Arnotts Biscuits Holdings HR Planning and Strategy - Case Study Example

Arnott’s Biscuits Holdings HR Planning and Strategy Name Institution’s Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Executive Summary Human resource planning involves identification and planning for the present and potential needs of the workforce of an organization. The organization must adequately plan for its human resource specifically in ways through which the qualified human resource can be retained in the organization and newly endowed ones can be absorbed into the organization. Human resource planning needs to be strategized for, and the organization should avoid reacting to circumstances. However, just like every other planning process in any organization, the human resource planning process is not free of drawbacks; it has positive and negative, external and internal factors that affect the process. External factors affecting human resource planning include employment, technology, demographic changes, cultures and “complexity” or “trouble” groups within the society. Internal factors affecting human resource planning in an organization include organizational changes and labor turnover rate. The factors affecting the HR planning strategy of Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings are discussed here. Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings is a biscuit manufacturing company based in Sydney, Australia. Arnott’s mainly specializes in manufacture of biscuits, but it also does production of other snack foods; it has over 40 different products. Table of Contents Executive Summary ii Table of Contents iii 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Aims and Objectives 1 3.0 Literature Review 1 4.0 Methodology 4 5.0 Research Findings 5 6.0 Conclusion 6 7.0 Works Cited 7 1.0 Introduction Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings is a biscuit manufacturing company based in Sydney, Australia. Arnott’s mainly specializes in manufacture of biscuits, but it also does production of other snack foods; it has over 40 different products. Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings, whose parent company is the America’s famous Campbell Soup Company, was founded in 1865 and it has become one of the largest food manufacturing companies in Australia, with average revenue of about 1.5 billion Australian dollars per annum (Books LLC 85). The company has over 4500 employees in total, who are distributed across its various sites of operation in the Philippines, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia, UK, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia. Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings not only does local manufacturing in the mentioned countries, but it also exports its products to almost 50 different countries across the world (Boag & Durrant 94). 2.0 Aims and Objectives The main aim of this study is to evaluate Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings and its HR planning strategy, and to discuss the internal and external factors that may affect the company’s HR needs and operations. 3.0 Literature Review As the name suggests, human resource planning involves identification and planning for the present and potential needs of the workforce of an organization, and it is aimed at helping the organization to achieve what it has planned to achieve in whichever span of time. No organization can successfully do business planning unless it has a comprehensive human resource planning strategy. Organizations do human resource planning to stay above their competitors by obtaining high competitive advantage and by ensuring sustainability. In order for this to be achieved, the organization must adequately plan for its human resource specifically in ways through which the qualified human resource can be retained in the organization and newly endowed ones can be absorbed into the organization (Price 132). For a human resource planning strategy to work, the organization needs to find the right balance for the number of workers it has, the mixture of capabilities they possess, the right areas to place these individuals and the right timing in involving these workers. For this to be achieved, the organizational culture needs to be one that no longer has the traditional view of human resource simply as an object of control by the management, but as a valuable asset that determines the success or failure of the organization (Kaila 364). Human resource planning needs to be strategized for, and the organization should avoid reacting to circumstances. One of the most common ways in which most organizations react to circumstances is by terminating the employment of a portion of its human resource so as to reduce on the short term costs it may incur as a result of having many workers. However, when the short term circumstance cools off, the organization finds itself in the need for more human resource, forcing it to start afresh the expensive process of recruiting and training new workers. A good human resource planning strategy therefore helps the organization to avoid making costly mistakes by creating solid long term plans as opposed to the short term reactive plans (Randhawa 246). However, just like every other planning process in any organization, the human resource planning process is not free of drawbacks; it has positive and negative, external and internal factors that affect the process. External factors affecting human resource planning include employment, technology, demographic changes, cultures and “complexity” or “trouble” groups within the society. Internal factors affecting human resource planning in an organization include organizational changes and labor turnover rate. The external and internal factors affecting human resource planning are discussed below (Randhawa 247). The employment scenario of the country in which an organization is located directly affects its HR planning processes. For instance, an organization needs to evaluate the rate of unemployment in the country of its operation so that it can know what the government expects of it in terms of recruitment and hiring; high redundancy rates translates to greater demands from government to recruit and hire more. Technology and the changes associated to it are vital in determining the human resource planning process of any organization. Technological advancement is happening at a very fast speed, and this exerts an automatic demand on an organization to upgrade its processes to match the current technological state. Due to this factor, the organization needs to do adequate planning on how to balance between training the current human resource it has and firing some of its human resource and replacing them with new human resource that has better technological knowhow (Price 137). Demographic changes related to age, population and balance of gender, race and ability/disability also greatly affect the human resource planning process of any organization. Age, for instance, affects the organization’s planning because of the fact that retirement of workforce is definite and unavoidable. At the same time, as some retirees leave the working scenario, fresh and young graduates enter the job market. Therefore, the company has to balance its HR planning in consideration to retirement, firing and recruiting of fresh employees (Thompson 164). Culture is another external factor affecting HR planning of an organization. An organization needs to balance the cultural composition of the workforce it has, and it therefore is affected by the migration rates of the country it is located in. “Trouble” or “Complexity” groups are a major part of the external factors affecting HR planning of an organization. These groups mainly include the media and other groups that advocate/ fight for human rights, gender sensitivity, environmental concerns et cetera. They are referred to as trouble groups because they mainly exert external pressure on an organization to comply with certain rules and standards (Thompson 166). Organizational changes are the major internal factors that affect an organization’s HR planning process. There is a wide range of the changes that can occur within an organization. For instance, the organization may introduce a new line of products or services into its system, forcing expansion of the organization and automatic need for recruitment of new employees or transfer and training of its current employees to the new product or service. Also, the organization may open a new branch or shut down an existing branch. Also, the labor turnover rate of the organization is a key determinant. A higher labor turnover rate automatically translates to more firing and more recruitment and hiring (Randhawa 248). 4.0 Methodology Qualitative and quantitative analysis will be done using secondary data that will be obtained from the company’s website and from other reliable sources such as magazines, journals, management text books, HRM case studies, business reviews and Australian financial reviews. 5.0 Research Findings The Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings has both internal and external; factors that affect its human resource planning. Demographical changes greatly affect the planning process of Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings, especially because of the fact that most people (about 70%) in Australia are between 16 to 65 years of age, with most of them being above 40 years. This means that the rate at which employees retire is high, making it necessary for Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings to plan adequately for recruiting and hiring of new employees. The geographical layout of Australia also affects the human resource planning process of Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings, mainly because of the fact that the major cities of Australia are crowded in one place and the other places are made of arid areas that are mainly scarcely populated due to harsh conditions. Therefore, it becomes hard for the company to recruit employees to send to these arid areas, and it is also hard for the company to maintain those it already has there (Jaray 112). Australia also has a great shortage of skilled laborers because of the fact that most people are resorting to doing studies related to human sciences more than those in arts and in the science and technology arena. Therefore, most of the skilled laborers in Australia are immigrants who go there in search for jobs. Therefore, Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings puts into consideration such organizational needs in its planning. The population of Australia is decreasing every single day, to a point where the Australian government offers some incentives to parents who get more children. As a result, the Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings and other organizations plan their workforce with this factor in mind that the population is declining by the minute (Schulz 58). Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings has a relatively high labor turnover rate, meaning that the rate at which it hires and fires is also high. Therefore, this affects how it plans for the current and potential needs of its employees and of the organization (Arnott’s Australia). The Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings is a company that is ever-expanding, and opening of new branches is part and parcel of its strategies. Therefore, part of its HR planning strategy includes planning for new recruitments and planning for future transfers of some of the current employees it has to the new branches. The same kind of planning applies when planning for a new line of products, because Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings does regular introduction of new products (Plunkett 161). 6.0 Conclusion This study was successful, because the internal and external factors affecting Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings’ human resource planning have been discussed. Arnott’s mainly specializes in manufacture of biscuits, but it also does production of other snack foods; it has over 40 different products. The external factors affecting its HR planning include demographical changes in Australia, Australia’s geographical layout, shortage of skilled labor and declining population in Australia. The internal factors affecting the company include low labor turnover rate, high organization’s expansion rate and high rate of introduction of new products. 7.0 Works Cited Arnott’s Australia (2009). Arnott’s Australia: there is no substitute for quality. Retrieved from www.arnotts.com.au on 20th July, 2011. Boag, Charles, and Durrant, Lawrence. The story of Arnott’s famous biscuits: a history and a celebration. London: Lansdowne Press, 1993. Books LLC. Food Companies of Australia: Arnott’s Biscuit Holdings, Csr Limited, Boost Juice, Foster’s Group, Bakers Delight, Chicken Treat. New York: General Books LLC, 2010. Jaray, Susanna. Marketing (Australia Wide).Sydney: Career FAQs, 2006. Kaila, H.L. Industrial and Organizational Psychology. London: Gyan Publishing House, 2006. Plunkett, Jack. Plunkett's Food Industry Almanac 2009 (E-Book): Food Industry Market. Plunkett's Research Ltd, 2009. Price, Alan. Human Resource Management in a Business Context. London: Cengage Learning, 2007. Randhawa, Gurpreet. Human Resource Management. New York: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2007. Schulz, Peter. CRM and the Australian Food Retail Industry. London: GRIN Verlag Publishers, 2008. Thompson, Susan. Planning Australia: an overview of urban and regional planning. London: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Read More