BOOTS
HRM Case Study
This is a case study on Boots, from a Strategic Human Resource
Management perspective, based on publicly available details of the
company, which has been analyzed and presented within the context
of the perspective.
Contents:
INTRODUCTION & COMPANY STRATEGY:
HUMAN RESOURCE
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
THE ANALYSIS, HRMS ROLE IN THE BUSINESS
SUCCESS OF BOOTS
Linking People with strategic business needs
Rewards Management
Performance Management
Managing Diversity in teams and groups
Planning, Recruitment and Selection
Organizational Behavior
Human Resource Development
International HRM
INTRODUCTION & COMPANY STRATEGY:
Boots UK Limited formerly Boots the Chemists Limited), trading as Boots, is
a pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with outlets in most high
streets, shopping centers and airport terminals.
It sells many health and beauty products, and also provides optician and hearing
care services within stores and as standalone practices.
BOOTSs strategy is to offer beauty and health care products and
quality at the best price. BOOTSs annual report emphasizes that
quality relates to both; the companys products exceeding customer
expectations, and also customers being satisfied with the company
itself. The report states Taking responsibility for how our operations
affect people and the environment is also an essential prerequisite for
the companys continued profitability and growth.
BOOTS is driven by strong values such as commercial mindset,
simplicity, constant improvement, cost consciousness and
entrepreneurship.Long-term strategic goals of In the Annual Report,
BOOTS, CEO Simon Roberts states that the long term goal is to
Make quality products available to everyone, give the customer a
fashion experience that strengthens the brand. They also state the
goal of a 10-15% increase in the number of stores every year, which
would be funded internally. The aim to increase sales in existing
stores, while focusing on quality and continued profitability.
How does BOOTS want to get there?To execute its strategy, the
company focuses on 3 main aspects of its business concept:
Price, which is controlled by: limiting the number of middlemen,
buying in large volumes, relying on its in-depth, extensive expertise
within the design, fashion, and textile industries, buying the right
merchandise from the right production markets, being cost-conscious
at all levels and maintaining effective distribution procedures (Job
advertisement for Buyer on the careers site at).
Design: Products are designed in-house and production is
completely outsourced.
Quality: Central emphasis on quality with extensive testing and
ensuring least environment damage.
Merger and Acquisitions: Acquisitions (like FaBric Scandinavian,
the Swedish design company), and Design Collaborations ( like the
collaboration with Mathew Williamson) are adopted (BOOTS press at
).In 2009, BOOTS plans to open 225 new stores and recruit 6,000 to
7,000 employees.
HUMAN RESOURCE:
BOOTSs corporate strategy is to expand on a continuing basis, and
as a consequence, employee strength also increases continuously. For
2009, BOOTSs Annual report, forecasts the addition of 6000 to 7000
new jobs. Their staff is spread across approximately 33 countries and
come from different cultural backgrounds. Their strategy is to recruit
locally whenever a new store opens.
The main area for which BOOTS may have clearly articulated
policies are listed below. The policy areas are based on the
categorization by Armstrong:
Overall Policy and Values: BOOTSs website indicates that their
objective is to be a good employer, including in those countries whose
laws and regulations fall short of their own requirements. To quote the
Head of HR In order to meet peoples expectations of BOOTS as an
attractive employer, the company develops global guide lines on
diversity, equal rights and against discrimination. At BOOTS, HR
activities are guided by a fundamental respect for the individual. This
applies to every aspect from fair wages, working hours and freedom
of association to the opportunity for growth and development within
the company. This also indicates that the company has specific
policies for areas such as Equal opportunity, Managing diversity,
Employee development, Health and Safety, among others.
Employee Relations and Voice: BOOTS has an open door policy
granting all employees the right and the opportunity to discuss any
work-related issue directly with management. They also support their
employees right and ability to organize and to decide who should
represent them in the workplace. BOOTS has positive experience of
open and constructive dialogue with the trade unions and they
welcome such relations wherever they operate. They consider such
cooperation to be essential if they are to become even better.
Examples of collaboration on staffing issues include their agreement
with UNI (Union Network International) and the work they do with
the EWC (European Works Council).
Promotion: To quote Mr. Stephan Lehane, Head of HR at
BOOTS. Internal recruitment and job rotation enable the company to
grow quickly. This statement indicates that BOOTS has policies
related to promotion.
Employee Development: To quote Mr. Stephan Lehane, Head of
HR at BOOTS. I tell employees, if you do not grow neither will
BOOTS. This indicates that policies exist for this area.
Rewards: BOOTS focuses on rewarding people by providing more
opportunities and responsibilities, and not through a promotions and
job titles. This indicates that BOOTS has policies for this area.
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR:
BOOTS operates in 33 countries and has a work force belonging to
these 33 countries because they recruit locally. BOOTS espoused
values are stated to be the foundation for a multinational company in
a multi cultural market where great respect is paid to the individual.
Interviews with the CEO and Head of HR in the annual report
indicate a participative culture where everyone is made to feel like a
part of the companys success. To quote Stephan Lehane, (Head of
HR) The key words for continual growth are responsibility and
commitment. We have committed employees and we are prepared
to delegate responsibility at every level. The company encourages
what it calls the The BOOTS spirit; employees committed to their
work and prepared to take on new challenges, common sense, hard
work and team spirit are encouraged. All their operations are typified
by an essential respect for the individual; including reasonable wages,
reasonable hours, and opportunity to grow, and develop within the
company. Quotes from employees about the organizational climate
indicate that the values above are values in use. These quotes can be
found on the Careers site at.Based on this information, the prevalent
culture appears to be primarily task oriented. Such a culture can
support BOOTSs HR related strategies and policies (like Open door,
job rotation, freedom of association etc.). They also have a significant
impact on HR aspects; Recruitment needs to focus on finding
candidates with the right fit to the organizational culture
irrespective of local culture, facilitating expatriation of experienced
staff when new stores are opened, facilitating rewards schemes
aligned with organizational culture, enabling HRD that can empower
employees to take on new challenges and work in new teams.
Motivational issues at BOOTS:
BOOTS is a flat organization, which might give the impression that
its hard to move up within BOOTS, but actually, the opposite is
stated to be true on the careers site. Boots as an organization is
constantly evolving and is growing fast, thus providing more
opportunities to its employees. Employees are motivated by providing
new challenges; in another department, another role or, another
country.
BOOTS encourages employees to try many different roles within their
organization.BOOTS recruitment advertisements indicate possibilities
like: working abroad, furthering education and learning new things.
Their websites promote that many in management today, actually
started on the shop floor. BOOTS also provides a comprehensive
benefits package. The company fulfills employee aspirations by
providing opportunities to take more responsibilities.To quote the
Head of HRM at BOOTS, By the same token, if titles and pay
structures are what motivates the employee, then were most
definitely not the ideal company for you. As we said at the beginning:
a perfect relationship is all about balance and mutual understanding.
The information above, together with information about BOOTSs
HR strategies and policies, resonates with Herzbergs 2 factor model
of motivation. Advancement, responsibility and satisfaction
gained from the work itself are main motivators, while benefits, fair
treatment etc. prevent dissatisfaction (Herzberg and Snyderman,
(1957)).
The main motivational issue and challenge at BOOTS could be:
nurturing and maintaining a balanced relationship with employees.
Line managers may need good awareness of their reportees
aspirations, to enable motivation by providing responsibilities and
opportunities aligned to the employees perception of growth. The
strategy to motivate using job-rotation (across sites, roles, functions)
and promoting learning could be an HRD challenge, especially
considering the pace of growth. A potential issue could arise during
periods of slow growth, since employees might be frustrated by the
lack of opportunities. This could manifest locally too, since travelling
abroad might not be feasible for many employees.
Individual Development versus Organizational
Development:
BOOTSs annual report and website, emphasize that working at
BOOTS is about commitment, both from the individual and the
organization. BOOTSs Head of HR emphasizes that organization can
grow only if the individuals grow. BOOTS wont make a career plans
for its employees, but will provide them with tools to go as far as
they possibly can on their own.
This indicates that at BOOTS, individuals are expected to drive their
own development, within the framework that the organization
provides. The organization appears to facilitate and promote cross-
functional and cross-boundary development opportunities for
individuals, which is aligned with its own development and growth
strategies.
To quote Mr. Stephan Lehane (Head of HR), We have committed
employees and we are prepared to delegate responsibility at every
level. I tell employees, if you do not grow neither will BOOTS. This
indicates that BOOTS treats individual development and
organizational development as tightly linked areas.
SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT:
BOOTS values personal qualities much more than formal
qualifications. Mr. Stephan Lehane, Head of HR states that at
BOOTS, great grades and all the university credits in the world are no
guarantee of a job or a fast-track career. They look for, more than
anything, people with the right personality. BOOTSs belief is that
people can gather skills as they go along, but personality and attitude
cant be taught. Since BOOTS is a fast company and the tempo is
always high, they need employees who are self-driven and capable of
direct communication well. Hence BOOTS recruits people who like
responsibility and decision-making. Information from the careers site
and from interviewed candidates indicates that a love of fashion
combined with a focus on sales is perceived as an advantage. These
appear to form the basis for BOOTSs recruitment requirements (and
person specifications), programmes and drive its selection processes.
Feedback from candidates indicates that the selection interview
approach is usually face to face and mostly structured situational
based, covering customer service and fashion trends. This is
followed by panel interviews and aptitude/work sample tests (as
defined by Armstrong (2006). It appears that candidates are filtered at
each stage of the process.
Sources of candidates:Internal Recruitment: This is their first choice
for a new job opening. External recruitment is considered only if no
internal options are available.External recruitment: Potential recruits
(minimum age is 16 years) are encouraged to apply directly to the
local store, from the careers website. BOOTS does not offer summer
jobs or work experience placements. Buying is centralized in
Stockholm, and so is the recruitment for the same.BOOTS recruits
locally to its new stores.
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT:
Organizational learning and management development issues at
BOOTS.The average numbers of training days per employee in 2015
are, 10 for new sales staff, 1 for existing sales staff and 5 for existing
management positions. BOOTS usually conducts all training in-
house (classroom, stores and one to one), written and produced by
BOOTS staff. External training has been considered for some areas
like buying. E-learning has also been initiated for a few subjects.
However, indications are that BOOTS today focuses more on on-the-
job, just- in time, hands on learning. For example, when they
opened their first BOOTS store in Japan, locally recruited employees
were sent to Norway and Germany for gaining experience in existing
operations. Also, during the sales intensive opening phase of a new
store, colleagues from other countries are brought in temporarily. To
quote the head of HR at BOOTS, As an employee of BOOTS, you
can be an entrepreneur and you will be given responsibility early on.
BOOTS claims to provide structured opportunities for on-the-job,
hands on and work place based training.
To summarize, it appears that BOOTS focuses on experiential Self-
directed learning today, however, they are moving towards
incorporating a blended approach with simulation and e-learning.
Rewards Management:
BOOTS has implemented the concept of Total Reward Management
very successfully. Apart from the financial compensation, job
satisfaction as a reward has motivated the employees to perform and
contribute their maximum to ensure customer satisfaction and
business success through increased sales. This is evident in the
statements by the employees from various levels on the Careers site
at. As a stated policy, there is more emphasis on personality
development through delegated authority in the decision making
process and greater autonomy to local elements of the organizational
structure. Being a multinational company with employees of different
cultures, this decentralized decision making process and
empowerment of employees have proven direct impact on the success
of the company. Various techniques associated with Intrinsic
Motivation have been given more importance and priority than the
extrinsic aspects. Work environment related parameters like
leadership, employee voice, recognition, achievement etc. have been
built in to the HR policy and practiced to leverage the critical business
goals of continuing growth and increased profitability.
Human Resource Development:
Ensuring Learning and Development opportunities for its employees
is an integral part of the HR strategy at BOOTS, and these essential
ingredients contribute significantly to the success of the organization.
Human Resource Development is a continuing process at BOOTS; the
new recruits being sent to already existing shops for gaining valuable
experience, experienced employees being brought to new shops to
support the new local recruits during the intensive opening period
activity etc. This is critical to the process of organizational learning
and helps them climb the learning curve faster. Keeping employees
highly motivated is essential to the success of BOOTS, due to the
nature of its business of dealing in high fashion consumer goods. The
various concepts that can be adopted to increase performance (like job
satisfaction as a reward management tool) are very effectively
employed and as the employees themselves state, Im happy to be
here and every day is a challenge. Expectancy Theory, which states
that if individuals feel that the outcome of learning is likely to
benefit them, they will be more inclined to prove it has been proven
on the shop floors of the company.
The HR practice of giving responsibility to the employees early on in
their career, treating them as entrepreneurs rather than just employees,
is a definite and positive step towards their development. Considering
the employees as capable of shaping its results and improving it in big
and small ways, is key to companys approach to learning and
development.
Conclusion:
To conclude, BOOTS has balanced the needs of coordination, control
and autonomy and maintained the appropriate balance between them.
These are critical to the success of any multinational.
