Essay: HR Policies In UK Fast And Holiday Extras - A Comparative Analysis.

You are required to analyse one or two organisations covering some of following themes (as covered in the first phase of the module):

1. An analysis of HR policies and practices within the organisation(s) against selected theoretical concepts, e.g. high commitment HRM (HCHRM), best fit HRM or hard and soft HRM

2. An analysis of some specific external forces and the effect of these forces on HR strategic decisions within the organisation(s), e.g. the employment market in which your organisation operates, whether the work force is high skilled or low skilled, unionised or non-unionised

3. An analysis of how the HR function is organised and how HR policies and practices are delivered, e.g. do they follow Ulrich’s model or other forms of delivery; what is the role and the challenges of line managers in the delivery of HRM?

Context of organizations

An HR practice plays a vital role in the organization and the main purpose of it to ensure that the organization is able to attain success through effective using of people. The report will focus on two companies that are UK fast and Holiday extras. The HR practices of both companies are entirely different and the report will focus on the different HR strategies of both UK organizations. HR team and HR manager handle every situation of an organization efficiently whether it is regarding appraisal, performance management, rewards and recognition or staff grievance, absenteeism and staff shortage (Delaney and Huselid, 2011). An analysis of external factors will be focused in this report and the effect of these forces on the HR strategic decision will be discussed. An HR function comprises the recruitment, selection, training and development, payroll and relational assistance. The discussion will be made on both companies regarding HR practices and policies and comparison will reflect in this report to provide better understanding about the HR practices in different organization.

Holiday Extras operates in the UK travel and leisure market selling subsidiary travel services to outbound travelers and specific packages of selling to consumers taking UK based short stays breaks. The employees, governments, director, creditor and owner are the stakeholders of this company. Employee engagement is necessary component in the organization to amplify the productivity of the employee. It has been analyzed that the holiday extras travel company has awarded a ten years achievement award in 2016 (Holiday Extra, 2017). It has been done due to effective HR practices in the company. It has high skilled workers but due to lack of communication between employee and employer, the productivity is lesser. The feature of their labor market that is full time. Legal and regulative system such as national minimum wage affect the organization but the organization get to know that under 18 year, it has to provide £4.05 while more than 25 and over, it has to pay £7.50 per hour. Changes in political system may affect the organization. Best fir HRM of this organization is that the capability of running operations. it has started in 1983 by Gerry Pack. Gradually, the growth of the company has improved and it chase come in the UK 100 best companies.

On the other hand, UK fast is one of the leading hosting and collocation provides that is specialized in supplying dedicates server hosting and cloud hosting solutions. The customer services and support of this company is efficient and the management system of this company is supporting. It provides services to its customer 24*7 which facilitates them to make customer satisfied from their services. There are so many employees in the company and the age factor does not matter for this organization and it provides full time job (UK Fast, 2017).  Legal and regulative areas affect the organization in the good manner and create the good image in the market. Due to changes in employment law, company is not affected much because it handles the every situation due to effective bonding with employees. It was founded in 1999 by Welsh businessman Lawrence Jones and his partner Gail Jones. It has become more popular organization and received so many awards such as National Business Awards "Employer of the Year" award and the Institute of Customer Service.   

Analysis of HR practices and policies

HR policies and practices are playing a vital role in the organization. It has been analyzed that the HR policies and practices of Holiday travel is effective. On the other hand the HR policies and practices of the UK fast organization are outstanding because the main focus of this company to satisfy the customer as well as the employee of the company. There are various strategies that may influence the organization. Classical approach is also considered as the rational planning approach which defines that the strategy is formed through a formal decision making process. Holiday travels have followed this strategy to maintain its reputation in front of viewers. The clear goal and better understanding has been given by Holiday Travels to its employee for making them clear about the goal of the company and to maintain the role of HR is integral. On the other hand UK fast company considers the systematic approach in which strategy is shaped by the social system in which it operates.

Hard approach is the approach which defines that the employee of the company is resources such as machineries and they have to accomplish the task within time frame. On the other hand soft approaches in HRM is defines that the employee of the companies most vital resources and they involve in the important decision making process. It has been found that the Holiday travel is followed the hard HRM approach in which the main focus of this organization is to recognize the workforce needs of the business and manage them accordingly. The communication structure of this organization is minimal and it is required for the HR of the organization to involve the employee in the decision making and communicate with them for better cooperation (Kumar, et. al., 2012). On the other hand the UK fast company is followed the soft HRM approach in which the main concentrate of the company on the need of the needs of the employee such as reward and motivation. The communication strategies in this company are attractive and entire team of the company has better understanding about the aim of the company. Training and development program are vital for the organization because it enhances the productivity of the organization. The pay structure of this company is competitive with suitable performance related rewards. The employees of the UK fast organization are empowered to seek delegation and take responsibility. The organizational structure of UK fast company is flatter.

High commitment HRM is a set of practices that has the potential to contribute towards organizational performance. It is considered as the most effective HR practices which are able to reduce the absenteeism, enhance the turnover of labor and improve the quality of the work and the behaviour or attitude of the employee towards the aim (Karami, Sahebalzamani and Sarabi, 2015). Work life balance, selective hiring, extensive training and development program, performance review appraisal and employment security are the major component of the HCHRM. The role of the line manager in the organization is major because it handles the employee productivity and able to convey their message to higher authority. The individual is responsible for managing employees and resources in chase of attaining specific functional or organizational goals. The HR contribution can be measured by evaluating the number of employees and their satisfaction towards organization.

An analysis of some specific external forces

Strategic decision of HR is a vital component of strategic HR management. The employment market is the place in which employers of the company find out the skilled employees for the company after evaluating their jobs and educational skills. There can be various external forces which may lead the company into adverse situations. These external forces can be competitors, new entrants, technology change and social demands. Competitors of Holiday Extra is Airport Parking & Hotels Ltd. On the other hand the competitor of UK fast company is Hostway services and pulsani limited. These competitors are working in same field and the trust of customer is playing significant role in the competition case. New entrants in same industry can be the risk for both companies because it may reduce the number of selling products and services. Technology has become advanced and due to lack of awareness regarding technology may break the trust of reliable customers. People want satisfaction from services and if the companies are not able to make them satisfy, it would reduce the trust of customers and they can switch to other company for services. 

The procedure of hiring is an important aspect performed by HR of the company. HCHRM’s 9 HR Practices are defined below which may influence the HR strategic decision within an organization. The nine practices are:

• Security of employment
• Sophisticated procedure of hiring and selection
• Extensive learning, training and development
• Participation of employee in decision making
• Team working and collaboration
• Performance related pay
• Performance appraisal and review
• Reduction of staff differences
• Work life balance

These 9 HR practices of HCHRM influence the strategic decision making process of HR appropriately. Employees are the most valuable asset of the organization and it is vital for the organization to provide good environment at work place. The main function of HR is to recruit the right person for right profile and sophisticated procedure of hiring and selection can improve the efficiency of the work place (Youndt, et. al., 2012). The practice says that the trained employees are more active that is why the organization should trained its employee to enhance the productivity of the employee and definitely it will influence the HR strategic decision and the focus of HR will move on the improvement of the work environment (Grant, 2014). Employee involvement and participation is major component of the high commitment. Team working is the platform to make the better decision making and the creative solution. Performance related pay refers that the HR should take decision by evaluating the two major practices such as higher than average compensation and performance related award both should be awarded to employees for their superior contribution in the task. Pays should be competitive to enhance the productivity of the employees and to retain high quality labor. Performance appraisal, review and career development are major element of the HCHRM. The performance expectations are increased due to this element and the mind of the employees are settled towards achieving the target. HR of the both organization should communicate in concise manner with employees regarding appraisal for making the strong bonding between organizational performance and HR practices (Purce, 2014). It has been evaluated that the Holiday travel pays low to their employees while the UK fast organization pay scale is well structured. The performance as well as the job profile of the employee hugely influenced the strategic decision making of HR. Work life balance is considered as the motivation technique in the organizations. There can be some barrier which may lead the organization in adverse situation such as lack of identification with management goals, limited investment in training and failure to apply organizational goals.  Both companies can face worst situation due to above mentioned barriers. It has been found that the due to lack of training in the Holiday Extras, the employee of the company has to face so many challenges.

Davis Ulrich has introduced this model which is based on the four roles of HR that is strategic partner, change agent, employee champion and admin expert. The three legged stool of Ulrich comprises HR Business Partners, Shared Services and Centre of Excellence.

                                                                               Figure 1: Three Legged Stool

                                                                    Source: (Theotokas and Kapantais, 2017). 

HR business partners are responsible to take decision in the favor of the organization and in this process they involve employee and management of the business. They facilitate to resolve the issues in an efficient manner. In the context of Holiday travel and UK fast organization, it is integral to give proper attention to the employee of the company. It is one of the vital components of the legged stool which act as change agent. It is the group that builds agendas for HR of the organization and work together with the seniors of the both company.

The groups of shared services are liable to handle the day to day activities of the organization. It defines the responsibility of HR in which the HR of the company are responsible to hire, recruit and for providing training and development program to the employees of the organization so that they get knowledge about the objective of the company (Plutchik and Conte, 2011). Along with that it handles cross organizational synergies, dissemination of good practices and recognition of administrative activities.

It is considered as the small group of HR that is able to handle the specific issues within an organization. It enhances the transformational services to execute the HR services. Centre of expertise creates the HR frameworks. HR initiatives has been developed and introduced by this group. It defines the vital responsibility of HR towards the specialized areas such as employee relations, compensations and benefits, staffing, diversity, workforce planning and talent management (Pollack, 2015). These activities are playing a major role in both organization such as Holiday travel as well as UK fast organization.

Along with that there is a model of Ulrich regarding HR roles which is included Strategic partner, change agent, administrator expertise and employee champion. These roles are vital for the daily activities of the operations. A strategic partnership refers a bonding between two commercial businesses.

                                                                         Figure 2: Dave Ulrich Model of HR roles

                                                                                     Source: (Sparrow, 2014).

Change agent performs his role to bring innovation within an organization which amend the working environment and develop as per latest technology (Randles and Laasch, 2016).  Holiday travel as well as UK fast organization are moving with latest technology and connected with the social platforms to give the information about the company to consumer as well as to get the knowledge about the interested people. It has been analyzed that the role of the HR is not limited up to hiring and recruitment, it is necessary for performing the role in an efficient manner that HR need to perform as administrative expert and guide employees as well as customer of the company about the services and products. Employee champion of the both organization develops strategies and facilitates execute actions that amplifies the human capital contribution. In addition, employee champion make sure that all activities within business should be done in fair and ethical manner.

Conclusion and Recommendations

In the limelight of above discussion, it has been concluded that the human resource management is integral for the business. The main of this report is to analyze the HR practices and the roles of HR within an organization. The research led to suggestion that there is a one way in which HRM should be performed; furthermore, the practices of HR have a positive influence on the organization. Two various organizations has been chosen for this report to analyze the different practices and roles of HR. HCHRM’s 9 practices are defined in this report in wide manner to get know about the impact of these forces on HR strategic decisions. With the help of Ulrich’s model, the role of the HR has been cleared.

It has been recommended to Holiday Extra Company to keep focus on the human resource department to maintain the decorum in the organization. Change is vital and company should appoint a change agent because Change agent performs his role to bring innovation within an organization which amend the working environment and develop as per latest technology. It has been analyzed that the pay structure of UK Fast Company is competitive with suitable performance related rewards. The employees of the UK fast organization are empowered to seek delegation and take responsibility but it is necessary for the company to implement the program of training and development so that the employee of the company can get motivated towards accomplishment of task.

References 

Delaney, J.T. and Huselid, M.A., 2011, The impact of human resource management practices on perceptions of organizational performance, Academy of Management journal, 39(4), pp.949-969.

Grant, A.M., 2014, The efficacy of executive coaching in times of organisational change, Journal of Change Management, 14(2), pp.258-280.

Holiday Extra, 2017, Company History, Retrieved on 24^th November, 2017, from: https://www.holidayextras.co.uk/about-us/company-history.html.

Karami, A., Sahebalzamani, S. and Sarabi, B., 2015, The Influence of HR Practices on Business Strategy and Firm Performance: The Case of Banking Industry in Iran, IUP Journal of Management Research, 14(1), p.30.

Kumar, P., Mehra, A., Inder, D. and Khan, A.M., 2014, A study of human resource policies and practices for primary health care system in Delhi, International journal of medicine and public health, 4(4).

Plutchik, R.E. and Conte, H.R., 2011, Circumplex models of personality and emotions, American Psychological Association.

Pollack, J., 2015, Understanding the divide between the theory and practice of organisational change, Organisational Project Management, 2(1), pp.35-52.

Purce, J., 2014, The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management, New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.

Randles, S. and Laasch, O., 2016, Theorising the normative business model. Organization & Environment, 29(1), pp.53-73.

Sparrow, P., 2014, The analysis of HR departments and the contribution of David Ulrich, Wiley Encyclopedia of Management.

Theotokas, I. and Kapantais, N., 2017, Human resources division transformation in the banking sector: the implementation of the'three legged stool', International Journal of Decision Sciences, Risk and Management, 7(1-2), pp.88-104.

UK Fast, 2017, Award-winning customer support, Retrieved on 24^th November, 2017, from: https://www.ukfast.co.uk/dynamic-support.html.

Youndt, M.A., Snell, S.A., Dean, J.W. and Lepak, D.P., 2012, Human resource management, manufacturing strategy, and firm performance, Academy of management Journal, 39(4), pp.836-866.