Human Resource Management Assignment Chicken Master

Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Human Resource Management Chicken Master
QFC Level	Level 4

Introduction

This human resource management assignment chicken master study deals with the various aspects related to human resource management. The organisation taken into consideration is McDonalds and the various HRM functions prevalent there have been analysed. The various responsibilities of line managers have been identified and the importance of  human resource planning  has been analysed. The differences between personnel and human resource management have also been provided.

This study also contains a case study dealing with Faisal and Bob at the Chicken master. The various reasons for Faisal’s dismissal have been accounted for along with an analysis of the legal consequences arising if Faisal’s claim of discrimination by sex is proved right.

Task 1

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

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT	HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
The approach of management that predominantly deals with the working contingent that is the staff and the employees and other subordinates.	The management uses an approach to most optimally use the resources at hand ensuring that no unnecessary wastage of resources is done.
They believe in the give and take policy and hence high levels of transactional leadership can be associated	Managers tend to look at the future and employ personalised forms of leadership which can be associated with transformational leadership
Payment is on the basis of evaluation of job	Payment is on the basis of evaluation of performance.
Mundane and routine function can be associated	A more strategic outlook is adopted by the Human Resource team
Equipments and machineries are dealt with by the Personnel Management team	Assets are taken into consideration over equipments
One of the popular practices is division of labour (Managementstudyguide, 2016)	Groups and team formation is laid emphasis on
Laidback and considerably slow decision making can be associated	Decision making is swift.
It is one of the oldest and most traditional styles of management	This is a more modern approach perfectly in sync with the modern day mode of operations.

The Personnel Management example can be taken of CAPCO. A study by James Hedges on this institute stated that size does affect the fund’s performance. He states that the advantage of a large asset base comprises of efficiency in brokerage and credible bargaining power of service providers. This complements the Personnel Management skills and the challenges posed on alpha exploration with the ability to identify new stars for the generation to come and future cash cows. (Vancas, 2010)

The Human Resource Management example can be taken of McDonalds.

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

One of the aspects that the human resource practices lay emphasis on is the high levels of structured training that the employees are entitled to in McDonalds. The employees operating at the initial level are imparted stern levels of basic crew training system. A majority of the training deals with on the job training that is prevalent in the organisation. The initial level starts with the orientation module. All major outlets of McDonalds have their own designated training room with the necessary equipments such as recorder and video player. The management development programme is made available to the employees when they are promoted to the position of swing managers. The skills of the employees with regards to management and other technical avenues are achieved here. Once the required knowledge has been attained by the employees, then he is ready to be promoted to the position of assistant manager and once this happens, an employee acquires eligibility to be trained at the Hamburger University. Global levels of management training are imparted in the University.  Team building and development of the employees are two things that are given a lot of significance to in this University. (Business2000, 2016)

A well designed bonus or incentive system has been kept in place which consists of a lot of perks such as discounts on hair, life insurance, wages that are competitive in nature, etc. The primary objective of McDonalds is to become one of the best examples of prioritizing customer satisfaction and the human resource management sees to it that the employees are developed accordingly. Meeting Individual preferences of customers can go a long way in ensuring customer satisfaction. 

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

Customer satisfaction is the primary objective of McDonalds and the line managers go a long way in establishing it. The role exhibited by them is really impressive and constructive. The type of management approach taken by them can be related to a middle stage management where emphasis is laid on both the employees and the job as well. Their concern is extensive in nature ranging from the operations of the employees to the training provided to them but the most significant objective remains the full proof satisfaction of the consumers as well as maintaining high standards of product quality.

The style exhibited by the line managers is task oriented in nature and this effectively motivates the people and the employees to get the job done specially the ones which are un-enterprising and boring in nature. They are motivated at all times so that a lot of energy can be associated with them on a regular basis. (Jones, 2009)

Apart from all this, other responsibilities of line managers include maintaining the budget allocation, control of the various inventories, etc. Day to day functions is ably administered by the managers regularly. Plans are implemented and managers ensure that they are executed properly without any loopholes. A gap in the organisation is possible at different junctures but line managers ensure that these gaps are filled efficiently wherever required. The importance of customer satisfaction is inculcated among the employees and they are taught the various ways in which customer service can be improved and enhanced so that McDonalds keeps on re-establishing itself as a customer driven brand focusing primarily on the well being and satisfaction of the customers.  

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

The legal and regulatory frameworks impact the human resource management in the following ways.

• The Equality Act, 2010: Protected Characteristics were determined under this act by the virtue of which no kind of voluntary or involuntary discrimination can be made against any employee or manager as a result of the human resource management practices on grounds of age, sex, physical orientation, pregnancy, maternity, etc. The Equality Act contains many amended acts that were formulated as one a few years back and this act ensures equality throughout the organisation. (Robinson & Uppal, 2012)
• The Race Relations Act, 1976: The UK parliament formulated this law to ensure that no discrimination is made on the grounds of ethnicity, colour, nationality, etc and all human resource management practices should comply with these norms.
• Sex Discrimination Act, 1975: By the virtue of the compilation of this act, protection is provided to both men and women from being discriminated on the grounds of gender or relationship status. This is one of the acts that was later amended as the Equality Act and mainly focuses on avenues like education, employment, training, etc.
• The National Minimum Wage Act, 1998: According to the formulation of this set of legislation, a standard minimum wage has to be provided to the employees across the UK no matter what job they are doing. The standard rates are demarcated on the basis of age group. For employees above the age of 21, the rate stands at 7.20 pounds per hour and for employees ranging within 18-20 years, the rate stands at 5.30 pounds per hour. All organisations have to adhere to this rate policy across all of the United Kingdom.

Task 2

2.1 Analysing the reasons for human resource planning

The various reasons for human resource planning are the following

• Effective implementation of human resources planning will ensure that there is never a lack of workforce in the office and optimum resources are always available.
• The impact of technology of human resources practices can be documented in advance through proper human resource planning.
• All the shortages and drawbacks resulting out of various human resource practices can be detected in advance through the procedure of proper planning.
• The future requirements that may be significant to the organisation can be allocated and forecasted properly well in advance.
• Resources should be made use of optimally so that not much is wasted and proper human resource planning ensures this. (Noe & Wright, 2016)
• Emergency
• Emergency situations can be well tackled as proper planning ensures that the worst case scenarios are taken into account and prepared for well in advance.
• Proper Human Resource Planning ensures that a competent group of employees exist or is waiting to exist in the organisation that will help in countering the adverse situations during times when an employee quits or retires.
• Adverse scenarios such as employee turnover and crisis handling can be countered as these situations are well anticipated in advance and thus are handled tactfully when they actually occur.
• Conflicts are bound to be prevalent at workplace. Proper planning anticipates the conflicts and in order to counter them develop and adopt various employee retention and development programmes and a proper workplace is provided so that the chances of conflicts can be diminished as much as possible.
•  Demand and Supply  balance can be achieved through effective human resources planning.

2.2 Outlining the stages involved in planning human resource requirements

The stages that deal with planning HR requirements include:

• Human Resource Supply: The initial stage of planning deals with properly assessing human resource availability. Various human resource skills are assessed and rechecked that include competencies, experience, talents, age, posts, grades, etc. Interviews can be conducted with the different managers to understand what the shortages are that need to be refilled and what needs to be modified. Emphasis on supplies is laid accordingly.
• Future Demand: One of the toughest things to do is analyse what the requirements for the future are. A lot of factors complicate the estimation or forecasting process such as employee’s pre mature resignation, death or insolvency of an employee, dismissal of an employee, etc. All these factors are analysed minutely before the forecast for demand is made. The future planning is beneficial to the company as it makes the company prepared to deal with consequences and modifications of operations in the future. (Richards, 2016)
• Demand Forecast of Human Resource: One of the most important tasks is to understand what needs to be allotted for the future. For this purpose, the strategy formulated has to be re-visited and understood to make any pertinent calls regarding demand for the future. The organisational objectives are considered before the forecast of demand is made. Various considerations are done in this stage like where the company exists right now and where it should be, etc.
• Sourcing Strategy & Effective Implementation: The analysis done in the planning procedure deals with identifying gaps and loopholes in the organisation. The plan prepared is implemented for execution. The various gaps include recruitment, selection, revising guidelines, implementing employee development programmes, etc.

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

The current recruitment and selection process can be compared to that of the selection process in McDonalds. There are four primary stages of recruitment and selection in McDonalds.

• Online Application Form: This is the primary step where candidates are required to provide their basic information like name, sex and educational qualifications are also assessed as candidates have to write about their educational background. The candidates are also required to provide a five hundred word answer to six competency based questions. Emphasis is laid on factors like customer service, leadership, teamwork and career. The various questions are like “What is the time in which you established success in building a team?”, “What are your contributions in a situation of crisis that you have faced and what the consequences were?” etc.
• McDonalds Questionnaire: This stage comes in reckoning after the online application stage. This questionnaire deals with questions that are based on the personality aspect and this helps in understanding what the personal values are that the candidates possess and how it can be helpful or harmful for McDonalds if in case the candidate gets selected.
• On the Job training and evaluation: Assessment is the key in this stage and the managers assess the performance quality of the candidates by evaluating them after they have been provided training but in a real life organisational environment. The candidates are taught on aspects such as customer service, maintenance of equipments, cash handling etc. Health and hygiene is also laid due emphasis on. How to handle customer queries is also taught and then an evaluation is done during working hours at the floor itself. (About McDonalds, 2016)
• Final Interview: This is a stage that is eligible for only those candidates who have come this far and a direct face to face interview is conducted. Basic questions like the reason of joining, etc are asked and this is a stage where the candidates can aim at getting their queries about the company answered.

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

It has to be said that the recruitment and selection procedure of McDonalds in comparison to the organisation in hand is far more effective, transparent, procedural and informative in nature. The selection procedure of my organisation consists of just two steps. The first being a telephonic interview followed by a face to face interview. In such a case, it might be possible that the recruiters get deceived by a candidate as these two stages are not enough to guarantee the selection of the right personnel. A relative idea is attained out of the selection stages and on that basis the candidates are given a chance.

McDonalds on the other hand have an online application process which is followed by a personality test. This helps in establishing the actual character of the candidate before his skills and competencies. The personality test gives an idea as to who are the employees that can crack under pressure and the ones who will deliver the best performance under pressure. The competency questions in the application round also ensure that a bulk of information about the candidate’s thought process is acquired. One of the most significant parts of the selection procedure is the on the job training that is facilitated at McDonalds. This helps the managers in understanding which candidate is most likely to perform under the real life situation and which employees need more training. After this the final interview is help which is more of a interaction round where finally the selection of a candidate gets validated. This is a process that is beneficial for the organisation as they know which candidate is best suited for them and also for the candidates who understand that what is required off them to be a part of McDonalds.

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.

Motivation is one thing that is deeply ingrained in the organisation and the employees at McDonalds. Attainment of organisational objectives working as a team is one of the primary targets and this can be achieved if proper levels of motivation are prevalent among the teams and the groups.

One of the most renowned motivational theories is that of Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. In this theory he suggests that there are five levels of needs that are prevalent among individuals. The first level of need is known as the physiological level of need which comprise of the basic needs like food, water, oxygen, etc. The second level of need can be termed as the safety need which comprises of factors such as security, shelter, etc. The third level of needs refers to the social needs where an individual has to satisfy his urge of socialising and public interaction, love, belongingness, etc.  The fourth stage is the self esteem needs where the need to attain esteem desires are fulfilled like achievements, rewards, promotion, purchase of a premium car, etc. The final level of need comprises of the self actualisation of a human being where an individual attains maximum potential in his life. (Maslow, 2013)

Education programmes, uniforms, etc can be related to the physiological need of an employee at McDonalds. Future development programmes and various insurance policies like life insurance,  health and safety  insurance etc account for the safety level of need. The love and belonging need is satisfied by a transparent level of interaction between managers and employees. The self esteem needs can be associated with promotions, rewards, bonus & incentives etc. The self actualisation need is fulfilled in McDonalds once an employee gets as award at the award ceremonies that McDonalds have like Ray Kroc awards, etc.   (About McDonalds, 2016)

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

McDonalds is one of the largest chains of fast food restaurants in the world and for this reason it might not be viable to track down the performance of each and every employee. That is the reason why the collaborated team effort is recognised and rewarded. One of the procedures of job evaluation and payment is that the outlets that feature as the top 10% of the McDonald restaurants are provided with a bonus on a quarterly basis and the factors on which the payment is based on include shopper scores, sales and profit margin. (Tuck, 2013)

McDonalds has always ensured primary criteria for payment as performance. Payments are done on the basis of performance. The base payments are made according to the prevailing industry standard. Two kinds of incentives are introduced to the employees. They are short term incentives and long term incentives. A short term incentive relates to the additional income that an employee earns over his base pay and this is evaluated annually. McDonalds also has long term incentives in place which caters to the current development of the employees in relation to the future generation of business for McDonalds. Non Monetary appreciations include awards and recognition programmes. The various kinds of awards include Presidents’ Award, Circle of Excellence Award, and Ray Kroc awards, etc. There is another non monetary incentive known as the Car Programme. McDonalds provides a car to all employees who deserve enough and the car can be utilized for both personal and professional purposes and the cost incurred on insurance is also provided by the company which means that it is a Win Win situation for the employees.

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

• Motivation: Taking Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs into consideration. Education programmes, uniforms, etc can be related to the physiological need of an employee at McDonalds. Future development programmes and various insurance policies like life insurance, health insurance etc account for the safety level of need. The love and belonging need is satisfied by a transparent level of interaction between managers and employees. The self esteem needs can be associated with promotions, rewards, bonus & incentives etc. The self actualisation need is fulfilled in McDonalds once an employee gets as award at the award ceremonies that McDonalds have like Ray Kroc awards, etc.  
• Retention: Employee Retention at McDonalds is achieved by putting in place the various employee development and recognition programmes along with all the bonus and incentive schemes. The training at the Hamburger University and other incentive schemes such as the Car Programme helps in establishing morale and motivation among the employees and as a result they focus on staying within McDonalds and are motivated in achieving the organisational objectives. Fewer turnovers of employees are directly proportional to the retention of the employees. (Light, 2009)
• Attracting Talent: The initial level starts with the orientation module. All major outlets of McDonalds have their own designated training room with the necessary equipments such as recorder and video player. The management development programme is made available to the employees when they are promoted to the position of swing managers. The skills of the employees with regards to management and other technical avenues are achieved here. Once the required knowledge has been attained by the employees, then he is ready to be promoted to the position of assistant manager and once this happens, an employee acquires eligibility to be trained at the Hamburger University. Global levels of management training are imparted in the University.  Team building and development of the employees are two things that are given a lot of significance to in this University.

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

Assessment is the key in this stage and the managers assess the performance quality of the candidates by evaluating them after they have been provided training but in a real life organisational environment. The candidates are taught on aspects such as customer service, maintenance of equipments, cash handling etc. Health and hygiene is also laid due emphasis on. How to handle customer queries is also taught and then an evaluation is done during working hours at the floor itself. The on the job training is one of the most efficient means of understanding or monitoring the employee performance at McDonalds. It is the best way to understand what the employee lacks and what he is efficient and good at. The shortcomings can be improved and the strong points can be further rebuilt.

Employee performance is monitored not individually but franchise or outlet wise. The sales growth is analysed of the different franchisees along with the profit ratio and margin. The outlets that exhibit a poor sales ratio and a weak profit margin consistently over an elongated period of time mean that the employees are not efficient enough in their service or relationship building and the outlets that show a considerable rise in sales and strong profit margin are duly rewarded and recognised by applying the incentive and bonus scheme. (About McDonalds, 2016)

Read About :-  Aspect of Contract Business

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.

Faisal was terminated because of the following:

• The kitchen and the front of the shop were always unkept and untidy.
• The food was not of the acceptable standards and no supervision was provided to the employees
• Taking unauthorised leaves that Faisal used to take during working hours did not help his case either.
• Faisal refused to show any marked improvement even after Bob had tried his luck in improving him.
• Faisal was a porn watcher at the back office on a regular basis and spent most of the working hours in emailing his wife.
• Faisal violated the regulations of the company that clearly state that office equipments cannot be used for personal implementation and that is exactly what Faisal did by watching pornography.

Various reasons for cessation of employment include:

• Low performance: If an employee fails to register good performance for an extended period of time, thus causing harm and loss to the company by contributing to a diminishing sales ration and failing to register any profit, then the employee can be terminated on the grounds of under-performance.
• Behaviour: The behaviour of an employee should reinforce the respect of managers and other employees and any violation in the code of conduct exhibited during office hours should be penalised and if the degree of violation reaches to an extent that disrupts the harmony of the workplace and harms the employees, then an employee can be terminated on the grounds of poor code of conduct. (Joseph, 2016)
• Absenteeism: Another factor is attendance. If an employee voluntarily taken a leave for ingenuine or unreasonable reasons, then strict action should be taken against the employee. On further repetition of the same, an employee can be terminated on the grounds of low attendance. 

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

The Chicken Master used the exit procedures pertaining to low performance and violation of company policies. The kitchen and the other surrounding were kept untidy on a daily basis which meant that there was absolute lack of hygiene and cleanliness. The performance procedure was breached along with the violation of regulations as he used the office equipments for dismal purposes like watching Pornography. Mainly on these two grounds he was terminated.

McDonalds Exit Procedures include:

• Hygiene and Cleanliness
• Physical Appearance and tendencies
• Wastage of resources
• Pilferage
• Working in an inebriated state
• Vandalism
• The Code of Conduct is very important for the employees to comply with.
• Physical or Verbal Abuse leading to disharmony.
• Violation of Employee handbook. (McDonalds.co.uk, 2014)

These are the main procedures the violation of which may entail in an employee being sacked or terminated at McDonalds.

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.

Faisal has registered a complaint against Bob on the grounds of discrimination by sex or gender. This is not in compliance with the Equality Act of 2010 that clearly states that no discrimination can be made within an organisation on the grounds of age, sex, culture, etc.

Faisal claim, if proven true would mean that Bob would be charged on the grounds of discrimination. The following consequences can crop up.

• Not only Faisal but the entire organisation will be subjected to the implementation provided by the Tribunal
• The Tribunal might hold up the managers responsible for such an act of discrimination and may recommend the initiation and design of more competent manager development and training programmes.
• The policy of Equal opportunity may be asked to revise by the Tribunal which would mean that a fresh set of guidelines and norms be created and made clear to the employees so that in future such situations can be avoided and harmony and peace can prevail. (Equalityhumanrights, 2016)

Conclusion

From the study we come to know that the pace of  decision making  is one of the most significant differences in personnel management and Human Resource Management. The various stages involved in planning have been discussed and the main ones include HR Supply and forecasting of demand. The various incentive and bonus schemes of McDonalds have also been analysed. 

In the case study, the main accusations against Faisal included the fact that he is unhygienic, watched pornography at office using office equipments, took unauthorised leaves and did not improve after being trained by Bob. The consequences of the case filed by Faisal based on discrimination by sex has also been analysed.

References

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Maslow, A (2013), A theory of Human Motivation, Simon & Schuster.
McDonalds.co.uk, (2014), what makes McDonalds, [Online], Available at: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/whatmakesmcdonalds/questions/work-with-us/working-hours/what-are-your-discipline-and-grievance-procedures-for-a-crew-member.html, Accessed on: 9th July, 2016.