Human Resource Planning: T.K. Maxx - Case Study Example

Introduction Planning is a vital tool for the success of businesses in all fields. While nearly all businesses have a business plan at the beginning, many start-ups do not have an elaborate human resource strategy. The main reason for this is that many starting businesses have few or no employees to begin with. As the business grows and expands, it is necessary to hire more employees or train existing ones so as to offer them the emerging and necessary skills (Plunkett 2007). Human resource planning is the function of the human resource department that anticipates and plans for these changes in HR. The human resource department must forecast hiring needs resulting from a need for new skills, increasing customer demand, competition, technological changes, economic developments and workforce changes. In addition, the department must consider company goals and objectives, which include all plans that may result in demand for new skills. The company may acquire labour with these skills either by training existing staff or by acquiring new recruits with the necessary skills. Since 1994, T.K. Maxx has been selling high quality merchandize including beauty products, clothing, bedding, house wares and furniture among others. Its operations have mainly been in Europe and North America. However, new outlets have opened up that are selling products at even less than 60% of the recommended retail price as T.K. Maxx does. In addition, new markets have opened up within Europe and North America, and in countries in other continents. Finally, with the advent of the information age, there have emerged new product lines with changing shopping habits among customers. With these and more changes, the human resource management has the task of anticipating, planning and overseeing the implementation of the plan to ensure that T.K. Maxx goes back to its place in the business arena. The aim of this study is to identify recommendations that the human resource management could use in planning (Plunkett 2007). Developing a Human Resource Plan Planning for future human resource requirements like new hires and trainings saves the company both time and money. The company must plan before the changes occur. Two main areas of change that result in change of human resource demand are the company itself and the prevailing market conditions. The changes include factors that result in expansion like short term and long-term objectives, expansion into new markets, adoption of the latest technology, introduction of new product lines, and the need for new skills in the firm. Incidentally, T.K. Maxx has all these needs and its human resource management need to look into these internal changes together with external market changes. Market changes include competition from new and old companies, changes in technology used in trade, economic changes, increased customer demands, and workforce changes (Reddy 2005). Company Changes The main aim of any business is to make profits and management may routinely identify some changes that, if implemented can help the business achieve this aim better. Though the management makes decisions for implementing these changes, it does not do the implementing by itself. One of the departments affected by these decisions is the human resource department, as it has to provide the necessary work force to work on company projects. Identifying staff suitable for implementation of these changes is not easy as it depends on various factors depending on the type of change. Company Goals and Objectives Growth is a characteristic of all successful companies, as it leads to increased profit margins, higher share prices at the bourse, and higher dividends that translates to happier shareholders who are more willing to invest more in the company. In this respect, the human resource management of T.K. Maxx should identify departments in the firm that have potential for improvement. For instance, happy customers translate to higher profits in any type of business. Therefore, one recommendation would be for the firm to invest in customer relations. Though the customer care department is already doing well, market trends have resulted in customers who want a more personal touch in service and the company should be ready to offer more than that. The company should train the existing customer care on new skills in the profession and reduce their workload by hiring new representatives. To cut on costs, adopting the new idea of freelance customer care to handle customers online or over the phone is a good idea (Storey 2007). Expansion to New Markets Developing countries in Africa, Asia, and South America shows promise for companies willing to take the risk. However, there are challenges to deal with, including that involve human resource. Since the company cannot export labour from Europe, it has to find out a way of obtaining high quality work force from the local markets in those countries. Financing labour in those countries is not a problem since labour is considerably low due to the low cost of living. However, preliminary studies are important to determine the procedures for hiring while considering factors like ethnic and gender balance. Though workers in other countries have untapped potential due to inexperience, the human resource management should find a way to harness this potential and make it work profitably (Wilson 2005). Staff Replacement The firm and an employee may terminate the contract of engagement for a myriad of reasons, both good and bad. However, this does not mean that work stops; the management has to replace the employee fast before the whole company feels the effect of the shortage. Retirement is one occurrence that necessitates replacement. At T.K. Maxx, this does not pose a big problem, as there is a management-training program in place. However, on change of guard, the human resource has to be prepared to adjust the positions of staff to take up the newly vacant positions. The only challenge would be evaluation to identify the best candidates for the job. other scenarios that would require planning before they happen is for the company to be ready with replacements if an employee is fired or resigns from their position. In these cases, the firm should always have a back up employee working in one department but with skills and capability of working as a replacement in another (Randhawa 2007). Adoption of New Technologies In the information era, the company should have employees that are dynamic and willing to learn new skills that come with the adoption of new technologies. In this respect, the human resource department should consult with the IT department to identify new and emerging technologies that the firm should adopt. The management should avail both time and money for training employees and hiring new ones that have the necessary technological skills. Therefore, if the management decides to acquire new machines to improve production, it the human resource management has to plan and figure out an economical way to have the new skills (Redman & Wilkinson 2002). Introduction of New Product Lines With time, there is need for new products. Some of the newly introduced products may require specialised staff. The human resource department, therefore, must do the necessary research to ensure that either training employees to handle the new products, or hiring new employees that have specialised in dealing with the products. For instance, T.K. Maxx decides to introduce new-age computers, programmers, and computer maintenance professionals among others, should be employed for the success of the introduced business (Bhattacharyya 2009). Market Changes These changes are beyond the control of the company, to succeed, the company has to change tack on the way it does its business. One of these changes is doing what the competition does not do to give the company a competitive edge. This includes new advertising, sales, and marketing approaches. To do this, the company must foresee and plan before these changes occur to avoid last minute rush. Economic Changes Lately, there has been an economic meltdown so severe that it was and still is tearing businesses apart. For T.K. Maxx to survive this, it must find a way of making its employees more productive or risk losing them to companies that are more visionary. Therefore, the management must make plans to increase the profitability of the firm by introducing new product lines among other strategies. However, the human resource management should plan well before hiring new employees to sell these new products, as the project should be profitable enough to cover all costs (Robert & John 2010). Competition The free market has resulted in opening up of more retail outlets that compete with T.K. Maxx. Though not all can manage to sell at low prices as T.K. Maxx does, many have adopted approaches that are drawing customers towards them, especially the high spending ones that care about quality and not cost. In this respect, T.K. Maxx should train employees on new marketing approaches like online advertising, in addition to hiring more to expand the reach of the firm. It should also train sales staff on new methods of selling like online sales, and delivering goods to customer’s doorsteps (Torrington, Hall, & Taylor 2008). Changes in Customer Demand Nowadays, people know more about their needs than they did a few years back. This means that people no longer fumble around looking for something to attract their attention but come to the stores with what they want in their mind. That is not all, as customers also know their right to a good customer service. One way of knowing what customers is by having them fill questionnaires or putting their opinions in suggestion boxes. Once the management knows these customer requirements, it must anticipate changes, either seasonal or permanent. Therefore, the company must prepare for variations in demand for labour and make all the necessary plans. Employment Arrangements Identifying the need for new staff and/or skills is a step in the planning process. Next, the human resource department at T.K. Maxx should identify vacancies and new posts. The team should discuss and identify the duties and responsibilities of new staff. This helps in formulation of a job description that is the first step in determining the characteristics of the best person for the job. The job description, duties, and responsibilities determine the job group and salary scale of the new employees. On approval by the management, the company would be ready for implementation of plans for changes in the human resource. Challenges in Planning While planning for future changes in human resource is good for the growth of T.K. Maxx, some limiting factors hinder the effectiveness of the process. First, the rapid changes in technological advancement, making it almost impossible to predict which skills will become obsolete next. Secondly, markets these days are emotion-driven and the human resource cannot forecast what customers will get obsessed with in the near future. Third, most plans require a lot of financial resources for full implementation but in these hard economic times these resources may not be available, effectively limiting the process of planning the company’s future. Finally, no matter how elaborate a plan is, no human resource management official can successfully foresee natural and manmade calamities. These disasters have a way of wrecking company fortunes in a way that no insurance cover can restore (Bandt and Haines 2004). Conclusion Human resource planning is a suitable move for any business as it is usually cheaper to deal with human resource changes if the company is prepared beforehand. The department has to make numerous considerations and anticipate many changes in future. Based on these predictions, it should make recommendations depending on the nature of the changes. These changes may be intrinsic or extrinsic. Changes from within are adjusted depending on prevailing conditions. However, the company should deal with external forces, which usually take the greatest toll on company resources. Planning and implementation of recommendations is usually not an easy task as there are many challenges and shortcomings. That notwithstanding, T.K. Maxx must plan for its human resource if it is to remain profitable. References Bandt, A and Haines, S 2004, Successful strategic human resource planning, Systems Thinking Press, San Diego, CA. Bhattacharyya, K 2009, Human resource planning, Excel Books, india. Plunkett, J 2007, Plunketts retail industry Almanac 2008, Plunkett Research, Ltd., Houston, USA. Randhawa, G 2007, Human resource management, Atlantic Publishers & Dist, India. Reddy, M 2005, Human resource planning, Discovery Publishing House, India. 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