Strategic HRM and IKEA's Success

This assignment analyzes the role of human resource management (HRM) in achieving organizational success. It examines how effective HRM practices contribute to profitability and popularity within organizations, specifically focusing on IKEA as a successful example. The analysis delves into recruiting strategies, employee relations, and the importance of motivated employees for maximizing profits. The assignment concludes by highlighting the need for strategic HRM implementation to achieve organizational goals.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce planning........................................1
M1....................................................................................................................................................2
D1.....................................................................................................................................................2
P2 Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection..................2
M2....................................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3 Benefits of different HRM practices for both the employer and employee...........................4
M3....................................................................................................................................................5
D2.....................................................................................................................................................6
P4 Effectiveness of HRM practices............................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Importance of employee relations..........................................................................................7
M4....................................................................................................................................................8
P6 Key elements of employee legislation and its impact on HRM decision making.................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
P7 HRM practices in an enterprise and its application...............................................................8
M5..................................................................................................................................................10
D3 ..................................................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management is a practice which is mainly concerned with recruiting,
hiring, managing employees of organisation, training and development, transfer, rewards and
compensation, promotion, etc. This department is considered as backbone of any company as it
regulates all key activities of an organisation. By managing resources and employees, company
can achieve its goals and objectives. IKEA is a multinational company which deals in
manufacturing of furnitures, kitchen appliances, home accessories, lightings, etc. It was founded
in Sweden in 1943 and headquarters are situated in Netherlands. This company has been
operating in more than 48 countries with large number of stores (Werner and Simone, 2011).
This assignment will focus on purposes and scope of human resource management which should
be applied in planning its workforce. Strengths and weakness of different approaches with
effectiveness of HRM practices are mentioned in this assignment. Some of the application of
HRM practices has also been described.
TASK 1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce planning.
IKEA is a leading brand with strong hold in market. It has been possible due to efficient
managing of resources and proper utilization of work force (Daley, 2012). With efficient human
resource department, company has achieved its desired success and made lot of loyal customers.
As described above, HRM is a practices that HR managers applies to manage their work
and employees efficiently. They also perform some crucial function such as recruiting, selecting,
performance and change management, retirements, risk management etc. For proper functioning
of a company, IKEA needs to implement above mentioned functions carefully. These functions
are mentioned below in detail:
Recruitment and selection: This process involves recruiting of new and talented
candidates for a particular job in company. IKEA should identify the requirements of candidates
for a job and then perform recruitment and selection procedures to hire best individual suitable
for company. Managers should hire on the basis of skills, knowledge, talents, abilities, attitude,
etc, which should be present in that particular candidate and help company to achieve its main
aim.
Orientation: This type of program should be organised by IKEA to brief new employees
about their work environment, culture, rules and regulations, standards, duties of employees, etc.
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Orientation program make new joiners comfortable and they receive relevant information about
their job. These program initiates better communication between other employees and superiors
of organisation. New joiners can also clarify their doubts related to their roles and duties.
Managing employee relations: Employees are considered as essential pillars of an
organisation. HR managers should be proficient enough to manage all the employees operating
under them. IKEA manager should organise different activities to communicate with its
employees and get knowledge about behaviour of different employees. These type of activities
ensure good and healthy environment among organisation and employees feel free to
communicate with their superiors. They feel satisfied and convinced.
Training and development: This activity is crucial for an organisation to be carried out
when they feel that some employees are encountering some problems in performing their job.
Training is given to those employees who are unable to function well in their job and need
improvements. Managers can provide them with necessary training activities to enhance their
appropriate skills and knowledge. They can provide training to existing employees also who are
facing problems to adapt new changes in procedures and job. Proper training increases
confidence in employees and they tend to work with more efficiency.
M1
HRM functions are critical for an organisation to enhance their profits and revenues.
Proper implementation of functions ensure availability of talented and skilled employees to the
organisation. With those skills, employees will perform their work in best way and thus company
will achieve their goals and objectives in efficient manner.
D1
According to (Hendry, 2012), when managers need to hire suitable candidates they can
opt two sources i,e., internal and external sources. But sometime, they are unable to find desired
employees for a particular position but through external recruitment, they can hire best suitable
candidates for a job position.
P2 Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection.
Recruitment and selection are important process of an organisation because from these
process managers hire the best talent suitable for a job post available in organisation. Prior
recruitment and selection, managers need to devise a plan including suitable requirements which
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should be present in particular candidate and formulate appropriate selection criteria to hire that
individual. Recruitment in mainly deals with attracting, short-listing and appointing suitable
candidates and selection is mainly concerned with interviewing and evaluation of candidates for
a particular job.
There are mainly two sources through which managers can hire suitable candidates and
are mentioned below:
Internal sources: This source is used when company lacks proper finance to recruit people from
outside the company. Then they hire deserving candidates from premises of organisation.
Recruitment from internal source mainly include - transfer, promotions and present employees.
Advantages of internal sources:
 Loyalty of employee is rewarded in terms of promotions.
 It increases motivation level among employees.
 No need for going external recruitment when deserving candidates are already present in
the organisation.
 Enables overall development of employees.
Disadvantages of internal sources:
 It discourages inflow of new ideas and talents.
 Limits opportunities for deserving candidates.
External sources: This source enable managers to hire candidates from outside of company
premises. Suitable candidates can be attracted from advertisements, employment exchange,
placement agencies, campus interview, walk in interviews, etc.
Advantages of external sources:
 Enable hiring of best candidates for a job position.
 Talented candidates provide company with new and creative ideas.
Disadvantages of external sources:
 Company has to bear high cost due to external recruitment.
 Frequent switching to other company by talented employees.
Strengths and weakness of recruitment and selection are mentioned below:
Strength of approaches to recruitment and selection:
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IKEA can improve their approaches to recruitment and selection to enhance their
productivity and profitability (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). Some of the strength are mentioned
below:
 Hiring of best talented candidate.
 Enhance company's profits and revenue.
 Inflow of new and creative ideas.
 Talented candidates reduces labour turnover.
Weakness of approaches to recruitment and selection:
Following are some weaknesses of recruitment and selection:
 Existing employees feel jealous and unsatisfied from new employees.
 Jack system enable managers to hire wrong candidates.
IKEA can hire those candidates which have desired knowledge about furnitures designs and its
ongoing trends in market.
M2
As mentioned above, recruitment and selection are necessary activities which every
organisation should carry out in order to hire best talent for a job which ensure flow of fresh
talents within organisation. Talented employees tend to work in better manner as compared to
other employees (Cascio, 2018). Weakness of this process can be that, sometime company lack
appropriate finance to go for external recruitment so they have to shift existing employees to
available position.
TASK 2
P3 Benefits of different HRM practices for both the employer and employee.
Human Resource Management team utilises some practices to achieve their vision and
mission in proper manner. These practices provide managers with appropriate direction to make
their functioning effective. Manager should formulate good HRM practices with the help of
experts and top level management to ensure company to achieve their goals in best way. IKEA
uses different HRM practices to make their organisation work in desired manner.
HRM practices for employer are:
Below are some HR practices which are performed by managers and leaders:
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Hiring of candidates: This practice is critical for a manager to implement efficiently because
hiring ensures inflow of new talents in organisation and they should posses desired skills,
knowledge and talent to perform their job well. With these type of employees, company can
achieve their goals and can increase their profit levels.
Benefits of hiring candidates are:
 Inflow of fresh blood within organisation.
 Desired candidates are hired for a particular job. Company can achieve their goals and objective in effective manner.
Rewards and benefits: Manager should formulate a well defined reward and compensation
system so that they can give awards to desired employees. This type of system enhances
motivation and morale level of employees and they work hard to get those benefits. They also
feel satisfied as their work is appreciates by their superiors.
HRM practices for employee are:
Training and development: Manager identifies those employees which are in need of training and
provide them with suitable training. It help employee to improve their skills and knowledge
required to perform their job. Training also enables organisation to achieve their goals in more
efficient manner. Sometime, existing employees are unable to perform their work as desired.
They can also receive necessary training to improve their skills and perform their function
smoothly.
Benefits of training and development are:
 Boost employee morale and motivation level.
 Increase in skills, knowledge, talent, confidence, etc.
 smooth functioning of task by employees.
 Effective accomplishment of goals and objectives.
M3
As mentioned above, HRM practices are crucial for proper functioning of a company. For
example: if a manager appreciate performance of a employee and award them with suitable
rewards and benefits, they increases the motivation level and zeal in employees and they tend to
work hard in every tasks assigned to them.
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D2
According to (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014)., if company wants to achieve competitive
advantage over their competitors and stay ahead in market, for that they have to implement best
HRM practices to accomplish their dreams. Managers and leaders are responsible for formulating
best practices for their company and involves their employees in decision making so that the
employee can improve their skills and know about how to make effective strategies.
P4 Effectiveness of HRM practices
For enhancing and increasing company's profitability and productivity, it is crucial to
establish effective HRM practices within organization. Talented staff of IKEA helps it to
establish a strong position in market. Employees are essential part of an organization as they
perform every tasks and activities and take their company to next level. With such a talented
workforce, IKEA should try to retain ans satisfy their employees by fulfilling their requirements,
so that they don't move to other company (Bratton and Gold, 2017). HR manger should generate
effective strategies with alignment to proper leadership and administrative approach and prepare
various training and development programs, payment and reward mechanism etc. which helps
employees to enhance their skills and knowledge. IKEA should provide them with better
incentives and allowances which can attract other candidates to join their company. Performing
HRM practice on regular basis enable company to reach at desired position and some of those
practices are listed below:
Recruitment and Selection: These process play a significant role in providing efficient
and talented candidates to company. This process make sure that company has right person
appointed for right job. It allow company to achieve maximum level of profits and revenues and
lead in market with such a efficient work force. Recruitment is attracting desired candidates to
their company and short listing those candidates which are suitable for a particular job post
whereas selection means hiring best candidate from pool of people.
Performance appraisal: This system allow managers to track performance of their
employees and award the best performer. This system should be present in every organization, it
not only boost employee morale but also enhances their zeal to put their best in every tasks.
Flexible working hours: IKEA should provide flexibility in working hours. It provide
several benefits to company as well as for employees. On one hand, it reduces stress level of
workers and on other hand it reduces labor turn over and improves productivity for company.
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If practices are successfully implemented within organization, then they can achieve their
main aim and increase their profitability.
TASK 3
P5 Importance of employee relations.
Employees are considered as backbone of any company (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017).
They are mainly responsible for carrying out every tasks because of that the company is able to
achieve their targets. Managers should carry out effective recruitment and selection process,
which allow hiring of best candidates for company. Company can achieve maximum success if
they have talented and skilled work force.
Organisation should organise certain activities to create good relation with their
employees. It ensures healthy environment within organisation and employee feel more satisfied
with work culture. Better relations ensure proper functioning by employees. Managers involves
their employees to work together in a team and initiate them to take their own decisions. They
allow them to give their ideas and opinions and give proper guidance to improve their efficiency.
In IKEA, managers organise activities where they come to know about employees behaviour and
try to satisfy them by fulfilling employees requirements.
Timely achievement of set objectives : When managers involve employees and they
both work together as a team, then company achieve their goals and objectives in desired
manner. Employees come forward and they participate in decision making and provide superiors
with innovative and creative ideas which they can implement when formulating strategies. These
ensures timely accomplishment of targets set by company.
Reducing Conflicts & Disputes: When employees and supervisors are working together
in a team, they tend to ignore each other mistakes and don't make it a issue. There is mutual
understanding between both and they try to resolves all misunderstanding and disputes arising to
them as well as to company.
Leads to increase in productivity: When employee feel satisfied and stress free, they
tend to work more for a company and try to achieve its set targets. This lead to increment in
productivity as well as profitability for company. With better relations, they feel a part of
organisation and are motivated to work hard for its company. Managers should give rewards to
best performer so they feel satisfied that their work is appreciated.
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M4
Managing employee relations are very essential for a company so that they can achieve
their desired goals and objectives. Company should follow all legal aspects so that it can prevent
any possible disputes occurring to company. It basically ensure regular and proper flow of work
within organisation and employees get fair salaries and benefits defined under various labour
laws. This provide a proper framework to company and superiors should ensure that every task is
performed according to that.
P6 Key elements of employee legislation and its impact on HRM decision making
Every country has its employment laws, rules and regulations that can affects to any
organisation as its business performance. In this generally consider employee retentions, labour
relations, employee criminal records checking and many more (Huselid and Becker, 2011). It
affects on the human resource management decision making regarding workforce of IKEA firm.
Here are some laws that formulated by government for employees benefits such as;
Anti Discrimination Act 1964: This act was formed for prohibiting of discrimination
among employees. In this included some basis of discriminating like race, colour, sex, religion
and national origin. For the IKEA firm, it is necessary to consider this factor while making any
decisions by manager about work force.
Wage and Hour: This act was formed by government of UK regarding the federal
minimum wage which has revised on the basis of periodic. HR manager have to required to
verify the accuracy of salary which are paid to employees in continuously. This based on The
Fair Labour Standard Act which consider the wage and hour of workers. Manager of IKEA
organisation has to classify the entire duties among employees and provide support for
completing their job in an effective manner.
Leave Provision: this act is related with The Federal Family and Medical Leave Act
which provide the facility of employees regarding leave policies as they can take up to 12 weeks
of unpaid leave in a 1 year time period. They can take all leaves in any situations and
circumstances including health conditions of employees, bonding of new babies and any
emergencies that can occurred in critical situations. This act provide proper job protection to
people during the absence as well as their health coverage in an effective manner. In the IKEA
firm, employees can feel safe and secure due to this act so, manager requires to focus on this
employment laws while making decisions.
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TASK 4
P7 HRM practices in an enterprise and its application
HR managers are responsible for smooth functioning in an organisation. They
should formulate strategies and implement HRM practices which ensure better productivity.
Employees are important for every organisation and managers should inculcate employees and
give them responsibility to take decisions (Truss, Mankin and Kelliher, 2012). This enhances
skills of employees and they perform with more efficiency. Mentioned below is an example of
activity which is performed by HR manager. This indicates the process of recruitment and
selection.
Management training at IKEA
Workshop title/ Training practices Date- Time-
Location Instructor
Candidates
Activity Time of activity Process Equipments required
Induction of candidates
Training objectives
a)
b)
Warming up
Contents and necessary
points
Job advertisement
Sales person require
Qualification /Eligibility
MBA in Marketing from any recognised institution
To apply:
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YYyou are required to upload your application with CV and latest photograph on our
websites latest by 31 March 2018.
Email-id: www.IKEA.com
Contact no.: XXXX00000
Job specification
Qualification Master's Degree in Marketing.
Bachelor's degree in business or related field.
Experience Should have 2 year experience in sales.
Area of expertise Should be proficient with communication
skills and leadership skills.
Other qualities Good verbal and writing skills.
Strong marketing skills.
Good interpersonal skills.
Interview Questions
 Have you ever participated in any co- curricular activities?
 What strategies will you adopt while working in the organisation?
 Where do you want to see yourself in next 5 years?
 What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?
Personal specification
Particulars Required criteria Learning and outcomes
Qualification and training Communicate with new
employees
Able to perform whole
induction process.
Experience Providing the best services to
customer
Pressure handling ability
Must have performed certain
induction process in training
sessions in college days
Skills and knowledge Attentive and good Developing and generating
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communication skills innovative ideas
Personal characteristics Proactive, leader, confident,
positive attitude
Team Builder
Developing certain skills
and traits to work in
organisational culture.
CV
Information of candidate
Name:
Father's name:
Mobile no.:
Email id:
Key skills:
 Creativity
 Well versed with concept Human Resources Management
 Have advanced knowledge of computer
 Working in team
 Having ability to learn and grasp
Experience:
 Goldman : Assistant to Retail Manager
 Schroedinger: Worked as a learn leader in retail store located at Durham.
M5
HRM practices should be implemented in every organisation to gain maximum profits
and achieve success (Albrech, 2011). Managers should upgrade their strategies with time and
should brief their employees with changes.
D3
Manager of IKEA company are talented enough to implement best strategies within
organisation. Due to this, company is achieving highest profits and gaining popularity in market.
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CONCLUSION
The above project has concluded that HRM activities and practices should be
implemented within organization effectively, so that company can achieve all their set targets.
With proper management of all activities, it become easy for managers to to handle everything.
Recruiting best candidates ensures maximizing profits for company (Guest, 2011). Manager
should tray to implement good relation with employees and try to fulfill their demands. Satisfied
employees feel motivated and perform their best so that their company can achieve higher profits
with proper accomplishment of their goals.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Werner, J.M. and DeSimone, R.L., 2011. Human resource development. Cengage Learning.
Daley, D.M., 2012. Strategic human resources management. Public Personnel Management, pp.
120-125.
Hendry, C., 2012. Human resource management. Routledge.
Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2011. Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and practice in European human resource
management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield survey. Taylor & Francis.
Truss, C., Mankin, D. and Kelliher, C., 2012. Strategic human resource management. Oxford
University Press.
Rogers, D.P., Strategic Human Resource Management. The Encyclopedia of Human Resource
Management: Short Entries, pp. 403-409.
Guest, D.E., 2011. Human resource management and performance: still searching for some
answers. Human resource management journal. 21(1). pp. 3-13.
Albrech, S.L., 2011. Handbook of employee engagement: Perspectives, issues, research and
practice. Human Resource Management International Digest. 19(7).
Huselid, M.A. and Becker, B.E., 2011. Bridging micro and macro domains: Workforce
differentiation and strategic human resource management.
Online
Principle of Human Resource Management. 2014 [Online]. Available through
<https://onlinecourses.nptel.ac.in/noc18_mg18/preview>
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