Unit 18 Human Resources Management Assignmnet - Harrods Ltd

Introduction

Human resource management works as a key to open all the locks of success for an organization. For achieving the organizational targets every company needs to hire a human resource team as they deal with day-to-day challenges in this dynamic global market. The HR department provides platform to the employees to increase their knowledge and skills, organize training and development programs that are required for the success of the organization. Therefore, in this assignment we will learn about the working and complexities of the human resource management and their criteria for recruitment and selection of interns. The various methods used by them for job appraisal and the reasons for employees termination will also be cleared through this assignment. And finally what rules and legislations are set by government for the organization will be cleared in this assignment. The organization we have chosen is Harrods plc.

Task 1

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

Harrods is an example of human resource management company that makes quality and luxury goods and Advance personnel management is an organization that gives employment and injury management which aids people to work in any circumstances. Although both HRM and PM lay emphasis on people management but HRM is an expansive branch of PM. Differences between human resource management and personnel management are:

• Personnel management is a relationship between the management and employees where managers hire the employees and employees have to perform. On the other hand HRM focuses on working in unified way as a team like in Harrods.
• In Advance Personnel Management Company more stress is laid on managing the workforce rather than resource where as human resource management at Harrods focuses on securing the management objectives which includes achievement of organizational goals along with personal goals.
• Personnel management is a traditional approach where the main motive is to ensure the set of activities for employees like payrolls and relation with subordinates. Human resource management is a modern technique to bring all the employees under one roof in order to achieve organizational goals.
• In personnel management, the decision making power lies in the hand of top management. On the other hand, the management of Harrods uses the technique of decentralization of power where responsibilities are distributed by top authority to middle and lower management.
• Personnel management enforces the rules and norms that are hard to follow. The employees have to abide by the regulations as per the employment contract. Harrods aims to go beyond contract. It provides flexibility to its employees. The flexible approach motivates employees to contribute their knowledge and skills towards organization’s objectives. The Harrods provides flexible working hours to its female employees which cannot be seen in personnel management. (Nayab, 2015)

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

With the help of the best human resource management team, Harrods has become world’s most promising departmental store with its prominent performance.

• Succession planning: to achieve organizational goals, the HR team analysis the current workforce and their capability. Succession planning helps the HR team of Harrods in identifying those employees who are promising. Then they give training to those employees they need for transitioning for higher level and responsible jobs within the company.
• Workforce mobility: at Harrods, employees are trained to perform their job at all the departments of the organization. This brings diversity in work and company gets to know which employee expertise in which department. By increasing different job functions, employees can strengthen their skills and proficiency. Workforce mobility helps in increasing profitability and achieving desired targets.
• Collaboration: in order to enhance the skills of the employees at Harrods, managers and HR team collaborate to improvise their performance. For example, the suggestions are provides by HR team to managers and supervisors that how the work is to be assigned to employees for different profiles in the organization.
• Commitment Building: At Harrods HR team also give ideas for building employee commitment in achieving the organization goals. It starts when company hires the employees for the correct positions according to their knowledge and skills. Once recruited, employees are dedicated to their jobs and are provided challenged tasks by their manager. (Bianca, 2015)

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

The responsibilities of the line managers at Harrods are as follows:

• Employee engagement: the approach used by the line managers to superintend their employees is the employee engagement. At Harrods, HR experts assess employees’ engagement by conducting surveys but engagement is generated by the line managers only. In order to increase productivity, the line managers motivate employees to cooperate, engage and coordinate towards common goals. The line managers who give importance to the negative factors of the employees are more likely to disengage employees.
• Performance appraisal: at Harrods, the line manager evaluates and assesses the job performance of an employee. Accordingly, they provide feedback to the employee in a meeting. The feedback should be loud and clear delivered in a serious and understandable way. If manager himself is inattentive during the process, appraisal loses its credibility.
• Safety and health: the line manager at Harrods is responsible for the safety of the employees. Safety is related to avoiding injuries while working. There is a regular check-up if machines are in good conditions and if they are operated in a proper way. It is also the responsibility of a line manager to keep employees free from physical and mental stress.
• Disciplining employees: Discipline at organization starts with the application of rules and regulations. The HR team is responsible to make policies and rules edited by the line managers. The rules enforced by the line managers control the behaviour and performance of the employees. Disciplining employees promotes dedication and seriousness at Harrods. (MacDonalds, 2016)

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

In order to avoid exploitation of employees, UK government has made some legal and regulatory laws which are as follows:                                                       

• Equal pay act, 1970: this law states that employees should be paid according to their qualification and job performance. There should be no discrimination among the employees on the basis of remuneration.
• Sex discrimination act, 1975/1995/1997: this law states that no male or female should be biased on basis of their gender. Job should be given on basis of their capability and not gender.
• Race relations act (1992-amended 2000): this law is to protect the employees against racism, caste, creed, colour, nationality and religion in the field of employment.
• Disability discrimination act (1995-amended 2005): this law has protected the disabled people from being deprived of employment. People can’t discriminate other people on the grounds of their disabilities.
• Employment equality act (sexual orientation, religion and belief) (2003; Equality act 2010): this act is similar to Race Relation act that states that there should be no inequality on basis of caste, race and religion.
• Employment act (2008): this act is made in order to settle disputes between employer and employee.
• Work and families act (2006): this provision is made for the employees to manage their family and work life. Maternity leaves and payments for mothers and new leaves for father have introduced like paternity leave, less working hours etc.
• Data protection act (1998): states the management of confidential data that how it should be stored, transferred and destroyed within the premises itself. (The Crown Prosecution Service, 2016)

Task 3

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

Motivation is a process of inculcating and inspiring the employees to perform their best. Virgin media follows Maslow’s and Herzberg’s theories of motivation. Maslow’s theory helps in the identification of needs and motives whereas Herzberg’s theory provides the insights into the goals needed to satisfy those needs.

Maslow’s theory of needs

• Physiological needs:  The physical survival need of anyone is basic necessities i.e. food, water and shelter. Virgin media offers competitive salary to its employees which are important to fulfil their basic requirements.
• Safety:  Job security, health and insurance are included under this heading. Virgin media provides private health care, life insurance, company pension schemes and staff protection scheme to its employees.
• Social needs: At Virgin media, employees feel the sense of belonging. They socialize with other team members and that’s how their social needs are fulfilled.
• Self-esteem: at virgin media, management identifies the need of self-confidence and self-esteem. They provide opportunities to raise their status by allotting them important projects which increases their confidence.
• Self-actualization: having accomplished all the needs, employees realize their potential. At virgin media, demanding situations are given to the employees where they use their skills and realize their potential.

Herzberg’s theory of motivation

• Frederick Herzberg stated that individuals have two types of needs- hygiene factors and motivational factors. Hygiene factors include work presentation, supervision and representation. He founded that hygiene factors generated no growth in capacity of workers. Motivational factors include incentives, promotions, achievements and development discussions. He found that these factors have positive impact on the employees. At Virgin Media, employees are highly motivated and are giving 90 percent of their capacity. They have good working relationship with team and are well paid and good working conditions.
• Rewards:  Virgin media realizes that rewards are one of the motivating factors for their employees. It offers schemes like ASPIRE field pay and reward scheme. This inspires the employees to achieve organizational goals. (Panay, 2016)

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

• Job evaluation: it is an appropriate series of describing the job and categorizing them according to that. The management at Virgin media aids to make fair remuneration for the employees using this process. The jobs from all departments are evaluated and analyzed. It has following steps.
• Job description: under this process, job is analyzed by identifying the responsibilities and roles of the performing the job. It is a list maintained for the purpose of assigning duties, position reports or skills a person might need in the job. 
• Job specification: The knowledge related to the job is measured in job specification. It is a statement of the important factors of a job that includes job performed, minimum qualification required and responsibilities and duties that is required to do a particular task.

Factors determining the pay at Virgin Media:

• Job rotation: it is a procedure under which workers are given projects which are not related their departments in order to promote flexibility and keeping the interest of the employees to stay at virgin media. It improves the versatility of the employees giving wider scope of understanding the business strategy.
• Job experience: the more the employee is experienced and knowledgeable about the job position the higher the amount he is paid. Outstanding experience might lead to extraordinary pay.
• Awards and honours: the ones who have received honours or awards in their field of work can add this up in their resume. It will further help in areas of job promotions which will be ultimately helpful in making difference to salary.
• Salary history: the salary the employee made at his last jobs also effects his future remuneration. At Virgin media, employee is paid higher than his previous job bases on the job position he holds when he is recruited.
• Educational achievements: the employees are well qualified at Virgin media. The one who holds master’s degree are paid higher than the ones who holds bachelor’s degree. (Mathis, Jackson, and Valentine, 2013)

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 organization.

Virgin media supports a functional system of rewards that influences the employees. The reward system motivates employees so they work with full dedication and give cent percent result. The employees work hard to achieve incentives and bonus. The company maintains the healthy and confident environment which motivates employees to work with positive attitude. At Virgin media, services to customers and providing quality are the top priorities. When employees get appraisal they work with full proficiency which in result the increased productivity and profit for the organization.

The Virgin Media ensure that every employee who is a part of organization should be benefitted with pension plans, dental care, life insurance, paid holidays, staff saving plans, bonus plans, cover from critical illness, private healthcare, and special discounts on every product of Virgin Media in order to make them stay and keep their interest in the company. The reward system at virgin media is one of the factors of motivation to employees that inspire them to use their skill with proficiency. Schemes like ASPIRE field pay have been introduced to encourage employees. The Reward system attracts other candidates to work with the organization. Salary hike, incentives, bonuses, compensation are the ways of rewarding and appraising. (Virgin Media, 2016)

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

Great performance of the employees is the key to success in an organization. Their performance directly affects the customers. At Virgin Media, different methods are used to monitor the performance of the employee. Usually the employees who deal directly with the customers are monitored.

• Providing feedback: the regular monitoring and observing of the job done by employees.  Reviews are given accordingly. Delaying feedback can increase problems because of which small yet powerful chances could be missed by the employees.
• Identify the best employee: the Virgin media identifies its best employees if he has completed the given target. He can be set as role model for the other employees as well. Identifying the best employee validates organization’s expectations for employee performance.
• Sharing opinions: ideas and thoughts shared by employees for the future growth of the company are taken into consideration. These ideas are then applied practically. Based on that, the employees’ performances are monitored.
• Appraisal of 360 degrees: this is the method in which feedback is provided by the subordinates associated with the employee. It is one of the most effective ways to monitor the employee’s performance.
• Administer monthly or annual training: Virgin media conducts training programs monthly or annually to improve the job, time management and brings improvement in employees which enable them to work in new situations. (Wohner, 2016)

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.

Following are the causes for the cessation of employment:

• Poor Performance: one of the few reasons for firing Faisal was his poor performance. He was inattentive and was unable to give satisfactory performance. Although he had 15 years of experience in restaurant management, still he was unable to organize and direct the restaurant. He was unable to supervise his subordinates and did not maintain the cleanliness at the store.
• Violation of company policy: using company’s equipment for personal management use was strictly prohibited at The Chicken Master. Faisal violated this policy. He used to watch porn at nights. He was found mailing his wife and helping his children doing homework. He was also designing his own restaurant which was against company’s policy.
• Less attendance: one of the major reasons for terminating Faisal was absenteeism. There is a certain level of attendance every employee has to maintain at The Chicken Master, failing to do so can result in cessation of employment. Faisal usually took time off the work designing his own restaurant without informing anyone.
• Attitude of the employee: the behaviour of the employee has a great influence on the company. There are etiquettes of behaving around the work place. Inappropriate and disrespectful behaviour of Faisal towards his work led to the termination of his employment at The Chicken Master. (Doyle, 2016)

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

The Chicken Master and Chicken Cottage follow the same procedure for cessation of employment:

• Notify the employee:  The management of The Chicken Master as well as Chicken Cottage is responsible for informing the employees about their termination. There has to be at least one witness present at the time of the termination process.
• Meeting:  the cause of cessation is told in the private meeting to the employee. No meeting is held if the employee relaqtion themselves.
• Disable the employees’ access: While terminating the employees, their right to access the office and other sources of the office such as important computer, and cabin gets ceased too. They are not allowed to enter the premises without any legal authorization.
• Notice period: if the employee resigns himself, then he has to give notice period as per the contract. If he does not give the notice period then he is bound to pay the amount for the incomplete notice period.
• If the company terminates the employee then they are liable to give notice period to the employee so that in the mean time they can apply for new jobs. If company is unable to give notice period, then they are liable to pay for the incomplete notice period.
• Settlement of dues: each department is aware about the cessation of employee.  The departments are given authority for ceasing the access to smart cards, identity card, credit cards, employee’s handbooks etc. The final payment id given by the management and records are kept confidential.
• The exit interview: it is like a reminder to the ceased employees that they are not the part of the company anymore and they do not have any access to the company’s property or documents. (Stewart, 2016)

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

Faisal can come out clean only if The Chicken Master has not issued the notice period. According to UK regulatory framework:

• Notice period: The UK government has made it mandatory in all the organizations to give notice period prior to the termination of the employee and have to leave the company. The time period of the notice depend purely on employment of the employee. The organization as well as the employee is bound to give the notice period as stated in the employment contract.
• If employee resigns at his own will, he has to give notice period to the organization of a week as stated in government regulatory framework or as mentioned in employment contract. A formal resignation letter has to be given by the employee.
• If the termination of the employee is made by the company, then the company should state the least sanctioned time period to the employee as acknowledged in the employment contract. The notice period of statutory is as follows:
• If the company is unable to give the notice period to the employee, they are liable to pay the amount to the employee as agreed in the employment contract.
• If employee is unable to pay to the company amount due as stated in the notice period, then he has to pay dues of the incomplete notice period.                                                            
• If the employee is accused of any serious offense such as violation of policy, theft or fraud, he will be dismissed without giving any prior notice with immediate effects. Proper investigation is conducted into the matter and proving the accused before dismissing the employee.
• Payment: after the cessation of employment, the employee gets the due payment. The company has to settle all the unclear dues after the termination of the employee. (The Crown Prosecution service, 2016)

Conclusion

The human resource management plays a significant part in the development of the organization. The techniques and approaches used by the HR team are often productive and beneficial. The methods used by them not only motivate employees for obtaining organizational goals but also inspire them to achieve personal objectives. This assignment has illuminated us with various aspects of the human resource management in an organization such as difference between human resource management and personnel development, job evaluation, job specification, cessation of employment of the employee and how to abide by the rules of the government regulatory framework within the organization.

References

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