Unit 21 Scenario of Human Resources Management Assignment

Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Unit 21 Scenario of Human Resources Management
QFC Level	Level 4

Task 1

The objective with which this task will be carried out is to understand the various important aspect of the modern day human resource management. This discussion will be done basis an organization which is based out of the UK. The selected company on the basis of which this will be done is Sainsbury’s. The company is an UK based retail company. The company is current operational in the country and is one of the market leaders in the retail segment.

1.1 Based on your experience, distinguish the difference between personnel management and human resource management.

It is necessary that the definitions of personnel management and human resource management are looked into for distinguishing the differences between them.

The definition of personnel management (PM) can be given as the set of rules, guidelines and practices which are implemented by the companies in a stringent to ensure that the work ethic and productivity of the employees of the company is maintained within the organizational boundary. PM is not strategic in nature and it is more of strict rules by which the employees are abided by.

On the other hand human resource management (HRM) is a strategic activity carried out by the companies to ensure that the right employees are chosen for the work in the company as well as keeping them adequately motivated for the enhancement of their work culture and work productivity. HRM activities base themselves on the strategic objectives, requirements, policies and procedures of the specific organisation and its mission and visions. The HRM activities are often shaped by the regulatory and legal requirements of the country or the industry. If an organisation succeeds to develop a set of HRM pollicises and processes which are effective it is expected to have a set of skilled as well as committed employees who effectively contribute to the overall strategic goal achievement organisation.

Following are the differences between PM and HRM:

Dimension	PM	HRM
Rules, Roles and Responsibility	PM bases itself on rules which are strict and well defined. Basis these, employees take up their roles and responsibilities.	HRM looks into the factors including employee recruitment, training and motivation, job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment.
Communication	In a system driven by PM, the employees are expected to use only indirect means of communication, in which the information sharing happens with the senior management only.	HRM encourages a direct communication mode which is aided by effective communication practices. This also supports sharing of knowledge and information.
Training and development	PM has a very less scope of managing and implementing the training and development activities for the employees.	One of the major factor which is looked into by HRM is the training and development activities for the skill enhancements of the employees.
Decision Making related to HR activities	Under the regime of PM the decisions which are taken by the management of the company are driven by the procedures and processes of the organization.	On the other hand, under the regime of HRM the decisions which are taken by the management of the company are driven by the present business needs as well as the strategic directions of the organization

1.2 Assess the function of the human resources management in contributing to the purposes of your organisation.

There are various functions of the human resources management which contribute to the overall strategic purpose of the originations. These functions are as following:

• Selection and recruitment of the new employees: This is one of the most strategic tasks which is done by the HR managers of the company, in which out of the entire pool of applicants, only the individuals who fit the role as well as the job in addition to being strategically fit for the objectives of the company, are selected. It is very important for the companies to choose a right base of employees in the current business world which is intensely competitive and the responsibility of the same lies with the HRM department of the company.
• Induction of the new employees: Post the selection of the new employees it is necessary for the company to ensure that the employees are given right induction to the company which sets the tone of the organizational work culture and ethic in the mind of the employees. The same is also managed by the HRM department of the company.
• Training and development of the employees for skill enhancement: The basic endeavour of the activities of the HRM department of the company is to enhance the productivity and effectiveness of work of the employees of the company. One of the major tools for achieving the same training and developing the employees for acquiring and sustenance of various work related skills. This is managed by the HRM department of the company.
• Managing the motivation of the employee through rewards and recognition: The other significant work which is done by the HRM department of the companies is the management of the various activities through which the work done by the employees of the company are recognized and rewarded. These help in developing and sustaining the motivation level of the employees and thus increasing effectiveness of their performances.
• Managing the exit procedure at the time of employee cessation: Post the cessation of service by the employees, the exit procedures are also managed by the HR managers and the department for a smooth transition. One important aspect of this work is the succession management for the company which decides how to fill the void if any significant senior leader of the company ends his job tenure with the company.

Following diagram gives an all-round description of the other activities which are done by the HRM department of the company:

1.3 Evaluate the role and responsibilities of a line manager in your organisation.

The line managers are the internal stakeholders of the organization who are accountable for the task of managing particular employees’ performances who are mapped to him or her as part of the organizational structure . They carry out the task of keeping the daily operation and business activities running through managing and delegation of work to the other employees (Brewster, 2007). As far as the contribution of the line managers to the HRM of the companies are concerned, the same is done through their task as a part of the de-centralised HRM systems of the modern day business companies. This is done through carrying out few HRM tasks by these line managers. This includes but is not limited to: identifying the talented applicants for the company and developing their skills by mentoring them which leads to professional growth of these people (Brewster, 2007).

This is usually done through providing guidance to the new employees of the company with lower experiences for managing their professional life and enhancing the same. They also share regular as well as structured feedbacks to these employees as a part of their formal or casual conversations with the others, which also includes communicating the professional targets for these employees through communication.

1.4 Analyse the impact of the legal and regulatory framework of the country in which your selected organization is based.

The company that has been chosen for the task belongs to the UK and there are multiple legal and regulatory frameworks which are present in this company which have significant influence on the HR management and policies of the companies based out of this country. There are various labour laws which define the way the employers are to deal with the employees in a fair and just way. These laws cover the various areas including the recruitment, wage, workplace discrimination, employment cessation etc. These legal and regulatory framework of the country ensure that the HRM practices of the companies are designed in such a manner that none of these laws are violated by the company, which if done, can jeopardize the existence of the company in the country to a large degree.

The legal and regulatory frameworks include law for equal opportunity within the origination which determines the lack of bias towards any gender while selecting the company’s employees. There are also various anti-discrimination laws making sure no discrimination is done basis gender, race or other factors within the companies. There is also labour and wage related regulations which define the remuneration level for the employees and the timings for work.

Task 2

In this section of the task, the discussion will be done basis Sainsbury’s which is the selected organization for this report and the factors which will be looked into through this section for the companies will include the importance of human resource planning as well as the various stages of carrying out this activity. Also the recruitment and selection process of the company will be compared with the same of a similar company. This company, with which the comparison will be drawn will be Harrods which is also a retail company in the UK. Finally the effectiveness of the recruitment and selection techniques in these two organisations will be looked into.

2.2 Outline the stages involved in planning human resources requirements

The various stages of HR planning process can be shown through the following diagram:

This process starts with the trickiest exercise of identifying the opportunity of future requirements of the human resources in the company. The projection of the future HR requirements is done for various departments and job roles of the company basis the strategic direction and the long term vision of the company. This projection is done through an ongoing collaboration between the business leaders and the HRM department of the company. The next step deals with forecasting of the availability of the HR which are internal to the company.  An initial assessment of the current HR level in the company is done by the company and the capacity of this for meeting the future demands is also evaluated. Through this the company identifies the pool of apt candidates for the relevant openings anticipated to be necessary in the future. As a part of this process, plans for meeting these prerequisites are also prepared.

This also includes an evaluation of the labour market situation of the industry in which the company is operating along with the wage levels necessary for attracting the experienced or talented employees in that future time frame (Hatch, 2006). A matching of future demand and supply is done by the company to develop the future guidelines of recruitment (Fuqua, 1993).

2.3 Compare the recruitment and selection process in your chosen organisation with another organisation

Recruitment and selection is the process through which new employees are selected and recruited by the HR department of the company from a pool eligible candidates. The parameters on which these candidates are adjudicated includes their fitment and capability towards the strategic objective of the role for which the employment is being done as well as the overall organization.

Following is the tabular comparison of the recruitment and selection process in your chosen organisation with another organisation:  

Recruitment and selection process at Sainsbury’s	Recruitment and selection process at Tesco
1. Done through basis a combined strategic input by the business managers and the HRM managers of the company	1. Only the line managers are involved in this with minimal interaction from the HRM department
2. The induction and orientation program is a well-developed one and is an integral part of the overall process for recruitment and selection	2. A lack of detailing in the induction program

2.4 Evaluate the effectiveness of the recruitment and selection techniques in these two organisations

As can be understood from the table before, the recruitment and the selection which is done at Sainsbury’s is usually done through a combined strategic input by the business managers and the HRM managers of the company. However, for Tesco only the line managers are involved in this with minimal interaction from the HRM department. On basis of these aforementioned points it can be said that the recruitment and selection techniques which are followed in Sainsbury’s are more evolved and more effective, In addition to these, Sainsbury’s has a well-developed process for recruiting basis the reference from the existing employees, which is a very cost effective as well as efficient channel of recruitment and selection.

On the other hand, Tesco lacks an internal channel for recruitment and selection. This also diminished the effectiveness of the recruitment and selection techniques in Tesco.

Task 3

3.1 Assess the link between motivational theory and reward in the context of your chosen organisation

The two most well-known motivation theories which can be referred to for linking the reward in the context of the business organisations are the ones given by Maslow and Herzberg.

Following are the graphical representations of these:

                              

                    Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory                                                  Maslow’s Pyramid of Motivational Factors

These theories stress on the significance of financial as well as non-financial rewards (e.g. senior management recognition) as the driving factors for motivation of the employees. It also bears a lot of significance for the companies like Sainsbury’s in view of the fact that these companies need to keep these in mind while designing the reward and recognition structure of the company. The motivating factors include money, promotion, bonuses, fringe benefits, and recognition by management, personal growth, career development etc. (Cummings, 2009).

3.2 Evaluate job evaluation process and other factors determining pay in your organisation

In this process the employees along with the senior managers and the HR managers assess the internal jobs and job profiles within the organization for the identification of the relative importance of various jobs. This is necessary to finalize on a rational remuneration structure for the employees of the company. This process is an important HR task within Sainsbury’s since the retail company has a wide range of jobs for which deciding on the wage level is difficult and the same is done through the job evaluation process.

The other factors determining pay includes the following:

• capability of the company to pay
• cost of living of the city
• employee perceptions of wage,
• environmental conditions,
• occupational hazards,
• related government regulations,
• supply and demand of the labour etc.

3.3 Assess the effectiveness of the reward systems in your chosen organisation

Sainsbury’s has a very strong and effective reward systems which caters to a mix of financial as well as non-financial rewards. The most important component of the same is the policy of the company in which an annual increment in the salary of the employees is given basis their yearly performance. The promotions of the employees are also done basis that. This reward system is very effective due to the objectivity of this reward management system. This is done through an overall evaluation of the employees from their seniors, colleagues as well as self. This minimizes the subjectivity in the reward systems of the chosen organisation.

Typically, the smaller companies have a vastly different reward structure from the reward structure of a company which is large, established as well as already profitable. Also if the job profile calls for hourly or daily work structure for the employees in Sainsbury’s the wage will also be similar. The jobs which have the requirement of the overtime work will also have wage provision of the same. Various theories show that financial rewards and seniors’ recognition are two most influential factors for employee motivating. Hence it is necessary that at the time of the defining the reward structure the managers take notice of these factors.

3.4 Using your organisation as an example, examine the different methods used to monitor employee performance

Two types of methods are used for the monitoring of the employee performance in Sainsbury’s which includes an ongoing monitoring and annual evaluation. The ongoing processes include a constant monitoring as well as feedback process which is done by the line managers of the company. This also includes tools like colleague feedback, self-monitoring tools like MIS, checklists, reports on performance, error reports etc. The annual system has components like balanced scorecards, supervisor feedbacks, 360 degree feedback as well as performance measure basis of quantifiable objectives.

References

Ashkenas, R., Ulrich, D., Jick, T. and Kerr, S. (1995) The Boundaryless Organization. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Brewster, C. (2007, this volume) Comparative HRM: European views and perspectives. International Journal of HRMBrewster, C., Sparrow, P. and Harris, H (2005) Towards a New Model of Globalizing HRM, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16 (6): 953-974.
Briscoe, D. and Schuler, R.S. (2004) International Human Resource Management, 2nd Edition. New York: Routledge.
Clegg, S., Kornberger, M., & Pitsis, T. (2008). Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and practice (2nd ed.). London: SAGE.
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2009). Organization development and change (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.
Fuqua, D., & Kurpius, D. (1993, July). Conceptual Models in Organizational Consultation. Journal of Counseling & Development, 71(6), 607-618. Retrieved May 25,
2009, from Health Care Source: Nursing/Academic Edition database.