Introduction
Resourcing is the process of attracting and recruiting people into organizational roles at the right time and at a reasonable cost and supporting them to meet organizational goals (Dar, 2022). It involves using appropriate workforce planning data and understanding the proper sourcing digital tools and strategies to tap into a diverse pool of talents. Resourcing practices are essential because they form a significant part of the Human Resource Generalist role (Taylor, 2019). These activities are central to all organizations that employ people since the aim of ethical and effective resourcing is to meet six central human resource management objectives, which are staffing, performance, administration, change management, reputation building, and promoting employee wellbeing (Dar, 2022). Resourcing practices are concerned with how an organization recruits, retains, upskills, and uplifts staff so that it is equipped with expert personnel and optimal performance. Therefore, the importance of resourcing is that it helps the organization get the right people at the right time and cost into the right roles and supports them in meeting the organizational objectives.
Ethics plays a significant role in resourcing practices. Since resourcing encompasses all activities ranging from recruiting, selecting, onboarding, retention, and employee management, ethical behavior ensures fairness and equal opportunities, legal compliance, honesty and transparency, and supporting employee well-being, among other practices (Iles, 2013). It involves creating a healthy and safe workplace, supporting the work-life balance and wellness of employees, and offering them fair benefits and compensation. These practices help to boost employee well-being and morale leading to improved motivation, job satisfaction, and productivity (Johns, 2018). Furthermore, ethics plays a role in improving organizational reputation. Ethical behaviors and practices of Human Resources and professionals in an organization boost the reputation of the company through honest and accountable practices of ensuring the company gets the best employees, maintaining customer loyalty, and strengthening the position and brand of the company in the market (Johns, 2018).
This report covers three important resourcing practices for Tesco Company and delves into the analysis of how these practices are significant in developing an excellent human resource in the company. The report will further detail the challenges of these practices, weaving on their ethical implications with reference to the use of technology, and finally analyze how each of the three chosen practices adds value to the company. Moreover, the report will present the costed recommendations for effective implementation of these practices for a clear comprehension and understanding of what aspects the CEO of Tesco Company needs to address in establishing an effective and working resourcing practice for the benefit of the company. The resourcing practices analyzed in this report are recruitment and retention, talent management, and ethics and natural justice.
Brief about the Context of Tesco Company
Tesco, headquartered in the United Kingdom (UK), is one of the leading retailers in the world. Jack Cohen established Tesco in 1919, and since then, the company has gone a long way (Tesco, 2022). The company has made numerous employment possibilities available to people in the United Kingdom and the United States. Tesco has a 30% market share in the United Kingdom. Tesco is not only a grocery store, but they also sell a huge selection of other products as well (Tesco, 2022). The food they sell is delicious and affordable. As a result, the company has amassed a considerable group of committed patrons. Tesco is one of the top five supermarkets in the world, along with three other major chains such as Walmart (Tesco, 2022). The success of this company has been linked to many factors, with the significant emphasis on effective human resource management being one of its central pillars. This is because of the influence human resources has in boosting the brand and reputation of the company and its optimal performance to attain a cutting competitive edge in the market.
Resourcing Practice I: Recruitment and Selection
One of the effective resourcing practices applicable to Tesco Company is the recruitment practice. In the recruitment process, Tesco PLC uses different modes to advertise their job vacancies based on the nature of the job position. The culture of the company is that before opening the position to the public, the company first opens the position to individuals who are employees within the company (TESCO Careers, 2017). The focus is on the internal talents of the employees who will be interested in moving to new job positions as either a promotion or the same level as long as they attain minimum requirements. In the event that there is no suitable match available within the internal pool, the position is then released and made open to other people through the company website, where online applications are allowed from interested candidates (Wiedner, Barrett, and Oborn, 2017). Telephone interviews are conducted for shortlisted candidates, and upon meeting the criteria, mandatory attendance interviews are then held at the designated centers of the company, where the final selection is completed (TESCO Careers, 2017).
Specialists’ job vacancies are not only advertised through the company’s websites but also through other external channels such as social media, magazines such as “The Appointment Journal,” radios, televisions, and Google (Tesco Limited, 2017). The company only advertises store vacancies on its vacancy board on its website without using other external advertising channels. The company’s major focus in its recruiting process is to hire the best talents qualified for the specific job position in a cost-effective way and in a timely manner. The advertising strategies might be expensive to some extent, but the purpose is to have better access to a large talent pool where it can have the best access to the required candidates (Tesco Limited, 2017). From this analysis, it is evident that the company values its employees and offers them opportunities first, although limited to store vacancies before they are released to other people outside the company.
The process of recruitment is lengthy and structured with different activities whose goal is to hire the best candidates in a cost-effective manner. Despite all these efforts, Taylor (2020) suggests that there are still several internal and external factors that affect the recruitment and selection process, which further poses a challenge for the HR manager in hiring potential employees. External and internal factors often create a challenge for the company in the recruitment process. Every organization faces challenges from external factors in which they have limited control, even if they can overcome internal factors. The difference comes with the seriousness of these external challenges, as they tend to vary from one organization to another depending on the locality of the company and the nature of the job. These challenges extend further to Tesco PLC as it serves its customers in different localities across the UK.
Recruitment and selection challenges for Tesco PLC
Tesco PLC faces challenges emanating from both internal and external factors in its process of recruitment and selection. According to Ekwoeba & Ufoma, (2015), recruiting policy is one of the internal aspects of the organization that affects its recruitment and selection process. Most companies, just like Tesco, prefer opening job opportunities internally for their current employees before releasing them to other people. This is because existing employees will always be familiar with the existing working culture and organizational expectations. The challenges arise when HR can find the appropriate employees with the needed skills to fill the available vacancies, and therefore, the company is forced to hire from external sources where the recruitment process in such a scenario becomes complex and costly, as set criteria have to be met.
Another factor that poses a challenge to the recruitment and selection process is the image, branding, and reputation of an organization. To tap into the best talents, the company needs to invest more in its corporate reputation and image. A company with a positive and commendable reputation often finds it easier to source qualified talents, and people will be freely willing to work in the company and experience a positive working environment. However, if the reputation of the company is questionable, it always becomes a challenge to source the right candidates as qualified people for the available positions to evade being associated with the negative image of the company. According to Taylor and Armstrong (2020), organizations that do not fulfill their ethical and social obligations often face the challenge of stimulating candidates to apply for their advertised job vacancies. Tesco PLC has managed to overcome this challenge by being a society-centered organization whose focus is quality services to the public through a well-coordinated system of operation and motivated employees.
Other factors, however, go beyond organizational control, and they tend to pose general challenges to all organizations. Human resource managers find it challenging to deal with challenges that come as a result of these external factors. However, through careful strategic planning, the effects of these factors can be minimized in the recruitment and selection process of the company. Some of these challenges include market conditions, legal considerations, labor laws, and demographic factors. For instance, looking at how labor laws and legal considerations affect the recruiting and selection process of Tesco Company, the company operated in different countries have different legal obligations and labor laws that every organization is required to adhere to. These regulations regard the minimum wage requirements, average compensations, health and safety aspects, working hours, and working conditions (Taylor and Armstrong 2020). These differences become a challenge for the company operating in these different countries, as the HR managers have to balance their policies with those of the country they are operating in (Taylor and Armstrong, 2020). For example, during the recruitment and selection process, the company has to offer compensations that are favorable to them as well as those that meet the set standards according to the labor laws of that specific company. Harmonization of the wages for similar positions becomes a challenge in this case.
Existing market condition is another external challenge that the company needs to deal with in recruitment as a resourcing practice. Situations where the demand and supply of labor in the market vary significantly affect the recruitment process of the company. For instance, if there is a lower supply of qualified or skilled laborers in the market while the market demand for such skilled personnel is higher, companies have to spend more and exert more pressure on sourcing the right people for the available job position (Ashton, 2017). It is also a challenge because there is a limited pool of talents to choose from, and the company may end up not getting the most appropriate candidate for the available job position (Ashton, 2017). In conclusion, there are several other challenges that the company may face in the context of recruitment and selection practices. It requires efficient strategic planning, an excellent reputation and image of the company, and ethical practices for the company to minimize these challenges in the recruitment and selection resourcing practice.
Ethical implication of recruitment practice for Tesco PLC
Tesco PLC’s recruitment process is a demonstration of ethical practice in resourcing activities. It is through ethical behavior and practices in the recruitment process that the company is able to attract highly skilled personnel qualified for the existing job positions. Since the company is a multinational corporation, the success of its operation is founded on the ethical standards it upholds in its recruitment and selection process. Some of the ethical practices the company employs as guiding principles in this resourcing practice include providing equal employment opportunities for all its candidates irrespective of their age, race, sexual orientation, and all other provisions that are protected by the law. It is against the Equal Employment Opportunity and unethical practice to discriminate against candidates during the recruitment and selection process, and Tesco PLS holds these into account.
Ethical practices regulate several other practices related to the recruitment and selection process. It is through ethics that the company encourages inclusion and diversity in the recruitment process, where diverse candidates are given equal opportunities for the job. The company also provides the candidates with the right information regarding the job requirements, compensations, and responsibilities without the use of deceptive ways, upholding the ethical practice of honesty and transparency. Respect for confidentiality concerning candidates’ personal information, safe working conditions, and competitive compensation are ethical aspects that Tesco PLC puts into consideration during the recruitment and selection process. Ethical practices in sourcing new employees ensure the company restrains itself from poaching employees through unethical means from its rivals. All these ethical practices are the reason why Tesco PLC is one of the most successful organizations in terms of the recruitment and selection process.
Use of Technology in ethical practices and its value in the recruitment and selection process
Technology is a vital tool that Tesco PLC applies to support and maintain its ethical practices in the recruitment and selection process. Technology is used to enhance efficiency, fairness, and transparency and to comply with ethical and legal standards. As a resourcing practice, technology is used in the recruitment process as an evaluation and monitoring tool on how efficient the practice is and areas that need improvement to meet the required ethical standards. Likewise, technology is applicable in the recruitment process to protect and maintain the safety of candidates’ information. This is part of ethical practices. Furthermore, online recruiting portals and websites are open to all candidates regardless of their race, gender, ethnic background, and disability, which is an ethical practice of inclusivity, transparency, and fairness to the candidates. Online interviews and assessment facilitated by the use of technology often carry standardized questions and provides general requirements for all job applicants, ensuring there is fairness in the recruitment process. All these practices constitute the ethical use of technology for effective and efficient resourcing activity.
The use of technology and ethical practices have immense benefits for any organizational resourcing practice. There is an aspect of cost saving when using technology such as social media in advertising to reach many potential applicants for which the company can source qualified individuals (Salau et al., 2018). Moreover, technology speeds up the process by ensuring efficiency and effective utilization of resources (Hongal and Kinange, 2020). For example, conducting online interviews through video conferencing saves time and resources as compared to physical interviews, especially when the company wants to filter out candidates from a large pool of applicants. Ethical practices boost the reputation and image of the company through fair and open recruitment and selection practices. This is valuable to the company as more professionals and skilled candidates like to associate themselves with such organizations, making it easier to source qualified individuals to fill in the existing job gaps. Further, technology promotes diversity and inclusivity in the recruitment process (Hongal and Kinange, 2020); this is also an ethical practice. The value this practice adds to the company is that the integration of varied practices from different individuals promotes creativity brings new and better ideas into the organization that are vital in the company’s decision-making.
Resourcing Practice II: Talent Management
Talent management is one of the strategies that is used as a resourcing tool for HR managers in organizations. Talent management encompasses activities such as hiring new employees, developing guiding policies within the organization, and motivating existing employees to ensure the optimal performance of the company (Al Aina and Atan, 2020). Various tools are used to maintain talent management in a workplace applicable to Tesco PLC. Talent management practices start right from the recruitment and selection of the company, performance management, rewarding performance, training, and development, to the practices of diversity and inclusion (Al Aina and Atan, 2020). These practices play a significant role as resourcing practices for the company’s HR to meet its set administrative objective. This scenario extends further to Tesco PLC, as discussed.
Recruitment and selection. The company focuses on recruitment applications where they focus on continuously hiring new employees to fill in any existing gap in the organization to maintain their higher productivity and profitability. According to Collings, Mellahi, and Cascio (2018), managers in Tesco PLC are committed to hiring qualified and skilled people who are techno-literate to manage new technology applications within the company. The selection process follows where managers check and certify the credibility and skills of the candidate. This is a thorough exercise that Tesco HR management commits to undertake to ensure that the candidates selected are up to the task and can fit into the organizational culture with ease. In this process, there are various tests conducted to test the candidates’ knowledge and abilities, after which the candidate with outstanding abilities is selected for the job position.
Performance management: Tesco PLC is one of the mega-companies whose focus on talent management as a resourcing activity is on performance management. The company has schemes in place where employee performance is evaluated to the set standard performance. The scheme has tools that are used in grading, scaling, comparing, and ranking employee performance to check on the best-performing employees and areas that need to be improved (Collings, Mellahi, and Cascio, 2018). This criterion is beneficial to the company because it is able to track the performance of its employees as well employees benefit as the most performing employees are rewarded as a form of motivation.
Rewarding: As one of talent management practices, Tesco PLC employs the rewarding strategy as a way of motivating its employees, maintaining talents and retaining valuable employees, and attracting more candidates in case there is a position to be filled (Alam and Raut-Roy, 2019). Rewarding can be in the form of promotional opportunities where vacancies are open to existing employees for application. Other ways of rewarding its employees are through financial rewards, increasing compensations and benefits, bonuses, and coupons based on the set standard criteria (Alam and Raut-Roy, 2019). This practice promotes the performance levels of the company.
Training and development: Organizations use training and development practices as a talent management strategy to improve and retain their employees for the long-term benefit of the company (Al Aina and Atan, 2020). Companies that invest in their employee training and development programs achieve a competitive edge and better performance as they will be up to date with the use of modern technology, there will be innovations and creativities among its employees, and new employees will find it easier to fit into the organizational culture, which saves the company a lot. New employees and existing employees are all eligible for training and development to equip them with new information, skills, and knowledge in their specific fields. Tesco is one of the companies that value the training and development of its employees to help them fit into the organizational culture, fit into the current competitive market through technological advancement, and as a strategy to retain the existing employees, motivate them, and attract new hirers (Tesco, 2022).
Diversity and equality: Tesco thrives on the practice of equality and diversity. The company provides equal opportunities to all its employees, starting from matters of recruitment to promotions. The company also values the presence of a diverse workforce working within its premises because of the benefits they brings to the organization. Diversity ensures that organizations can get access to a wide range of ideas, skills, knowledge, and resources required for the efficient operations of the company (Taylor and Armstrong, 2019). Diversity encourages creativity and differentiation in knowledge, which is a valuable input to the company’s performance. Acknowledging diversity and equality within the organization is an important strategy for building the brand image and reputation of the company (Dar, 2022). As a result, more people will be interested in being associated with the company or working in the company, providing it with an upper hand in sourcing qualified talents.
Challenges of Talent Management as a Resourcing Practice
Like several other organizations, Tesco PLC is not immune to challenges facing talent management practice in its operations. Technological advancements and globalization contribute to major challenges organizations experience as they strive to manage their human resource (Dar, 2022). In addition, the promotion of cultural diversity and the changing environment in the retail industry further contribute to issues the company faces while dealing with talent management as a resourcing practice. These four issues affect the function of human resources within the company.
Globalization has a major goal of reducing the intensity of competition among rivalries, especially in resourcing practices and the hiring process (Dar, 2022). Increasing globalization has hugely contributed to diversity recruitment, where the company employs people from different cultural backgrounds. This is a beneficial practice as discussed previously but also contributes to mismanagement of work and conflicts (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). Tesco experiences globalization as an issue in talent management because it has to establish in-service training programs aimed at assisting employees in developing formal relations and appreciating differences at work. Cultural differences are, therefore, becoming a major talent management challenge due to increasing globalization.
Technological advancement is another contributor to the challenges HR faces in talent management practice. Since technology is evolving and advancing each and every day, Tesco tries to be up-to-date and relevant with the existing technology. Therefore, there is also a dire need to continuously train the existing employees and equip them with the necessary skills required in running new technological tools used in the company. Moreover, it is another consideration while sourcing for new hires as the company seeks to employ individuals who are conversant with the existing technology to cut costs associated with rigidity and training programs (Hongal and Kinange, 2020). The challenge is that it becomes expensive to source such individuals with the needed technological expertise, who are sometimes hard to find (Iles, 2013). Another challenge caused by technological advancement is the continuous disruption of the normal operations of the company. For instance, it is hard to manage people not using personal smartphones during office hours so they can concentrate fully on the work and create training sessions in between working hours to train the staff to use technological tools (Iles, 2013). Technology is also associated with high maintenance costs and effects on the relationships of the workforce.
Promoting equality and diversity. As the company tries as much as possible to integrate inclusivity and diversity into its working principles, promoting equality and diversity is still a major challenge in managing talents within the organization (Awadari and Kanwal, 2019). This situation is a cause of conflicts in the organization, which hinders productivity and affects the reputation of the company. The company employs people from diverse backgrounds with diverse languages and ways of thinking, and coordinating these people to act as a team always becomes a challenge. Challenges such as those of cultural differences are difficult to address, which hampers the effectiveness of cooperation and professional relationships among employees.
Changing environment: this is another challenge that hinders business operations in Tesco PLC. Changing the environment comes with various personal, environmental, and organizational issues. It is the responsibility of the company to ensure that it complies with various regulations regarding its employees (Awadari and Kanwal, 2019). This involves communicating in advance to the employees about projected plans and changes in policies as a responsibility of human resource management. Tesco experiences the problem of efficient and regular communication with the employees as the policies change, changes in health and safety measures, equality and diversity of workers, and employee compensation.
Ethical implications of talent management practices for Tesco PLC
Tesco PLC upholds high ethical standards in its talent management practices to attract top talents in the market, foster a positive work culture, and build a strong reputation to potential employees as an ethical employer. There are several ethical practices that are associated with Tesco talent management, such as fair employment practices, honesty, transparency, employee development, elimination of discrimination in promotions, encouraging inclusion and diversity, promoting work-life balance, ensuring fair compensations and benefits, protecting the privacy of employees and participating in corporate social responsibility practices.
These ethical practices ensure employees’ experiences in hiring, promotions, and compensation. Likewise, the company ensures its communication concerning job expectations and performance evaluation is truthful and not misleading or false. Employees will be respected and valued within the organizations through ethical practices. Training and development opportunities help employee to feel appreciated and their potential is enhanced (Collings, Mellahi and Cascio, 2018). Ethical practices also help create a positive work environment that accommodates every individual regardless of their ethnic profiling or cultural differences. Ethics foster respect and appreciation of the unique abilities of employees and their contribution to the growth and welfare of others in the company. Likewise, ethical practices ensure that talent management practices align with the CSR of the company, where the workforce is able to engage in socially responsible activities. All these practices are part of resourcing activities that ensure employee retention and development for optimal performance of the company.
Use of technology in talent management practices for Tesco PLC
Technology is one of the fundamental tools Tesco PLC uses in managing talents. The use of technology is a demonstration of the commitment of the company towards attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse and skilled workforce as the company adapts to the changing market dynamics (Collings, Mellahi, and Cascio, 2018). Some of the areas in which technology is applied to manage talent are in conducting online survey to collect employee feedback on the [performance of the company and their general satisfaction (Alam and Raut-Roy, 2019). The company makes use of digital tools and platforms to gather insights from the sentiments of the employees, which allows the company to adjust where possible and make informed decision to boost employee satisfaction and enhance their loyalty and retention.
Technology is further applied in structuring and facilitating learning and development programs of the employees. Online training platforms and learning management systems (LMS) form part of technology based training forums where the company offers training courses and modules towards improving the skills of its employees (Salau et al., 2018). Furthermore, Tesco PLC employees the use of data analytics and related AI algorithms during hiring process to assess the skills and qualifications of candidates through set standard tests (Salau et al., 2018). This process enables the company to identify candidates who best fit the available gap in the organization and as a way of streamlining the recruitment and selection processes.
Several other areas in which technology is used in talent management include performance management systems that are used in tracking employee performance and continually providing feedbacks for continuous improvement. In communication, sharing of information and collaboration with other employees in different locations. In coordinating remote working systems and provision of flexible working conditions and, finally, in ensuring there are no biasness in the recruitment process through advocating for diversity and inclusion. These are some of the areas where use of technology plays a vital role in an ethical and effective talent management practices.
Ethical practices and use of technology are valuable aspects in the practice of talent management. Technology play an important role in enhancing employee satisfaction and motivation as well as increasing efficiency of the company’s practices. Ethical use of technology adds value to the company in that the company uses technology to facilitate efficiency in its operations, such as improving its employees, improving efficiency in the workplace through training and development of employees, and through performance tracking practices to understand areas that need improvement. Employees are motivated through flexible working conditions, such as remote working, that are aided by the use of technology. As a resourcing practice, technology in talent management plays a crucial role in retention of employees, attracting top talents through effective sourcing and recruitment process free of bias and discrimination.
Resourcing Practice III: Ethics and Natural Justice
This resourcing practice lies under organizational administration, which constitutes one of the objectives of human resource management. Tesco Plc believes that its practice is a force for good. It thrives in creating job opportunities for the community and people across the region. The company states that its dedication is to create and support good jobs (Tesco, 2022). Therefore, the company upholds working standards on issues such as health and safety working environment, reasonable working hours, freedom of association and elimination of discriminating activities, and ensuring there are no cases of forced labor (Tesco, 2022). Tesco Company believes in its responsibility of respecting human rights, and in opportunities of making a difference to its employees, clients and community in which they operate and in its supply chain as a way of ensuring it upholds ethics and social justice to all.
The human resource management in Tesco extends this practice to the resourcing practices within the company. The administration of the company recognizes that violation of labor rights in the global supply chain is systemic (Newman et al., 2017). Therefore, it is its responsibility to address this challenge through the understanding of the root causes and collaborating with other partners such as governments, trade unions, suppliers and other experts within the field (Newman et al., 2017). Ethical practices and social justice ensures human rights are protected. For instance, this practice helps the company not to engage in activities related to child abuse and forced labor, restraining from unfair competition and malicious practices that may taint the image of the company.
Insisting on work partnership between organizations and government can help to source solutions to systemic challenges that might exist within the supply chain. Ethics and social justice promotes legal compliance of organization and engagement in activities such as charitable programs through Corporate Social Responsibility (Johns, 2018). Besides the promotion of legal compliance, the practice of ethics and social justice ensures no discrimination on the basis of race, age, color, and gender of employees against the provisions of the law. Upholding ethics and social justice provides employees with safe workplace environment where they feel protected, promotes service to the society through CSR activities that help in building positive image and reputation of the company (Newman et al., 2017). As a resourcing practice, ethics and social justice play a profound role in employee retention and minimizes turnover rates, the practices acts as a way of attracting new employees and motivating the existing ones towards achieving the set goals (Johns, 2018).
Challenges of ethics and natural justice practices a resourcing activity
Ethics and social justice is an important aspect in running the company and ensuring all stakeholders engage fruitfully in meeting organizational goals. Ethics ensures employees are treated well and their wellbeing is the priority in the workplace, secondly, ethics ensures that the company engages in practices and business that are legal and socially acceptable (O’Connor and Crowley-Henry, 2019). Overall, ethics and social justice are essential for any viable business, and every company needs to uphold the required standards of ethical practices. Despite ethics and social justice being on of the pillars and guiding principle on the operations of the organization such as Tesco PLC, several challenges still affects this practice. According to O’Connor and Crowley-Henry (2019), some of these challenges include balancing social responsibility and profitability, cybersecurity and data privacy concerns, consumer trust, ethical marketing, legal compliance, regulatory changes and political wind, environmental sustainability and issues related to public trend and opinions.
Addressing these issues appropriately is what gives the company a better social reputation, leading to higher client loyalty, higher employee retention, and an ideal workplace environment that everyone wants to be associated with. The management of Tesco needs concerted efforts to address such kind of issues through setting of clear ethical guidelines, participating in transparent activities, ensuring there is stakeholders’ engagements, conducting regular assessments of its practices, and continuously improving its corporate social responsibility practices. Despite these challenges, the HR management of Tesco PLC is one of the very few that has demonstrated capability of addressing some of these issues and what makes the company an ideal workplace for many.
Ethical implications of ethics and natural justice practices in the company
Upholding and engaging in ethical and social justice practices has several ethical implications about a given organization. The consequences connected to these practices of ethics and social justice relates to fair promotions and equity of all employees in the workplace (O’Connor and Crowley-Henry, 2019). Organizations that engage in equality, fairness, and inclusive practices experience a lot of benefits in terms of employee satisfaction and performance in the workplace (Johns, 2018). Moreover, ethical and social justice practices enhance public image and reputation of the company. As a result, customers and other stakeholders are ready to support the business, appreciate its efforts, and help it prioritize values that have a potential impact on loyalty and brand perception (O’Connor and Crowley-Henry, 2019). The practice of ethics improves engagement and employee morale. These practices foster a sense of purpose and belongingness in the company, which are accompanied with better performance and job satisfaction. Participation in ethical practices makes the company to be socially responsible in its conduct (Johns, 2018). Therefore, some of the ways of attracting positive outcomes is to conduct activities that have minimal impact on the natural environment, supporting the needs of the society through CSR activities and ensuring advocating for fair labor practices.
Technology use and its value to the ethical and social justice practices
Utilizing technology in ethical practices can contribute to both promoting and undermining social justice, inclusion, and equality aspects in the organization. This, however, depends on how this technology is developed, deployed, and regulated. Technology such as social media tools can be used to empower people to communicate, share ideas and air out their grievances social about injustices and unethical practices happening in the organization for the authorities to investigate and act (Wiedner, Barrett and Oborn, 2017). The value of technology is that it can be used in communication and tracking unethical practices in the organizations. It can also be used in communicating policies, guiding principles of the organizations to ensure everyone is on board, and there are not gaps in carrying out individual responsibilities.
On the contrary, technology use can also perpetuate social injustices and unethical practices, such as the creation of new discriminatory and exclusion tools that contribute to qualities, unfairness, and racial injustices within the organization. For instance, the application of facial recognition in many organizations has, over the past years, faced criticism of potentially reinforcing racial biases, which contributes to unfair and unethical practices. This technology has a higher error rate of people with dark skin than those with white skin perpetuating discriminating elements (Johns, 2018). Similarly, the use of technology in recruitment website has been found to discriminate applicants on the basis of gender and race. Technology can also be a distinguishing factor between those who can access its use and those who cannot. Some applications require that people use specific technology, especially in conducting interviews or doing assessment tests (Johns, 2018). The inability to access this kind of technology hamper most individuals from accessing equal opportunities with others.
Costed Recommendation
It is important that the company conduct regular training and development of its employees as one way of managing talents and as one of the resourcing practices. In training programs, cost should be taken into consideration to ensure it falls within the budget of the company and it generates the required benefits in the long run (Johns, 2018). In structuring an efficient training program, several factors come into play. Some of these factors include the training duration, the nature of training and content to be covered, the delivery method to be used, the needed level of training, whether it is basic training or advanced training, and lastly, support resources and customization strategies.
Since Tesco PLC has several stores that are in different location across the UK. Online training can be an efficient way of training its employees. For instance, to introduce online training for its employees in a single store, the cost will include the development of a training program where at least 3-hour session per week is needed, paying the trainer at an hourly rate as per the agreement, and other cost-related logistics.
Reflection
The knowledge about ethical resourcing practices has been crucial in understanding the role of ethics in business operations and the impact of unethical behaviors and practices on individual, organizational, and societal performance. The efficiency and optimal performance of any organization are hugely inclined to the ethical practices an organization engages in, especially in resourcing practice. Moreover, understanding the role of human resource management in regulating ethical practices in the organization is vital for individuals aspiring to lead successful business operations. Ethical practices encompasses all activities associated with employee wellbeing such as ensuring equality and inclusion, acknowledging diversity, provision of training and development opportunities, compliance to the legal provisions and societal norms, putting employees safety and health first among other practices that ensures employees are satisfied and motivated towards their work.
This is a crucial knowledge required in completion of this assignment. All resourcing practices discussed in this paper have ethical implications that affect the performance of businesses. This is evident in the case of Tesco PLC practices, whose success is greatly attached to ethical practices of managing its human resources to meet specific objectives. This knowledge is applicable in future practices as one aspires leadership position where the core responsibility is managing human resource through practices such as ethical resourcing. Understanding the concept of resourcing practices and the technological and ethical implications of these practices is essential in doing things uniquely for the benefit of all stakeholders and the whole organization at large.
Conclusion
Resourcing practices are essential for every organization in attracting, recruiting, developing and retaining an efficient workforce at the right time and in a cost effective manner. From the analysis of this paper, organizations that invest in ethical and effective resourcing practices gain a competitive edge in the market. People want to be associated with companied that have a positive social reputation, the company that upholds standards of inclusivity, diversity, fairness and that, which prioritized its human resource (Taylor, 2020). These practices contribute to the ease of recruiting top talents and qualified expertise to fill in existing gaps. Furthermore, prioritizing the wellbeing of human resources means keeping the interests of employees ahead by providing them equal opportunities for growth and development through the practice of promotions and training (Johns, 2018). Providing a friendly workplace environment where there is respect and dignity to one another, transparency and honesty, fair compensation, and benefit, among several other benefits ,contributes to improved motivation and performance. Tesco PLC, as one of the mega online grocery retailers in the UK, participates in resourcing practices that ensure ethics and social justice is key to all its stakeholders. The company engages in open and fair recruitment and selection process when sourcing the right candidates and offers training and development opportunities to its employees as a form of talent management within the organization. The recommendation that I believe should be given priority is ensuring that all organizational resourcing strategies adhere to the ethical standards at all costs for improved performance.
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