Unit 22 Human Resource Management Assignment – Harrods

Introduction

Human resource development  are the studies and practices which make an individual develop a specific skill set which makes him competent enough to survive and serve a job in an organization, it is a vast field of study which has various applications, Training and development is just a part of it.

In the following assignment the following are discussed in brief to give the holistic purview of the Human resource management in the organization, difference between the personnel management and human resource management, various methods to evaluate the job, reward system which is efficient enough to keep the employees motivated, the kind of system followed in Harrods, various government guideline and regulation and their compliance by the organization.

These all will be discussed in order to give the understanding and the holistic view to explain and understand the learning objectives defined below in context of Harrods a retail chain in UK.

TASK 1

1.1 Differentiate between personnel management and human resource management?

Back in 1892 when general electric was founded by Edison, the basic role of the managers working in the personnel department was managing the documents, paying compensation, looking to  leaves and solving the disputes among the employees it is only after the world wars when the company started to expand its footprint in the international market that it adopted and evolved to the more strategic role of A human resource manager whose role was to do basic functions of the personnel manager and to look after the succession planning, handling the relationships with managers and to reduce turnover within the organizations.

These are some major differences between the two are as follows-

HRM is more of a strategic function in the organization typically concerned with the manpower planning, future planning along with the basic functions of personnel management.

• HRM considers the man force as an integral part of an organization without whom being successful is very difficult they are considered as the paramount resource where as personnel management is only concerned with the achievement of goals.
• The major difference in terms of decision making where personnel management is very slow where as human resource management is fast.
• Human resource management is concerned with the achieving of the goals with the help of team whereas personnel management is based on the individual.
• In the times of personnel management the labor was it that strong and negotiations happened with the employees but as the bargaining power of the labors increased negotiations started happening with the union leaders.
• The pay and rewards are paid to employees based on their performance and not on the job evaluation criteria as done in personnel management.

As the role of HR is widening with the time the responsibilities assigned the planning horizon is bigger than ever, Harrods being a company established long ago needs to develop according to the evolution and it has done so since all the work cannot be done by a single person and hence need to divide the task among the groups becomes more important. (Wilton, 2016)

1.2 Assess the function of the human resource management in contributing to organizational purposes?

The functions of human resource management in the organization are-

Selecting and Recruiting

• Recruitment typically in Human resource management parlance means to invite the applications for the particular job where as selection is selecting and appointing the right person for the job.
• Recruitment is done rough various sources like campus recruitment, walk in interviews, pool campus, through registered recruitment agencies etc.
• The manager responsible for recruitment typically evaluates the job.
• Prepare the job specifications and job sheet on the basis of which applications are invited.
• Once it is done the necessary selection process involving the various tests and interviews are carried out and finally the best person suitable for the job is selected and appointed for the job.

Training and development

Having the best employee in the organization Is not all but having the best suited employee in the organization is of a paramount importance and training of the employees plays a very important role in ensuring that the right person is appointed at the right job at the right time so that the organization can extract the best which is possible as well as overall development of the workface is also important so that the key managerial positions can be filled through internal recruitment.

It is the job and duty of the HR manager to see that the best and the latest practices are given to the employees and practiced in the organization so as to keep the competitive advantages in place to cope up with the rising competition.

Administrative functions

• Planning: the future is uncertain and not known hence the HR manager has to incorporate that risk of uncertainties and prepare and plan for the future, if the condition arises the contingency is in place to deal with it.
• Organizing: Resources in the organization are limited to an extent and driving costs to use in the minimum manner is the work to be performed by managers, hence he manages the resources in the best possible way and assigns the responsibilities to the employees to make the functioning efficient.
• Staffing: Appointing right kind of people at the right job at the right time is the prime function of staffing.
• Budgeting: Capital is a scarce resource and is very important to organization organizing the expenses and allocating the part of resources to each head is called as budgeting.

Example, recruitment and selection saves time, training and development keeps them competitive, and various administrative tasks of HR keeps a smooth flow of working but doing them differently increases the expense of such activates hence Harrods has the centralized system which integrates the activities for all the stores to reduce the cost and improving profits. (Bingham, 2016).

1.3 Evaluate the role and responsibilities of line managers in human resource management?

The following discussed below are some of the basic responsibilities of the managers in the Human resource department.

• Engaging Employees: unhappy employees in a company are pure hectic for any HR manager, keeping them keeping them motivated and satisfied in their respective jobs is the main aim and the biggest challenge for any manager, the research shows that the employees produced more and worked much efficiently where the managers had the personal touch with their subordinates than where the managers were only concerned about their targets fulfillment.
• Performance appraisal: the major factors effecting the productivity of the employees in the organization are the appraisals the recognition being given by the organization there are numerous modes of evaluating the performance of the employees and rewarding them, it is the aim of the HR manager to keep the appraisal fair and square and to keep the parameters of evaluation constant to maintain the transparency.
• Performance related pay: organizations where the employees are paid based on their performance and not on the basis of the job tend to be more profitable as the employees perform their best to earn more by performing much better than those where there is equal pay for all the employees in the same pay bracket hence the managers need to maintain the complete balance between the two.

At Harrods the line manager id responsible to keep track of the activities and performance of the subordinate coordinate with them to keep them satisfied and solve their problems which motivates them and then paying them accordingly with respect to their performance. (Grumen, & Sacks, 2011)

1.4 Analyze the impact of the legal and regulatory framework on human resource management?

There are various legal and regulatory laws which effect the working of the human department in an organization, Harrods look into the legal and regulatory framework so that any adverse impact can be avoided

• Equal remuneration act: it is made to ensure that there is no discrimination in terms of the salary payment to the employees based on their race creed cast or religion and gender.
• minimum wage rate act: it was formed in order to keep the fairness in the process of wage payment and to protect the rights of the workforce the minimum wage payment is set by the government with which the companies have to comply it depends on the age groups.
• Employment rights act: it empowers the employees with the following rights in the workforce such as accessibility to first aid, clean and healthy drinking water, and conducive environment for working and regular safety checks.
• Anti-sexual harassment: Originated because of safety of women in the organization and the manager has to make corrective steps and actions in order to avoid this activity.
• Social security act : this act was enforced to keep the interest of the older, disabled and children by establishing various varieties of systems.
• Age discrimination act: this act was implemented to protect the workers above the age limit of 40 from the wrongful termination by the management.
• Family and medical leave: this act was enforced to give the eligible employees the right to take the leaves up to 12 weeks of 90 days in the period of an year with respect to the family or medical reason prescribed in advance.
• Civil rights act: this act was passed to keep the transparency and accountability of the process followed related to the selection of the employees.

In order to avoid any legal complications the HR department at Harrods complies with all the laws of the land and has the full fledged compliance department to look after all the proceeding as per the law defined in the country. (Lepak, David, Bondarouk, Tanya, Meijerink, Jeroen, 2016)

TASK 2

2.1 Analyzing the reasons for human resource planning?

The various objectives for the human resource planning are:

• Optimum utilization of the human resource to achieve the goals defined in advance.
•  To forecast and ascertain the requirement for the future extension plans of the organization.
• To ensure the availability of the manpower as in when it is required to keep the smooth functioning.
• To protect the organization from the future fluctuations
• To reduce the cost and improve upon the profitability of the organization.
• To outsource the activities which are causing the problems or which can be done be outside at a cheaper price.
• To manage with the changing technological environment and the legal environment of the nations.
• To plan the activities well in advance so as to keep the sufficient time between the activities related to selection process to ensure the smooth flow.
•  The management has to keep themselves handy with all the resources available so as to replace the retiring and terminated employees of the organization.
• Organizations are continuously expanding and diversifying and the need for skilled employees is all time high thus it is the function of the HR manager to keep the adequate manpower required.
• Future planning is required to ready the employees in terms of the necessary experience and training required to fill the key managerial positions. (Richards, 2016)

2.2 Stages involved in planning human resource requirements?

There are various stages involved in the human resource planning

• Ascertaining the objectives and future goals of the organization of where it wants to be in the distant future.
• The next stage is important to build up the strategies which would enable the organization to formulate the strategies which are required to reach and attain that goal and formulating short tern tactics tot achieve those goals.
• The next step is to plan and estimate the demand of the future manpower and check for the supply of the adequate resource required to achieve it, if the supply is abundant the hiring can be delayed in case its not the demand is to be fulfilled over a period of time..
• HR manager then forms the various methods through which he wants to fulfill the requirement, it can be either from the external recruitment such as pool campus or internal recruitment like transfer
• After it is done complete assessment of the job called as job evaluation is carried out to form the job specifications and job descriptions.
• The JDs are then posted on various web portals, websites, stores and hiring agencies to invite for the candidates for the vacancies rolled out.
• The resumes are then shortlisted and the final candidate is elected for the job and trained and developed for the job he is required to perform in the organization.

The HRP differs from company to company for example Harrods screens the candidates based on their CVs they are then sent on the sample job in one of the stores for the period of two days to assess how they perform in the real environment the and after that on the basis of the feedback which is taken from the manager, an employee who is the best among all and suits the organization is selected.

Mc Donald’s on the other hand depends on the one to one interviews with the store manager and the technical knowledge in the worker the best suited is appointed in this case. (Karunaratre, 2016)

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

In the current organization the organization calls up the candidates who have applied and takes a telephonic interview with the manager the candidates who are selected are proceeded to the next round which is the HR interview round where in face to face interview takes place the one who clears that are then assessed on the basis of the psychometric tests and the technical tests which is actually the very opposite process followed by the other organizations.

As practiced in Harrods

Harrods posts its job openings through various websites, web portals and career boards in stores, also media such as TV’s, FM radio, newspapers and journals the various modes enables the candidates to know about the available jobs and then apply for them at the same time. The resumes then received are shortlisted according to the requirements and then called in to give the sample of their work by working in the store for two days their work Is then evaluated by the store manager and submitted to the hr. manager who then picks up the right candidate and calls them for the face to face interviews the best on suited for the job is then selected and appointed. This method is best suited for the organization because of the kind of work the organization is into. (Desseler, 2011)

2.4 Evaluate how effective is the organization recruitment and selection techniques with another organization you recommending?

Recruitment and selection process at Harrods is much more efficient and effective as compared to the organization the case is about, the main reason for the same is because the process is much more cost efficient and the process efficiency the source of advertisement and the process followed in the job is much more practical where as it is not in the case of the organization the case is about.

The internal sources are first looked upon to fill in the positions available if the internal sources are not enough the positions are then filled from the external sources,

The postings are advertised through various methods where the required human resources are available. The resumes or the invitees are then screened the candidates are sent to the stores to perform the job for two days where the supervisors assign them the duties and looks for the quality of the performance if I suits the organization the manager gives the report to the manager who then calls them for the interview and selects the best suited candidate for the job in the organization. (Qadir, 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?

There are various factors which motivates the individual McClelland’s three need theory explains the same

• Need to achieve: this drive the motivation level of the employees or the people who are concerned about the monetary aspect of the job, typically CEO and top level executives in the job are seen with this kind of motivational need.
• Need to affiliate: the people who get motivated by such drives are least concerned about the power or money they get motivated by getting recognized contributing to the society, typically people working as the Social workers or NGOs are seen with this need.
• Need to be in power: these people thrive for the power and forcefulness, they build network to keep themselves motivated, and most of the time politicians are seen with this kind of need they work well if they get the power and ability to influence people.

Efficient reward system is the best. The paramount aim of the Human Resource department at Harrods is to pay the employees and keep them satisfied through any means possible be it monetary or non-monetary in order to keep them motivated and productive enough at the jobs the employee base at Harrods is efficient and loyal to organization because of the simple fact that they are satisfied by the remuneration they are paid for the jobs they do and targets they achieve. Any company is only successful if their employees are satisfied and successful this can be done by achieving the work life balance by offering them flexi timing and additional benefits. Staff survey is performed to know the satisfaction level of the human resource so that necessary measures can be taken to improve upon it. Some of the key steps taken by Harrods include,

• Candidates are offered with Career breaks for the duration of 6 months to 5 years which are typically known as sabbaticals whereby they can work or spend their time in improving their existing skills and come back to work for the organization in the future. 
• To offer long term benefits to the employees such as pension plans, land and insurances.
• Personal lifestyles breaks are given for 4 to 12 weeks so that they can take enjoy with their families and loved ones. (Panagiotakopoulos, 2016)

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

Harrods group profile is most widely recognized and used in over 7000 companies to find the effective method to evaluate the job and find the right match in a workplace, there are three factors which are given prime importance when evaluating the job,

• Knowledge and skills required in the job.
• Responsibilities assigned to individuals performing the job.
• Technical skills and creative thinking required for complex work problems.

The following are the three factors which are considered as of paramount importance when evaluating the jobs in the organization, knowledge required to perform the jobs, responsibilities assigned to the individuals and creative and analytical thinking required solving the complex problems as a part of the job.

There are many more factors which are considered when determining the pay,

• Cost of living or the city compensatory allowances required to compensate for the inflation in the location.
• The lesser the demand for the people the lesser will be the pay the higher the demand the higher the pay, the lesser the supply the higher the pay and vice versa
• Government regulations in the industry and the country also influence the pay structure.
• Bargaining power of the labor unions is an important factor to consider when offering the pay to the employees as they are the ones who actually work and influence the decision of the management.
• Size and budget of the organization is a major determinant, larger organizations ha larger budgets and hence larger pay scales.

There are many more factors which effect but above discussed points are some important ones. (Dickmann, Brewster, & Sparrow, 2016)

3.3 Assess the effectiveness of reward systems in virgin media or your chosen organization?

The following rewards are offered to employees in Harrods to keep the organizational goals aligned with the personal goals, these are the following rewards offered to them,

• Those employees who are involved in the reinventing of the processes which saves organization some cost are rewarded.
• High performing employees are rewarded over and above their regular pay to keep them satisfied and motivated in order to keep them with the organization and reduce turnover.
• Keeping reward system well aligned with the industry practices keeps the transparency and sense of security in terms of the pay ranges and equality among that of employees who are working other organizations in the same industry.
• Career planning and future planning to fill the key executive positions internally motivates the employee to work hard to reach that goal also it helps in the productivity of the employees
• Stock option plans are offered to the employees so that they can be offered higher packages with the profit sharing of the business.
• Golden umbrella and handshakes are some common practices followed in the organizations also help and acts as way of rewarding the employees
• Employee of the month is recognized at Harrods in order to motivate them and recognizing their contribution in the organization
• Recognizing the efforts put in by the employee helps in motivating them. They work harder to earn more recognition very well suited for the people with high need for power.

Harrods in all the cases defined above has a very efficient and well planned reward system to reward the employees for the hard work they put in and is suitable for all the kind of employees with different motivational drives. (Meyer, & Frank, 2012)

3.4 Examine the methods organizations use to monitor employee performance?

The employees at Harrods are rewarded as per the goals achieved by them which are set in the beginning of the time frame the goals can be over achieved, under achieved, or just matched  these are the factors which Harrods has identified to measure the performance,

• Appraisal from the direct managers.
• Effectiveness in cost saving if the employee has contributed to the significant deduction in the cost of the practices followed earlier.
• 360degree feedback including self-appraisal along with that of subordinates superiors, peers and customers.
•  Absenteeism by the employee the higher the amount of leaves taken the lesser appraisal he gets and vice versa.
• Maintaining and breaking the deadlines to submit the work which directly shows the sincerity of employees such employees are rewarded high.
• Quality and quantity of the work they do while on the job.
• Management by objectives is practiced where by management and the employees together sit and make the objectives which can be beneficial to both of them.
• Checking in the list means in which questionnaire is made according to various activities and is used where in all the important parameters are laid down according to task completion the employees are appraised.
• Critical incidents method is used to check the decisions taken by the employees in certain situations.
• Ranking methods are used when comparing the two employee’s performances.

All these factors are important and suitable in the context of job evaluation at Harrods all of these may not apply in every case depending upon the situation and time the suitable method is used. (Biggain, & Allen, & Albert, 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.

The reasons which are liable for termination of Faisal’s employment contract are described as follows-

• Performance of the worker- The performance of the worker plays an important role on which any contract between a worker and an employer sustains. One of the manager who was not performing his duty well as he was not able to maintain all the subordinates well and could not even maintain a healthy relationship in the organization which adversely affected the goodwill of organization.
• Behavioral aspect- The misconduct by a person also contributes a major factor for termination of any contract. Taking work casually, being careless, being lazy, coming late to the office, frequent absence from the office, not completing the work of time are some of the examples which defines the behavior of a person.
• Infringement of code of conduct- Code of conduct could be defined as the rules and regulations of any organization on which the working of an organization depends. They are actually the norms to be followed while getting employed somewhere and are mentioned in the contract of employment. Violating any such rules or any activity which leads towards breach of trust between a worker and an organization also contributes towards cessation of employment. Such as disclosing the confidential information of a company which when disclosed may adversely affect the company.
• Private usage of goods- No doubt the personnel of any organisation are the asset of them and they provide the best facilities in order to give comfort to the employees but sometimes the employees being self- centered use the comforts provided by an organization such as car, recreational activities for personal use rather than professional use.

Faisal used to remain unavailable at the work of time, being late at the office hours, going early, not helping to resolve the problem of the customers and disinterest in work are some of the reasons due to which the contract between the chicken Master and Faisal came to an end. (Marler, & Parry, 2016)

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

Exit procedures may outline as the modes through which an employee exits from and by his own wish or is forced to quit.

The numerous methods through which exit from an organisation are described below-

• Cessation of Contract- When a contract comes to end due to the expiration of the contract, this is known as cessation of contract. It is neither forcefully, nor wilfully, the expiry of a contract due to which cessation takes place.
• Notice of resignation- Resignation could be defined as a notice which is given by subordinate to the superior when an employee takes a decision of quitting a job.
• Suspension- Suspension is defined as termination of employee’s job by the employer himself when he is not satisfied with the services an employee is providing or violating the policies of an organisation.
• Superannuation- Superannuation can be defined as attaining such age which is specified by the ministry on which a person ceases to work in an organisation.
• Reallocation- When a person shifts from one place of work to another place of work due to the transfers provided with the company itself or due to his own wish, this could be defined as reallocation.
• Dissolution of an organisation-  When a company appeals for dissolving itself either wilfully or by the order of the law bodies, due to which the entity could be finished is known as dissolution.
• Incapacity or sickness- When any worker is not able to concentrate on his work due to his weak health conditions or incapability which in further affecting the work, may also be a way of quitting from an organisation.

Chicken master mostly used all of the methods except for dissolution through either organisation terminated the contract or workers left it by their own wish. (Kira, 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.

Regulatory and legal framework helps the employer and the employee when they face some critical situation and which could only be solved through such contract. An organisation should always be bonded by a contract with the employer which fixes the responsibility of both towards each other.

If Faisal proves his claim, resulting could be-

• Organisation may have to pay heavy compensation the Faisal for giving him mental tension and also for false allegations on him.
• All the expenditure on this quarrel is to be borne by the chicken master itself.
• The authority may pass a judgement to provide a lifelong employment in The chicken master.
• The company will also be levied with fines and penalties for infringing the rights of individual.
• The chicken master has also to provide various reimbursements and remuneration to Faisal to which he entitled himself.
• Also, the company has to pay the legal body a heavy penalty for wasting the time of them.

The impact of such false allegations by the chicken master could be very dangerous for the brand image of the company as well as it will somehow affects the sales and profits of the company as it breached the trust of all the faithful customers. Even the market price of the shares may fall down which will affect the positioning of the company in the securities market and will give rise to a huge loss to the company. (Kira, 2016)

Conclusion

Human resource management means handling of the employees and workers of an organisation. It is a very wide topic which includes the personnel management, the roles and responsibilities of employees, their rights and duties and the code of conduct which has to be followed for successful completion of work.Human resource management is a continuous, never ending activity which has to be carried all the time so that proper and timely completion of work takes place. It also includes motivating, building trust, increasing loyalty towards the organisation so that no lack from any side may arise from the employee’s part. In this assignment we gave emphasis on proper development training of the employees, their motivation, their satisfaction as well as providing them with the benefits. This assignment also helped us in knowing various laws applicable to the organisation and various remedies which are available to both employer and employee to use in case of any difficulty.

Reference

• Biggain, J., Allen, D., & Albert, L., (2016), The role of positive illusions in employee relation, [Article], Available:- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053482216300158 [Accessed 30^th July 2016]
• Bingham, C., (2016), Employment Relations: Fairness and Trust in the Workplace,3^rd edition, Sage Publications, [Book], [Accessed 31^st July 2016]
• Dickmann, M., Brewster, C., & Sparrow, P., (2016), International Human Resource Management: Contemporary HR Issues in Europe (Global HRM), [Book], 3^rd edition, Routledge Publications, [Accessed 30^th July 2016]