Running head: STRATEGIC HRM PLAN

Strategic HRM Plan

LearningTeamB
Claire Speck, Jesse Lewis, Abby Sublet, Patricia Bradley
HRM/498
February 27, 2014
Instructor, Donald Duvall

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Management and Emerging Issues

Cultural HR Issues
In the transition of emerging into the Canadian retail market, Target will face several issues
from a cultural HR perspective that must be taken into consideration. These issues include
variances in business practices, employment laws, and employment benefits. One of the most
prominent factors in business practice that varies from the United States (U.S.) is the working
hours of retail stores. In Canada, it is typical for retail hours to be from 10:00 or 11:00 am to 6:00
or 7:00 pm, which is dramatically different from the normal 8:00 am to 10:00 pm in the United
States. This shift in hours requires HR to determine whether it is in the best interest of the
organization to hire mainly full-time employees that can cover open to close, or if the store hours
should be divided into two part-time shifts (with the exception of stock workers, who would
work outside of normal business hours.
Employment laws in Canada that are important for Target to address include Lords Day
and maternity/parental leave. According to "Globesmart Canada" (n.d.), Canada is still in dispute
about its Lord's Day Act, which traditionally made it unlawful for any person to engage in
commercial dealings or paid employment on Sunday. Now, there are provincial laws governing
Sunday closings, and these should be investigated when establishing business operations in
Canada (2). Maternity/parental leave in Canada is extremely generous in comparison to what
new parents in the U.S. receive, although it is similar to the U.S. in that employees are required to
have been employed for a certain amount of time (6 months). Maternity leave is 17 weeks, and
parental leave is 37 weeks for mothers, fathers, and adoptive parents. For mothers, they are able
to combine both allowances, but only to a maximum of 52 weeks ("Globesmart Canada", n.d.).

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Canadian company-sponsored benefits HR at Target must take into consideration include

monetary incentives and supplemental perks, such as company cars, stock, club or professional
membership subscriptions, and events for employees multiple times a year. Such events can range
from barbecues or picnics or internal networking events. In addition, Canadian workers, when on
vacation, are generally not reachable. Canadian workers tend to exhaust all available leave and do
not take lunch at the worksite, but leave to refresh their minds to come back and work with a high
level of productivity.
Business practices, employment law, and employment benefits are important
considerations for HR at Target to focus on when transitioning into the Canadian retail market.
Such considerations will be very important not only from a legal perspective, but to ensure that
the Canadian culture is adopted into the business model.
Emerging Issues
Target will be changing demographics and will have to deal with understanding and
maintaining cultural diversity with multiple generations in the current workforce. One emerging
issue will be the recruiting new employees. As Target launches stores in Canada, the human
resource team needs to familiarize themselves with Canadian employment laws, regulation, and
cultural backgrounds. This in turn means adapting work and communication styles to different
social practices. Although Target has successfully managed the United States federal and state
employment laws for years, Canadian employment regulations are different. Human resources
will want to attract and retain staff with the greatest skills set, and to achieve this Target will have
to offer nontraditional options to remain competitive. These options include but are not limited to
tuition reimbursement, telecommuting, benefits, compensation, flexible schedules, and keeping
employees engaged in the company. The human resource team will help attain Targets goals of

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becoming a global organization by finding the appropriate staff members while adhering to their
mission, valves, and attaining their economic goals.
A second emerging issue in human resources is training and development. Personnel
development typically includes webinars, seminars, continuing education, additional schooling,
conferences, mentoring, and conventions. These development programs will give employees
training, job knowledge, and are important as employees advance in the company becoming
supervisors and managers. According to "VC Administration and Finance Berkeley HR" (n.d.),
one very important responsibility of a supervisor or manager is to help your staff with their
professional and career development. You can do this by providing opportunities for them to
develop the knowledge, skills, abilities, tools, resources, and opportunities to be successful in
their job and career. As Target becomes a global company professional development will help
employees to hone their leadership and managerial skills in the global international marketing.
While Target employees develop their careers, benefits and compensation comes into play.
Paternity leave, higher salaries, on-site day care, bonuses, extended holidays, vacation, and PTO is
all part of human resources strategy.
A third emerging issue in human resources is terrorism and risk management. In todays
global market protecting customers information is critical to the success of an organization.
Customers have become accustomed to shopping with credit and debit cards, and expect his/her
information to be safe with the organization they are shopping with. Target has recently fallen
victim to hackers infiltrating their network, and gaining access to customer debit cards, credit
cards, names, mailing addresses, and phone numbers. According to "Star Tribune" (2014), The
cyber thieves who hit Target Corporation took advantage of a widespread and often overlooked
weakness in corporate information security: third-party computer connections that can create a

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virtual back door to customer information. Hackers gained access to Targets computer systems
through the stolen credentials of a heating and refrigeration contractor. Once inside, the thieves
were able to move around and ultimately stole payment card data card or personal information of
up to 110 million Target customers. The best path for Target to remain a fortune 1000 company
and continue to bring in billions of dollars a year; is to upgrade their information security systems.
These new systems need to be top of the line with tight encryptions and also need to be updated
monthly.

Recommended Action
Training

Terrorism and Risk

Management

Justification

Possible Limitations

Target Corporations
department store divisions
core competencies and vision
are to meet competitive
challenges and HRs role is to
help fulfill the ambitious goals
of the organization, which
includes human capital
investment. An environmental
analysis identifies the need for
a training program focused on
employee development and
education. Satisfied
employees can also help to
reduce turnover costs and can
help improve customer service
and customer retention.

Limitations include:

To prepare for a future disaster

or emergency, cyber threats
and crisis. Targets customers
depend on updated technology
that works efficiently and aids
in their way of life. Targets
customers expect on-line
security; furthermore, Target
does have an ethical
responsibility to customers.
Target must keep their

Proper planning and

management dedication
combined with a lack of full
understanding of what a
contingency plan is and what
purpose it can serve are
examples of possible
organizational limitations.

Financial resources
Educated labor pool
Management
dedication
Time constraints
Proper prioritization

These recommended actions

could reach beyond the

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6
customers safe from on-line
technological breeches and
must ensure their physical
safety as well. Target also has
an ethical responsibility to
employee and shareholders to
protect the organization from
financial loss.

Recommended Action

Recruiting and Staffing

Justification

The significant growth

opportunity in Canada could
accelerate earnings. Of course
Target Corporations full
service department store
division is dedicated to
employee education and
training programs because
these programs help ensure the
division goals and objectives
set by management are met.

divisions capability; therefore,

HR recommends conducting
proper research and an internal
analysis of organizational
resources to help identify if the
company lacks the proper
resources. Outsourcing is
always a possibility.

Possible Limitations

Limitations include:

Employment laws
Labor pool
demographics
Location
Advertising budget
HR resources

Measuring and evaluating

employee satisfaction and
turnover rates over the next
five years could help improve
the profitability of the division.
To benefit from the one billion
dollars invested into
educational charities and to
motivate these employees to
participate in the companys
success.

Conclusion
Conducting business in other countries will involve challenging issues these issues
contribute to the success of any business. Diversity is a positive way to grow your business;

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however, companies must invest in the time to properly train. Countries outside the U.S. have
different laws that have to coincide within the guidelines of employment laws, regulations and
cultural background. This is an opportunity for Target to afford managers to familiarize
themselves with another countys laws and customs. Training will be critical to the development of
management and others in a leadership role to relate to diversity according to the cultural
environment.
Therefore, developing tools are set in place to increase knowledge and skills alone with
the ability to advance with the opportunity to be successful in their job and career. Compensation
will be offered in the same manner in Canada just as it is in the U. S., technology plays a vital role
in keeping Targets employees and shareholders information confidential and secure while
preventing terrorism to be all but a obsolete threat. Updating and maintaining a quality security
system will allow Target to monitor hackers and continue to remain a fortune 1000 company.
Company events will allow employees to gain a rapport with staff and HR in order to keep the
doors of communication open and a continue path to growth.
References
VC Administration and Finance Berkeley HR. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2014 from
http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/toolkits/managers-supervisors/helping-employees-develop
StarTribune. (2014). Retrieved February 23, 2014 from
http://www.startribune.com/business/244819221.html
GlobeSmart Canada. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://countryinfo.shrm.org/web/globesmart/locale/topic.cfm?
topicid=9B4AF18EFFBCB8D724216E72B1560AEF

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