HR in Automotive Industry: Aston Martin Case Study

This report discusses the role of HR in Aston Martin, including recruitment and selection, performance management, and traditional vs contemporary approaches. It also covers the vision and mission of the organization, background information, and critical examination of recruitment practices.

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource management is the function of managing all the problems and
issues related to the humans and people of organisation. Those activities which are
related with the humans working in the organisation include recruitment and
selection, compensation, training and development, performance management and
many more (Chamberlain, 2019). The chosen organisation for this report is Aston
Martin which is a sports car manufacturing organisation of United Kingdom. This
report includes the vision & mission of organisation, role of Human resource,
process of recruitment and selection, comparison of current and past practices,
performance management along with the traditional & contemporary approach of
recruitment. In addition to this, it also deals with the process & actions of
performance management.
Background of Company
Aston Martin is a British independent manufacturer of luxury sports car having
headquarter in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom. This
organisation was founded in 1913 and it becomes the most expensive grand touring
cars company in 1950s and 1960s (Aston Martin, 2022).
Vision and Mission of organization
The mission statement of Aston Martin is to gain the predictable growth and high
margins. The organisation is focusing on the earning of higher margins in order to
enhance the growth of organisation. The vision statement of Aston Martin is
introducing a significant uplift in profitability along with the generation of cash
which make source the product development in a long term which also result in the
free cash flow and attractive returns for investors.
Role of Human Resources
Majorly the role of human resources in the organization of Aston Martin is
classified in the major three areas which include staffing, defining or designing
work and employee compensation and benefits (Yakob, 2020). The human
resource of respective organization requires skilled and experience to employees
in their organization for the purpose of attaining their goals and objectives. Hiring
the employees and then managing them in the organization is the responsibility of
human resource.
Recruitment and Selection Process
The recruitment and selection process of Human Resource department of Aston
Martin include several steps which include recruitment planning, strategic
development, search, screening and assessment and monetary. Firstly, the Human
Resource department makes the plan of recruitment in which they outline the
major required skills and experience along with the qualification of candidate.
After that the human resource management also develop the strategies for
recruiting the candidates to the organization (James & Baruti, 2021). Candidate
search step leads to the attraction of job seekers towards organization. The
management of Aston Martin use two sources for attracting the candidates which
include internal sources and external sources. Screening is the next step in the
recruitment and selection procedure of Aston Martin. At the end, a considered
cost is given to the recruitment process for the evaluation and controlling the
imperative.
Automotive Industry Leaflet

Majorly the Human Resource department of Aston Martin use this tool for the
purpose of viewing the individuals in the context of the broader workplace
system. It also brings the transparency and accountability which help in
understanding the expectations.
Critical examine the traditional and contemporary approach of
recruitment
There are two approaches of recruitment which include traditional and modern.
In the initial period, the Aston Martin has adopted traditional hiring techniques
which include newspapers, internal hiring, local employment office, temp
agencies and many other. But in the today's world, these approaches are being
replaced by the several modern methods of recruitment which include
Smartphone, social media and even recruitment (Puchert, 2019). The traditional
method of newspaper and other medium consume lot of time because it is a long
process between posting and receiving applications. After that short listing the
applications was also a huge task for the companies. By the use of modern
methods, the jobs can be easily posted and applications can be received on time.
Analyse the procedure and practice of performance management and
remedial
The process of performance management is found as a collaborative and
communication based process under which employees and management work
together for planning, monitoring and reviewing the objectives of employees
(Warrior & Kendall, 2020). Agile Goal Setting and the Use of OKRs, Ongoing
Development Conversations, Continuous 360 Feedback, Social Recognition of
Performance are the several practices of performance management which have
been adopted by the Human Resource Management of Aston Martin.
Comparing the current practices and Past
In the current world, the organisations are getting more social as compared to the
past. Through the use of different websites, it is become easier for HR to get in
contact with the employees. HR department of Aston Martin is using email facility
in order to getting in touch with the employees. In the past years, Human Resource
department have to wait for the competition of annual process for reviewing the
performance of employees and providing them feedback. But in the current
situation, it become very easy to review the performance of employees on the basis
of a particular time period and provide them feedback accordingly (Setyaningrum,
2018). The Human Resource department of Aston Martin can analyse the
performance of the employees on constant basis and provide them feedback if they
require
Performance Management
Performance management is defined as the tool which help the workers in
performing to the best of the year capabilities and produce the highest quality of
work in a more effective and efficient manner. This tool has been used by the
Human Resource department of Aston Martin because it helps the employees in
enhancing the skills and abilities so that they can bring the changes and
improvement in their overall performance which leads to the achievement of
organizational goals and objectives in an effective and deficient manner (Kitchot,
Siengthai & Sukhotu, 2020).

It provides the opportunity to both management as well as employees to give and
receive the feedback in order to improve the performance. Below mention are the
several steps of performance management process:
 Planning: This step includes several stages such as defining feedback and
approval. At this level the SMART goals have been established and the
management state the employees regarding the requirements of skills. Both
the management as well as employees agree on the definition of role, goals
and objectives.
 Coaching: at these step the management organized several meetings on a
regular basis in which they provided training coaching and solutions to the
employees and review it the objectives which are necessary (Lee, 2020).
 Reviewing: This is the staple where the performance of employees has been
reviewed and it has been analyzed that whether the performance of
employees is as per the standard or not. Along with this the actionable
feedback has been also provided to the employees.
 Action: Last step of performance management is action. Under the step the
rewards and recognition of employees have been provided on the basis of
their performance. In addition to this, several new stages of the performance
management cycle have been established for the next upcoming year.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that the Human Resource Management
has vital role in the organisation as it performs several functions. A well-defined
process is adopted by the Human Resource department while recruiting and
selecting the employees. Performance management is also found as the essential
function of organisation. On the basis of performance analysis, the organisation gets
to know about their effective working employees. The activities which were adopted
by the HRM for recruitment were really time and money consuming and modern
activities make this process more effective.
REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Chamberlain, C. W. (2019). Explorative study of HRM integration within
DAX30 German Automotive Manufacturer (Doctoral dissertation,
Sheffield Hallam University).
James, S., & Baruti, M. H. (2021). DETERMINANTS OF
STANDARDIZATION AND LOCALIZATION OF HUMAN
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM) PRACTICES IN
MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES’SUBSIDIARIES: A REVIEW
AND IMPLICATIONS. EPRA International Journal of Economic and
Business Review, 9(6), 29-42.
Kitchot, S., Siengthai, S., & Sukhotu, V. (2020). The mediating effects of HRM
practices on the relationship between SCM and SMEs firm performance
in Thailand. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.
Lee, H. (2020). The role of environmental uncertainty, green HRM and green
SCM in influencing organization’s energy efficacy and environmental
performance. International Journal of Energy Economics and
Policy, 10(3), 332.
Puchert, J. I. (2019). An evaluation of a profiling and selection process for
apprentices in the South African automotive industry.
Setyaningrum, R. P. (2018). Supply Chain Controlling and Human Resource
Management: An Evidence from Automotive Industry from
Indonesia. Int. J Sup. Chain. Mgt Vol, 7(6), 8.
Warrior, N. A., & Kendall, K. N. (2020). Composite Windshield Pillar for
Aston Martin Vanquish. In Design, Manufacturing & Application of
Composites (pp. 571-571). CRC Press.
Yakob, R. (2020). Context, competencies, and local managerial capacity
development: A longitudinal study of HRM implementation at Volvo
Car China. Asian Business & Management, 19(5), 582-609.
Online
Aston Martin, 2022 [Online] Available Through <
https://www.astonmartin.com/en/>