Importance of Human Resource Management in Workplace

The provided document is an assignment on Human Resource Management (HRM). The assignment emphasizes the significance of HRM in creating a positive work environment, maintaining good surroundings, and adhering to important legislations that define employee rights and duties. It's essential for employers to treat employees equally, promoting happiness at workplace. The document includes references from various books and journals on HRM.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1 Purpose and functions of human resource management........................................................1
P2 Strengths and weaknesses of recruitment and selection process ..........................................2
P3 Benefits of HRM practices for employer and employee.......................................................4
P4 Effectiveness of HRM practices in terms of raising productivity and profit.........................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P5 Significance of good employee relation regarding influencing decision making..................5
P6 Key elements of employment legislation & its impact on HRM decision making...............6
P7 Application of HRM practices in work related context.........................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management (HRM) is an important function that is performed in every
organisation. It is a process through which firm manages its workforce by anticipating their
needs. Many functions are included in HRM such as recruitment, selection, training and
development, performance evaluation, maintaining healthy relations between employer and
employees etc. The major advantage of this concept is that it administers an opportunity to
manager to determine employee needs and formulate policies accordingly to satisfy them
(Armstrong and Taylor., 2014). In the present assignment, chosen organisation is Tesco which is
the largest grocery retailer in UK. The assignment covers different functions of HRM and its
purpose. It also includes merits plus demerits of recruitment approach as well as benefits of
HRM practices. Apart from this, significance of good employee relation and key elements of
employment legislations is defined. At last, application of various HRM practices at workplace is
included in this project.
TASK 1
P1 Purpose and functions of human resource management
HRM is concerned with recruitment and selection of the best suitable candidate and
administering them appropriate training so that their skills can be enhanced plus they enable to
contribute in attainment of goals and objectives of company. The major purpose of HRM is to
determine manpower needs of organisation and fulfil the same by hiring skilled and
knowledgeable candidates. Furthermore, the manager of human resource department is
responsible for managing all activities that are conducted within firm. In Tesco, manager
identifies skill needs of manpower and design appropriate training programme for them so that
their potential can be increased. This assists employees in performing their duties and
responsibilities in better way (Berman and et. al., 2012). Managers organise various activities in
order to increase motivation of employees so that they feel satisfied with their job and work
happily.
Functions of HRM:
Recruitment and selection: It is the major function of Human Resource Management
which is performed in every firm. In Tesco, human resource manager anticipates present and
future manpower needs and fulfil those by hiring skilled candidates. A definite criteria is set for
each job and according to that, individuals are selected. Applications are invited by firm so that
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interested candidate may apply for the job. Process of recruitment provides an opportunity to
those individuals who have good skills and capabilities. Hiring of competent candidates helps the
company in an effective attainment of goals and objectives.
Training and development: It is very important to provide training and development to
employees so that they can do their work in proper way (Boella and Goss-Turner, 2013). This
provides an opportunity to employees to improve their existing skills and learn new one. The
manager of Tesco determines skill needs of their manpower and design training programme
according to that. It helps in increasing the potential of employees and they are encouraged to
work towards attainment of targets and objectives of Tesco. It will also assist in increasing
productivity and performance of both employer as well as employee.
Maintaining healthy work environment: It is the main responsibility of every business
organisation to provide healthy work environment to their workforce. This will help in increasing
motivation level of workers and in encouraging them to perform well. So, it is required by the
manager of Tesco to administer healthy work environment to their workforce so that they feel
satisfied and work happily with the organisation.
P2 Strengths and weaknesses of recruitment and selection process
The process of recruitment and selection is related with hiring of candidates that best
meets the requirements of firm. Manpower is an important resource of an organisation and
highly contributes in improving productivity and profitability of company. Tesco uses both
internal and external process of recruitment for hiring appropriate candidate in firm. Human
resource manager is responsible for selecting an individual who have all the skills that are
required to fulfil job position. They should have the potential to identify the best candidates from
large pool of applicants. It assists in attaining goals and objectives of Tesco in an effective and
efficient manner (Boselie, 2010). There are some strengths and weaknesses that are associated
with approaches of recruitment which are defined as follows:
Internal source of recruitment
In internal recruitment process, firm selects suitable individual from within the firm.
Managers first determine the skills and performance of existing employee. If they find them
suitable, they will recruit them for that vacant position. Managers do it by circulating notice
within firm so that interested candidate can apply for the post. Based on individual's skills and
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capabilities, they are promoted to higher position. This policy is adopted by Tesco in order to
keep employees motivated so that they are encouraged to work in better manner.
Strengths
 This process assists in increasing motivation of existing employees and they feel happy to
work with the organisation (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). This will increase loyalty of manpower towards firm and develop satisfaction among
them.
Weaknesses
 Main disadvantage of using internal process is that it restricts the entry of external
candidates within firm.
 Lack of innovation and creativity within firm as same individuals are performing
operations with same skills and competencies.
External process of recruitment
In external recruitment process, firm hire candidates from outside. Administrators create
an advertisement which includes all the details regarding vacant post and applicants are invited.
Based on experience, knowledge, qualifications and skills of individual, suitable candidate is
selected who best fulfils all the criteria of vacant job position. It administers an opportunity to
those people who require job. Main purpose of Tesco behind conducting external recruitment is
to select candidates with advanced skills and knowledge.
Strengths
 Fresh blood enters within the firm which provides an advantage in terms of innovation
and creativity. By using external recruitment process, firms have the choice to select the best candidate
from large pool of applicants (Daley, 2012).
Weaknesses
 The process of external recruitment is expensive as it takes longer time in order to recruit
appropriate candidate and consumes high cost.
 Sometimes, it may lead the existing employees towards demotivation as they feel
themselves less skilled from new one.
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P3 Benefits of HRM practices for employer and employee
Practices of human resource management provides various benefits to both employer and
employee. It assists in carrying out all the operations of company in effective & efficient manner.
Tesco followed various HRM practices that assists in running their operations smoothly and
achieving objectives successfully (Gospel and Sako, 2010). These practices are beneficial for
both employer and employee. Some of these are defined below:
Benefits to employer:
Helps manager in taking decisions: Human resource management practices helps
managers in formulating effective policies for firm. It also assists them in taking various kinds of
decisions related to firm. In Tesco, various HRM practices helps manager in taking appropriate
decisions related to the benefit of employer and manpower.
Create healthy work environment: HRM concept supports managers in designing
effective policies and strategies that bring ethical working within firm. Effective policies assists
in creating positive work environment. This will create a sense of satisfaction among employees
and they are encourage to work more effectively. It assist the employer in attaining its business
objectives.
Benefits to employee:
Improves employee performance: Practices of human resource management assists in
improving performance of employees. It helps in building positive and healthy work
surroundings which motivates employees. This will ultimately improves their performance and
develop healthy relations among employees. Training programme of Tesco helps manpower in
improving their skills as well as performance (Heizer, 2016).
Fulfil employee needs: HRM practices assists in fulfilling various needs of employees
related to training and development, good working environment, appropriate wages, health &
safety etc. These practices helps in protecting interest of employees and they feel motivated by
this. This will assist in keeping their morale high and enables them to perform well.
P4 Effectiveness of HRM practices in terms of raising productivity and profit
Practices and functions of human resource management highly influence the activities &
performance of business. Effective HRM practices helps in increasing satisfaction among
workers. It facilitates managers in formulation of best plans and policies which will administer
them direction for future course of action. Application of human resource management practices
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boost up morale of workforce and encourage them to perform in effective manner. It also assist
in bringing coordination among various departments and its activities.
Human resource management practices encourage ethical working within firm. It highly
contributes in increasing profitability of company and leads it towards growth and success. These
practices supports manager in taking right decisions regarding employees so that they are able to
contribute in growth and success of firm (Hoque, 2013). Manpower are one of the important part
of organisation as all success of company rely on them. It is required by manager of Tesco to
develop effective training programme for employees in order to enhance their competencies and
skills. Training helps them in performing their duties well and increasing productivity and profits
of the company.
For increasing productivity of firm, managers are require to identify performance of
employees on regular basis. This will help in improving their performance which ultimately
increase the productivity of firm. Effective training programme facilitates employees to
understand and gain new knowledge about work. This will also make it easy for them to work
with new and advanced technology. Training help employees in effectively deal with challenging
situations.
Human resource management practices enable manager in designing good compensation
packages for workers. Fair wages assists in increasing their motivation and they work happily.
This will also increase their productivity and performance which is beneficial for the company in
terms of raising their profits. So, it can be said that human resource management practices are
very effective for an organisation in terms if raising its productivity and profit.
TASK 2
P5 Significance of good employee relation regarding influencing decision making
Employee relation defines as the relationship between management and workforce.
Employees are those individuals who highly contributes in success of firm, without them, no
company will get success (Jiang and et. al., 2012). So, it is important for manager to maintain
healthy relationship between employer and employee. This will assist in improving performance
of workers and increasing profitability of firm. Good employee relationship ensures healthy
work surroundings and satisfied workforce. It increase participation of employees in activities of
firm. If the relation between employer and manpower is good, then it enable them to share their
views freely. It also helps managers in making effective decisions. All this will help in attaining
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objectives of firm and ensures its growth and sustainability in market. There are various benefits
of good employee relations, some of these are defined below:
 Participation of workers in activities of firm is increased. They will actively participate in
all the activities that are conducted by management of firm.
 Healthy and strong employee relation increase motivation of employees & encourage
them to perform well (Marchington and et. al., 2016).
 Good employee relation ensures sustainability & growth of company for long term.
 It encourage human resource towards successful accomplishment of firm's goals and
objectives in effective way.
Below defined are some conditions that should be created by manager of Tesco in order
to maintain healthy employee relations. These are:
 It is important to develop an effective communication system within firm so that all the
confusions of employees related to their responsibilities can be eliminated.
 It is essential to treat all employees equally and administer them equal opportunities for
their growth.
 Firm should take regular feedback from their workers regarding their work so that
improvements can be made if required.
P6 Key elements of employment legislation & its impact on HRM decision making
Their are various legislations made by government which defines rights and duties of
employer as well as employee. These regulations assists in defining relationship among them and
responsibilities of manpower at workplace. Key components of employment legislation are as
follows:
Anti discrimination act: This act of employment legislation is very important to be
followed by firms. This act states that all the workers should treat equally at workplace with
same respect. It is required by managers of firm to administer equal opportunities to everyone &
do not discriminate on the basis of age, religion, culture, colour, belief etc. Discrimination
negatively influence employee performance (Mok and et. al., 2013). So, managers should ensure
that no discrimination takes place within firm.
Employment rights act: This act states that employees should be provided with all the
basic facilities needed by them at workplace. It is the duty of manager to ensure that all the
employees are provided with minimum wages, no discrimination is done at workplace, safe and
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healthy work environment should be provided to them etc. All these rights should be
administered to employees by employer.
Equal pay act: As per this act, employers are liable to provide equal pay to all the
workers who are working at same level. Main benefit of this act is it increase morale of
workforce. It will ultimately improve productivity of company. By the assistance of this act,
managers of Tesco can improve their manpower performance (Nickson, 2013).
Employee relation act: Employees are the main part of every organisation and plays
crucial role in success of company. As per this act, employer has the responsibility to develop
and maintain healthy and strong relation with their manpower. Managers can done this by
administering good working environment, providing equal opportunities for growth and treating
all the employees equally.
Working time directive act: This act defines working hours of workers at workplace.
According to this act, it is important for every employee to work for minimum 8 hours at
workplace per day. Only this provides legal existence to employees of his employment.
Worker disability discrimination act: This act states that employees who have some
disability, should also be treated equally as others. Similar facilities and rights should be
administered to them. This will motivate them and encourage them to perform well and do their
best.
Above mentioned are all the key components of employment legislation and influence the
decision making of human resource management. It is important for administrator of Tesco to
keep in view all these legislations before formulating policies. These legislations helps manager
in developing effective policies regarding employees (Purce, 2014). This will also help in
promoting positive work environment at workplace.
P7 Application of HRM practices in work related context
Tesco is one of the largest grocery retailer of United Kingdom. Currently the firm is
facing a lot of problem in terms of lack of skilled manpower which decrease their productivity
day by day. In order to get solution of such issue, various human resource practices can be
applied by firm in specific areas includes:
Manpower planning: In order to perform its operations smoothly, it is required by
manager of Tesco to determine that how much manpower is require in organisation. This will
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help in hiring right number of manpower within firm with appropriate skill sets which best meets
the criteria of that particular job position.
Training and development: It is very crucial for managers to provide appropriate training
to workforce so that their skills and knowledge regarding their work can be improved and they
are enable to work in better way. This will provide them ability and confidence to effectively
handle or deal with challenging situations and provide effective solutions of them. Their
performance level will also increase by this (Sparrow and et. al., 2016).
Creation of vision and mission: The focal area of human resource management is
manpower and their skills. Assessment of these assists manager in determining their capability
and facilitates them in creating mission & vision of the company.
Maintain performance & quality: In this competitive business world, it is very important
for every organisation to deliver high quality goods and services to their potential in order to
attract them towards product and gain their loyalty. This will help the company in capturing large
number of market share and maintain their position in market for long period of time. Human
resources management assists in setting performance standard of each worker. It helps Tesco in
manufacturing high quality goods and services for their potential customers.
Performance evaluation: It is the main responsibility of human resource manager to
evaluate and monitor performance of workforce. This will help the manager in planning future
activities & taking planned decisions (Human resource management, 2016).
By applying human resource management practices in above mentioned areas, managers
can eliminate all the issues faced by company and can easily improve productivity and
profitability of firm.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that HRM plays very crucial
role in each and every organisation. There are various functions that are associated with human
resource management such as recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, training &
development, compensation etc. All these functions are performed by human resource manager.
It is very important to maintain good employee and employer relation. This will help in
maintaining good surroundings at workplace and promote positive work environment. There are
many important key legislations which defines the rights and duties of employee towards their
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organisation. It is necessary for every employer to treat all their employees in equal manner so
that they can happily at workplace.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Berman, E. M. and et. al., 2012. Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes,
processes, and problems. Sage.
Boella, M. and Goss-Turner, S., 2013. Human resource management in the hospitality industry:
A guide to best practice. Routledge.
Boselie, P., 2010. Strategic human resource management: A balanced approach. Tata McGraw-
Hill Education.
Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2011. Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Daley, D. M., 2012. Strategic human resources management. Public Personnel Management.
pp.120-125.
Gospel, H. and Sako, M., 2010. The unbundling of corporate functions: the evolution of shared
services and outsourcing in human resource management. Industrial and Corporate
Change. 19(5). pp.1367-1396.
Glover and et. al., 2011. Critical success factors for the sustainability of Kaizen event human
resource outcomes: An empirical study. International Journal of Production
Economics. 132(2). pp.197-213.
Halbesleben, J. R., 2010. A meta-analysis of work engagement: Relationships with burnout,
demands, resources, and consequences. Work engagement: A handbook of essential
theory and research. 8. pp.102-117.
Heizer, J., 2016. Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.
Hoque, K., 2013. Human resource management in the hotel industry: Strategy, innovation and
performance. Routledge.
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Jiang, K. and et. al., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational
outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of
management Journal. 55(6). pp.1264-1294.
Marchington and et. al., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
Mok, C., Sparks, B. and Kadampully, J., 2013. Service quality management in hospitality,
tourism, and leisure. Routledge.
Nickson, D., 2013. Human resource management for hospitality, tourism and events. Routledge.
Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New
Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). 67.
Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016. Globalizing human resource management.
Routledge.
Online
Human resource management. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/hrm/human-resource-management-functions-
managerial-operative-and-advisory-function/27995/>. [Accessed on 1st September
2017].
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