Human Resource Management in the 21st Century

This assignment delves into the multifaceted field of Human Resource Management (HRM) with a focus on its contemporary relevance. It examines various aspects of HRM, including strategic approaches to managing employees and aligning HR practices with organizational goals. The assignment also explores global talent management challenges, performance management systems, and the importance of employee engagement in driving organizational success. It utilizes scholarly research and insights from experts to provide a comprehensive understanding of HRM's evolving role in the 21st century.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1..........................................................................................................................................................3
1.1...............................................................................................................................................................3
1.2...............................................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................................5
2.1...............................................................................................................................................................5
2.2...............................................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................................8
3.1...............................................................................................................................................................8
3.2...............................................................................................................................................................9
TASK 4........................................................................................................................................................10
4.1.............................................................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Human resource (HRM) is such department of an organization which assists in managing people
and their performance with an aim to accomplish set targets and goals of entity. The purpose of this report
is to make aware learners about various functions performed by HRM at Aldi. Aldi is one of the leading
retaining company of the world which deals in selling and distribution of grocery items and products.
This study will explain about different methods of recruiting employees along with their costs and
benefits. Through this study, readers will be able to understand effectiveness of HR practices in order to
run a business (Scullion and Collings, 2011). It will also describe the importance of employee relations
which influences decision making process of HRM at Aldi. This report will help learners to identify
major elements of employment legislation and its impact of functioning of HR practices.
TASK 1
1.1
HRM is an essential part of a business unit which is designed to improve the performance of
employees in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Purpose behind development of this
management is to hire, train and develop staff members of firm. This management helps an enterprise to
run its business smoothly and facilitates several benefits in terms of both monetary and non monetary.
Purpose behind establishment of HRM in Aldi is explained below:
 Facilitating human resources: It is the main aim behind designing HRM at Aldi. It involves
management related to HR planning, employing people, proving promotion, compensation, etc.
As Aldi is a retail entity where HRM also provide various benefits like incentives, allowances,
performance appraisal, etc.
 Welfare: HRM at Aldi builds up with another purpose of welfare of people within organization
(Hendry, 2012). When a corporation hires new talent within premises for its better outputs, it
becomes necessary to take care about its staff. It facilitates several health, safety and security
measures at workplace of this entity.
 Maintaining industrial relations: A company may become successful when it develop good and
healthy environment at workplace. It will create peace and harmony within premise which helps
in maintaining industrial relations among all employees and workers effectively.
Functions of HRM
HRM at Aldi generally perform the following key functions in order to achieve goals and
objectives of firm:

 Recruitment and selection: It is the first and foremost function of HRM at Aldi. It is the
responsibility of HR department of an undertaking to provide skilled and talented personnel with
in the firm to meet organizational targets. Through recruitment and selection process efficient
individuals are hired for beneficial of Aldi. Therefore, it is the process through which right person
is put at right place for required job profile.
 Development: Another role of HRM is to develop skills and knowledge among all new or
existing employees. For this, management prepares several training and development programs
where staff can enhance their efficiency level (Ulrich, 2013). Development of workforce can also
be done through providing career planning, performance appraisal, etc.
 Compensation: Compensation means facilitating various benefits in return of work done by
workers or employees of firm. It can be given in both monetary and non monetary terms such as
rewards, wages, salary, bonus, incentives, job evaluation, fringe benefits, and many more other
benefits.
 Employee relation: This term refers to the good relations among all staff members of enterprise.
To make a business successful in market place it is very important for management to create a
good working relationship at workplace with its staff. It is the duty of HRM at Aldi to maintain
good relations among workforce along with employee – employer relationship (Tang and Tang,
2012). To accomplish objectives of firm this function is very essential to be performed by HRM
which will help corporation to increase in productivity of both staff and company.
1.2
Recruitment and selection is the process of hiring best employees for betterment of organization
in order to meet its purposes of establishment. HRM at Aldi follows two methods of recruiting and
selecting personnel for firm i.e. internal and external sourcing. These are explained as under:
Internal sourcing
It is the method where a firm used internal source of hiring people for vacant posts. It means firm
can fill its vacant posts by promoting its existing employees at higher jobs. It is one of the very common
methods used by many corporations to transfer a person from his/her current job to new and other job. It
can be done through various means such as transfer, promotions, internal advertising, recalling
individuals from long leaves and retirements, etc. Here are following strengths and weaknesses of this
method:
 Strengths: As this process does not includes outer source of hiring people and choose persons
from inside the company, it saves time and money of selecting personnel (Hislop, 2013). As

existing staff are transferred and promoted from lower to higher job profile, they does not
required to attained induction and training program. This sourcing helps management at Aldi to
boost morale and confidence of its staff which will reduces chances of employee turnover.
 Weaknesses: This process has some demerits along its benefits. This method barred outers to
enter with in premises with their new and latest skills, knowledge and experience. This will
restrict Aldi to develop in term of latest techniques and technology (Thompson, 2011). The places
which become vacant after filling higher posts will remain empty because it is not possible to fill
all types of vacancies from this method.
External sourcing
It is another method of hiring people in Aldi but it includes recruiting persons from outside
company. Recruitment of individuals can be done through several ways like advertising, employment
agencies, campus recruitment, referral of employees, etc. This method also has following merits and
demerits:
 Merits: It helps Aldi to recruit and select new, skilled and talented persons from outside the firm.
It helps in adopting new and latest technology and methods to make its business successful in
market. It offers wide scope of selecting people because in this process large number of
candidates appears with their skills and experiences (Ployhart and Moliterno, 2011). As in this
persons are selected from outside the business, it reduces chances of getting bias while appointing
new staff member or members. It will also help Aldi in increase in its sales and generate more
revenue.
 Demerits: One major drawback of this method is that it requires lots of money and time.
Individuals hired from outside will not have such loyalty which remains among existing
employees of firm. Management at Aldi has to spend more time over the training and
development of these people. It will take more time to maintain employee relations within
premise and if not so then it may have a negative impact over the productivity and profits of
business.
TASK 2
2.1
HR practices plays very important role in achieving organizational goals and aims (Taylor,
Osland and Egri, 2012). An undertaking generally depends on three main resources with out which firm
cannot operate its functions smoothly and human resource is one of them. The major functions of HRM at

Aldi includes recruitment, selection, workforce planning, training and development, providing safety and
security measures, motivation, compensation, employee relations, etc. HRM practices serve a number of
benefits related to employees and employers of Aldi which are discussed below:
 Hire and trained: One of the most important function of HR department is to hire new and
efficient persons and trained them as per the requirement of their job profile. This practice of
HRM helps employees as well as employers of Aldi to enhance their skills, knowledge and
experience in order to meet purposes of entity. Training and development program is held by
management of Aldi when ever it required for betterment of unit (Flamholtz, 2012). Therefore, by
hiring and training entity will facilitates several benefits for both workers and management as
well.
 Increase in efficiency: HR department performs several HR functions which assists both
employees and employers to increase their efficiency level. In Aldi, employees are motivated by
their employers which are another practice of HRM. To run a business in a smooth or effective
way, it is necessary for Aldi to motivate its workforce which will in turn improve the working
efficiency of them. After getting motivated by management by various means like promotions,
transfers, appraisals, etc. they will work with full efficiency power. Increase in efficiency of staff
will directly increase efficiency of company.
 Manage disputes and conflicts: In a business, an entity has to go through various problems
whether internal or external. As Aldi is a retail enterprise which has to face several business
issues that have both positive as well as negative aspects. It is the duty of HRM to maintain peace
and harmony at workplace to create good employee- employer relationship (Hellman, 2012). In a
premises, different types of people work together who has different cultures, belief, requirement,
attitude, etc. so, it can create possibilities of conflicts and disputes among staff as well as
management. HRM plays an essential role in resolving such dispute within the firm. Thus, HRM
facilitates benefits to both employees and employers by solving problems between them.
 Good working environment: In Aldi, it is the responsibility of HR managers to create good
working environment for both staff and their superiors. Working culture and environment have
both positive and negative impact over the performance of corporation. Good, healthy and
favorable working environment help Aldi to meet its goals and objectives while negative one may
harm its productivity and image in market. Therefore, HRM assists in boosting its productivity by
developing favorable working environment at workplace.

2.2
As discussed above, HRM practices are vary beneficial for Aldi in order to accomplish its targets
on or before time (Oechsler, 2011). It involves in various business functions like HR planning, their
recruitment and selection, maintaining public relations, performance appraisal, compensations and many
more benefits. All these functions will directly or idirecly affects productivity and profitability of Aldi.
HR practices are very much effective in raising productivity and profitability of business. Several
functions are performed by HR department of Aldi which assist company to enhance its production and
profits. These are explained as under:
 Productivity: Increasing productivity is one of the most important object of Aldi. This activity is
performed by HR professionals of firm. Some of the members of HRM are engaged in
establishing various policies, procedure, programs for managing people with in workplace while
others assist employees to enhance their efficiency and which will directly increase productivity
of unit. Productivity of corporation simply means the work in which such entity actually engaged.
For example, Aldi is a retail enterprise which deals in selling and distribution of grocery items.
So, this selling of grocery product is known as productivity of entity. Therefore, in enhancing
productivity of business, HRM plays an effective role. Training and development program held
by HR department of Aldi plays a vital role in increasing its productivity. This will improve
working efficiency of both new and existing employees of Aldi (Peterson, 2011). To facilitates an
effective training session, expert trainers are hired by HRM of this unit. By this, working ability,
skills and knowledge of people will increase and will perform their jobs efficiently. This will
create motivation among them and will stick to their jobs for long period. It will contribute in its
production and therefore, productivity of business will be boosted. Aldi is now planning to open
its new outlet at Wembley Central and HRM will help entity to increase its production by
applying various HR practices within premises.
 Profitability: If productivity of Aldi will improve then it will directly has a positive impact on its
profits. Productivity and profitability of corporation are interlinked with each other and this is
possible by performing HR practices by entity. HRM plays a role of backbone to enterprise. Here
are some factors which directly and indirectly affect revenue or profits of Aldi such as availability
of number of production units, cost of production per unit, direct and overhead costs, etc. Profits
of this firm is totally depends on productivity of it so, if productivity of organization decreases, it
will directly decreases profits of business (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). Thus, from above
discussion it becomes clear that HRM has a great impact of productivity and profitability of Aldi.

TASK 3
3.1
The term employee relations define connection between employees and their employers. It is the
responsibility of HRM at every corporation to develop a good employee and employer relation with in
workplace. For Aldi it is very important to maintain good relationship with its staff members. In order to
achieve this aim of business, management needs to develop a favorable and good working environment
with in workplace. It will attract employees towards their work and they will perform as per the
requirement of firm (CHUANG and Liao, 2010). This relation is very essential in designing business
plans and decisions related to it. Here are following importance of employee relations at Aldi:
 Decision making: An organization has to make various plans and for which different decisions
have to be taken by management of entity. As Aldi follows a tall organizational structure where a
number of layers of management are involved. At every level of management, managers have to
take some certain decisions whether related to business or non occupational; purposes. Aldi
involves all of its staff members in decision making process where ideas, thoughts, suggestions
and advices of every person of enterprise are considered while making final decision for this
company (Jackson and Parry, 2011). Therefore, a good employee- employer relation will assists
management in decision making process.
 Easy to work: When managers of Aldi treat its employees as an asset to firm then they will feel
that they are part of entity and it will become a source to motivate them. Usually a corporation
has to struggle very hard to make things done through others but a good relation between a
manager and its employee may solve this problem and will become easy for employer to do work
within premises. This will also encourage people in organization to perform their job in a team. a
single person requires lots of time to do a particular task or project but if it is performed by a
team them it will become very easy to do it.
 Reduction in employee turnover: Employee turnover is the situation where staff of an
undertaking left or switches their jobs from one organization to another. Employee relations play
a significant role in reducing such employee turnover. One of the main reasons behind employee
turnover is absence of positive employee – employer relation (Glendon, Clarke and McKenna,
2016). Negative aspects discourage people and make them to leave organization. But when an
enterprise like Aldi will maintain a good relation among all of its staff then employees will not
feel de-motivated and will increase their job satisfaction level. Therefore, it will help people to
stick to their jobs for long period within workplace.

3.2
Employment legislation is the set of various laws which is created by parliament of country in
relation to employment of every person. It includes various laws, procedures, policies, rules and
regulations which are developed in relation to provide justice to persons who are engaged or employed at
any organization. There are some acts which are enacted by government of UK to protect employees and
employers against any unfair done by company or management. Each and every entity has to follow these
rules and laws and facilitates various benefits comes under these acts. It includes following acts:
 Employment rights act, 1996: This act was passed by parliament of UK where it is written that
every employee has some certain rights which not one can deny while working in any enterprise.
Aldi also follows this act where it protects several rights of staff who works with Aldi ( Kitada
and Ölçer, 2015). This act is the merger of some older laws such as employment act, employment
protection act, and wages and salary act. It is also termed as labor law which is passed by
government of UK in order to protect its labor force. It includes law related to entry and exit of
any person from the firm. This act also affects the decision making process at Aldi because while
deciding any thing for betterment of company, it has to take permission from government to
apply it in its business. In a public corporation government is fully authorized to intervene in
various functions of such unit. But in a private entity government is not fully authorized but has
little bit right to interfere in certain or specific operations. Here are some provisions related to
rights of employees in Aldi such as protection against unfair dismissal, facilitates minimum
wages and salary, all procedures, policies, terms and conditions of job must be in writing, to
enjoy safety and security measures, etc. All these rights are written under this act and Aldi is
entitled to follow such rules and provisions. Usually, these laws have positive impact on
performance of people with in workplace but sometimes it may become hurdle while enjoying
various business benefits (Farndale, Scullion and Sparrow, 2010). While hiring a person in
enterprise it has to follow specific procedure and provisions which may sometimes barred
efficient personnel to enter into the organization.
 Equality act, 2010: This act is also enacted with the merger of some acts like equal pay act, sex
discrimination act, and equality provisions in protection act. The purpose of enactment of this act
to facilitates equality among various kinds of people within workplace. According to this, each
and every person should be given an equal opportunity while performing his/her job. This act is
also adopted by Aldi in relation to provide equality among its workforce. As per this act,
employees of Aldi will not be discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, religion, region, sexual
orientation, marriage, disability, etc. This act directly affects the decision making process of this
entity. As discussed above, Aldi follows tall structure where it allows every person to take part in

decision making process (Bush and Middlewood, 2013). This act helps HRM at this entity to treat
every employee as same. By applying this act with in the premises of Aldi, workforce will
perform their jobs without any fear and will give their best to business in order to boost its
productivity and profits.
TASK 4
4.1
For every organization it is very important to perform HR functions because with out which a
company cannot work properly. So, to become successful in market, it is necessary to adopt HR practices
and perform them effectively. It is a source of managing people and make them to perform their work
effectively (Cascio and Boudreau, 2010). It is a motivational approach through which employees are
encouraged towards their jobs. HRM includes several different practices like performance appraisal,
training and development, compensation, recruitment, career planning, allocating resources, reward
systems, etc. Aldi also follows HR practices which are discussed below:
 Job analysis: Job analysis is the process which identifies whole detailed information regarding
job along with duties and responsibilities have to be performed by people with in entity. In short
it is process before hiring any person in organization where management of firm collect all
required information related to job for which individuals should be hired. It helps Aldi in
determining placement of jobs.
 Staffing: It is the function under which HRM recruit and select appropriate candidates for require
or available job profile for Aldi (Goffee and Jones, 2013). It is the basic function of HR
department through which suitable persons are hired for right job. Skills, knowledge and
experience of people are taken into consideration while hiring new employees and workers.
 Training and development: This function of HRM is also applied by Aldi where both new and
existing employees are trained to boost their knowledge and skills. Induction program is held by
HRM to make aware new comers about various operations of business along with their job profile
where they have to work. Training and development is an effective method to boost morale of
employees of Aldi.
 Performance management: After providing training to workforce of firm it is the next duty of
HR department to observe performance of people (Gruman and Saks, 2011). Performance of
personnel can be evaluated through various means like observation, feedbacks, survey,
productivity, etc. Several benefits like salary, wages, bonus, incentives, rewards and many more
are depend on performance of people within enterprise.

CONCLUSION
This report concluded that HRM has a significant role in managing various activities and
functions of Aldi. HRM at this corporation perform various functions like staffing, training and
development, compensation, motivating, employee relations, etc. It hires employees for entity through
both sources internal as well as external. HR department of this enterprise needs to follow all functions of
HRM which will in turn increase efficiency of both employees as well as employers of firm. HR practices
play very important role in order to achieve goals and targets of Aldi. Two different acts such as
employment rights act 1996 and equality act 2010 are followed by this undertaking to protect rights of its
employees at various levels of management.

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