Unit 3 Managing Human Resources Assignment – Harrods

Introduction

The following Unit 3 Managing Human Resources Assignment Harrods is associated with the management of the human resources within the organisation and the different aspects related to the same. The organisation chosen for the following essay is that of the famous departmental store for the up markets in London which is popularly known as Harrods. The assignment further provides an insight regarding the Guest model implemented by the organization Harrods and also explains the differences between Human Resource Management and Personnel Management as well as Industrial Relations as described by Storey. The essay also states the importance of the flexible work practices for the employers as well as the employees. The other aspects of human resources management and the rules and regulation related to the same such as workforce equality and other have been discussed in detail in the following essay.

 

Task 1

1.1 Explain Guest Model of HRM as applied to the organization of your choice.

The major function of the human resource management is to manage the workforce effectively within the organization. As such there are various models of human resource management that ensures that helps to ensure smooth functioning of the organisation and one such model is that of the Guest Model (Bloom and Van Reenen, 2011). The following figure provides a brief idea regarding the Guest Model –

The Guest Model of Human Resource Management (HRM) was developed by David Guest and basically consists of six dimensions of analysis which can be stated as follows –

• The Human Resource Management Strategy
• The practices associated with HRM
• The outcomes of the Human Resource Management
• Behavioural Outcomes
• Outcomes depending upon the Performance
• Financial resources

According to Guest it is difficult to establish a relationship between the high performance of the employees and their commitment towards their work or towards the organisation. The Guest model mostly focuses on distinguishing the entire concept of the human resource management from the concept of the traditional human resource management. It further states that human resource management is mostly commitment based while the traditional personnel management is basically compliance based (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). The model has been successfully adopted by the department of the human resource model of the company Harrods in order to ensure the development of the strategies which are related to or which facilitate the concept of employee engagement as well as trust and loyalty of the employees or the workforce.

In order to achieve their objective Harrods has brought about various changes in its organisational structure by breaking down the hierarchical structure of the organisation into different layers in order ensure employee empowerment as more responsibilities as well as decisions making powers were provided to them. Harrods also is making efforts to hire the best possible talent and also provides them the relevant training so as to improve the talent and the skills of the employees. The company also made various changes in the leadership styles followed by the same and has implemented the democratic style of leadership which involves the employees in the decisions making policies of the company. Harrods is making attempts to improve its communication which in turn aims to minimise the communication gap between the employees within the organisation. Some of the approaches followed by the company towards improved communication were: Internal employee magazine which was named as “Your Harrods”, Intranet, employee forums, morning briefing, etc.

1.2 Using the organisation of your choice, compare the differences between Storey’s definition of HRM, personnel and IR practices

Storey defines human resource management as an distinctive approach towards the management of the employees which majorly aims towards ensuring the achievement of the competitive advantage by the means of strategic deployment of the workforce or the employees who are highly committed and capable by making effective use of the structural, personnel as well as cultural techniques. Storey also distinguished between the two forms of HRM which is known as the hard and the soft HRM. The hard form of the HRM mostly focuses on utilising the workforce in order to achieve competitive advantage for the company while soft form HRM is mostly considered human resources or the employees to be the valued assets of the company. Moreover Storey defines Personal and professional Management as a bureaucratic approach which is predominantly based on the rules, regulations and the procedures as a separate as well as significant part of management. There are different views regarding the concept of Human Resource Management, Personnel Management and Industrial Relations. Storey has also put forward 27 points of difference between the Human Resource Management (HRM) and Personnel Management (PM) as well as Industrial Relations (IR) some of which have been stated as below –

Sl. No.	Dimensions	PM and IR	HRM
	Assumptions and Beliefs
1.	Guidance towards Managerial Action	Procedure Oriented	Business Need Oriented
2	Nature of Relations	Pluralist	Unitarist
3.	Speed of decision	Slow	Fast
4.	Managerial Approach towards Task	Monitoring	Nuturing
5.	Leadership Style	Transactional	Transformational

It can be said that Storey’s HRM model has been implemented by Harrods as the company believes in nurturing their employees in order to maximize their efforts and also to achieve the objective of the organization successfully. As per the Storey’s Model of HRM,  Harrods HR department follows transformational style of leadership in order to provide efficient guidance to their employees and also to ensure the empowerment of their employees. Moreover Harrods also believes in providing non-financial rewards to their employees in order to fulfill the psychological needs of the employees. Moreover Harrods also follows direct communication rather than the indirect approach towards communication which is a part of the traditional Personnel Management. In addition the employees are not monitored as in Personnel management but are rather nurtured.

1.3 Assess the implications of the line managers and employees of developing a strategic approach to HRM for any organization of your choice

Line managers are mostly responsible for the successful administration of the activities which directly aims to contribute towards the output generation of the company. The line managers as well as the other employees of Harrods are responsible for ensuring the development of the strategic approaches towards the human resource management. It is the responsibility of the line managers to integrate the strategic approaches towards the HRM with the organisational culture and the leadership styles as well as the business policies followed or implemented by the organization. Moreover the line managers of Harrods are responsible for avoiding such approaches that will led to conflict between the operations or the policies followed by the business and the HRM approaches of rotations of jobs, implementing continuous changes in the leadership styles, etc. as it may have a negative impact on the brand value of Harrods. As far as the employees of Harrods are concerned their implications mostly ranges from fluctuations in the pay packages, job security as well as satisfaction, and also on the structure of bonuses which is mostly based on the level of performance of employees as well as their contribution towards the achievement of the team goals.

Task 2

2.3 Assess the use of flexible work practices form both the employer and the employee perspective

The implementation of the flexible work or timing is mostly implemented by the employers when there is an opportunity for the employers or the organisation to benefit from the same. Flexi-timing or work is also implemented by the employers for the fulfilment of the different purposes of the organisation. Employees are also benefitted by such flexi-timing as it provides them with the opportunity to work as per their comfort (Wright and McMahan, 2011).

Moreover the option of work from home proves to be beneficial for both employees as well as employers as it saves time, reduces the cost of transport, cost associated with all the facilities provided to the employee within the office and also helps to reduces the expenditures related to the monitoring of the personnel within the boundaries of the office (Zhou, Dekker and Kleinknecht, 2011). It also proves to be helpful for the employees working form the remote locations. Moreover providing part time employment law to the individuals not only proves to be helpful for the employees as they can work as per their convenience but it is even beneficial for the organisation Harrods as it saves the expenditure regarding the health benefits, pension, as well as the retirement packages that re provided to the permanent or full time workers of the organisation. This also helps the company to spend the revenue or the amount saved towards the implementation better facilities for the employees as well as the customers. 

2.4 Discuss the impact that changes in the labour market have led on flexible work practices.

There has been significant changes in the labour market over the years which had powerful impact on the policies followed by the organisation especially those that are associated with the workforce or the labours. Such changes in the labour markets have also affected the working policies or more specifically the flexible work practices on the different companies including Harrods. The changes in the labour markets are the results of demographic changes, advancement in the technologies, increase in the number of educated labours, etc. labour market flexibility also results from the changes in the market conditions regarding the demand and the supply of labour.

However such changes in the labour market have been proved to be beneficial for the company Harrods to a significant extent. Moreover the implementation of the flexible work practices has proved to be beneficial for the company as it provides the opportunity to the employers as well as the employees to make decisions regarding the working hours as well as regarding the place of work. Moreover the changes in the demographics and migration have helped the company to involve a large diverse group of work force belonging to different cultures which in turn has helped the company to ensure its growth as well as development. The fact Harrods believes in cultural diversity can be seen from the tag line which is present in the official website of Harrods and which states that the company is working towards or rather are making effort towards embracing the diversity of the modern culture of the Britain in the recent times.

Task 3

3.1 Explain the forms of discrimination that can take place in the workplace using examples of recent discrimination cases which has made news.

There exist various elements and aspects of discrimination that take place in different places of work, and in this respect, Harrods is no exception. Gender based discrimination can take place in any workplace, where particular rules are imposed on the male and female staffs that are against their wishes since these are supposed to be in the interest of the organisation. For instance, in the company, it is mandatory for the female employees to wear makeup throughout the day as long as they are having their duty in the shop floor, but this was a matter that was not perceived in good taste by some female staffs. (Hayton, 2012) There is a two page dress code for the lady staffs that states they should be wearing make-up all throughout the day which should definitely take into consideration base, blusher, lipstick and gloss. In this respect, a female staff’s real life example can be provided who had faced recent discrimination at the Knightsbridge store where she was an employee and her battle against discrimination was physically as well as emotionally draining. Because of this, she had to undergo forced resignation as was revealed in the newspapers. A staffs working at Harrods (who doesn’t want her name to be revealed) said that the reason for this occurrence was the lady’s denial in wearing make-up in her working hours.

Another scenario for discrimination that occurred at Harrods’ is linked with age, this occurs in relation to the change that took place in relation to the global market for labour where rising recruitment is taking place in regard of young undergraduates and post graduates candidates at Harrods in relation of providing employment to the most capable and talented candidates and dynamic individuals to assist the organisation in staying as the topmost departmental store internationally. (Hayton, 2012). At Harrods, there are occurrences of possible discriminations in relation to those candidates who are possessing one or more type of disability, either at the time of recruitment process or during their working phase in the company. There was an earlier instance of this kind of discrimination occurring at Harrods in respect of an employee who had a certain kind of disability. The individual was told to leave the shop floor when the management became aware that the person had a particular type of disability. (Hayton, 2012) This person then filed a discriminatory case against the management and got victory as a result of which she was given a specific amount as compensation from the company’s end.

3.2 Discuss the practical implications of equal opportunities legislation for an organisation.

There is the existence of different practical implications of equal opportunities legislation for Harrods which are positive as well as negative. For instance, Harrods is needed to re-examine their policies and guidelines in regard of human resource management to ensure that they take practical consideration of discrimination as intolerable. In addition, they are needed to source professionals to re-evaluate virtually all of their operational guidelines and processes to ensure that do not violate the equal opportunity legislation as well as other similar codes for practice inside United Kingdom. This possesses financial suggestion as they are needed to pay external skilled people who will get contracted in this respect. In respect of maintaining its standard, Harrods is, taken into consideration as an equal opportunity organisation that is against discrimination. (Furnham, 2012) In this respect, there are planning to do the creation of a public demonstration for making others aware of their policies and procedures as well as composition of the staffs.

This explains that there will be the creation of an impact in the recruitment process to provide opportunity to each and every candidate having the right talent as well as eligibility irrespective of their religious beliefs, gender, and age. (Furnham, 2012) One more practical implication that takes place in respect of Harrods is that there is a risk for them to face prosecution if they are unable in meeting the terms in respect of equality legislation or in circumstances where any of the employees might be faced with discrimination which was the case of the lady who faced discrimination because of her disabled condition at the place of work and because of which she did the filing of a case against the organisation stressing on the fact that the disability which she had, in no way was affecting her performances in regard to her professional work.

3.3 Compare the approaches to managing equal opportunities and managing diversity.

The concept of equal opportunities and diversity at the workplace can get support in regard of similar approaches as they functioning at the same time. Because of this, at Harrods the stages for managing similar opportunities and to control diversity are functioning simultaneously. For instance, for recruitment, the talented and capable individuals in respect of human resource management are being sourced from different parts of the country by the use of different kinds of media by advertising in order of legislation which has a relation with equality and employment. This approach offers an opportunity to all the capable and talented candidates irrespective of which part of the country they come from for working at Harrods. Another approach which is being used at Harrods is the utilisation of equal opportunity in regard of gender in their senior management team and also in regard of line managers. (Furnham, 2012) There is no existence of discrimination in regard of gender when it is linked with the appointment of male and female candidates, in respect of different posts who possess the required talents and capabilities, to get recruited to drive the organisation forward. Another approach that is being used at Harrods in the area that is linked with open communication with employees that supports towards employee empowerment for mentioning their viewpoint and the employee’s concern are considered to promote the welfare as the significant assets for the company. The next approach in Harrods is related with the working arrangements that possesses flexibility like term-time, part-time, full employment and temporary staffs who are recruited during the winter times and summer times to accommodate the different needs of the employees at the time when they are involved with Harrods to deliver various services.

These discussed approaches explain the fact that Harrods is an organisation that provides similar opportunity to promote diversity.(Furnham, 2012) They ensure that every individual should receive same scope irrespective of issues such as gender, age, or culture for gaining opportunity at Harrods.

Task 4

4.1 Select an organisation you work or have worked for, identify and compare the performance management methods used.

Performance management considers the aspect of assessing as well as reviewing the performances of the employees to identify areas where they offer excellent services as well as the area that needs additional growth and the areas that are affecting the company in an adverse way. The methods associated with performance management that are utilised at Harrods considers those aspects that focuses on employee groups or teams, production lines, departments and branches of the organisation. All the methods associated with performance management are similar since they are assisting the human resource management at Harrods to identify the definite performance level in respect of the employees. (Harrell, 2011) Another process that is related with performance management at Harrods is flat organisational structure that offers the opportunity to the employees to undertake more responsibilities that was not a possibility when there was the presence of an increased hierarchical structure in the company. This resulted in providing better job satisfaction in respect of the employees.

In my opinion, this is considered to be an unproductive process to provide opportunities in respect of the employees to maximise their potentiality, irrespective of hindrances that occurs because of benefits of the organisation in respect of bureaucracy. (Harrell, 2011). The company is also providing “Harrods Reward for Excellence” as this is considered to be a positive step towards motivating an employee. It has been evident that employees respond towards rewards in a positive way and because of this, I strongly feel that this approach will motivate the employees a lot more to put their best ability in the company taking into consideration the fact they will be receiving rewards in respect of their devoted endeavors.

4.2 Assess the approaches used to managing employee welfare in your organisation.

In regard to manage the employee welfare at Harrods, the human resource department plays an active role. At Harrods, the human resource department is having the existence of the ‘Employees Relations Team’ that is accountable towards the management of different matters that affect the common interests of the employees to ensure the commitment as well as abilities to perform that are affected in a negative by issues like accusations, policies and loss of jobs. (Stack, 20111) With the support of a research that the human resource management at Harrods is conducting, it has been mentioned that the team in respect of employee relation also developed the option of pension scheme that is effective to actualise the welfare of the employees.

Moreover, they are also providing support to the employees to plan their future with the support of the pension scheme. A recent study that done in respect of Harrods, it was revealed that the staffs were feeling contented with the welfare package, which was shared by a retail manager who works at Harrods.

4.3 Discuss the implication of health and safety legislation on human resource practices.

The implications of health and safety legislation on human resource practices at Harrods are under the pressure to bear them by them not because of safety and welfare in relation to the employees and customers but in relation to the common individuals also. There exists the probability to grow the costs in regard of resources for the company. For instance, the legislations that are related with health like Health and Safety Act, 1974 generally insists that management of an organisation need to introduce necessary programs that will ensure the appropriate standards of health for the employees during the period of recruitment as well as functional period. (Kotler, 2010) Legislation that is related with health and safety holds the company accountable in relation to the health and safety of the employees at the workplace as well as does the implementation of stringent fines when there occurs any type of violation in this regard.

Moreover, the human resource managers ensures that the employees and the company environment will be meeting the terms in relation to the requirements that are mentioned offering the inference of more costs to train employees in regard of factors that are related with health and safety. The health and safety legislation affects the common practices that are associated with the human resource management since they are designing a significant aspect even in the policies as well. (Kotler, 2010) To support the human resource management at Harrods in their practices in relation to the legislation related with health and safety, they have considered various units in respect of safety and security such as fire safety, health safety, employee safety and many more.

4.4 Evaluate the impact of another topical issue on human resource practices.

There exists particular topical issue that affects the human resource practices in various sectors in different organisations. An important topical issue that affects the human resource practices at Harrods is associated with organisational culture. At Harrods, the cultural scenario provides a structure to the method through which employee engagement and recruitment takes place with the help of human resource management. This implies the impact of the association of the human resource team with the recruitment process at Harrods that consists of different stages of interview which are successfully completed by the applicants to make sure that the candidates are able to adapt with the organisational culture. (Kahn,2012) In addition to this, the scenario associated with learning and development in respect of human resource focuses on people to have better association with its employees.

Moreover, the recruitment team ensures that they recruit the most talented candidates for all the posts. To do this, the human resource team is trying continuously for developing their advertisement process, staff selection process and using the social media to make sure that Harrods is always a leading from the front when competing with other organisations. The human resource management’s style of leadership also impacts the cultural scenario as because this supports in the creation of a democratic environment in the organisation and because of that, this is considered to be the answer for employee engagement at Harrods. (Kahn, 2012) The human resource management is executing effective communication with the employees to develop the capabilities of a manager, to build relationships and to do trust reinforcement at Harrods.

Conclusion

This Unit 3 Managing Human Resources Assignment Harrods based on managing human resources takes into consideration an understanding of the theory and practice of human resource management concentrating on the recent human resource practice and the effect of the topical issues as well as legislation. There have occurred a variety of changes in the labour market, and the growing demand from the staffs in respect of a more convenient work-life balance, has resulted in the growth of increasing flexible working practices. This delves with the understanding of the different perspectives of human resource management, then understanding the ways to develop flexibility within the place of work, understanding the impact of equal opportunities at the place of work as well as understanding the approaches towards human resource practices in the companies.

References

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice.Kogan Page Publishers.
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Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2011. Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Furnham, A , 2012. The Psychology of Behaviour at Work: The Individual in the Organization. Psychology Press
Harrell D, G. ,2011. Marketing Management.Simon and Schuster Pub.
Hayton, J , 2012. Global Human Resource Management Casebook. Taylor & Francis
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Leonardi, P.M., 2011. When flexible routines meet flexible technologies: Affordance, constraint, and the imbrication of human and material agencies.MIS quarterly, 35(1), pp.147-167.
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Wright, P.M. and McMahan, G.C., 2011. Exploring human capital: putting ‘human’back into strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(2), pp.93-104.Zhou, H., Dekker, R. and Kleinknecht, A., 2011. Flexible labor
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