Human Resource Management Functions

This assignment delves into the fundamental functions of Human Resource Management (HRM). It examines key areas such as workforce planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, compensation and benefits, employee relations, and health and safety. The assignment emphasizes the crucial role HRM plays in attracting, retaining, and motivating talent, ultimately contributing to organizational effectiveness.

HR Case Study Review

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Purpose and function of HRM applicable to workforce planning and resourcing an
organisation............................................................................................................................3
P2. Strength and weakness of different approaches to recruitment and selection..................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3. Benefits of different HRM practices for both employer and employee...........................7
P4. Effectiveness of different HRM practices for raising organisational profit and productivity
................................................................................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5. Importance of employee relations in respect of influencing HRM decision making.......9
P6. Key elements of employment legislation and its impact over decision making process10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P7. Application of HRM practices in a work-related context..............................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management refers to a formal system which is responsible for
managing and controlling the personnels working within an organisation. It involve three major
areas of operation that are staffing, designing of work and employees compensation. ASDA is a
British supermarket retailers which is headquartered in West Yorkshire. It offers variety of
products in sector such as grocery, general merchandise and financial services (Al Ariss, Cascio
and Paauwe, 2014). This report explains about purpose and function of HRM along with various
approaches of recruitment and selection. It further explains about benefits of HRM practices for
both employer and employee and its effectiveness for raising organisational profit and
productivity. In addition to this it explains about impact of employees relation and element of
employment legislation over HRM decision making.
TASK 1
P1. Purpose and function of HRM applicable to workforce planning and resourcing an
organisation
Human resource management refers to the formal system of a company which are
structured to increase the efficiency of company. It is responsible for managing the human
resources of enterprise and align their skills or ability toward the accomplishment of
organisational objective. Main purpose of human resource manager is to hire eligible candidate
with required skills or ability at right place that support in enhancing the productivity of
company. This support in achieving the goals or objectives that are decided by a company as it
help in developing an effective team. Being a human resource manager of ASDA, it is very
essential for them to effectively plan and manage the workforce as it is a heart of organisation
which is responsible for its success.
Workforce Planning: It refers to the process of determining the current as well as future
personnel need and then plan the cost effective methods for recruiting or retaining those
individual for performing business operations in an effective and efficient manner.

(Source: Workforce Planning, 2018)
Above given image depict about the workforce planning cycle which consist of six steps
that support a company to implement its workforce planning in an effective manner. These steps
are as given below:
 Set Strategic Direction:- This step focuses on collecting information related to annual
business plan, projected need relate to ways for carrying out goals and employees
required. ASDA must determine the ways to achieve objectives and resources that are
required.
 Analyse workforce:- This step allows to perform deep analyses over current employees
in order to determine the employees and skills that are required to achieve organisational
objectives. By performing this analyses ASDA will be able to determine the reason
behind turnover and requirement of recruitment within organisation.
 Develop an Action plan:- This step help in formulating strategies that support in
removing the gap that are found in above two step. Under this step ASDA have to
formulate an action plan as the information collected from above steps by formulating all
the strategies related to employment of people and arrangement of other resources,
 Implement Action Plan:- This step include the implement of action plan in operations
which was formulated by higher management. While implementing plan ASDA must
Illustration 1: Workforce Planning

include all its functional department by communication information regarding the plan.
This help in implement plan effectively which ensures smooth running of operations.
 Monitor, Evaluate and revise plan:- After implementing plan it is very essential for
management to keep on check the plan to determining its progress. Under this step
ASDA will be able to determine the weakness within project and areas that require
improvement in order to achieve objective of workforce plan.
Functions of human resource manager for workforce planning :
Recruitment:- It refers to the process of screening and selecting the right candidate with
required skill and ability based on the objective of particular job (Major Functions of Human
Resource Management, 2017). Recruitment is a main function that support HR manager of
ASDA to develop a skilled and talented workforce that support them in achieving the
organisational goals.
Training & Development:- It is an another function performed by HR manager under
which they attempt to improve current as well as future performance of employees by guiding
and sharing their skills using various activities (Armstrong, 2014). By conducting training
programs HR manager of ASDA will be able to improve the current performance of it workforce
that will help them in enhancing the future productivity as well as capabilities of employees.
Employee compensation & benefit:- Main function of HR manager is to ensure that each
employee must get fair remuneration for the work performed by them. HR manager of ASDA
must provide fair remuneration to its employees which is very crucial for keeping them satisfied
with their job. As happy employees will contribute more and perform productively that support
ASDA to maintain a workforce which support them in achieving success and competitive
advantage at workplace.
Maintaining good working condition:- It is very essential for HR manger to provide a
health environment at workplace where employee feels free and comfortable to work in order to
maintain workforce effectively (Wilton, 2016). HR manager of ASDA must develop a working
environment which is supportive and where workers are free to communicate. Apart from this
HR manager must motivate its employees either by guiding them or with some monetary benefits
for fostering them to work harder.

P2. Strength and weakness of different approaches to recruitment and selection
A human resources manager is responsible for creating and managing an effective team
of employees that are highly productive and contributed toward the success of an organisation.
Therefore, recruitment and selection is consider as one of the crucial function of human resource
manager (Bakker and Demerouti, 2014). So, in order to hire right candidate there are certain
approaches to recruitment and selection process that can be used by HR manger of ASDA. These
approaches are explained below:
Recruitment:-
It refers to the overall process of attracting, screening, selecting and hiring suitable
candidate with required skills and ability as per the requirement of a company. Recruitment
includes two type of approaches which are as explained below:
Internal recruitment :- It is a type of recruitment process where an organisation try to fill
its vacant position by promoting existing employees working within a company. ASDA
generally uses appraisal process for recruiting employees from within the organisation. Under
this employees are get promoted as per their quality of performance.
Strength:- Internal recruitment may help in motivating employees as by seeing others, workers
get motivated to work harder in order to achieve the same.
Weakness:- It may create conflicts among employee as when two employees belong to same
designation but only one out of them get promoted.
External recruitment:- Under this type of recruitment company generally invite people
from outside with required skills to fill up vacant position (Baum, 2016). ASDA uses online
platform such as LinkedIn and its dedicated career websites for placing advertisement about job
vacancy in order to attract candidates to apply. This help them in getting large number of
candidates with different skills to select best among them.
Strength:- External recruitment provides an opportunity to assess fresh talent from outside that
may help company to stay competitive.
Weakness:- It may damage the morale of current employees as they may feel lessens their
chance for promotion.
Selection:-

It is defined as picking up of right candidate with pre specified qualification and
capabilities to fill up the vacant position within an organisation. Selection includes two type of
approaches which are as explained below:
Systematic:- This process focuses on reducing the personal bias in selection process by
including series of laid down procedure which focuses on selecting the best candidate. HR
managers of ASDA shortlist appropriate candidate from the applications that are registered over
its online recruitment system for interview or assessment centre. After conducting the interview
candidates get their job as per the required skills.
Strength:- It assist ASDA in testing the skill and ability of employees through following number
of step which always results in selecting appropriate candidate for job.
Weakness:- It is a length and time consuming process which also incurred high cost of company.
Unsystematic:- It refers to a selection approach where recruiter select candidates
randomly and compare their skills with required criteria for job in order to select a candidate for
a vacant position (Brunstein, 2016). This approach can be used by ASDA when there is an
urgency to recruit employees as systematic recruitment is a time consuming process.
Strength:- This approach is easy to perform, less time consuming and help in selecting right
candidates.
Weakness:- The decision taken under this approach is not always reliable.
TASK 2
P3. Benefits of different HRM practices for both employer and employee
Human resource department is consider as a most essential part of an organisation as it is
responsible for handling the personnel of a company (Clark and et. al., 2016). This help them in
aligning the work done by employees toward the accomplishment of objectives. HRM activities
are beneficial for both employer as well as employees. These benefits can be better understand
using following:-
HRM practices Employer Employee
Training &
development
Training programs help employer to
develop a team with required skills and
ability that support in achieving the
desire result. By arranging regular
Training and development
programs will support employees
in sharpening up their skills. This
will help employees of ASDA to

training program ASDA will be able to
enhance the productivity of its
workforce.
improve their performance that
further benefit them in getting
promotion.
Employee
relations
By maintaining better relation with
employees, ASDA will be able to get
support from its workforce while
implementing changes within the
organisation (Farndale, Brewster and
Poutsma, 2014).
When employer or employees
shares healthy relation within an
organisation then it help
employees to communicate their
views or opinion with HR
manager.
Maintaining
positive working
environment
By maintaining a healthy working
environment at workplace, ASDA will
be able to achieve higher employees
retention which support in achieving
success. It also help in keeping
employees motivated toward work that
in turn will increase the productivity.
A healthy environment will
provide several benefits to its
employees. As they will be able to
work effectively and can enhance
their performance that will provide
long term benefit to them such as
incentives, promotion etc.
P4. Effectiveness of different HRM practices for raising organisational profit and productivity
HR manager is responsible for the management of employees working within an
organisation in order to keep them satisfied and more dedicated toward their work. For managing
workforce several practices are performed by HR manager of ASDA in order to keep its
employees motivated (Gupta and Shaw, 2014). As it help them in increasing the productivity of
organisation that further support in maximizing the profitability of company. Following are the
HR practices that are performed by managers of ASDA:
HRM practices Profit Productivity
Training &
development
By providing training on regular bases
ASDA will be able to develop an
skilled and competent workforce as it
focuses over sharpening up skills of
employees. This help ASDA in
Training is organised with an aim
to remove the weaknesses of
employees at workplace. This help
ASDA in enhancing the
performance of employees which

achieving the competitive advantage at
marketplace which in turn will support
company to earn maximum benefit.
in turn will increase the
productivity.
Employee
relations
By maintaining good relation with
employees ASDA will be able to get
support from their employees in various
practices, as employees will easily
accept the changes bring by
management. This help ASDA in
altering its operations effectively as per
the changes in external environment
which in turn will support in achieving
the positive outcome from efforts and
company will be able to achieve
maximum benefit.
Good relation between employer
and employee is a key to
organisational success. By sharing
a healthy relation ASDA will be
able to influence and motive its
employees more effectively that in
turn will help them in increasing
productivity.
Maintaining
positive working
environment
ASDA must try to maintain a positive
environment at workplace which foster
employees to work harder and in
qualitative manner that further support
in achieving higher profit at
marketplace.
A positive working environment
support ASDA to keep its
employees motivated toward their
operations and goal they have to
achieve this support them in
enhancing the productivity of
company. Because positive and
safe environment keep the
employees feel energetic and
dedicated toward work which
improve performance.

TASK 3
P5. Importance of employee relations in respect of influencing HRM decision making
HR manager is responsible for formulating plan or policies related to the work performed
within an organisation in order to ensure smooth and systematic flow of work (Helmreich and
Merritt, 2017). Decision taken at senior management level always influence the employees to a
large extent. Apart from this employees also affect the decision taken by management in several
ways such as by raising grievances, not accepting changes etc. For instance employees can raise
their voice against the decision taken by management if they are not agrees with that which
creates conflicts within the working environment. So in order to avoid these, HR manager must
try to develop a good relation with employees in order to achieve their trust. A healthy relation
will help manager in getting support from their employees at the time of anticipating changes
within organisation or taking decision (Marchington, 2016). For instance, when an HR manager
of ASDA want to bring any new technology in their businesses then they will get support from
employees if they shares a healthy relation. As employees will easily accept and try to implement
them in their operation which benefit company to achieve higher success.
Apart from this good relation will help HR manager of ASDA in getting accurate
information about the internal performance of employees (Snell, Morris and Bohlander, 2015).
That support manager in taking effective and informative decision which support in improving
the culture of organisation. So in order to improve the relation with employees following are
action that can be taken by HR manager of ASDA:
 By involving employees in decision making process which help in developing a sense of
belongingness among employees and they further support management in future decision
taken by them.
 By providing equal opportunity to employees and fairly remunerating them, as it help in
building trust of employees toward company.
 Through maintaining continuous interaction with employees and keeping them updated
with company's policies and procedures.
 By developing a transparent communicational system where employees have a freedom
to share their views.

P6. Key elements of employment legislation and its impact over decision making process
For managing an organisation effectively without any legal compliances, it is very
essential for an employer to ensure that all the laws and legislations must be followed in
respective manner (Nel and et. al., 2014). As ASDA is second largest supermarket in UK, hence
in order to maintain its position in market it must follow all the legislations. The role of HR
manager is to consider all legislations in regards to employee while formulating policies.
Through, this ASDA will be able to creates good competition for other players working within
same sector. Their are certain rules that must be followed by HR of ASDA while making
decisions :-
Data Protection Act :- According to this act, manager should be loyal with employees
and must not share or misuse their personal information. HR manager of ASDA act as safeguard
protection for workers in organisation ( Nyberg and et. al., 2014). Therefore, HR manager of
ASDA must consider this law while formulating policies related to employees . As breaching of
this may result in penalisation through government which also affects the reputation of ASDA.
Health and safety Act:- This law state that employer is responsible for providing the
healthy and safe environment for employees to work. Therefore, HR manager of ASDA must
formulate policies related to working condition of employees on the basis of guidelines provided
under the Health And Safety Act.
Sex discrimination Act:- According to this law an employer must not discriminate its
employees on the basis of gender, they must be treated equally (Taylor, Doherty and McGraw,
2015). HR manager of ASDA must provide equal opportunity to its employees and should not
discriminate among them. They must formulate policies which provides equal benefit to
employees despite of their gender.
TASK 4
P7. Application of HRM practices in a work-related context
Innovative HRM practices:-
 Management meet:- HR manager of Fed Ex Corporation follows an innovative practice
where they track the employees relation by taking feedback and management meet for
discussing the result and determining new ways of improvement. This help them in
keeping their employees satisfied which leads to performance enhancement.

 Training:- Oxfam believes that people development is an important tool for retaining the
employees. They train their employees on regular basis for their as well as organisational
development and also reward them over their improved performance. This help in
keeping employees motivated and satisfied with their jobs by performing better which
turn will help company to achieve greater success at marketplace.
Job advertisement
Marketing Manager require
Qualification
First class MBA/BBA in marketing from a well recognised institution
How a candidate can apply?
Upload your application with coloured photograph and CV along with academic records on our
website. Candidates can only apply up-to 15 December 2018.
Contact no.: 6589745612
Job specification
Qualification Masters in Business administration from any
recognised University.
Experience Must have at-least 2 years of experience in
marketing .
Area of expertise Should have adequate knowledge about tactics
and strategies that are used to increase sale.
Other qualities Able to influence supply chain personnels and
mediators for getting timely delivery of
products.
Awareness about national and local legislations
related to trade and management of
subordinates.

CV
General information
Name: Jack Watson
Father's name: Jerry Watson
Mother's name: Lisa Watson
Mobile no,: 6699885544
Email id: [e-mail]
Key skills:
 2 year experience of working as a sales person in Sainsbury.
 Adequate information of handling customers
 Work with a coordination in team
 Quick learner
Experience:
 Sainsbury: Work as a sales person, handling people belong to different culture,
managing around three stores.
CONCLUSION
From the above given information it can be concluded that a Human resource manager is
responsible for managing the employees working within an organisation by providing them a
healthy working environment. As employees are consider as a most productive assets of
company on which the performance of whole organisation depends. Therefore, it is very
essential for a manger to share a good relation with employees. Apart from this HR manager is
also responsible for ensuring that all the employment related legislation must be consider while
performing any within organisational practices

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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New Perspectives On Human Resource Management op. cit. at, pp.154-166.
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reference guide. pp.1-28.
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Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Clark, W. C. and et. al., 2016. Boundary work for sustainable development: Natural resource
management at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113(17). pp.4615-4622.
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Online
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