Unit 22 Practical Issues in Human Resource Management Assignment

Introduction

Human resource management is one of the most important functions of every organisation. It is concerned with the management of human resource of an organisation in an effective manner so as to achieve the goals of the organisation. Human resource management helps in the execution of the other activities of the organisation. This unit 22 practical issues in human resource management assignment has been executed with a motive to analyse the numerous aspects related to human resource management and the role of human resource management in achieving the objectives of an organisation. This program covers various aspects which help in developing an understanding of human resource management. This program explains the difference between personnel management and human resource management as well as functions of human resource management which leads an organisation towards its goals. Every organisation has different roles and responsibilities assigned to its employees so as to execute the operations of the organisation in a successful manner. For the purpose of appointment of the human resource recruitment and selection process is adopted and human resource planning is done for managing the human resource. This process of  human resource planning  involves various stages. And for the enhancing the performance of the human resource there is a need to motivate them and this can be done in different ways. For every job there is a need to evaluate the pay so as to compensate the employee for the tasks it has performed and rewards helps in encouraging the employees for performing in a better manner. For job evaluation there is a need to monitor the performance of the employees. It also covers the reasons behind the cessation of employment, employment exit procedure and the impact of the legal and regulatory framework of United Kingdom over the employment cessation arrangements. For the purpose of explaining these aspects, different companies have been used in this program.

Task 1

For the purpose of explaining the aspects of this section in a better manner two companies of United Kingdom have been selected named as "Laing O’Rourke” and “Shop Direct”.  Laing O’Rourke is the largest private construction company of UK and headquartered in Dartford, UK. It was founded by Ray O’Rourke in 1978. Shop direct is a multi-brand online retailer which was founded by David and Frederick Barclay in 1923 as Littlewoods Pools. Its headquarter is located in Liverpool in England, UK and it offers Clothing, electronics, furniture, homeware and jewellery.

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

Personnel management and human resource management are crucial aspects which lead to an organisation towards success. The difference between both the aspects is as follows:

Human resource management	Personnel management
Laing O’Rourke is using human resource management so as to place its focus over the different functions related to human resource of the organisation which includes acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance.	Shop direct is using personnel management so as to place its focus over the administration, employee welfare and labour relation.
Laing O’Rourke is using this modern approach of management for the purpose of managing employees and skills, knowledge and strengths in the company.	Shop direct is using this traditional approach of management for the purpose of management of the employees in the company.
Laing O’Rourke is using this approach so as to treat the employees as an asset of the company for undertaking administrative functions for achieving the objectives.	Shop direct is using this approach in which assumption is made that employees or human resource is a tool or machine for the attainment of the desired output.
Laing O’Rourke is providing training to its human resource so as to manage them in an effective manner.	Shop direct is not offering training to its employees as it is using personnel management (Popescu & Ratiu, 2012).
In Laing O’Rourke decisions regarding the company are taken by involving the human resource in the decision making process.	In shop direct decisions are taken by the top level management of the company as it is following personnel management.
Laing O’Rourke is evaluating the pay of human resource on the basis of the performance of the human resource as it is following human resource management (Popescu & Ratiu, 2012).	Shop direct is evaluating the pay of its human resource on the basis of job evaluation as it is following personnel management.

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

There are three types of functions of human resource management. These functions cover various activities of the organisation. These functions of human resource management help Laing O’Rourke in achieving its objectives or goals in various ways. These functions and their roles in helping Laing O’Rourke in achieving its purpose are as follows:

• Managerial functions: This function of human resource management includes planning process, organising process, directing and controlling process. These processes effective utilisation of the human resource of the organisation as well as planning the requirement of human resource for the operations of the organisation, managing their performance by directing and controlling them, organising the structure of the company and making arrangements of the human resource for the execution of the activities of Laing O’Rourke.
• Operative functions: this function of human resource management includes employment, development, managing working conditions and welfare,  motivational theories  and separation process. All these processes helps Laing O’Rourke in developing human resource, providing equal opportunities to the employees, maintaining a satisfied workforce, enhancing the performance of the employees and managing a healthy and safe environment at the workplace of Laing O’Rourke (An examination of e-HRM, 2011).
• Advisory functions: this function of human resource management includes provide advises to the top level management, different departments of Laing O’Rourke and employees for resolving the various issues or problems arising at the workplace of the company. And helps Laing O’Rourke in managing the different activities by advising solutions for the issues or problems.

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

A line manager has various responsibilities which need to be managed in an effective manner so as to generate the desired results. A line manager Laing O’Rourke performs various activities so as to fulfil its responsibilities and to execute the roles assigned to it. The manner in which role and responsibilities of a line manager supports the functions of human resource management are discussed below:

• Engaging the employees: a line manager involves the employees in the various activities of the organisation so as to manage the culture or environment of the organisation. And establishes a better medium for the communication with the human resource of the organisation.
• Development of the human resource: Line manager identifies the requirement of the training and development among the employees so as to develop the skills, knowledge and strengths of the employees which will help the organisation to attain the objectives as well as to grab the opportunities (Brewster, et. al., 2015).
• Evaluation of the jobs: Line manager evaluates the jobs of the organisation so as to evaluate the pay or compensation which will be given to the human resource for the purpose of the execution of the activities of Laing O’Rourke.
• Maintaining discipline among the employees: line manager maintains peaceful and satisfied workforce by solving the problems or conflicts arising at the workplace of the organisation.
• Getting the tasks done: Line manager reviews the performance of the employees so as to get the tasks assigned to the employees done. It ensures the quality of the work performed by the human resource of Laing O’Rourke (Keegan, et. al., 2012).
• Identification of the issues or problems: human resource of an organisation faces various issues or problems due to which their performance gets affected. Line manager of Laing O’Rourke identifies these issues and problems so as to enhance the performance of the human resource of Laing O’Rourke.

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

Government of different countries have different rules and regulations for the purpose of protecting the different groups of the society. For the purpose of protecting the employees or human resource of the organisations from the unfair or unethical practices of the organisation government of United Kingdom has framed various rules and acts. These acts and their impacts over the human resource management are discussed below:

• National minimum wage rate act 1998: This act specifies a minimum limit for the salary or wages which must be given to the human resource or employees or workforce of the organisation so as to comply with the laws.
• Employment rights act 1996: according to this act, all the conditions of the contract law  must be in written form and must be provided to the employee within the 2 months of employment so as to protect the employees from unfair practices.
• Rehabilitation of offenders act 1974: the main objective of this act is to protect the human resource from the criminal activities which can affect the life of an individual.
• Data protection act 1998: this act aims at providing safety to the personal information of the employees so as to protect them from the harms. It is the responsibility of the organisation to protect the confidential information of the employees (Gabbi & Groenleer, 2013).
• Equal pay act 1970: this act ensures that all the employees working on the same post or level must be offered same salary or pay so as to avoid the discriminatory practices due to gender, colour, caste and age of the employees.

Task 2

For the purpose of explaining the elements of this section, two companies of UK have been chosen named as “Laing O’Rourke” and “Shop direct”.

2.1 Analyse the reasons for human resource planning

Human resource planning is an important aspect for every company as planning helps in the preparation of strategies or manner in which the different situations can be dealt. The reasons of human resource planning are as follows:

• Managing required workforce: for the execution of the activities of Laing O’Rourke there is a need to manage the human resource in an adequate amount so as to effectively execute the operations so as to save the additional cost, time and efforts involved in the recruitment of the employees of human resource.
• Forecasting the future needs: For the expansion of the business or for the future needs of the human resource of the organisation, there is a need to plan in advance so as to deal with the future needs or expansions needs of human resource of Laing O’Rourke in a better manner.
• Procurement of skilled and talented human resource: human resource planning helps Laing O’Rourke in retaining the skilled and talented workforce in the organisation so as to perform the functions of the organisation smoothly (Mostaghim, et. al., 2013).
• Coping with unforeseen events: Future is unpredictable and there are chances that certain situations may arise in future which can create an impact over the performance of the company. So as to deal with these type of unforeseen events of future there is a need of human resource planning.
• Effective and efficient utilisation of human resource: human resource planning helps Laing O’Rourke in utilisation of the human resource of the organisation in an effective manner so as to generate the desired outcomes.

2.2 Outlining the stages involved in planning human resource requirements

There are six stages involved in the planning human resource requirements. These six stages are discussed below:

• Analysis of the organisational objectives: in this stage the objectives of the organisation are analysed so as to analyse the requirement of human resource.
• Inventory of present human resource: in this stage the current inventory of human resource management and their capabilities are estimated.
• Forecasting of demand and supply of the human resource: in this stage, the forecasts are made for the demand of the human resource in the organisation is made and the supply of human resource is made.
• Estimation of the gap between the demand and supply: in this stage, the gaps between the demand of the human resource and supply of the human resource are made so as to proceed with the next step.
• Formulation of the action plan: in this stage, plans are prepared to deal with the gap between the demand and the supply of human resource (Norhidayah, et. al., 2012).
• Monitoring, controlling and providing feedbacks: in this stage, the action plan is implemented, reviewed and monitored so as to provide a feedback over the effectiveness of the plans.

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

Recruitment and selection process or techniques used by one company differs from the others. Laing O’Rourke is a construction company of UK which is needs skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workforce for the purpose of execution of its activities. For the recruitment and selection of skilled and semi-skilled employees it is conducting a written test so as to evaluate the knowledge and skills of the candidate, after the written interview an individual is asked to present a plan in which it will execute the activities of the construction project and at last it conducts a personal interview so as to evaluate the communication skills of the candidate. For recruitment and selection of the unskilled employees it conducts an interview so as to analyse the knowledge and behaviour of the candidate and then a  health care  check up is done (Zhao & Liden, 2011). On the other hand, Shop direct is a multi-brand online retailer which conducts a written test of the candidate so as to analyse its knowledge regarding marketing and management.  Then it conducts a group discussion so as to evaluate the communication and leadership skills of the candidate and at last an interview is conducted for analysing the manner in which its solves the issues of customers.

2.4 Evaluate the effectiveness of the organisation recruitment and selection techniques with another organisation you recommending.

The procedure or technique adopted by Laing O’Rourke are effective as it requires different types of human resource for the execution of the activities for which it is using different methods or techniques for recruitment and selection process. It has helped Laing O’Rourke in appointment of the talented, skilled and knowledgeable workforce for executing the activities which require knowledge and qualifications. As well as appointment of the employees for the execution of the activities which do not require qualification and technical knowledge. On the other hand, the technique adopted by Shop direct is less effective as for the purpose of appointment of the human resource for different types of employees it is using single technique which increases the efforts, time and cost involved in the recruitment and selection process (FLOREA, 2013).

Task 3

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

Virgin Media is the largest international cable company of UK which provides broadband services, TV, mobile phone and home phone services to its customers. For the purpose of management of the human resource of the organisation it is using motivation so as to encourage the employees as well as reward system. Motivation and rewards both are different as well as related to each other in a certain manner. Both are different from each other as motivation is used before the execution of the task or activity or during the execution of the task or activity whereas rewards are used or given to the employees after the completion of the task or activity for their performance. Both are related to each other as for the purpose of motivating the employees or human resource of Virgin Media it is using monetary as well as non-monetary benefits or financial or non-financial incentives. Monetary benefits include bonus, rewards, increment or hike in the salary. Non-monetary benefits include appreciation, promotion, recognition and healthy workplace (O’Connor, et. al., 2010,).

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

Pay determination can be explained as the method or manner or technique adopted or used by an organisation for the purpose of analysing the amount of compensation which must be paid to the human resource for the execution of the activities of the organisation. Job evaluation can be explained as the manner in which the worth or value of the job is analysed. For the purpose of evaluation of the job and pay, Virgin media is evaluating the performance of the human resource of the organisation, comparison of the actual performance with the set standards and for this purpose it is considering various factors which influence the process of job evaluation or pay determination. These factors includes the level of operations of the company, pay scale of the industry, trends in the market, economic conditions prevailing in the country and the type of job (Day, 2012).

3.3 Assess in different contexts (for e.g. attracting talent, retention, motivation) how effective is the reward systems at Virgin Media or your chosen organisation

Rewards can be in two forms and these are intrinsic which includes financial or tangible incentives to the person for encouraging or motivating it and extrinsic rewards which includes non-financial or intangible incentives. Virgin Media is using these forms of rewards so as to motivate the employees as well as for the purpose of providing satisfaction to the human resource of the company. These forms of rewards help in attracting the talented candidates towards the company and helps in appointment of the talented workforce. It also helps in retaining the talented, knowledgeable and skilled workforce by providing rewards to them for satisfying them. It acts as a motivator which motivates the human resource for enhancing their performance as well as contributing towards the growth of the company (Srivastava & Srivastava, 2011).

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

For the purpose of monitoring the performance of the employees in Virgin Media, below mentioned measures are used.

• Check over the quality of work: quality of the work of the employees is the most effective way of monitoring the performance of the employees. It analyse the quality of the products or services organisation is offering to its customers.
• Conducting a survey: A survey is conducted in the form of questionnaire, telephonic interviews and personal interviews from the different stakeholders of the organisation so as to analyse the performance of the employees.
• Regular checks: regular checks help in keeping a check over the performance of the employees on regular intervals so as to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency.
• Comparison with the set standards: The performance of the employees is compared with the set standards so as to analyse the effectiveness of the employees and for monitoring the performance.
• Use of self-monitoring tools: self-monitoring tools helps Virgin Media in keeping a check over the actions of the employees. It can be done by using project plans, activity logs and checklists.
• One-on-one conversation: the manager of  Virgin Media group  communicates with the employees on regular intervals so as to analyse the stage of the task or activity it has reached (Bhave, 2014).

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.

There can be various reasons behind the cessation of employment. These reasons include resignation, poor performance, unprofessional behaviour and redundancy. Resignation can be given by an employee for leaving the job due to lack of interest, unethical practices, unhealthy environment at the workplace or for better future prospects. Poor performance of the employee can be another reason for the cessation of the employment by the employer. Unprofessional behaviour of the employee affects the culture and environment of the workplace as well as the behaviour of the other employees in the organisation which can leads to cessation of employment. In redundancy the cessation of the employment due to the shortage of the work, financial problems and technological advancements (Collin, et. al., 2011). The reason behind the termination of the contract of employment of Faisal is the unprofessional behaviour and poor performance of Faisal. He was caught involved in unethical practices which includes watching porn in the office, using the equipments of The Chicken Master for personal use and non-performance of the tasks or duties assigned to him.

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

Termination of the employment can be voluntary which includes termination by the employee or non-voluntary which includes termination by the employer. In case of non-voluntary termination the employee is asked to present the proofs for proving its innocence and failure to which leads to termination. The employment exit procedure adopted by The Chicken Master for voluntary termination is discussed below:

• Application received: application is received by The Chicken Master by the employees who is leaving the job. In this application it mentioned its wish to terminate the contract of employment.
• Use of retaining techniques: in this the employee is offered various types of benefits from The Chicken Master so as to retain the employee. The benefits offered to the employee can be monetary or non-monetary in nature. Monetary benefits include increase or hike in the salary, bonus or reward. Non-monetary benefits include promotion or leaves.
• Conducting exit interview: the exit interview is conducted in which the reasons behind the termination of the employment are discussed with the employee.
• Serving notice period if any: in this employee is asked to serve the notice period mentioned in the contract of employment.
• Referencing of the documents and dues: in this all the dues are settled with the employee and documents are provided to the employee for next employment and it is relieved (Suzan J W Robroek, Rongen, et. al., 2015).

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

In case the claim of Faisal was true then The Chicken Master will need to face the legal consequences or actions as it as appointed a female employee at the place of Faisal. It would be the case of discrimination on the basis of sex. And it was against the rules and regulations of the sex discrimination act framed by the government of UK. The Chicken Master need to face the legal actions against it as it was accused of cessation of contact of employment with Faisal due to the adoption of sex discrimination practices and discrimination based on the age. The act framed by the government of UK states that no employer can terminate the employee due to the discriminatory practices (Rothstein, et. al. 2015,).

Conclusion

From the execution of this program, an understanding has been developed regarding the human resource management and its different aspects or functions in an organisation. This program discusses the differences of personnel and HRM, different functions of HRM, Roles and responsibilities of a line manager, impact of legal and regulatory framework on HRM and the reasons for implementing HRM in an organisation. This program discussed the five stages of planning human resource requirements, recruitment and selection process used by two companies, relation between motivation and rewards, the process of job evaluation and methods of monitoring employee’s performance. Different reasons for cessation of employment and employment exit procedure is discussed.

References

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