Human Resource Management Strategies Taken up by IKEA in Relation to Its Indian and Swedish - Case Study Example

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES TAKEN UP BY IKEA IN RELATION TO ITS INDIAN AND SWEDISH Name: Course Instructor’s name Institution Date HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES TAKEN UP BY IKEA IN RELATION TO ITS INDIAN AND SWEDISH Analysis of HRM strategy of IKEA in relation to its branch in India Over the years, Human resources management (HRM) has evolved and become more dynamic in order to ensure that organisation or business productivity is maximized. Human resources management (HRM) has now taken up a more strategic, coherent and integrated approach. This guaranteed proper employment, working condition and employee’s well-being in an organisation. An HRM impact now poses a great impact on an organisation’s operation where intellectual capital is now set aside by organisations giving them a competitive advantage. The paper below therefore seeks to analyse the Human Resource Management strategies taken up by IKEA in relation to the Indian and Swedish workforce. IKEA’s is a Swedish-based retail chain which deals with house décor equipment’s and furniture. The company has spread globally to an approximate 41 countries. It is built on the principle of maintenance of a strong culture. The company’s Indian branch Human Resources practices are focused on innovation and improved Innovative work culture. With the company falling into the retail industry the management has focused on Human Resources Management in an effort to boost its customer relation. In IKEA’s course of growth, success and good customer relation its human resource management (HRM) strategies are built on development of its employees (Crouse, Doyle and Young, 2011). In this case, the company focuses on ensuring satisfaction for it employee’s in order to keep them motivated to give 100% to the company. IKEA human resource strategy included largely in the company’s corporate strategy. The other element of IKEA’s strategic human resource management (HRM) is employee engagement. This entails creating a good relationship between different levels of the company’s workforce in which ensures that there is communication in the company. This also boosts unity and teamwork within the company. Employee engagement as IKEA’s human resource management (HRM) entails fostering physically, cognitive and emotional connection within the company’s workforce (Gilbert, De Winne and Sels, 2015). In line with this the company emphasises on employees being concerned, dedicated, enthusiastic, and passionate about their work. Work culture is the other element of the company’s human resource management (HRM) strategy is promoting a strong work culture within the company. This is claimed to be the most fundamental issue which has boosted the company’s success over the years. IKEA’s strong work culture has the company’s effective and efficient workforce. This embedded culture has exerted a considerable amount of influence on company’s workforce behaviour, therefore, leading to increment in performance (Githens, 2012). A strong work culture has promoted IKEA’s creativity and diversity through promoting family friendly quality products that have fostered the employees -customer relationship. Challenges arising from IKEA Human Resource Management strategy elements The major challenge to the elements of IKEA Human Resource Management strategies is language barriers for its branches abroad. Language barrier has forced the company to invest more in training its workers overseas on the company’s culture. Frequent managerial changes have affected the company’s Human Resource Management strategies. This mostly causes interference of the company’s operations due the different policies which are initiated by new managerial personnel’s (Liakhovitski, Stone-Romero and Jaccard, 2008). These challenges have led to IKEA taking up a standard approach to human resource management (HRM) in all its 41 branches globally. This standard approach includes; human resource management policies and staffing planning. This ensures that the company’s current staffing needs and for future are set therefore the management to make their own whenever there is a managerial change. It also prevents poor organizational structure and reactionary hire. Creation of a procedures guide will inform the company’s employees on the integration of new workforce in line with the company goals (Stone-Romero, 2008). This will help the transition from one managerial system to another to be smooth. IKEA being a globally reputable company it has ensured that the human resource management (HRM) it has adopted are compatible however in the case of a change of managerial personnel’s who are from a different culture these two standard approaches are bound to collide. IKEA Swedish branch seems to have taken up different human resource management (HRM) strategies compared to those from its Indian branch. One of the strategies taken up by the company’s Swedish branch is flexibility and work-life balance. This emphasised the analogy that employees had a life beyond work. The branch’s human resource department was incorporated policies helping their employees achieve life balance. The human resource department believed that implementation of flexible working condition will retain the company’s employees. In line with these flexible working conditions were implemented in IKEA’s Swedish branch. Quiet rooms used by employees for relaxation and entertainment rooms for the visiting friends and family were introduced in the company’s branch. This initiative gave the workers a sense of belong and security (Werner, 2014). Comparison of IKEAS human resource management (HRM) strategies from the Indian and Swedish Branch The human resource management (HRM) strategies from the Indian and Swedish Branch reveals that local culture played a significant goal in the adoption of these human resource management (HRM) strategies. For instance, Indian are known to be hard workers therefore there culture led to the formation of a strong working culture by the human resource department from the company’s Indian Branch. The Swedish on the other hand adopted the human resource management (HRM) strategy of Flexibility and Work Life Balance due to its critical climatic conditions (주용국, 2010). Since the country experiences frequent winter, there is the need for the workers to ensure the take good rest in order to prevent their bodies to fatigue which is commonly instigated by cold weather. Some lesson learnt in regards these human resource management (HRM) strategies are managing an organisation culture is crucial for promoting the level of employee engagement in an organisation. IKEA should, therefore, ensure that its company culture values people through the provision of enriched jobs to its workers it is more likely to promote the company’s employee engagement. On the other hand, the company should ensure it is ‘employer of choice’ therefore it is more likely to retain and attract the best-talented workforce in order to have and have higher levels of engagement. The company should also consider taking up effective communication as a factor to promote a high level of engagement. Alternatively it should opt for different modes of communication in an effort to boost the employee’s engagement in the company. On promoting flexibility and a balance in the life of their employees the company should ensure that it places strict measures governing this human resource management (HRM) strategy. This is because it might cause unproductivity due to laziness promoted by the introduction of the relaxation rooms and entertainment rooms in the company’s Swedish department. References Crouse, P., Doyle, W. and Young, J. (2011). Workplace learning strategies, barriers, facilitators and outcomes: a qualitative study among human resource management practitioners. Human Resource Development International, 14(1), pp.39-55. Gilbert, C., De Winne, S. and Sels, L. (2015). Strong HRM processes and line managers' effective HRM implementation: a balanced view. Human Resource Management Journal, 25(4), pp.600-616. Githens, R. (2012). Organization Change and Social Organizing Strategies: Employee-Initiated Organization Development. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 23(4), pp.487-518. Liakhovitski, D., Stone-Romero, E. and Jaccard, J. (2008). Strategies for detecting joint dichotomous moderators in human resource management research. Human Resource Management Review, 18(3), pp.164-179. Stone-Romero, E. (2008). Strategies for improving the validity and utility of research in human resource management and allied disciplines. Human Resource Management Review, 18(4), pp.205-209. Werner, J. (2014). Human Resource Development ≠ Human Resource Management: So What Is It?. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 25(2), pp.127-139. 주용국, (2010). Exploration and Application of the Components of Strategic Human Resource Development and Human Resource Development Implementation Strategies. thekoreanjournalofhumanresourcedevelopmentquarterly, 12(1), pp.207-235. Read More