Program |
Diploma in Business |
Unit Number and Title |
Unit 21 Human Resource Management Functions |
QFC Level |
Level 4 |
The functions of HRM are indispensible for any business in its long-term success and usually revolve around recruitment, managing and directing the employees. Business advisors consider that the modern form of HRM is highly influenced by various paramount principles, which might be an elementary recognition that employees are an organization’s invaluable asset. Any business can never be successful in long run without effectively managing its employees.
Michael Armstrong in his book A Handbook of Human Resource Management has enunciated another key principle that a business is most likely of achieving success if employee policies are closely related with the company policies further making large contributions in achieving the objectives and strategic plans of the organization.
In this section difference between PM and HRM is illustrated with examples of Breakfast Club Cafe and Pret A Manger. The former is a local cafe in Soho district, London which follows personnel management whereas later is sandwich shop chain in UK which practices Human resource management . (Stredwick, 2013)
Dimensions |
Personnel Management |
Human Resource Management |
Definition |
It defines managing administrative functions of personnel to achieve aims of business. |
It defines managing human resources to utilise their potentials to meet business objectives with mutual benefit. |
Focus |
On planning, organising and controlling resources. Example, Breakfast Club Cafe delivers excellent customer service by planning and organising activities of personnel. (Stredwick, 2013)
|
On improvement of policies and enrichment of resources. Example, Pret A Manger has HR policies that nurture growth for organization as well as resources. |
Approach |
Traditional |
Modern |
Control |
At Breakfast Club Cafe control of decisions is with management |
At Pret A Manger control of decisions related to human resources is with HR department. (Stredwick, 2013)
|
Objective |
Objective of Breakfast Club is administrative improvement |
Objective of Pret A Manger is improvement of human resources |
Functions of HRM help Pret A Manger in achieving their objectives by:
Line managers in Pret A Manger are liable for execution of work procedures at various levels.
They support HRM functions by disposing their purposes through:
Legislative framework supports HRM functions and impacts on practices of Pret A Manger through:
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Call us: +44 – 7497 786 317HRP is process that examines existing and subsequent need of labour to achieve production demands of organization effectively. In the scenario, there is need for HRP, which can be seen as:
In the current organization various stages that will be included in human resource requirements are:
First the current strength of organization is analysed to review on capacity planning with organizational objectives. Thus shortage will be identified here which will help to roughly plan and organise future requirements. (Ulrich, 2013) In next step, employee assessment will be carried to estimate current capacity and future need of development or new acquisition. In addition, work environment including policies will be scanned to identify shortcomings and reasons for employee issues. After all assessments are made in above stages, a plan will be drafted here which will establish balance between employee expectations, labour supply and futuristic needs of organization. (Ulrich, 2013) Once planning is done, a process will be designed for recruitment which will test skill and competence of potential resources according to need of job role and production demands. This will help to attract and retain quality resources. Now the process will be executed and progress will be recorded which will help to identify success rate and lacking against established standards. This will help to control and finalise the outline for planning. (Ulrich, 2013)
Recruitment and selection process in current organization is ineffective in attracting and finalising quality employees. Firstly it lacks call for Application or CV on which preliminary sorting is made. Then, it has inadequate telephonic interview system where candidates are asked basic questions on their background. This lacks in examining true skills and experiences of candidates. Next, sort listed candidates are called for psychometric assessment and aptitude test which is followed by final selection. Thus, this too lacks proper assessment criteria to find right fitting candidate who can be retained for long. (Schneider, Ehrhart and Macey, 2013)
Whereas, recruitment and selection technique practised in Pret A Manger is more systematic and well built to examine competency of candidates according to needs. This is because firstly vacancies are internally identified and assessed against skill demands which help to design proper job description and person specification. Then applications are invited online to increase reach to multiple locations and pool of talent. Next, these applications are sorted to find fitting match according to initial information who are then invited at recruitment centre. Here, candidates are first examined on subject based knowledge and those who qualify are asked to participate in simulation tests. This helps to examine their real response and tactical knowledge. Further selected candidates are called for interview with HR managers who make reviews and final decision. Thus, multiple elimination and filtering process initiates best fit for job which is more effective compared to current organizations technique. (Schneider, Ehrhart and Macey, 2013)
One can describe motivation as an employee’s intrinsic devotion, which drives him/her in accomplishing a given task at work. Biological, intellectual, social and emotional factors influence an employee’s motivation. Motivation is a complicated intrinsic driving force, which cannot be defined easily and hence is influenced by external factors. Various motivational theories have been developed that can be applied at workplace. For example, Herzberg’s two-factor theory emphasizes on two factors namely hygiene and motivators, which certainly leaves its impact on rewards at Virgin Media. Hygiene factors such as pay, working conditions and organizational policies although do not motivate the employees but they do affect their dissatisfaction levels. Authority, opportunity and recognition, on the other hand help in improving their motivation levels and are reward for the employees. At Virgin Media, recognition is related to the added benefits and authority is related to the level at which employees work. Other than Herzberg’s theory, Virgin Media also considers Maslow’s Need hierarchy theory where the employees’ expectations are ranked in a bottom- up approach in terms of job security to self-actualization. Conferring to this motivation model Virgin Media frequently designs programs of training and motivation for satisfying the personnel needs. (Lent, Brown and Hackett, 2013)
Virgin Media with the help of job evaluation process establishes relative value of the jobs within the company. Job evaluation comprises of two stages that are job description and evaluation where in job description the HR department determines the key job aspects like responsibilities, accountability, decision-making, qualification needed etc. Three major factors are analysed in job evaluation namely knowledge needed for competent performance, complexness in the role of making decisions and authority or control in the position. The pay structure at Virgin Media is developed based on these factors. Apart from job evaluation, pay surveys is another important tool that is used by Virgin Media where the HR department compares the employees’ salaries and the company’s compensation policies with its competitors. Once the survey is done, the outcome is analyzed and subsequent changes are determined and made in the payment structure, if needed. At last, the jobs are rated based on the job designations within the company, responsibilities, physical involvement and qualifications required. (Bernardin and Wiatrowski, 2013)
At Virgin Media, reward system has been the main concern of the business management , as they understand the importance of having an effective reward system for maintaining employees motivation levels and representing a harmonious management style when compared to its competitors. At Virgin Media, the rewards include both monetary and non-monetary beneficial items. (Burke, 2013)
Effectiveness of reward system at Virgin Media:
Virgin Media makes use of various techniques for monitoring the employees’ performances. The HR department believes in making the best use of the approach of perception and opinions for keeping a tab on employees’ performances. In this process, the management outsources a third person for monitoring the employees’ performances at work who consequently gives inputs to the concerned authority. In addition, the company also has set a performance standard which plays a key role in measuring the employees’ performances. Under this kind of framework, an employee’s performance is ought to be realistic, measurable and communicated in terms of time, quality, impact on business and way of performance. Apart from these, performance dissection is another method used in Virgin Media for measuring a specific employee’s performance against expected performance. The HR department encourages the line managers to openly discuss with the employees and give feedbacks on their individual performances that further will be helpful in spotting the areas of shortcomings and identifying the measures for overcoming the performance failures and enhance employees’ productivity. (Appelbaum, 2013)
The Chicken Master’s proprietor Bob has hired 54-year-old Faisal for managing the restaurant hoping of a hitting a homerun but had to terminate him within six months on the grounds of poor performance and policies violation. Bob noticed that Faisal never maintained cleanliness in the restaurant and kitchen was never stocked, staffs were never supervised. Faisal would take frequent time off for personal reasons during work hours and would regularly watch pornography on his computer, spending is working hours by mailing his wife, helping daughter with homework and planning his own restaurant. In spite of knowing the restaurant’s policies and signing the employee handbook, Faisal would take the company equipment for personal use, which was a straight violation of policies. (Lepage-Saucier, Schleich and Wasmer, 2013)
Other reasons for cessation of the employees are:
Chicken Master’s exit procedure is swift and can be related with the business growth at the time of financial crisis. However, termination based of employees’ performance is lower and is linked with training, growth opportunities and reward system. The employee to be terminated is notified in advance so that he/she can get mentally prepared and look for other jobs. Same goes for the employees terminated because of inadequate business conditions. Except termination due to unacceptable behaviour, Bob organizes an exit interview for getting the employees feedback. (Mowday, Porter and Steers, 2013)
At Tesco’s, exit procedures the employee needs to submit a resignation letter to the HR Manager citing the reasons to resign. Depending on the employee’s creditability, the HR Manager tries to retain him/her but in case the employee wishes to quit anyway then an exit interview with Floor Manager and HR Manager, where he/she is offered with reference letters upon request for future endeavours and the last working day is notified to the concerned authorities. On the last day due salaries are credited in the account and the employee handovers all equipments provided during the tenure to the HR department. (Mowday, Porter and Steers, 2013)
The legal and regulatory framework on employment cessation arrangements leaves an impact on Chicken Master while designing of the policies. Equality Act 2010 constrains the restaurant from practicing discrimination in the form of age, gender, religion etc. Conferring to the case study Faisal claimed that he was discriminated at Chicken Master and is a victim of age and race discrimination. According to the act, an employee can make an appeal with the trade union or drag the employer to the tribunal if been discriminated where if the employer is found guilty can face legal actions or pay the damages to the employee however, if Faisal’s claims are found to be untrue then he can lose his employment permanently and face a defamation case from Chicken Master. (Cappelli and Keller, 2013)
The assignment throws light on how Pret A Manger has successfully overcome various challenges in implementing HRM policies and strategy at work and how the importance of the role played by HRM has enhanced while growing in size. Evaluation of HRM under different aspects like PM and HRM, recruitment and selection, reward system and employees’ motivation and termination of employment defines that its implementation is a planned process, which evolves over the period.
Ahsan, K., Ho, M. and Khan, S., 2013. Recruiting project managers: A comparative analysis of competencies and recruitment signals from job advertisements. Project Management Journal, 44(5), pp.36-54.
Appelbaum, E., 2013. The impact of new forms of work organization on workers. Work and Employment in the High Performance Workplace, 120.
Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C., 2013. The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), pp.330-351.
Burke, W.W., 2013. Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.
Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. eds., 2013. Human resource management in developing countries. Routledge.
Bernardin, H.J. and Wiatrowski, M., 2013. Performance appraisal. Psychology and Policing, 257.
Cappelli, P. and Keller, J.R., 2013. Classifying work in the new economy. Academy of Management Review, 38(4), pp.575-596.
Lepage-Saucier, N., Schleich, J. and Wasmer, E., 2013. Moving Towards a Single Labour Contract.
Lent, R.W., Brown, S. and Hackett, G., 2013. Career Development.
Mowday, R.T., Porter, L.W. and Steers, R.M., 2013. Employee—organization linkages: The psychology of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. Academic press
Renwick, D.W., Redman, T. and Maguire, S., 2013. Green human resource management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(1), pp.1-14.
Schneider, B., Ehrhart, M.G. and Macey, W.H., 2013. Organizational climate and culture. Annual review of psychology, 64, pp.361-388.
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