Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice

This assignment explores the importance of Human Resource Management (HRM) in maximizing employee performance, recruiting, and selecting processes, training, and development strategies. It examines how HRM practices can manage employees effectively within an organization, utilizing technology, online resources, digital platforms, and social networking to hire competent employees. The assignment also references various studies and articles on HRM, including its role in corporate social responsibility and the impact of knowledge management practices on organizational performance.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management (HRM) is the procedure of recruiting and selecting
employees for effective growth of organisation. HRM includes recruitment and selection,
training and development, reward management, benefits and compensation. The report lay
emphasis on “Aviva”. Aviva It is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in
London. The Company has about 33 million customers across 16 countries. It provides services
like life insurance, pensions, general insurance. This assignment will outline responsibilities and
roles of the HR function. Further, it will discuss different approaches of recruitment and
selection, workforce planning, development and training, reward systems and performance
management. Key aspects of employment legislation, evaluation of how employee relations and
employment legislation inform decision making and meets business objectives.
TASK 1
1 Responsibilities and the roles and of HR function
Human resource management is practice of hiring, recruiting, selecting, training,
developing, rewarding organisation employees. The HR department is usually responsible for
creating, putting into effect and overseeing the policies and employee relationship in
organisation. Roles and responsibilities of HR function are explained below:
Recruitment and Selection- Selected employees are responsible for effective growth of
company. HR plays major role in recruiting staff for firm as employees are roots. Recruitment
refers to process of attracting, short listing, selecting and appointing suitable candidates for
organisation .(Sparrow and et.al., 2016). Aviva select candidates on basis of inter-personal skills
and knowledge according to desired field.
Purpose- To fill the vacant seats within organisation and to achieve target effectively and
efficiently.
Training and development- Employees working in organisation need training for their
improvement in skills. It is responsibility of HR to provide exclusive training to employee for
the effective development of organisation. Aviva need training regarding new policies made for
insurance, regarding new insurance plans, regarding marketing strategies.
Purpose- Ffor improvement in skills of employee which help in growth of organisation.
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Reward management- Employees need reward for their success of to achieveving goal
so that their interest to do work increases. It is responsibility of HR to provide rewards to
employees according to their performance. Aviva provides incentives to employees for more
than a set limit on doing insurance of public.
Purpose – Ffor increasing area of interest to do work in efficient manner so that business
objectives get achieved .(Mao and et.al., 2016).
Compensation and benefits- Employees want flexibility in their way of working. It can
be working hour/day compensation, benefits for achieving goal. It is responsibility of HR to give
compensation to employees so that they feel comfortable to do work in organisation. Aviva HR
provides working hour flexibility to employees so that they get time for their personal work.
Purpose – Tto feel comfortable in organisation and feel environment friendly organisation.
Significance that HR plays in acquiring talent to meet business objectives
HR role has moved from mainly administrative tasks to make critical decisions such as
deciding the organisation structure which suits best to organisation business .(Newman and
et.al., 2015). Aviva HR demonstrate the value of organisation structure and distribute roles to
organisation staff members that are best suited individually. By recruiting and selecting skill full
candidates through external recruitment bring new technologies to organisation. Providing
training to existing employees improve their working and bring innovative ideas for growth of
organisation.
2 Methods of recruitment and selection, workforce planning development and training reward
systems and performance management.
HRM functions are designed to maximize employee performance to achieve business
objectives. Functions allow employees to acquire new skills and knowledge to perform their job
effectively and efficiently. The purpose of Human Resource Management (HRM) is to improve
the productive contribution of employees to the organization in an ethical and socially
responsible way.
Workforce Planning means looking ahead. HR plans to form a systematic managerial
process within organisation to achieve company goals. As Aviva company to plan insurance plan
uses competency and workforce planning approach in such a manner that people attracts towards
their policies and have interest invest their money in Aviva insurance plans. This approach have
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been successful in fulfilling vacant position in the organisation which directly contributes to
higher efficiency.
Recruitment and Selection- It is an important activity because the quality of an
organization’s human resources depends upon the quality of people it recruits. For recruiting
internal and external recruitment approaches are followed. Selection is the process by which an
organization chooses from a list of screened applicants, the person or persons who best meet the
selection criteria for the position is selected for welfare of organisation. Aviva takes aptitude, IQ
test of candidates for short listing of candidates for next step of selection. Then inter personal
skills are checked in selection process. The variety of recruitment and selection processes opted
by the organisation have been adequate in hiring competent employees for the business.
Training and Development- Training represents those activities that teach employees
how to perform their present jobs by implementing new skills. By using On the job and off the
job approach, trains employees to do their work in perfect manner which helps in successful
development of organisation. Aviva HR organise training programs such as coaching, lectures,
mentoring and simulation exercises to equip employees with the latest and upmarket approaches
of interacting with customers (Valmohammadi, 2015). The mentioned approaches of training and
development have been appropriate in dealing with customers and availing suitable returns.
Performance and reward management- Performance management of a person work is
defined in such a manner that their rate of doing work increases and make them skill full which
helps in growth of organisation and to increase market share. Feedback approach is done and
different criteria are made to judge performance and to make them rewarded for their great work.
Aviva takes feedback from supervisors to judge performance of each and every employee within
organisation. The feedback strategy have been helpful in improving the performance of
employees to a decent extent and ultimately rewarding them for the same.
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3 Examine the different methods used in HR practices.
HRM system consists of practices that enhance workforce ability, motivation and
opportunity lead to higher organisational performance. Different HR practices are explained
below:-
Employment security- There is a social contract between organisation and employees.
The organisation askasks employees to work, commit to organisation and offer up their ideas.
Employees will do this when they should get in return like employment security. Employee
security can be further understood with case study of Amazon, where Amazon provides financial
security to employees that helps to reach to investment goals. Employees get discount on
products sold on amazon. Amazon focus on both customers and employees equally so that
employees manage balance between their work and personal life change .(Bratton, 2017).
Equality- Every employee should be treated equally in organisation irrespective of caste,
colour, religion. Microsoft Microsoft has been more open to embrace diversity practices. It
enhances employee relation and make them comfortable in organisation to work effectively
without any interruption of not being fair in all. Employee relation management make
organisation better from others as it increases chances of development.
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Illustration 1: HRM practices
Source: (HR practice between Warid and Airtel after merger
and acquisition 2018)

Selection- Selection of candidates for organisation is more important responsibility of HR
as they are the roots of organisation who work for organisation development. Apiriro Apiriro is a
global service company that helps customers to create next- generation workday and customer
experience by using the latest cloud technologies. Apiriro transformed interview process to make
it more effective and efficient, to ensure of hiring right candidates as well as to provide excellent
candidate experience.
Contingent Compensation- Right employees who add most value to company than is
duty of HRM that to retain them and pay them fairly according to their performance. Let's take
case study of Apple . (Nicoleta and et.al., 2016). It is a multinational technology company. Apple
provides compensation to employees like working hour flexibility so that employees make
balance between work and personal life. Employee who give new idea for growth of company is
highly rewarded and get promoted easily. Chances of getting promotion in Apple increased by
improving in performance of doing work. That's why it is one of the top brands.
4 Effectiveness of employee relations and employee engagement
Employee Engagement- Employee engagement refers to a situation where the employees
are engaged in their work and hardly get any time to gossip or spread rumours. “More the
employees are engrossed in their work; the better the relation among them”. Employee
engagement surveys have been developed specifically to measure the performance, strategic
alignment, competency and satisfaction of contributors. Aviva takes Robinson Approach to
measure performance of each and every employee to give them appraisal and reward of their
great work to achieve goals of organisaionorganisation. Strategies are made to engage employees
in their work so that they do not get time to fight with other and make rumours like voluntary
projects are announced for more compensation in their income, it makes employee engaged
because money matters .(Nankervis and et.al., 2016). Employee engagement make employees
satisfied for their work as work is assigned according to their interest and specialisation.
Employee relation- Successful business manage relationship effectively to build long
lasting employee satisfaction. HR department of Aviva takes Human relation approach to make
employee relation policies to describe company's philosophy, rules and regulations, how to
address employee-related matters and resolving problems in work place. There are four pillars of
employee relation-
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Open communication- Employees spend majority of their day on workplace so its a
responsibility of HR to provide friendly environment so that employee feels comfortable to
work. Aviva engage employees in work and let them share their thoughts anonymously to their
managers.
Show Recognition- Appreciation and gratitude mean so much to employees and inspire
them to reinforce their work efficiently. Aviva gives public appraisal to employees. It boosts up
their energy to work.
Constant Feedback- Through surveys, taking feedback from employees solve their issues
regarding workplace and make organisation better than others. Aviva takes constant feedback
from employees on every last day of every month. It builds up employee relation and make
organisation healthy and wealthy .(Aguado and et.al., 2016).
Invest in employees- Aviva is been known to care about them for both professional and
personal level. It increases productivity of work by investing in their lives like giving advance
payment for their personal work as loan with no EMI.
Flexible Working- Employees want flexibility in their workplace. It can be flexible
hour/day compensation so that employee will be comfortable to manage between professional
and personal life different. Aviva takes Atikson approach to provide flexibility to employees that
for a valid reason, they can come office late and compensate their time in upcoming days. It
makes employees comfortable and increase their area of interest to do work .(Paauwe, 2018).
In-corporation of above approaches for employee engagement, employee relation, flexible
working, employee becomes “employer of choice”.
5 Key aspects of employment legislation within which the organisation must work.
Employment law and compliance concerns with the legal framework within which
organizations must operate in their treatment of employees.
Equality act 2010 – It legally protects people from discrimination in workplace and in
wider society. It replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single act, making the law
easier to understand and strengthening protection. This law adopted by Aviva and prohibits
workplace discrimination against race, colour, religion, nationality, sex. This act gives equal
opportunities to all employees and they feel comfortable to work in organisation without unfair
means.
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Health and Safety act 1974- This act makes laws for health of employees and provides
security for their workplace. It is responsibility of HR to make healthy workplace where security
and safety factors gets controlled. Aviva HR make policy that employees can leave the area if
reasonably believe that they are in danger. Regulations covers a range of issues like use of
computers, lifting operations, radiation, working with chemicals, working environment.
Data protection act 2018- It is a national law which consists of union's general data
protection regulation (GDPR). Most processing of personal data is done through GDPR. HR
introduces this law to each and every Aviva employee such that knowingly obtaining or
disclosing data will be granted as offence and actions will be taken against them. It benefits to
privacy of organisation and chances of stealing data gets reduced.
Employment act 2008- This act introduced a mandatory dismissal procedure which is to
be followed in every case otherwise it will be taken as unfair and actions will be taken. HR of
Aviva initially clears all terms regarding employment act to employees so that there will be
equality and diversity in workplace. It will be benefit to take written statement as to keep in
record of organisation and called as “contract” signed by employee.
6 An evaluation of how employee relations and employment legislation inform decision making
and meets business objectives.
Business objectives are the results that hope to achieve as to run and grow business
effectively. Point about objectives is that they are measurable, specific and tactical.
Getting and Staying Profitable- Maintaining profitability means making sure that
revenue stays ahead of the costs of doing business. Aviva by having good employee relation
within organisation and by legally following data protection act 2018, stays profitable all over
the year. It also enhances organisation growth and increases market share.
Productivity of people and resources- Employee training, equipment maintenance helps
in efficient development of organisation. Aviva employee take part in training and implement in
their work by working effectively in a team and get profit more than previous. Aviva gives them
reward for their work. It is all due to good employee relation within organisation. Health and
Safety act 1974 makes organisation environment friendly which increases productivity
worldwide.
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Excellent Customer Service- Good customer service helps to retain clients and generate
more revenue. Employee relation with customers make organisation better and get promoted
through publicity as good service attracts customers. Aviva has separate department to solve
customer issues and make them satisfied for their insurance plans. By legally following equality
act 2010, makes customer service excellent as it reduces status difference.
Sustainable Growth- Growth is planned based on historical data and future projections.
Aviva legally follows all employment legislation laws given by UK government which helps in
sustainable growth of organisation. Good employee relation through communication and sharing
information between them helps in development of organisaionorganisation worldwide.
Employment act 2008 provides flexibility within organisation to employees as it includes all
policies which are totoo followed by employees as a signed contract .(Jamali and et.al., 2015).
TASK 2
1 Aapplication of HRM practices in a work-related context
Job description
Aviva has requirement of Human resource assistant who recruits and select candidates
according to desired job specification. Candidate should have good communication skills to
interact with candidates in efficient manner and make them satisfied .(Zaharie, 2013).
Job Title Human resource assistant
Reports to HR Manager of Aviva
Department/selection Human resources
Key tasks  Recruiting
 selecting
 Pperformance appraisal
Responsible of equipment/
materials
 Use of computer and telephone
 Stationary stock
 Conducting interviews
 Taking feedback and suggestion from employees
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Interview question
 How you ensure all employee information remains confidential?
 Tell about your experience that you faced such that you are not being aware of that.
 How you handle employees who are complaining about their pay check. Which software applications are you proficient with?
Person Specification
Eligibility criteria for candidates who can enrol for human resource assistant.
Title of the job Human resource assistant
Date: 04/03/2019
Qualification required Essential Desirable Met
Any graduation, MBA with full
time regular course of 2 years in
human resource management with
6 months internship in any
organization.
Yes
MBA in HR or
relevant field of 2
years
Need of Experience
10 years of experience in HR unit. Yes
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Personal characteristics &
conduct
 Good qualitative
communication skills.
 Leadership quality is
essential.
 Decision making capability
is required.
Yes
Yes
Roles and Responsibilities
 Recruit candidates through
telephonic interview or
face to face interview and
hire employees who helps
to achieve company
objectives.
 Make strategies to adopt
HRM practices.
 Prepare or update
employment records.
 Maintain work culture in
organization.
 Make and explain
employment legislation
policies for good employee
relationship and ake
commit a contract.
 Resolve conflicts within
organisation.
Yes
Yes
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Job Offer letter
Aviva Life insurance
London, UK
04-03-2019
Illen roy
New york, UK
Dear Illen,
Aviva is happy to inform you that you are selected for human resource assistant. We cannot wait
to see your skills to put to work for our company.
By accepting this offer you are eligible to receive the following beginning on your first day of
work:
Salary: $32,000 + or $14.00 an hour for 50 hours a week.
Bonuses: $2.00 an hour on time bonus ($15 an hour). Vacation and Sick pay will be given by
employer. However, Bonus and incentives will depend on the performance and our dedication
towards work with our firm.
Benefits: We offer Medical leaves and 35 leaves per year on basis of 25 pl, 8 cl, 2sl.
Rejection or acceptance letter will be sent within 5 days in accordance with date given at top. If
you accept offer then your joining date will be will be 08/03/2019.
In case any query you can contact us at or main office number.
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We will be pleased to welcome you in our organisation.
Sincerely,
Dave Thimble
HR
Aviva life insurance
2 Evaluate the use of technology, online resources, digital platforms and social networking on
improving the recruitment and selection process.
Recruitment and selection is one of the main functions of human resource management as
it chooses employees for growth of organisation. Choosing right people is main task of HR.
Use of technology- Nowadays technology is getting advanced highly. All people are
surrounded by technology. Selecting candidates from technology background helps in growth of
organisation in field of automation, networking, cloud storing, software, simulation and
designing. Aviva with technology make insurance plan online and more effective and make
understand easily to consumers and also customer service can be provided online .(Stone and
et.al., 2015).
Use of online resources - Online resources make candidates aware of the job
notification. It helps candidate to reach to desire organisation. Aviva takes helps of online
agencies like indeed so that general candidates also get chance to do job in high organisation and
sometimes with the help of these resources, the highest skilled candidates get selected in
organisation. It is platform for candidates to apply in organisation.
Use of digital platforms- Digital platforms are made nowadays as digitalisation plays
important role in country. Like AMCAT, ELITMUS are such platforms where skills of
candidates are checked by taking aptitude test by these platforms so that organisation can easily
hire those candidates who cleared aptitude test. It makes ease for organisation to shortlist the
candidates.
Use of Social networking- Nowadays people spend their time more on social sites. So, it
is helpful for organisation to aware people for recruitment and selection on social sites like
Facebook, Instagram, etc. Aviva takes a step that candidates can apply on social site
advertisement and can give test by using digital platform like AMCAT. It is helpful for distant
candidates who cannot come to organisation for aptitude test. But for selection process they have
to come to organisation to check inter personal skills.
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These all technology, online resources, digital platform, social networking sites improves
recruitment and selection process as more and more candidates will aware of job notification as
according to their specialisation, they can apply for job. It brings new skilled candidates to
organisation which help to achieve business objectives and helps in effective growth of
organisation.
CONCLUSION
This report summarises about the roles and responsibilities of the HR function which stands
crucial for the organisation., aspects of employment legislation within the organisation like
equality act, employment act, health and safety act stands vital in decision making of the
organisation. The use of technology, online resources, digital platforms and social networking
assists in hiring competent employees in the organisation. It can be concluded that HRM was
designed to maximize employee performance, recruiting and selecting process, training and
development strategies. HR made strategies to manage employees in organisation which are
explained in above file.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aguado, D. and et.al., 2016. Applicant reactions to social network web use in personnel selection
and assessment. Revista de Psicología del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones. 32(3).
pp.183-190.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Jamali, D.R. and et.al., 2015. Exploring human resource management roles in corporate social
responsibility: the CSR‐HRM co‐creation model. Business Ethics: A European
Review. 24(2). pp.125-143.'
Mao, H. and et.al., 2016, November. Resource management with deep reinforcement learning.
In Proceedings of the 15th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks (pp. 50-56).
ACM.
Nankervis, A.R. and et.al., 2016. Human resource management: strategy and practice. Cengage
AU.
Newman, A. and et.al., 2015. Special issue of International Journal of Human Resource
Management: Recruiting, managing and rewarding workers in social enterprises.
Nicoleta, I.S.A.C. and et.al., 2016. Motivation and job satisfaction of human resources within an
organization. Scientific Bulletin: Economic Sciences. 15(1). pp.33-40.
Paauwe, J. and Boon, C., 2018. Strategic HRM: A critical review. In Human Resource
Management (pp. 49-73). Routledge.
Sparrow, P. and et.al., 2016. Human Resource Management, Innovation and Performance.
Springer.
Stone, D.L. and et.al., 2015. The influence of technology on the future of human resource
management. Human Resource Management Review. 25(2). pp.216-231.
Valmohammadi, C. and Ahmadi, M., 2015. The impact of knowledge management practices on
organizational performance: A balanced scorecard approach. Journal of Enterprise
Information Management. 28(1).pp.131-159.
Zaharie, M. and Osoian, C., 2013. Job recruitment and selection practices in small and medium
organisations. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai. 58(2). p.86.
Online
HR practice between Warid and Airtel after merger and acquisition 2018. [Online]. Available
through. <http://www.assignmentpoint.com/business/human-resource-management/hr-
practice-between-warid-and-airtel-after-merger-and-acquisition.html>.
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