Human Resource Management: Functions, Approaches, and Practices

This document provides an overview of Human Resource Management (HRM) and its functions, approaches, and practices. It focuses on the application of HRM in resourcing and workforce planning, recruitment and selection, and employee development. The document also highlights the benefits of HRM practices for both employees and employers. The case study of Arcadia Group, a leading retailer in the UK, is used to illustrate the concepts and principles of HRM.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
Explaining functions and purpose of human resource management which are application to
resourcing and workforce planning of a company.......................................................................4
Explaining various approaches of selection and recruitment along with their strengths and
weaknesses...................................................................................................................................6
Assessing the way which helps different human resource management functions to provide
skills and talent to the entity so that objectives could be fulfilled...............................................8
Evaluating all the approaches of selection and recruitment with their strengths and weaknesses
......................................................................................................................................................8
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
Explaining different types of human resource management practices along with their benefits
to employee and employer of a company....................................................................................8
Evaluating the level of effectiveness of various human resource management practices which
can help to increase organisational productivity and profit.......................................................10
Exploration of different approaches which are used in human resource management practices
....................................................................................................................................................10
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
Significance of establishing employee relation in respect to influence of them on human
resource management decision making.....................................................................................10
Identifying all the main components of employment legislation and the influence of them on
human resource decision making...............................................................................................11
Evaluating main elements of management of employee relation along with different
employment related legislations which may affect human resource decision making..............12
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
Illustrating the use of different practices of human resource management in a work related
context........................................................................................................................................12
Importance of applying appropriate human recourse practices in work related context...........15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15

REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is a procedure which is required to be focused by HR of an
organisation to for the purpose of managing, directing, controlling and supervising all the
employees who are working in an organisation. It is one of the main responsibilities of HR
manager as it can help to reach long term business goals. An entity can motivate its staff
members if proper strategies for their management and support are formulated (Armstrong and
Taylor, 2020). Main purpose of present project is to improve knowledge about importance of
HRM for enterprises. The organisation which is selected for this report is Arcadia Group which
is one of the biggest retailer of United Kingdom. There are different clothing brands such as
Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge etc. which are sold by it all around the world. This report covers
various topics such as scope and purpose of HRM, effectiveness of key elements of HRM and
analysis of internal and external factors that affects HRM decisions. Additionally, applications of
HRM practices in a work related context are also covered in this project.
TASK 1
Explaining functions and purpose of human resource management which are application to
resourcing and workforce planning of a company
Overview of Arcadia Group: It is one of the biggest British International retail sector
enterprise which is having headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in year
1903 and its chairman is Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green. CEO of the organisation is Ian Grabiner
and the company is having employee strengths of 22000 individuals. Different subsidiaries of it
are Wallis, Topman, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins etc. Mission of the entity is to develop the best
products and meet expectations of clients so that higher competitive advantage could be
acquired. Purpose of Arcadia Group is to progress continuously by building skills and abilities of
employees (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Core business objectives of the organisations are as
follows:
 Generate higher profits by fulfilling all the demand of targeted customers.
 Establish a positive market image and capture large share of the industry by offering
good quality clothes to the customers.
Human resource management can be defined as an approach which is beneficial for the
managers to manage the human capital in effective manner. In Arcadia Group it is focused by

HR in order to make sure that all the operations are executed properly. Main purpose of it is to
establish a well structured framework at workplace for employees which can facilitate them to
perform all their jobs in systematic manner. Workforce planning which is a continuous procedure
of aligning priorities and needs of an entity is the main responsibility of a HR. There are various
functions of HRM which are applicable to workforce planning (Cascio, 2015). All of them are
discussed below along with their purpose:
Training and development: It is one of the main function of HRM in which managers
of Arcadia Group formulate strategies so that they can provide appropriate training to the new
and staff and find ways to develop existing employees. Purpose of this function is to reach the
organisational goals such as higher productivity easily. Responsibility of it is to make sure that
all the employees are performing their jobs properly.
Recruitment: This function can be defined as the combination of different activities such
as attracting, short listing and selecting which are performed by HR in Arcadia Group for the
purpose of hiring individuals for vacant posts. Objective of it is to recruit skilled and
knowledgeable staff for company so that operations could be carried out systematically. Its
responsibility is to make sure that skilled candidates are recruited for organisation (Cascio,
2015).
Performance appraisal: It can be defined as a function which is focused by HR
managers of Arcadia Group to evaluate performance of all the staff members and then provide
them rewards accordingly. Main purpose of it is to motivate employees so that their work quality
could be improved. Responsibility of it is to analyse actual performance of workforce and then
appraise them.
Best fit Vs Best practice: The Best Fit approach suggests that strategies which are
adopted by the HR department of Arcadia for betterment of workers of organisation or for
maintaining efficiency in an enterprise are appropriate according to the prevailing circumstances
of the company. HRM policies cannot have universal perceptions as they differ in different
firms. Thus, it is considered to be greatly helpful to HR managers in decision-making process.
Best practice approach suggests that focus should be done entirely on method or a process which
is constantly delivering results for the organisation. It involves considering all stakeholders
before taking decisions so that possibility of mistakes can be avoided. It includes delivering
consistent outcomes by adopting a particular strategy or a technique so that it can be repeatedly

used. Also, it minimises the use of resources which are already limited to deliver maximum
results.
Hard and soft model of HRM: HR managers of Arcadia focuses upon these models so
that they can manage the staff members properly. Hard Model is focused with rationalism of
strategic fit and emphasise on performance management. In other words it can be defined as
instrumental approach to the activities of HR managers of Arcadia which are performed by them
to manage all the individuals properly at workplace. Soft HRM model is mainly focused with
self direction of staff and emphasises on trust, self regulation and commitment of individuals
towards their work. It is used in Arcadia by HR to make sure that all the staff members perform
their jobs systematically and control their actions.
Technology: It is considered as one of the main element which should be focused by HR
manager of Arcadia for the purpose of making sure that they hire skilled and knowledgeable
candidates. For this purpose different online job portals are analysed by them which includes,
monster, indeed etc.
Explaining various approaches of selection and recruitment along with their strengths and
weaknesses
Recruitment: It can be defined as a procedure which is highly focused with hiring skilled
and experienced individuals for organisational processes and attain business objectives such as
higher productivity. In Arcadia Group it is focused by HR managers to fill the vacant posts
within the organisation. Some of the several approaches of it are described below:
Internal approaches: While using such approaches managers recruit the currently
working employees for the vacant posts. There are various examples of them which could be
used in Arcadia Group (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2018). These are internal advertisement,
employee referral, promotion etc. All the strengths and weaknesses of it are as follows:
 Strengths: By using internal approaches of recruitment the managers of the company
will be able to improve the employee retention rate. Along with this, it can also help to
reduce the cost of recruiting new candidates.
 Weaknesses: In internal recruitment only some selected employees are promoted which
may affect moral of the staff members who are working for the entity from a long period.
It also limit the enterprise to have young blood in the company to provide creative ideas.

External approaches: These approaches are related to external sources which are used
to recruit candidates for vacant posts. Some examples of it are walk ins, campus drive, job
portals, website etc. With the help of all these resources Arcadia Group can hire new employees
for effective execution of business. All the strengths and weaknesses of them are as follows:
 Strengths: By using social media or posting updates on job portals an organisation can
save money. With the help of it capabilities and skills of candidates could be analysed by
reviewing their resume.
 Weaknesses: External approaches are very time consuming and HR managers are
required to be highly focused at the time of recruitment. There is high possibility of fake
applications in outsider resources of recruitment.
Selection: It can be defined as the process which is focused by business entities for the
purpose of selecting best suitable applicant for the vacant post. There are various methods of it
which could be used in Arcadia Group. These are personality profiling, aptitude test, online
screening, interview etc. Some strengths and weaknesses of it are described below:
 Strengths: Approaches such as interview help the managers to interact with the
applicants personally and analyse their abilities to deal with tasks that will be allocated to
them while working (Guest, 2017).
 Weaknesses: Due to negligence important information could be missed by candidates or
interviewer while using interview approach of selection.
Workforce planning: It can be defined as the process of determining organisational
needs regarding human capital and then formulate decisions for the recruitment of skilled
candidates. In Arcadia Group it is focused by HR managers for the purpose of placing the
appropriate individuals to the specific posts at a proper time.
Development and training: These are two main HR functions which are required to be
focused by manager for the purpose of improving employee engagement and their work quality.
In Arcadia Group HR make sure that appropriate training is provided to the new staff and old
one get developed so that they can perform appropriately.
Performance management: It can be defined as the procedure of making sure that all
the activities which are performed by staff members meet goals successfully. With the help of it,
HR managers in Arcadia Group try to make sure that al the employees perform their jobs in
systematic manner so that organisational goals could be achieved.

Reward system: It is a type of motivational technique which could be used in business
entities for the purpose of motivating employees. In Arcadia Group HR managers offer benefits
to all the employees according to their performance so that they can work ore productively
(Jabbour and de Sousa Jabbour, 2016).
Assessing the way which helps different human resource management functions to provide skills
and talent to the entity so that objectives could be fulfilled
There are various function of HRM such as training and development, recruitment,
performance appraisal etc. which are beneficial to provide talent and skills which can help to
achieve business goals. With the help of them, managers in Arcadia try to recruit knowledgeable
employees who can perform all the jobs in systematic manner. It is beneficial for whole entity to
accomplish the goals of profit and productivity maximisation.
Evaluating all the approaches of selection and recruitment with their strengths and weaknesses
In all the business entities different approaches are used for the purpose of recruitment
and selection. Some of them are internal advertisement, employee referral, promotion, walk ins,
campus drive, job portals, website, personality profiling, aptitude test, online screening,
interview etc. all of them have various strengths and weaknesses. For example, promotion help
to motivate the employees by appraising them but on the other hand, it may also result in
decreased moral of staff as it is not possible to promote all of them.
TASK 2
Explaining different types of human resource management practices along with their benefits to
employee and employer of a company
HRM practices are the set of different techniques which are used by business entities for
the purpose of managing effectiveness of an organisation. There are various benefits of them to
the employee and employer of Arcadia Group. Description of all of them is as follows:
Training: It is one of the main HRM practice which is focused by HR managers of
Arcadia which helps the management to train existing as well as new staff members to perform
all their jobs systematically. Various benefits of it to employees as well as employers are as
follows:

 Benefits to employer: In Tesco HRM practices facilitate the employers to make sure that
all the staff members are managed properly and able to perform all their jobs in
systematic manner (Practical example of HRM practices in an organisation, 2019).
 Benefits to employees: HRM practices are beneficial for staff to get proper
compensation and rewards according to their performance which gets enhanced with
training.
Recruitment and selection: These are the two main approaches which are considered as
the part of HRM practices which are required to be focused by HR of Arcadia to hire a skilled
staff members. Various benefits of it to the employees and employers are as follows:
 Benefits to employer: With the help of it management of the employer can analyse the
requirements of staff regarding salaries and compensation while selecting them and then
fulfil the same for the purpose of enhancing their work quality.
 Benefits to employees: Organisations such as Tesco and Arcadia Group create jobs
according to changes in processes and technology which provides opportunity to the
individuals having creative thinking skills.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory: It is a motivational theory used by HR managers
of Arcadia which shows human needs as a pyramid right from lower-level to higher-level ones.
The different types of needs are depicted as below-
Physiological Needs- These are biological requirements of human beings such as food,
shelter, clothing etc. which are required to be focused by Arcadia so that employees could be
motivated to work appropriately.
Security Needs- It means stability and security issues like job security, pension, fair
work ethics etc. which have to be fulfilled by Arcadia Group so that workers don't feel that they
are working in an unsecure environment.
Social Needs- These are requirements such as sense of love and belonging which are
needed by human beings and are vital from an Arcadia Group's point of view so that employees
don't feel that they are being isolated or not cooperated.
Esteem Needs- It involves needs related to prestige such as perks, job title, promotion
etc. which are important for Arcadia so that esteem of employees is maintained and they feel
valued.

Self-Actualisation Needs- These needs involve reaching of full potential by a person at
workplace which is essential for Arcadia Group. It will help in increasing efficiency and
effectiveness of employees which happens when it provides them challenging work, involves
them in decision-making etc.
Evaluating the level of effectiveness of various human resource management practices which can
help to increase organisational productivity and profit
In all the organisations such as Arcadia Group different types of HRM practices are used
which are beneficial to raise organisational profit and profitability. Description of two of them is
as follows which is beneficial for the entity:
Conflict resolution: This HRM practice is mainly related to the resolution of all the
grievances which are taking place between managers and employees. With the help of it
organisational productivity could be increased because when all the conflicts of staff will be
resolved then they will work effectively. It can also help to increase profits as effective working
of workforce will be beneficial to generate higher profits (John and Taylor, 2016).
Performance appraisal: It is also a type HRM practice in which managers analyse
efforts of all the employee and appraise accordingly. It helps to raise productivity of organisation
because when staff will get appraised by top authority then they will get motivated to work
effectively. Higher engagement level of workforce will be beneficial for the organisation to
attain higher profits.
Exploration of different approaches which are used in human resource management practices
There are various methods which could be used as HRM practices in all the business
entities. Some of them which are used in Arcadia Group are conflict resolution and performance
appraisal and both of them are benefiting the entity to improve its profitability and productivity.
It also facilitate the organisation to be the employer of choice because with the help of these two
methods managers try to resolve all the problems of staff and motivate them by appraising.
TASK 3
Significance of establishing employee relation in respect to influence of them on human resource
management decision making
Most of the entities have objectives such as generating profits, higher employee retention
rate etc. and for the purpose of attaining them it is very important for managers to make sure that

they are establishing good relations with staff. For management of Arcadia it is very important to
have good relationships with staff as it can help to reduce the impact of their activities on
decision making. It could be understood from following description:
By using human relations approach the top level executives of Arcadia Group will be
able to make friendly relations with the staff for the purpose of improving their performance. It is
highly effective approach and influence decisions of HR as with the help of it entity can became
the employer of choice. It will result in positive working of staff with higher level of passion
(Mondy and Martocchio, 2016).
With the help of skill oriented job approach of employee engagement the managers of
Arcadia Group can try to improve capabilities of staff. It will be very effective for the enterprise
and also influence the decision making as with the help of it engagement level of workforce will
be improved because HR will form strategies for this purpose. By using it employer can offer
such jobs to the employees which are related to their field of interest. It will also be beneficial for
Arcadia to become the employer of choice.
Identifying all the main components of employment legislation and the influence of them on
human resource decision making
While operating business in a specific country it is essential for entities to analyse that
they are following the legislations which are imposed by legal authorities of that nation. All of
them which are required to be followed by Arcadia are described below:
Employment rights act, 1996: This act states that all the organisations should be
focused with different employment related elements which are unfair contract, unfair dismissal,
redundancy etc.
Employment relations act, 1999: According to this act, all the employers should
establish good relationships with their staff members so that they can perform all their tasks
systematically.
Agency workers regulations 2010: This act is mainly focused with reduction in
discrimination at workplace against any agency staff members. It makes sure that appropriate
amount for the work should be provided to the staff and they also receive right amount of
holidays.
Human rights act, 1998: This act demonstrates that all the employees are required to
provide basic human rights to all the staff members.

National minimum wage act, 1998: This act guides all the employers in UK to provide
a minimum wage to the staff members for their work.
Some of the above described acts may affect decision making of human resource
manager. Description of impact of them on HR judgements is as follows:
Employment rights act, 1996: It may leave negative impact upon decision making of
Arcadia's HR because if management of the organisation is not able to pay attention towards its
elements then strict action by governmental party could be taken. For example, if HR is not
having any employment contract with an employees then it may result in legal actions therefore
new decisions will be required to be formed to ignore this situation.
Human rights act, 1998: If Arcadia is not providing staff members their rights then it
will affect the HRM decision making because they have to make changes in strategies according
to the act for ignoring interference of legal authorities (Shen and Benson, 2016).
National minimum wage act, 1998: If Arcadia is not providing its employees a lower
level of salary then the strategies or decisions are required to be modified as it can help to
perform operations according to law.
Evaluating main elements of management of employee relation along with different employment
related legislations which may affect human resource decision making
All the organisations are required to pay attention towards employee relations and
employment legislation as ignorance of them may result in changes in decision making. If the
management of Arcadia is not having good relation with staff then they have to make changes in
strategies according to their behaviour. It is possible that they won't perform all the activities
productively due to bad relations of them with management. In this situation HR will have to
make changes in decisions to improve their work.
TASK 4
Illustrating the use of different practices of human resource management in a work related
context
In human resource management various practices are used by the management for the
purpose of executing all the operations systematically. In Arcadia Group human resource
manager focus upon various documents while planning to recruit new employees. These are job

specification, job application, person description, job offer letter etc. All of them are generated
below in context of Arcadia Group:
Job specification: It can be defined as a document which represents the skills or
requirements of an organisation related to the vacant post. A job specification for the designer at
Arcadia Group is as follows:
Organisation Arcadia Group
Division Designing
Job profile Designer
Job location London, UK
Experience 1 year
Job summary Arcadia Group is looking for designers for its stores who can
design cloths according to latest trends and handle the work
effectively.
Skills required  Creative thinking skills
 Decision making skills
Roles and responsibility  Design clothes according to latest trends.
 Develop creative designs and evaluate their demand in
market.
Job application: It is a document which is sent by the applicant to the organisation to
apply for the job. An example of it is as follows:
Job application
Respected sir/ ma'am,
I am Ema William and I have seen an advertisement in newspaper that there is a vacancy of
designer in your organisation. I want to apply for the same and I have also attached my
curriculum vitae below which could be analysed by you to assess my skills, capabilities and
experience. Arcadia is one of the best retailers in UK and I have worked in Marks and Spencer
as designer for two years and I think that this experience of mine will be beneficial for me to
work within your organisation. I am good in designing clothes, interacting with people etc.

which will be advantageous for me if I will be selected by you for the post of designer. For
further details you can go through my curriculum vitae which is attached by me. Hope to get
positive response from your side.
Thank and Regards
Ema William
Person description: It can be defined as a document which is used by individuals to
share their detailed information with employer (Stone and Deadrick, 2015). An example of it for
the job of designer is as follows:
Name: Ema William
Address: Kingston upon Thames, London, UK
Contact number: 12478548
Job Experience: 2 years working experience of designer in Marks and Spencer.
Specialization:
 Specialisation in designing clothes on the basis of latest trends.
 Effective knowledge of creativity.
Skills:
 Capability to design clothes according to market trends.
 Able to interact with clients and fulfil their needs regarding clothes.
Qualification:
 Fashion Designing from Conde Nast College of Fashion & Design.
 Senior secondary from City of London School, London.
 Secondary from City of London School, London
Declaration: I ensure that all the information which is provided by me is relevant and accurate.
Date: 12/02/2020
Place: London, UK
Interview Questions:
 Introduce yourself
 Tell us about your strengths and weaknesses
Job offer letter from Aston Martin to Ema:
15th February 2020

Arcadia Group
London, United Kingdom.
Dear Ms. Ema William,
We hereby inform you that you are being selected by us for the job of designer in Arcadia
Group. The salary which will be offered to you is around 120000 pounds per annum.
Thanks and regards
HRM team
Arcadia Group
Importance of applying appropriate human recourse practices in work related context
In all the organisations it is very important to conduct HRM practices as it can help to
find solution for issues such as lower productivity of employees. All of them help the
management to respond the problems effectively and then improve productivity and increase
profitability (Wilton, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that human resource management is
the process of managing all the employees who are working in an organisation. There are various
functions of it such as training and development, recruitment, performance appraisal which are
beneficial for work force planning. There are various benefits of HRM practices to an
organisation as well as staff members. One of them is effective working of employees which will
lead the entity towards development by raising productivity and profit. There are two main
internal and external factors that may affect decision making of HR. These are employee
relations and employment legislations. While implementing HRM practices at workplace
different documents will be required to be generated. These are job specification, C.V., offer
letter etc.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2020. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Cascio, W. F., 2015. Costing human resources. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management. pp.1-1.
Cascio, W. F., 2015. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2018. Human resource management in sport and recreation.
Human Kinetics.
Guest, D. E., 2017. Human resource management and employee well‐being: Towards a new
analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal. 27(1). pp.22-38.
Jabbour, C. J. C. and de Sousa Jabbour, A. B. L., 2016. Green human resource management and
green supply chain management: Linking two emerging agendas. Journal of Cleaner
Production. 112. pp.1824-1833.
John, R. and Taylor, B., 2016. Human resource management.
Mondy, R. and Martocchio, J. J., 2016. Human resource management. Pearson.
Shen, J. and Benson, J., 2016. When CSR is a social norm: How socially responsible human
resource management affects employee work behavior. Journal of Management. 42(6).
pp.1723-1746.
Stone, D. L. and Deadrick, D. L., 2015. Challenges and opportunities affecting the future of
human resource management. Human Resource Management Review. 25(2). pp.139-
145.
Wilton, N., 2016. An introduction to human resource management. Sage.
Online
Practical example of HRM practices in an organisation. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://businesscasestudies.co.uk/edition-13-recruitment-and-selection>