Human Resource Management Theories and Practices

The assignment delves into the core concepts of human resource management (HRM), examining both theoretical frameworks and practical applications. It discusses key areas such as strategic HRM, talent acquisition, performance management, employee development, compensation and benefits, and the evolving role of HRM in a globalized business environment. The assignment emphasizes the importance of effective HRM practices for organizational success and highlights the challenges and opportunities facing HR professionals in today's dynamic workplace.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce..................................................1
M1 ...................................................................................................................................................2
D1.....................................................................................................................................................2
P2 Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection .............3
M2....................................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3 Benefits of HRM practices for both the employer and employee. ..................................4
M3....................................................................................................................................................5
D2.....................................................................................................................................................5
P4 Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM....................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Importance of employee relations.....................................................................................7
P6 Key elements of employment legislation..........................................................................7
M4 ...................................................................................................................................................8
D3.....................................................................................................................................................9
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P7 HRM practices in an enterprise. .......................................................................................9
M5 .................................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Human resource is an important part of any organisation. Without them, a company
cannot achieve its goals and objectives. To manage the human resources of the company, it is
necessary to develop a Human Resource Management (HRM) department. HRM is a process
which perform certain functions like coordinating, organising, managing, providing benefits and
allowances, performance appraisal etc. Employees are backbone of a company who uses their
skills and talent to achieve objectives for the enterprise. Aldi is a leading retail supermarket
which provides affordable and economic products to their customers (Hendry, Bratton and Gold,
2017). It was founded in 1913 with its headquarters situated in Essen and Mulheim, Germany. It
has thousands of stores in more than 20 countries. To manage such a large working force, it is
crucial to have a strong human resource department. This assignment will mainly focus on
purposes and functions of HRM with the strength and weakness of recruitment and selection
approaches. HRM practices with its effectiveness are also mentioned under this assignment.
Various legislation which impact decision making process and application of HRM practices has
been described in detail.
TASK 1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce.
As mentioned above, HRM is a process which helps the company to manage their
activities in a proficient manner. HRM in involved in strategies’ formulations which enhances
company growth and productivity. They also ensure that employees who are working under their
company are satisfied towards their job(Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017). Managers of Aldi focus
on every detail which is happening within firm so that they can have better knowledge about
production and other activities and can enhance those activities with better plans to produce
improved results. Thousands of employees are working under Aldi, so it is necessary for HR
department to maintain good and healthy relationship with them for efficient operation. Aldi
consider their employees as valuable asset so they try to satisfy them with benefits and
compensation. They try to make good and effective strategies which can benefit both employees
as well as company. They apply some HRM functions in their strategies to make good actions.
Some of them are listed below:
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Recruitment and selection: These two functions are very critical processes as it decides
the future scope of an organisation (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Recruitment is defined as a
process of attracting and short-listing individuals whereas selection is considered as interviewing
and evaluating individuals and hiring the best suitable candidate for a particular job position. In
Aldi, managers first identify the available jobs in company and list down all specification
required for that job and hire according to that. Recruitment is considered as a positive process as
it is only considered with attracting pool of applicants whereas selection is a negative process as
it hires only desired people and eliminates others.
Orientation: It is an event which should be organised by every organisation to welcome
new joiners and brief them about company policies, rules and regulations, working environment,
etc. Aldi organises such events so that they can tell about their company as well, their duties and
responsibilities towards their job (Briscoe, Tarique and Schuler, 2012). These events are helpful
for employees as they come to know about their duties and about company. Some companies are
neglecting this program as they think this is not significant. But this plays an important role to
have good relations with employees and make them comfortable with environment and culture of
company.
Managing employee relations: It is necessary for managers to build and maintain
harmonious relationship with their team mates. For this, they can organise different activities
through which they can know about behaviour of employees and make good relations with them.
With better communication and relations, they can enhance their efficiency and work together as
a team to achieve desired goals for company.
M1
By implementing appropriate HRM functions at the time of strategies’ formulation,
manager can ensure better achievement of goals and objectives (Daley, 2012). They have to plan
in a manner so that organisation as well as employee gets maximum benefits. This can be
pursued only when managers and employees work together to make their company successful.
D1
According to (Huselid and Becker, 2011), in case of internal recruitment, managers
cannot get the best talent for a job position but with the help of external recruitment, manager
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can surely get the most suitable candidate for that job position which will increase profitability of
company.
P2 Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
Recruitment and selection are two major processes which are carried out by every
organisation. This is done to fill up available positions in organisation. This is the most important
responsibility of a human resource department to recruit and hire best quality of people for a
particular job. It is really a tough task to hire the best candidates from group of applicants.
Manager first identifies available job positions in organisation, then they list down necessary
skill and talent to perform that particular job (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang, 2011). After that, they
attract candidates who are specialised in that job and with the best recruitment and selection
method, they hire suitable candidates. They can hire the best talents from two sources and they
are as follows:
Internal source: When company lacks appropriate finance to carry out selection
procedures, then they shift the best employees within the firm which is the most suitable for that
job. Manager can give promotion or may shift to similar or different jobs. It mainly includes –
transfer, promotion and present employees. Transfer is considered as shifting of people from one
place to similar or different jobs. Promotion is defined as shifting employees to higher rank with
increment in salary and reputation. Present employees of a concern are informed about likely
vacant position.
Advantages of internal source:
 It boosts up the morale and enthusiasm in employees.
 Increases loyalty among employees.
Disadvantages of internal source:
 It limits the scope of new employees.
 Discourages deserving people to join company.
External source: This source hires talent from outside the company and it includes- campus
interview, placement agencies, employment exchange, press advertisement, etc. Recruitment of
desired candidates can be done through above sources.
Advantages of external source are:
 Inflow of high talent and skills.
 Suitable candidates are employed for a job post.
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Disadvantages of external sources:
 Sometime, it becomes expensive for company to carry out external recruitment.
 Talented employees end to switch companies.
Strength of approaches to recruitment and selection:
 It is the best way to hire different and unique talents.
 They maximise productivity and profitability of company.
 Inflow of new and innovative ideas.
 Reduces labour turnover.
Weakness of approaches to recruitment and selection:
 Managers may sometime recruit wrong candidates.
 Wrong selection may lead to decrease in productivity of company.
M2
Strength of recruitment and selection is that they provide company with highly talented
and qualified people which help organisation to achieve their set target and can satisfy their
customer needs. But weakness of these processes can be, if a manager hires wrong candidate,
then this will impact a negative effect on company’s success.
TASK 2
P3 Benefits of HRM practices for both the employer and employee.
HRM is crucial for every organisation as it is considered to be the backbone of any firm
(Marler and Fisher, 2013). They help organisation to achieve their goals and objectives with
available resources and in an efficient manner. With the help of HRM practices, company can
accomplish desired success and can also achieve competitive advantage. Some HRM practices
are given below:
HRM practices for employer are:
Performance appraisal system: HR department should develop a performance appraisal
system where the best performer can be awarded with suitable benefits. This initiates will power
in employee to do better for their company. Manager should appreciate work done by employees,
which motivates them to perform the best in their activities. This system will ensure healthy
environment within organisation and company will achieve their desired goals.
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Hiring of candidates: As described above, recruitment and selection processes are very
crucial for company to hire the best quality of candidates for their company. It is one of the
major responsibilities of HR manager to hire right people for right job (Cascio, 2018). Wrong
selection impact negative impact on company progress and reduces growth rate. So, it is very
necessary for managers to develop good and fair selection criteria to hire people.
HRM practices for employee are:
Training and development: Training is mainly given to new joiner and to those
employee who are unable to perform their work in right manner. This helps to enhance and
improve their skills which are required by employees to perform their activities. It boosts up
confidence level and increases the efficiency of an employee. This leads to more productivity
and profits inflowing to company.
Compensation and benefits: Manager should try to appreciate the work done by their
team mates. They are responsible for satisfying their employees, it is necessary for them to give
appropriate benefits and compensation to employees. This enhances satisfaction and motivation
level in employees and they tend to work more with greater efficiency. It increases revenue of
company as people work with more accuracy and proficiency. These help to retain employees
within firm. So, managers should develop better system for this.
M3
HRM practices provide appropriate direction to managers so that they can make their
strategies which will be beneficial for both company as well as for employees. If manager can
appreciate employees by giving those benefits and compensation on their best performance, then
employee will try their best to give extraordinary results to their company.
D2
According to (Albrech, 2011), if any employee is facing any problem in performing
certain task, then it is responsibility of a manager to identify their problem and design effective
training methods through which the employee can encounter that problem. This will increase
efficiency of employee and he will be able to work in a smooth manner.
P4 Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM.
Human resource practices are considered as an essential part of any organisation. They
are implements to ensure ultimate success of the company. Aldi uses various HRM practices
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which have produced outstanding results and success for company. It is necessary for HR
department to formulate strategies in a manner where firm can achieve all its target with greater
efficiency. Aldi is famous for proving best services to their customers, so they need to identify
key areas of market and them make their suitable plans according to that. It is the responsibility
of a HR manager to enhance skills and knowledge of employees, to do that they can design the
best training module which will result in increase in their efficiency of work and will produce
better results. Some of HRM practices are mentioned below:
Measuring performance: This is a process of evaluating performance of employees.
Managers and superior focuses on every employee and track their performance record. Aldi
apply this practice, so that they ensure more effectiveness in operation done by employees which
can lead to company’s success. They also provide suitable benefits and rewards to best performer
which inspires employees to perform better.
Flexibility in working hours: This strategy made by manager ensures more commitment
and satisfaction from employee side. Flexible timing ensures better working by employees and
results in more output from them.
Payment and reward system: This system is mainly concerned with formulating and
implementing strategies to make sure that employees should be recognized for their work they
perform. It motivates employees to work hard next time to achieve these benefits and rewards.
This inspires the will spirit to do their work in effective manner so that company can achieve
their goals and objectives in efficient manner.
Training and development: Managers identifies those employees who are lacking behind
from other colleges due to their inability to perform their tasks in right way. It helps those to
encounter that problem and enable them work in desired manner. Training increases confidence
level in employees and motivates them to enhance their working by applying great techniques
and skills to their work. Sometimes, training is given to existing employees. They are given
training about new advancement in market trends and in technology which increases their work
after getting appropriate training.
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TASK 3
P5 Importance of employee relations.
Employees are considered as a valuable asset of every company. Managers should always
try to make good and harmonious relations with them. Primarily, they need to organize activities
where superiors and employees come together and know about each other. With the help of
activities they can make relations with them (Renwick, Redman and Maguire, 2013).
Harmonious relations between superiors and employees increase profits and efficiency of
company. Aldi manager understands how important their employees are and plan activities to
know about their team members and make good relations. This benefits organisation in every
aspect of business. They both can come together and work as a team towards achievement of
business goals and objectives. Importance of employee relations are:
Timely achievement of goals: Good relation always leads company to achieve their set
goals and business objectives. As managers and employees come together and they work more
efficiently on given tasks. When whole team works in right manner, they tend to finish up their
work within specified time limit.
Leads to increase in productivity: When managers take a step towards making cordial
relations with employees, they tend to maintain those relations this is beneficial for company.
Aldi try to maintain those relations as they can win any battle if all work together. This leads
company to achieve their targets and increase productivity.
Profit maximization: Employee relations are important for company to increase their
profits and establish a good reputation in market. When every employee and superiors come
together to make every impossible tasks possible, there then can achieve success and increase
their profits.
Employee feel associated with organisation: When managers and superiors try to make
relations with employees working in organisation, they feel that they are a part of the firm. This
increase employee and job satisfaction level. Satisfied employees tend to perform best in their
task so that their company can achieve goals and desired success in market.
P6 Key elements of employment legislation
Employment legislations are one of the major necessity for an organisation to run their
business according to polices and rules decided by government of country. They have to follow
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every policies enacted by government. There are some laws which every company should follow
to prevent any conflict or disputes. Following are some laws which are followed by Aldi:
Anti-discrimination act- This act is followed by Aldi and ensures that no employees is
discriminated against race, colour, religion, salary, wages, holidays, etc. Manager should ensure
that this law is not violated by any member working in organisation. Every employee should be
given fair and equal opportunities to come up and showcase their talent and skills.
Health and safety act- This act ensures that employees should get health and safety
benefits in case of any emergency. Managers can make effective system to provide required
compensation to the person. Employees feel relieved as they have a supporting system in their
tough time.
Minimum wages act- This act ensures that every employees should get wages not less
than decided minimum rate. There shall be no discrimination while providing appropriate wages
to workers. Managers should increase their pay within a time period of 6 months or 1 year
according to current rate of wages.
These were some laws which are followed by Aldi to maintain peace and harmony within
organisation. The laws also provide ultimate satisfaction to employees and feel secured about
their rights.
M4
Employee relations are necessary for any organisation to achieve maximum profits and
market share. It ensures healthy work environment which impact positive effect on company’s
growth. Whereas, employment legislation provide a proper direction to organize different
business activities. It prevents a conflict which can arise due to violation of any rules and
regulation.
D3
According to (Nickson, 2013), managers need to make their strategies which can provide
benefit to both employees as well as organisation. By applying different HRM practices then can
generate innovative decisions which lead to achievement of goals with ultimate success to
company.
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TASK 4
P7 HRM practices in an enterprise.
A manager responsible for making good strategies which can help organisation to achieve
success and gain competitive advantage. They have to deal with many activities starting from
recruitment and selection to execution of final strategies. They have to identify which candidate
requires training and provide them with necessary training for their all-round development.
Below is an example of one of the activity performed by HR manager. The illustration indicates
the whole process of recruitment and selection.
Management training at Aldi
Workshop title/ Training practices Date- Time-
Location Instructor
Candidates
Activity Time of activity Process Equipment required
Induction of candidates
Training objectives
a)
b)
Warming up
Contents and necessary
points
Job advertisement
Sales person require
Qualification /Eligibility
MBA in Marketing from any recognised institution
To apply:
you are required to upload your application with CV and latest photograph on our websites
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latest by 31 January 2018.
Email-id: www.Aldi.com
Contact no.: XXXX00000
Job specification
Qualification Master's Degree in Marketing.
Bachelor's Degree in business or related field.
Experience Should have 2 year experience in sales.
Area of expertise Should be proficient with communication
skills and leadership skills.
Other qualities Good verbal and writing skills.
Strong marketing skills.
Good interpersonal skills.
Interview Questions
 Have you ever participated in any co- curricular activities?
 What strategies will you adopt while working in the organisation?
 Where do you want to see yourself in next 5 years?
 What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?
Personal specification
Particulars Required criteria Learning and outcomes
Qualification and training Communicate with new
employees
Able to perform whole
induction process.
Experience Providing the best services to
customer
Pressure handling ability
Must have performed certain
induction process in training
sessions in college days
Skills and knowledge Attentive and good Developing and generating
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communication skills innovative ideas
Personal characteristics Proactive, leader, confident,
positive attitude
Team Builder
Developing certain skills
and traits to work in
organisational culture.
CV
Information of candidate
Name:
Father's name:
Mobile no.:
Email id:
Key skills:
 Creativity
 Well versed with concept Human Resources Management
 Have advanced knowledge of computer
 Working in team
 Having ability to learn and grasp
Experience:
 Goldman: Assistant to Retail Manager
M5
HRM practices are essential for growth and development of employees as well as for
organisation. They ensure better functioning of activities which are ongoing in the company. It is
crucial for managers to make good strategies by considering different HRM practices.
CONCLUSION
HRM is crucial for organisation growth. Managers have various responsibilities which
should be executed properly to make maximum profits. With implementing good HRM functions
and practices while formulating strategies for organisation, it will lead to achievement of
business goals and objectives (Budhwar and Debrah, 2013). To increase the efficiency of
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operations, managers need to develop good relations with their employees to fasten up the
process so that company can achieve their targets before time limit. Only effective team can
achieve success, so managers need to recruit personnel who have high talents and skills and with
the help of their innovative and creative ideas, their company can proceed ahead in market.
Behind every successful business, there is a constant support of their managers, leaders and
employees who work hard to make success happen.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Hendry, C., 2012. Human resource management. Routledge.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and practice in European human resource
management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield survey. Taylor & Francis.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Briscoe, D., Tarique, I. and Schuler, R., 2012. International human resource management:
Policies and practices for multinational enterprises. Routledge.
Daley, D.M., 2012. Strategic human resources management. Public Personnel Management,
pp.120-125.
Huselid, M.A. and Becker, B.E., 2011. Bridging micro and macro domains: Workforce
differentiation and strategic human resource management.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human
resource management. The Academy of Management Annals. 8(1). pp.1-56.
Guest, D.E., 2011. Human resource management and performance: still searching for some
answers. Human resource management journal. 21(1). pp. 3-13.
Marler, J.H. and Fisher, S.L., 2013. An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human
resource management. Human Resource Management Review. 23(1). pp. 18-36.
Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Albrech, S.L., 2011. Handbook of employee engagement: Perspectives, issues, research and
practice. Human Resource Management International Digest. 19(7).
Renwick, D.W., Redman, T. and Maguire, S., 2013. Green human resource management: A
review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Review. 15(1). pp. 1-
14.
Nickson, D., 2013. Human resource management for hospitality, tourism and events. Routledge.
Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. Eds., 2013. Human resource management in developing
countries. Routledge.
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