Unit 3 Human Resource Management Assignment Help - Harrods

Introduction

The project report is on the Human Resource Management which means the planning, controlling, guiding and coordinating different human resources in the organisation to fulfil the main objectives of the company. The assignment throws a light on the main functions of human Resource management which helps in achieving the organisational objectives of a company. The company which has been considered to better understands the topic is Harrods which is a retailer in UK. The first task will throw a light on the roles and responsibilities of a line manager in the company and the laws which are required to be followed by the company (Foot, et. al., 2016).

The second task will contribute in explaining the role and importance of Human Resource Planning by discussing the steps taken during the planning of human Resource in an organisation. It also includes the discussion about the recruitment and selection process of Harrods which will be compared to Amazon UK where employee turnover rate is so high. Third task will include the discussion about the case study of Virgin Media in which various motivational theories are discussed which helps in motivating the employees by giving them monetary or non monetary rewards (Foot, et. al., 2016).

The last case study is about the cessation of an employee which can be voluntary or non voluntary and what are the rules and processes followed during the exit of an employee has been discussed. The legal and regulatory framework of UK has been discussed in these cases of termination or resignation of employees from the company.

Task 1

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

By Human Resource Management we mean the organisation and management of the human capital of an organisation. It includes those activities which start from the planning of human resources to the recruitment, selection, training, directing, controlling and exit of the employee from an organisation. Personnel management on the other hand is more or less the same but it mainly focuses on maintaining a satisfied workforce in the organisation. Both the terms are different and there points of difference are shown in below points with reference to the Harrods group which is among the best employers of UK. It is the retailer which deals in clothing, electronics, jewellery, gifts and more (Institute, 2016)

 

Basis	Human Resource Management	Personnel Management
Approach	HRM is a modern approach for managing the workforce in organisation. Harrods use it to plan, organise and direct the human capital of Harrods.	PM is the term which refers to the management of the workforce to make them satisfied in the organisation. Harrods uses many methods of PM which satisfies its employees.
Main Objective	The main objective of HRM is to achieve the objectives of an organisation by managing the human resources of the organisation. Harrods do the same for accomplishment of its objectives (Beardwell and Thompson, 2015).	The main motive of PM is to satisfy the employees of the organisation. Harrods is among the best employer in UK which is known for providing satisfaction to its employees (Institute, 2016)
Functions	HRM is regarded as the strategic function of the organisation which helps Harrods in attaining its strategies successfully	PM is the function of the organisation which is performed in routine for satisfying the employees (Beardwell and Thompson, 2015).

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

Human Resources management has main objective of managing the human capital of the organisation to achieve the main objective of the business. It helps in managing the optimum amount of production of the business and to achieve profitability. It includes planning for the human resources and utilizing them for the purpose of achievement of the ultimate objectives of the business. Some of the main functions of HRM are:

• Planning: Planning includes deciding for the future of HRM in the organisation. Harrods predetermine the need for the Human resources so that it can attain its aims and goals. It can be done through many methods and techniques (Darwish, 2013).
• Staffing: It refers to the function of maintaining human resources in the organisation with the help of recruitment, training and development, compensation, etc. It involves the Hr policies so that the organisation can deal with the employees in a better way.
• Directing: Harrods directs its human resources by efficient leadership and communication which also helps in building the motivation of the employees. It brings cooperation among the employees to achieve the objectives of the company.
• Development:  Harrods adopts many methods for the development of its staff. These methods include training and development which improves the skills and competencies of the employees which contributes to the growth of the organisation.
• Integration: This includes maintenance of good relations among the management and employees with the help of adequate compensation, training and development, grievances redressel, etc.

The functions of HRM are different in every organisation according to the need of the business environment. These functions ultimately help the organisation in pursuing its goals (Darwish, 2013).

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

The line mangers have certain responsibilities which provide support to the human resource functions. Some of the responsibilities of the line manager of Harrods are:

• Performance appraisal: This is one of the main responsibilities of the line manager of Harrods to evaluate the performance of the employees of the organisation and to provide the feedback on their performance so that they can improve it further. They also conduct appraisal meetings with the employees to provide them feedback.
• Maintain discipline among the employees:  Line managers are responsible for maintaining discipline among the employees. They inform and make aware the employees about the discipline which is to be maintained in the organisation and if any employee does not follow the same, they take necessary actions towards the employee (Oksentyuk, et. al., 2011)
• Recruitment and selection: The line managers are also responsible to gather the information about the required talents in the organisational and then recruit and select the appropriate employees which can fulfil the requirements of the business.
• Training and development: The employees in Harrods are to be trained properly to provide excellent services to the customers and this is the responsibility of the line manager to train them as required by the business (Kramar, et. al., 2013)

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

There are some legal and regulatory frameworks which have a great impact on the Human Resource Management.  These are to be followed by Harrods and are discussed below:

• The Equal Pay Act 1970- This act is made for making no discrimination in the payments made to men and women (Härtel & Fujimoto, 2015)
• The Data protection Act 1998-  according to this act, the data in the organisation have to be secured properly with the strong passwords or in lockers which cannot be misused by any unauthorised person.
• The Employees Rights Act 1996- This states that every employee should have complete and proper rights in the organisation and these should be considered prior to any dismissal or termination of an employee.
• National Minimum Wage Rate Act 1998- This act states that whatever is the minimum wage rate for the employees, it should be provided to the employees so that fair remuneration is maintained.
• Work and Families Act 2006-  This act is made with the purpose of maintaining an optimum balance between the work and personal life of the employees by giving them adequate leaves, pay and facilities (Härtel & Fujimoto, 2015)

Task 2

Amazon UK is experiencing a high staff turnover and the finance manager who is also functioning as an HR manager has to find good people for the company. To fill the required vacancies, he needs an advice on the HR matters. The candidates are selected by a telephone and face to face interview where they are asked some questions and they are selected on the basis of answers given by them. New HR policy is required for Planning of HR and current Recruitment and Selection process (Mahapatra, 2013)

2.1 Analyse the reasons for human resource planning 

Amazon is an online retailer which needs a skilled staff which can handle the customers well and also the other functions of the company. Human Resource planning is important in Amazon UK because of several reasons:

• For acquiring Talented staff: The Company needs skilled and talented staff to fulfil all its functions. Planning is significant in acquiring the appropriate staff for all the functions like customer service, it functions, procurements and storage of products, etc. For this efficient workforce is required (Dessler, 2015).
• For filling the requirement: Every organisation requires adequate human resources for fulfilling its requirements and it can be done by selecting new staff for filling new vacancies or by replacing the existing staff. This requires human resource planning which can help in performing this appropriately.
• For controlling costs: The cost of managing the workforce in Amazon is very high for which proper Human Resource planning is very important because it minimises the funds which are used in unproductive processes of human resource management and helps in  formulating proper functions for the hiring, training or management of human resources.
• To match the updated technology: To match the latest and updated technology used in the industry, new resources are required in the organisation which can be acquired properly through Human Resource Planning. It helps in getting right employees for the right functions (Mahapatra, 2013)

 
2.2 Outlining the stages involved in planning human resource requirements

Human resource planning refers to the acquisition of right people for right job at the right time so that the objectives of the organisation can be achieved successfully. Amazon UK can do proper human Resource Planning for managing the changes in the business environment so that it can reduce its employee turnover and increase its productivity (O'Meara & Petzall, 2013). The following are the stages of Human Resource planning:

• Analysis of Organisational objectives: It involves analysis of objectives and goals of the organisation which can be expansion of the business, marketing planning, sales objectives and any other objective.
• Analysis of available human resources: It involves analysis of the capacity and performance of the present workforce and to estimate whether the organisation need any more human resource and from the internal or external sources.
• Prediction of Demand and Supply of manpower: The prediction is to be done at this stage for the requirement of human resources for various positions in the organisation for present and for future (O'Meara & Petzall,  2013).
• Estimation of manpower gaps:  The demand and supply of manpower is to be matched up and it is realised whether any gaps are there or not. The surplus and deficit of human resources are to be analysed to take necessary actions.
• Make action plan for filling the gaps: the gaps, if there, are to be filled up by taking necessary actions. The actions can be recruitments,  promotions, termination, etc.
• Control and feedback: at last, after implementation of the action plan. The process is to be monitored and control and necessary changes are done for improvement.
  

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

A comparison between the current recruitment and selection process of Amazon with Harrods will be discussed in this part of the report.
In Amazon UK, the candidates are attracted first to apply for the jobs and then they are scrutinized through telephonic interviews. The candidates are attracted to apply by taking the help of the advertisements, placement agencies or by campus placements. Also, they give chances to the existing employees who want to apply for a particular position (McCarthy & Cassidy, 2012)

All the candidates who applied have to face a telephonic interview where the suitable candidates are selected for a face to face interview. The suitable candidates are selected in a face to face interview where different kinds of questions are asked from a candidate. The questions are about the life goals, reason for applying for the job, the description about the candidate and aptitude tests are taken. After passing all these questions and aptitude, the suitable candidate is selected (Recruiter, 2015).

On the contrary, the recruitment and selection process at Harrods is very fair and it does not involve any kind of discrimination. It aims at selecting the active and talented candidates for the business of the company. It attracts most of the candidates by advertising in local newspapers and online through various websites. Once the candidates apply for the jobs, they are judged on the basis of their communication skills in the Group discussion round, and the suitable candidates are scrutinized from there which are then passed through an interview where the final candidates are selected. The company keeps the selected candidates on training and takes a test on the basis of which the most suitable candidates are selected and the rest are rejected (Recruiter, 2015).

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

There are differences in the recruitment and selection processes and techniques in the two organisations. The process or the method which is efficient in selecting most appropriate candidates for the required positions is more effective. The effectiveness of the methods and techniques also depends on the size of the company. If the company size is small then  adopting external methods of recruitment is better than the internal methods because the no of the employees is already less.

But the larger company has more no. of employees and it can give chances to the existing employees first and then they can move towards the external hiring of new talents (Recruiter, 2015).

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.

Motivation is the process or adoption of techniques which enhances the encouragement of an employee and boosts his/ her morale to work more. At Virgin media, an employee is encouraged to perform better and for this the employees get rewarded because rewards motivate an employee to work more and earn more. Rewards can be in the form of monetary hikes and bonuses or in the form of promotions, recognition, responsibilities and more. There are different motivational theories which help in motivating different people in an organisation. Two of the motivational theories are explained below for better understanding:

Maslow Hierarchy of needs: This theory was introduced by Abraham Maslow in 1943 and it includes five levels through which the employee gets motivated. These stages shows that an employee’s when satisfy at one stage, moves on to the next stage. These stages are shown in the below given diagram which shows that how a person gets himself satisfied in stages (PWC, 2012).
 
Theory X and Y
The another theory is given by  Doughlas McGregor in the year 1960 where two types of needs are explained, low order needs and high order needs. The management of Virgin media can use any of the needs for motivating the employees. Theory X says that the management of Virgin media can adopt strict rules and tight control on the workers which makes the workers dissatisfied from their job whereas Theory Y represent the management adopting healthy culture the workers are highly motivated. Virgin media should use Theory Y to motivate its employees (PWC, 2012).

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

Job evaluation is the process in which information is collected about the job position and its requirements. It is mainly used for determining the salary structures. Virgin media uses internal and external methods for Job evaluation.  The decisions are made after analysing the job requirements and then the final results will be used for deciding the salaries, designing the jobs, deciding responsibilities for an employee. There are certain factors which determine the pay for the particular job (Demirtas, et. al.,  2015).These factors are :
•    Organisation’s size
•    Skills and experience of an employee
•    Performance of an employee
•    The sector or industry  (Demirtas, et. al.,  2015).
Virgin media use these factors in job evaluation and for determining the pay.

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

Reward systems can be extrinsic and intrinsic where extrinsic rewards are the financial rewards like bonuses, commissions, incentives and intrinsic rewards means positive feedbacks, praises and recognitions. Reward systems help in motivating the employees so that they can give their best efforts for the organisation because this provides them satisfaction in working with the organisation.

Virgin media inspire and motivate their employees by providing them incentives and chances for promotions on their better performance. They also treat their employees fairly and equally with no discrimination among the employees which creates a sense of belonging among the employees for the company and they are motivated to dedicate their best efforts for the organisation (J, A., 2014)

This benefits employees in their growth and success of career and also helps Virgin media in getting the best quality work from the employees and in increasing the productivity and performance of the organisation. Satisfied employees in an organisation will also help in building a positive image of the company and the company will be able to attract better talents and retain the existing ones (O'Donovan, 2015)

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

Virgin media  monitor or evaluate the performance of its employees by adopting several methods. The methods should be correct to measure accurate performance of the employees without any discrimination or bias among the employees. Different methods to monitor the employee performance in Virgin media are:

• Self evaluation: It is the method where the employee is asked by the company to evaluate himself. There are forms in which many questions are asked which have to be answered by an employee about himself.  It helps virgin media to take action about different needs of an employee (O'Donovan, 2015)
• Observation: The Company uses observation method which involves keeping an eye on the activities of the employees and then taking actions for improving the performance of an employee.
• Feedbacks: feedbacks are the views of the employees for the company. The employees give feedbacks to the company’s management and it takes corrective actions then so that the weaknesses can be converted into strengths of the organisation (O'Donovan, 2015)

These techniques help Virgin media to monitor the performance of an employee and to set the standards for them to work effectively and to meet the objectives of the organisation. This also helps in eliminating the weaknesses and to grab the opportunities by the company.

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.

Faisal was terminated by Bob from the job on several grounds. The first reason was that he was misusing the equipments at work which were not allowed to use for the personal use.  He also used the computer for unethical activities which could have hampered the image of the company. By termination or cessation of an employee we mean the exit of an employee from an organisation either by giving resignation by himself or when an organisation ask an employee to leave the company (Dessler, 2015).
The reasons for the cessation of employees are:
•    Poor relationship with the owners or managers of the company
•    Poor relationship with other workers
•    Poor job performance
•    Involvement of an employee in unethical activities
•    Mis usage of the facilities given by an employer to the employee
•    Fulfilment of personal goals and keeping on stake the goals of an organisation.
•    The employee is not satisfied by the job
•    The employee is not motivated
•    An employee does not see any opportunities in the company
•    The culture of an organisation is not healthy (Beardwell & Thompson, 2015).

 
Faisal in the given case was terminated by an employer Bob because he was violating the rules of the company and that too when a rule book is given to an employee for better understanding of the requirements of the company. Bob fired him on the genuine grounds when Faisal violated the rules in spite of having proper knowledge about them (Beardwell & Thompson, 2015)

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

The exit procedures are followed when an employee’s leaves an organisation either by himself or he is fired by an employer. The exit procedures of The Chicken Master include the following:
•    Resignation acceptance
•    Exit interviews
•    Reviews from an employee (Härtel & Fujimoto, 2015)

An employee submits his resignation first and the n the company tasks to the employee and accepts the resignation. After this, an interview is taken for getting the feedbacks about the organisation and to know the real reasons of leaving the job and the reviews given by an employer are considered. In the case of Faisal, Bob terminated him. So he had to resign by submitting his resignation letter to the owner and then he has to serve a notice period after that. But as Faisal was terminated because he violated the laws and rules of the company. The owner would ask him to leave the company immediately as soon as possible. All the salary adjustments and the dues are cleared off and the balance of the salary is credited to the bank account of an employee after 30 days of resignation (Härtel & Fujimoto, 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.

All the rules and regulations of UK are considered before terminating and employee. An employee is secured in a job by the rules and regulations of UK until and unless he himself hasn’t violated any of the laws. There should be a fair reason for terminating an employee from the job. If an employer terminates any employee without giving any genuine and fair reason, the employee can sue an employer for the same. The Chicken Master also has to follow the rules of employment in UK and they also have to abide by the laws of the country’s government (Foot, et. al., 2016).

The reason of the termination of any employee cannot be on the basis of discrimination of sex, race, creed, colour, etc. No employer will be saved from the government actions that will terminate the employees on these bases. Faisal has violated the laws and is terminated by BOB but he filed a case gains’ the company and Bob has to prove him wrong in order to justify the termination of Faisal (Darwish, 2013).

Conclusion

Human resource management is an important part of any organisation as Human capital is the most important resource. The differences between personnel management and human resource management has been discussed in the first task of the assignment which clearly states that personnel management is to keep the employees satisfied by human resource management is to manage the human resources to fulfil the objectives of the company. Different motivational theories have been discussed which plays an important role in rewarding and motivating the employees. Human resource planning and its importance has been discussed with the help of the process of the human resource planning which shows own the human resources demand and supply are estimated and the gaps are filled by the right employee for the right position.

In the last task, the case study is discussed which provides an information about the various reasons for the termination of an employee from an organisational and what are the rules and regulations in UK which are to be followed by the employer while terminating the employees.

References

Aktar Demirtas, E., Buruk, Y. & Sa??r, M. 2015, "A Multi-Criteria Job Evaluation Method For A State Bank", International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process, vol. 7, no. 2. 
Institute, T. E. (2016). Harrods. Retrieved 07 07, 2016, from http://www.top-employers.com/companyprofiles/uk/harrods/