Human Resource Management
Introduction
Human resource management (HRM) is the process through which an organization interacts and guides its personnel so that they work together and achieve company objectives. The primary goal of this process is to set a target for the firm, build a plan for the organization, analyze data about staff members, train the company employees, and mentor them to fit in the enterprise. HRM can be traced back to the year 1950 when great scholars Drucker and McGregor saw that there is a need to have a vision and goal-directed activities in organizations. They also stressed that the management needs to integrate this kind of leadership in their businesses (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005, p. 71). The human resource remains paramount asset that companies will need to keep happy and satisfied to make profits and continuity in business. This is because of their interaction with processes and key stakeholder to companies especially customers. In this paper, I will base my HRM discussion on the case study of Harrods.
Personnel management versus human resource management
The two concepts are interrelated, as HRM management seem to replace the personnel management (PM). The difference between the two concepts can be identified in the aspects of time where the personnel management is a traditional approach that managers used to control and monitor employees in the workplace while HRM is the new fashion. There are modifications on the roles that is why there is a change in the concept. At first, the human resource manager was only dealing with the employees and the working. Currently, workers’ welfare are matched with company objective to make them efficient. Personnel management was dealing with the relationship between employee and company that is the administration part while HRM focuses on all the aspects of employee acquisition, training them to improve their efficiency, motivating them and ensuring the business retains the best staff for the longest time possible.
Personnel management describes the job that the staff should undertake on the concept of division of labor while HRM is about teamwork among the staff. PM just involved the keeping records about that information of employees while HRM goes ahead to integrate this simple function with company goals and strategies to ensure efficiency. There is a widened scope in HRM as it includes extra activities above those that personnel management does for the company. Personnel management indeed value norms and customs that exist in the enterprise setting. On the other hand, human resource management is concerned with employee values and the mission of the company.
Harrods is a corporation in the United Kingdom that deals with clothing both for men and for women. In the case of Harrods, the HRM functions include the development of the staff for the organization. The employees are paramount for the firm. Thus, the HRM helps bring the best of them for the good of the company. It covers all the aspects of recruitment, where the department assures the firm has the right personnel at the right time and in the right place. The other elements included by HRM is performance management and development of employee through training (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005, p. 75). With these issues, the identified functions of HRM include dealing with the employees by engaging them when making decisions for the firm.
Recruitment is a process that remains critical to any organization as it dictates whether the company has the right people or not. If the human resource hires and selects the wrong person for the organization, chaos and problems will remain to exist in organizations. Always there is an increased employee turnover in that particular enterprise. It involves a cost to get the right people for the organization. Thus, the company needs to have a well-skilled HR manager so that they help the company obtain the best employees who will assist the company grow and achieve its goals and mission. Identifying the business policies and the kind of person that they want to hire then describing the job that the candidate will handle helps analyze the skills of employees better and obtain the best person. Motivation to work in a given situation remains critical, as these candidates will be always committed to work and make the company better.
Performance management is the practice, which the companies are using to engage its employee in decision-making. It is a good concept that the HRM has incorporated as a function of the HR department of any organization. When the staff is involved in the decision-making process, they feel appreciated and as the art of the company. It gives them motivation so that they can do the best in the roles that they are mandated to perform for the organization. Communication is essential in an organization and will always help the smooth running of business. Employee engagement calls for training opportunities where the staff is allowed in increase their knowledge and skills. The human resource offers training sections that are relevant to the employees helping them to become innovative and provide solutions to problems facing them at a personal level and even at workplace setting.
The employees to Harrods Company have their skills and through the function of HRM, the company gets in to help its employees achieve their career dreams. Through this feature, the welfare of the employees is catered for far from their health issues to giving the employees an opportunity to learn and achieve career dreams. At Harrods, the leaders help the workers through activities like talent spotting and developing it among the staff. The workers who are making significant contributions towards the company development are identified at early stages and their ideas supported all through to achieve goals (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005, p. 76). Communicating to employees about the desired target helps the motivated employees to improve efficiency in company operations.
Role and responsibilities of line managers in Harrods’ HRM
Line managers are the staff that Harrods has put the place on the retail chain to help the company achieve its mission. Their role in Harrods includes staffing the employees of the company at all retail outlets and productions plants in their day-to-day operations. They help the company in minimizing costs by offering strategies that will cost the company operations less expenditure. At Harrods, the line managers have expertise in a variety of fields. Hence, they help the employees to gain the skills that are useful to operate effectively and efficiently in the company. Line managers have also been mandated with the responsibility of taking care of customers of the enterprise. They help solve any complaints that the clients may raise pertaining the company products. They also avail themselves to support customers understand the company and its products better. Their interaction with the employees helps the human resource management team to measure the quality of employee performance in delivering their services to the company. Line managers in a real sense are the implementers of HRM in organizations.
The Impact of UK legal framework on Harrods’ HRM
Over three decades now, the field of human resource has developed interest among researchers. Harrods is operating from London UK, where laws are governing the company operations in the respective territories. The rules as stipulated in the UK legal framework govern the relationships that exist between employees and their employer. The impact of this is that they are allowing Harrods to develop the best relationship with its employees by engaging them in company decisions. The legislation in the UK govern the contracts that employees get into with their employers (Gatewood, Field, and Barrick, 2015 p. 49). With legal contracts, Harrods ensure the workers’ safety. The health and safety regulations have helped Harrods to set the work schedule for staff. The laws govern the working hours of employees and all the work issues affecting the staff of the company. It has helped the company execute its HRM function of ensuring the employee welfare is adequately catered for by the HR.
Reasons for human resource planning (HRP) for Harrods
Human resource planning is the process through which the HR manager in conjunction with the other leaders in various departments identifies the need for a staff member for a vacancy. Through this process, the company knows if the staff they have are enough for continuous operation of the business. It involves a systematic analysis of the needs that the corporation needs regarding staff (Miller, 2006, p. 102). Harrods’ HRP is to help the management identify the strengths that the firm possesses. Much data is collected to aid the planning process. This data is an evidence of the company forces regarding workforce. The other reason for HRP is that the management can understand the skills that the current employees of the firm possess hence they can improve them to achieve more success. Through HRP, the management is in a position to know how best it can utilize resources appropriately and most important how they can retain employees in the company for a long time.
Stages involved in planning for the requirements of Harrods’ HRM
The steps involved in HRP include predicting the future, inventory, auditing, HR Plan drafting, action plan and the final step of monitoring and control. Through forecasting, the management knows the number of employees that are enough to ensure the company operates efficiently (Mádrová, 2010, p. 36). Inventory will aid in data collection so that the HR identifies the need for staff that can fill a vacancy. Auditing is the process of scrutinizing the positions to see if each employee is doing what is expected of him or her. It helps management to understand fully the need that the company has regarding workforce. The plan developed indicates the number of positions that are vacant makes the workforce enough as per the available job. The action plan is the recruitment and selection process that will help the company look for the best staff for any vacancy.
Comparison of the recruitment and selection process in Harrods and that of Walmart
The recruitment and selection process at Harrods involves online advertisement of the vacant position. The qualified candidates are allowed to write their application and send their CV to the human resource manager of the company. A week after the closing date of implementation, the HR, and the recruiting team come together and screen the applications so that fairness and transparency are brought out (Kaplan, 2007, p. 14). The shortlisted employees are interviewed through telephone and video to seek whether they are the actual owners of the requests. After interviews, the HR team comes out to assess their response. The qualified candidates are allowed to face the assessment center at the company premises. The evaluation is one on one where screening of the skills and expertise of the candidate is analyzed to give the candidate the opportunity. On the other hand, Walmart recruitment is not from the human resource management team, but they use an agency to recruit and select their employees. The company trust the recruiting agency will obtain the best candidate based on the job description that the company offers to the firm. The only difference that comes out clear between these two corporations is that Harrods uses an internal recruitment, while Walmart uses external recruitments.
Effectiveness of the two companies recruitment and selection technique
The effectiveness of internal recruiting at Harrods is that the corporation is in a position to gain more information about the candidates as they get one on one during the entire process. This method is effective for the company as it is working to engage its employees in the enterprise (Heckhausen, Wrosch, and Schulz, 2010, p.32). Therefore, they will be able to trust their employees with information that is used in making the decision for the firm. Internal recruitment at Harrods is cheaper as the only cost incurred is that is set aside by the human resource manager for that function. Harrods is in a position to develop the careers of the recruits and the promoted employees as they seek to recruit candidates who are motivated to work with them. Throughout the entire process, the staff morale is improved as the way the recruiting team treats them tells more about the value the company gives to its employees.
The effectiveness of external recruitment at Walmart is that the business gets new ideas and strategies of doing things with new recruits. Since the agency used to get employees is doing business, they also look for the best candidates and give them the opportunity to occupy the available position. The internal recruiting may be influenced interests of the manager thus; the external hiring is more efficient as agencies give persons with the described qualifications by the employer.
The link between Motivational theory and reward
According to Armstrong (2006, p. 252) the motivational theory explains the relationship that exists between employee rewards and motivations to work more. He further explained that there are two types of motivations that HRM can offer to staffs of an organization. These are intrinsic motivations and the extrinsic motivation. The intrinsic motivation is about the motivation of the employee for the work itself (Armstrong, 2006, p. 256). If employees are happy about their job, the motivational theory assumes that the employees are motivated to continue working in that job. Motivation is associated with reward because employees will always remain in a job position if the kind of rewards offered motivates them. The salary, which is a form of constant motivation to employees, is a reward for the job they do for the company. The management needs to develop a payroll that is paying the employees as per their expectation and the work they do for the organization. This practice will help the organization to have happy employees who are committed to their jobs.
The process of job evaluation and other factors determining pay at Harrods
The systematic process to assess the worthiness of a job is the definition of job evaluation. Each position at Harrods is analyzed to know the kind of job these people are doing, and if it is worth the pay, they are receiving. The evaluation of job at Harrods provides the management with an approach that aids in determining the payment that the human resource should allocate for that job (Mádrová, 2010, p. 37). The assessment process involves analysis of skills and knowledge of different employment positions. The qualification regarding education and experience is analyzed to ensure the employees in various positions are competent enough to have those posts. The steps involved in evaluating employees at Harrods include gaining acceptance from employees. Through a survey, the management needs to help the employees understand the payment they are receiving is worth the work they are doing (Konrad and Pfeiffer, 2010, p. 261). This motivates them to feel part of the company. Section of a job evaluation committee is the next step, which facilitates the whole process and does an analysis of all the positions. With a discussion of the job description, the committee identifies the positions to evaluate. The human resource manager has a classification of employment thus the committee uses these elements to evaluate selected posts to evaluate.
Effectiveness of reward systems in two works contexts
The rewarding system through salaries satisfy the employees. A company that has a good pay for staff retains its employees for a longer period. A conducive working environment allows employees work. The required resources that help the team achieve target need to be put in place so that they give the employees ample time. According to Miller (2006, p. 102), the kind of rewards that an organization offers to its employees, influences the behavior and loyalty words that organization. Allowing employees to become part of the company by asking them for ideas before making any decision affecting them allows them to feel rewarded for their intrinsic factors. The management has control over its employees, but their behavior and commitment are dependent on the rewards they receive from their work. The effectiveness of reward systems in two organizations is that engaging employees in decision-making are an effective way to pay their internal expectations. The other system is using the payment to give employees awards, which allows them to meet their needs through the money they get in return for their work.
Methods used to monitor employee performance in Harrods
Employee monitoring is significant as it keeps them on track so that they do the roles that they are expected to do. The human resource management at Harrods uses methods like observation, record reviewing, and reporting over a given period and regular discussions with the staff to monitor performance. Through observation, the HR can physically check the work that employees have done (Heckhausen, Wrosch, and Schulz 2010 p. 34). The company keeps records for all the staff hence reviewing these records helps management to measure and monitor employee performance. The piecework employee and marketing team reports on the number of sales made over a given period hence these reports aid in measuring performance.
Reasons for cessation of employment with Harrods
The cessation of employment is the dismissal of an employee for a wrongful act. It involves termination of a work contract with the company either because of retirement or because of resignation from the job. Underperformance is the primary factor contributing to employee termination with Harrods. The monitoring and measurement of employee help the HR to identify underperforming employees and upon analyzing the reasons as to why they are underperforming, they are dismissed. Absenteeism from the job without permission leads to inefficiency and the HR automatically terminates the employment contract.
Job exit procedures in Harrods and Walmart
An efficient human resource management team has a well-designed exit system from any post within the company. For retirement, in both organizations have a scheme that benefits its employees after extended periods of work with them (Legge, 2004, p. 9). Employees are terminating employment contract at Walmart because the employer pays very little. Many of the workers of Walmart are not under bargaining organization for laborers. Hence, there are no set rules that restrict them not to quit their jobs. The investment that Harrods is making on its employees restricts the employees from leaving their jobs. It is a motivation for them to stay.
Impacts of employment cessation arrangements of Harrods
The cessation is not frequent at Harrods. The employees are working until their retirement with the company. The few case are affecting the business operations regarding cost as their vacancies lead to extra costs in recruiting new employees. Sharma and Devi (2011, p .11) states that the motivation of employees to work leads to reduced turnovers, and this is what Harrods has done. The company does not dismiss its employees without a valid reason. Thus, it is spending less to recruit new employees. For Walmart, there is increased turnover because the pay they give employees is not motivating them to remain as employees in the company.
Conclusion
References
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