Human Resource Management Analysis: Kingfisher Plc HRM Practices

This report provides a detailed analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Kingfisher Plc, a leading retail brand in the UK. It begins by outlining the nature and scope of HRM, emphasizing the importance of recruiting the right employees and the role of the HRM department in strategies and training. The report then delves into Kingfisher Plc's payroll system and its approach to both hard and soft HRM models. A PESTLE analysis is conducted to assess the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors influencing the company's operations. The report further examines the 'best fit' and 'best practice' HRM approaches employed by the company, highlighting the KDMS strategy. Part 2 focuses on selection methods, including job analysis, job descriptions, and person specifications, along with their respective strengths and weaknesses. It also covers reliability and validity in selection processes. The report concludes with a discussion on the issues affecting successful employee induction and socialization, covering both internal and external recruitment strategies. The analysis provides a comprehensive overview of Kingfisher Plc's HRM strategies and practices.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Task 1
The Nature of and scope of HRM
HRM or the human resource departments mainly concerned about the best people for the
best in the organization. They are responsible for scanning the kind of employees that are
currently needed by the organization. They have to work over the recruitment strategies and the
kinds of training that must be given to the employees who are being recruited in the organization.
As the Kingfisher Ply Company is one of the leading retail brands of UK, they need to recruit a
large number of employees that will be helping them to get their works done. As this store has a
very large opening in almost 10 courtiers and they also excel in a large number of products like
electrical, DIY Solutions and many other such products the HRM department has to make sure
that they are recruiting people who are well versed with the kinds of works that are being
undertaken in this company (Kingfisher.com. 2019). For instance the HRM department has to
make sure that the people that they are recruiting for this company are comfortable in travelling
to other places for the work.
Payroll- Kingfisher Plc. is trying to make their work much more mechanized so that they can
bring about efficiency in the handling of their payroll system. They want to make their payroll
system mechanized so that they can support their employees instantly in relation to any payment
related issues (McGuire 2018). The company is on verge of using the Profund Private Cloud to
transform its existing administration system.

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Kingfisher Plc. makes sure to have an equal focus on both the hard and the soft HRM modes.
The hard HRM is concerned about the organization as a whole and the soft HRM model deals
with the employees.
The hard HRM models are used when the Kingfisher Plc. takes any decision without
informing the staffs. This is important during some dire situations in order to make sure that the
organization is running smoothly (Kultalahti and Viitala 2015). However this approach is not
followed constantly as this would make the employees offended. Thus the company makes sure
that they pay emphasis on the soft HRM approaches as well. Kingfisher Plc. is more inclined
towards soft HRM approaches as they look after the individual needs of employees by
providing them on job training, informal learning, friendly work ambience and other such
facilities (Michael 2017).
PESTLE Analysis
Political
 Political stability of U.K is favorable for flourishing of Retail sector in the country's
economy.
 Risk of military invasion might affect the business
 Rigid Government rules might be risky
Economic
 Labor costs and productivity in the economy
 Business cycle stage (e.g. prosperity, recession, recovery)

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Social
 Class structure, hierarchy and power structure in the society will create different demands at
different time.
 Education level in Kingfisher Plc ’s industry will be helping in understanding the customer
demands
Technological
 Recent technological developments by Kingfisher Plc competitors
 Technology's impact on product offering
Environmental
 Weather will affect the business in terms of DIY materials, the fruits and vegetables at
retails markets.
 Climate change might affect the quality of products if proper protection is not taken
Legal
 Anti-trust law in Retail industry and overall in the country will be able to provide a
friendly ambiance to employees.

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 Discrimination law will help in safeguarding the employee interests
 Copyright, patents / Intellectual property law
HRM approaches “Best Fit” vs Best Practice”
The HRM department has to perform as per the need and the demand of the situation.
The best approaches or the best methods used by the HRM department mainly ensure that the
organization will be performing in the nest ay possible. In other words the best approach is the
method or the system that is used by almost all the HRM department of the organization to make
sure that they are providing the best and training development to their workforce so that they can
get to the top level positions (Iwu 2016). However it must be noted in this context that almost all
the HRM department working in all the different companies have some specific approaches like
that of looking after the employee welfare, training and development process, induction
procedures and others.
The best approaches that the HRM department of the Kingfisher plc, are that it has a
flexible environment for all, the employees (Azeem and Yasmin 2016). The HRM makes sure
that the employees are not facing any problems in maintaining a balance between their work and
life. Apart from this the HRM staffs also make sure that they are providing complete support to
their employees so that they can improve themselves. Their main objectives include creating a
unified, unique and leading home improvement offer; driving our digital capability; and
optimizing our operational efficiency (McGuire 2018). This is evident of the fact that they
always try to provide extensive training to their employees so that they can be capable of
fulfilling all the needs and the demands of their customers (Sparrow and Otaye-Ebede 2017).

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However the best-fit approach on the other hand means the Strategies or the methods that are
used by the HRM department to form a kind on interconnectedness or interrelationship between
all the different departments of the organization (Shipton et al. 2017).
KDMS is the best fit strategy that is used by the HRM department of the Kingfisher
PLc. organization (LLP 2019). This strategy was launched by the organization in the year
1995 and today has 172 individuals on the scheme working across the Group. This has been
useful as the HRM managers saw that all the young employees have been able to get connected
with the managers and have been able to develop a good and very high potential. The new and
the aspiring employees will be much attracted and used to this particular management strategy as
this will be giving them a fast track and motivating process (Fındıklı and beyza Bayarçelik
2015). Thus the best fit has been turning out to be essential for the company as a whole as it
helps in understanding the individual needs and demands of the organization. One to one
coaching and development are also some of the very important aspects of the best fit method that
is followed by this organization.
PART 2
Selection: Main methods of selection
Recruitment and selection are the two main functions of human resource management.
The Kingfisher Plc Company also uses these two methods for the recruiting of the employees.
The HRM department uses the following approaches for the recruitment and the selection
procedures. They are job analysis, job descriptions, personal specifications and competency
frameworks however faces many advantages and any disadvantages for following these two
different methods of recruiting the employees or the manpower of the organization.

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Strengths and weaknesses
The three strengths of job analysis are;
 It helps to identify the needed skills for a particular job
 Helps to formulate effective hiring strategies
 It helps to determine appropriate compensation and facilities
The three weaknesses of job analysis are;
 It is time-consuming
 Source of information is very narrow
 Personal biases can be taken place.
The three strengths of the job description are:
 It helps to encourage the right skills person to apply for a job
 The job responsibilities are clearly defined and specific
 It helps to select the right people for the right job.
The three weaknesses of the job description are;
 Difficulty in recognizing job roles
 It often fails to attract the right person for the right job role
 It discourages innovation as many of the job responsibilities are already pre defined.
The three strengths of person specification are;

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 It attracts the required skills people for the job
 The applicants can understand their qualities
 It gives an idea to applicants what actually want the company from him/her.
The three weaknesses person specifications are;
 Chances of poor definition of job skills.
 Task of short listing the right person often becomes complicated and difficult
 Excessive requirements in the job specification might not be useful.
The two approaches that are used for the selection are Reliability and validity
Reliability mainly refers to the level or the range to which the selection techniques or the
process are being successful or capable in doing the right kind of work over a continuous period.
The three strengths of reliability are;
 It reduces time consumption in preparing new techniques,
 The cost will be minimised
 Standard selection technique for the company can be determined.
The weaknesses of the reliability are;
 With the passage of time the effectiveness of repeat use of the same technique can be
reduced, it requires periodical changes
 It varied according to the job nature.

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Validity on the other hand talks about the validity or the success that the techniques are
achieving.
On-boarding and induction
The issues affecting the successful induction and socialization of employees
The induction process must be carried on by HRM departments so that they can make
their employees know about the organization and the job roles as well. This process also helps
the organization to make its employees well versed with each other. Communication and
socialization will be very beneficial for employees.
There are some aspects that might negatively affect the induction process
Giving too much information on the first day
The HR managers have to make sure that they are moving forward in a strategic and
organized manner. They must not give all the information to their employees on the first day.
Kingfisher Plc. is one of the largest retail brands in the UK. They have a large number of stores
working in many different parts of the organization. They are operating within a large number of
stores like that of B&Q, castorama and many other such stores. Thus there is a chance that the
HR department will be under huge pressure. They will have to look after the recruitment of all
the employees for these different stores (Huang and Su 2016). If might happen that they are
trying to give all the information to their employees they might not be able to understand
anything and might get overburdened (Görlitz and Tamm 2016). This will make the employees
from insane pressure and they will also not be able to socialize with anyone.

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An impersonal induction process will also not be able to make the employees interested and
they might feel neglected. They will feel that the HRM department or the company as a whole is
only concentrating on speaking about the company and not about the role of the employees.

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External
The external training system is often used by the company to recruit employees from
outside the company. In other words the Kingfisher Company tries to recruit people from the
outside by using the external recruitment strategies like the visit to job fairs, career fairs and
other such aspects. The HRM department of the company can use the method of using some
circulation of notice or job advertisement in order to recruit the employees.
Internal
Internal recruiting refers to the method by which the HRM department of the
organization recruits the employees from the already existing workforce of the organization. The
job positions or the job posts are filled up by the employees working at some of the other
positions. Kingfisher might often try to fulfill their vacancies by using the internal circulation of
job notices or internal interview systems as well.
Task2
The organization Kingfisher Plc. uses the innovative and thy dynamic HRM practices
that help them to recruit the best employees for their overall working of the organization. the
major kinds of HRM practices that are used in this company are as follows
On-the-job training
Kingfisher always encourages its employees to learn along with their studies. In other
words they have to learn new techniques and new job roles while they are already working in the
company. This ensures that the new joiners are also getting proper help from their co-workers
and their seniors as well. This is also a time optimizing method of getting the training while

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working (Renwick et al.2016). This will be able to give many benefits or advantages to the
company at the same time. Kingfisher Plc. will be able to carry on their day to day normal work
along with satisfying the purpose of training their employees. This is because of the fact that the
fresher's or the new joiners will be able to get an in house training from their seniors and their
co-workers. At the same time, they will be able to make sure that there is no reduction in the
productivity of individual employees. At the same time the new employees will also be able to
fill their skill gaps by taking some informal training from their co-workers and their managers
rather than reaching out to any other externals
Informal learning
The kingfisher Ply Company allows all its employees to get informal training within the
course of their learning. In other words the managers and the supervisors of this company believe
that they will be able to train their employees in a practical system rather than the theoretical
oriented learning. For instance if an employee feels that they are not able to handle the packaging
system of their retail store they can directly reach out to their supervisor and they will teach them
the method of working. The benefits of this approach are that it helps the company to minimize
the amount of their capital fund that is needed for getting the external trainers and the experts.
Thus the informal system of learning is both most minimizing and also time-saving. This is
because the company will be able to use the money and time on some other aspects of the
organization.