STRATEGIC RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction________________________________________________________________________3
Activity 1 Human Resource Management________________________________________________3
1.1 Organisational objectives and The contribution of Human Resource Management_________3
1.2 Role of human resource management in Tesco______________________________________6
1.3 PLANNING HUMAN RESOURCE REQUIREMENT_____________________________________9
2.1 The Recruitment and retention strategies of Tesco’s_________________________________11
2.2 Techniques used to develop employees in Tesco’s__________________________________13
2.3 Evaluation of the contribution of these techniques for ensuring employees engagement___16
2.4 Systematic analysis of the effective strategies used by HRM department________________17
Activity 2 Management of physical resources____________________________________________19
3.1 Table representing organisational objectives of Tesco by showing the physical resources
required for achieving organisational objectives_______________________________________19
3.2 Role of physical resources management in Tesco___________________________________20
3.3 PLANNING PROCESS TO FULFIL PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS________________________21
Introduction_____________________________________________________________________23
4.1 Contribution of marketing activities in the achievement of organisational goals__________23
4.2 Evaluation of the marketing operations of Tesco____________________________________24
4.3 Process of developing markets__________________________________________________26
conclusion______________________________________________________________________27
Activity 4 Information System Management_____________________________________________28
INTRODUCTION__________________________________________________________________28
5.1 contribution of information management to organisational objectives__________________28
5.2 Role of information management within an organisation______________________________29
5.3 Process of planning Information System Management Requirement____________________31
Conclusion________________________________________________________________________32
References________________________________________________________________________34

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INTRODUCTION

Strategic resource management are the plans and policies in place for the organisation to
achieve its organisational goals and objectives. The main focus of strategic resource
management is to develop varied approaches to help gain a competitive advantage (Cho et al.,
2017). This assignment focuses on the resource management for supporting business
strategies, and for the overall analysis, as a result Tesco Plc has been selected.

Tesco Plc trading as Tesco’s is the biggest supermarket in the United Kingdom; it is the third-
largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues with one of the most dominating
domestic market shares in the world. Tesco began its operations originally from food products,
but later expanded its product variety to financial services, clothing, internet services, electronic
services and telecommunication services. Tesco has one of the best management teams and
operating strategies (Tesco, 2018).

ACTIVITY 1 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

1.1 ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND THE CONTRIBUTION OF HUMAN

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Tesco has three significant objectives, in which the company is working on. These objectives
are presented below:

 Tesco is working hard to increase its sales of organic products to 1 billion pounds
within the next five years.
 Tesco has a target to be a strong competitor within non-food products and currently
has around 6.5% market share within the non-food products sector.
 Tesco has an objective to create a healthy work life balance and working
environment for staff by creating a motivational atmosphere and encouraging health
and well-being. Additionally, Tesco aims to support working life by fulfilling their
balance needs (Tesco, 2018).

The human resource function of Tesco’s is completely focused on the simplification of work and
the performance management of employees, where performance management involves

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promotion and career growth of employees. The human resource management is working with a
large number of employees, who are from different cultural/religious backgrounds, with different
personal and professional experiences, who have also been exposed to various working
environments. Therefore it is not always easy to maintain the same human resource
management strategy for all. However Tesco’s have well-defined values and objectives for its
employees and would expect their employee’s to collectively work towards achieving these
aims. For this, the appropriate training and development have been provided for their
employees; in order for them to be highly productive and efficient (Luthans & Doh, 2014).

The human resource department at Tesco’s help in providing an effective organisational culture
and structure for achieving its organisational goals. The above mentioned organisational goals
of Tesco’s can be achieved through the following ways:

 Integration: Integration function is about maintaining a healthy relationship between

employees and managers. The human resource team of this organisation also focuses
on maintaining good relationships with other companies (Mello, 2014). Through such
integration, effective communication between all levels of staff can be maintained which
enhances better understanding. Better communication and understanding among the
employees reduces conflict and increases productivity as well as efficiency. Through
integration, all employees in the organisation can work together to achieve the common
organisational goals and objectives.

 Training and Development: The success and failure of an organisation completely

depends upon the talented workforce of the organisation. For organisational operations
practices need to be effective and appropriate training must be given to employees
(Pynes, 2013). Tesco has various training and development programs which help to
support their employees whilst ensuring that they are up to date with relevant polices
and processes.
 Providing training on enhancing leadership skills, decision making along with other
necessary training and workshops, which enhances software skills, computer skills,
communication skills, teamwork, etc. are all essential for individual growth and for the
development of employees as well as organisational development. Skill based training,

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 problem solving and human relations training seems to be in need for Tesco’s within the
current scenario.

 Effective Leadership: Enabling leadership qualities on every individual in an

organisation is not an easy task. The human resource management of an organisation
directs employees to achieve its goals. The main focus of the leadership function is to
redirect all the human resource management goals to the organisational goals where the
effective path of innovation and creativity is assured (Schuler & Jackson, 2007). Tesco
adapts a democratic style of leadership and management, which has proved to be very
effective for the company. Since the operation is decentralised, there is good
communication within and among the higher level to lower level employees and every
employee can speak their mind and initiative by sharing their ideas for the growth and
development of the organisation. Tesco’s also motivates employees through rewards
and benefits which enhances their commitment and sincerity towards their work and
organisation.

 Performance Management: The human resource management of Tesco’s ensures that

all employees in the organisation are highly motivated and inspired to achieve
organisational goals. Different types of motivational approaches are used to increase the
performance level of employees (Munusamy et al., 2008). Such motivational approaches
consist of bonuses, incentives, reward systems and promotions. Motivation is not given
to employees to increase their current performance levels but to encourage them to work
harder in order to achieve future organisational goals.

 Motivation – The Human resource management of Tesco PLC has been found to be
using the Guest’s model of HRM. This model enables the HRM team to motivate
employees by developing effective HRM strategies, performing HRM practices
effectively and achieving various outcomes like HR outcomes, Behavioural outcomes,
Performance outcomes and financial outcomes. In this way the HRM is involved in
motivating employees so that the achieved outcomes fulfil the objective of the company.
Tesco motivates employees by facilitating incentives, bonuses, promotion, paid holidays
and a reward system to boost their performance and encourage employees to work
harder to achieve the organisational goals efficiently within the given timeframe.

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  Health and Safety – The HRM of Tesco PLC is responsible for managing the health and
safety of employees. As per the Work act 1974, organisations in the UK are required to
meet the health and safety needs of their employees. The Human resource
management is responsible for providing training related to the health and safety of
employees and also to provide the relevant information required in order to maintain the
health of employees physically, mentally, emotionally and socially (Bratton, 2015). This
helps employees to work effectively and achieve the key objectives of the company.

 Disciplining – The HRM of Tesco is responsible for developing the rules to maintain the
discipline among employees. The disciplinary rules and regulations are implemented
and monitored by the line managers and report back to HRM so that they can take the
necessary actions. This helps the company to create peace and a safe working
environment which aids to achieve the organisational objectives.

 Firing – The HRM of Tesco PLC is responsible for managing employees. If employees
cannot perform as per expectation then the HRM can take the necessary actions, which
includes terminating the employees contract based on poor performance (Slack et al.,
2013). This helps the company to eliminate any ineligible employees and subsequently
recruit new capable employees who are able to meet the specific objectives of the
company. It reduces the unnecessary costs and increases the productivity and efficiency
of the company.

1.2 ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM) IN TESCO

The biggest role for human resource management is to achieve organisational goals more
effectively. The human resource management role of Tesco’s consists of the following:

Recruitment of the employees – The recruitment process helps the company to attract
suitable candidates to apply for job vacancies in the company (Lussier & Hendon, 2018). The

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human resource management of Tesco is responsible for creating the advertisement in an
appropriate way to enable more candidates to apply for the job. At the beginning the HRM of
Tesco starts the Talent Plan to fill the vacancy via internal recruitment. If appropriate candidates
are not found from the internal selection then the Human resource management of Tesco is
responsible for advertising on the company’s intranet for 2 weeks. To recruit the applicant
externally the HRM of the company is responsible for advertising the job vacancy on the
company’s website and also on the display notice board of different Tesco stores. Tesco also
uses the radio and television for further advertisement. The Human resource management of
the company is responsible for collecting the CVs of applicants for further recruitment
processing (Miles, 2012). The recruitment job of the HRM is important because HRM helps to
complete this process in a cost effective way which will enable Tesco to receive appropriate
applicants for the job vacancy.

Selection of the employees – The selection process includes various screening protocols to
choose the right applicant from a number of candidates. The HRM of the company will firstly
review the CVs of all applicants. Beside this, the information provided will be analysed in the
screening process and then the selected candidates are called for a formal interview. The
Human resource management is responsible for managing all the necessary equipment,
documents, location, and refreshments, required for the interview. The line manager is also
involved in the interview alongside the human resource employees. The selection role of HRM
is important because this helps the company to recruit a capable and eligible employee who can
work for the company and support them towards achieving set aims and objectives (Lussier &
Hendon, 2018).

Training – Training can be taken as the acquisition of the skills and knowledge required to
accomplish certain tasks. The Human resource management in Tesco is responsible for
identifying the training needs among different employees and then conducting the training
programme. The different types of training provided by Tesco includes shadowing which is
provided to new employees, coaching in which a colleague helps the trainees to reach a
solution for the problem, mentoring in which an experienced member of the company acts as an
advisor for new employees and job rotation in which trainees are provided with full
responsibilities of the task on a temporary basis in order to gain hands on experience. This role
of providing training by Tesco’s HRM is very important as it helps to empower the employees by

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providing them with the required skills and knowledge to perform their task and meet the aims
and objectives of the company.

Collaboration: Tesco is the biggest retail company in the UK, and it has the responsibility of
maintaining various activities within a specific period. The managers and the human resource
department of Tesco’s are working together to develop the skills and abilities of their
employees. If the employees of an organisation do not perform their activities effectively, this
will negatively affect the organisational output (Hartog, 2018). Work is divided into different
teams, and all teams are responsible for accomplishing their task within a specified period. The
collaborative role of HRM is very important because it helps to reduce the work load from one
department to another so that work is completed timely and effectively with minimal errors.

Employee Relation: The human resource management team, help to maintain good employee
relations within an organisation. If any sort of dispute and or conflict arises in the organisation,
the human resource management team is responsible for managing and resolving this. If the
organisation is unable to resolve these issues, then the organisation will have to face more
problems (Wikhamn, 2019). Hence, the main role of the human resource management team is
to maintain good employee relationships arcoss the orgainstion.

Monitoring and Evaluation – The HRM of Tesco PLC is involved in monitoring and evaluating
the performance of employees. The HRM of Tesco PLC uses activity plans, learning logs, “plan,
do, review” checklist in order to evaluate the work plan and the progress of employees (Marr,
2016). Besides this, other checklists, timetables, scheduled tasks and other measures are
applied to monitor the employee performance. This role is important to check whether
employees are performing their duties in an effective way and it also helps to identify the
training and developmental needs amongst employees.

Human resource of the Tesco explained that HR and its strategy has huge role for the success
of its business. 1Muhammad Imran Hanif (2018) mentioned that there is direct and indirect
relationship between other organizational functions. Company with better HR strategies and
recruitment ensures proper introduction of skilful staff that ensure conduction of proper planning,

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controlling and other functioning in the organization. 2Tesco HR recruitment and selection
strategies are on the point which ensures that all the staffs and employees are provided enough
training and development. When employees are provides such training facilities in adequate
manner, they became confident and help to build team work as well. This kind of thing all
started by help of HR process. Tesco HR system has always attempt to build the culture and
proper ethics within the organization as it help staffs of organization to have healthy relationship
with each other. Such sorts of things have been obvious to provide employees satisfaction and
positive impact on the delivering good customer service. According to 3HND Business report
(2014) Tesco is giving their prime focus on the HR strategies and build proper working condition
having better team work. Success of business and achievement of company’s goals and
objectives is done through the combination of all organizational function and most importantly
human resource.

The function of the organisation starts from the human resource function, i.e., recruitment of
employees. The human resource functions are the foundation for other functions in the
organisation, so the effectiveness of human resource functions determines the organisations
success. Therefore, it is a more important function in comparison to other functions in the
organisation. Recruitment and selection are one of the major functions of the HRM, which helps
to place the most capable individuals in the right place as well as motivating, providing training
and development, remuneration and benefits, safe working environment and employee-
employer relationships which all come under human resource management (Miles, 2012). If
HRM functions are not appropriately conducted, then other functions within the organisation are
adversely affected. The role of human resource management is very important in Tesco PLC as
the main principle of HRM is to achieve the objectives of the company. The human resource
management in Tesco’s perform all the functions which enable the company to gain eligible and
capable human resources, which creates a great impact on customer engagement and
satisfaction. Hence, the role of HRM is very crucial in Tesco PLC. The hierarchical structure of
Tesco comprises of three major levels which are the top level, middle level, and the lower level.
The human resource management falls under the middle level hierarchical structure of Tesco.
At the top level, all of the power lies within senior personnel’s such as the Chief Executive

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Officer (CEO), Chairman, Chief Finance Officer and Non - Executive Officer and at the lower
level there are employees who have direct contact with the consumer or the public for example
the store manager, store keepers, and so on.

1.3 PLANNING HUMAN RESOURCE REQUIREMENT

Human resource planning requires the assessment and analysis of the present and future of the
company and predicts the resources and its efficiency. Man power planning process generally
starts by understanding the existing workforce. The management must be aware of the
employee’s qualification, background, education, skills and abilities. Future forecasting comes
after understanding the employees. Following the information regarding the employees every
aspect, the HRM should forecast the future and analyse if the existing employees and their skills
are efficient enough for the future, or consider if additional human resource or further training
and development should be conducted. Recruitment and selection is the next step after
forecasting. The HRM recruits and selects capable candidates depending upon the
requirements and circumstances of the organisation after conducting the relevant tests,
interviews and analysis (Miles, 2012).

The next step is training and development. On the basis of organisational needs and situation,
employees are given training to acquire the best skills, knowledge and ability which helps in
better performance and efficiency in the organisation. All of these steps enables the firm to
become prepared for a dynamic business environment and adapt to the ever-changing
technology, future industry, compete with the rivalry and sustain as well as succeed in the
market. Human resource planning is the greatest need of Tesco PLC as there are almost
476,000 workers employed globally at Tesco PLC. There are many differences between Tesco
and other organisations on how the human resource requirements are planned and
implemented. Some of the key areas where a difference can be found are described below –

Strategy and Satisfaction – Tesco PLC has a better employment strategy which enables them
to have 476,000 staff employed worldwide. However the employment strategy of Sainsbury’s
results in them employing 161,100 workers globally which is not so effective. But the fact
remains that both of these companies are facing challenges regarding ineffective corporate
policies and strategies. Both companies are using the strategy of price-effectiveness and
product differentiation, which only helps to attract customers (Dudovskiy, 2016). Therefore,

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Tesco PLC as well as Sainsbury’s should develop their strategies in order to enhance employee
satisfaction.

Recruitment Process – The recruitment process of Tesco PLC starts with the search of
employees through an internal talent plan which helps to fill the vacancies by the employees
already employed within the company. If a suitable candidate is not found then the
advertisement is then advertised on the intranet of the company to acquire talent from a wider
selection of candidates within the company. Following this, the external advertisement is posted
on the company’s website, media and television. However other companies use different
strategies to recruit their employees. For example, Sainsbury’s uses the browsing strategy as
interested candidates can directly visit the company’s website and apply for a suitable job. The
recruitment process of Sainsbury’s is deemed to be simple and easy. But Tesco PLC can
receive eligible employees easily and promptly through the internal talent plan. The process of
taking applications directly from the website may create difficulties but the recruitment process
in Tesco works step by step which provides a better outcome at the end.

Motivation and Reward – Tesco PLC is found to be using two theories for the motivation and
reward for employees. The two theories are Maslow and Herzberg theory. Tesco aims to
motivate its employees by offering incentives and bonuses in order to achieve employee
satisfaction (White & Sanders, 2009). Other companies also conduct a bonus system. Like
Sainsbury’s the company pays yearly bonuses to their employees based on their work
performance. But the bonus system of Tesco PLC is better than that of Sainsbury’s therefore
Tesco PLC is able to achieve greater employee satisfaction. Beside this, Tesco PLC also allows
for employees to participate in discussions regarding pay rise and other roles and
responsibilities. Thus this system is not evident in a number of other companies. Hence, this
unique plan of Tesco PLC to identify the HR requirement helps it to achieve a better standard of
employee engagement and satisfaction.

Performance Monitoring Strategies – Tesco PLC uses the 360 degree feedback system
which helps employees to achieve feedback from their line managers, team members,
colleagues and other personnel. Beside this, every employee has their own personal
development plan in order to monitor their own skills, knowledge and achievements. However
other companies have their own performance monitoring strategies. For example Sainsbury’s,
has made provision for their employees’ performance development plan which also works as a

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feedback system. But the 360 degree feedback system in Tesco PLC helps employees to be
aware of their strengths and weaknesses from a different point of view as different people from
various positions will also be involved in providing feedback (Tesco, 2018).

2.1 THE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION STRATEGIES OF TESCO’S

Tesco needs to select employees who are highly dedicated to achieving organisational
objectives and goals effectively. Thus, the organisation follows a certain structured process of
recruitment through which the organisation will be able to attract a large pool of candidates for
both operational and managerial roles.

There are also different processes of recruitment depending upon the job vacancy. Internal,
external and alternative methods and strategies are used for recruitment. Tesco PLC follows an
appropriate procedure and process to recruit staff for managerial roles as well as for operational
ones. In the first instance, Tesco’s tries to select from the internal talents of the organisation to
fulfil the vacancy initially through job posting, promotion and transfer, union through assigning,
employee referrals, etc. The process of the internal talent plan helps the company to recruit
employees internally and this process also helps employees with career development. This
shows the value of employees in their own company and enhances the employee satisfaction. If
no candidate is available from the internal talent plan then the job advertisement is displayed on
the Tesco intranet for internal employees. This helps the company to recruit employees who are
well known to other members of staff in the company. This will allow the company to also
appoint employees who know about the company. Beside this, the cost of recruiting external
candidates will also be reduced due to the strategy of the company by recruiting candidates
internally. In the case where the existing employees are not enough to fulfil the vacant post and
its requirements, external and alternative strategies are used. External strategies include
advertising, employment agencies, college recruits, employee referrals, walk-ins, e-recruitment,
etc. And alternative strategies include leasing employees, overtime, part time workers,
outsourcing, etc.

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Tesco as multinational brand has given facilities to fill the online application vacancy where
person applying should create their account and applied for the desire position. Here, applying
process for both general staffs and managerial position is same. Moreover, once they received

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CV, skills and all their experience and found appropriate and meet the basic criteria they contact
for the further processes. For the both position, they can either call or conduct face to face
interview. After all the online testing, pre-employment checks and interview, they are invited for
further process such as training and development, teaching cultural and ethical aspect, building
leadership skills and many more. But techniques and ways are different for both staffs and
managers as their working areas are different so they need different training and development.
Since, Tesco as service oriented company; they are much focused on the store staffs to provide
proper and desired service. Employees unable to perform well and unable to meet target will
have direct questions raised to the managers of the stores and so on. 5Tesco always believes
that introducing right people at the right place with proper and adequate skills helps organization
to achieve its goal. For the line managers, Tesco has its own and different training courses and
development programmes that helps them to build their leadership skills. According to the data
of 2018/19, about 17,156 managers got the training which aims to enhance communication,
stress management, coaching and many skills.

Since they have internal and external recruitment process and even for the external
employee’s company post their vacancy online so they do not bear any cost till that time.
Sometimes nature of vacancy may not be fulfilled through their websites for the position like
baker and pharmacists, it advertise offline media, television ads, radio and magazine so they
bear some costs. 6Tesco has its different learning and development team which primarily
focuses on the developing skills of new and existing staffs and managers in the company. It is
obvious that this sort of activities is costly as they are doing this through different technology
and software but vital to the successes of the business. Tesco as multinational brand has
retention rate of employees as prime reason stood as employee’s satisfaction. Tesco is very
careful of making retention strategies which is started from the selection and recruitment
process. Tesco is using motivation strategy along with the retention strategy that is pushed up
by the training and development plans where company retain highest amount of their recruits.
Company not only provides them such training and other motivational factors but it pays good
amount of money as line manger get paid average around £25,986. Tesco turnover in banking
sector is high compare to the other operating sector because of the workload in workplace and
unable to handle stress management. Though the retention strategies of the company are being

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affected by the changing customer needs and preference as customer prefer the convenience
shopping.

All the operational staffs are recruited through this process. Additionally, the application for the
managerial position can be filled online. Through such vacancy, the recruitment and selection
process of employees for Tesco’s can be made (Tesco, 2018). In order to apply for such
vacancies, the candidate will have to visit the website of the company on a regular basis. The
candidates who are interested in working directly at one of the Tesco’s stores can contact the
store along with their CV and application form. Additionally, candidates can also apply for a
store based job by registering through the Jobcentre Plus. Hence, the strategy of recruiting
external employees allows the company to recruit fresh new talent. This helps to create
employment opportunities and fulfil society needs by enhancing the social image and reputation
of the company.

The employee retention strategies of Tesco’s include various employee recognitions and
retention programs. If the best employees of an organisation are properly recognised, they will
remain within the organisation on a long term basis. The human resource department of the
company provides various incentives and rewards for its employees which is based on their
level of performance (Kramar, 2014). For the retention of employees, the human resource
manager of Tesco’s understands the needs of employees and tries to fulfil those needs.

Tesco focuses on key drivers so that employees are satisfied with their job. It has been found
that opportunities for personal development and growth and for people and culture are the key
driving factors. Therefore Tesco PLC tries to ensure that it builds a better culture for its
employees and helps them to achieve their personal growth as well as potential, to encourage
them to progress to future roles. Beside this, the line manager is responsible for developing the
psychological commitment among the employees by implementing reward systems, health,
safety and wellbeing activities, and so on. The management team as well as every employee
are encouraged to use and promote effective communication at Tesco PLC which will motivate
the employees to continue to work with the company (Pynes, 2013). These types of retention
strategies are for all employees from the managerial level to the operational level. All of these

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retention strategies help the company to retain their employees as well as motivate and
encourage them to stay with the company and not leave.

2.2 TECHNIQUES USED TO DEVELOP EMPLOYEES IN TESCO’S

It is very important for Tesco’s to give focus on the development of their employees. There are
various techniques which are used by Tesco’s in order to achieve the employees’ development.
Some of these techniques are described below –

1. Training

Tesco PLC provides training for its employees in order to motivate them. The company sets out
various strategies in order to identify the needs of training among its employees. The training
enables the employees to perform their work in an effective manner utilising their education,
knowledge, skills and available resources. The employees as well as the management teams
identify the gaps in their knowledge and skills and then the management team of the company
starts the training and development process (Serrat, 2017). There are various forms of training
provided in Tesco PLC. Some of which are described below –

 Job Rotation

Tesco uses the job rotation method for motivating employees and to help them develop and
enhance their existing skills, as well as to learn new techniques for performing new tasks. When
employees are not given the opportunity for job rotations, they will then become bored as a
result of performing the same tasks repeatedly (White & Sanders, 2009). Likewise, it is said that
everything has reason or certain goals for doing something. In the same way it is necessary to
make proper goals for job rotation and purpose of doing it. Job rotation helps employees to
broaden their knowledge, skills and experiences and become more flexible towards their
working environment. Tesco has always offered employees development and enhancement of
skills through job rotation and provide staffs break form strenuous job work. Tesco is doing so
specially in banking industry as employees turnover is bit high and to get them rid of repeated
nature of job over there. However, frequent job rotation may hamper in specialisation and
subsequently reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees’ performance.

 Shadowing

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This is the type of training which is provided by experienced employees for new employees. In
Tesco’s the employees are encouraged to teach another employee if he or she is not aware of
the right way to do certain tasks. This will help the employee to receive correct information in a
very short period of time with the ability of performing the work effectively. It also helps in
improving their communication skills and understanding each other’s behaviour along with their
strengths and weaknesses so that they can collectively work on them. Through the shadowing,
quick learner employees can catch what they have to do to be the best and achieve the target.
Tesco has able to maintain friendly environment within the organization which is further
supported by the shadowing by transferring knowledge and skills. However, in some cases, the
employees might feel dominated and criticised by other employees for their weaknesses and
may not open up, there might also be an increase in competition, which makes staff unsecure in
which they may not guide and teach others properly. Moreover, shadowing can be ineffective
when person transferring knowledge without knowing the intention of the new staff.

 Coaching

This is the type of training in which a specific colleague or manager helps trainees or new
employees to find and resolve their own problems. Tesco PLC actively uses this method to
motivate employees and develop their knowledge and skills. This is the greatest technique for
personal development for employees which certainly benefits the company. Also, since there is
no direct cost, it reduces the additional training cost. As the employee and the coaching provider
are both aware of the organisational culture, process and policies, and they are familiar with
each other. So, there is a reduction in the chances of disagreements, which helps one to
become familiar with employees and build trust and respect amongst each other. However, the
coach may have a problem with managing the time to fulfil their own responsibilities and may
feel that the new ideas and changes will not be welcomed by the employees. In addition, there
can be misunderstanding between coaching staffs and employees which can create bad and
unhealthy environment inside the organization for long period of time. So, it is necessary to
make clear to each and every one for the reason behind the coaching and make sure that all the
staffs are well motivated for the things they are going to do.

Mentoring

Tesco PLC also uses the mentoring technique to develop the knowledge and skills of
employees. In this technique, the more experienced staff acts as an advisor and provides

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suggestions and advise to new employees (Munusamy et al., 2008). This technique allows the
employees to gain the knowledge and skills from more experienced employees. It also
enhances and transfers personal and professional development such as self-confidence, sell
esteem, etc., and other skills and qualities from the mentor to others along with recognition at
work for participation in the workplace.

2. Building the team

In every team, there is an individual who is an expert in their area. Team building helps to
develop the group by gathering views of others collectively. If all members of staff have the
same sort of skills, then there is a limited opportunity to learn anything new (Schuler & Jackson,
2007). In Tesco, the human resource management department is focused on creating an
effective team. Effective team is possible only when employees are fully satisfied and well
motivated. Tesco always aware of such situation to make environment very clean and everyone
in the organization know their duties which help to build the team and achieve the goals of the
organization. The technique of creating teams is an effective way of performing any kind of
work. The team comprises of different talents so there will be knowledge sharing amongst
members. But, Tesco must make sure that each personnel are given the right skills and
knowledge that supports in making effective team otherwise there will be chaos and unable to
meet the targets. This technique is effective for the development of employees. But sometimes
there may be a misunderstanding or disagreement amongst the team leading to disputes and
conflicts which may not bring an effective outcome from this technique.

3. Performance appraisal

Managers at Tesco’s are continuously focused on the performance level of employees.

Performance evaluation of employees at Tesco’s is based on some level of performance
measurement standards. Performance appraisal at Tesco has given employees their further
personal growth and development by evaluating work they have done with the targets they sets.
Tesco believes that performance appraisal as important tools that determine who needs further
training to acquire skills, who need to promoted, demoted and fired and so on. The managers
of the organisation deliver appropriate guidance if the employees do not meet the performance
standard of an organisation. The timely feedback is maintained at Tesco’s and helps in
highlighting areas of improvement throughout the company. The performance appraisal helps

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employees to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. This plays an effective role in
identifying the training and developmental needs among employees. Organization should
always be aware of there are adequate and proper mechanism for the performance appraisal
otherwise results can be chaos and negative. Performance appraisal should not be in the form
of written but it should be conducted in the daily, weekly and monthly manner so that actual
appraisal can be found. It helps to know what the areas to be improved and what should be
done so that it doesn’t occur again.

4. Suitable learning opportunity

The human resource department at Tesco’s has maintained an appropriate arrangement for
delivering affective learning opportunities for their employees. In the learning process, the
company delivers new tasks to employees which have not been previously performed by the
company. Further, Tesco’s leadership development team help current and new employees to
teach the required skills and ethical aspects. Tesco never delay in delivering the knowledge and
required skills through their different software and skills development team. This can be a hard
and challenging task for employees however these tasks provide good learning opportunities to
employees (Coccia & Rolfo, 2013). Tesco has numbers of staffs working in different industry so
they make sure that everyone are well trained and got enough learning opportunity. This sorts of
learning and development help to face complicated situation in their working areas.

5. Job Enrichment and Job Enlargement

Job enrichment refers to taking in additional responsibilities from higher positions or an increase
in the complexity of work. Job enlargement refers to taking and being in charge of additional
duties and responsibilities which may not necessarily be included in the job description. Job
enlargement indicates horizontal expansion of the job and responsibilities, and job enrichment
indicates vertical expansion of the job and responsibilities in the work place.

Job enrichment and job enlargement increase the responsibilities and complexities in the
workplace contributing towards the challenges of employees, which is a great way of developing
employees in terms of their problem solving skills, technical skills and other related skills in the
organisation. Tesco having multiple industries have used job enrichment technique that enable

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employee or staff member and people at the top level can learn new skills and reduce the
boredom too. Sometimes this sort of technique can be utilized as the motivation factors but it
can increase the workload and lack of training lead to face unwanted challenges. The next
technique for developing employees in Tesco’s is by making each employee accountable for
their team. In this way, the employees of the company are responsible for learning new and
additional skills and abilities (White & Sanders, 2009). Along with this, they further feel highly
confident to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively. If the company does not provide any
additional responsibilities for their employees, they may feel demotivated and neglected. Thus,
all of the above help to strengthen the employee’s commitment towards their organisation.
However, sometimes it may build frustration, work overload and tension between employees.

2.3 EVALUATION OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF THESE TECHNIQUES FOR

ENSURING EMPLOYEES ENGAGEMENT

Employee engagement refers to the level of passion, commitment, effort and sincerity of
employees towards their job and organisation. Employee engagement enhances motivation and
employee satisfaction in the workplace. John Storey et al (2016), said that employee
engagement is level of interest that employees show, loyalty and commitments to say in
organization and effort they shown for the given task and target. So, it is clear that employees
should be enthusiastic to perform any sort of task and face any challenges. Tesco as
multinational company has maintained high level of employee engagement due to the different
factors associated with it. Employee engagement is the level of employee engagement in an
organisation. Employee engagement is the most significant factor for attaining organisational
goals in today’s competitive business world. A high level of employee engagement generates a
high level of customer loyalty, and it also helps to improve the overall organisational
performance and shareholders value (Zaugg & Thom, 2002). Engaged employees are those
employees, who are loyal and productive within an organisation, and who know what to do and
how to do it. They have the emotional intelligence and motivational connection and they are
highly motivated and attached to the organisation intellectually as well as emotionally. 7Bhawani
et al (2015) said that employees’ engagement can be important tools for the organization to gain
the competitive advantage as it helps to bring the prospect to HR to attach with managers, staffs

7
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industry-2162-6359-1000295.pdf

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and entire organization. Over the years, Tesco has able to create the employee engagement at
highest level and ensure the competitive advantage over its competitors. According to8 Dr. R.
Gayatri et al (2014) when employees are engaged, they are supposed to be more loyal towards
the organization and they work harder to achieve goals and ensure higher productivity.

Various techniques have been identified which are being used by Tesco PLC in order to
develop the knowledge and skills among employees. The techniques used are different kinds of
training, team creation, performance appraisal, learning opportunities and so on. Along with the
development of employees, these points also have a larger contribution in engaging employees
in an organisation. The training helps to produce skilful human resources. This helps the
employees to be aware of their responsibilities and helps them to perform their duties
effectively. Therefore, the training generates excitement in employees as employees become
enthusiastic to start a new job instead of becoming bored and compliant of doing the same job
repeatedly. This helps to generate a high level of employee engagement within an organisation.
Only proper use of such technique can be fruitful to the organization to achieve its human
resource goal. Trainings and development programmes are provided in the regular basis by
Tesco to its new and existence staffs to make deliver and face any upcoming situation in this
changing environment.

Through team building, employees can gather each other’s views. Beside this, the team has
various talents which encourages them to share their knowledge which helps in the personal
development of employees. If the employees are skilled and talented enough then they engage
in their work effectively. The performance evaluation of employees at Tesco’s is based on some
level of performance measurement standards. The managers of the organisation should deliver
proper guidance if employees do not meet the performance standard of an organisation (Hartog,
2018). The performance appraisal is the most important technique to enhance employee
engagement at Tesco’s. It has been found that the performance appraisal helps to identify the
weakness and strength of employees. This identifies the needs of training which helps the
employees to take training and developmental programmes. This will help enhance the
employee engagement.

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2.4 SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES USED BY HRM
DEPARTMENT

One of the most important roles in the human resource department at Tesco’s is related to the
development of different strategies and techniques including the implementation of these
strategies. The relevant higher authorities need to give a high level of concentration to achieving
organisational goals effectively, and they also have to work effectively to attain those
organisational goals. In the current scenario of Tesco, there seems to be imbalance in
employees wage and staffing costs as there are large number of employees. Some of the
strategies of the human resources management team which helps to contribute towards
achieving the organisational objectives are described below –

Employee motivation strategies – Employee motivation is one of the most effective strategies
used by the human resource management department to retain and attract the most capable
and suitable employees. Employee motivation strategies includes recognition of good work and
effort, financial incentive, job security, continuous monitoring and providing feedback which are
both positive and negative to employees, reward system, promotion and adding more
responsibilities (Hartog, 2018). Tesco implies Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of need theory
within the organisation. Tesco aims to motivate their employees by providing bonuses and
incentives for employee satisfaction. Tesco enables employees to become involved in
discussions related to their pay, it rewards its employees by providing benefits like medical
insurance, special offers and discounts, etc.

The management at Tesco’s have a focus on human resource strategies and the attainment of
corporate objectives. Among all, the main focus of the human resource management strategies
is given in the employee motivation strategies. This is an important part because, when
employees are motivated, their performance levels are also increased which positively reflects
on work output. There are various factors which need to be considered while motivating
employees, one of them is a working environment. For this, the workplace needs to be
maintained in such a way that, it will make the office duties and task easier, simpler and highly
effective (Rainey, 2014). Additionally, proper training programs need to be developed for the
employees in order to enhance their performance level. Hence, it is known that motivating
employees is highly beneficial to improve the performance of the employees in a retail store

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such as Tesco’s, which leads the workforce to becoming highly dedicated and focused towards
the organisation.

Cost Leadership and HR Management Strategy – Cost leadership and HR management

training aims to reduce the internal costs of the organisation and helps employees to become
more skilled and trained to provide the best services to customers and increase productivity,
efficiency and effectiveness in the organisation. The cost leadership strategy is the main goal of
Tesco PLC as this strategy helps the company to reduce the costs and enhance the profits. To
fulfil this strategy human resource management plays a great role. The human resource
management tries to reduce the cost that they spent on the human resource practices (Hartog,
2018). The HRM is responsible for reducing the cost by conducting cost effective training, using
cost effective materials like software systems, computer equipment, papers and other stationery
equipment as required.

Differentiation Strategy – Differentiation strategy is the organisational strategy to enhance

their business performance by differentiating their products and services from their competitors
and by highlighting the unique features of their products. The organisation needs effective
human resources so that the company can obtain talented, innovative, skilful, and experienced
human resources. Hence, the HRM of Tesco’s tries to fulfil the differentiation strategy of the
company by employing eligible employees for this task.

Each of these human resource strategy has own unique feature and provide certain importance
to the organization. In fact, these strategies are one which helps organization to achieve its
organizational goal. Thus, it is important to have clear and better link between organizational
goals and HR goals. Since, human resource is totally focused on developing human behaviour
and technical and soft skills to fulfil the job. Tesco human resource is highly technology
intensive which puts them always on the top delivering the proper training and development
facilities. Company are always aware of if they are hiring through effective channel and cost
associated with it. 9Ali Divandari et al(2015) has said that integration and alignment of HR
strategy with business strategy is important part that helps to get range of answers for
complicated organizational problems. Moreover, this kind of work makes sure that entire
technical, human and monetary things have some role in goal creation and abilities to apply

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Management_Strategies_in_Banking_Industry/link/5c14c557a6fdcc494ff53e55/download

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such goals are assessed. This sort of goal can be achieved with the vertical integration as
human resource management practices are created to help the achievement of business goal,
while horizontal integration of strategies ensures coherence within the organization along with
human resource activities.

ACTIVITY 2 MANAGEMENT OF PHYSICAL RESOURCES

3.1 TABLE REPRESENTING ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES OF TESCO BY

SHOWING THE PHYSICAL RESOURCES REQUIRED FOR ACHIEVING
ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES

The physical resource can be defined as the tangible assets which are required in the
organisation to perform their operation effectively (Andreas Bausch. & Schwenker, 2009). As
Tesco PLC is one of the largest retail organisations performing business activities worldwide, it
has several objectives. Different kinds of physical resources are required for Tesco PLC in order
to achieve its aims and objectives. Some of the physical resources that are required for Tesco
PLC in order to meet the organisational objectives are described below –

Building and Facilities – Tesco PLC is a retail company that runs almost 3,378 stores across
the UK alone. Beside this, there are many stores over the whole world. Tesco has the objective
to increase sales and gain more customer engagement. Therefore, in order to meet this
objective, Tesco PLC is required to acquire more buildings and establish additional stores.
Additionally, to provide all the facilities in the new stores there is a need for other physical
resources like electricity, water system, furniture, and so on.

Office equipment – There are various equipment which is required by the organisation in order
to complete their day to day operation. Some of the goods may be consumable such as pens,
papers, staplers just to name a few. Additionally, the company also needs the technological
equipment in the office such as phone, computer, calculators, bar code readers, and so on.
Hence, Tesco PLC is required to buy these equipment’s for its new stores or replace the old
ones in the previously set up stores. These physical resources are most important to run day to
day operations so that the company can achieve its objectives.

Equipment for maintenance and refurbishment – It has been found that Tesco is planning to
make a big programme for the refurbishment of the stores so that the customers are able to

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gain the best experience in the stores (Lowe & Wrigley, 2010). In order, to perform this
maintenance and refurbishment programme, Tesco PLC needs physical resources such as new
technological equipment, new furniture, and other equipment’s to maintain a clean and healthy
environment. This helps Tesco’s to enhance customer engagement and meet its objectives.

Equipment for the Emergency Provision – Tesco PLC has the objectives to meet the health
and safety compliances of employees as well as customers. In order to meet this objective,
Tesco PLC needs to purchase resources like first aid boxes, fire extinguishers, equipment for
waste disposal. These are very important physical resources which helps the company to
achieve its objectives along with the full compliance of the health and safety act of the country.

Insurance – As Tesco’s is a very big company, there is a need for insurance for each and every
physical resource. Tesco PLC requires insurance for its buildings, assets inside the stores and
other valuable items. The insurance helps the company to minimise any loss due to certain
accidents so that it can meet its objectives even if a difficult situation arises.

Security – Tesco PLC requires physical resources in order to maintain security. The physical
resources may include fire or burglar alarms, detectors which can detect non-purchased
products, CCTV cameras, and so on. There is always a risk that customers may steal goods
from the store. Therefore, Tesco’s requires such physical resources to help eliminate the loss
from theft and enhance profit.

3.2 ROLE OF PHYSICAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN TESCO

Physical resources includes labour, capital, energy, material and infrastructures which are
needed for organisational operations and production of goods and services. The main aspect of
the business function is the management of physical resources which can be used by the
company. Physical resource management is the appropriate allocation, utilisation and
management of physical resources such as raw materials, machines, equipment, vehicles, etc.
which are used in organisational processes. This is a highly significant aspect as it has a direct
impact on the overall operation of the company and it also makes every function of the business
easier and simpler (Serrat, 2017). Physical resource management helps to forecast the needs
and demands of customers in time, schedule the production accordingly and establish
transportation networks. It also facilitates in ordering and receiving stock from the supplier,
inventory management, production execution and delivering the products and value to

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customers. It facilitates in tracking the flow of resources from suppliers through the business as
well as customers.

The main role of the physical resource management at Tesco’s is to check the equipment,
machinery and premises. Beside this, the physical resource management at Tesco’s should
also monitor the needs of induction and training programmes for employees so that they can
use and operate the machinery and equipment effectively and safely. Tesco always ensures
that all the training equipments and machinery are placed properly and physical location of the
stores and banks are in place where customers easily got assess. Tesco run under the principle
that all the physical resources are available and optimum utilization. When physical equipments
have maximum use then there will be cost reduction. Further, proper location of such physical
resources is maintained by Tesco in such way that is available at the time of use. Some of the
things have to make sure that there are right person for the proper use of such resources and
sufficient storage facilities. Employees can get easy and quick service and training if such
resources are kept at the right place. Thus, it is very clear that physical resource management
has direct impact in the overall performance of organization. For business organisations such
as Tesco, physical resource management is really important because this helps the company in
achieving their objectives and goals effectively. Additionally, Tesco’s physical resources can be
found in various forms such as machines, buildings etc., and the management of the
organisation pays special attention to effectively managing these physical resources.

To manage this, they are focused on identifying the difference between the failure and success
of the business organisation. Hence, physical resources are a highly crucial part of the business
organisation. If there are no physical resources, the possibility of any business operations will
be limited. Even the start-up of business is impossible without the physical resources (Andreas
Bausch & Schwenker, 2009). Therefore, for the management of an organisation it is
recommended that they consider selecting and utilising these resources to manage their
organisation effectively, making sure that, these resources are a highly contributing factor
towards the achievement of organisational goals and objectives. At last, it is recommended that
there are various theories and principles which can be used for gaining corporate objectives and
goals effectively and easily.

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3.3 PLANNING PROCESS TO FULFIL PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Since, physical resources plays important role in the success of business organization, it is
important to have proper planning on physical requirements. Tesco Plc as service oriented
organization always makes survey of existing resources and compares it to the present needs of
resources. It helps them to save money by optimum utilization of resources. There is direct
relationship between customer needs and wants and physical resources. So it is necessary to
introduce such equipments and resources that satisfy them and compete in the market as well.
Tesco Plc ensures that current resources are working perfectly and placed appropriately so that
they can provide service in timely manner.

Physical resource planning is a process which focuses on the physical resources of the
organisation that facilitates organisational process and functions. The physical planning process
integrates the vision and mission of the company through the appropriate allocation, utilisation
and management of available physical resources in the organisation. There are generally four
steps in physical resource planning, which are determining required resources, acquiring
resources, managing resources and controlling the resource usage. The first step is to
determine the resources which are required to perform the work. It includes the recognition of
needs of labour, materials, equipment’s, facilities and other organisational and administrative
resources which will be required for the organisation in the present context as well as in the
future (Hartog, 2018).

The second step is to acquire the resources where the allocation of resources and how to
acquire the required resources are planned. It includes resource budgets, roles and
responsibilities of projects and project management teams, procurement needs, nature of
contracts, pre-qualification methods, criteria for selecting the contractor, methods of advertising,
measurement of performance, specification of policies and procedures, etc. The third step is to
manage resources which includes management of human resources, tools and equipment’s,
facilities, subcontractors and technologies, etc. so that it can be best utilised and effectively and
efficiently used for organisational processes and procedures. The last step is to control the
resource usage which ensures the resources are appropriately used and the wastage and
idleness is reduced and minimised. It measures the performance and efficiency of the resources

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and compares it with the expected ones, if there is a gap between the corrective controls,
actions are used and physical resource plans are revised to improve it.

The main role of the physical resource management at Tesco PLC is to manage all the tangible
assets including buildings, machinery, equipment, and so on. To perform this role the company
needs to plan for the fulfilment of its physical resource requirements. The physical resource
management of Tesco PLC is required to identify the need of the physical resource at the
company. Following this, planning should be done by analysing various factors. At first the
management team need to check the legal procedures for the instalment of the physical
resource (Rainey, 2014). The legal procedure may be associated with the physical resources
like buying lands, buildings, establishing new stores, installing energy supply, and so on. Beside
this, the physical resource management team should also analyse the cost-effectiveness of the
physical resource. The management team plan in such a way that they can reduce the cost of
the company and then enhance the profit. Additionally, the physical resource management of
Tesco PLC also plan for the training and induction programme to operate new machineries after
buying them. But in the current situation, Tesco PLC has stopped its expansion of physical
properties and launched the “Build a Better Tesco” programme in 2012, which aimed to improve
the physical properties of operating stores.

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Activity 3 Marketing

INTRODUCTION

Marketing can be defined as the process or the set of activities which helps the organisation to
create, communicate, deliver, and exchange offers for the consumers through different
promotions and advertisements. Marketing plays a great role in order to meet the business
objectives of any organisation. This report comprises the contribution of marketing activities to
meet the organisational objectives, role of marketing operations and the processes adopted by
the organisation to develop its market for the chosen company. Tesco PLC is the company
chosen for this report. Tesco PLC is one of the largest retail companies performing its business
activities all over the world.

4.1 CONTRIBUTION OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES IN THE ACHIEVEMENT OF

ORGANISATIONAL GOALS

Tesco is a retail company with various aims and objectives. The aims and objectives of Tesco
PLC is constantly changing from time to time as per the business environment and the
company’s situation. The main organisational objectives of Tesco PLC are -

 To increase sales and enhance profit

 To reduce operational costs
 To establish healthier eating products throughout its stores
 To develop the biggest internet shopping site
 To provide employment facilities to local people

The marketing function is the function which helps to spread various information about the
products and services that are on offer, for targeted customers. Marketing is a really important
component for a retail organisation such as Tesco’s. The company needs to have a divided
budget for various marketing activities. The marketing strategy of Tesco PLC includes the
analysis of the market situation, determination of the products to offer in the market and the
exact range of customers who are appropriate for certain products. There are various marketing
activities which are run by Tesco PLC which help the company to achieve the company’s aims
and objectives. For meeting those organisational objectives, Tesco adapts campaigns which

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includes advertisement through TV and radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, internet and
social media marketing, direct marketing, and so on. It also uses marketing strategies by
creating alliance partners making press releases where Tesco ventures and its information
about the product and services are shared. Tesco uses marketing strategies in wise manner as
there are many competitors and be top of the business. In the today’s business world, it is
necessary to look upon the objectives of company and make proper marketing strategies. Tesco
in the same manner shifts towards the use of digital marketing such as investing in TV, press,
theatre, radio and so on. According to Statista, revenue and sales of the company is increasing
as annual revenue for 2018/19 was almost £52 billion. Tesco even uses expansion strategy by
venturing with local companies and partners to maximise its benefits and minimise the risks of
operating in the international market. Tesco also applies marketing strategies such as market
penetration, product diversification, brand management and market development to compete
and gain competitive advantages over competitors which include ASDA, Sainsbury’s,
Morrison’s, etc. Market penetration strategy focuses on the sales of the products and services of
the company in the existing market through robust execution in product pricing, promotion and
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distributions that facilitates the company in acquiring a higher market share. Tesco has
contacted with farmers in the country sides for the fresh and organic products. Tesco is always
committed to reduce the food waste and well sourcing to respect environment and people who
grow them up. Moreover, company has its focuses on reducing different operation cost. It
always look for the ways to save the cost as in the report of 2018, it save £104 saving by
following the store operating model. Tesla is seeking the ways to minimize the cost in the
procuring goods and services which are not for resale. Market penetration has been proved to
be the most effective marketing strategy in the case of Tesco as the cost of retaining the
existing customer is lower than earning new customers. A number of promotional activities are
carried out by business enterprises so that, they can create a significant image of the company
within the competitive retail market (Rainey, 2014). Company offers sales promotion activities
such as buy one get one free on some goods, it also provide the loyalty cards to the customer.
Club card can be used by the customers so that they get some points at the time they shop.
The UK’s retail market is a highly competitive market, therefore the management team of
Tesco’s needs to create a positive image of the company to enable them to attract a large
number of customers and retain them for the long-term. Similarly, marketing activities also have
a significant role in attracting large numbers of customers, generating an effective relationship

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with them and satisfying the needs of those customers. The promotional and advertisement
activities are done to attract more customers as well as external employees. This helps the
company to meet the aim of enhancing customer engagement, profit as well as a skilled human
resource. After attracting and recruiting the skilled human resource through advertisement the
company can achieve the aim of accomplishing the biggest internet shopping site as well as
bring innovation to provide healthier goods and products to the customer (White & Sanders,
2009).

4.2 EVALUATION OF THE MARKETING OPERATIONS OF TESCO

As marketing operation plays a huge role in the sales of products and services as well as brand
management and delivering the product and services to the targeted customers, it is one of the
most essenntial operations in the organisation. Through correct marketing strategies, tools and
techniques, the audience or potential customers become aware of the products and services,
which reach the targeted markets, builds brand image, earning competitive advantages over the
competitors and helps in the sustainability and success of the organisation. Tesco Plc as global
brand has its unique marketing operations and uses different tools and techniques of marketing.
Company uses diferent tools such as use of internet, and other offline techniques as digital
marketing such as magazines ads, hoarder board, TV ads, radio, print ads and so on. The
management team of a retail business understand that marketing has a high level of importance
in such an organisation, it is because this is directly associated with the functioning of the
business along with its existence. Tesco by the use of such tools are use for the creation and
enhance the awareness of the brand and achieve highest level of exposure. Tesco’s perform
different types of marketing activities. Some of the marketing campaigns adopted by Tesco PLC
are listed below –

 Internet and social media advertisement

 TV and Radio media advertisement
 Promotions in Magazines and Newspaper
 Creation of new employment opportunities
 Introducing new and environmentally friendly products
 Direct marketing and promotions to existing customers (Club Cards)

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Tesco PLC gives more attention to the internet and social media marketing (Dudovskiy, 2016).
This method is mainly used for reaching a large number of customers and interacting with them
on a short term period. Through these tactics, the company can develop the market image they
desire as well as to significantly increase their number of sales. This marketing operation of the
company is very useful as it helps the company to gain more online customers so that the aim
of the company to create the largest online shopping site can be fulfilled in the future.
Additionally, the use of modern marketing tools and traditional marketing such as advertising
through the electronic and print media such as the internet, TV etc. for marketing is very
effective for Tesco PLC. These types of marketing operations help the company to enhance
customer engagement and increase profit. The marketing strategy of the company provides
employment facilities to people, which helps the company to enhance their image and
reputation among the public. Following this, Tesco can capture most of the areas of the market
easily and comfortably. The top spots in the retail industry have been achieved by Tesco’s
through these marketing tools. Tesco’s has used the Tesco Club Card scheme through these
marketing techniques. The club cards are used to promote and strengthen advertisement
among existing customers. This enables the company to retain customers and as a result they
will be less likely to move over to competitors. For the past few years, it has been proved that
modern marketing tools are found to be highly beneficial to the retail business enterprise in
achieving their company objectives and goals (Kotler & Keller, 2015).

4.3 PROCESS OF DEVELOPING MARKETS

Every business organisation needs to be focused on delivering quality goods and services to its
customers. They also need to focus on using various approaches towards the growth of the
organisation. For the business approach, the management team of the organisation are able to
create a high level of demand for its products and services and they are also able to develop
various strategies to understand the actual demand of the customers in their market (Miles,
2012). Market development is one of the strategic steps initiated by the firm to develop the
current market rather than searching for the new one. The firm seeks for new customers,
expanding its target markets to pitch the product to a separate consumer segment in an effort to
maximise its sales. Tesco succeeded in expanding its outlets all over the world with its new and
diversified range of products and services. It further supports with strategic alliances and
partnership that the company makes with domestic players of non-domestic countries to win

30
over the customers and their trust and loyalty in the new market. It is further enhanced with
distribution channels, introduction of new products and other corporate and marketing strategies
(Craft, 2004).Tesco also using the strategy of diversification for long time and still in use at the
present time as well. Some of the venture brands of company were introduced by supermarket
to diversify and go into the FMCG segment. This kind of diversification has helped company to
make house of brand which provides premium offering from organizations like Procter and
Gamble and Unilever. It enables them to find the loyalty through offering variety of products
which are not available each and every corner.

Tesco has been using various important strategies to understand customer demands. The first
strategy of the company is the market incursion. Incursion generally refers to the sudden attack
in a certain place. Likewise, Tesco PLC also makes a sudden attack on the market where there
is more consumers appropriate for the company. The company performs various market
analyses so that it can establish new stores in different locations so that the targeted customer
will be attracted. The next process of market development that is used by Tesco PLC is product
improvement. The company always tries to enhance the quality of the product that they provide
customers. Recently, the main aim of the company is to provide healthier food products to
customers. This helps the company to attract new consumers in store and also retain existing
customers.

The next process of market development used by Tesco PLC is different market processes
which means to analyse the opportunities in the market, selecting an appropriate market,
developing various marketing mixes and managing the marketing efforts. This helps Tesco’s to
find out where the market can be developed and how the market can be expanded in a certain
area. Finally, diversification is the fourth market development process. Diversification means to
expand the name of the company in different sectors of business (Wikhamn, 2019). Tesco’s is
actively involved in diversifying markets. At the beginning 40% of Tesco’s business was
associated to only grocery. But later on, it launched the non-food line which allowed the
consumer to conduct online shopping. Then, the company stepped into the personal finance
service in a joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland. Tesco PLC also diversified its operation
to other different sectors including insurance, telecom, and so on.

The next strategy is to attract non-users of their services and products. The company has
applied different tools and techniques for the advertisement and sales promotions. With all this,

31
Tesco is able to attract a large number of customers and satisfy the needs of those customers
as well. Additionally, various marketing strategies such as penetration strategy are helpful in
delivering various opportunities which help business firms to enter into the new market in a
more comfortable way (Munusamy et al., 2008). The strategy used by Tesco is a very effective
strategy which is helping the whole organisation to grow and increase their revenue by
attracting a large number of customers towards an organisation.

Hence, with the help of all of these market development strategies, Tesco PLC is attracting
existing customers from other companies such as ASDA and Sainsbury’s. As a result, the
management team has minimised its competition level to some extent in the market by
strengthening the position of the company and gaining a competitive advantage. Following this,
the company is always providing the highest quality goods and services to customers which
have enabled the company to generate a good company image within the market among its
customers. Therefore, with the help of these markets development operations, the image of the
company have been enhanced which helps in satisfying customers along with the stakeholders
of the organisation.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, it has been found that marketing is a very important segment within Tesco PLC as it
helps the company to achieve the organisational goals and objectives. There are various types
of marketing strategies in the company and in Tesco PLC the marketing strategies included
marketing through social media, TV, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Internet, Club cards, as
well as others. In the Tesco PLC, all of these strategies work effectively to expand the market of
the company. Besides this, market incursion, diversification, marketing process, marketing mix
and product improvisation are all the strategies of the company to develop and expand its
market.

ACTIVITY 4 INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
Information management systems (ISM) are those systems that are important for business
enterprises, which are mainly established in a highly competitive market place (Eroshkin et al.,
2017). It involves the implication of IT for functioning and supporting various other activities in

32
an organisation. In today’s era, information and technology are inseparable from the
organisation and its functions within the organisation depend upon it. ISM uses the information
system to gather information, process, analyse and evaluate them which aids in solving various
problems in an organisation along with the development of new products, supply chain
management, resource management and enterprise management. The information
management system has a great role in any kind of organisation. Through appropriate
techniques and information system management, an organisation can identify better
opportunities from the market and they can develop and capitalise on them.

5.1 CONTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT TO ORGANISATIONAL

OBJECTIVES

Information system can be said as the information which consists of collcetion of various data,
mdeels, people, information, technology and making proper structure that provides some
organizational function. In order to ensure that the business organisation is able to exist in the
market place for a longer period and that they are able to manage the different sources of
information related to the organisation, information system management plays a vital role.
Additionally, customers receive satisfaction through this system, but there is still a need for
appropriate techniques for managing information systems in an organisation. There are various
ways that the information management system helps to achieve the organisational objectives.
Some of them are described below –

Flow of information between the departments in an organisation – As the information

management system allows an effective flow of information from one department to another. It
has been found that all the departments of the company should follow the same vision so they
must share the information from one department to another (Coccia & Rolfo, 2013). This flow of
information helps the management team to create a plan, implement them and enhance the
business performance. In Tesco PLC the information management system facilitates the flow of
information among various departments which makes it easier to achieve its objectives.

Helps in decision making – The information management system plays an important role in
the decision making. It is because the information management system helps the company to
keep the records of previous events, financial transactions, future plans and many more. Beside
this, the effective flow of information facilitates via the information management system making

33
it possible to have effective communication processes in an organisation. Hence this helps to
make accurate decisions in an organisation. In Tesco PLC also the information management
system facilitates the accurate decision making environment which helps the company to take
the right steps in different situations to meet organisational objectives.

Means for managing business processes – The information management system helps the
organisation to perform the business processes effectively and efficiently by providing instant
information (Eroshkin et al., 2017). Beside this, the information management system helps to
transfer instant messages from one individual to another both within and outside the
organisation. This information management system helps to save the time of the personnel in
the organisation. In Tesco PLC, the communication is made promptly with the help of
information management systems so the company is performing its day to day operations
quickly which helps the company to achieve its objectives in a timely manner.

Data nowadays are called as the assets to the organization so that if organization has proper
and adequate data and information than it can use it for the various purposes. Those data can
be used for the various decision making process and link it to the organizational objectives. ISM
has become important aspect for Tesco Plc to achieve its organizational goal and acquire
competitive advantage. Tesco with the use of intensive technology and online services all over
the world, they are able to compete in the today’s competitive world while achieving its goals to
some extent.

5.2 ROLE OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT WITHIN AN ORGANISATION

The information management system has a great role in any kind of organisation. Through the
proper techniques of information system management, an organisation can identify better
opportunities from the market and they can develop and capitalise on them. With this method,
the organisation can easily identify the demand of the customer as well as to identify the ways in
which to receive satisfaction easily and effectively (McNurlin et al., 2009). If in any case, an
organisation does not implement information systems management, then understanding
consumer demand will not be easy and effective. However at present, Tesco’s has been
successful in understanding customer behaviour.

Tesco has automated and implemented the information system management from the top level
to the bottom level within the organisation. The “One—in-front” camera system was installed for

34
management of the queuing system which reduced the customer’s waiting time for the
checkout. This system uses thermal imaging technology to analyse the number of customers for
checkouts, which aids managers to function in real-time to make sure that the correct number of
bills are opened. It calculates the average queue length, average queue time and overall
performance of the store by evaluating the flow of customers throughout the operation which
helps staff to focus more on customer service and assistance. Also, the managers were
facilitated with “Symbol MC50” information system which helped to increase efficiency and
reduce the time of data analysis, emails, scheduling, handling phone calls, connection of
business with IT application, etc, so that managers could spend more time on floor sales.
Similarly, for invoicing, IT applications such as oracle, were used, for measuring budgets, HR
software and data. Management Information Systems were used as it helped information flow
through a single network over different locations of the company (Wikhamn,2019). The
introduction and application of information system management has brought Tesco a fortune as
there was an increase in productivity, efficiency, customer satisfaction and even employee
satisfaction, therefore, Tesco was able to gain a competitive advantage against its competitors
as customers chose Tesco’s over other competitors.

Tesco as UK retailer has used huge data for both customer and competitors in different ways.
Such massive data are used for the predictive analytics and learning to know the behaviour of
customer while buying and shopping. With the adequate data and information, company is able
to find the needs and wants of the customer and able to sell products as they want. Infact,
Tesco labs are always attempting to generate new ideas and technology that support them to
fight against its competitors such as Amazon, Sainsbury etc. Tesco has successfully maintained
good relations with around more than 2000 suppliers from all over the world, as well as with
fellow stakeholders (Palmer, 2004). With the help of the information management system,
Tesco PLC is able to manage all the information related to suppliers and stakeholders. This
helps the company to strengthen the relationship among stakeholders. With this tool, the
organisation is able to gather lots of data’s which are related to the market trends along with the
demand and needs of the customers. This helps Tesco PLC, to plan and make strategies to
enhance the business operation. Hence, the availability of the information also contributes to
making the correct decision in the company. Tesco PLC takes the right decision by analysing all
the information which is managed by the information management system. Therefore, all the
objectives and goals of the organisation can also be achieved easily through this method.

35
5.3 PROCESS OF PLANNING INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENT

Information Systems Management (ISM) is a highly significant aspect of the business operation
in which the management of the business organisation is required to give a high level of
concentration and attention. This is all because this system helps to gather data about the
business operation along with the market in which it is operating its business operation. Such
types of information are helpful for highlighting the areas within the organisation that require
improvement, as a result strategies and training can be developed to help improve such areas.
The ISM helps the company to achieve its aims and objectives so that Tesco PLC also uses its
own information management system. There is need for planning for the information
management system so that the system will perform its work effectively, safely and for long
period of time.

While the company is planning the ISM requirement, the first step is to consider the need of the
information required by the company (Marr, 2016). The higher authorities of the organisation
need to have access to the information which is required by them to effectively perform specific
tasks. Therefore Tesco PLC always analyses the types of information which is required by the
company. Then only the information management system stores, manages, transfers or
communicates the information to the relevant people or department. In the same way, ISM is
further helpful in understanding the wants and needs of customers to deliver high-quality goods
and services which satisfy them. So, the company uses different types of information systems
as per the cliental of customer or the type of information required by the company.

Meanwhile, Tesco labs are always experimenting new and unique set of things as customer
needs and preference keep changes. Company’s lab experiment various projects and tasks at
the same time and evaluated some technology in wide range disciplines as VR, mobile apps
and so on. Experiments are not always for the good but it’s about using them and applying them
whatever the results will be. Company always shifts from one technology to another technology
as they use data manipulation IS such as Hadoop, which is used for the processing big data.
Tesco Plc is very much proactive in terms of introducing the IS, as they believe in prevention is
better than cure. Tesco lab continuously research on innovating new technology that can track
the customer and their buying behaviour to improve.

Therefore, the information management system in Tesco PLC collects the information from the
consumer directly or through analysis and then helps the company to make correct business

36
decisions. Additionally, resource allocation needs to be made. Resource allocation is based on
the return on investment, charge out approach, portfolio approach and steering committees
approach. Following the resource allocation, project planning is done through the milestone
method, critical path method and Gantt chart method. Tesco PLC also uses various kinds of
financial documents in order to keep a record of financial transactions. Hence, the information
management system is planned in such a way that it can facilitate proper documents, format
and create a template to maintain the record of such information. The introduction and
application of information system management has brought Tesco a fortune as there was an
increase in productivity, efficiency, customer satisfaction and even employee satisfaction,
therefore, Tesco was able to gain a competitive advantage against its competitors as customers
chose Tesco over others. Tesco regularly experiments on new technology which is mostly
expensive so if they failed to meet their goals behind making and creating it, then they will have
to bear huge loss that impact overall strategy of organization.

Information systems planning is a highly important process for the competitiveness and success
of the company in this current business environment (Sommerfeldt, 2013). This plan explains
the content and structure of the information system through which it is developed. Thus
recognising the stages of information system planning is the main aim of information system
planning.

CONCLUSION

It is concluded that strategic resource management is the most significant aspect of any
operation within a business organisation. The management team of an organisation needs to
pay a high level of attention to managing resources effectively and efficiently (Lowe & Wrigley,
2010). From this study, it is found that there are various human and non-human resources
which are used by Tesco’s to function the operations of the business as well as to generate a
high level of demand from the customer for the sustainable growth of the retail company.
Human resources are the main contributor to the success of this company, and organisational
performance is based on the performance of its human resources. Similarly, there is an equal
contribution made by the physical resources. Without physical resources the operations of
Tesco’s is impossible.

37
Apart from the business operation, there is no chance of establishment from retail businesses
without physical resources. Additionally, marketing has played an important role for the
company, as the accomplishment of organisational goals and objectives is totally based on the
marketing strategies of the company. For marketing the products and services in the market,
Tesco generates a market by using various marketing and promotional strategies. At the last
part of this study, the information management systems have been discussed. The information
management systems are also another resource of the retail business where this resource has
become the most important resource in this technological business era. Information Systems
Management is a highly significant aspect of the business operation for which the management
team of business organisations needs to give a high level of attention. Likewise, there is the
process of planning for the implementation of the information systems in an organisation and its
management.

38
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