Human Resource Management at Harrods: A Case Study

Explore the purpose and functions of HRM at Harrods, strengths and weaknesses in recruitment, benefits of HRM practices, impact on profit and productivity, employee relations importance, employment legislations, and job specification design. Dive into a simulated interview process.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1........................................................................................................................................................1
P1 explain the purpose and function of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and resourcing an
organization.............................................................................................................................................1
P2 explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection.............3
TASK 2........................................................................................................................................................4
P3 explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organization for both employer and
employee..................................................................................................................................................4
P4. Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM practice in terms of raising Harrods profit and
productivity..............................................................................................................................................6
TASK 3........................................................................................................................................................6
P5. Analyze the importance of employee relations in Harrods with respect to influencing HRM
decision-making.......................................................................................................................................6
P6. Identify the key elements of employment legislations and the impact it has upon RM decision
making.....................................................................................................................................................7
P7. Design a job specification and participation in role play to simulate an interview...........................9
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is essential in business to plan and monitor the resources for high
performance so that organization can achieve strategic goals. The presented report will discuss the case
study of Harrods which is a popular premium departmental store in the United Kingdom to provide
fashion products. The report will discuss purpose and function of human resource management along
with strengths and weaknesses in recruitment and selection process. The report will also discuss the
benefits of various human resource practices for employees and employers. The effectiveness of
methods to train and develop employees will be evaluated. Later significance and usability of employee
relations and employment legislation will be discussed in the context of Harrods along with a portfolio
document for the interview process.
TASK 1
P1 explain the purpose and function of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and resourcing an
organization
Definition
Human resource management can be defined as a function of the organization to recruit, select, train and
manage the employees to achieve goals and objectives efficiently. Therefore, human resource
management means to the team required in the organization to improve performance and engagement of
employees in work and accomplish the strategic objectives (Bratton and Gold, 2012).
Purpose
Human resource has primary role and function to map the organization requirements to the operations
through the capable employees. Human resource has the goal to plan the employee recruitment and
selection process which is based on the internal analysis of the requirement of resources to achieve the
strategic objectives (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Besides to select quality staff in the organization, the
main purpose of the organization is to distribute the work and define their role and responsibilities at the
workplace. The human resource also has a purpose to train and retain the employees according to
organizational requirements for performance and productivity.
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Functions
Human resource management in Harrods has following main functions to support the strategic goals and
objectives of the organization and ensure smooth executions of operations:
Recruitment and selection
Human resource has main function in the organization is to recruit and select the quality staff in
organization at various operational level. They also need to determine the organizational requirements in
term of resources to achieve the goals and objectives effectively and then advertise and market the
vacancies for recruitments. There is a systematic approach used to understand the skills and capabilities
of the employee to meet the organizational requirements and then new resources are selected and
engaged in business (Hendry, 2012). Proper staffing plan and recruitment process are sub-functions
accomplished by human resource management.
Orientation
Human resource has to provide training and development program to enhance the familiarity of the
employees in business and promote their performance and productivity. Human resource has to consider
the individual needs and their orientations for organizational strategies to achieve the benefits. It means
to deploy the candidates into business functions as effective employees (Bratton and Gold, 2012).
Managing good working conditions
Human resource has a function to manage good working conditions through motivation to employees,
the establishment of conflict-free environment and management of benefits and services to them.
Individuals’ growth and benefits can be balanced in the workplace to enhance satisfaction and achieve
the integration of higher quality in work. Rules and regulation definition and employee benefits
management are major operations for good working conditions (Sparrow et al, 2016).
Employee relation management
Employees are main pillars of business and their impacts and behavior influence business so that
management has a function to enhance the healthy employee relationship. It is required to manage the
professional standards and motivated workplace culture for performance.
Training and development
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Monitor development needs of individual and measure the effectiveness of training practices on
employees are also functions of management (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Human resource has to
plan and execute the training and development to improve performance and productivity.
P2 explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
Effective recruitment and selection have required an organization to achieve the strategic goals.
Employees are most significant sources to lead with benefits and achieve the objectives along with
services to customers. The organization can use following approaches:
Internal sources
It means to select and recruitment the employee from within the business so that individual .can posses
two or more roles in business to achieve the strategic goals and objectives. Harrods can prefer to train
and develop the internal resources to meet the recruitment and selection requirements at another level.
Strength: organization can reduce the cost and time to search new employees from the market. An
individual can be promoted to a more flexible business position through training and capabilities. The
organization has lower cost as there is no need to advertise jobs, recruit candidates, select them and train
from begging as an existing employee has knowledge about organizational functions and deliver more
performance in less time and cost (Taylor, 2014).
Weaknesses: However, Harrods might be unable to get effective resources as required for new vacancies
in business. Also, it is complex to find right talent and skills from internal sources. It is also possible that
organization has no scope to promote flexible role execution in business from the same set of
employees.
External sources
It means to find new resources from the market through advertising of job and proper execution of
recruitment and selection process. It is preferable to explore new skills and capabilities from the market.
Strengths: Organization can get new, talented and skilled employees to meet expansion and operations
related requirements. The organization has a vast number of candidates to meet the expectations.
Weaknesses: it has need of cost and time to manage the standard process for the recruitment and
selection process (McGraw, 2013). Also, external sources demand high knowledge and capabilities to
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reach the qualified candidates. There is high risk to retain and sustain such candidate in the business
including the cost of training and development.
Outsources
Harrods also collaborate with other organizations for consultation and recruitment services to reduce the
additional cost and burden from human resource management. Outsourcing of function is used to focus
on primary business objectives.
Strength: Organization can get desired resources from outsourcing organization and there are limited
cost and time required to appoint them in business as they are trained and qualified for business. Also,
the organization can no need of a market search for candidates which saves time and cost so that
business can focus on primary business operations (O'Meara and Petzall, 2013).
Weaknesses: However, the organization has to pay for the services from outsourcing. With a limited
number of employees in selection can lead higher cost for business in comparison of advertisement and
internal operations.
TASK 2
P3 explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organization for both employer and
employee
Human resource practices are designed mainly to support the organizational objectives within
constraints and employee retention with visualization of profit sharing among them. Following are some
of the major HRM practices in Harrods those are beneficial for employees and employer:
Training and development
Training means to enhance the employee’s skills and capabilities within a short time so that they can
contribute effectively to the job on which they are assigned in Harrods. At another side, development
means to promote the professional growth and development of employees for knowledge, skills, and
capabilities over time so that employees can meet their personal and professional growth with
integration in various business functions and scopes (Grohmann and Kauffeld, 2013).
Benefits to employees
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An employee can improve their skills and capabilities to deliver their effective performance. Employees
have scope to master the skills and develop their skills according to organizational requirement. It also
helps them to reduce their cost and time to prepare for business requirements. It enables employees to
become dynamic and flexible according to business roles and functions.
Benefits of employer
Harrods has benefited from training and development to increase the internal competition and
satisfaction among the employees to deliver better performance and quality. The organization has
benefits to reduce the time to learn and grow and prepare the employees for most desirable functions
(Jehanzeb and Bashir, 2013). It helps the organization to retain employees, achieve flexibility in job
rotating and motivate them in business operations.
Performance management
Cost and time to accomplish the operations can be reduced and overall customer satisfaction can be
improved with the help of performance management. It is essential to direct and align the functions of
the demands and expectations.
Benefits to employees
Employees have scope to increase their performance through the evaluation and communication. They
can improve their performance on the feedback of management to sustain and grow. Employees can
improve performance and quality through self-analysis and improvements through systematic planning
(Rolstadås, 2012).
Benefits of employer
The organization has benefit to reduce the cost and motivate the employees. Performance management
helps the organization achieve the sustainable performance and accuracy from the employees to generate
desired outcomes.
Making policies and procedures
Major benefits to employees from policies and procedure is that they can protect and preserve their
rights in business. For example, they have rights to protect their personal data for further sharing and
utilization in business. In this manner, employees can achieve their benefits and rewards in a transparent
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manner (Aswathappa, 2013). The organization has scope to reduce the internal conflicts and issues and
improve the performance and productivity on the basis of standard policies and practices.
P4. Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM practice in terms of raising Harrods profit and
productivity
The organization has to manage the resources for higher profit and productivity. Management of the
organization has a main focus on the motivation, training and development and performance
management to achieve the sharing of benefits among employer and employees.
Through training and development, management has improved the familiarity of new candidates with
business operations. Harrods has achieved high motivation among employees which is further impacting
the business positively to retain the employees and develop their skills and capabilities. Training and
development have helped the organization to stand in a competitive environment for effective sales and
other operations in business (Daley, 2012). However, training and development programs can be made
on the more specific information on the improvements in employees so that overall cost and time can be
made effectively.
In performance management, human resource management has achieved higher profit due to more
effective services and sales to customers. Individuals’ performance is monitored and measured on the
basis of requirements and promoted to a higher level through motivation to achieve benefits.
Management has motivated employees, establish a relationship with them and retain them in business
through performance management. Overall performance improvement has focused to increase utilization
of the capabilities and resources which promoted profitability and productivity (Camps and Luna‐
Arocas, 2012). However, performance management has to increase the use of work recognition and
workplace benefits to automate the employee’s motivation and satisfaction.
At other side, management practices for standard approaches and policies in business have helped to
resolve the common conflicts among employees for role and responsibilities so that overall liability for
work result is improved to deliver high profitability and productivity. It also helped management to
achieve standardization of business functions to save cost and time.
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TASK 3
P5. Analyze the importance of employee relations in Harrods with respect to influencing HRM decision-
making
Human resource management in Harrods has to manage the resources according to organizational
strategic objectives. Harrods has core business values on employee relations and satisfactions as they are
main sources to accomplish the business strategies and deliver the profitability from the customer side.
Therefore, the organization has to manage employee relations to ensure that all the employees are
motivated in their role and benefits from the organization. It also means to ensure that employee relation
is effective to retain the employees in business for long-term and provide reliable services to customers
along them. Human resource management in the organization has to meet the individual’s need for
development and work recognition, intramural and extramural benefits and sustainable support and
motivation in work (Dasgupta et al, 2012). Therefore, management has to consider these factors of
employee relations to achieve the desired level of performance and productivity.
Human resource management has to make decisions for employees to achieve proper execution of
requirements and ensure performance oriented workplace culture. Decision-making process of the
organization has to consider the employee relation and its significance. Management at Harrods has
integration of employee training and development in strategic decisions to achieve satisfactory business
process. For example, the organization has consideration of individual’s contribution and performance to
deliver effective rewards and services to promote them for higher or consistent performance (George,
2015). It helps the organization to retain and motivate the employees in decisions. Decisions for rewards
and improvements have to consider the employees’ expectations and performance.
Management has to consider the benefits of the employees in the workplace as effective because
employees are a crucial point of business operation execution and strategic planning. Significance of
employee relations is to achieve motivation and performance in employees with proper management of
relationship so that organization can retain skilled and capable employees in the workplace and generate
brand value among them (Townsend and Dundon, 2015). Consideration of an effective salary,
workplace benefits, insurance and other vocational tours can help the organization to achieve employee
relations for long-term support.
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P6. Identify the key elements of employment legislations and the impact it has on RM decision making
Employment legislations in Harrods are applied to ensure that employees are receiving their benefits and
rights in an effective manner and satisfied with business operations and services to them. Human
resource management in the organization has the implication of various employment legislations to
ensure employee relationship management to sustain high profitability and performance. The
organization has following major legislations to include in the decision-making process:
Discrimination act: organization implies discrimination act at the workplace to ensure that all
employees are achieving their benefits regardless of differences in age, sex, nationality, and origin and
body structure. It protects the employees from harassment and other abusing at the workplace. Harrods
has proper monitoring of the employee behavior and actions in the workplace to eliminate such
conditions (Carle, 2012). Also, there is transparent communication for services and benefits so that
individual can support own rights and benefits to retain rewards and positioning.
Data protection act: Organization also implies data protection act in which employees are free to choose
their preferences to share data with an organization which means their data is not shared and
compromised without their permission and knowledge. It helps them to achieve confidentiality and
privacy at the workplace.
Welfare, safety, and health: Harrods has consideration of employee welfare, safety and health in
business decisions. Therefore, the organization provides welfare to employees in term of internal
services for fresh air and water along with other benefits. The organization also provides additional
intensives and support for life style (Bratton and Gold, 2012). Employees’ safety and health are also
under the consideration of legislations so that human resource in Harrods considers it in decisions as
results effective set of leaves and flexibilities, safety measures at workplace and health insurance are
common for employees in Harrods.
Wages and remuneration: Legislations also support effective wage and remuneration for employees at
the workplace so that organization has to standardize the process of salary and other benefits to
employees to comply the rules and regulations. Minimum wage and remunerations should be provided
to employees. Human resource has to consider the wage and remunerations in strategic planning for
business expansion and competitive growth.
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Trade unions and other industrial relationships: Organization also has the influence of trade unions
and other industrial relationship on decision making so that employee benefits and services should be
integrated effectively in business to sustain with high satisfaction and performance (Purce, 2014).
Legislations for trade union and industrial relationship can help to balance workplace conditions and
outcomes.
P7. Design a job specification and participation in role play to simulate an interview
Following are major components in job specification and participation so that interview process can be
accomplished in a standard process:
Design of job specification
Harrods
Department: Assistant manager
Details of the job: Harrods is providing a chance to walk in interview with assistant manager. At
this post, personal will be liable to manage human resources and their performance to help the
organization for strategic goals.
Qualification: Requested candidates for the post have to hold a valid bachelor degree from a
university of the United Kingdom and European region. Preferences will be given holding an
experience of 2 or more years in the same field.
Responsibilities: the Assistant manager has a responsibility to collect the performance related
data from the employees and support manager to generate statistical data. The person will be
responsible to analyze, resolve and manage issues in business with independency and has to
support manager in human resource operations.
Organization information: Harrods is providing fashion products with premium quality stores
across the United Kingdom. At present, the organization has vast operations in marketing, e-
commerce and other sectors and seeking for business expansion.
To apply: Visit the main branch in London in the first and second week of February between 10
am to 3 pm with following documents.
 A copy of curriculum vitae
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 A copy of graduate and postgraduate degree.
 Contact information and address.
Queries may be directed to: contact name:
Contact number:
Email:
Curriculum Vitae
Preparatory notes for interview
 Ask about the role of assistant manager in Harrods
 Determine communication, problem solving and personal skills of the candidate.
 Prompt a new case study to the candidate and expect a valid solution to the problem.
 Negotiate on salary and other factors as expected from the candidate.
Job offer
Hi ______________
Congratulations! We are proud to announce that you are selected as an assistant manager in Harrods. We
are pleased to inform that they can visit the main branch at central London to join on 22nd February 2018
at sharp 10 am.
Thank you.
Evaluation of process and rationale for conducting appropriate HR practices
The overall process for the interview was effective to meet the requirements of an organization. The
interview process has focused on the main requirements and candidate personality. HR practices to
advertise the job, arrange an interview and the select candidate was effective. However, to improve the
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practices and conduct more such events in the organization, a structuralized interview question set can
be prepared.
CONCLUSION
The report has been concluded the purpose and functions of human resource management in Harrods
along with strengths and weaknesses in recruitment and selection process. Various human resource
practices and their effectiveness have been discussed in the report in which it is determined that training
and development are a most effective approach to motivate employees for retention and improve the
performance. The report has analyzed employee relations and employment legislation in Harrods to
provide the standard business management. Portfolio for interview process has been attached to the
report.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice.
Kogan Page Publishers.
Aswathappa, K., 2013. Human resource management: Text and cases. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Camps, J. and Luna‐Arocas, R., 2012. A matter of learning: How human resources affect organizational
performance. British Journal of Management, 23(1), pp.1-21.
Carle, S., 2012. Employment discrimination.
Daley, D.M., 2012. Strategic human resources management. Public Personnel Management, pp.120-
125.
Dasgupta, S.A., Suar, D. and Singh, S., 2012. Impact of managerial communication styles on
employees’ attitudes and behaviours. Employee Relations, 35(2), pp.173-199.
George, C., 2015. Retaining professional workers: what makes them stay?. Employee Relations, 37(1),
pp.102-121.
Grohmann, A. and Kauffeld, S., 2013. Evaluating training programs: Development and correlates of the
questionnaire for professional training evaluation. International Journal of Training and
Development, 17(2), pp.135-155.
Hendry, C., 2012. Human resource management. Routledge.
Jehanzeb, K. and Bashir, N.A., 2013. Training and development program and its benefits to employee
and organization: A conceptual study. European Journal of business and management, 5(2).
McGraw, P., 2013. Recruitment and selection. na, p.205.
O'Meara, B. and Petzall, S., 2013. Handbook of Strategic Recruitment and Selection: A Systems
Approach. Emerald Group Publishing.
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Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on
Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.
Rolstadås, A. ed., 2012. Performance management: A business process benchmarking approach.
Springer Science & Business Media.
Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.
Taylor, S., 2014. Recruitment and selection. Strategic Human Resource Management: An International
Perspective, 10(6), pp.139-14.
Townsend, K. and Dundon, T., 2015. Understanding the role of line managers in employment relations
in the modern organisation. Employee Relations, 37(4), pp.1-17.
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