Human Resource Management: A Review of Key Studies

This assignment provides a detailed review of selected human resource management (HRM) studies, including research on high-performance work systems, strategic talent management, innovation performance, and more. It highlights the importance of knowledge management capacity and ambidextrous learning in achieving organizational success. The reviewed studies also emphasize the need for HRM practices to adapt to changing business environments and employee expectations.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Major functions of HRM in terms of workforce planning of Aldi........................................1
P2 Weakness and strength related to numerous approaches of recruitment and selection.........2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 Benefit of HRM practices in context of Aldi for employer as well as for employee............3
P4 Major effectiveness of HRM practices for maximizing profit and productivity of Aldi.......4
TASK 3...........................................................................................................................................5
P5 Advantage of employee relation in context of decision making in HRM.............................5
P6. Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM .....6
P7 Different applications of HRM Practices...............................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
.......................................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
In context if any organisation, it is very important to have potential work force. This is
because all the possible task and functions are performed by the employees and thus it becomes
necessary for the management to give full consideration to their labour force. Success of any
company depends upon the kind of workers they are having. In this context, human resource
management can be understood as a concept of monitoring all the employees at work place so
that organisation can achieve its objective and target on time (Bakker and Demerouti, 2010). In
context of this report, it is observed that Aldi is one of the very popular name in the term of
grocery retailer. This company is famous in all over the world. Functions of HRM plays a vital
role in ensuring the growth of the company. There are different human resource practices that is
helpful in establishing the operations of Aldi (Avey, Luthans and Jensen, 2011). Employee
relation should also maintained in order to attain tremendous growth of the company.
TASK 1
P1 Major functions of HRM in terms of workforce planning of Aldi.
It is one of the very important task of any organisation to maintain their work force
planning. As far as Aldi is concern about, then there is a need of planning related to workforce.
There can be many methods adopted by a company in order to ensure the availability of labour
force in the organisation (Black, Clemmensen and Skov, 2010). In this context, HRM plays a
vital role in establishing the workforce requirement and thus its purpose and functions in context
of labour force planning are as follows:
Determine the current requirement of employees- It is one of the major function that is
associated with the H.R manager. They are liable for determining the current requirement of
workforce. On the basis of this only, all the task performed by the company with the help of
employees can be maintained. Need of hiring new employee can be determined once HRM
evaluate the current number of work force and their performance.
Establishing recruitment and selection process- As HRM plays a major role in conducting
the recruitment and selection process. On the basis of requirement of employee, company have to
conduct a process of hiring (Boxall and Macky, 2012). This is done by human resource manager.
All the tools and equipments that are needed in this process are arranged by the human resource
head.
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Ways by which employee's work can be fully utilised- HRM have to ensure that all the
work done by the labour force should be efficient and effective in nature. They need to motivate
employees in such a way that all the task performed by workers should be best utilised by the
company. Unnecessary work should not be there and productive work is all that required by the
company.
Providing training- This is again considered as the most crucial area of any organisation which is
covered by the HRM. In context of workforce planning, human resource manager needs to
ensure that all the employees at their work place get complete training. In this way company can
expect from their workers that they give their best performance in the company (Boxall and
Purcell, 2011). Training can also be for new employees and existing employees. This is because
company can adopt new technology at any period of time. Therefore, for the existing employee it
becomes a matter of fear to understand the new technology For this purpose, management have
to make sure a proper training and development programs for the existing employees as well.
P2 Weakness and strength related to numerous approaches of recruitment and selection.
According to the current condition of the Aldi, it is suggested that they need to recruit
new employees in the organisation (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). In this context, human
resource manager needs to evaluate the effectiveness of so many approaches towards recruitment
and selection process. For this purpose, it is also very important to know the basic strengths and
weaknesses associated with this process. It is necessary in order to attain the objective and target
of the organisation. Different approaches of recruitment and selection are as follows:
Skills inventory- It is related with making a detailed list of all the requirements in terms
of skills and qualification that would be needed for a specific task. This is helpful for both
employer and the employee (Chen and Huang, 2010). This is because employer can specify their
requirement of the post and candidate can match their skills and interest with the job profile.
Job description- This concept is very important in order to plan a systematic process of
recruitment and selection. Job description is related with giving full information about the job
profile. This is a systematic description of job responsibilities, salary , working hours etc.
On the basis of above approaches towards recruitment and selection process, given below
are the important strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths
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Improve the overall efficiency of work- On the basis of different approaches towards
recruitment and selection, it is observed that one of the major strength of this can be the
improvement in overall work performance. It is important for the company to attain a level of
growth in the market place and thus, it can be achieved by successfully implementing the
recruitment and selection process.
Best output can be obtained- As per the strengths of approaches which comes under
recruitment and selection, it is found that one of the major strength is getting the best possible
outcome for the company (Collings and Mellahi, 2010). If potential candidate is hired by the
organisation that means they will produce maximum number of efficient and effective results.
Management can take best decision for the company- As when company is fully
aware about the importance of recruiting best potential candidate then this will automatically
help the organisation to take best decision. This may help the company to give focus towards
developing best techniques, methods and strategies for the smooth running of all the operations
under their business.
Weaknesses
Time consuming- AS it is very well observed the process of recruitment and selection is
time consuming. There is a list of steps that are involved under each selection process and hence
it becomes time consuming.
Need proper resources: In context of this, it is found that there has to be some specific
resources in order to perform the process of recruitment and selection. One of the major
requirement is having sufficient amount of cash and other tools and equipment.
Their are two source of recruitment for cited company, one is internal recruitment and other is
external recruitment:
External recruitment – When an organisation hire people from outside of the organisation
for filling a vacant post than this is considered as external source of selection. Campus
placement, walk in, taking assistance of hiring firms are some of the examples of this option.
Strengths – An organisation get more choices and better option when they recruitment
people from outside of firm. They can find exact quality which they are looking for in a
candidates and chances of partiality is very less compared to internal source of selection. New
talent come with new thinking and energy. ALDI is operating in a highly competitive market and
they need people with different thinking and creativity.
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Weaknesses – Their is no doubt that selecting candidates from outside is expensive. It
requires lot of time and efforts. Employees who are currently working in ALDI may disagree
with this option. They will get demotivated when they see that new employees are holding
seniors posts and company do not have faith in them. This is negatively impact on growth of
company.
Internal source – Under this option, company recruit their employee from the references given by
existing workers. They also fill a job post by promoting current employee.
Strengths – It does not cost much because existing employees or their referral have basic
idea about the work they are going to do. HR team do not need spend time of finding new
candidates, it save their time. Motivation level of workers enhances when they see someone from
them get promotion.
Weaknesses – ALDI may not find proper set of skills which they are looking in a
employee if they go for this option. Company may fail to find new thought and do innovation if
they will not recruitment people from outside of the enterprise.
TASK 2
P3 Benefit of HRM practices in context of Aldi for employer as well as for employee.
All the practices under HRM plays a vital role in improving performance of Aldi in the
market. Human resource practices may includes all the necessary functions that are being
performed by human resource manager. In context of mentioned company, management should
know the basic advantage of adopting and implementing various HRM practices in the
organisation (Dowling, 2011). The major benefit of HRM practices in reference with “Aldi”
which will be beneficial for both employer and employees are as follows:
Each and every people will be aware abut their roles and responsibilities- One of the
major advantage of using human resource management practices is that every working people
under the mentioned company will be completely aware about their roles and responsibilities. As
a result of this, company can perform all the operations and functions in the most effective
manner.
Company can attain maximum growth in the market: Both employer and employee
work for the company so that all the objective of the company can be achieved. Attaining the
growth in the market is all that matters for employees as well as for employer. As a result of this,
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company can achieve maximum number of profit and market share in the market and thus
benefit out of this can be avail by both employer as well as employee.
Can motivate both the employee and employer- All the HRM practices are so helpful
in motivating staff of every organisation. As far as Aldi is concern about, it is found that all the
human resources practices that are being used and applied by the company have a great impact
on the employers and employees. Practices under HRM are so effective that company can
achieve its target on time and hence the confidence level of each working people will increase.
P4 Major effectiveness of HRM practices for maximizing profit and productivity of Aldi.
All the human resource practices are important in order to achieve the profit and
productivity of Aldi. All the practices under HRM practises serves different purpose in the
organisation. Effectiveness of these practices can be evaluated on the following ground:
Attain a level of stability- There are various HRM practices that are necessary in order
to produce best result for the organisation (Liao and et.al., 2010). If all the work of a company
can be successfully performed by their employees that means they are one step closer to their
desired level of result and output. The chances of getting accurate output as per the company's
objective increases if they are properly following all the human resource practices. If company's
are getting proper result that means they are moving towards the phase of stability in the market.
Stability is the position that each and every organisation wish to achieve. This is because in this
position company can actually consider themselves competitive in the market. They are now a
good example of competitors for the other company.
Number of outlets increases- By implementing all the HRM practices, it can be
concluded that the company can actually open more number of their outlets (Lengnick-Hall and
et.al., 2011). This indicates that organisation is actually moving towards a better position in the
market. With the help of this, mentioned company can consume more number of market share
and this will also increases their profit margin. If company expand their business that means the
chances of attracting more number of customer also increases. Therefore, company can achieve
tremendous level of market shares and thus they can also attain good profit margin for their
company.
Staffing – This is the most important work done by HR manager i.e. hiring right people at
right position. This HRM practice can play crucial role in increasing profit of an organisation. If
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company will choose right people and provide them right training then their will perform well
and their more productivity will result in more revenue.
Employee relation – An important part of HR practice is maintaining good relation
between employees and management. This department remove conflict between both sides and
bring both of them on same table. When connection management and employees is strong then
worker try to give their best and company also spend huge amount on their welfare and
development. This ultimately results in high profit and more sales. ALDI has maintaining fine
relationship with their employees and this is main reason behind earning more revenue.
TASK 3
P5 Advantage of employee relation in context of decision making in HRM.
As it is a well known fact that the success rate of any company depends upon the the
satisfaction level of each and every worker (Mondy and Martocchio, 2016). That is why it is
suggested that organisation needs to give focus upon maintaining their employee relationship.
This is because human resources are the major asset of any company and that is why there is a
need of implementing the concept of employee relation in the organisation. This concept is also
very helpful in determining and formulating the best decisions forb the company. Now a days
organisations are more concern about the involvement of employees in the decision making
process of their company. The importance of employee relation is very major in the context of
decision making. Given below are the points that can support this answer.
Employees can provide better decisions as they are a part of organisation- It is
observed that all the decisions which are made by the organisation leaves a major impact on their
employee. This is because workers are completely affected by any change in the organisation
made in the form of decision (Ng, Schweitzer and Lyons 2010). If company is giving full
consideration in the fact of employees involvement in the decision making criteria that means
there will be maximum number of innovative ideas and plans. This will surely provide best
decision for the company.
Objective of company can be achieved- If employee relation are fully adopted by the
mentioned company that means there will be better decisions. If company is adopting best
strategies with the help of their employees then this will direly improve and even increase the
chances of attaining the goal and target of the company on time with full efficiency.
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Promote creativity – Employee relation focuses on showing more trust in employees and
delegating them significant authority. When workers get freedom from the side of management
then they use innovative ideas for resolving a problems. This develop a culture of creativity and
innovation and it make positive impact on profit of organisation.
Loyal employees – Employees relation concentrate on earning loyalty from the side of
workers. If an organisation have trusted worker who care about company's growth then it provide
some extra edge to the firm on competitors. This assist company in low workers turnover ratio.
Job satisfaction – Job satisfaction is a big issue for many personnels, employee relation
remove differences between worker and seniors. It also assist managers in having
communication proper communication with employees. Higher job satisfaction is directly
proportional to more revenue to the company.
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P6. Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM
There are different kind of laws which firm need to considered in organisation. Legal
authorities implies many laws which firm need to follow and conduct all business activities
accordingly. Some of the laws are given below.
 Anti discrimination
This law implied at the time of recruitment and selection. When firm is hiring candidate
for their job profiles. They need to hire candidate on the basis of their skills and talent. The
factors such as race, age, sex should be eliminated at a time of selection (Guest, 2011). The firm
need to select those students which are prefect for their job profile. Recruitment should be done
on basis of individual capabilities, skills and knowledge. This law is applied when company is
having more than 15 workers. Firm is not having right to terminate any worker because of their
age, sex, race.
 Wages and hours
There is minimum wages Act 1948. the company is entitled to pay wages to their workers
according to this Act. There is also a law in which the working hours of employees is describe.
Firm cannot force workers to work more than fixed hours and if they working extra time they get
extra payment for that. HR professional needs to verify that whether workers are properly paid or
not.  Leave provisions
The employees are entitle to have leaves in which they should loss any pay. There is
medical leave Act and federal family Act. Worker is entitle to have 12 weeks of unpaid leaves in
12 months. Employees are also right to have leave if there is any issue with their children,
spouse. Employees should have job protection at a time of their family situations. Medical and disability
The law concerned about disability of employees. If an individual is having any disability
problem they are entitle to get all facilities at their working place (Halpern and et.al., 2010).
Manager should know how to treat these kind of workers. So that their productivity doesn't be
affected. Facility should be given to employees at business premises.
All these laws is having great impact on HRM decision making. Aldi conduct all business
activities according to these rules and regulation. When HRM is making nay policy at that time
also they need considered all these laws. If there is can changes take place in employees working
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hours the strategies also need to change. So organisation make sure that they are following all
laws proper so that they do not face any problem in future.
P7 Different applications of HRM Practices
Various feature of Human resource practices can be characterized with the help of soft
and hard model of HR Management.
Soft HRM In this model the main focus is on motivating,
guiding, assisting etc. to the employees who
are working in ALDI. It helps in reaching goals
with improvement in performance of the
workforce (Kang and Snell, 2012). This type of
management have a huge inclement towards its
people so as to develop and maintain them in
the organisation. There is a soft and very
lenient behaviour with them.
Hard HRM In this model the complete focus is on
performance of the employees. Every
employees have to perform well no matter
whatever the reason is. There is no leniency by
the management in regards to action of
workforce.
 Job satisfaction is very vital in an organisation in order to have employees for a longer
period of time (Armitage, Marschke and Plummer, 2011). ALDI have to take care of its
employees according to its preferences which is very important. Loyalty and commitment of workers towards their work in ALDI is also an important
function of practices of HRM.
For Instance: If a company organises training program for its employees that it will
result in proper functioning of them according to the desired manner which is very important for
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the firm (Kang, Morris and Snell, 2013) Hence, ALDI with organisation of a training event can
produce efficient workforce.
 Practices of HRM are very helpful in development and growth of the employees by
enhancing their skills in regards to work which have to be done by them.
 Treatment of employees must be on equality basis there must not be any kind of
discrimination while choosing an employee for a particular job. Curriculum vitae ( C.V.) Name:
 Address:
 Phone Number:
 Email ID:
 Carrier objective:- To conquer experience by working in an environment which provides
knowledge in order to develop and grow in the field of work.
 Educational Qualification:
 BBA
 MBA
 Experience:
 6 Months job experiences in business field
 Personal Skills:
 Social Skills
 Communication Skills.
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 Leadership Skills.
 Declaration:
The above information is true as per my knowledge.
Organizations ALDI
Designation Human Resource Manager
Positioning United Kingdom
Reports to Head of Department
Function and duties  Is very much skilled in recruiting and
selecting employees for various job role
in the organisation (Lengnick-Hall and
et.al., 2011). Can identify gaps in the
organisation which are needed to be
filled.
 Is very accurate to make plans for
recruitment and selection for ALDI.
 Have ability to control the manpower
by appropriate holidays and
performance management.
Salary 9 to 10 Thousand pounds per year.
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CONCLUSION
It has been concluded by the above report that there is a major role of HRM department in an
organisation to control and manage manpower. ALDI is a very well known organisation which
works in grocery sector and it have many requirements for people which are managed and filled
by the HR manager of the company. Also there is a complete rationale of the post HR manager
in the company who can perform activities related to human capital. Various legislations which
affects HRM functions have also been a result of this research. ALDI is a very well known
organisation which have high standards for performance in order to have an edge over the
competitor can recruit appropriate people in it by the above research assignment which have
been concluded.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
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693.
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Halpern. B. S and et.al., 2010. A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems. Science.
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Ng. E. S., Schweitzer. L. and Lyons. S. T., 2010. New generation, great expectations: A field
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292.
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Online
Human Resource Management. 2016. [online]. Available
through<https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/hrm/>. [Accessed on 4th July 2017].
Innovation management 2013. [online]. Available
through<http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2013/08/08/how-to-innovate-the-
innovation-process/>. [Accessed on 8th July 2017].
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