Assignment on Practical Issues in HRM

Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Practical Issues in HRM
QFC Level	Level 4

Introduction

Practical issues in HRM  assignment is aiming to identify, discuss and critically evaluate various practical issues associated with HRM through small case studies and their questions. The present assignment describes briefly concepts of human resource management and organizational behaviour, and how the present day human resource management has evolved and changing at fast pace. Human Resource Management targets to achieve organizational goal by an effective and efficient utilization of is most important resources, i.e. manpower. The role of human resource department is manifold and crucial in order to explore new opportunities, maintain organization’s performance level, ensure trust and credibility among stakeholders, etc (Rao, 2004).

 

Task 1

1.1 Differentiate between personnel management and human resource management giving examples in two suitable organisations.

Personnel management is more focused on managing people on an administrative level and they are concerned with the discipline of people regarding in time and out time of employees, their attendance, pay roll, leave application process and measuring their output etc. Such personnel management approaches are mostly used in core manufacturing industries like SABIC etc where there is little scope of innovation or change in the way work process is done in organization.

Storey (1999) defines  Human Resource Management  as “An interacting set of policies that are designed with a philosophy and ideology of managing organization’s most valued assets, i.e. employee” One organization which follows the HRM practices to an advanced level is Google Inc which is considered as one of the most preferred employer in the world. Tasks of human resource department include procurement, retention, management of employees and developing employees to turn to be organizational assets. Therefore human resource management is also termed as human resource development where the employees are groomed to elicit their best efforts and improved individual performance helps in improving overall organizational performance as well (Machand & Rollis, 2012)

1.2. Assess how human resource management functions help your chosen organisation in achieving its purpose.

Below are the following aspects of Google Inc which is managed and overseen by Human resource management department.

Delegating Responsibilities and Allocating Authorities: Delegation of responsibilities should be in line with resource allocation and allocation of authority as well. Strategic Human Resource management is not only contained within the defined task boundaries like recruitment and appraisal of the employees, but acts in a far more evolved way of management. According to Dessler, (2015) strategic HR management is not only concerned about managing people in a way that they would be doing their best to perform at the expected level, but also developing the employees to an asset to the organization Rewards and Recognition: Performance analysis and evaluation leads to identification of potential employee who has contributed in organizational development through their work, knowledge and skill. Rewards and compensation are one of the greatest motivational factors for any employee of an organization and high as their importance in the organization it is also critical for an organization to devise a plan and structure for compensation and remuneration so that they are fair and do justice with each member of the organization.

Human Resource Planning: Human Resource Planning is an essential part of hrm, as it should be a match with the requirement of organization and job allocation to employees (Boxall & Purcell, 2003). An analysis of business environment, organization’s strength and weaknesses, and strategic planning in terms of setting the goal is required. A new succession planning system is already in place at Google which is based on the performance of the individuals and their leadership ability will help in developing a new breed of employees which is not only ready to take up new leadership roles but they are also trained to improvise on the leadership styles of their predecessor and increase the efficiency and performance of the organization. All these human resource management functions and activities align the activities of the employees towards goals and objectives of the organization and create a resonance between both to move towards a common goal.

1.3. Evaluate the role and responsibilities of line managers in your organisation or familiar organisation and how it supports human resource management functions.

Google is a service oriented organization and their business model is very different from a conventional organization. Line managers in this company are mostly accounts manager or service manager who deals with clients. A service is an intangible and it does not result into ownership of anything. Only a few services are exception to be not produced at a real time basis. For example IT services, software development etc are some services which can be produced at one place and delivered to another geographical location using advanced communication technology. It was observed in the organization that entire culture of organization has been developed over the years in such a manner all efforts of all employees are streamlined towards long term goals and objectives of organization. Below is the service management graph which is followed by companies like Google to offer better services to clients through their service managers and account managers who meet the gap which exists in the service model (Ramasubramanian and Jagadeesan, 2002).

1.4 Analyze how legal and regulatory framework impact on human resource management.

First legal and regulatory requirement which impacts the HRM of companies like Google is to ensure that work place is safe for all employees. Occupational health and safety is directly linked with human resource practices of an organization because if an organization follows all occupational health and safety regulations applicable to their industry and keeps safety of their employee on a priority is sought after by the employees and potential employees. Soon they become the preferred destination of working and also motivate and encourage the employees to be concerned and loyal with the organization since it is so much concerned about their safety. If an organization is looking to enhance the motivation level and mental security of its employees then safety and health measures in work environment is a very effective way to do it. There are financial benefits also associated with implementation of occupational health and safety hazards in an organization because on comparative analysis it can observed that the cost of an accident, legal penalties and medical treatment cost for employees are 10 times higher than the cost of regulation enforcement. Better and strict enforcement of occupational health and safety measures, regular medical checkups of the employees, giving them stock options, providing medical treatment assistance, post retirement benefits, family pension schemes etc are employed by the organization to ensure that they become one of the preferred destination of employment for talented people and also enhances the productivity of the organization. A good security and safety record will also increase the efficiency of organization, its image in the society and reduce the cost of miscellaneous expenses. To increase the business and profitability of the organization employees are also made part owners of the organization by giving them ESOPS which channelize their efforts in improving productivity (Saks, 2006).

Task 2

2.1 Analysing the reasons for human resource planning

Human resource planning is a very important part of any organization’s long term planning and to meet their HR requirements. An organization now a day is having huge number of employees from different countries, regions, localities etc.  These calls for a paradigm shift in human resource management (Huselid, 1995). One single universal strategy of managing people in organization will not be entirely successful. Again employees will expect some standardization and equity in terms of HR policies, organization structure, culture etc. Therefore it is crucial that an organization employs the HR policies strategically so that it can enhance the performance level of the employees to achieve organizational goal. Strategic HR management also focuses on formulating policies, structuring organization in a way that there would be a right mix of skill, knowledge, and attitude to accomplish goals of the organization. Human Resource Planning is a crucial part of Human Resource or Human Capital Management (Thompson, 2011). HRP defines the number, and types of people needed to perform a job, form a team to achieve a particular goal.

2.2 Outlining the stages involved in planning human resource requirements.

There are 6 different important mile stones or steps which are involved in HR planning and requirement assessments.

• First step is analyzing the organizational objectives in which it would be assessed what is the future of organization in different aspects like expansion, growth, production, marketing, operations etc. This assessment would give an idea about the current and future needs of human resources and according to these needs planning can be done for their hiring, recruitment and training.
• Second step is inventory of the present human resources: - a bird’s eye view is taken of the current number of employees, their efficiency and productivity, their potential usage in near future etc. In case of various new job requirements which are rising it can be assessed how much of them can be fulfilled through existing work force and how much would need new recruitments and trained employees.
• Forecasting demand and supply of human resources: - human resources which are required at different job positions in the entire organization would be estimated and earmarked. Each job would have proper job description and job specification along with number of posts available with each job (Mintzberg, 2010).
• Estimating man power gaps is the next logical step of HR planning. In this stage an HR would assess the gap which exists between current  demand and supply  of man power and the reason behind this gap. Their first move would be to remove the causative reason which creates gap and if needed then they can fill the gap between training and development needs by additional training program as well.
• Formulating the human resource action plan is the fifth step of this process. In this step the plan for the new recruitment, the approach of recruiting, criteria and number of people who are to be employed is decided. Training, transfers, termination and change of disciplines are all part of this action plan.
• Implementation, monitoring, control and feedback are the last steps of this entire HR planning process. The action plan which is devised is implemented and at the same time a strict control over the implementation and also a continuous feedback is taken so that any changes if needed in the implementation process should be done simultaneously. Comparison between the human resource plan and its actual implementation is done to ensure the appropriate action and the availability of the required number of employees for various jobs.

2.3 Compare the current recruitment and selection process in the organisation with another organisation you recommending.

Recruitment and selection is the process of selecting the right candidate according to requirement of the organization. Current recruitment and selection process of the company is very platonic in nature and it is handled by a finance manager who is going by the book when it comes to recruitment and selection of employees. The pattern, question and process which are identified in the scenario are not considering the changed circumstances of employment and how different types of employees are required for different roles. Questions asked currently are universal in nature and their fitness for assessing the knowledge and ability of employees is limited in nature. They are superficially asking those questions which can be answered perfectly by any potential candidate through a quick search on internet. Moreover these questions are asked on a telephonic interview where it would be difficult to assess if candidate is answering them without any assistance or not (Kazanas, 2004).

Companies like Google Inc on the other hand follow a very innovative and customized selection process and recruitment approach for their employees. So individual who have skills, education and experience relevant to the job are identified and the best candidate is selected from the pool of applicants for the job. As Google is one of the biggest IT and Search Engine giant in world, which is known for its high standards of customer services and for valuing its staff as it offers various benefits to its staff like wages higher than the industry standards, stock options, work from home, innovative work place and flexible working hours. An effective recruitment and selection process reduces turnover and right candidate is selected with the right job skill. It also ensures that selected candidate will be reliable and carry out the objective according to the plan of the organization for providing qualitative customer service. Google is using an effective recruitment and selection process for providing best customer services. Google handles recruitment through their website, campus recruitment and higher level post are hunted through head hunters as well. A candidate needs to find the vacancy and then apply for the job by filling the form. If application is selected then customer service test will be conducted and after this test, interview will be held in two parts. After interview, best candidate according to the requirement will be selected, which will help company to achieve objectives (Steel, 2006).

Recruitment, Performance management and training requirements of an organization are very important and critical aspect and its success as well as sustainability. These two aspects ensure that any organization is competitive and sustainable in manner and able to achieve their strategic goals and objectives in a timely and orderly fashion. It is recommended here for the company that they should follow the above discussed model of recruitment process and also they should follow the lead of recruitment and training process from companies like Google Inc who are well known for their HR policies and retention strategies (Torrington, et al. 2004).

2.4 Evaluating how effective is the organisation recruitment and selection techniques with another organisation you recommending.

The recruitment and selection strategies which are mentioned in the given scenario are not effective that is evident from the high rate of turnover of employees in the company. It is also observed that a finance manager is given the additional responsibility of being a HR manager which is not justified and logical way to go ahead. The biggest problem with current process of recruitment and selection is the fact that it is done without considering the changing dynamics of business, modern HR functions and changing ways through which employees are managed these days. Their approaches are also not able to check the real mettle of the employees in an effective manner.

Google on the other hand is using a recruitment and selection technique which is multi pronged in nature. On one hand they have a very strong campus recruitment drive where they visit top notch institutes all over the world and hire talented fresh graduates and groom them for the future leader roles. Second recruitment drive is their parallel recruitment process in which they offer better salaries and perks to high performing employees of other organizations and try to attract them and third hiring process is outsourced to the head hunters and HR agencies who scout leaders for the top positions of the company and potential candidates are identified after due diligence and then attractive offers are made to them. They offer training programs, compensation and a proper career path for each employee making the company one of the preferred destination for best of the talent in world. Training and development improves the talent pool and skills set of an organization in a collective manner and in most of the organization presently it is a continuous process with regularly different employees attending it and graduate. In a Training and development procedure there are three basic activities which are undertaken to improve the skill set of a person (Foot, et al. 2016).

Task 3

3.1 Assess the link between motivational theory and reward at Virgin Media or your chosen organisation. Your answer must show if you think there is a link, what connects the two.

Ans: - First and the most basic motivating factor for the employees is the salary. It is the fundamental inducement and exerts maximum influence over the employees to work with their full potential and achieve higher performance. As per Sara et al (2007), none of the motivational approach may beat money and monetary incentives as it is not only essential for fulfilling basic needs but also increase the job satisfaction level of staff. Employees must be offered reasonable salaries for their work and their extra efforts and high performance must be recognised and appraised by providing them with bonuses, increased pay or other similar rewards.

Rewards play a very important role in motivation of an employee towards better performance and efficiency in their role. I believe in this scenario reward and motivation would play a very strong role in employee acceptance of this impending change. Merger of two companies is a change which would require a lot of motivation, various rewards and awards and also some change management techniques. Effective motivation, remuneration and training boost the performance of the organization which leads to increase in sales and profitability. Providing proper incentives and bonus to employees according to their performance will always encourage them to work better as they know that greater output would lead to higher salary. Proper training and motivation will enhance their ability to work. HR is the interface between a potential new employee and the organization. So they should act accordingly so that the impression of the organization is all but well maintained in the minds of the employees (Thompson, 2011). Whenever an employee joins an organization it should be made sure that HR policies are shared with them in proper documentation and each point should be clarified in detail. Every organization has its own unique culture. So the HR should make sure that whoever is recruited is fit for the organizational culture. Employee motivation is often the most critical factor to extract the best out of every employee. Considering this, HR should play the vital role in defining the financial and the non-financial rewards as well to recognize the appreciable performances. There are many other HR practices which should be followed by the Human Resource staffs to make sure their organization is the best place to work at for their employees and they carry a sense of pride to be the employee of that organization (Thompson, 2011).

3.2 Evaluate the process of job evaluation and other factors determining pay at Virgin Media or your chosen organisation

Job evaluation process at Google Inc is a 360 degree process which uses Balance Score card to assess the performance of an employee. Management of performance is interactive and participatory framework. The basic operation inherent is to agree upon a set of standard practices by different parties in an organization, so as to strike a balance between utilization of resource, set of objectives to be met. The goal of performance management is to establish standard performance guidelines so that employees could work individually and collectively to meet organizational goals and objectives (Saks and Belcourt, 2006).

3.3 Assess in different contexts (for e.g. attracting talent, retention, and motivation) how effective is the reward systems at Virgin Media or your chosen organisation?

Ans: - Attracting talent: - Google is able to attract the best of the talent in entire industry through its unique HR policies, compensation and benefits which cannot be matched by any of the competitors easily. They offer flexible working hours; there is no conventional means of assessing performance and best of the compensation in industry.

Retention strategies:- Google uses retention strategies like bonuses with long employment period and stock options to its loyal employees which would act as their long term investments. Offices and work stations which are offered by Google to its employees do not look like a conventional office and it increases the job satisfaction level of employee while working with Google. The level to which an organization is desirable for the employees is totally dependent on the efficiency of the human resource executives and the human resource managers. Some of the best practices over the globe to be followed by the Human Resource of Google Inc to retain and attract best of the talents in industry.

3.4 Examine the methods Virgin Media or your chosen organisation use to monitor employee performance.

Employee performance monitoring and assessment is a continuous and priority activity in Google Inc. The top  business management  has to take the initiative by organizing performance improvement programs which can be monitored very strictly (Rao, 2004). The output level of the individual employees is assessed with proper attention so that it is ensured that the performance improvement program has delivered positive results. The employees are evaluated using a robust 360 degree performance improvement so that they don’t feel that their efforts are not recognized in the best possible way. If the appraisal process is not that efficient then the entire purpose of performance improvement would go in vain.

Task 4

4.1 Identify the reasons for termination of Faisal’s employment contract with The Chicken Master and generally explain other reasons for cessation of employment.

The primary reason of termination of Faisal’s employment is not able to be physically present at work place during work hours to discharge his duty and also doing his personal work of commercial purpose during working hours. This is a breach of contract between the employer and employee and it forms solid grounds for termination of services of an employee. Another reason which could be ground of questioning, suspension and giving a notice for termination is his indulgence in unethical practices like watching porn using infrastructure of work place which is specifically mentioned as a unacceptable practice in employee handbook (Kazanas, 2004).

There are various other reasons which can be ground for termination of services for an employee like being absent from work place for long period of time without any information or intimation to employer, inability to perform the job role due to physical or mental incapacity, indulgence in criminal or unethical practices, breaching of employer,-employee agreement and data security, taking employment at another place or involved in a entrepreneurial activity during working hours, using resources of employer for personal benefits, legally not allowed to take an employment in a country and inability to meet the reasonable expectation of work even after repetitive chances and training are some of the primary reasons of termination of employment of a person (Farndale, et al. 2010).

4.2 Describe the employment exit procedures used by The Chicken Master and another organisation of your choice.

Ans: - Employment exit procedure which is used by Chicken Master is very casual in nature and it is following more of a hire and fire process which is often observed in contractual work force. During hiring process there was following up of some formalities like giving a job handbook and acknowledging its receipt but as a part of exit procedure there was no formality of giving a notice or giving a warning if an employee is found guilty of breaching the work contract. It is mentioned in the case study that Faisal (the employee) used to take frequent breaks during work hours without informing any one and there was no mentioning of any official warning or notice being given to him for his lack of discipline and he was not officially informed about the impending actions if his ways are not changed.

Organizations like Google have a very strict and formal exit policy which includes formal notice period, severance pay, time period sufficient given to employee to find an alternative employment and a formal exit interview to get a clear view of the reasons behind termination. Lastly it is also observed that such companies would have a legal department who would ensure that the joining letter, their notices and their termination letter would have all the legal requirement and clauses mentioned and they would be informed under what clause their services are revoked and when is their notice period ends. Employees are also given a proper chance to raise their grievances if they think they are wrongfully terminated in Google which is lacking in the given case study (Beardwell and Thompson, 2015).

4.3 Consider the impact of the legal and regulatory framework on employment cessation arrangements with an organisation such as The Chicken Master if Faisal’s claim was proven to be true.

If the claims made by Faisal are proven to be true then it would have a devastating impact on the organization, their current hiring and termination process. According to acts like Fair Work Act, 2009 (amend. 2014), Employment Rights Act, 1966 and Equality Act 2010 company would be subject to severe penalties, reinstatement of the employment of Faisal and they would be asked to change their ways of employee hiring and termination etc. Company would also be subject to various audits by labour department and they will have provided detailed information of their labour related activities to the government on a periodic basis (Brown, 2001).

References

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