Comprehensive Plan to Improve Human Resources Essay

Whole Foods Market’s first retail location was in Austin, Texas. Today there are 342 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The growth of this health conscious conglomerate happened over the years by strategic acquisitions of profitable independent stores throughout United States. Mackey’s idealism and respect is exhibited in his openness about the contributions of these retailers to the success of WFM, as the website provides an in depth summary of each acquisition and its contribution to promoting healthier food choices (Whole Foods Market History, 2014). After four years in Austin, Texas WFM branched out into the city of Houston when it purchased the Whole Foods Company, and shortly after, on the west coast, a new store was built in Palo Alto, California. Subsequently WFM began aggressive acquisitions over the next few years, which help to accelerate the growth rate of WFM in other geographical locations. In 2002 WFM opened in Canada and in 2004 through the acquisition of United Kingdom’s grocery chain Fresh & Wild, it opened seven stores. Holistic eating is a worldwide affair that WFM is taking advantage

1. Define and explain the significance of the term ‘derived demand’ as it applies to Strategic Human Resources Planning. (5 marks)

1. Ch 1, page 60-61, question 4: What is “evidence based HR”? Why might an HR department resist becoming evidenced based?

2. Give some examples of ethical issues that you have experienced in jobs, and explain how HR did or did not help resolve them.

In this case, an analysis of the outputs for Whole Foods Market was performed. As with the previous case in regards to inputs, the purpose of this analysis is to determine the company’s outputs, how they interact, and how they help Whole Foods achieve their company goals. As such, determining the outputs, understanding how they are measured, and analyzing the congruency between the functions are imperative to determining how they fit into the organization.

Consumers view Whole Foods Markets as being very expensive and have given the retailer the nickname “Whole Paycheck”. Whole Foods carries a wider variety of organic foods and healthier brands besides their private brands. Whole Foods is experiencing a decline in sales due to other stores; like Wal-Mart, who are stocking organic foods at much lower prices; which has decreased differentiation (Lutz, 2014). Its decentralized business model decreases efficiency in procurement, distribution, and marketing efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a preliminary internal look at Whole Foods Market, which was ranked 44th last year as Fortune’s Top 100 Companies to Work For. And even though the company is ranked 44th on Fortune’s top 100 and 218th on Fortune’s 500 top companies, they have remained in Fortune’s rankings consecutively for the past 18 years. This paper will offer a look at the organization’s vision, mission, and core values, as well as its’ major strategic objectives. I will also determine how and in what ways the theory of Full Range Leadership Development can support the core principles of Whole Foods Market’s strategy.

One of Whole Foods main strategic issues is how it should sustain positive growth in sales. Sales growth in 2008 was 0.8%, compared to sales growth increase of 8.2% in 2007. However, much of these low sales growth figures were at the former Wild Oats stores rather than the stores that Whole Foods Opened. This is definitely a strategic issue because Whole Foods’ current strategic model is not showing positive sales growth. From $203 million in 2006, it fell to

People are biggest asset for every organization and, therefore, to draw, motivate, and preserve the most skilled employees and assign them to jobs for which they are exceptionally well suited is a responsible job for human resource. Therefore, human resources management is done in all type of organizations. Profound management of people is equally indispensable in success of organizations as the sound management of production, finance, and other operations. The human resource management field postulates the infinite diversity of people and their dynamics (McKenzie & Traynor, 2002). To get into this career field, one must have the required education degree by completing many different courses, and have the experience along with skills and

The director of human resources job is really important. The director of human resources promotes and implements human resource values by planning and managing human resources programs and directing staff.

Marketed as ‘America’s healthiest grocery store’ the company has successfully grown to 408 stores across the world with sales of $14 billion in 2014 (Whole Foods Market, 2015). The firm is positioned as an upmarket grocery due to the emphasis on natural, organic origins, and as a result are able to charge a premium for their products. Through efficiently running its operations and stores, Whole Foods are able to maintain healthy 4.02% profit margins (Financial Times, 2015) and operating margins well above the American grocery store industry average at 6.58% (Bloomberg, 2015). Looking at 2015’s quarter 1 figures it is clear to see that Whole Foods have had a hugely successful year with sales of $4.7 billion, up 10% from the same period last year. Furthermore, they opened 9 new stores and have signed a further 11 new leases.

The role of the human resources (HR) department can play a significant role in the success and achievements of an organization. The department, which has evolved from the

Whole Foods Market has expanded by a mixture of opening its own new stores and acquiring already existing stores. Today WFM does not follow this strategy, instead their motivation is to open its own large stores. This is due to noticeable sales differences in larger stores as opposed to smaller stores. WFM locates these newer stores in upscale areas of urban metropolitan centers and high-traffic shopping locations. Not all WFMs are isolated structures; some are located in strip malls. WFM offers a larger selection of natural and organic foods than any other grocery store. WFMs marketing expenditure is extremely small. They spend a measly 0.5% of their revenues on advertising. Their chief marketing strategy relies on word-of-mouth. WFM strives to meet or exceed customer expectations. This is so customers receive competent, knowledgeable, and friendly service and become advocates of WFM. The employees here have a decentralized team approach for store operations. This is so some personnel, merchandising, and operating

Whole Foods Market began in 1970 as a local supermarket. Over the past 31 years, Whole Foods Market has grown from a single store in Austin, Texas, to becoming one of the worldwide leaders in providing consumers with natural and organic foods. They have grown to over 300 stores in both North America and the United Kingdom. (Whole Foods Market, Inc., 2011) This report examines the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market has put into place. Also, it uses past financial data to provide an assessment of the condition of the company going forward. Those assessments include recommendations of future actions, along with concerns I have about the way the company is currently operating and some difficulties that may be on the way.

Human Resource Management involves a wide array of functions that encompasses the time from when an employee enters an organization to the time the employee leaves the organization. The specific activities that are involved in HRM include job design and analysis, recruitment, orientation and placement, development and training of the personnel, employee remuneration, and performance appraisal (Aswathappa, 2007: 5). This paper shall focus on three main activities which are recruitment, training, and personnel development. When it comes to recruitment, it is incumbent upon the Human Resource Manager to bring into the workforce, employees that are both wiling and competent to accomplish specific tasks. The work of recruitment goes hand in