Research Background and Significance

The global business framework has been experiencing considerable dynamics over the decades, much of which can be attributed to the international phenomena like that of Globalization, trade liberalisation, technological and infrastructural innovations as well as industrial expansions. These events, cumulatively, has led to more integration, interconnection and inclusiveness in the global commercial and business scenario, thereby increasing the dynamics in the operational frameworks of the businesses (Aharoni 2014).

The increasing dynamics in business frameworks and also the rise in the number of local and global competitors in almost all kinds of businesses have resulted in increasing competitions for the commercial organizations, both in the domestic as well as in the international framework. This in turn, has made it significantly important for the businesses to consistently improve their operational and productive framework in order to ensure higher profitability, prosperity and long-term sustainability in the increasingly globally competitive framework (Baden-Fuller and Mangematin 2013). One of the primary aspects of the operational framework of the businesses, in this context, with immense implications on the productive and operative efficiencies of the companies, is that of the aspect of presence of the type of human resources present in the companies and how the same are utilised.

The performance of the employees of a company play crucial roles in determining the profitability, prosperity and sustainability of the organizations and thus, it becomes immensely important for the businesses to manage their human resources efficiently and effectively. Keeping the importance of the human resources or the workforces of the business organizations into consideration, the concerned research tries to analyse and evaluate the impacts of the presence of strong human resource management departments on the performance of the businesses in the globally competitive scenario, specifically focussing on the multinational and globally reputed luxury automobile company, Mercedes Benz. The concerned research proposes to study the impact of an efficient human resource management system in the concerned company, especially in their operational framework in London.

As discussed in the above section, Mercedes Benz is one of the most famous global automobile marques and also a significant division of Daimler AG, a German company. Benz has earned the reputation in the industry of luxury cars, coaches, lorries, buses and similar automobiles. With its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, the company was founded in 1928 and has been in the global luxury automobile industry for the past 92 years (Poczter and Jankovic 2014).  

Figure 1: Revenue of Mercedes Benz from global car sales (2011-2017)

(Source: Statista 2018)

The company has both parts of its production operations as well as several selling outlets in London.

However, over the last few years, the company, in spite of being one of the dominating ones in the global market of luxury automobiles, has been facing challenges in several aspects, which if not addressed properly, are expected to have negative implications on the prospects and long-term sustainability of the same. The primary challenges faced by the operational framework of Mercedes Benz are those of increasing global competition from other companies like BMW, Audi, Rolls Royce and other companies, selling similar automobiles as well as that of the instances of dissatisfaction among the employees regarding the current HR operational framework and policies present in this aspect.

Research Objectives

These in turn, makes it immensely important to study the effects which a strong human resource department in the concerned company can bring for the company in general and in the aspects of satisfaction and performance of the employees of the concerned company in particular.

Keeping into consideration the above discussed issues of competition, employee retention and overall performance as well as long-term sustainability of Mercedes Benz, in the contemporary global market and especially in London, the concerned research has the following objectives:

• To analyse the performance of Mercedes Benz in London over the years, in terms of employment creation, employee retention and level of satisfaction of the employees
• To examine the human resource management practices implemented in the concerned organization and the changes in the same over the years
• To analyse the positive as well as negative implications which the human resource department of Mercedes Benz, London, has on the employees, their productivity, motivation, retention and level of satisfaction and also on the overall performance of the company

Considering the objective of the research to study the impacts of the presence of a strong human research department on the operations and performance of Mercedes Benz Company as a whole, the primary research question for the concerned research is as follows:

How does the presence of a strong human resource department affect the performance and operations of Mercedes Benz Company as a whole, in their operational framework in London?

The secondary questions which the concerned research proposes to study are as follows:

1. What are the current human resource management practices in Mercedes Benz, London and how have the practices changed and modified over the years?
2. How have the human resource management practices affected the employee performance, level of satisfaction, motivation, easiness and retention of the employees in the concerned organization?
3. What are the implications of the human resource department on the overall performance of Mercedes Benz, London?

Over the years, with increasing dynamics of the global business scenario and with the level of competition increasing among the businesses under the domain of any kind of industry across the globe, the need for efficient and productive operational framework and proper utilisation of resources (both human and non-human) have been felt by the businesses across the world, which in turn has asserted the significant roles played by the human resource management aspects. There have been a significant amount of research and work on different aspects of human resource management and its need, implications, benefits, problems and prospects.

Keeping this into consideration this section tries to study, discuss and analyse the literary and scholarly evidences which are present in the contemporary global scenario, in the aspects of human resource management in business organizations and the need and implications of the same on the different activities and operational frameworks of the organizations as a whole and their employees in particular.

To understand the notion of human resource management, in the global business and commercial context, it is of immense importance to understand the meaning of the term “Human Resources”, which, with the help of the literary and scholarly evidences present, is discussed as follows.

Human Resources 

The term “Human Resources” has been defined and depicted differently by different scholars across the globe. Bratton and Gold (2017), in their elaborate research paper, defines human resources as the employees or the people who constitute the workforce of any organization, especially in the commercial or business sector. Augmenting this opinion, Armstrong and Taylor (2014) suggest that the human resources present within an organization comprises of the most crucial resources or means of production in the business framework, which contributes to the efficiency of utilization and allocation of other productive resources, in terms of their skills and expertise, thereby helping the organizations to achieve their objectives or targets.

In this context, Buller and McEvoy (2012), uses the term, “Human Capital” synonymously to that of Human Resources by asserting that they help in the efficient allocation of the other resources with the help of their knowledge and skills and this type of resources account generally for nearly 85% of the total productive assets of any typical business organization in the global scenario. This view is however countered by Berman et al. (2012), according to whom, human capital is a narrow sub-component of the notion of human resources, which only depicts the knowledge which an individual possesses and not their other attributes. Human Resources, are nevertheless, highlighted by the authors as the foundation of any business organization across the world.  

Human Resource Management 

Research Questions

From the above discussion, it thus becomes evident that in any business organization, the human resources form a crucial component of the operational and production process and thus monitoring, maintaining and allocating them efficiently is crucial for ensuring productivity, competitiveness, profitability and long-term sustainability of the companies (Joshi 2013). This increasing need has led to the development of the concept of “Human Resource Management” in the global business scenario, over the years, which in turn has been defined by different people from different perspectives.

Budhwar and Debrah (2013), defines the notion of human resource management, as the strategic approach which is taken by the business organizations across the globe, to effectively manage and monitor the workforce present within the organization in such a way that they contribute their maximum efforts to help the concerned organizations to gain competitive advantage, profitability and sustainability in the long-term. In addition to this argument, Brewster, Chung and Sparrow (2016), assert that, the human resource department, present in almost all business organizations globally, is designed with the objectives of maximizing the performance of the employees of the concerned organizations and has the overall purpose of ensuring the success of the organizations and the achievement of the organizational goals, through the people present in the company.

However, apart from the above mentioned purposes of Human Resource Management, of that of maximizing employee performances and ensuring organizational success by means of the same, there are also several other objectives of the human resource department, which are primarily pointed out to be that of ensuring the maximization of the welfare of the employees and their motivation and level of satisfaction in their present work-places, as can be seen to be pointed out in the literary work of Marchington et al. (2016).

Functions of Human Resource Management 

The term “Human Resource Management” being a broad and multidimensional term with diverse implications in the international commercial and business framework, there exist varied opinions and debates regarding the functions which are usually performed by this notion or by the department usually handling and managing these human resources. Based on the different scholarly works present in this aspect, the primary functions and roles played by the human resource management department of the companies, in the general framework, can be discussed as follows:

1. Recruitment and Selection-Jiang et al.(2012) highlights one of the most crucial functions of the human resource department of any business organization to be that of recruitment of relevant and required human resources. The authors define the notion of “recruiting” as the process of attracting, screening and selecting the potential candidates with required skills for different job roles within the company, in such a manner that the skills of the candidates match appropriately with the requirements of the companies (Purce 2014).

According to Aswathappa (2013), this is one of the major roles of human resource management as much of the cost effectiveness as well as profitability and productivity of the companies depend on the nature of the workforce hired and their suitability with the operations and goals of the companies.

1. Orientation of the employees-Only recruiting the suitable employees does not ensure increased productivity for the organizations as the employees hired, needs to adjust themselves with their new jobs, work environment and the needs of the employers. For this, as argued by Pieper (2012), another crucial function of the human resource department is that of orienting the employees in their new workplaces and making them understand the organizational goals and objectives and how they can contribute in achieving the same. It becomes the responsibility of the human resource department to also help the workers to understand the job roles assigned to them, their relationships with the organizations and the expectations which they need to cater.
2. Work environment and safety-Nickson (2013) asserts that the human resource management aspects in an organization also has the responsibility to build up a productive and effective work environment with good working conditions and motivate the employees to give in their best efforts so as to achieve the organizational goals. To motivate the employees, the HR management often designs monetary or non-monetary motivations and benefits so as to increase the employee satisfaction and welfare. Maintaining the securities and safety of the employees in work also falls under the domain of human resource management (Brewster et al.2016).
3. Employee Relations-Employees being the foundation of any business organization, it is of crucial importance for the management of the organizations to maintain proper relationships with them, both at personal and professional level, in order to promote a healthy and contributing employee-employer relation, which is again one of the prime roles of the human resource department of the companies (Daley 2012).
4. Training and Development-As highlighted by Banfield, Kay and Royles (2018), training and skill development of the employees are also indispensable functions of the human resource management to ensure consistent increase in efficiency and productivity of the workers, thereby contributing to the competitiveness and profitability of the organizations.

A strong human resource department is, in general, the one created by dedicated and expert Human Resource professionals who focus solely on the aspects of proper maintenance, management and development of the human resources and capital in an organization. With every passing year, the complexities of regulations and legislations can be seen to be increasing across the globe in the commercial aspects and a strong HR department appears to be the leaders in these aspects, as it handles the tax laws, employments, administration, hiring, training, firing and other employee related aspects in an organization in a considerably efficient manner (Pieper 2012).

Literature Review

From the above discussion, the general impacts of the presence of strong human resource departments in business organizations can be summed up in the aspects like, increased employee performance, presence of qualified and relevant workforce, presence of productive working environment, motivated and satisfied loyal employees, constant development of skills and experiences of the employees and maintenance of effective communication channels between employees and the employers (Bolman and Deal 2017). The presence of strong human resource management can also lead to creation of a work environment in the concerned organizations, characterised by free flow of ideas, welfare maximization of both the employees and the employers, increased productivity of the employees, increased profitability, prosperity, competitiveness and sustainability of the organizations and also achievement of the organizational goals (Bamberger, Meshoulam and Biron 2014).

Although there remains considerable literatures and theoretical assertions in the aspects of human resource management, its meaning, implications, benefits of strong human resource department in companies and others, there remains considerable gap in the practical implications of the strong human resource management on real organizations over periods of time. Although Mercedes Benz is one of the most renowned companies across the globe and much have been studied about the business and the operational frameworks of the company, there still remains considerable gap in the aspects of studying the characteristics of the human resource management of the company, the implications of the same, strengths and weaknesses of the department and the areas of further improvement in the said department of Mercedes Benz, London. Keeping this into consideration, the study proposes to venture in these aspects, so as to fulfil the gaps existing in the contemporary literary scenario.

For the research to be effective and contributing to the purpose robustly, it is of crucial importance to design a proper framework to carry out the research, comprising of relevant methods, tools and techniques of collection, analysis and interpretation of the data and evidences.

For the concerned research, a deductive approach is aimed to be selected, with the analysis of the data collected and post-analysis inference from the findings. This approach helps in facilitating the formation of presumptions or hypotheses prior to data collection and analysis and based on the analysis of the collected data and evidences the pre-formed hypotheses are either accepted or rejected (Neuman 2013). The descriptive research design is also aimed to be followed in order to venture in depth to analyse the ordinal aspects of impacts of strong human resource management on the operations and productivity of Mercedes Benz, London and discuss the findings from the evidences collected from different secondary sources.

Keeping into account the importance of both quantitative and qualitative research methods, the concerned study proposes to use a mixed method analysis, with the quantitative approach helping in studying the cardinal impacts of human resource management in terms of organizational profits and competitiveness and the qualitative approach aiming to capture the ordinal and abstract implications of the same on the operations of the concerned company (Silverman 2016).

Data collected for research purpose are usually of two types quantitative and qualitative. While the quantitative data regarding an issue deals with the cardinal and numerically measurable aspects of the issue taken into consideration, it does not consider the ordinal of numerically non-measurable attributed which may have influences on the factors or issues studied. These aspects are considered by the qualitative data.

Human Resource Management

The research proposes to collect secondary data, both qualitative as well as quantitative, for the purpose of extensive analysis of the different aspects of human resource activities and their implications on the performance of the companies in general and Mercedes Benz, London, in particular. For the purpose of the same, secondary data regarding the linkages between the human resource management practices with the company and the profits, sales, employee satisfaction, employee retention and other aspects of Mercedes Benz are proposed to be collected and analysed for the purpose of the concerned study (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015).

Since the concerned research aims to study the impacts of the presence of the human resource department on the overall performance of a company (Mercedes Benz), the research aims to collect and analyse the data in the concerned aspects, in order to observe the impacts of human resource department on the performance: The data is proposed to be collected under two broad themes, which are as follows:

Theme 1: Performance of employees of the organization

The data proposed to be collected under this theme are as follows:

• Employee performance over time
• Quality of the overall workforce
• Level of motivation among the employees
• Dynamics in the attrition and retention rates

Theme 2: Conditions of employees in the organization

The data proposed to be collected under this theme are as follows:

• Salary structure of employees
• Overall satisfaction of employees
• Review about the work environment

Theme 3: Performance of the company as a whole

The data proposed to be collected under this theme are as follows:

• Increase in revenue generation of the company
• Profitability of the company
• Customer satisfaction of the company

Theme 4: Human resource management of the company

Under this theme the following data are proposed to be collected and analysed:

• Characteristics of human resource management in the organization
• Practices and models of HR management implemented
• Changes in the operational framework of the same over the years
• Positive and negative perceptions of the employees regarding the practices of the HR department of the organization

To collect the relevant data several authentic data sources and reports will be referred, the primary ones being as follows:

• The official website of Mercedes Benz
• The human resource section of the website of the company
• Annual reports of the company
• Journals and articles discussing the aspects of human resource in Mercedes Benz
• Statistical databases showing different relevant components of the company related to human resource management:
• Employee performance
• Number of jobs created
• Employee attrition and retention rates
• Profitability of the company
• Revenue and sales figure over the years
• Desirability of the company as a workplace
• Satisfaction of employees and customers

The links for some of these articles are provided as follows:

https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/mercedes-benz-uk-hrd-and-ceo-on-the-road-to-recovery

https://riuma.uma.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10630/13051/ContemporaryHR.doc.pdf?sequence=1

https://careers.mercedes-benz.co.uk/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/346964/revenue-of-mercedes-benz-cars/

https://www.ft.com/content/0a741c7a-f386-35c7-b7cf-52ea5f9b7087

https://www.daimler.com/documents/investors/reports/annual-report/daimler/daimler-ir-annual-report-2017.pdf

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Mercedes-Benz-International-Reviews-E546577.htm

The statistical software platform MS Excel is proposed to be used for the purpose of analysing and interpreting the quantitative evidences and for comparing the growth of different companies and employees’ turnover of various companies. The statistical software appears to be appropriate for organizing, sorting and comparing different evidences collected from the secondary sources and also for analysing the relations and significance of the same. On the other hand, for analysis of the qualitative data collected, thematic qualitative analysis is proposed to be implemented. The themes are proposed to be conducted on the basis of the indicators (especially the non-numerical and abstract aspects) which are mentioned above, in the data collection section.

The concerned research, by venturing in the aspects of implications of strong human resource department in Mercedes Benz, London, expects to open a broad domain of study regarding the skills which are required for a human resource management framework to be strong in a company as a whole and the impacts of creation of the same on the different domains of business. The results of the study may have relevance not only with Mercedes Benz but also global commercial framework as a whole, thereby making the proposed research a significant one.

Keeping into account the importance of carrying out the research in ethical framework, the concerned study proposes to ensure that the data are collected from authentic secondary resources, like that of reputed peer reviewed journals, different reputed statistical organisations (both government as well as private) and surveys conducted in the concerned aspects of study. The research also promises to analyse and interpret the evidences collected unbiasedly to stay true to the purpose of the study (Silverman 2016).

References 

Aharoni, Y., 2014. Coalitions and Competition (Routledge Revivals): The Globalization of Professional Business Services. Routledge.

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Aswathappa, K.E.M.A.L., 2013. Human resource management: Text and cases. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Baden-Fuller, C. and Mangematin, V., 2013. Business models: A challenging agenda. Strategic Organization, 11(4), pp.418-427.

Bamberger, P.A., Meshoulam, I. and Biron, M., 2014. Human resource strategy: Formulation, implementation, and impact. Routledge.

Banfield, P., Kay, R. and Royles, D., 2018. Introduction to human resource management. Oxford University Press.

Berman, E.M., Bowman, J.S., West, J.P. and Van Wart, M.R., 2012. Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. Sage.

Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.

Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.

Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.

Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P. and Vernon, G., 2016. International human resource management. Kogan Page Publishers.

Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. eds., 2013. Human resource management in developing countries. Routledge.

Buller, P.F. and McEvoy, G.M., 2012. Strategy, human resource management and performance: Sharpening line of sight. Human resource management review, 22(1), pp.43-56.

Daley, D.M., 2012. Strategic human resources management. Public Personnel Management, pp.120-125.

Jiang, K., Lepak, D.P., Han, K., Hong, Y., Kim, A. and Winkler, A.L., 2012. Clarifying the construct of human resource systems: Relating human resource management to employee performance. Human resource management review, 22(2), pp.73-85.

Joshi, M., 2013. Human resource management. Bookboon.

Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.

Neuman, W.L., 2013. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Pearson education.

Nickson, D., 2013. Human resource management for hospitality, tourism and events. Routledge.

Pieper, R. ed., 2012. Human resource management: An international comparison (Vol. 26). Walter de Gruyter.

Poczter, S.L. and Jankovic, L.M., 2014. The Google Car: driving toward a better future?. Journal of Business Case Studies (Online), 10(1), p.7.

Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.

Silverman, D. ed., 2016. Qualitative research. Sage.

Statista (2018). Mercedes-Benz revenue 2011-2017 | Statista. [online] Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/346964/revenue-of-mercedes-benz-cars/ [Accessed 5 Jul. 2018].

Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.