Human Resource Management Case Study

This assignment requires students to analyze a real-world human resource management (HRM) case study. The case focuses on contemporary challenges and best practices in HRM, covering topics such as performance management, work organization, employee engagement, knowledge management, and international HRM. Students are expected to apply relevant theoretical concepts and frameworks from the provided readings to critically evaluate the HRM strategies employed in the case and propose recommendations for improvement.

HRM IN
PRACTICE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
A) Purpose and Importance of HR function for the company....................................................3
B) Selection method used by the company and the strength and weakness of the organisation 5
C) Potential improvements to make the selection process effective...........................................5
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................5
A) Person specification for the role............................................................................................5
B) Advantages and disadvantages of current method of advertising job in the organisation. ...6
C) Recommendation for job advert for the receptionist vacancy ..............................................7
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................8
A) Benefits of graduate training and internship programmes to Microsoft and its employees.. 8
B) Identification of flexible working arrangement and its benefits to the organisation and its
employee's...................................................................................................................................9
C) Analysis of employee's motivation done by Microsoft with the help of job roles...............10
TASK 4 .........................................................................................................................................10
A) Defining employee engagement and its importance for effective employee relation in the
organisation...............................................................................................................................10
B) Evaluate key approaches of engaging workers and their benefit in improving
communication..........................................................................................................................11
C) Element associated with employee legislation and its influence on HR decisions .............11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is an involvement of three words such as human that is
termed as the workforce who works in the firm, resources can be defined as raw material which
are essential for completing the task and Management is used for proper controlling and
regulating the whole process and functions of organisation so that resources can be utilised in
optimal manner. In addition to this, HRM is defined as a procedure of managing and controlling
of the workforce of organisation so that maximum profitability or productivity can be gained in a
small time period. Present assignment is based on two organisations like Chocolate presence and
Microsoft(Arnaboldi, Lapsley and Steccolini,2015). This assignment will discuss about the
purpose and importance of HR manager along with strength and weaknesses of selection
methods in an organisation. Various kind of training programme which are provided by
Microsoft will also covers along with benefits and perks of it. Importance of employee
engagement and legislations which will also discussed in this report.
PART 1
TASK 1
A) Purpose and Importance of HR function for the company
HRM is considered as the most important department of a firm which performs an
impressive duty of managing and controlling of employees of an organisation so that competitive
advantage can be gained in market within a small time period. HR functions are mainly related
with processing and managing of administration programmes so that productivity and
profitability of firm can be enhanced in an effective manner. Some basic functions that are very
essential for the HR department of Chocolate Presence to perform so that desired goals or
objectives can be achieved in proper manner(Askenazy and Forth,2016). Purpose and importance
of HR functions are given as under:
 Staffing- It is the main function of HR department in which they have to hire suitable and
perfect employees so that task can be accomplished in desired manner. Main purpose
behind this process is to attract a large pool of candidate for applying the job in Chocolate
presence. If right candidate is hired for the job the work in the organisation will be done
in a effective manner with less errors.

 Training and development- This is the most important function of Human Resource
department in chocolate presence. This is usually done to improve the present skills of
the employees. So that future goals of the organisation and individual is attained.
Training and development helps the employees to tackle the problems in the efficient
manner. If proper training is given to the employees than the company will be able to
achieve competitive advantage.
 Employee relation- It is also considered as one of the most important function of human
resource in chocolate presence. The management of the company must focus maintaining
good relation with its employees(Beer, Boselie and Brewster, 2015). This is because if
there is healthy relation between the superior and subordinate than the chances of
conflicts and disputes will be less. The main purpose behind this function is to perform
the tasks of the organisation in a coordinated manner. With the help of this the assigned
task will be completed within the expected time frame. And this will directly help in
increasing the profitability and sale of the company.
Current problems of the company:
Chocolate presence is currently facing some major issues like employee absenteeism,
employee turnover, low quality of work, improper selection process, etc. All these functions
gives a negative impact on the image of the company. These issues can only be solved by
communicating with employees and solving their problems so that they perform better. It is the
duty of the HR manager to find effective solutions to the problems and communicate the goals
and objectives of the organisation to the employees. So that they are motivated and loyal towards
their work. And by this the employees will also have a sense of belongingness towards the
organisation(Bogner,2018).
Future plans of the company:
The future plan and strategy of Chocolate Presence is to motivate, guide the employees of
the organisation and reward them for the good work done. This will help the organisation to
extract best output from the employees of the organisation. It will also help in improving the
skills and knowledge of the employees. The goals and objectives of the organisation and
individual will also be achieve in a effective and efficient manner.

B) Selection method used by the company and the strength and weakness of the organisation
There are various selection methods which can be used by Chocolate Presence for
selecting the right candidate for the right job. The company has chosen interview method and
assessment test method for the purpose of selecting the employees. As the assessment test will
consist of some questions of English and some of Mathematics(Budhwar, Tung and et. al.,
2017). This is done to know the skills and knowledge of the candidate. If the candidate has
achieved more than 50 percent marks in the test than the person is called for personal interview
round.
The strength and weakness of the selection process is discussed below-
STRENGTH WEAKNESS
 Skilled and qualified candidates will be
hired by the company by using this
method. As they will help in
performing activities properly.
 The employee will be able to handle the
problems in effective manner because
talented candidate will be hired by
using this method.
 Only subjective knowledge of the
employee is being checked. The true
potential remains unnoticed.
 The knowledge and skills of the
candidate may not be judged with in
short period of time.
C) Potential improvements to make the selection process effective.
The improvement which can be adopted by Chocolate Presence in the selection process
are discussed below-
 Written test can be included in the selection process. In this test the questions will be
based upon the work which the candidate has to do in the organisation. This will help the
management in knowing that the candidate is fit for the job or not.
 The knowledge of the candidate can be checked before the interview process. Doing this
the time and money of the organisation can be saved(Chadwick, Super and Kwon, 2015).
TASK 2
A) Person specification for the role

PERSON SPECIFICATION
Organisation: Chocolate Presence
Job title: Receptionist
Department: Finance
Key evident required:
Skills Requirements
 Person must know how to arrange and
manage meetings.
 Customer must be handled properly.
 Person must know to handle different
task in a short period of time.
Education qualification  Graduate /Post graduate in Finance
 Fluent in English
Key task  Maintaining record of guest
 Arranging meetings
 Attending work related calls
Responsibility for equipments  Maintaining the telephone, computers
in a proper order.
 Refreshment and setting arrangement
management.
B) Advantages and disadvantages of current method of advertising job in the organisation.
Currently Chocolate Presence is using two advertising methods which are internal
method and external method of advertising(Harney and Trehy,2016). Both of these methods have
its own advantages and disadvantages which are discussed below-
Internal advertising method:
Advantages:
 It is considered as one of the cheapest and less time consuming method because in this
the advertising is done for the workplace which does not involve high amount of capital.

 Job description can be easily mailed to the employees of the organisation and they can be
given the information about the vacant job.
Disadvantages:
 There will not be large number of candidate available for the vacant job. Less employee's
will apply for the job.
 New talented and skilled candidates will not be given the chance to show case their
knowledge and skills as the employees are hired from the organisation.
External advertising method:
Advantages:
 Best and skilled candidate will be hired for the job from the external sources of
advertising. As there will be more options for the organisation.
 Company image and goodwill will play a major role in attracting best candidates for the
vacant job(Liebowitz and Frank, 2016) .
Disadvantages:
 The present employees of Chocolate Presence may get insecure as their job can be in
danger. Due to this the productivity of the employees will be affected.
 New candidates will take time in learning the work of the organisation. And they might
not be able to complete the assigned task efficiently.
C) Recommendation for job advert for the receptionist vacancy
Internal as well as external method of advertising can be used by Chocolate Presence. But
in external method the organisation will have many options to choose from the available
candidates. So this method will be the best suitable method because in this talented and skilled
candidate can be hired. External method is the widely used method by most of the organisations.
This is because in this fresh talent can be given a chance to perform the activities of the
organisation. And they can also provide new and innovative ideas to solve the problems in
Chocolate Presence(Ross, 2017). If external advertising method is used than the company's
image can play a vital role in attracting more and more candidates for the job. The company will
be able to achieve the desired goal and objectives in the effective manner. As the new employee's
can be easily motivated and quality work can be extracted from them. Different websites can be
used to attract more and more candidates to apply for the job. These websites can be Facebook,
LinkedIn, etc. The importance of social media is discussed below:

 Low advertising cost- With the help of social media advertising the cost of the company
can be easily saved. As nowadays most of the candidates use the social networking sites.
So it will be easy for the company to invite and attract more and more candidates to apply
for the job. Using this the information of the vacant job can be shared with millions of
people with less cost.
 Increased job visibility- Social media is considered as one of the best platform for
inviting the candidates to apply for the job. In this Chocolate Presence will have more
options from which the best candidate can be selected out of the pool of the candidates.
As most of the people will be aware about the available job position in the
company(Sharp, Peters and Howard, 2017).
TASK 3
A) Benefits of graduate training and internship programmes to Microsoft and its employees.
Microsoft is providing training and internship programmes to the graduates working in
the organisation to enhance their skills and knowledge. The major aim behind these schemes
started by Microsoft is to motivate and guide the employee's. So that work can be done by them
in the effective and efficient manner. These training and internship programmes will help
Microsoft in encouraging employees so that they can perform better and organisational and
individual goals are achieved. Properly trained employee's will give new and innovative ideas in
completing the task. These training and internship programmes will create a sense of
belongingness among the graduates towards the company. This is because the company is taking
a initiative for its valuable employee's(Smith, 2016).
The training and internship schemes will also solve the problem of employee turnover
and employee absenteeism in Microsoft. This is because they will be more satisfied with their
job and due to this their morale will also be boosted. If there is any change in the technology or
in the working structure of the company than trained employee's will easily adapt those changes.
This will directly help in increasing the profitability and sale of the company. If the profit margin
of the company is increased than the market share will also be increased and it will be easy to
compete with the competitors in the effective and efficient manner. So it can be said that training
and internship will be beneficial for both graduated employee's and for organisation as well.

B) Identification of flexible working arrangement and its benefits to the organisation and its
employee's.
The HR manager of Microsoft is continuously trying to arrange the flexible working
environment in the organisation. So that the skills and talent of the employee's can be used in a
proper order and the organisational and individual goals are achieved. The working arrangement
which can be used by Microsoft is discussed below:
 Job-sharing: Under this method the task of the job is being shared by the two
individuals. This means in this two part time workers shares the responsibilities of the
full time job. This method can be used by Microsoft to boost the career of the employee's.
 Customized working hours- In this method the employee's of Microsoft can be given
the option to choose their working hours according to their flexibility. If this method is
adopted than employee's will perform better.
 Work from home- Under this method the employee's in Microsoft can do their work
from their home. If the employee permanently wants to work from home than this option
can also be given to them. And feedback about the work can be taken through video-
conferencing or through phone calls(Soomro, Shah and Ahmed,2016).
Benefits to Microsoft:
 If proper work arrangements is done in Microsoft than the work can be done in the
coordinated and sequential manner and duplication of work can be avoided easily.
 If the work is properly balanced than the image of Microsoft will be increased and
customers will be satisfied with the company's product or service.
Benefits to Employee's:
 Employee's will be comfortable in working in the organisation because they can choose
their working hours according to their flexibility. So they will give better outcome.
 Health and safety plans can be given to the employee's. So than they can feel safe while
working in the organisation.
C) Analysis of employee's motivation done by Microsoft with the help of job roles.
It is very much necessary for Microsoft to motivate its employee's through various job
roles. So that they can help in achieving the desired position of the company. Methods of
motivating employee's of Microsoft are discussed below:

 Reward- Rewards can be given to the employee's for good work done. By this method
the employee's of Microsoft will be encouraged and motivated to work better. Rewards
can be monetary reward or non monetary rewards. Some individual's in Microsoft might
get motivate with monetary reward benefit while some with non monetary reward.
 Recognition- Employee's in Microsoft may also get motivate with the desire of being
recognized. If the employee's are appraised and recognized for the good work done than
the individual will automatically get motivated to perform even better.
 Training and development- If Microsoft wants to motivate its employee's than the
company can arrange training and development programmes for its employee's. So that
their skills and knowledge is increased and they are motivated to work in a desired
manner.
TASK 4
A) Defining employee engagement and its importance for effective employee relation in the
organisation.
Employee's engagement means encouraging people to be committed towards their work.
So that the goals of the employee and Microsoft is achieved. It is also concerned with providing
appropriate working conditions to the employees so that they perform even better(Welch and
Björkman,2015). Employee engagement simply means building trust, communication and
commitment among the employee's in the organisation. Importance of employee engagement for
effective employee relation is discussed below:
 Customer satisfaction- If the employee is properly engaged in the work of the
organisation and if the employee is loyal towards their work than they will be able to give
better services to the customers. The customers will be satisfied with the products and
services of Microsoft because the employee's know how they are expected to work.
 Increases the productivity: Employee engagement will directly lead to increase in
productivity of Microsoft . It is seen that if the employees are engaged in their work than
they will definitely help in increasing the overall productivity of the company. Increase in
employee engagement will make the employees feel that they are valuable to the
company.

So it can be said that employee engagement will definitely help in achieving the goals of
Microsoft.
B) Evaluate key approaches of engaging workers and their benefit in improving communication
Employee engagement is taking care of the needs of the employees in the organisation
and motivating them so that they are satisfied with their job. Employee engagement will
facilitate better communication in Microsoft. The chances of misunderstanding and
miscommunication will be altered directly. The tools for employee engagement are discussed
below:
Yammer ( connect and engage across your organisation)- This will help in improving
and maintaining the relation with other employees in the organisation. This means involving the
employees in the decision making process of Microsoft. So that better results can be drawn from
them(Smith,2016).
Microsoft stream- In this the method the information is communicated with the
employees through videos. So that they learn better and perform the assigned task keeping in
mind the goals and objectives of Microsoft.
Microsoft teams- In this method the group of people share information with each other.
The information is related to the task assigned to them.
C) Element associated with employee legislation and its influence on HR decisions
Occupational health and safety act, 1974- This act says that the health and safety of the
employees must be taken into consideration by the organisation. It is the duty of the organisation
to provide the safety measures to the employees.
Civil rights, 1998- This act safeguards the right of the employees from the discrimination
on the basis of gender, caste, creed, religion, etc. The HR manager must follow the laws in the
proper manner. So that the exploitation of the employees is not done. If these laws are not
followed than employees will not be satisfied with their work and this may lead to employee
turnover.

CONCLUSION
From the above given report it has been concluded that Human Resource is the most
important part in any organisation. If the HR does not performs the task in the proper manner
than goals will not be achieved and their will be miscommunication in the organisation. Proper
selection methods can be used by the organisation. And the laws and regulations of the
companies must be followed in the proper manner. So that employee's are satisfied and give
maximum output.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arnaboldi, M., Lapsley, I. and Steccolini, I., 2015. Performance management in the public
sector: The ultimate challenge. Financial Accountability & Management. 31(1). pp.1-
22.
Askenazy, P. and Forth, J., 2016. Work organisation and human resource management: does
context matter?. In Comparative Workplace Employment Relations (pp. 141-177).
Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Beer, M., Boselie, P. and Brewster, C., 2015. Back to the future: Implications for the field of
HRM of the multistakeholder perspective proposed 30 years ago. Human Resource
Management. 54(3). pp.427-438.
Bogner, M. S., 2018. Human error in medicine. CRC Press.
Budhwar, P., Tung, R. L., and et. al., 2017. Developments in human resource management in
MNCs from BRICS nations: A review and future research agenda. Journal of
International Management. 23(2). pp.111-123.
Chadwick, C., Super, J. F. and Kwon, K., 2015. Resource orchestration in practice: CEO
emphasis on SHRM, commitment‐based HR systems, and firm performance. Strategic
Management Journal. 36(3). pp.360-376.
Harney, B. and Trehy, J., 2016. Resource-based view. In Encyclopedia of Human Resource
Management. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Liebowitz, J. and Frank, M. eds., 2016. Knowledge management and e-learning. CRC press.
Ross, J. E., 2017. Total quality management: Text, cases, and readings. Routledge.
Sharp, J. A., Peters, J. and Howard, K., 2017. The management of a student research project.
Routledge.
Smith, A., 2016. Experiential learning. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Soomro, Z. A., Shah, M. H. and Ahmed, J., 2016. Information security management needs more
holistic approach: A literature review. International Journal of Information
Management. 36(2). pp.215-225.
Welch, D. and Björkman, I., 2015. The place of international human resource management in
international business. Management International Review. 55(3). pp.303-322.
Online:
Employment law. 2019. [Online] Available Through :
<https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/emp-law>
The Employee Engagement Summit. 2018. [Online] Available Through :
<https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2018/03/20/improve-employee-
engagement-in-the-modern-workplace-the-employee-engagement-summit/>