HRMT20024 Report on Current Human Resource Management Challenges in The Australian Context in One of The Sectors

HRMT 20024 Report Sample

Assessment Task

This assessment requires you to write a report on current human resource management challenges in the Australian context in any one of the two sectors (Retail or Financial sector).

Your report structure is provided in a template, and includes:

§ Executive summary
§ Table of contents
§ Introduction
§ Sector context
§ Current human resource management challenges for the sector in Australia
§ Conclusion
§ References

You can reuse journal articles you used in Assessment 2, as well as current news stories, and develop an argument applying that literature to your selected sector.
You must cite at least ten (10) relevant peer-reviewed journal articles. You can cite other academic references such as books and conference papers, and book chapters but these will NOT be counted as part of the 10 journal articles.

Important: Plagiarism will be reported to the Academic Integrity Unit and may result in a “zero” mark.

Required

Students must familiarise themselves with the following policies and procedures at http://policy.cqu.edu.au: Assessment of Coursework Policy; Assessment of Coursework Principles; Assessment of Coursework Procedures.

Solution

Introduction

The success of any business is significantly based on human resource management. It is referred to as the organizational function that could be effective in the context of responding to the problems connected with an individual like recruiting, performance management, administration, training and development. As per the MBA Assignment Expert, It is also regarded as a wide-ranging and strategic mechanism for handling employees at the workplace. In this aspect, the present study is based on an analysis of the current human resource management challenge in the retail sector of Australia, which normally involves the strategic management and arrangement of the workers for the formation of produce and encouraged employees. In this aspect, the present study would contain an overview of the retail industry of Australia, and the existing human resource management challenge confronted by the industry. In addition to this, recommendations are also provided by which such challenges could be addressed by the industry. 

Sector Context

The retail industry of Australia demonstrates a significant range through the size of business, state, retail format, rivalry within sector and nature of the product sold. It should be noted that the existing trading situation, as well as longer term trend in the industry, are challenging. Over the previous half-decade the sales growth of the retail industry has trended down as individuals save higher of their increasing income and their spending is normally guided in the direction of a range of non-retail services.

The retail industry of Australia is one of the prime contributors to the economy of the country and was on a growth route from the year 2004 to 2019. In Australia, there are around 140000 retail businesses, contributing to 4.1% of GDP and 10.7% of employment. In the year 2019, the total turnover from the retail sector was AUD 329.6bn which was approximately AUD 9bn higher than the value documented in the prior year (Mordor Intelligence, 2021). Though, the unexpected hit of the Covid-19 pandemic created an adverse impact in early 2020 has carried numerous issues to the retail industry in Australia, where it recorded a reduction in the total sales in the course of the first and second quarters of 2020.  Apart from this, it has been identified that the workforce market in the country could be regarded to be greatly isolated by the retail sector and the occupation that has persisted in the previous few decades. In Australia, the retail industry is generally the male-dominated sector and distinct forms of employment portfolio in the cited sector involved the role played by the assistant manager, regional manager, as well as some other connected positions (Bailey, 2020). Further, it has been evaluated by some experts that, currently Australian retail industry is significantly influenced because of the rent expenses, discounting, and the confidence of customers which creates numerous challenges for the companies. 

Existing Human Resource Management Challenges for The Selected Sector in Australia 

The performance of the retail sector has not been impressive in Australia over the years. It has been noticed that cited sector has been witnessing an extraordinary rivalry among numerous players such as Woolworths, Coles, and some others. This has also been producing a range of HRM problems in the sector creating an impact on the engagement of employees and effectiveness among the workers. Since 2005, the retail industry of Australia has viewed an incredible structural transformation, including the invention of online shopping and the entrance of numerous multinational players in the sector (Collings, Nyberg, Wright, & McMackin, 2021). 
Increasing employee engagement: Notwithstanding the e-commerce rebellion, the retail industry is manifest through the special discussion among workers and employees. Though, there are numerous claims with respect to the role of the human interface in the area of digitalization. In addition to this, in the environment of social media, the perception of consumers regarding goods and services has immediate and actual effects. This shows the aspect that participating in the labour is significant in relation to the retention of workers for a longer-term period (Campbell, & Burgess, 2018). Though, the inadequacy of engagement of employees in an effective manner has been assisting insignificant rate of attrition in the retail industry of the country. 

Fascination and enrollment of employees: To attract and recruit employees in a company, human resource management significantly face the issue of retention of employee and minimization of the employee turnover. The reason behind the same is that the significant turnover of employees is detrimental when it is connected with training and development plans (Davidescu, Apostu, Paul, & Casuneanu, 2020). In the retail industry, adequate remuneration is not paid by the companies according to their work and skill, and therefore the cited sector confronts a shortage of skill and workforce. In addition to this, it has been identified that the payment mechanism in the retail sector is not open and transparent and so it leads to the failure to develop a higher sense of justice among workers. There is not any existence of transparency connected to horizontal pay dispersion in the Australian retail sector. Though, there is not any particle qualification needed by the individual for entering into this industry as they could involve in the industry after completion of education or professional degree for getting the position of managers (Farooq, Zhang, Talwar, & Dhir, 2022).

In addition to the above aspects, during the period of Covid-19 issues, there has been a spike in the recruitment procedure in the retail sector because of the variation and alteration in the demand of consumers. It can be said that with abrupt variations in the hours of working and the significant burden of the restricted workforce in the course of the pandemic, the HRM division of the Australian retail sector is confronting issues in attraction and retention of the employees. Moreover, because of the reduction in the demand for labour, it has been observed that human resource management should rethink the procedure of recruitment by which the hiring process can be carried out in a smooth manner (Gallardo-Gallardo, Thunnissen, & Scullion, 2020). Along with this, another challenge confronted by the human resource division involves the failure to the recruitment of employees because of the non-accessibility of training programs due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Such type of issues assists in the difficulty for HRM to hire new workers in the retail sector.  

Workforce health and safety: In this aspect, currently, HRM of the retail sector is significantly facing a challenge for the health and safety of workers. The reason behind the same is that workforce in this sector had to witness distinct forms of health hazards like trips, fire, violence, dealing with tools, and many others. In addition to this, workers also confront the issue of dealing with the secure vision and implementing and applying the responsibility to deal with the challenges of workplace health and safety in the retail sector. In addition to this, in the existing time of the pandemic, the health and safety of workers have been significantly impacted due to the immediate shifting of the work culture and working pattern. Some of the major issues such as stress, pressure, depression, anxiety, and other forms of mental health problems have influenced the workforce of the retail industry and therefore it becomes comprehensive for the human resource to deal with issues of workplace health and safety. In addition to this, it has been observed that as the store is visited by a significant number of consumers and therefore it becomes very difficult for the human resource division to offer safety to the workers from the huge crowd (Grimmer, Grimmer, & Mortimer, 2018). The protection of the workforce should also be considered by the HRM in such type of conditions and therefore this would assist in safeguarding the health and wellbeing of workers engaged in the Australian retail industry. 

Retention and development challenge: In the current environment, retention and development challenge is one of the major issues confronted by the human resource management division of the retail industry of Australia. This creates it complex for the HRM division to save adequate time and therefore deal with the financial expenses of training and development, and recruitment of the new workers in the company to perform the work by improved means (Vrontis et al., 2022). The reason behind frequent employee turnover is that companies operating in the retail sector of Australia normally do not pay adequate wages and remuneration that they should be and therefore employees leave the entities in search of a hike. There is also the existence of discrimination among employees of the retail industry creating an impact on the development. 

In addition to the above aspects, in the current environment of the Covid-19 pandemic, most employees are provided with the opportunity for doing work from home. But, the employees belonging to the retail sector do not possess such type of opportunity and most of the workers are not willing to perform their work therefore they quit their jobs. This forms a significant burden on the other workers who desire to perform their work in the retail industry. In such type of circumstances, it becomes very challenging for the HRM of the Australian retail industry to keep the workers under the influence of the usual functioning of the organization during the pandemic period (Maritz, Perenyi, De Waal, & Buck, 2020). Along with this, it has been also observed that, though employees placed at certain places are offered the chance to perform work from home, it becomes challenging for the HRM to make the organization of those workers performing distantly helping their mental health and well-being. Additionally, the government of the country did not provide any incentives or benefits to the retail industry to keep and advance the working during the pandemic period (Goods, Veen, & Barratt, 2019). 

Issues in the management of the latest technique and remote work: In the Australian retail sector, it has been identified that HRM is witnessing issues in offering training and development courses to the workers with respect to the application of the latest technology. The reason behind the same is varying demands from consumers and the evolvement of distinct and unique technologies (Yong et al., 2020). It becomes very hard for the HRM to make the workers recognize the implementation of the distinct forms of analytical techniques such as point-of-sale systems, inventory control systems in electronic way, social media marketing, and some others. The information technology team of the company along with the collaboration of the human resource division has the responsibility to offer an improved extent of training to workers by which they could create themselves comfortable and equipped with these current techniques.  

Along with the above aspects, the shifting towards remote work culture could not be regarded as seamless in the retail industry during the Covid-19 time. The reason behind the same is that it is complex to run retail businesses by carrying out the activities through work from home. Remote working planning has not been fostered in the cited industry due to the large consumer flock or the online order of the consumer. It is required workers to manage the online orders and respond to the inquiries made by customers as due to this, the opportunity to work from home in the retail industry could not be regarded to be feasible (Malik, Budhwar,  Patel, & Srikanth, 2022). Further, the human resource division has confronted issues in increasing the productivity and the engagement of workers. Additionally, they also faced challenges in offering training and offering aid to workers in connection to the remote work. Moreover, because of the reduced extent of flexibility, it has been identified that HR also confronts issues in addressing the queries of employees during the Covid-19 pandemic time. 

Modification in the rules and regulations of the organization: It is considered one of the most complex challenges confronted by the human resource division of the Australian retail sector in the course of pandemic time. Due to this, the human resource division of the retail sector has confronted issues in the management of the modified rules and regulations throughout the pandemic (Carnevale, & Hatak, 2020). Such changes in the rules and regulations have created an impact on the retention and recruitment procedure of the retail industry. In addition to this, the human resource division should also refer to the regulating corporate norms by which it becomes simpler for them to deal with the workers according to the modified norms of the retail industry.  

Challenges in increasing productivity and flexibility: For availing of the benefits of major technical transformation and cope up with the impact of internationalization, it is significant for the Australian retail sector to determine the higher flexibility. Adaptable and flexible organizations need major support from the human resource division in the context of the implementation of organizational transition in a successful manner. Though, a flexible working environment has been forcing the workers connected with the retail industry to overwork. In addition to this, the efficiency of the workers is also impacted because of the weak wage structure, inadequate job security, and significant working hours.

Recommendations

The above analysis reflects that currently, the HRM of the retail industry is facing significant challenges. To address the above issues, it is suggested to the human resource division that they should emphasize the training and development courses for the front-line sales personnel as they are more proximately associated with the consumers as compared to other employees. In this aspect, training sessions should be organized in the company by which sales personnel could manage the activities accordingly. Further, there has been also an increment in the number of layoffs and due to this HR division should make efforts towards rationalization of the manpower in improved ways. It has been noticed that there has been the advancement of concrete succession planning in the Australian retail sector and therefore it could be asserted that by the implementation of succession planning, the human resource management could make a replacement of the workers or control the layoffs because of the downsizing. It is recommended that HRM must implement the complete activities fairly and reasonably thereby ensuring the dignity of the company (Chams, & García-Blandón, 2019). 

Conclusion 

Based on the above aspects, it has been asserted that in the current scenario, the human resource management department of the retail sector of Australia is facing significant issues regarding the management of employees. Since the retail sector of the country is one of the significant industries contributing to the GDP, and therefore the HRM needs to take adequate activities for ensuring the productive functioning of the company. It has been identified that some of the major challenges that are confronted by the human resource division are retention and development, fascination and recruitment, the difficulty is the management of distinct technologies, health and safety of workers, management of the remote work, and some others. It is recommended that the human resource management division should make efforts towards providing training to front-line sales personnel as they are closely connected with consumers and therefore activities can be effectively taken by them. 

References 

Bailey, M. (2020). Urban disruption, suburbanization and retail innovation: establishing shopping centres in Australia. Urban History, 47(1), 152-169.  https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926819000178

Campbell, I., & Burgess, J. (2018). Patchy progress? Two decades of research on precariousness and precarious work in Australia. Labour & Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of work, 28(1), 48-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/10301763.2018.1427424

Carnevale, J. B., & Hatak, I. (2020). Employee adjustment and well-being in the era of COVID-19: Implications for human resource management. Journal of Business Research, 116, 183-187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.037

Chams, N., & García-Blandón, J. (2019). On the importance of sustainable human resource management for the adoption of sustainable development goals. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 141, 109-122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.10.006

Collings, D. G., Nyberg, A. J., Wright, P. M., & McMackin, J. (2021). Leading through paradox in a COVID‐19 world: Human resources comes of age. Human Resource Management Journal, 31(4), 819-833.  https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12343

Davidescu, A. A., Apostu, S. A., Paul, A., & Casuneanu, I. (2020). Work flexibility, job satisfaction, and job performance among Romanian employees—Implications for sustainable human resource management. Sustainability, 12(15), 6086. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156086

Farooq, R., Zhang, Z., Talwar, S., & Dhir, A. (2022). Do green human resource management and self-efficacy facilitate green creativity? A study of luxury hotels and resorts. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 30(4), 824-845. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2021.1891239

Gallardo-Gallardo, E., Thunnissen, M., & Scullion, H. (2020). Talent management: context matters. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(4), 457-473. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2019.1642645

Goods, C., Veen, A., & Barratt, T. (2019). “Is your gig any good?” Analysing job quality in the Australian platform-based food-delivery sector. Journal of Industrial Relations, 61(4), 502-527. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022185618817069

Grimmer, L., Grimmer, M., & Mortimer, G. (2018). The more things change the more they stay the same: A replicated study of small retail firm resources. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 44, 54-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.05.012

Malik, A., Budhwar, P., Patel, C., & Srikanth, N. R. (2022). May the bots be with you! Delivering HR cost-effectiveness and individualised employee experiences in an MNE. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 33(6), 1148-1178. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2020.1859582

Maritz, A., Perenyi, A., De Waal, G., & Buck, C. (2020). Entrepreneurship as the unsung hero during the current COVID-19 economic crisis: Australian perspectives. Sustainability, 12(11), 4612. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114612

Mordor Intelligence (2021). AUSTRALIA RETAIL SECTOR - GROWTH, TRENDS, COVID-19 IMPACT, AND FORECASTS (2022 - 2027). (Online). Available through https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/retail-industry-in-australia#:~:text=The%20Australian%20retail%20industry%2C%20which,recorded%20in%20the%20previous%20year.

Vrontis, D., Christofi, M., Pereira, V., Tarba, S., Makrides, A., & Trichina, E. (2022). Artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced technologies and human resource management: a systematic review. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 33(6), 1237-1266. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2020.1871398

Yong, J. Y., Yusliza, M. Y., Ramayah, T., Chiappetta Jabbour, C. J., Sehnem, S., & Mani, V. (2020). Pathways towards sustainability in manufacturing organizations: Empirical evidence on the role of green human resource management. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(1), 212-228.  https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2359