Mrs Seely was revoked because she
was wearing a nose ring and refused to remove the same. These two cases were filed in the
court as the cases of racial discrimination.
Discrimination on the basis of the sex is also possible in the company where so many
workers are female who might be subjected to any kind of harassment. A case of sex
discrimination was filed against TESCO in the year 2011 by an employee of the TESCO,
Melanie Stark. The reason behind this case was that Melanie refused to wear the make-up
which was against the policies of the TESCO. After her refusal, Melanie was forced to give
her resignation to the management. Melanie dress code was perfect according to the dress
code of the TESCO and her only mistake was that she was not wearing make-up when some
managers visited her work place. When these managers escalated the issue, Melanie was
transferred to the inventory of the store and finally she resigned because of the increasing
pressure from the management.

3.2 Discuss the practical implications of equal

opportunities legislation practiced in TESCO
TESCO has been following the equal opportunity legislation since the beginning of the
company and doing pretty well except some of the cases discussed above. Equal opportunity
is the birth right of every worker in any type of industry. Equal opportunity legislation
opposes any kind of discrimination in the company and allows everyone to be considered if
there is any opportunity comes in the work place.

11

While implementing the equal opportunity legislation, TESCO has tried to give fair
chances to grow to all of its employees. Because of this employees at TESCO have been
more productive and the cost of production is also reduced. But there are also some
implications of implementing the equal opportunity legislation at TESCO. Some of these
could be mentioned as below:
1. Implication of Equal Opportunity Legislation in Localization: Since TESCO has more
than 1.4 employees and stores in almost all the locations in the world, the local people are
always in the majority in a particular store. If equal opportunity legislation is followed
strictly in these places, it could hurt the sentiments of the local people. Locals always expect
that they must be given preference over the people who are not local (Becker & Gerhart,
1996, pp. 94).
2. Implication of Equal Opportunity Legislation in Sex: There are many lady employees
in the TESCO. When it comes to the equality of women and men, it always becomes an
issue of major concern. Male employees of the TESCO would never allow women
employees to be treated same.
3. Implication of Equal Opportunity legislation in racial terms: Racism has always
affected the business in the companies like TESCO where both Blacks and Whites work at
the same location. One example of the racial discrimination is already given in the paper, but
there might be more than one case that never came out in the open. To control racism is a
very difficult task, but TESCO is doing whatever they can to deal with this issue.

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3.3 Compare approaches adapted by TESCO to

managing equal opportunities and managing
diversity
TESCO has implemented various policies to manage the equal opportunities in the
company. Along with managing the equal opportunity, they are also trying to keep up with
the diversity they have. Some approaches to manage equal opportunity and diversity
implemented by Harrods are listed below:
1. Follow the equal opportunity legislation and building the policies which adhere
to the legislation:
All the policies developed by the HRM of the company are evaluated by a team of higher
management to see if they are formed according to the equal opportunity legislation.
2. They are trying to educate their work force about the laws against harassment
and discrimination:
Educating the work force is a very good approach when there are many workers who are not
aware of the equal opportunity legislation.
3. TESCP has also appointed an equal opportunity officer from the HRM
department to take care of the issues related to equal opportunity legislation:
After the policies are reviewed by the management team they are sent to the equal
opportunity officer who is an expert in the laws of discrimination. TESCO has made it clear
to its employees that any kind of discrimination will not be tolerated in the premises of the
company.

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4. TESCO has developed an escalation matrix for the complaints:

It is necessary that people have a place to escalate their complaints. The approach TESCO
has used in dealing with harassment is that they promise to the employees their anonymity if
required. Human Resource Management has given an important place to the discrimination
laws in its policies.

TASK 4
4.1

Identify

and

compare

the

performance

management methods adopted by TESCO

Performance management has always been a very important function of the HRM in any
organization. It is the responsibility of the HRM to keep track of the performances of all the
employees at TESCO and take actions accordingly. HRM at TESCO has implemented many
performance management measures. At TESCO it is necessary for every employee that he
sends his daily status report to his reporting manager stating the duties performed by him on
that day. Reporting manager reviews the daily status report and if he finds something
disturbing in the performance of the employee, he is allowed to take action on that after
consulting with the human resource department of the company (Huselid, M. A. (1995, pp.
660).
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Regular assessment of the employees is also a very effective method implemented at

Harrods to measure the performance of the employees. TESCO has divided the assessment
in two half yearly cycle. This assessment is initiated by the manager in which he asks every
employee working under him to send their self-assessments. Once these self-assessments are
received, manager evaluates them and puts his remark wherever needed. After that manager
sends his feedback to human resource department which considers the feedback and
determine the promotion / demotion and salary structure of the employee. If the feedback is
very good, HRM may decide to give some incentive or reward to the employee for his good
performance. These kinds of activities also motivate other employees in the company.

4.2 Assess the approaches used to managing

employee

welfare

and

well-being

in

the

workplace
Developing manager, managing the employee welfare has always been the primary
concern of the TESCO. At TESCO, management thinks of employees as a part of the big
happy family and do whatever they can to take care of that family. Providing flexibility to
the employees is one approach, TESCO has successfully implemented in the welfare of the
employees. Other than the flexibility, TESCO has a program of employee recognition. In
this program, highest achiever in the respective departments is chosen by the HRM and they
are rewarded for their extra ordinary service to the company. These kinds of services keep
the employees motivated and give them a reason to provide their 100% in the success of the
company.

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TESCO has also implemented an employee-centric leave management system where

employees are free to plan their leaves according to their needs. They also have extended
leave plans in case of maternity and paternity leaves. TESCO is also running the training
programs for the employees to teach them the new methods of working and making them
more skilled in whatever they are doing. TESCO also have festival bonus programs where
employees are given extra amount of money in the season of festivals so that they could
enjoy the festivities at their home.

4.3 Evaluate the implications of health and

safety legislation on human resources practices
Human resource practices at TESCO always try to follow the health and safety legislation.
The health and safety legislation requirements are always considered while developing the
human resource policies (MacDuffie, 1995, pp. 205). A healthy workforce always goes in
the favour of the company and helps company to run its operations smoothly without any
disturbance. But sometimes the requirement of health and safety legislation is so strict that it
becomes a problem for the human resource department to follow all of them. For example,
there are policies regarding the waste of the production and follow these policies, company
has to spend a lot of money on the equipment. Because of this, some health and safety
legislation are not perfectly implemented at TESCO.

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4.4 Evaluate the impact of another typical issue

on human resources practice
Employee cessation is one of the major responsibilities of the human resource department
at TESCO. Cessation of the employees has become so important because of the following
reasons:
1. Letting the experienced employee go and recruit the new inexperienced one is always a
headache for the HRM. They have to arrange the induction programs and training programs
for the new employees which are wastage of time and money.
2. Most of the team leaders and managers do not want a new employee in their team as they
do not trust them with quality work.
3. Hiring the experienced employees cost too much money.
Cessation of the employee has become an issue of concern because of the legal
regulatory frameworks in the industry. Whether it is the cessation of the employee or the
termination of the employee, it affects both, company and the employee. Government has
forced many laws on the companies that it has become very difficult for the HRM to follow
the old policies on this.

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Conclusion
Working at TESCO has been discussed in this paper and the culture and structure of the
company seem to be very good for the sake of working conditions in the current days.
TESCO human resource department is doing a great job in managing the resources of the
company and taking care of all the legal and regulatory frameworks. HRM has developed
the strategies which are very effective in Personnel management and IR. Other than this the
different kind of performance measures and reward programs are also in place to maintain
the high quality work force. HRM at TESCO is also doing well in the field of providing the
different kind of flexibilities to the employees. Working hour flexibility and leave
management flexibility are being appreciated by the employees of the company and helping
the HRM in cessation of the employees. Although there were some issue of discrimination
found in the past, but now TESCO has become an ideal place to work where discrimination
is no more an issue.

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References
Huselid, M. A. (1995). The impact of human resource management practices on turnover,
productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy of management journal, 38(3),
635-672.
Ulrich, D. (2013). Human resource champions: The next agenda for adding value and
delivering results. Harvard Business Press.
Gatewood, R., Feild, H., & Barrick, M. (2010). Human resource selection. Cengage
Learning.
Guest, D. E. (2011). Human resource management and performance: still searching for
some answers. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(1), 3-13.

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