Human Resource Management Strategies and Impact of Environmental Factors on Aviva

This report discusses the HR strategies changed by Aviva during COVID-19, the impact of environmental factors on culture and HR plan, job design strategies, hiring and firing strategies, and more. The report also covers the difference between HRM and Personnel Management, HR model, and corporate examples of firms using good HR practices and literature. The report is based on Aviva, a public limited company that provides financial services to its customers.

Human Resource Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
HR Strategies changed by the firm by using concept of strategic management....................3
Analyse the impact of environmental factors on culture and HR plan of Firm.....................4
HR Model and value created by Organisation.......................................................................5
Difference between HRM and Personnel Management.........................................................6
Job Design Strategies.............................................................................................................8
Hiring and Firing Strategies of Organisation.........................................................................9
Corporate Examples of firm using good HR Practices and literature....................................9
RECOMMENDATON.........................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Human resource is a group of people who create the workforce of company, industry,
economy and business sector, without human resources organisation cannot run their business in
effective and efficient manner (Word and Sowa, 2017). In order to manage the human resources,
company mainly develop human resource department as they are responsible for managing the
overall lifecycle of employee from starting to end of their corporate journey (Turulja and
Bajgoric, 2018). The project is based on human resource management in which different human
resource strategies is determined which is changed by the organisation during COVID 19
pandemic and also the impact of environmental factors on culture and HR plan of firm is
analysed. It also cover HR model, difference between HRM and Personnel management, job
design strategies, hiring and firing strategies and some corporate examples of firm by using good
HR practices and literature. The chosen company for accomplishing this report is Aviva, it is an
insurance company that provide various services including life insurance, general insurance and
pensions. It is a public limited company which provides financial services to its customers.
HR Strategies changed by the firm by using concept of strategic management
HR Strategies of Aviva gets changed due to the influence of COVID 19, it is one of the
drastic disease which have created a great impact on the economy, businesses and people. Due to
pandemic, Aviva has faced huge loss which affects their profitability and performance of
business. In order to remain active in market, Aviva has changed their HR strategies by using
concept of strategic human resource management they are:
Remote working:
It is one of the strategies which are implemented by organisation in order to boost the
morale and motivation level of employees. Due to COVID 19, staff of Aviva is getting nervous
and depressed as they are not able to perform better in organisation. So, by allowing employees
to do work from home they enhance the motivation level of staff and also company can maintain
social distancing and prevent people from spread of disease (Lim, Wang and Lee, 2017). The IT
department and human resource department of Aviva is focusing on developing smooth
transition so that employees can work comfortably from their home.
Reconsidering employees leave and policies:

In the tough time of COVID 19, human resource department of Aviva have taken an
initiative to reconsider the leaves and policies so that employees can avail the benefits in
pandemic. They are updating the leaves and policies according to the employment legislation in
order to overcome the negative impact faced by employees during COVID 19. Human resource
management is also ensuring that these policies must be communicated with employees in
effective and efficient manner.
Focusing on employee wellness and safety initiative:
It is another strategy which is implemented by human resource department of Aviva in
pandemic. Aviva is responsible for focusing on the employee wellness and taking safety
initiative for employees in order to prevent them from spread of diseases. They are regularly
communicating with staff in order to reduce their anxiety and stress which they are facing while
working in pandemic.
Analyse the impact of environmental factors on culture and HR plan of Firm
Environment factors play an important role in influencing the profitability and growth of
business. It is important for company to identify the environment factors that could create an
impact on the performance of Aviva. There is a huge impact of environmental factors on culture
and HR plan of Aviva (Das and Kodwani, 2018). The HR plan of company helps in
accomplishing the mission, goals and objectives of business. Aviva must focus on determining
the internal and external environmental factors so that they can improve recruitment and
retention strategy and also reduce the problems related to workforce.
Cultural difference:
It is one the environmental factors that creates a huge impact on the culture and HR plan of
firm. Aviva is one of the renowned companies that provide financial services in different
countries. They also have staff from different culture and religion, it become difficult for HR
manager to coordinate and communicate with the in their native language. Cultural difference
creates an impact on the HR plan and culture of Aviva as they have to communicate with
employees with one common language that could be understood by each employee. In order to
create positive working environment, it is important to overcome the problem related to cultural
difference.
Regulatory Framework:

Regulatory framework is another environmental factor which creates an influence on
culture and HR plan of Aviva. It is the responsibility of human resource department to keep
check on the new policies and laws which is imposed by the government in order to stay away
from any legal disputes and conflicts (Delery and Gupta, 2016). There are several laws which
must be followed by human resource department of Aviva. These laws can also influence the
culture and HR plan of Aviva by updating new policies and frameworks related to employees.
Competition:
Competition is also an environmental factor that can create huge impact on culture and HR
plan of Aviva. In UK, there is a huge competition between the companies that provided financial
services. Organisations are demanding top talent that can contribute their best efforts in
increasing the profitability and growth of business. Aviva is also focusing on attracting and
retaining highly skilled employees who are dedicated towards their work and contribute their
best efforts in accomplishing the goals and objective of business. Competition also influences
HR plan as they have to change their working style and pattern in order to gain competitive
advantage.
HR Model and value created by Organisation
It is important for organisation to implement HR model that helps in running business
activities in efficient and effective manner. The HR model which must be implemented by Aviva
in order to manage and maintain effective workforce is Harvard model, it was developed by
Michael Beer in 1984. The Harvard model is one of the influential and oldest models that
consists most flexible and holistic approach which must be use by human resource department of
Aviva. This model mainly includes five segments such as stakeholder interest, situational factors,
HRM policies, HRM outcomes and long term consequences.
Stakeholder interest:
It is one of the components of Harvard model which generally includes the group of
people that have interest in the outcomes of company. Aviva must focus on the people who have
direct or indirect interest in the performance and results of business (Korff, Biemann and
Voelpel, 2017). The influence of stakeholders helps in developing human resource policies and
practices.
Situational Factors:

It is another component of Harvard model which includes elements related to workforce,
industry, society and environment that influence human resource. So, it is important for human
resource management to focus on identifying the situational factors that can influence the
policies and practices of human resource management. Situational factor also affect the positions
and influences of stakeholders.
HRM policies:
There are various HRM policies which are followed by Aviva in order to manage the
workforce. It is important for organisation to develop effective HRM policies that helps in
coping up with the negative impact of pandemic. Stakeholder’s interest and situational factors
plays an important role in developing the HRM polices (Klein and Potosky, 2019).
HRM outcomes:
HRM outcome is another component of Harvard model which provides the results of the
policies. The outcomes generally include aspects related to business including employee
retention, competence, cost effectiveness and commitment. Aviva must focus on the outcomes
which are provided by the employees at the time of COVID 19 and ensure that their staff must
give best performance.
Long term consequences:
It is also a component of Harvard model which must be followed by Aviva as it helps in
analysing the performance of company and employees in organisation. The long term
consequences help in evaluating how Aviva is positioned within its market and society and also
they focus on measuring the overall well being of employees.
The value of organisation can be created by focusing on the well being and safety of
employees in pandemic. The priority of Aviva must be safety and health of employees so that
they become loyal towards the company and support in increasing the profitability of business.
Difference between HRM and Personnel Management
Human resource management:
Human resource management is one of the functions of business which mainly focuses
on recruiting, hiring, selecting, deploying, compensating and managing the overall performance
of employees in workplace. They focus on attracting top talent that give their best performance
and also improve the employee retention rate by offering them various benefits and plans.
Human resource management helps in hiring and training the employees in order to enhance

their knowledge and skills so that they remain competitive in workplace (Cogin, Ng and Lee,
2016).
Personnel management:
Personnel management is also a function of business which involved in planning,
organising, staffing, directing, reporting, coordinating and budgeting the activities of business.
They are mainly responsible for maintaining and creating positive and harmonious working
environment so that employees can work with dedication. The main objective of personnel
management is to accomplish the goals and objective of Aviva.
According to Storey’s 27 points of differences between HRM and Personnel management,
there are few differences which are determined they are as follows:
Basis of Difference Personnel Management Human Resource
Management
Managerial Task In Aviva, the role of personnel
management is to monitor the
performance of employees by
ensuring that they are
contributing their productive
outcomes.
Human resource management
of Aviva mainly focus on
improving the performance of
employees by providing them
training and development
opportunity that helps in
enhancing the skills and
knowledge of staff.
Contract Personnel management have a
written contract with Aviva.
In Aviva, Human resource
management goes beyond
contract as they believe to
work with dedication in order
to improve the growth and
profitability of business.
Communication There is an indirect
communication between
personnel management and
employees in Aviva.
Human resource department
and employees of Aviva have
direct communication they can
share the opinions and

viewpoints directly without
taking any help of mediators.
Job Design Strategies
Job design is a procedure of creating jobs that helps in accomplishing the goals and
objective of business. It is the responsibility of human resource manager of Aviva to create
effective job design that attracts more and more candidates towards the company. Through the
job design strategies, Aviva can increase their productivity and also focus on improving their
quality of work due to which they can attract maximum customers (Kehoe and Collins, 2017).
There are four job design strategies that help in enhancing motivational potential of job. Through
these strategies, Aviva can develop potential jobs for staff.
Job rotation:
Job rotation is one of the strategy of job design in which the job position of employees
are changed in order to fulfil other requirement of organisation such as talking orientation of
employees, training staff, enhancing career development and preventing job boredom. Through
implementing job rotation strategy, Aviva can reduce the boredom and also identify the hidden
talent of employees.
Job enlargement:
Job enlargement is another strategy which can be used by Aviva as it helps in adding
additional activities in existing job role due to which staff have to perform extra work with
different task in their job role. The job enlargement strategy helps in enhancing the skills and
knowledge of staff so that they can perform better in organisation. This strategy also helps in
giving autonomy, reasonability and accountability to employees due to which they contribute
productive results in achieving goals and objective of business.
Job enrichment:
Job enrichment is also a strategy of job design which adds motivational dimension among
employees. By implementing this strategy, Aviva have to focus on adding motivational factors
that encourage staff to perform better in their current job roles. They can add opportunities to
receive feedback, develop customer relationship and create natural working units that helps in
boosting the morale and motivation level of employees (Guest and et. al., 2021).
Job simplification:

Job simplification is another strategy of job design which focuses on reducing the
additional work from employees in order to make them comfortable and focused towards their
task. Through implementing this strategy, Aviva can enhance the work methods so that they can
maximise the output and reduce the expenditure.
Hiring and Firing Strategies of Organisation
Hiring strategies helps in attracting maximum candidate towards the company by using
various strategies. Firing strategies helps to fire the employees in graceful manner. There are
various firing and hiring strategies that can be used by Aviva in the time of pandemic they are as
follows:
Hiring strategies:
Campus recruitment: It is one of the hiring strategies which can be used by Aviva in order to
attract candidate for filling the vacant job position. Campus recruitment is effective strategy that
focuses on various universities and institutes in order to search for the right talent that have
potential to work in organisation.
Social media recruiting: It is also a hiring strategy which can be used by Aviva for generating
interest among people about the company (Baran, Filipkowski and Stockwell, 2019). There are
various social media platform that helps in attracting large number of participants such as
Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and many others. In the time of COVID 19, social media
recruiting is one of the effective hiring strategies for Aviva.
Firing Strategies:
Meet face to face: It is firing strategies which must be implementing by Aviva in order to fire the
candidate gracefully. It means that manager of Aviva must inform their decision directly rather
than using emails, text message of phone calls.
Keep it clear and short: The human resource manager of Aviva must focus on informing the
firing news in clear and short manner by giving them genuine reason.
Corporate Examples of firm using good HR Practices and literature
The corporate example of Firm that use good HR practices and literature is Marks and
Spencer, it is one the leading retail brand that deals in various products and services including
clothing, home and food. Marks and Spencer have effective human resource team that focuses on
implementing good human resource practices and literature that helps in running business
activities in smooth and efficient manner. The human resource department of Marks and Spencer

mainly focus on improving the performance and productivity of business by implementing
effective human resource practices such as recruitment strategies, remote working strategy,
compensation plans and various others. In the tough time of COVID 19, Marks and Spencer is
also supporting their employees by updating the policies and plans according to government
regulations.
RECOMMENDATON
It is being recommended from the above information that it is the responsibility of
organisation to enhance the morale and motivation level of employees so that they can contribute
the productive results in accomplishing the goals and objective of business. At the time of
COVID 19, people are stressed and depressed as they are not able to contribute their best efforts
in achieving the target of company. Human resource department of Aviva must also focus on
solving the queries and problem of employees so that they can work with dedication. They must
provide training and development opportunity to staff in order to improve their performance and
knowledge. Human resource management should develop regular communication with
employees in order to reduce their stress and anxiety level while working from home. They must
focus on attracting stakeholders in order to improve their profitability and growth of business at
the time of pandemic. Human resource department of Aviva must ensure that they must follow
the guidelines and laws which are imposed by government at the time of COVID 19 in order to
stay away from any legal conflicts. It helps in increasing the mental and physical health of
employees due to which they contribute their best efforts in achieving the target of Aviva.
Human resource manager of Aviva is also responsible for identifying the key areas in which
employees face issues and problem while working so that they can work comfortably and give
their better results. The priority of Aviva must be safety and security of employees in pandemic,
so it is important to provide safety polices to employees in order to prevent them from the spread
of disease. They must focus on developing hygiene measures so that employees remain safe and
healthy while working in organisation. In order to attract staff after post pandemic, company
must develop trust among employees that workplace is safe and healthy.
CONCLUSION
From the above information it is being concluded that human resource management plays a
vital role in organisation as they focus in recruiting top talents and ensures that all employees

contribute their best performance in achieving target. The main role of human resource
department is to maximise the productivity of staff and protect organisation from any issues that
is related to workforce.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baran, B. E., Filipkowski, J. N. and Stockwell, R .A., 2019. Organizational change: Perspectives
from human resource management. Journal of change management. 19(3). pp.201-219.
Cogin, J. A., Ng, J .L. and Lee, I., 2016. Controlling healthcare professionals: how human
resource management influences job attitudes and operational efficiency. Human
resources for health. 14(1). pp.1-8.
Das, R. and Kodwani, A. D., 2018. Strategic human resource management: a power based
critique. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
Delery, J. and Gupta, N., 2016. Human resource management practices and organizational
effectiveness: internal fit matters. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and
Performance.
Guest, D. E and et. al., 2021. Signalling theory as a framework for analysing human resource
management processes and integrating human resource attribution theories: A conceptual
analysis and empirical exploration. Human Resource Management Journal. 31(3).
pp.796-818.
Kehoe, R. R. and Collins, C. J., 2017. Human resource management and unit performance in
knowledge-intensive work. Journal of Applied Psychology. 102(8). p.1222.
Klein, H. J. and Potosky, D., 2019. Making a conceptual contribution at Human Resource
Management Review.
Korff, J., Biemann, T. and Voelpel, S. C., 2017. Human resource management systems and work
attitudes: The mediating role of future time perspective. Journal of Organizational
Behavior. 38(1). pp.45-67.
Lim, S., Wang, T. K. and Lee, S. Y., 2017. Shedding new light on strategic human resource
management: The impact of human resource management practices and human resources
on the perception of federal agency mission accomplishment. Public Personnel
Management. 46(2). pp.91-117.
Turulja, L. and Bajgoric, N., 2018. Information technology, knowledge management and human
resource management: Investigating mutual interactions towards better organizational
performance. VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems.
Word, J. K. and Sowa, J. E. eds., 2017. The nonprofit human resource management handbook:
From theory to practice. Taylor & Francis.