Human Resource Management: Functions, Recruitment, Benefits, and Employee Relations at McDonald's

This report analyzes the functions and purposes of Human Resource Management at McDonald's, strengths and weaknesses of recruitment and selection, benefits of HRM practices for employees and employers, and the importance of employee relations in influencing HRM decision making. It also discusses the impact of HRM practices on organizational productivity and profit, and the key components of employment legislation. The report is based on the case study of McDonald's, an American fast food company.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
P1 Identify the various purpose and functions of Human Resource Management that are
applicable in workforce planning and resourcing an organization. .......................................4
P2 Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches of recruitment and
selection. ..............................................................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3 Identify about the benefits of various HRM practices for the employees as well as
employer of an organisation ..................................................................................................7
P4 Assess the effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational
productivity and profit............................................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5 Analyse the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision
making....................................................................................................................................9
P6 Identify about the key components of employment legislation and its impact upon the
HRM decision making.........................................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P7 Illustrate the application of HRM practices in a work related context along with some
examples...............................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management can be defined in a manner that it is a kind of strategic
approach for the efficient and effective management of people in a company or organisation
such that they help their business in gaining a competitive advantage. For achieving employer's
strategic objectives it is designed for purpose of maximizing employees performance in terms of
service. In this report, the analysis has been done on functions and purpose of HRM which is
applicable on resourcing and workforce planning and also on strengths and weaknesses of
approaches towards recruitment and selection(Waxin, M. F. and Bateman, R. E., 2016). The
analysis has also been done on the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation
and also on effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational
productivity. The research has been done on the importance of employee relations with respect to
influencing HRM decision making. The research has also been done on the elements of
employment legislation. The chosen organisation is McDonald's. It is an American fast food
company which was founded in the year of 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and
Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California, United States.
TASK 1
P1 Identify the various purpose and functions of Human Resource Management that are
applicable in workforce planning and resourcing an organization.
Human resource management performs various kinds functions at McDonald's company
and it's purpose at organisational level is that to coordinate people within an organisation in order
to achieve the goals of the organisation.
There are various kinds of functions performed by Human resource management at McDonald's
has been discussed into following manner:
 Recruitment and selection: It is an important function which is performed at an
organisational level. In order to invite applications for job, recruitment and selection
process at McDonald's will involve the organisation to attract various candidates
towards the organisation.

For purpose of attracting large number of job applicants it is very important that organisation
should have good image in the market. It is necessary for the human resource management to
attract right number of people at right period of time on the correct place with accurate skills.
Human resource management major role is that to select the best employees having the highest
potential from the pool of recruited candidates in order to fulfil requirements and needs of the
organisation.
 Performance Management: It is a very important task that needs to be performed at
the organisational level. The performance management at McDonald's will allow the
organisation to assess the performance of their employees. It is necessary to consider at
organisational level as well as make sure that the employees are fully productive and
engaged within an organisation. In order to assess performance of the employees there
are various performance management tools that can be used by the organisation such as
360 degree feedback.
 Development and learning: It is one of the important aspects that are performed by
human resource management of an organisation. It is the major responsibility of human
resource management to assess the skills and train the employees accordingly at
McDonald's in order to accomplish the organisational goals. In order to develop skills of
individual based on their calibre there can be various kinds of on and off job trainings.
 Career Planning: One of the function of human resource management is that to guide
their employees according to their futuristic approach. The employees has been guided
in such a manner that how the ambitions of employees can align with the goals of
McDonald's in order to retain the employees in the organisation. Career planning
facilitates about better productivity of the organisation and also builds it's image as a
strong employer.
 Human Resource Planning: The human resource management at McDonald's aims to
plan the needs of organisation and various kinds of needs of organisation that needs to
be considered by human resource management at McDonald's. In order to accomplish
goals of organisation, the number of people required in organisation along with the
quality of workers is necessary for an organisation.

P2 Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches of recruitment and selection.
Recruitment and Selection: It is basically a process of attracting the candidates in order
to apply for the job into a specific organisation. In order to recruit the employees, there are
various kinds of approaches that can be followed by an organisation and the approaches that can
be followed by McDonald's in order to recruit employees for organisation are internal
recruitment and external recruitment. Selection can be defined in a manner that it is a kind of
process of choosing the recruited applicant with the highest potential for the job role in an
organisation. The strengths and weaknesses of both kinds of approaches has been discussed into
following manner:
Internal Recruitment: The concept of internal recruitment can be defined in a manner that an
employee with highest potential is hired for the position from the already existing employees of
the organisation. In this type of recruitment, employees either voluntarily applies for the job or
can be recommended by the higher authorities for the organisation(Suen, H. Y. and Chang, H. L.,
2017). The various kinds of methods for internal recruitment that can be used by McDonald's
are transfers and promotions. Promotion is a kind of process wherein the organisation retain the
employees and enhances skills of the employees by offering them a higher post. Transfer is
basically the advancement of skill in a lateral manner where they do not have higher
responsibilities.
Advantages of internal recruitment:
 McDonald's require less time to recruit employees internally as compared to external
recruitment.
 It has been observed that when an organisation opt for internal recruitment then
requirement for training is less as compared to external recruitment. In this way, it will
help McDonald's to save efforts of training and cost related to it.
Disadvantages of internal recruitment:
 This type of recruitment will vacant the backfill position at McDonald's if the
organisation chooses internal recruitment hence it will again require the need to fill the
vacant position.

 This type of recruitment shuts down the opportunities for outsiders. This act as
disadvantage for people as well as McDonald's as an organisation too.
External Recruitment: External recruitment refers to that process wherein the employees are
hired from the outside of an organisation and also the motive of organisation is that to recruit the
employees who have better and appropriate skills in order to perform in a suitable manner at the
organisation(Shahibi, and et.al., 2016). In order to recruit the employees, there are various
external methods that can be adopted by McDonald's which includes Job fairs, campus
placements, employment exchanges, print media, advertisements etc.
Advantages of external recruitment:
 External recruitment is that type of recruitment which opens the opportunities for
outsiders that will help McDonald's to experience fresh talents.
 This type of recruitment has been done through campus and educational institutes support
which will help the organisation to add value in their brand names in terms of talent
acquisition.
Disadvantages of external recruitment:
 This type of recruitment puts the organisation at risk level as the organisation is not
acquainted with actual performance of the employees.
 This type of recruitment can also leads towards to workplace resentment. The existing
employees feels jealousy in that situation when the higher post is filled by an outsider.
TASK 2
P3 Identify about the benefits of various HRM practices for the employees as well as employer
of an organisation
With respect to aspects of individuals the human resource management can be defined in
a manner that which defines the attitudes, expectations and value of an organisation. The policies
and practices related to HRM benefits the employees as well as employers(Sang, H. W., 2015).
The benefits of HRM practices for the employees as well as employer of McDonald's has been
discussed into following manner:
Benefits to the employer
 In order to accomplish goals of an organisation, human resource practices at McDonald's
will help the employer to assess the man power requirements

 In order to recruit the employees further, human resource practices help the employees in
preparing job description which can suit the needs of an organisation.
 Policies related to human resource help the employer to assess performance of the
employees and motivate them to perform in a better way in terms of alignment of goals of
the organisation.
 Policies related to human resource of McDonald's will help the employer in developing
an appropriate process of working and creating a culture at organisational level which
will help the employees in terms of motivation for smooth functioning of an organisation.
Benefits to the employee
 For resolving conflicts at organisational level, human resource practices will help the
employees of McDonald's(Ozuem, and et.al., 2016). The HRM practices which will
help the employees to avoid conflicts which will takes place between an employee and
employer or in between employee and employee.
 In order to accomplish goals at an individual level, human resource practices will help the
employees to work into a suitable manner.
 Policies related to human resource will help the employees at McDonald's to get trained
and acquainted with the work culture of organisation.
 The various kinds of policies related to human resource of McDonald's will safeguard
the interests of employees and save them from exploitations at workplace.
P4 Assess the effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational
productivity and profit
To enhance productivity and profits of an organisation, the human resource management
practices help the organisation in context of it(Lucas, and et.al., 2016). The effectiveness of
HRM policies in terms of McDonald's which will contribute towards the growth and profits
which has been explained into following manner:
 Goals alignment: Policies related to human resource management will help the
employees of McDonald's to align their individual goals in terms of organisational goals.
Through this way, it will help the organisation to increase its profits and productivity for
McDonald's.

 Work environment: In terms of employee productivity, work environment plays a very
crucial role where positive environment and culture majorly contributes in improving
performance of employees of McDonald's into productive manner. The happy
environment will motivate the employees to perform in a better manner and also have a
positive impact on the productivity and performance of McDonald's .
 Concept of innovation: For performing in a better manner, the application of creativity
and innovation in an organisation will help the organisation. High probability of better
performance has been observed in those situations where the employees are free to
perform their tasks into an innovative manner(Lee, K. J., 2018). Sometimes employees
get demotivated in those situations to perform in a better manner due to orthodox
approach of an organisation. To increase profits and productivity, the innovative concepts
in accordance with HR practices will help McDonald's for this purpose.
 Engagement: For having better productivity, organisation have an aim in terms of
human resource management to increase the employment engagement. For retaining
employees its important that an organisation have better employee engagement. With
better productivity and profits in an organisation, it will help the organisation in reducing
the cost of hiring. In the similar manner, human resource practices will help McDonald's
to attain better employee engagement which will further leads towards increased
productivity and profits.
TASK 3
P5 Analyse the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision
making.
Employee relation has been defined in a manner that it is a process of executing and
improving the working condition of the employees along with ensuring better employee
connections at the workplace. During process of decision making, employee relations plays a
very crucial role at McDonald's(Khan, Y., 2018). The effectiveness of employee relation with
respect to influencing human resource management decision making at McDonald's has been
discussed into following manner:
 Correspondence: It is necessary for the business to provide essential information to their
representatives so that they keep informed about key activities of an organisation.

McDonald's will pass the data to their applicants regarding the activities performed at the
organisation. Regarding the activities performed at the organization McDonald's will pass
the data to their applicants(Hughes, J. C., 2018). With respect to fresh start of
employment force, it will allow the McDonald's to convey the information. Client
relation become automatically better when employee relations are good at the
organisational level. In this way, it will help the employees of McDonald's to work in
accordance with the standards set.
 Great Profit: To make sure that their employees are in quite proper condition it is
important that an organisation ensure about it. In order to have better performance,
McDonald's aims to provide a better workplace to their employees with better and
enhanced techniques. In this way, it will help McDonald's to maintain better relations
with their employees.
 Approach: With better employment opportunities, employee relations help the employees
to hold to an organisation. For purpose of enhancing performance at the organisation it is
important that McDonald's will drive their employees. The approach can be followed in
this manner that by increasing their pay so that employee relations can be maintained into
proper manner, by issuing employee bonus, motivation of forces and also promoting their
employees.
P6 Identify about the key components of employment legislation and its impact upon the HRM
decision making
With respect to organisation and industry, it is very important for the organisation to
comply with the various guidelines and legislations. For further keeping it safe from the law
suites and also these are important in order to establish a better image of the organisation. There
are various legislations which are mandatory for McDonald's and needs to be followed into
proper manner which includes The minimum wages act, disability discrimination act, equal pay
act and the employment rights act(Dolors Celma-Benaiges, and et.al., 2016). These are
necessary for McDonald's in order to facilitate suitable and proper decision-making at the
organisation. There are various aspects which are appropriate in context of McDonald's are:
 Equal employment opportunity: It states that an organisation needs to treat their
employees into proper and equal manner(Blom, and et.al., 2019). McDonald's must
facilitate equal opportunities to all their employees despite of race, religion, region,

gender, age etc. With respect to equal employment opportunities it is important that an
employee should be treated into fair and equal opportunities.
 Affirmations: It has been observed that equal employment opportunities have an
intention that work needs to be analysed as per the levels and McDonald's need to
provide their employees with affirmative support.
 Income and remuneration: It is necessary for the organisation that to comply with the
work time rules of the organisation. McDonald's have to specify their working hours in a
well specified manner on an advance level. In order to help employees in terms of
suitable work life balance the working hours should be decided in an appropriate manner.
Therefore, through analysis of various employment legislation it can be said that it have a
major impact of HRM decision-making. For the reason being such legislation are to be
considered in respect to provided employment legislation that also reflects towards ethical
practise of the business firm. Under this effective basis are being formulated in respect to deliver
effective approaches to work in a business firm and maintain positive working environment of
the business firm. In context to chosen company i.e., McDonald's managers of the firm takes key
considerations to such employment legislations that in turn develops productive working
environment. Under the concern effective practises are adopted by business firm to deliver best
course of action to comply with organisational goals and objectives.
TASK 4
P7 Illustrate the application of HRM practices in a work related context along with some
examples.
In order to establish its image in the marketplace, the organisation needs to draw attention
in the market from the various stakeholders. At workplace human resource management plays a
very crucial role in the context of job specification(Badejo, A. E., 2015Barnes, and et.al., 2017).
Job specification has been defined in a manner that the qualification which is standardised for an
applicant to apply for the job role whereas job description has been defined in a manner that the
information provided regarding the job role such as location, duties to be performed along with
the responsibilities that will be born by the individual. At the time of joining into an organisation,
the screening has been done by HRM department on the basis of various tests takes place.
The HRM practices in context of McDonald's has been discussed into following manner:

 Workforce Planning: In accordance with the estimation of manpower needs at the
organisation, the HRM of McDonald's aims in terms of that only. The HRM of
McDonald's will have to estimate the number of people with the right skills at the right
time for a specific job. With the best potential in the organisation, the HRM will have to
select the applicant accordingly.
 Training and development: The HRM of McDonald's estimates that the present
potential of an employee based upon their skills and further train them as per the goals
and requirements of the organisation(Backes-Gellner, and et.al., 2016). It will further
leads towards development of employees as well as the organisation.
 Motivation: In order to perform in a proper manner at the organisational level, the HRM
tends to motivate the employees of McDonald's by offering them various financial and
non-financial incentives. Productivity and performance of the organisation in market
depends on the motivation of the employees.
 Digital platforms: HRM plays a very important role in portraying the image of the
organisation upon the various digital platform. The HRM of McDonald's aims to attract
better application for the job roles at the organisation.
 Goals alignment: In the human resource plan, the HRM of McDonald's practices to
align the business goals with respect to their objectives(Arachchige, B. J. and Robertson,
A., 2015). There are various functions performed by human resource management of
McDonald's which includes hiring, selection, recruitment, appraisal, performance
management, training as well as the development of employees at organisational level.
Person's specification – the below mentioned practice includes several factors that provides the
effective knowledge for the candidate in order to approach such job process regard to the
company functions.
Attitude  Be confident
 sociable
 common-sense
Skills  Good communication skills
 Team management skill
Knowledge  Good organisational knowledge

 work practices
 technology adaptation
Experience  Experience of around 3 to 5 year in corporate culture
Job description- The job description includes several detailing regard to the job position as well
as the roles and responsibilities that need to follow by the mentioned employee. Therefore, it
provides the better scenario to the mentioned company in order to get the right personality in
their workplace.
Job title- the job description includes the all the informative data related to the particular jobs.
Through such process the right pool of people can be target in order to recruit them in the
operational working of respective company.
job location- it provides the information regard to the location of the place at which the person
need to come for the interview or selection process.
job summary- the job summary includes all the detailed informations regard to the classified
post that vacant in the company functions. As through such process the right personality can be
gained in the company operations that will help in order to achieve the organisational goal more
effectively.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from above report that human resource management plays a very
important role in terms of business as well as at the organisational level. There are various kinds
of purposes and functions of HRM which has been applied in terms of workforce planning and
resourcing at an organisational level. Within human resource management, there are various
kinds of strengths and weaknesses attached to the recruitment and selection. The benefits related
to HRM practices is for both kinds of people whether they are employees and employer. In
terms of raising productivity and profits of an organisation, HRM plays a very crucial role in
terms of that context only. At the organisational level, employee relations are very important
which will contribute in influencing the decision making. But there are various key components
attached to employment legislation and its impact related to it will contribute in influencing
HRM decision making.

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