Human Resource Management: A Company Analysis Essay.

The role of human resources can be defined in many different ways. Your task is to select a business of your choice, preferably the company you currently work for or a company you have previously worked for. If you do not have previous work experience, select a company that has information readily available on its website or where you may have access to interview an employee.
Provide the following information;

1. A brief description of the company – what they do and the size of the company in terms of employees

2. A brief description of the type of employees with reference to Atkinson’s flexible firm model.

3. Does it have a dedicated HR Department? If not, explain where the responsibilities for HR functions are situated in the company.

4. What sort of approach to HR can you observe about the company?

5. Consider the strategic human resource management model proposed by Nankervis et al (2014) – are there any roles that are not undertaken by the human resource team in your chosen company? For example, they may outsource some of the HR functions.

6. At each of the different levels (strategic, operational and functional) describe the HR functions that are performed.  

In today’s scenario, management of the resources specially the human resources is extremely important and has become an integral part of every organisation. The success of the organisation is directly influenced by the way it handles or manages its human resources. It is the innovative approach that aims at developing high trust atmosphere and enhancing employee motivation (Hendry, C., 2012). The term human resource management can be defined as the process to deal with the human resources in order to attain or accomplish the desired goals and objective. 

Tesco was found in 1919&1920, is the largest retailer in UK (Tesco PLC, 2017). The major market sectors include its key business in UK, non-food products, its operations within communities, global market and retailing services. It has its current (2017) employee status as 4,76,000+.  

According to Atkinson’s flexible firm model a flexible firm would emphasis on hiring permanent core group of workers (full time workers). The other group includes the peripheral group is bifurcated into two further groups that includes part timers as the type of first peripheral group whereas employees on contract basis, etc. as part of second peripheral group. This model deals with flexible flexibility, numerical flexibility and financial flexibility.. The company is also implementing this model in its policies to enhance its flexibility.

The company owe its HR department that is well dedicated towards the development of the employees. The company’s business strategy is to gain competitive advantage in terms of the human resources. The plan of the company is to inculcate training as the part of organisational culture. The practices followed by the company aims at overall development of the individuals. Tesco provides support to the employees (Tesco, 2017). The vertical integration at Tesco includes resourcing, recruitment and selection strategy, reward and relations strategy and HRD policies. Horizontal integration includes training and development, communication and rewards benefits. The approach is towards proper implementation of HR strategy to value the employees and develop them.  The company has a well dedicated HR department whose approach is to manage and develop the individuals.

Although most of the roles and responsibilities are undertaken by the company in regard to the Nankervis model of SHRM, almost all the responsibilities are more emphasis should be placed by the employees in terms of attracting the employees as per the optimum cost and required time. Also, it can be said that role of HR manager can be broadened up to build the employees career and to attain competitive advantage.

• Strategic level-The strategic decisions making regarding the objectives framed, allocation and coordination strategies related to HR also included at this level (Bhasin, 2017).
• Functional level- The functions at this level includes the coordination of the activities between the strategic and operational level.
• Operational level- At this level, the action of putting the strategy into the operation is considered and the link with the employees is also maintained.

Atkinson’s flexible firm model

The roles and responsibilities of HR that is included in the organisation are an essence for the growth and development of the individual. These roles of HR can be an aid to company in terms of gaining competitive advantage and to become an environmentally responsible firm (Strandberg, 2009).

Recruitment and selection are one of the important aspects of human resource management as these are the initial processes which form the base of the further activities like training and development, rewarding, compensation, etc. The process of recruitment and selection needs to be fair enough to ensure the success of the organisation. The process of recruitment is not only concerned with finding the individuals but also attracting them to the organisational vacancies. Whereas, selection process is associated with the choosing the right person for the right place. The dependence of the process is so much linked that they are void without each other. These process bridges the gap between the ones searching the jobs and the available job opportunities. The influence of the recruitment and selection can affect the working of the organisation in a detrimental way (Ekwoaba, Ikeije and Ufoma, 2015).

According to Jespen, Knox-Haly & Townsend (2014), issues in Australia regarding the recruitment and selection are categorised on skill basis, sector basis and geographical differences. In Australia, like for rural recruitment in hospitality industry or retail industry, the problem related to networking, the rural teacher’s recruitment is also a challenge, in skill and geographic sector the problem is with the attracting the labour is associated with the safety challenge and certain other issues are also emphasised. The issues needs to be really look upon so that the overall development of the various sectors and industries in Australia.

On the contrary the issues associated with recruitment and selection in India includes challenges like issues related to attracting the employees, less effective recruitment process, etc. According to D’souza (2011), issues in recruitment and selection in India has been varying from industry to industry and organisation to organisation. The issue in pharmaceutical industry is associated with less success rates in terms of selection as due to the issue of under or over qualification; in banking sector the process of selection is quite strict, ineffective recruitment process in tele-communication industry, etc. Also, in terms of hiring teachers the challenge is not just attracting them but also retaining them. The issues need to be solved for proper development of these HR functions.

HR department and its approach and policies

The above quoted articles, represents different challenges in terms of the country to which they belong to. The differences in the challenges faced by the people and organisations vary based on the country. The major differences in the issues are mostly because of the difference in the level of development of both the countries. The difference in the aspect is also because of the differences in the sectors, geographic and the industry oriented issues. The articles as considered above are able to meet up the requirements and objectives as decided and also there is a scope for further researches to take place further. What can be noticed is that attraction and retaining of the employees has remained one of the most common reasons for both the countries. Also, it can be seen that recruitment and selection is still surrounded by the various challenges as seen from both the articles. The need of the hour is proper search of the solution that can act as a remedy to attract and retain the employees and to lead towards development.

Today, as the level of competition is getting intense day by day, it can be said that employee retention has become a major point of concern. Development of the retention strategies so that they can hold back productive and satisfied employees for long time and also facilitate in empowering them. Strategies that can retain employees include providing training and career development opportunity, skills development, feedbacks, etc. The huge benefits of retention are to hold on the talent, increase in flexibility of individuals along with the saving the cost that could be incurred in training fresher (Kumar, 2013).

In future, I am planning to work in Information technology i.e. IT industry. I have chosen this industry because in today’s scenario, it is one of the fastest growing industries. According to Rawat (2013), there is generation of huge jobs and enough career opportunities available in this industry. This has been considered by me in the list of priority.

The reasons that make the people to stay in a particular job are as follows-

• Better Pays- If the job is offering effective and fair pay to the employeethen the chances to stick in the organisation and work enhances and also will be able to boost the morale of the employee (Conerly, 2013).
• Supportive environment- Job relevant to an individual if provides supportive climate in terms of good superior and helpful management, the employees will automatically feel better to stay in the present job. Also supportive behaviour of peers and subordinates will also be an aid to this.
• Satisfactory and healthy working Environment- This is one of the common reasons that make an employee to stay in the organisation as it provides him mental satisfaction along with it is the social environment. It also yields flexibility to the employees.
• Career Growth and development- If there are prospects of development of the career including the provisions of  training and other facilities that can be helpful in individual career growth then, this can act as retention lever.
• Recognition- If the work of the individual is recognised in front of others and the praises are awarded then, this can too add to the satisfaction of the individual and is a common retention lever (Conerly, 2013).

Performance management plan acts as a guideline for proper analysing and learning from the program performance over the integrating, inculcating and adapting period (USAID, n.d.).

Tesco is a British MNC that deals in general merchandise and grocery as retailer. It was found by Jack Cohen. Its expansion of operations is into countries like China, India, Hungary, etc. Considering my position as the HR line manager in Tesco the job description includes-

• Delegation of tasks to the employees and monitoring regulation and work processes (University of Southampon, 2017).
• Planning of the tasks along with maintenance of employee interaction along with inculcating motivation in them.
• Organising training and development sessions.
• Employee performance measurement along with respect to taking respective decisions to maintain them.

HR functions at three levels

Coming to the designing of the performance management plan, the objectives focuses on building the culture of high performance along with development of individual as well as organisation. There can various review methods that can be used by the company that includes ranking method, rating method, 360 degree review method, Management by objective, etc. (Duval, 2016). But the most suitable type of performance review method can be 360 degree review method as this method assists the employees in getting the feedback from the people who are in contact with them and they are working with them. One also gets aware regarding the strengths and weaknesses. And most importantly this kind of method can really be helpful at almost every level as it includes Superior appraisal, subordinate appraisal, peer appraisal and self-appraisal. This kind of performance management method will definitely be an aid in not just analysis or management of the performance but also in the development of the human resources. Also, the stated objectives can also be attained.

The justification that can be given regarding the 360 degree appraisal method includes the following points-

• It assists in overall development along with individual development and promotes team work.
• It is also beneficial in enhancing the communication among the different levels. Also this method clarifies the relationship among the employees which further facilitates the manager in decision making.
• It also let the line managers to know more about the perception of others including peers, subordinates, superiors and self too so that they can make their performance better and also can take interest in personal and people progress.
• The development of healthy culture.

The pros and cons of this method associated with the position of line manager are-

According to Taylor (2011), although it does holds both pros and cons but its proper implementation can enable proper working of performance management system in the organisation.

References 

Bhasin, H. 2017. Levels of strategy. Viewed on 5 July 2017. < https://www.marketing91.com/levels-of-strategy/>.

Conerly, B. 2013. Quits are up: 7 employee retention strategies your company must have. Viewed on 6 JULY 2017. < https://www.forbes.com/sites/billconerly/2013/12/11/quits-are-up-7-employee-retention-strategies-your-company-must-have/#1a3cb97d7ed4>.

D’souza, M. M. 2011. Issues in Recruitment and Selection.

Duval, J.2016. Which one is right for your employees? viewed on 4 July 2017. Retrieved from https://www.fuseworkforce.com/blog/performance-review-methods-which-one-is-right-for-your-employees.

Ekwoaba, J.O., Ikeije, U.U. and Ufoma, N., 2015. The impact of recruitment and selection criteria on organizational performance. Global Journal of Human Resource Management, 3(2), pp.22-23.

Hendry, C., 2012. Human resource management. Routledge.
Tesco PLC, 2017. History. Viewed on 5 July 2017.<https://www.tescoplc.com/about-us/history/>.

Jepsen, D., Knox-Haly, M. and Townsend, D., 2014. Australian recruitment practices: a literature review on current Australian recruitment practices.

Kumar, S., 2013. The impact of employee benefits as retention strategy in a concept dining restaurant chain in India. unpublished Masters in Arts in Human Resource Management.

Rawat, R., 2013. Emerging Employee Retention Strategies in IT Industry. 

Strandberg, C., 2009. The role of human resource management in corporate social responsibility issue brief and roadmap. Report for Industry Canada. Burnaby, BC: Strandberg Consulting.

Taylor, S. 2011. Assess pros and cons of 360-degree performance appraisal.Viewed on 4 July 2017. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/360degreeperformance.aspx.

Tesco, 2017. Training, development and support. Viewed on 5 July 2017. < https://www.tesco-earlycareers.com/why-us/training-development-and-support/>.

University of Southampon, 2017. Line manager’s role. Viewed on 4 July 2017. Retrieved from https://www.southampton.ac.uk/hr/services /line-managers-role/index.page.

USAID, n.d. Performance management plan. Viewed on 4 July 2017. Retrieved from https://usaidprojectstarter.org/content/pmp-performance-management-plan.