HRM Research Project

This research project aims to identify the impact of performance management and training & development on employee engagement and retention in H&M. It covers topics such as performance appraisal, training & development, ways to engage and retain employees, and the relationship between HR practices and employee engagement and retention.

HRM Research Project
(To undertake a systematic analysis of quantitative and/or
qualitative information with the aim to analyse the practices of
human resource management and its impact on employee
engagement and retention)
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................5
What is performance appraisal and training & development as Human Resource practices......5
What are the ways that can be used by HR of H&M for engaging and retaining employees at
workplace....................................................................................................................................5
What is the relationship between those HR practice with employee engagement and retention6
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................7
RESEARCH AND FINDINGS.....................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15
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INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is very important for the different sizes of businesses. It is
referred as practice of organising and managing individuals for achieving great performance.
They are responsible for recruiting people who could fit into the culture of business which would
make them stay in a company for a long term. HRM assists in optimising the performance of a
company by greatly managing human resources (Anselmsson, Bondesson and Melin, 2016).
Human resources are the individuals who make contribution in the smooth working of
organisations (Wintersberger, 2017). These are the people who have duty to make the workforce
for a company. These are the employees who could be regular workforce and some can be
contractors. These are the people who put their full attention towards the activities in a company
to great extent.
This research covers various chapters which are necessary for successful completion of
the research in an effective manner like literature review where all the objectives are attained
effectively by the usage of secondary sources like books, journal, articles, publication and many
more. Different methods are used like research methodology, research approach, research
philosophy which assists in gathering required data for the research. Data analysis is done on the
basis of secondary data collection which is necessary for achieving objectives in a proper
manner.
Background of a company
Hennes & Mauritz which is mostly known among people by H&M. It is a multinational
Swedish clothing retail organisation which deals in fast fashion clothing for children, teenagers,
men and women. It is a retail industry founded in 1947 by Erling Persson. By 2019 it is operating
in almost 74 countries with more than 5000 outlets and stores under the different brands of a
company.
Rationale
The main aim for conducting this research is for identifying the impact of performance
management and training & development on employee engagement and retention. This research
would assist in highlighting the importance of appraisal of performance and training &
development as one of the practices of human resource.
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Aim and Objectives of research
Aim of the research
“To identify the impact of performance management and training & development on
employee engagement and retention”. A study on H&M”
Objectives of the research
 To develop basic understanding regarding performance appraisal and training &
development as a HR practices.
 To identify the ways that can be used by HR of H&M for engaging and retaining
employees at workplace.
 To determine the relationship between those HR practice with employee engagement and
retention.
Questions of the research
 What is performance appraisal and training & development as Human Resource
practices?
 What are the ways that can be used by HR of H&M for engaging and retaining
employees at workplace?
 What is the relationship between those HR practice with employee engagement and
retention?
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LITERATURE REVIEW
What is performance appraisal and training & development as Human Resource practices
According to Beijer and et. al, (2021), performance appraisal is a constant review of an
individual's performance related to their job and whole contribution in an organisation. It is also
called annual review or evaluation of performance, appraisal of employees and performance
appraisal examines the skills, growth and achievement of employees. Organisations consider
performance appraisal for giving workforce review and feedback for their job work and to
provide justification for the increase in pay and bonus and decisions of termination. Human
resources are the people who constantly work to review employees quarterly, weekly, monthly
and even on daily basis this assists them making their work very easily and motivate employees
to work hard. By this human resource get those employees who have great potential for the
growth of company and refer these particular employees to top level for the new job role and
responsibility.
Training and development is an another practice of human resource for improving the
performance of present workforce, focusing on particular skill training and realising the value of
young work force placed on learning. Human resource make investment for sessions training and
development, they continuously focus on bringing technology that helps in learning the new skill
by employees and they also concentrate on reducing costs of training by hiring talented
employees. The another practice of HR is implementing training of related to particular skill as
they focus on providing teaching skills that are significant for achieving objectives of a
company.
What are the ways that can be used by HR of H&M for engaging and retaining employees at
workplace
According to Weisberg and Dent (2016), employees are the vital asset of a company so it
becomes necessary for H&M to engage and retain employees in the workplace because they
contribute in attaining objectives of the organisation that is high revenue and profits. Some of the
ways considered by human resources for engaging and retaining employees are:
Training and development: H&M focuses on providing training sessions to employees so that
their skills can be upgraded that also assist in achieving goals of the company with the aim of
getting success to employees in their professional career. These are the skills which motivate
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employees to update their skills and knowledge in this competitive world and stay in the same
company.
Great Pay: H&M tries to give right pay to employees according to the job and responsibilities of
workforce but it is not easy for the company to give high salary when budget is not that great but
they always make sure that employees are getting salary amount which is competitive as
compared to other competitive firms which is a great manner for engaging and retaining
employees.
Recognition and rewards: This is an another way which is important for H&M to retain
employees in the workplace. Every type of employee needs pat on their back for their hard work
and achieving their specific targets. Constant recognition and praising go great way for
improving retention and engagement. Human resource managers give written and verbal praise
to employees. With the praise organisation also give monetary rewards like high amount bonus
and incentives which attract customer to take more participation in the activities.
What is the relationship between those HR practice with employee engagement and retention
According to Azeez (2017), there is association among human resource practices and
employee engagement and retention as it is increasing day by day with the changes in working
operations of a business. There is a great relationship between practices of human resource and
employee engagement and retention in organisations. If human resource practices are planned,
executed and implemented successfully then there are better results of engagement and retention
of workforce which has assisted the organisation decrease the turnover ratio and in the end the
final result is retaining employees for the longer period of time. Organisations constantly focus
on new strategies which are helpful in retaining workforce and to reduce the turnover rate.
Human resource managers make modification in their practices by modifying their models of
training, new opportunities for growth, improving ways for employees so that they could make
balance the family and work life. Employees and employers both consider human resource
practices beneficial for them because it improves their engagement in decision making of
companies by considering their ideas and knowledge related to the particular work which
encourage them to stay in the same company as they generate the feeling of being important for
the organisation. Human resource use various tools and methods which provide various outline
and framework so that they can motivate employees to stay in the company.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology refers to the path by which investigators required for conducting
research. It highlights the path by which researchers make objective and problem and show their
outcome from the information obtained while the period of study. This specific research design
clearly shows how the investigation results at the end would be gathered in a row by meeting the
aim and objectives of the research study. This is the chapter which discusses the methods of
research which doing the process of research. The researcher shows research design, research
strategy, data sources like secondary data and primary data (Nayak and Singh, 2021).
 Research Approach: Research approach is referred as plan which involves different
steps with wider assumptions for detailing methods of data analysis, interpretation and
collection. It is specifically based upon the problem's nature of the investigation being
fulfilled or addressed. There are two types of approaches: Inductive approach and
deductive approach. Inductive approach refers to inference which is inductive called
premises are considered for generating the untested summary. Deductive approach
defined as inference which are deductive while the premises are right and true. For doing
the present investigation, researcher takes help of inductive approach because it assists in
gathering qualitative information in a very short period of time (Koivisto and et. Al,
2018).
 Research Philosophy: Research philosophy is basically known as deal with
development, source and nature of the study. It is generally a belief about the manner in
which information connected to the topic is analysed, gathered and considered. Research
philosophy is classified into two main kinds: interpretivism and positivism.
Interpretivism philosophy are the kind of investigation which is done in qualitative
manner whereas positivism philosophy are the type of investigation which is considered
as measuring data through quantitative manner. For this topic of the investigation,
interpretivism is chosen because it gathers and measures information in a qualitative
manner and which is needed by researcher to achieve objectives of research (Dougherty,
Slevc and Grand, 2019).
 Research Choice: Research choice refers to the process used by investigator to collect
information in an appropriate manner. There are two types of research choices with the
researcher like qualitative and quantitative research choice. Quantitative choice refers to
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the data which is often expressed in numeric forms and different types of graph for
confirming assumptions and theories whereas qualitative research choice is defined as
concepts, experiences or thoughts of people by interview, case studies, discourse analysis
and many more. An investigator selects qualitative research choice for the present
investigation because it assists in gathering experience and thoughts of people which is
necessary for the research. It is best suited for the objectives of investigation to attain
accurate and relevant data (Huynh and et. al, 2018).
 Research Strategy: Research strategy is the procedure which have different kinds for
collecting apt information as per the objectives of research. The different types of
research strategies are: experiments, survey, observation, content analysis, focus group,
case study, literature review, existing data and many more. For this specific research
investigator selects literature review through which various existing data related to the
research topic is carried out. These data is carried out by great reputed magazines,
journals, articles, websites and various sources which is very useful and effective for the
completion of objectives (Aitman, Dhillon and Geurts, 2016).
 Data Collection: Data collection refers to the process and method of analysing,
measuring and gathering of relevant data for achieving objectives of research by the
different valid techniques. An investigator does the evaluation of objectives according to
the collection of information. Data collections is the foremost step for completing the
research rather than the study of investigation. There are two types of data collection
primary and secondary data collection. Primary is defined as the source which give
original information and are reliable. The different methods of data collection include
questionnaires, interviews and many more. Secondary data collection refers to the
different sources used by investigator for conducting research. The different kinds of
sources include reputed journals, magazines, books, various articles, websites,
newspapers and other sources which are published by reputable institutions. Researcher
considers secondary data collection as it assists in collecting already existing information
through which investigator conducts in-depth research on already existing data. The
gathered data is modified and polished according to the changes happening (Basu and
Maciejewski, 2019).
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 Time Horizon: Time horizon refers to the time required to design the research
independently of the used research methodology. Time horizon is divided into kinds:
cross-sectional and longitudinal. In longitudinal time horizon investigator wants to study
phenomena or people with more than single point in time for answering the questions of
research. Cross-sectional is defined as information is collected at once within over a
period of weeks or months or days in respect of answering questions of research. In this
cross-sectional research is used because it clearly gives outline to achieve objectives
before the deadline.
 Research Ethics: It refers to the principles of ethics which tells that investigator needs to
obtaining data consent from the participants of potential investigation, minimising the
risk of harm that could affect respondents, protecting confidentiality and anonymity and
avoiding practices that are deceptive. This makes investigator to do activities of research
ethically.
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RESEARCH AND FINDINGS
Research and findings are the chapter which is crucial for completing the project as it
analyses the gathered information through research analytical tools. For this specific research,
investigator chooses thematic analysis because it is great method for analysing the secondary
data information to attain all the research questions and objectives.
Basic understanding regarding performance appraisal and training & development as a
HR practices
By the given information particularly gathered for literature review through secondary
sources like journals, articles, magazines it is being analysed that performance appraisals are
very necessary for an organisation because it motivates the confidence level of employees
regarding their work.
Illustration 1: Performance Appraisal and training and development
(Source: Performance Appraisal and training and development, 2021)
It is the practice of human resource in which they evaluates the performance of
employees and according to that appraisal is given to employees in an organisation. Training and
development is an another practice of human resources in which they research the market and
arrange training sessions for employees so their employees become efficient as compared to the
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competitors. When human resource practices provide performance appraisal for employees great
work it encourages and motivates their work (Weisberg and Dent, 2016).
Ways that can be used by HR of H&M for engaging and retaining employees at workplace
With the assistance of information collected for literature review by secondary sources
such as publications, articles, reputed newspapers it is identified that human resource of H&M
use various methods for retaining and engaging employees like providing rewards, training and
development, greater pay and so on.
Illustration 2: Ways to retain employees in an organisation
(Source: Ways to retain employees in an organisation, 2019)
From the above pasted table it can be interpreted that shows the way for retaining
employees in organisation. It is said that human resource focuses on motivation of employees by
doing various activities like creating safe environment at workplace, the another way is
continuously evaluating the performance of employees and feedback is also given to employees
if the work done by them is right or wrong (Bennett, Saundry and Fisher, 2020). Organisations
help employees for creating self branding and provides a chance for aligning growth and goal for
career development. Human resource are connected with employees so that grievances can be
solved employees having with the organisation.
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Relationship between those HR practice with employee engagement and retention
With the collected data for literature review from secondary sources like books, journals,
articles, publications and many more. This data helped in doing research on existing related the
relationship between practices of human resource with retention and engagement of employees.
Illustration 3: Relationship of employee engagement with human resource practices
(Source: Relationship of employee engagement with human resource practices, 2020)
With the above picture represented that human resource practices work to retain and
engage employees. They engage employees by developing their relationships with their
colleagues by arranging informal gathering which allow communication between them. Human
resource engage and retain employees by making them understand the opportunity of using their
abilities and skill. Practices of human resource involve developing positive behaviour among
workers like increasing confidence and making them determined for accomplishing goals of
work. Human resource practices make employees to take action whenever they face problems or
issues in their working. All these human resource practices have positive relationship with the
retaining and engaging employees in the organisation.
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CONCLUSION
From the given information it is being concluded that in this competitive world of
business it is necessary to retain talented, best and efficient employees. And creating such type of
situations through which employees become loyal and committed towards their job and
organisation. Employees are the real asset of companies because they are responsible for
carrying out all the crucial activities. Practices of human resources are considered as the
backbone of organisations because it plays significant role in retaining the workforce of
organisation. The execution of human resource practices in the organisation as the symbol
workforce retention. Training and development and performance appraisal are the most
important way and practice of human resource because it develops the professional life of
organisation. The relationship between human resource practices with employees retention and
engagement are different because it assists in providing positive environment at workplace.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
From the provided data it is being recommended that human resource should constantly
pay attention to employees so that employees can easily communicate about the problems they
are facing and their new ideas regarding the new process and technology adopted by the
company. The another way is H&M should make strong communication channel with employees
so that information can be given to employees and employees could feel that they are very
important at workplace. H&M should give attention to employees regarding their work, what
they are feeling and what are their expectations because this plays major role in engaging
employees with the company.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aitman, T., Dhillon, P. and Geurts, A.M., 2016. A RATional choice for translational research?.
Anselmsson, J., Bondesson, N. and Melin, F., 2016. Customer-based brand equity and human
resource management image. European Journal of Marketing.
Azeez, S.A., 2017. Human resource management practices and employee retention: A review of
literature. Journal of Economics, Management and Trade. pp.1-10.
Basu, A. and Maciejewski, M.L., 2019. Choosing a time horizon in cost and cost-effectiveness
analyses. Jama. 321(11). pp.1096-1097.
Beijer and et. al, 2021. The turn to employees in the measurement of human resource practices:
A critical review and proposed way forward. Human Resource Management Journal.
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Bennett, T., Saundry, R. and Fisher, V., 2020. Managing Employment Relations. Kogan Page
Publishers.
Dougherty, M.R., Slevc, L.R. and Grand, J.A., 2019. Making research evaluation more
transparent: Aligning research philosophy, institutional values, and reporting.
Perspectives on Psychological Science. 14(3). pp.361-375.
Du Plessis, T. and Van Niekerk, A., 2017. Factors influencing managers’ attitudes towards
performance appraisal. SA Journal of Human Resource Management. 15. p.10.
Huynh and et. al, 2018. A pragmatic approach to guide implementation evaluation research:
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Islam, T. and Tariq, J., 2018. Learning organizational environment and extra-role behaviors: the
mediating role of employee engagement. Journal of management development.
Koivisto and et. al, 2018. Design principles for simulation games for learning clinical reasoning:
A design-based research approach. Nurse education today. 60. pp.114-120.
Lopes, D.P.T., 2020. Human resource management perspective on innovation. In Innovation
Management. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Nayak, J.K. and Singh, P., 2021. Fundamentals of Research Methodology Problems and
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Ozturan, P. and Grinstein, A., 2017. The Socially Responsible CMO. Marketing Science Institute
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Trost, A., 2020. Human Resources Strategies. Springer International Publishing.
Weisberg, M. and Dent, E., 2016. Meaning or money? Non-profit employee satisfaction.
Voluntary Sector Review, 7(3), pp.293-313.
Weisberg, M. and Dent, E., 2016. Meaning or money? Non-profit employee satisfaction.
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Wintersberger, D. ed., 2017. International Human Resource Management: A Case Study
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