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Short summary:

Introduction: Background of the company:

Background of research: The financial crisis and the subsequent international recession have stimulated a far-reaching debate about the future of capitalism and the way that companies are owned and run. This has led to renewed interest in employee ownership and in the role that employee-owned companies could play in future economic sustainability and in improving HRM in organizations. Indeed, raising the proportion of employee owned firms is now part of mainstream government policy in the UK and is supported across the politicalspectrum.The employee-owned sector comprises companies that are wholly or substantially owned by their staff (in contrast to firms that are accountable to external share holders) indicated by the followingdefinition by Nuttall (2012): Employee ownership means a significant and meaningful stake in abusiness for all its employees. If this is achieved then a company hasemployee ownership: it has employee owners. Research has identified a number of business and HRM-related benefits associated with employee-owned firms. It has been argued by advocates that employee-owned firms create new jobs more quickly than conventionally structured businesses and demonstrate the same levels of profitability. Employee-owned businesses appear more resilient, have lower risk of business failure, and their performance is more stable over business cycles. The employee ownership model offers particular advantages to small and medium-sized businesses and in knowledge and skill-intensive sectors, where employee-owned companies significantly outperform competitors. Employee-owned businesses also add more value to human capital and productivity. They recruit

more employees at a faster rate and reward employees with higher wages, better terms and conditions of employment, improved well-being, and more robust employee voice/participation. Employee-owned companies operate in a wide range of sectors in the UK from retail, manufacturing and engineering to financial services. This assignment is based on the most famous employee-owned company in the UK, the John Lewis Partnership (JLP), in the retail sector.

Main body:

John Lewis Partnerships overall business strategy and then, secondly, identify JLPs overall HR strategy :

Business strategy is the corporate strategy of single firm or a strategic business unit (SBU) in a diversified corporation. It entails specifying the organization's mission, vision and objectives, developing policies and plans, often in terms of projects and programs, which are designed to achieve these objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the policies and plans, projects and programs. A balanced scorecard is often used to evaluate the overall performance of the business and its progress towards objectives. John Lewis Partnerships overall business strategy: Our business priorities Championing British We believe in always bringing our customers British food and produce at its very best, celebrating the British food season and working with the best local and regional suppliers.

 Treading Lightly We believe in making the right choices for the environment by reducing packaging, waste, water and CO2 emissions, and sourcing our food and raw materials responsibly. At Waitrose, product stewardship and maintaining the highest levels of agricultural and environmental management are our key focus at home and abroad. We look closely at our operational impact on the environment and ask all own-brand suppliers to reduce their business footprint too. Treating people fairly We believe in treating our customers, Partners, farmers and suppliers fairly as well as supporting local charities and community groups through our Community Matters and Partner volunteering schemes. Living Well We believe that eating well should be enjoyable. We provide a wide range of imaginative and nutritious choices to inspire people to eat more healthily and are ahead of targets for salt reduction.

Our business strategy priorities Our Partnership business strategy is built around three aims which set the direction and targets to achieve our ultimate purpose in the next phase of our growth: Increase the competitive advantage of our Partners. Realise our market potential. Grow efficiently. Our sustainability strategy is aligned to and supports delivery of these three aims.

Increase the competitive advantage of our Partners We are continuing to look at ways to maximise the contribution, skills, talents, performance and experience of our Partners by:

 clarifying where Partners can add greatest value, giving the right support to deliver that value and providing honest, straightforward and timely feedback and appropriate reward and recognition for their contribution. recognising what meaningful work and job satisfaction means for Partners, equipping them to make the most of their careers with the Partnership while building the capabilities and agility we need to succeed as a business. ensuring Partners have the effective and efficient processes, tools and technology needed to maximise their contribution to the Partnership. creating strong and inclusive communities that recognise and value diversity and bring people together both inside and outside of the business. Our Partners own our business so have a vested interest in its success. They are at the heart of our service offering, embodying our values of trust, respect and fairness and they are the energy and passion that drives our work to be an evermore responsible and sustainable business. By building our Partners awareness and understanding of sustainability issues and empowering them to play their part in tackling these, they in turn can become powerful advocates, helping to protect and enhance the reputation of our business. Put simply, we cant achieve our sustainability goals without them and they also provide the most effective way for us to engage our customers. Partner action can take many forms. From helping us to cut costs and protect the environment through reducing energy and water use, segregating and recycling waste so we send less waste to landfill and increase recycling revenues, driving commercial vehicles more efficiently reducing fuel costs and CO2e emissions, to active involvement in our local communities, and informing our customers about the sustainability credentials of our products and services. Realise our market potential The Partnership is one of the most respected brands internationally. Our distinctive values and approach to great products and service have been instrumental to achieving this. We are responding to social and technological trends with multi-channel services and fulfilment, and we offer best in class products through our own-brand ranges. Providing sustainable products and services is key to building brand trust, enhancing customer value and increasing competitiveness.

We source from British suppliers wherever we can to support the local and national economy. We give customers the best value through great products, at great prices, supported by great service. By also ensuring that sustainability as well as quality characterises the products we sell, the Partnership remains a retailer that customers can trust. We are extending and developing our product ranges and bringing sustainability to the heart of our customer communications. This makes it easier for customers to make sustainable choices through clearer communications, including in store signage, labelling and services which encourage greater reuse and recycling. Work is also underway to leverage the opportunities associated with low carbon products and services; helping both Partners and customers to reduce their environmental and broader sustainability impacts. Our business priorities (continued) Grow efficiently The Partnership is committed to responsible and efficient growth. Our environmental approach in particular provides opportunities for us to refine processes and invest in ways that save time and money, as well as benefiting the environment. Intelligently designed and responsibly built stores, offices and other environments, provide great places for our Partners to work in and our customers to shop in. They also lower our long-term operating costs. Our operational emissions reduction goal of 15 per cent by 2020/21, supported by measures like the creation of renewable energy centres to reduce our reliance on the national grid and the development of alternative fuels and technologies for our vehicles, also assist in driving environmental efficiencies and cost.

HR Strategy is aligning the goals of HR to the goals or strategy of your organization. recruitment, retention and termination are a small part of it.

In developing a strategy two critical questions must be addressed.

What kinds of people do you need to manage and run your business to meet your strategic business objectives?

What people programs and initiatives must be designed and implemented to attract, develop and retain staff to compete effectively?

In order to answer these questions four key dimensions of an organization must be addressed. These are:

Culture: the beliefs, values, norms and management style of the organization Organization: the structure, job roles and reporting lines of the organization People: the skill levels, staff potential and management capability Human resources systems: the people focused mechanisms which deliver the strategy employee selection, communications, training, rewards, career development, etc.

In this case The John Lewis Partnership is a pioneering and successful business. To meet the challenges of a rapidly developing retail sector and employment landscape our Partners (our employees) are working together to grow and modernise the business, enabling us to increase their competitive advantage and grow sustainably and efficiently while continuing to meet our ultimate purpose the happiness of all Partners through their worthwhile and satisfying employment in a successful business.

(2) Human resource management (HRM, or simply HR) is the management of

an organization's workforce, or human resources. It is responsible for the attraction, selection, training, assessment, and rewarding of employees, while also overseeing organizational leadership and culture and ensuring compliance with employment and labor laws. In circumstances where employees desire and are legally authorized to hold a collective bargaining agreement, HR will also serve as the company's primary liaison with the employees' representatives

Human Resource Management (HRM): HRM is the management of human resource of any kind of organization. It is this management which is responsible for the attraction, recruitment, training, rewarding of employees. It also covers the development of leadership and culture in the organization and ensuring of compliance of various labour and employment laws.

In practice, Human Resource Management is responsible for all the experiences of an employee experienced in the entire employment tenure. The functions of HR are numerous with varied varioomts depending upon factors life situation, type and size of organization etc. However, the most crucial among them which are to be performed regularly and within the employement lifecycle of an employee are:

resourcing the organization, human resource development (HRD), employment relations, performance and reward. It is first charged with attracting the right employees through employer
branding. It then must select the right employees through the recruitment process. HR then onboards new hires and oversees their training and development during their tenure with the organization. HR assesses talent through use of performance appraisals and then rewards them accordingly. In fulfillment of the latter, HR may sometimes administer payroll and employee benefits, although such activities are more and more being outsourced, with HR playing a more strategic role. Finally, HR is involved in employee terminations - including resignations, performance-related dismissals, and redundancies.

HRM practices: secondly, analyse the various components of HRM policy and practice in JLP under the four main HR functions covered in the module:

John Lewis Partnership is renowned for its co-ownership-based culture, and in recent years has invigorated this with an emphasis on customer service and performance. Training, learning and development are a key plank in achieving this. Increasingly individuals are expected to take responsibility for their own learning and development with the support of their line manager. Integral to this is a newly introduced management of performance system. Now both section managers (first-line managers) and departmental managers conduct annual partner appraisals that are based around behaviours. These behaviours clearly link to the values of the organisation.

In the view of Tracey Killen, Director of Personnel, John Lewis Partnership The world in which we live is changing, and the way we want to work and interact is changing too. So, we need to take all the things we do and ask: How can we make things truly flexible and more accessible for Partners?

Having the opportunity to develop skills and potential in the workplace is one of the largest areas of decline for the companies we were benchmarked against while, for the Partnership, the proportion of Partners agreeing to this improved.

Claire Wragg, Manager Partner

Survey, John Lewis Partnership

Resourcing the organization: In HRM resourcing, the organisation means providing the organisation with the right number of people with required skills in the right time. So in simple words it can be said that providing of required human resource is resourcing. This function is an important part of HR strategies since it ensures that organisation is able to identify the key skill required and the place to get that to generate competitive advantage.T his function also makes sure a proper balance of human resource to meet the changing world and fulfilment of b oth short term and long term aims of the strategies. In the case of John Lewis partnership the company is following the partner strategy for resourcing. The partnership is based on the well defined principles of the company which are mentioned earliar. Working as partners, each one member share the responsibilities attached with ownership. Along with it the par ners also share the profits, rewards, knowledge and power. As per JLP, partnership is a much better form of doing business by enhancing the competitive advantage of its members.
One of the way of recruitment at John Lewis Partnership is E-recruitment. External vacancies are displayed on companies website. Candidate fill an online questionnaire, which later creates a personal application number, through which he can monitor the status of his application; if the applicant fulfil the requirement of that vacancy, he/she is asked to appear for an interview. .Internal vacancies are advertised on JLP intranet, partners can apply to any vacancy, either external or internal, in any division. In this way JLP resourcing the organisation.

take responsibility for our business success by delivering the right experience for all our customers and generating profits for us all to share. build relationships powered by our principles by demonstrating honesty, respect and encouragement at all times. create real influence over our working lives by taking every opportunity to develop ourselves, balance work and life priorities, and support each other.

The CIPD also makes it clear that Resourcing and Talent Planning is not just about recruiting people into an organisation, but also concerned with succession planning (who, for example will be immediately available to do the Finance Directors job if he dies on his annual mountaineering expedition?), induction, and redundancy execution (unfortunate phrase perhaps!)

So, following the framewor

In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective deployment of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or information technology (IT). In the realm of project management, processes, techniques and philosophies as to the best approach for allocating resources have been developed. These include discussions on functional vs. cross-functional resource allocation as well as processes espoused by organizations like the Project Management Institute (PMI) through their Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) methodology of project management. Resource management is a key element to activity resource estimating and project human resource management. Both are essential components of a comprehensive project management plan to execute and monitor a project successfully.

human resource development (HRD) :HRD is the use of training and career development measures to enhance the individual, group and overall organizational effectiveness.HRD will develop the competencies through which individual will perform the present and future job requirement in an organization. These activities can be said as learning activities. Considering a group HRD will help to intimate the change and manage it.
As defined by Armstrong (2002) HR development is involve with learning, development and training in an organization, through which reach to improve individual, team and organizational performance. As per the view of .. learning, training and development in the organization is an important part of Human resource development by which organization can improve performances of individual and team as well.In JLP for developing their partners two programs namely Horizons and Secondment are used:

Horizons

Horizons is an program used for learning and career developmentof partners.Under Horizons there are various training packs for varied skills required in a retail business.Training is given through handbooks, multimedia training, and courses, for example, partners are trained for stock availability, stock ordering, checkout and delivery booking. Horizons also offers development programs for partners who want develop their career at JLP,for example if some one is interested in becoming the section manager than he will be imparted training related to it. Secondment The secondment program at JLP allows partners to work beyond his or her usual limit and to broaden his or her experience. There are two kinds of secondments: In or outside the business.

Inside the business secondments could be in the same branch, but in different department, in any other JLP division, covering for a manager's long leave, or working in a new branch to support new partners to get this particular branch open, and afterwards as trade builds. Outside the business secondments are dealt through the Golden Jubilee Trust, which is the Partnership own charity. GJT allows partners to take time out from their normal work -up to six months- to work for a charity's special project (JLPnet), where they can develop new skills, or bring back those previously acquired that for any reason partners are not able to use in their day to day job. While doing this, partners are paid as normal; all the benefits remain the same, after the secondment ends partners are back to their departments.

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Human Resource Development is the integrated use of training, organization, and career development efforts to improve individual, group and organizational effectiveness. HRD develops the key competencies that enable individuals in organizations to perform current and future jobs through planned learning activities. Groups within organizations use HRD to initiate and manage change. Also, HRD ensures a match between individual and organizational needs

employment relations:This function will establish a relation between employees and employers.One such popular practice is Employee Voice.Employee Voice empowers employees to participate in decision making of an organization.a
Relations between the management of an industrial enterprise and its employees.

Employee Voice - Partnership Council

In John Lewis Partnership employee voice ultimately come in the form of Partnership Council, which is having the objective of sharing responsibilities of ownership, along with rewards, profit, knowledge and power, reflecting the opinion of all partners. JLP firmly believs in democracy. Each branch of the partnership has a representative elected by the partners of that branch.Any partner can nominat for election, and all partners has right to vote.The Partnership council has the right to to ask questions, and to make suggessions on any subjects it wishes. Read more: http://www.ukessays.co.uk/essays/management/human-resource-planning-strategicgoals.php#ixzz2dHT1nxYe

performance and reward. : For many organizations, the primary goal of an appraisal system is to improve individual and organizational performance. There may be other goals, however. A potential problem with PA, and a possible cause of much dissatisfaction, is expecting too much from one appraisal plan. For example, a plan that is effective for developing employees may not be the best for determining pay increases. Yet, a properly designed system can help achieve organizational objectives and enhance employee performance. In fact, PA data are potentially valuable for virtually every human resource functional area.

The list of HR policies and practices that might be assessed at JLP under these four areas include: talent management, recruitment and selection, : A way of recruitment at JLP is E-recruitment. External vacancies are
advertised on the Partnership's vacancies website www.jlpjobs.com. Applicants fill an online questionnaire, which simultaneously creates a personal application centre, where they can monitor the status of their application; if the applicant meet the requirement for that particular vacancy, he/she is ask to book an interview via the personal application centre previously set . Internal vacancies are accessible to partners through JLP intranet, partners are able to apply to any vacancy, whether external or internal, in any of the divisions of the Partnership, an unlike external applicants, partners just have to fill up personal details, including present position, and write statement instead of a full questionnaire.

Training and development: training and development,

At the John Lewis Partnership we believe that everyone has the capacity to learn and grow. From first-class customer service training to soft skills development and technical training, you can look forward to a wealth of learning opportunities that will equip you with the skills and confidence to be the best you can be. The key is that you are in control of and accountable for your own development . Well provide all the tools and support you need to progress and you will need to be highly self-motivated, willing to push yourself forward and continuously open to learning new things.

Fulfilling your potential

Our aim is to provide long-term, satisfying careers. Every employee at every level of the business is encouraged to take on new challenges or develop a career in management. Thats why we always try to promote from within, and offer a range of internal management training programmes to help us achieve this. Whats more, we dont believe that development always has to mean moving up a level it can also be about moving across into a different function or even a different business area. Well encourage you to fulfil your potential by:

Helping you to learn as much as you can about the Partnership and our activities Providing information and training to help you carry out responsibilities better Helping you develop the skills and knowledge to grow as the business changes

Encouraging changes of responsibility on a trial basis if necessary Supporting general education and interests in fields not directly related to your work

employee voice and participation rights (industrial democracy), pay, reward & performance management.
Employee voice is one of the employee involvement (EI) practices, which empowers employees to contribute to decision making in an organization (Boxall and Purcell, 2003). In JLP employee voice takes the shape of Partnership Council, which main objective is to share the responsibilities of ownership, as well as its rewards - profit, knowledge and power-, representing all partners and reflecting their opinion (Partnership Constitution, 2009). Democracy is at the heart of JLP. Every branch of the business has a representative or councillor elected by the partners of that particular branch; any partner can stand for election, and also has the right to vote. "The council has the right to discuss, to ask questions, and to make recommendations on any subjects it wishes" (JLP intranet), also it holds the Chairman to account. Among all the topics that partners have influenced the Partnership Board decisions trough the partnership council are: branch opening hours, changes in partnership discount (from 12% to 15% in Waitrose), and review of JLP strategy, bringing ideas from all part of the business to ensure JLP is fit for the future. (The Gazette, vol. 91, #22, 2009).

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Discuss in relation to relevant academic literature.

To what extent is there strategic HRM at JLP? Examine to what extent the various components of HRM support and contribute towards achieving JLPS overall strategy (vertical integration). Evaluate to what extent the various components of HR practice at JLP are consistent and support each other in achieving the overall HR strategy (horizontal integration). Discuss in relation to relevant academic literature on strategic HRM (for example, best fit, best practice, resourcebased view).

What are the main benefits of employee ownership in companies like JLP from an employer and employee perspective? Are there any problems? Refer to relevant literature.

Context of HRM: Critically evaluate the extent to which the JLP/employee ownership model can be replicated in other organizations, sectors, countries? Can you identify any barriers? Refer to appropriate academic literature.

Provide some conclusions based on your discussion of the above. In so doing, combine and summarize your assessment of academic literature with HRM practice at JLP/employee ownership generally.