Essay On H&M: Human Resource Issues And Consultancy Proposals

Write an essay on H&M.

H&M is a well-reputed business organization; therefore, it is a highly significant responsibility to provide an enhanced solution for the organizational issues that are facing this particular business organization. It is necessary to mention that; H&M is facing issues related to the Human Resource within their organization due to lack of appropriate leadership development, risk management as well as analyzed training of the employees.

Apart from that, the major vision of this consultancy is to provide enhanced as well as effective services to their clients for running their business organizations in a better manner for expanding as well as emphasizing their business. In addition, the other vision of this particular consultancy is to provide effective approaches for gaining competitive advantages for the client. In this particular assignment, the major goal of this consultancy is to influence the range of stakeholders of H&M. Moreover, this particular consultancy will give a brief proposal to the H&M for continuing to build the credibility of the learning as well as development function with the business organization for running their business successfully. On the other hand, H&M will be provided an enhanced strategy planning process for developing the human resource plans for providing effective quality of training to their employees.

H&M is tremendously successful with their business that is related to the fashion industries in the context of the global market. It is necessary to mention that, as identified by Dillmann et al. (2013), the spirit of the H&M was started in 1940 while they started their business with their first store by maintaining proper strategies as well as corporate cultures. On the hand, H&M relentlessly continue their organizational activities for enhancing as well as expanding their business with respect to the globalization. It is necessary to mention that, H&M developed their strategies for expanding their business in a spontaneous time-frequency as well as this particular business organization also focused on the employment for providing the better quality of products along with satisfying services.

The first goal for the Director of Learning & Development of the consultancy is to influence the Board of Directors of H&M that investing in learning and development can improve the performance of young managers as they progress their careers in H&M. To achieve this goal, your proposal needs to influence a range of stakeholders On the other hand; H&M provides Open Door policy for their employees for granting them to treat equally within the workplace (www2.hm.com 2016). However, the consultancy will provide a critical analysis of the strategy and culture of the organization in relation to their business goals as well as a fully justified set of Learning Outcomes for a development program underpinned by a clear assessment of Theories of Adult Learning.

As per the context of PESTLE Analysis (Refer to Appendix 1), H&M is maintaining the most significant aspects related to the political, sociological, economic, technological, legal as well as environmental for removing the barriers that are able to create hindrances in the national level. As opined by Knowles, Holton III and Swanson (2014),  H&M is always seeking to satisfy the rules as well as legislations related to the local government along with better strategies for satisfying the consumers. On the other hand, the human resource strategies or the McKinsey 7S Model (Refer to Appendix 2) are also maintained properly by H&M for enhancing their business along with customer satisfaction.

On the contrary, in respect to Zara, who is also a famous also maintaining their organizational human resources as per the appropriate PESTLE Analysis as well as McKinsey 7S Model for improving their organizational strategies as opined by Armstrong and Taylor (2014). Zara always concentrates on the strategic plan that is devised for maintaining the competitive advantages form the rival business organizations. However, H&M is well developed with their organizational structure as all the employees are interrelated by sharing their reports to their higher authorities for tracking their business activities as well as the impact on the consumers.  As per the PESTEL Analysis both Zara and H&M are maintaining the political, economic, social, technological, legal as well as environment aspects with their sales of the products as well as actively participate in the social awareness campaigns.

As stated by Bratton and Gold (2012), the business model of the H&M is pointed to introduce attractive products to the customers along with fast delivering system in low price. Committed as well as effective workforces are recruited for this particular job to satisfy the consumers in the global context. On the other hand, developing the values as well as norms for delivering the products to the customers in time is also maintained by H&M appropriately for enhancing their business.

The employees of the H&M is also responsible for their job roles as well as they always ready to face the challenges that are related to the develop various skills as well as knowledge for mitigating the organizational challenges as well as issues. It is necessary to mention that, as commented by Berman et al. (2015), the process management that is related to the reward provided to the employees of H&M is highly significant for influencing the human resource management for mitigating the employee related issues.

The External Commercial and Human Resource Context

As commented by Ho (2014), H&M believes that they can bring a better future in the context of the fashion industry in respect to the global market. In addition, H&M is always ready to provide affordable as well as designated products to the consumers in the context of the global market. The major vision of the H&M is to run all of their organizational operations in socially, environmentally as well as economically sustainable ways (www2.hm.com 2016). It is necessary to mention that, H&M also developed their business operations as well as organizational activities as per the view of helping to meet the both existing as well as future necessities of the generations.

On the other hand, H&M always tries to manufacture their exclusive products in better quality as well as affordable pricing for selling their products among all kinds of consumers. Henceforth, as commented by Ho (2014), H&M able to offer their products with a simple concept that reveals better qualities of products in low pricing for emphasizing the sustainable developments.

It is necessary to mention that, the theoretical perspectives of the human resource management is actually based on the economics, psychology, sociology as well as managerial as aspects as it is identified by Åström and Wittenmark (2013). In this particular assignment, few significant theories are briefly discussed below.

In the general systems theory, the open system is dependent on the inputs that are related to the environment as well as the dependent variables are transformed during the production output related throughput exchanged with the environment. As opined by Oliver (2014), the open systems that are related to the human resource management are generally developed for using to describe the competence model of the business organizations. On the other hand, Skills, knowledge as well as abilities are treated as the major input of the entire workforce as well as the throughput related to the employees are the significant aspects that are highly important in respect to the human resource management.

The Motivation and Goal Setting Theory was introduced by Dr. Edwin because according to his theory the managers of any organization can be motivated towards positive direction that means to motivate other employees for increase the organizational performances.

In H&M the goal setting theory can be applied among the managers by providing proper training as per their experience as well as their skills and knowledge. The major aim of the training has to be enhancing their mentality to motivate the other employees of the team members for increasing the organization performances. The training should have to be in a cohesive manner to not only provide them the motivational and behavioral aspects but also identify their concurrent skills and knowledge and thereafter promote them of provide them the knowledge for suggesting innovative ideas to increase the organizational performances.

The Internal Human Resource Context

Social Cognitive Theory and Self Efficacy are actually used to provide an enhanced brief knowledge to the managers to interact with the others in a cohesive manner as well as to identify the behavioral aspects of the individuals along with their experiences and skills.

In H&M, these particular theories have to be implemented for increasing the ability for handle critical situation along with positive perspective and decisions as well as the sense of Self Efficacy. The major reason for implementing the Self Efficacy is to define the beliefs of the organizational employees for making proper decisions for increasing their performances along with influences.

As opined by Yao and Fan (2015), focusing on the roles are highly significant as well as an interdependent component that is able to make up the business organization system. It is a necessity to mention that, specific behaviors as well as treating the others in a better manner is highly necessity within the working organization culture for maintaining the organizational cultures as well as debriefing the working environment within the workplace. Apart from that, as stated by Popova, Regenwetter and Mattei (2013), the primary aim of the human resource management is to support the designated roles of the employees within the workplace as well as evaluating the role behavior that is able to affect the performances of the employees. Moreover, enhanced human resource management is able to influence the employees as well as motivate for increasing their performances for attracting more consumers

Learning Solution and Assumptions	Indicative Costing (£)
In-house development programs (Organizational training) ·         3 day workshop delivered internally	£4000 per workshop for up to 10 delegates
Coaching by line managers or peers ·         3 day training for line managers ·         Theories of Adult Learning	£4000per workshop for up to 10 delegates
Coaching by external practitioners ·         6 Face-to-Face coaching sessions	£1,500 per 2 hour coaching session
Mentoring (internal mentors) ·         Costs of training for mentors ·         Learning and Development Framework	£1,500 per workshop for up to 10 delegates
E-learning ·         Kolb’s Learning Cycle ·         Cost per 1 hour online course Total Cost	Bronze: ‘Off the shelf’ course with pre-determined learning outcomes & customization limited to use of logo	Silver:  Pre-determined learning outcomes & customization aligned to company specific procedures and language	Gold: Bespoke learning outcomes & customization based on full TNA and client learning climate
£18,000	£28,000	£38,000

Since the target audiences are the managers of the H&M business organization; therefore, the learning as well as a development strategy is figured out as per the basis of the managers of the H&M. It is necessary to mention that, the learning and development strategy is able to articulate the entire workforce of the business organization along with the capabilities, knowledge, skills as well as the abilities of the employees. As opined by Kolb (2014), the learning and development strategy is actually highly helpful in sustainable development as well as it is able to figure out the brief meaning related to the capabilities of the entire workforce to underpin the effectiveness of the desired business organizations. Moreover, three significant methods are briefly mentioned below that are useful for developing learning and developing the strategy.

David Kolb is the founder of the Kolb’s Learning Cycle that is actually based on the development of the learning strategies, which has four highly significant as well as experimental stages (Refer to Appendix 3). As opined by Kolb (2014), the learning cycle initially starts with the concrete experience that is highly significant to the learner. In this particular assignment, managers have to starts their learning along with the concrete evidence as per the basis of the Kolb’s Learning Cycle. On the other hand, the second stage of the Kolb’s Learning Cycle is the reflective observation that is a mandatory activity that has to be done by the managers of the H&M for enhancing the entire business of their business organization. As commented by Barker, Lencucha and Anderson (2016), abstract conceptualization is the third stage of the Kolb’s learning cycle that ensures the processes for making sense for identifying the relationships as well as the patterns of the various different situations. Lastly, the fourth stage of the Kolb’s learning cycle is active experimentation that is highly helpful in creating new learning experiences for the managers of the H&M.

Learning and Development Vision

The Learning and Development Framework is able to ensure the conformity for designing the template related to the learning and development. There is few highly significant objective are there that are related to the learning and development framework for completing as well as implementing the strategies within the workplace of the H&M in a systematic way. As opined by Bredekamp (2014), the major objective of the learning and development framework is to provide priority as per the necessity that is raising for running the entire business along with the human resource strategies. In addition, analyzing the needs of the learning as well as development and lastly evaluating the appropriate learning and development are other significant objectives of the Learning and Development Framework that have to be maintained by the managers of the H&M.

As opined by Merriam and MacKeracher (2013), few highly significant characteristics are there according to the pioneer scholar Malcolm Knowles. Those are:

Using of Knowledge and Real Life Experiences: Using the knowledge as well as real life experiences is an encouragement factor that is able to influence the employees along with their part working experience. According to Taylor and Hamdy (2013), the learners can be able to make the significant decisions as per the demand of the situation as well as they can reveal the issues that are hindering the organizational aspects of H&M.

Teamwork: As stated by Merriam and Bierema (2013), the adult learners have to maintain the collaborative relationship with the experienced educators for gaining the experiences that are able to drive them for making decisions as well as help the other employees for increasing their performances.

As commented by Ebrahim et al. (2016), there are four levels of the evaluation of the training framework strategy. Those are:

Reaction: Reaction refers to measure the reaction of the trainees for evaluating the consequences of the training as well as providing them suitable ways for gain knowledge from the training session.

Learning: Learning is highly significant because measuring the learning aspect is the foremost aspect that ensures the increment of the learning of the employees for performing better in future.

Behavior: Maintaining appropriate behavior is a highly essential aspect that is able to create the suitable environment within the workplace for working collaborate with the other employees.

Results: Analyzing the final results and included the foremost outcome of any organization that is able to determine the well business along with the better employees.

Theories and Models of Adult Learning

Training Evaluation Method needs few significant applicable measurements that are able to apply the evaluation methods in a cohesive manner to provide appropriate training to the employees.

Gathering the knowledge about the feelings of the employees regarding training session place and the accommodation.

Identify the measures by employee satisfaction survey.

Evaluating the concurrent knowledge and the skills of the employees.

Getting information from the employees regarding the training session related to their knowledge as well as behavior (Phillips and Phillips 2016).

Increasing the employee retention.

Reducing the waste as well as employee complaints.

H&M is facing serious issues related to the operational risk that is able to create hindrances regarding the reputational aspect of this organization. On the other hand, the weather is also another highly serious issue that is hindering the organizational performances of H&M. However, as commented by Glendon, Clarke and McKenna (2016), the top level management of this business organization is already taking highly serious steps for mitigating those serious issues such as, implementing safeguard within the workplace for maintaining the eruption as well as introducing various deviations of fashionable clothes for wearing in different seasons.

Risks	Likelihood	Impact	Severity	Mitigation Strategies	Advantages	Disadvantages
Implementing New Technologies	4	4	16	·         Provide proper information to the employees. ·         Help to understand the importance of the “to be implemented” technologies.	·         Organizational performances can increase. ·         Data duplication will decrease.	·         Additional training has to be provided to the employees. ·         Advanced technology needs huge costing for implementation.
Hiring	3	3	12	·         Effective employment. ·         Recruit expertise employees	·         Organizational performances will increase. ·         Productivity and Quality of products will increase.	·         Salary of the experienced employees will be more than the fresher.
Occupational Health and Safety	2	1	4	·         Data Collection regarding health and safety issues. ·         Maintaining the “Health and Safety at Workplace” legislations.	·         Reputations of the organization will increase. ·         Working environment will be more suitable for the employees.	·         The desired budget will increase.

Table 1: Risk Register

(Source: As created by Author)

Conclusion

As a conclusion, it can be said that, the human resource is one of the most managerial approaches that have to maintain appropriately by high profile employees of any business organizations. In addition, the H&M is a business organization who is also facing various challenges with the human resource issues. It is necessary to mention that, various highly significant information related to the organizational activities of H&S were the specific needs for providing an enhanced solution to the organizational personnel. However, significant information related to the employment as well as core human resource activities are not found or identified for providing an effective solution to the H&M business organization. Therefore, core organizational data as well as information are the highly need for producing an affecting strategy for this particular business organization.

It is necessary to mention that, the analysis of the learning and development of the human resource aspects are highly important for emphasizing the business of H&M. Additionally, the identified risks and the ways of their solutions are also highlighted in this particular assignment that is able to help the managers as well as the stakeholders for improvising the organizational strategy for increasing the business growth as well as to gaining the competitive advantage from the rivals.

Reference List

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Åström, K.J. and Wittenmark, B., 2013. Computer-controlled systems: theory and design. Courier Corporation.

Barker, D.J., Lencucha, J. and Anderson, R., 2016. Kolb’s learning cycle as a framework for early fieldwork learning. World Federation of Occupational Therapists Bulletin, 72(1), pp.28-34.

Berman, E.M., Bowman, J.S., West, J.P. and Van Wart, M.R., 2015. Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. Sage Publications.

Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.

Bredekamp, S., 2014. Effective practices in early childhood education: Building a foundation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Dillmann, P., Watkinson, D., Angelini, E. and Adriaens, A. eds., 2013.Corrosion and conservation of cultural heritage metallic artefacts. Elsevier.

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Ho, D.C., 2014. A Case Study of H&M’s Strategy and Practices of Corporate Environmental Sustainability. In Logistics Operations, Supply Chain Management and Sustainability (pp. 241-254). Springer International Publishing.

Knowles, M.S., Holton III, E.F. and Swanson, R.A., 2014. The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development. Routledge.

Kolb, D.A., 2014. Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT press.

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Merriam, S.B. and Bierema, L.L., 2013. Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons.

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Phillips, J.J. and Phillips, P.P., 2016. Handbook of training evaluation and measurement methods. Routledge.

Popova, A., Regenwetter, M. and Mattei, N., 2013. A behavioral perspective on social choice. Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, 68(1-3), pp.5-30.

Taylor, D.C. and Hamdy, H., 2013. Adult learning theories: Implications for learning and teaching in medical education: AMEE Guide No. 83. Medical Teacher, 35(11), pp.e1561-e1572.

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