Unit 21 Human Resource Management Assignment Sample

Task 1

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

The difference between personal management and human resource management could be defined as below:
The basic difference between personal management and human resource management is that the objective of personal management is to achieve efficiency at work and maintain justice whereas the objective of human resource management is to manage the most important assets of an organization which is the people working there. Secondly, as per my experience, personal management is more clerical by nature i.e. it is more about the salaries, employees laws etc. whereas human resource management is more about management of the employees i.e. more about motivation, development of employees etc. Thirdly, personal management is more about the individual employees whereas human resource management talks about broader aspects (Briscoe et al, 2011). This means that when we talk about personal management then the management is done to increase personal satisfaction of the employees in turn increasing their efficiency whereas in case of human resource management job is done in order to achieve the overall objective of the organization along with the employees’ goal.  
In personal management employees are just the ways with the help of whom the results can be achieved whereas in human resource management they are considered as an important and valuable resource of the company. The very prominent difference between the personal management and the human resource management is that in personal management the jobs are designed based on the division of labors whereas in HRM it is based on group or the team work. In personal management there are less trainings given to the employees whereas in human resource management the scope of training and development is more (Delaney & Huselid, 1996). These were some of the differences which I found between personal management and human resource management.
Being part of the human resource management team my role was to make sure that a combination of both personal management as well as human resource management should be used to make sure that company achieves its goals and objectives. This was achieved by aligning objectives and goals of the employees with the goals and objectives of the organization. By doing so I made sure that whenever the employee achieved his or her goal and objectives, the goals and the objectives of the company were also achieved. By this method both the company and the employees benefited.   

B. Evaluate the role and responsibilities of the line manager of your chosen organization

The company which I chose for this assignment is Acxiom which is an enterprise data, analytics and Software Company. It has been serving its customers for almost 40 years now. Line managers in this company are the managers who are directly involved in handling and managing the teams and the employees. The line managers are responsible for the efficiency of the people who report to them and are accountable to their superiors for the job done by their subordinates. The line managers continuously supervise their subordinates and measure their performance and reward them accordingly at the time of appraisal.
In most of the organizations especially in the small organizations, the role of HR is being taken care by the line managers. The general roles and responsibilities of a line manager are managing employees on daily basis, taking care of operational cost, giving knowledge on technical issues, distributing work among employees, monitoring the progress of the work on daily basis, handling and managing the clients and taking care of operative performance (Gavino et al, 2012).
Since line managers are in more interaction with the employees and they have more knowledge about the technical aspects of the job so in my organization Acxiom, both HR and the line managers works in coordination. For example in the process of recruitment, job analysis, job description and job specification are done by a HR but the final approval is being given by line manager. This is because he has more knowledge about the technical phases of the job. The ways of job advertisement and methods to do the advertisement are selected by HR as they have more knowledge about it (Guest, 2011).
Similarly, at the time of selection all the initial interviews, the initial tests and the reference or the background checks are done by HR but the last and the final interview is taken by a line manager. The manpower planning is also done after the combined meeting of HR and the line managers. The line managers are the people who would have the exact idea of required number of people in the organization. Even the training programs are planned by the line managers. However, they are coordinated and conducted by HR and the programs are decided by the HR managers (Hollenbeck et al, 1997). Hence it could be said that human resource and the line managers should work in coordination for the success of the company.  

c) Examine the organizational factors that affect the HRM function in your organization, outlining the impacts of legal and regulatory framework of the country. 

Today the companies are operating in a very turbulent market where there are a number of factors and parameters which causes a direct impact on the functioning of the company. Human resource management is no exceptions and is being affected by various factors. Broadly there are two factors - the external factors and the internal factors which affects the HRM functions.
The external factors which affects human resource management are changes in the legislative laws. This includes the changes in the minimum remuneration guidelines, changes in the safety policies etc. One of the other external factor is related to the technology. The human resource department must make sure that the employees must be aware about the technological advancements (Delaney & Huselid, 1996). Also in case if their computers or the phone calls are being monitored for the training purposes they must be told about it in advance.
The internal factors affecting the human resource management are changes in the top management i.e. the head or the CEO of the company is changed or the mergers and the acquisitions also had an effect on human resource management. Since my company is an information technology company, sometimes the company plans to close or stops its product, then that also causes a great impact on human resource management because it has to care of all the employees working on various projects of that product (Jiang, 2012).
Human resource management has got a very important role to play during such situation. A successful HRM is the one who is aware about all the external factors in much advance so that all the necessary steps could be taken in time. Also they should be well prepared in advance so that they can handle all the internal situations and make sure that any kind of external or the internal factors could not cause any negative impact on the company as well as the employees.  
There are many laws of the country which needs to be taken care while human resource planning. Hence the legal framework of the country affects the HRM. For example in our country any company has to abide by Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Race Discrimination Act 1976, Equal Pay Act 1970, Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Employment Act 2002 while planning HRM.

Task 2   

A. Explain how important is human resource planning in your organization and discuss the stages of the planning process

The main objective of Acxiom was to deliver the products to the customers on time and make sure that the clients are happy with the service. This could be only possible with the help of a strong teams which could be achieved with the help of proper human resource planning. A proper planning is very important for the success of any company. Human resource planning plays a very significant role in the success of any company. The main role of the human resource planning is to keep track of the requirement of the resources and hire and train them to make sure that sufficient number of skilled employees are available to take up any new project (Kehoe & Wright, 2013).
A proper human resource planning helps the company to maintain the demand and supply of the employees accurately. As it is a known fact that the process of recruitment and selection is long and time-taking hence in order to make sure that the right employees is available at the right time for the right job, human resource planning is very essential.
A successful human resource planning consists of various important steps. The steps are as following:
Job Analysis: the assessment of human resource involves analysis of inventory of the human resource (Legge, 1995). This means that they will check that how many employees are there in the organization as compared to the requirement. This includes defining the responsibilities for a particular position known as job description and matching the skills sets and knowledge with those of responsibilities known as job specifications.
Forecasting: In demand forecasting, the human resource management will try to estimate the requirement of the future employees. This could be done by checking the number of projects and the demands from the clients. Supply forecasting is opposite to demand forecasting, in this the number of employees which the human resource department could supply is estimated.
Recruitment Selection: the process of finding people for the given job description either from inside the organization or hiring new candidates from outside is known as recruitment.
Training:Training is provided to the hired candidates so as to prepare for the organization specific work and to improve their performance at work. Training should de technical training, non-technical training or on job training.
Performance Appraisal:The process of evaluating the progress and the performance of an n employees by comparing the job requirements with the performance and then giving feedback to the employee is known as performance appraisal.  
Compensation:The process of deciding and maintaining the wages of the employees and taking care of their benefits and reward system is called compensation management.

B. Analyze the recruitment and selection process in your chosen organization and assess your contribution as a Human Resource Manager

In my organization Acxiom, the recruitment and selection process has the following steps:
First we try to match the job requirement with the skill set of any existing employee, if that is matching we try to onboard that employee for the vacant position. If no internal candidates are available then a detailed recruitment process is done which includes

• Accepting the applications
• Conducting the interviews and tests
• Extension of offer to selected candidates
• Onboarding and training   

The policies are very strict and all of them adhere with the legislative guidelines. In the company an equal opportunity to all is practiced and hence there is no partiality or biasness. This is the reason why the company is able to hire the best candidates from the applied applications. They only give importance to the quality of the candidates and nothing else. There are no short cuts with which a candidate can enter the company, he has to go through all the steps during the recruitment and selection process (Wright & McMahan, 2011).
Being a Human Resource Manager my role was to make sure that all the guidelines are being followed and if anyone in the team was found guilty i.e. violating the rules, then strict action should be taken against him.     

Task 3

A. Using the example assess the link between motivational theory and reward within the context of your chosen organization

Motivation and reward are inter-related. An employee will be motivated to perform his best when he will be satisfied with his job. It will not be wrong to say that performance happens when there is a good combination of motivation and ability. Even a talented person needs some kind of motivation to give performance. There are mainly three reward factors which motivate an employee to take an extra effort to finish the job. The three factors are rewards in the form of gifts, recognition or appraisal. Among all the three, the most effective method of motivating the employees is recognition. An employee will definitely feel good and satisfied if his hard work would be appreciated and recognized. This is the reason that companies try to keep a very strong appraisal system so that they can give respect and acknowledgement to every deserving employee (Wright & McMahan, 2011). There are different kinds of motivational theories like Maslow’s theory of motivation or the Herzberg theory of motivation. The organizations chooses its motivational theory as per the requirement.
At Acxiom, the Maslow’s theory of motivation is followed. The Maslow’s theory of motivation states that an employee is motivated mainly by few essential needs which are explained with the help of a pyramid known as “hierarchy of needs”.

In this pyramid, at the bottom there are physiological needs like food, water etc. A person is motivated to work for these needs and he gets them with the salary amount. Once these needs are met he looks for safety needs like proper work environment. The next level is social needs i.e. he wants to be a part of team or group. The next is esteem which is achieved with promotions and appraisal (Kehoe & Wright, 2013). The final stage self-actualization which means he needs some space so as to take decisions and show some creativity. According to this theory, employee is motivated for every next stage as soon as he achieves the previous one.
This shows the link between the Maslow’s theory of motivation and rewards. It can be clearly seen that rewards are very useful to motivate the employees and the rewards keep the overall working environment highly motivated and encouraging. Motivation of the employees could be achieved through both the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.

B. Analyze and discuss how your organization determine pay using the process of job evaluation  

The reward system of an organization should upkeep with the business strategies of an organization. Reward system means not only increasing the pay but it also deals with finding the right workforce reward system for the company which could get along with the business strategy and the culture of the organization. Also that it is very difficult to perform in the situation where there are no set targets in order to measure the performance (Kehoe & Wright, 2013).
According to Reward strategy theory there are certain points which should be kept in mind like the important reward philosophy which is mentioned above, the pay structure, the market positioning of the job and it’s progression rule.        
Job evaluation is the process by which the worth of the job is decided in the organization. The different methods of job evaluation are as following:
Whole job Ranking: This is most easiest way of job evaluation. All the jobs are compared and ranked from uppermost to lowermost (Legge, 1995).
Job Classification: In this method all the related and alike jobs are grouped together.
Point factor:In this method points are allotted to various factors of compensation, then a total score of the job is calculated based on the points and then finally compensation is decided according to the points.
At Acxiom the point factor method of job evaluation is followed. This is the most common method used for job evaluation throughout the industry and has been proved to be working best for a company like Acxiom.
The jobs are evaluated using any of the above methods and then according to their position in the evolution, the wages are decided for all the jobs.
The main objective of job evaluation is to decide how much payment should be done for a particular job or which job is to be paid more and which is to be paid less. Job evaluation is an organized process and hence all the responsibilities, positions, required skills are being assessed in it. It is a process with the help of which the payment or the wages of the employees are decided inside the organization, this means that positions are being compared within the organization (Kehoe & Wright, 2013). It is very important to conduct the job evaluation at the right time. The job evaluation should be conducted immediately after job analysis and before conducting the compensation program.

C. Assess the effectiveness of the reward systems in the chosen organization

A reward system is successful in the organization if it fulfills all the below criteria:

• Reward system should support the business strategy of the organization
• The reward system should drive a sustainable improvement in business performance
• It should be effective enough to bring about and reinforce cultural and behavioral changes in the organization
• It should fit in the HR policies of the company
• A good reward policy keep the pay bill under control i.e. the employees are paid as per the company’s earning, more the company earns more the employees earns

In the company Acxiom, the reward system has got a very huge impact. A detailed study of the reward system is done at fixed interval and based on these studies we have assessed that the reward system at Acxiom is highly motivational for the employees and is in line with the goals and objectives of the company. The bonus is paid based on the earnings of the company and hence the employees feel more sincere and motivated to complete the tasks. They are more focused and result oriented. Due to the reward system, there is a healthy competition within the employees and it is a known fact that competition gives birth to innovation and creativity (Kehoe & Wright, 2013). Moreover it is seen that due to the reward system the employees have interest in attending the training and development programs as this helps them to gain knowledge so that they can enhance their performance and get the rewards. There is no doubt in the fact that the reward system had a positive impact on the working environment at Acxiom.
Since there are different categories of the rewards like long term rewards which includes promotion and the short term rewards like salary hikes or the gift coupons. The reward program is designed in a way so as to attain the long term goals. It is very important for the employees to achieve the short term rewards and hence in this way they give their best performance all over the year (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).
We have found that in Acxiom after each reward cycle the employees feel satisfied with the reward system and they feel motivated to work hard to do better in the next reward cycle. This shows that overall the reward system is Acxiom is highly effective.    

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

As mentioned in the previous section there are certain criteria with the help of which the effectiveness of the reward system could be assessed in any organization.
The effectiveness of the reward system at Acxiom is assessed mainly by two methods. The first one is by observation method. In this method, the mangers keeps an eye on their employees and try to assess their performance. If the reward system is effective, then the employees will be more dedicated toward their work and hence would not waste any time. The other method to check the effectiveness by calculating the contribution of the employees towards organizations behavior. This could be done by going through the details of the work done by the employees (Briscoe et al, 2011). The sales report and other such reports are also helpful in getting the details of the performance of the employees. The best way to evaluate the performance of an employee is to maintain a balance between these two methods. The best result could be achieved by making sure that both these methods are used in the best possible combination.
One of the other methods used at Acxiom for monitoring the employee’s performance is by comparing the set targets and the achieved targets. Usually the targets are set on weekly or monthly basis and by comparing these the performance could be monitored on regular basis (Delaney et al, 1996). When the monitoring is done in short period of time, there are more chances of correction if there are any deviations. If the achieved target is not matching with the set target, then training sessions can be arranged so that the gap could be bridged and the reason for not being up to the mark could be known. 

Task 4

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

The dismissal of an employee in any company could be fair or unfair. If the reasons for dismissal are valid and reasonable then the dismissal is called as fair dismissal. Some of the valid reasons for dismissal could be as below:
Conduct: Conduct of an employee is one of the most common reason for dismissal and also the one which leads to the largest complains of unfair dismissal. If an employee misconducts according to the code of conduct of the company then the company could end the employment of that employee with the organization.
Capacity: If the organization feels that the employee is not performing satisfactorily or does not have necessary skills/ qualification/ability for the certain role in the company then his employment could be ended.
Redundancy: If the company feels that the employee is redundant at any job position and there are one people who could handle that job, then the person could be dismissed due to redundancy.
Statutory bar:If an employee losses a skill or anything which is a mandatory requirement for him to work in any company the company could dismiss him. For example, if the institute which provided any certification to an employee which is mandatory for a job profile, is unrecognized by the government then the certificate losses its value and the employee could be dismissed on these grounds.
Sum other substantial Reasons:Any other reason like misrepresentation of facts, biased favors or any such unethical act could lead to dismissal of an employee.
The exit procedure included the following steps:
Written Notice from both the parties: The employer/ the employee have to give notice before exiting the company. A payment could be paid from employer to the employee in lieu of the notice period mentioned in the notice.
Written Reasons for dismissal:The employment Act 1996, ensures that the reasons for dismissal should be communicated to the employee by the employer. 
Dismissal:The actual dismissal of an employee is communicated to him through a meeting or a written communication. For scheduling a meeting the employee should know beforehand that he would be dismissed and the reasons behind it.
Appeal: The employee has got power of appeal against the decision of the organization to the higher authorities.
In my company Acxiom, the practice of fair dismissal is followed i.e. before dismissing the employee the employee and his manager have a discussion in front of the HR and the HR decides whether the employee should be terminated or not.

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

It is very important to obey and follow the legal and regulatory guidelines while arranging employment termination. There should not be any hiring or termination based on differences in race, gender, disability etc. Various acts make these actions unlawful and punishable under laws. Some of the acts are Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Race Discrimination Act 1976, Equal Pay Act 1970, Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Employment Act 2002.
If the company do not follow the guidelines properly then there are chances that the employee might lodge a complaint against the company. There are certain rules and regulation which every company must keep in mind while planning to terminate some employee (Guest, 2011). Same is the case with the employees too, they cannot just leave the company, and they need to have a very strong and valid reason in order to leave the organization. Otherwise the organization has got full right to cancel the termination and stop the employee from leaving the organization.
These rules and guidelines are made because in the process of recruitment and selection, lot of money and time is wasted. If an employee will leave the company suddenly, it will cost to the company a lot and the work too will get affected. Similarly, if the employee is being terminated abruptly he has to spend some time without job, at least till the time he gets the new job which will cause a lot of  mental pressure for him. At Acxiom, the managers follow all the rules and guidelines (Jiang et al, 2012). The employees are given prior notice before termination along with the valid reason. They are also allowed to speak in favor of themselves.
It is believed that the relationship of an organization and employee should be good because only then both could be beneficial for each other. In order to make sure this, it is very important to adhere to all the guidelines and norms.

References

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers
Briscoe, D. R., Schuler, R. S., & Tarique, I. (2011). International human resource management: Policies and practices for multinational enterprises. Routledge
Delaney, J. T., & Huselid, M. A. (1996). The impact of human resource management practices on perceptions oforganizational performance. Academy of Management journal, 39(4), 949-969
Gavino, M. C., Wayne, S. J., & Erdogan, B. (2012). Discretionary and transactional human resource practices and employee outcomes: The role of perceivedorganizational support. Human Resource Management, 51(5), 665-686
Guest, D. E. (2011). Human resource management and performance: still searching for some answers. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(1), 3-13
Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (1997). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. Chicago: Irwin