Human Resource Management Practices and Decision Making

This assignment delves into the realm of Human Resource Management (HRM), focusing on practices and decision-making processes that influence employee performance and engagement. It highlights key elements of employee legislation, which in turn affect organizational productivity and efficiency. The document draws from various sources, including books, journals, and online resources, to provide a comprehensive understanding of HRM practices and their implications for business operations.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
a) Purpose of HR functions and its importance to the company............................................1
b) Selection methods used by an concerned organisation along with their strengths and
weaknesses.............................................................................................................................3
c) Two potential improvements to enhance the selection process of an organisation............4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
a) Person specification for the role.........................................................................................5
b) Advantages and disadvantages of current methods of advertising jobs in the company...6
c) Recommendation for job advert for receptionist vacancy to be placed.............................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
a) Benefits of graduate training and internships to Microsoft and associated workforce......7
b) Identification of flexible working arrangement and its benefits to both Microsoft and its
employees...............................................................................................................................8
c) Analyse how Microsoft motivates its workforce through job roles.................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
a) Define the term employee engagement and its importance in sustaining effective employee
relation..................................................................................................................................11
b) Critically evaluate key approaches of engaging workers and their benefit in improving
communication within workplace........................................................................................12
c) Key elements associated with UK employment legislation and its on HR decisions such as
recruitment............................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCE ................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is defined as a strategic approach which assists in effective
management of individuals within an organisation. This benefits the company in gaining
competitive advantage. Main role of HR department is to recruit, hire and train capable
employees. This management approach benefits in maximizing the performance of employees so
that strategic objectives of the firm can be achieved desirably (Glendon and Clarke, 2015). The
present assignment is written in context with Chocolate presence which is a UK based
organisation, headquartered in North Yorkshire. Company offers chocolates, greeting cards and
presents across UK. This report will include purpose of HR function and its importance in
relation to firm. Strengths and weaknesses associated with different selection methods are
discussed. Beside this, a person specification is prepared along with merits and demerits of
advertising jobs. Benefits of training schemes and internships to Microsoft and employees is
mentioned. Also, techniques to motivate workers, importance of employee engagement, key
approaches to engage workers and important employee legislations are mentioned in an
appropriate manner.
TASK 1
a) Purpose of HR functions and its importance to the company
In every business organisations, HR department have some specific functions. These
functions assists the company in sustaining a smooth and healthy working environment. All HR
functions posses some distinct purposes which supports the company in achieving their desired
objectives. In respect with chocolate presence, some HR functions along with their purpose and
importance are mentioned below:
 Training and development: This is an indispensable function which is associated with
HR management. Main purpose behind this HR function is to improve the current and
futuristic performances of the workers by enhancing their capabilities. This will helps
them in performing good even in difficult and complex situations. This HR function will

benefits the company in gaining competitive advantage over rival and competitors as
employees will be efficient in performing different kind of tasks in a desired manner.
 Managing employee relations: It is another important function of human resource
department in Chocolate presence. To maintain a healthy work environment, it is very
important for managers and employees of company to share a positive realtion with each
other. Main purpose of this function is to enhance the trust and compatibility among
workers and between workers & management. Having good relation with workforce will
benefit the company in increasing the coordination level of employees. Due to this, all
business activities and operations will be completed within expected time. This will
helps in enhancing the revenues and profitability of company (Lasserre, 2017).
 Staffing needs: Main function of HR department is to recruit and train employees so
that all organisational work can be performed appropriately. It involves vacant position
announcements that identifies job duties and skills required for that particular position.
Along with this, HR department is responsible for conducting interviews and
administering tests so that no rules will be violated during selection. Purpose behind this
function is to hire capable and knowledgeable employees which will be expertise in their
interested fields. This will benefits the company in performing business activities in an
efficient manner due to which profitability and revenues of firm will enhance.
Current problems:
Company is facing several issues associated with workforce like employee turnover,
degraded work quality, in-transparency during selection processes etc. that impacts the working
environment of company in a negative manner. To resolve these issues in an appropriate manner,
management of company us required to interact with employees so that their grievances can be
acknowledged properly (Buttimer and Seamon, 2015). By this, it will became easy for HR
department to find effective solutions. It is the responsibility of HR manager in Chocolate
presence to convey these problems to HR department so that desired solutions can be adopted.
By this, problem of employee turnover will be solved. To resolve issues associated with selection
process, company has decided to introduce an open discussion round where skills and
capabilities of candidates will be acknowledged without any partiality.
Future plans:

Future plan of company is to encourage their workforce by offering them benefits and
rewards in accordance with their performance. By this, workers will try to deliver their best
performance and try to improve their skills so that standardised services can be offered to the
customers. Skilled workforce will benefits the company in gaining competitive advantage over
rival companies
b) Selection methods used by an concerned organisation along with their strengths and
weaknesses
There are different selection methods which a firm can adopt to recruit and hire skilled
workforce. These selection methods have different procedures and aspects. In case of Chocolate
presence, company has decided to select desired candidates on the basis of assessment test and
interview. The assessment test will be based on English comprehension and mathematics
questions. By this, knowledge level of applicants will be acknowledged. Applicants achieving
more than 50% will be called for interview process. This will be the main selection stage where
an informal chat will take place among the interviewer and interviewee. Strengths and
weaknesses associated with interview process are mentioned beneath:
Strength and weaknesses of interviews
Strengths Weaknesses
 The major strength of the interviews is
the independent sharing of idea and
opinion to engages the person be active
towards its knowledge and level of
judgement to be get selected.
 Interview has been resulted into sharing
of the wide information over the self or
knowledge which the person is aware
about.
 It basically lets interviewee be in
situation to avoid his/her skills and
abilities for the job. Thus, it would
results into the selection of wrong
person or candidates.
 The chances of conflicts or rejection
will be higher and affective to the
person.
Strengths and weakness of assessment tests

Strengths Weaknesses
 With the help of this selection
procedure, candidates will be forced to
demonstrate their academic and
professional knowledge in a proper
manner.
 Recruitment panel can provide better
feedback to the clients as under these
tests, a candidate can either be write,
wrong or partially right. By getting
right feedback from selection panel,
desired improvements can be carried
out which will assist in attaining
futuristic opportunity for candidates.
 These assessment tests posses less
effective predictive quality as
candidates will be judged in accordance
with pre-determined conditions and in a
limited time.
 There are different situations in which a
desired applicant get confused and
anxious while attempting assessment
tests, due to which they became unable
to deliver their best performance. This
is disadvantageous for both candidates
and workforce, as company will not be
able to select a suitable candidate.
c) Two potential improvements to enhance the selection process of an organisation
There are various issues within the selection process which is adopted by the concerned
company. Below are mentioned some improvements that will benefits the HR team to improve
selection process:
 It is recommended to the HR team of Chocolate presence to initiate written tests. These
tests will include questions regarding the job position for which candidates have applied.
By this, it will be easily acknowledged if the applying candidate is suitable for the job
position or not. Desired candidates will pass the written test and then HR manager of
company can call them for further rounds.
 Another issue associated with the selection process is that Company directly takes
interview of candidates without checking their prior knowledge regrading the vacant
position. Due to which selecting desired candidate takes a lot of time. Along with this,
other resources such as money and technology is also wasted on those candidates which
are not suitable for job. In this regard, company can pursue telephonic interview as a first

round. In this way, only desired candidate will be called for final interview process.
(Ross, 2017).
 This chocolate company must use of structured interviews and psychometric test to select
most suitable employees into the process of hiring as well as led affective selection at the
greater period of time. Psychometric test is useful to check person's mental capabilities
and physical status in case of any deficiency.
TASK 2
a) Person specification for the role
Person specification
Post : Receptionist
Department:Finance
Key evidence required:
(A): Application form, (I): Interview, (R): Role
Requirements
Skills  Efficient analytical and research skill. Along with the
ability to gather, manage and analyse different kinds of
data in a desired manner.
 Capable to book and manage meeting schedules along
with greeting guests properly.
 Offering desired customer service support
 Capable to perform different tasks within shorter
timespan.
Education qualification  Must be fluent in English and Spanish.
 Must be graduate or post graduate in Finance.
Key task  Book meetings
 Managing records of visitors and guests
 Answering all work related phone calls
 Interacting and communicating with receptionist of
other departments

Responsibility for
equipment
 Proper care of IT facilities, telephone and computers.
 Ordering refreshments and taking care of sitting
equipments.
.
 Allocation of visitor badges and the attendance
log.
b) Advantages and disadvantages of current methods of advertising jobs in the company
At present there are two methods which are used by the company to advertise regarding
their vacant jobs. These are internal and external advertising methods. These methods have some
advantages and disadvantages which are mentioned beneath:
Internal advertisement method
Advantage:
 This advertising method is cheaper and less time consuming as compared with external
advertising. This is because in this method, advertising is carried out within workplace
only due to which less capital will be spend.
 Job description and other applications can be easily circulated within entire organisation
with the help of intranet.
Disadvantage:
 Pool of interested applicants will be smaller as compared to the situation if advertisement
will be carried out externally (Govindan and et. al., 2014).
 Opportunity to hire skilled and capable candidates will be lost as people from already
existing staff will be hired to fill vacant job.
External advertisement method: This method involves advertisement on the noticeboard
outside the company. With the help of this, skilled and capable workforce can be hired that can
also help the exiting workforce in improving their working tactics.
Advantage:
 It is a good method to promote the products and services offered by company to millions
of people. Concerned company can take advantage of external advertisement to place job

advert so that desired candidate can be selected along with enhancing the reputation of
company within marketplace.
 As applicant pool will be high due to external advertising, only suitable and skilled
candidates will be hired.
Disadvantage:
 This advertising method can impact the working atmosphere in Chocolate presence as
already working staff will feel insecure due to new recruitments. This can results in
reduced overall working productivity within the firm.
 People hired through external advertising will take more time to learn working pattern of
company rather than those already existing workforce. Due to this, working performance
of company can reduce (Donate and de Pablo, 2015).
c) Recommendation for job advert for receptionist vacancy to be placed
Chocolate presence can use both kind of methods to advertise regarding vacant job
position. But external advertising will be most appropriate method. As this method will allow the
company to choose a desired candidate form a pool of applicants which posses some knowledge
related to the position which is vacant. In external advertising, the most suitable way by which
company can advertise itself is social media. This platform is used by millions of people due to
which it will became easy for the company to advertise about themselves. This process is less
time consuming and capital required will also be less. There are different websites and
applications within social media that will helps the HR manager to place advertisement properly
such as Facebook, LinkedIn etc. Apart from this, company can use job site advertisement and
local newspaper. This involves the high cost, but this way is convenient to make inform more
and more people regarding the job openings. Importance associated with social media is
specified below:
 Reduced advertising cost: Recruiting is a costly process and requires sufficient amount
of money. In present time, almost every individual is linked with social media due to
which it is easy for company to promote and advertise themselves without spending
much amount as vacancies can be shared to million of people without spending any cost.
 Enhanced job visibility: Social networks are used by million of people. When HR team
of Chocolate presence will place advertisement, in that case large number of people will

get to know about it and apply for the vacant post. Due to this, desired candidate will be
selected out of large pool of applicants.
TASK 3
a) Benefits of graduate training and internships to Microsoft and associated workforce
Company is offering training schemes and internships programs to the young graduates
and aspiring candidates so that their knowledge & skill level can be improved appreciably. Main
objective of Microsoft is to motivate each their workforce in a desired manner so that
competitive advantage over rival companies can be achieved appropriately. Company emphasize
on the fact that expectations of people and objectives of the company can influences the entire
world with the introduction of new and innovative technology. With the help of these training
and internship programs company is motivating working staff so that they can perform their
business operations in a confident manner.
This will assists in achieving expected revenues and profitability to the company. If
proper training will be given to employees then they will feel more comfortable in performing
their duties due to which issues like employee turnover will be reduced and employees will
prefer to retain more within company. These training sessions and internship programs will
supports the young gradates in transforming their academic knowledge into professional skills
that will results them in sustaining a stable future career. If hired employee will be skilled and
capable, this will benefits the company in gaining competitive advantage over those companies
which are operating in same sector. By this, popularity and brand image of company will
enhance that will helps in earning high revenues and profit margins (Kim, Kumar and Kumar,
2012). Hence, it can be seen that internships and training programs will benefits both hired
graduates and organisational in an appropriate manner. For example, if Microsoft is working on a
project in which company is planning to develop a new software that will be allow different
users to communicate one another either through video call or voice call, according to their
convenience. Preparing this software will require different specifications, codes and language
implementation. If the workforce will not be given appropriate training about these aspects, it
will not be possible for company to prepare this software. Providing training to hired graduates
will enhance organisational productivity as work will be accomplished in a timely manner.

b) Identification of flexible working arrangement and its benefits to both Microsoft and its
employees
Microsoft is a renowned software company that has gained name and fame worldwide.
To sustain a healthy working environment within workplace, HR manager of the company have
initiated different programs and policies so that skills & capabilities of workforce can be
enhanced. Flexible working arrangement which can be adopted by Microsoft are mentioned
below:
 Flextime: It is considered as one of the most popular flexible work option for both
workers and employers. In this arrangement, workers can set their own starting and
ending time under the limits which are specified by the management.
 Job-sharing: In this arrangement, working responsibilities and duties of a single
position are shared by two people. It is considered as a part-time work with
responsibilities of a full time job. This will benefits the workers in Microsoft to sustain a
good career along with giving priority times to their family, personal life and other daily
based activities.
 Compressed work-week arrangements: This flexible working arrangement will allow
the workers to work for less than 40 hours within five days. This means in each week,
four days working for 10 hours. Other advantages that will be given to Microsoft
employees will be extra day off and less commuting expanses (Grichnik and et. al.,
2014). This will enhance their working productivity as they will perform well in hope of
getting relaxation during remaining days.
Other working arrangements that can be provided by company to the employees can be
secure and healthy work environment, balanced professional life, workers engagement in
business operations, offering rewards and vouchers etc.
Benefits to Microsoft:
 Attainment of objectives: Due to flexible working arrangements, employees will feel
more comfortable and connected with the company while performing their business
operations. This will encourage them to work in an efficient manner so that company can
attain its goals and objectives without facing any complexities.

 Increased productivity: As employees feel satisfied with the benefits and advantages
given to them due to flexible working hours, they give their best potential due to which
overall working productivity of the company has increased.
Benefit to employees:
 Increased working morale: Company is offering advantages like flextime, job sharing,
compressed work-week arrangement etc. to the employees. Due to this, they will feel
more comfortable I performing their work duties. This will enhance their working morale
and they will retain in company for a long time.
 Time away: Due to flexible working hours, employees in Microsoft are able to enjoy
time with their near and dear ones. Flexible working hours allow the workforce in
Microsoft to manage work form home. Due to which, they can work according to their
comfortableness.
 Care for family: These flexible working hours benefits the workers in working
according to their choice. They can choose working hours as per their situation due to
which they get sufficient time to spend with their family at the time of festivals,
occasions and illness.
c) Analyse how Microsoft motivates its workforce through job roles
The main emphasize of Microsoft company is to bring employees closer by adopting
healthy work practices. Company is using different ways to encourage their workforce so that the
employees can perform their work by effective means. For example, To understand the manner
in which Microsoft can motivate its workforce through job roles, role of integrated marketing
Manager is considered.
Roles and responsibilities:
Role of IMM is to drive execution and development of Area marketing plan. Also, IMM
will be responsible for augmenting and implementing marketing strategies in global context so
that welfare of employees along with organisational goals can be achieved simultaneously.
Integrated marketing manager will be given the work to lead the team of local marketing
stakeholders, partner marketing advisors, Product marketing manager etc. along with sales and
segment team. Another responsibility of integrated marketing manager is to understand sales
organisation priorities, professional passion and key focus area so that modern marketing
techniques can be adopted considerably.

Qualification:
To be an integrated marketing manager in Microsoft, an individual needs to have
experiences related with connected sales and marketing. Strong understanding of motivation and
sales priority is needed. Beside this, strong leadership presence is must so that subordinates can
be guided in a desired manner.
As mission of Microsoft is to empower employees working within and outside company,
some of the measures adopted by company to motivate employee working at the position of
integrated marketing manager are mentioned below:
 Resources and scales offered by Microsoft to their employees empower them in utilising
their capabilities and skills in a desired manner. In Microsoft, employees are given work
in accordance with their qualification and ability due to which they deliver their best
performance.
 Company values skill-set and talent of its employees due to which workforce in
Microsoft is given the freedom to explore new concepts and ideas. This freedom
motivates them in working hard so that their talent and skill-set can enhance further.
 Microsoft offers training and development sessions to their workforce and new graduates
which helps in improving their skills and capabilities. Due to this, workforce feel more
motivated and perform their business activities in a desired manner.
 Company ensures that their working staff will works in safe and healthy work
environment. Microsoft initiate some safety and development programs in which new
schemes such as free check-up, company outings and visits will be offered to employees.
Due to this employees feel mentally & emotionally stable and feel motivated in
performing business activities.
 Microsoft offer its employees the opportunities to connect and network with different
individuals and organisation so that they can enhance their experience and professional
skills. This motivates them in performing their best performance even in complex
situations.

TASK 4
a) Define the term employee engagement and its importance in sustaining effective employee
relation
Employee engagement is defined as a workplace approach which results in providing
right conditions for all employees within the firm. Appropriately engaged employees will be able
to deliver their best performance which will benefits Microsoft in gaining competitive advantage
over rival organisations. Employee engagement is associated with integrity, trust, integration,
communication and commitment of workers towards the goals and achievements of company.
Importance of employee relation in sustaining effective employee relation is mentioned below:
 Enhanced productivity: High engagement among employees of company will benefits
the firm in enhancing the overall productivity. As per a research, it can be stated that the
engaged employees are around 20% more productive than those employees which are not
properly engaged in their work. High engagement will make them feel more value able
due to which employees will deliver their best performance and high productivity will be
achieved (Waller and Fawcett, 2013).
 Increased customer satisfaction: If workers are appropriately engaged with work and
other employees then it will be easy for them to perform their business activities and
operations in a desired manner. This means that they will be able to cater the needs and
demands of customers in an appropriate manner.
b) Critically evaluate key approaches of engaging workers and their benefit in improving
communication within workplace
Employee engagement refers to a term that is used to know whether employee is satisfied
by the job or not. An engaged employee is motivated towards achieving organisational goals and
objectives. Employee engagement reflects the level of commitment that an individual has
towards a common goal that is in line with company's mission and vision. Employees who fell
valued are known to be engaged employees and these people have a clear view of objective and
goals of the organisation. There are several tools that are used to drive employee engagement,
team work and open communication in the modern workplace. Some of these tools are described
below-

Yammer ( Connect and engage people across your organisation) Yammer helps in
improving relation among employees of the organisation. According to this individuals are
involved in similar activities like discussions similar on topics, areas or interests. It helps in
achieving better outcomes by gathering views and feedback from other colleagues.
Microsoft stream ( communicate and inspire with intelligent video) In this approach
employees are shown videos of trainings, communication and they share information with others.
It involves creating of videos and sharing them across entire organisation.
Sharepoint (The mobile,intelligent intranet) It consists of engaging employees with
news of dynamic pages and beautiful sites.
Microsoft teams ( The hub for teamwork) This involves communication between
colleagues through persistent chats and sharing files with each other.
All these approaches help in developing communication between employees and creating a
motivating environment for employees to work (Keupp, Palmié and Gassmann, 2012).
c) Key elements associated with UK employment legislation and its on HR decisions such as
recruitment
Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1974: Occupational health and safety
administration governed this law and this act require companies to develop an organisational
culture which protects the workers from unsafe work environment.
Equality Act, 2010: Employee protection is a simple legal framework. This Act of UK
government, protects the employees from workplace discriminations towards age, religion,
pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, sex etc. This Act replaces different pieces of
outdated legislation.
The HR manager takes care of providing security of health in the organisation and at the
time of recruitment this is ensured. Management takes care of providing non discriminative
environment at workplace (Alvesson and Sandberg, 2013). Several trainings are given to
employees and staff to make employees feel valued and committed within the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above specified report it is analysed that Human resource management is an
essential part for the effectiveness of company. There are different HR functions and purpose at
workplace. Different companies uses selection process which are convenient to them for
selection of the best candidate for their organisation. HR decision making is influenced by

employee performance and engagement. There are several key elements of employee legislation
and they also impact the decision making of HRM. Human resource practices are followed in
organisations to improve productivity and efficiency.

REFERENCE
Books and Journals
Glendon, A. I. and Clarke, S., 2015. Human safety and risk management: A psychological
perspective. Crc Press.
Lasserre, P., 2017. Global strategic management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Buttimer, A. and Seamon, D., 2015. The human experience of space and place. Routledge.
Byrnes, W. J., 2014. Management and the Arts. Focal Press.
Ross, J. E., 2017. Total quality management: Text, cases, and readings. Routledge.
Govindan, K. and et. al., 2014. Barriers analysis for green supply chain management
implementation in Indian industries using analytic hierarchy process. International
Journal of Production Economics. 147. pp.555-568.
Donate, M. J. and de Pablo, J. D. S., 2015. The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in
knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research. 68(2).
pp.360-370.
Kim, D. Y., Kumar, V. and Kumar, U., 2012. Relationship between quality management
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Grichnik, D. and et. al., 2014. Beyond environmental scarcity: Human and social capital as
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326.
Post, J. and Preston, L. E., 2012. Private management and public policy: The principle of public
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Waller, M. A. and Fawcett, S. E., 2013. Data science, predictive analytics, and big data: a
revolution that will transform supply chain design and management. Journal of
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Keupp, M. M., Palmié, M. and Gassmann, O., 2012. The strategic management of innovation: A
systematic review and paths for future research. International Journal of Management
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Alvesson, M. and Sandberg, J., 2013. Has management studies lost its way? Ideas for more
imaginative and innovative research. Journal of Management Studies. 50(1). pp.128-
152.
Subramanian, N. and Ramanathan, R., 2012. A review of applications of Analytic Hierarchy
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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/>