INTRODUCTION

This Icon College Human Resource Management Assignment analysis and puts forth an overview of the HR role and responsibilities. The report also analyses their functions which are an integral part of an organization wherein it achieves its overall objectives and goals. Different HR management policies and strategies are explained by using a case study. By analysing different HRM strategies, employee management and its importance is also brought about. By using different motivational theories, effective employee management program is also analysed.

Based on your experience, explain the difference between personnel and human resource management and asses your role and responsibilities as a line manager

 The company is question is Tarmac which is the country’s leading supplier of building material. They are often associated with road construction and have worked on important projects such as Heathrow terminal. Approximately 11,000 people work for Tarmac and therefore the recruitment of specialists to carry on Tarmac operations is very essential.

Based on the experience, a clear difference between personnel and human resource management is that personnel management is more workforce centred. On the other hand, human resource management is more concerned with developing strategies related to the employees which are also integrated with the corporate strategies(Armstrong, 2003). Human resource management also makes sure that the value, structure and culture of an organization remain intact. It also aims to foster motivation, quality and commitments of all the members involved with an organization. Human resource management department has to make sure that all employees work in line keeping in mind the overall objectives and goals of a company.

Personnel management find and trains new recruits in a company and making sure that they find ways to compensate them for their services provided. Personnel management also explains the employees the main objectives and goals of the organization and also tries to justify their actions. On the other hand, human resource management is more resource centred which is also focused at management. While personnel management is operational in nature, HRM is strategic (The Times, 2010). That is, personnel management is related to day to day management of people, human resource management is responsible for assisting the management of an organization to help it achieve competitive advantage in the long run and be a profitable venture.

Being a line manager at Tarmac, the roles and responsibility was to ensure that HR policies are efficiently applied by the business managers. Additionally, the responsibility was also to make sure that procedures are followed in a consistent manner throughout all the departments at Tarmac. This was done in order to foster partnerships across different departments and teams within the company because coordination and cooperation help achieve a company’s long and short term objectives. Another objective was to spot any derailment to a change policy and making sure that it gets fixed in time so that work can be carried out smoothly.

Analyse the organisational environment and discuss how it impacts the HRM function in your organisation. You need to consider the impacts of legal and regulatory framework of the country.

Strategic human resource management enhances and improves the way human resources in a company are managed. Therefore, strategic human resource management links human resource policies with overall organizational goals and objectives so that positive business results are achieved and advantage is gained over competitors.

Tarmac has set in place a proper organizational structure which ensures line of control is properly managed and communication takes place effectively at all levels. No organization can exist in a vacuum, in that they are constantly affected by many forces such as internal and external(Grönroos, 1990). These external forces play an immense role in determining how effectively organizations perform. Hence, it is essential for the management for any organization to be able to foresee, analyze and examine the external forces of outside environment which may or may not affect an organization’s work flow process. This is important to understand the far reaching and dynamic changes that can take place and affect the proper functioning of a business.

Some of the factors and elements of external organization environment that may or may not impact a company’s human resource management policies can be summed up under employment rate, economic conditions, inflation, taxation, educational development, etc are external organizational environment that can affect HRM policies. Furthermore, labour rate, capital, contracts, policy change, etc are some of the internal organizational environment factors that can affect a company’s HRM policies(Johnson, 2004). Furthermore, within the general framework of organizational framework many political, legal, socio cultural and technological elements can also affect the human resource policies of an organization. This element also includes government laws, policies, and other activities which are designed to affect and impact an organization in an indirect manner. Since Tarmac deals in construction in a way, it may affect a lot of people who may or may not be related with the company or its construction activities. The Health and Safety at work regulation of 1999 state that the safety and health of employees should be maintained by the employers. This is to ensure that preventive measures can be taken at the work place as well. Furthermore, Tarmac also produces hazardous chemicals which are used in construction(Lengnick-Hall, 1999). The control of substances Hazardous to health regulation of 1999 focuses on putting duties on those employers who use substances which are considered hazardous and prove to risk a person’s life at the work place or work site. Additionally, risk assessment of a site project should be ascertained and the perimeters, the geographical area and the nature of construction activity should be defined clearly by the employer. Since Tarmac also supplies materials, it has to take many precautions. This is to make sure that the people working outside the site area are protected. This is achieved by providing one way systems within the site area. Specific drive in should also be provided. Deliveries of the material should not coincide with areas that are filled with heavy traffics. Deliveries of materials should be scheduled for a specific time to avoid inconvenience to the general public and their movements should be considered keeping in mind the nearby schools, etc.

Explain and asses the role of human resource planning in your organisation and discuss the stages of the planning process.

 The human resource management at Tarmac takes care of managing change, facilitating training and development programs. The human resource management department also takes care of the recruitment and selection process. It also takes care of employee relations within the company(Ronald, 2007). Furthermore, the company’s HRM department also takes care of policies related to benefits and pensions. It is the duty and responsibility of the human resource department that proper communication is maintained and encouraged with all the employees within the company. Tarmac’s main objective is to build the capability and capacity of all its employees across the country and to make sure that all of them reach their full potential and result in professional and personal growth. This strategy adopted by the human resource management department of the company takes care of the long term business growth of the company.

The role of a Human Resource manager at the company is to make sure that all human resource related policies are implemented properly across all business divisions and by all business managers. He or she also has to ensure that proper procedures are followed throughout different divisions in the company so that communication channels are not broken and work is carried out smoothly. This strategy helps to ensure that partnerships are formed; coordination and cooperation are maintained, fostered and encouraged throughout the different departments with the organization. Furthermore, the department also deals in managing and improving employee performance and making sure that an appropriate number of employee staff is maintained at all times(Price, 2007). Also, the human resource department in the company also makes sure that performance management, training and development and absenteeism levels are controlled and supervised so that the work goes on smoothly without disrupting the overall objectives of the company. Therefore, they have to work and implement policies on a regular basis to monitor day to day activities.

Another responsibility or strategy of the human resource department at Tarmac is to implement and oversee the change management policies. More often than not, almost all the businesses have to respond to the rapidly changing market trends. They also have to respond accordingly to the changing conditions of market in order to grow and prosper. As the years pass, technologies develop, new competitions arrive within the existing and new markets, and consumer’s and client’s preference change from time to time and also any change in the laws of the country may also affect the way business operations are carried out within the country(Wilson, 2005). To tackle all the issues related to the change management, Tarmac has introduced a programme called change management in order to respond to similar changes so that improvement at all levels can be maintained. Tarmac trains its managers so that they can move from autocratic to a coaching style management. An autocratic management style tells employees what all to do and what all not to do. This can be a useful strategy if the work at hand is urgent. On the other hand, a coaching management style makes sure that employees are developed in order to manage themselves.

Analyse the recruitment and selection process in your chosen organisation and assess your contribution as a deputy to the Human Resource Manager

Tarmac has been able to understand the essentials of workforce planning. Continuous review of human asset is the key to having successful business operations. This review also enables the company to analyze present and future objectives o the company and the skill set required by them to bring in more efficiency. Since it is a large company with many departments, it always needs employees with different skill sets. Having a complex organizational structure in the company, defining the role of every employee is also the duty of the Human Resource Manager and this is done to make sure that there is no confusion about the job role and that the efficiency can be maximised(Tarmac, 2010). Tarmac seeks intellectual capital as well and it also focuses on the personal development of every employee. All of this is reflected in their recruitment and selection process as well. Tarmac has always sought to bring diversity to the workplace. It does so by employing people who come from different backgrounds and have different experience and skill sets. One of the top priorities in the recruitment process of the company is to find those employees who can identify with the company’s ambitions and also share them(Maslow, 1943). Within the selection process, Tarmac’s human resource manager strives to find the right match or the right job. In order to make sure that this is done successfully, Tarmac uses a variety of tools which includes competency questionnaire, group exercises, psychometric testing, personal interviews and presentations.

As far as training is concerned, the company follows a personal development plan which is utilized for all the employees as they play a direct role in its implementation as they also decide which skills are needed to benefits the business overall.

Discuss how motivational theories help explain the level of staff motivation in your organisation and critically assess the link between motivational and reward. Explain how you would carry out job evaluation and determines pay.

 Motivation as a strategy is often underrated at many organizations. Managers, who use motivation at workplace, do so in order to inspire employees at workplace. This is done to ensure that best results are sought from them in an efficient and effective way(Herzberg, 1959). Earlier, it was assumed that motivation always came from outside but not it has been realised that every individual carries a different set of motivational factors. It is, therefore, the duty of a human resource manager to implement motivational strategies at workplace in order to boost production and to be able to create an office environment with is positive.

Maslow’s need based hierarchy, Herzberg’s two factor theory and Adam’s equity theory have always been the focus of many researchers. Maslow stated that all employees have in total levels of needs which are psychological, safety, social, ego and self actualization. He also stated that lower level needs have to be satisfied first in order to motivate employees. Herzberg stated that motivators and hygiene are two categories of motivation wherein motivator includes achievement and recognition and Hygiene includes pay and job security.  Furthermore, Adam’s theory states that equity is sought between employees and that it can be achieved with the ratio of employees’ outcomes and input as compared to other employee outcomes with input(Adams, 1965).

Find the right motivational strategy for Tarmac can be challenging because one motivational strategy may not work for all employees so therefore the human resource manager will have to disregard the most important strategies related to motivation when dealing with associates. More often than not, incentive and better pay package is considered as the sole motivational factor for an employee to work better; however, non monetary incentives also work in a similar fashion to motivate employees to be able to work better.

Therefore, for Tarmac, Herzberg’s theory is better because the country is undergoing through a recovery phase post global financial meltdown. Employees, therefore, need job security more than cash rewards. Additionally, job evaluation takes care of many components so that inter job can be analyzed. Each factor is isolated on the basis of a defined scale agreed upon by the management. This many include responsibility, experience, human relations, etc.

Discuss how would assess the effectiveness of the reward system in the chosen organisation. Explain how employee performance monitored and measured in your organisation

The entire operations at Tarmac are to bring in together raw materials to be used in the production process in order to make the final products which the customers need. Ideas are also shared across the company in order to improve efficiency and also in order to reduce operational costs to drive business growth. Tarmac rewards it employees for bringing in new ideas and for their successful implementation(Johnson, 2005). Furthermore, employees are evaluated on their job performance continuously. All the teams are motivated through different styles of coaching and leadership. Priorities within the company are identified so that continuous improvement can take place. Employees who contribute in terms of providing an original idea which can be implemented to achieve more success and they are also rewarded appropriately. This is needed to make sure that employees feel part of the organization. Also, this is done to make sure they understand the business in a better way. Employees tend to feel more motivated and work with more efficiency if they feel they are part of the organization and feel the part of its success as well.

At Tarmac, the Zone Managers have to evaluate operational performance of employees within their zone in order to meet or improve the target defined. It is also done to make sure that business integrity is maintained along with quality and safety. Their long term aim is to develop high performance teams. They achieve the same by using key performance indicators which have been discussed above(Tarmac, 2010).

Discuss the causes of termination of employment with an organization and compare the exit procedures used in your and another similar organisation.

Employment can be terminated at will or by employer as well. More often than not, employers don’t seek a reason to fire an employee if they have not been performing well on a continuous basis. There are many reasons employees can lose their job if they damage company’s property; possess and consume drug or alcohol at work place; falsify company records; follow insubordination; take too many leaves; theft; continuous poor performance; misconduct; company policy violations. Put simply, an employer can fire an employee for violating the employment contract. Employee termination does not have to be forced but can also be voluntary as well. Employees can resign and terminate his employment with the company. He or she may be unhappy with the job role or pay package offered or due to no job security at the company or a better package offered from another company. Furthermore, lay off policy can also be followed by the company in case there is capital shortage or demand for its product is reduced. The exit procedure at Tarmac and another organization is almost similar in a way that the employee has to tender his or her resignation in writing to his or her line manager or other supervisor(Minchington, 2006). After this step the line manager or the supervisor informs the human resource department as soon as he or she receives the resignation letter without any delay. After this, the human resource manager acknowledges the resignation letter and this is done in writing. This resignation letter is forwarded to and a copy of the acknowledgement is kept in the HR department. After this process, the human resource manager confirms the employee’s resignation or termination of services with effect from a decided date. Employee’s last working date is also finalised along with extra details of any annual leaves due or not. This is done to make sure if the Human resource department has to pay the employee as far as his or her left over annual leaves are concerned. HR department afterwards processes a termination letter or form for the payroll department. After this the HR manager contacts the employee in question so that an offer of Exit interview can be given and an Exit interview questionnaire is given to him. The HR manager analyses this exit interview feedback submitted by the employee and thereafter a structured feedback is given to the employee in case necessary action needs to be taken.

Evaluate the impact of legal and regulatory framework when arranging employment cessation or termination using your organisation as an example.

Dealing with disputed while terminating an employment is a concerning subject for the HR department. This process is complex, costly and time consuming and more often than not, weighted in favor of the employees. Employers have to employ expertise related to legal framework and many employers are of the opinion that this may damage the employer and employee relationship.

Furthermore, many employers also feel that legal guidance in cases of termination is ambiguous and outcome may be subjective.  At Tarmac, HR services are very proactive and keep themselves updated with legislative procedures in case a disputed termination case arises.

CONCLUSION

This report has established many HRM policies with regard to how they can be best implemented through the case study as well. Human resource policy in a county is not affected by internal factors only but they are also affected by external forces as well. Therefore, the job of the human resource manager is to be able to implement human resources policies successfully and to make sure that employees work to their full potential.

REFERENCES

Adams, J. S., 1965. Inequity in social exchange. In: Advances in experimental social psychology. New York: Academic Press., pp. 89-94. Armstrong, M., 2003. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 9th ed. London: Kogan Page. Grönroos, C., 1990. Service management and marketing.. 1st ed. Toronto: Lexington Books. Herzberg, F. M. B. &. S. B. B., 1959. The motivation to work.. In: New York: John Wiley & Sons., pp. 112-118. Johnson, G. a. S. K., 2005. Exploring Corporate Strategy. New York: Prentice Hall. Johnson, M., 2004. The New Rules of Engagement: Life-Work Balance and Employee Commitment, CIPD. 2nd ed. London: CIPD.

for more help in Icon College Human Resource Management Assignment, Reach us

HND Assignment Help UK provide assignment writing service based on case study requirements in affordable prices and we are providing most flexible online assignment writing help, so book your Assignment with us,  

Contact us

Get assignment help from full time dedicated experts of BTEC HND & HNC assignments.  

Call us: +44 - 7497 786 317

Email: help@hndassignme=nts.co.uk