Human Resource Management Practices

The provided document is an extensive compilation of research papers and articles related to human resource management (HRM) practices. It covers a wide range of topics, including the link between perceived HRM practices, employee engagement, and behavior; human resource management in public service; and the strategic role of HRM in organizational success. The document also explores various aspects of HRM functions, such as managing employees, developing organizational resilience, and influencing organizational outcomes.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Purpose and function of HRM.........................................................................................1
P2. Strength and weaknesses of approaches related to recruitment and selection ................3
P3. Benefits derived from HRM practices.............................................................................4
P4 Effectiveness of human resource management practices in increasing productivity and
profit.......................................................................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
P5 Significance of good employment relation and its influence on HR decision making.....8
P6 Important components of employment legislation & its impact on HRM decision making. 9
P7. HRM practices used in work related context.................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management plays a significant role in overall operation of business.
Further, it allows organisation to manage the people in a better and effective manner. HR
manager has utmost duty of recruiting, selecting and training development of employees which
leads to achievement of objectives and goals (Armstrong and Taylor., 2014). Apart from it, HR
manager has to formulate all the policies, strategies and tactics for their business considering
needs and suitability of internal employees. Under this assignment, company which is referred is
Waitrose Ltd. which is a UK based British supermarket; comprises of large food retail division
and have enlarged their business in many countries. It signify the importance of HRM tools and
techniques which has been used in order to solve all complex issues which arises at time of
dealing with daily visitors. Further, importance of training programmes for developing
professionalism among them. In this project, purpose and function of HRM, Strength and
weaknesses in regard to the approach of recruitment and selection and different HRM practices
used to enhance growth and productivity of business.
TASK1
P1. Purpose and function of HRM
Their are different purpose and function of HRM which has been formulated at the time
of establishing over all strategies and objective of company. Waitrose Limited is largest
supermarket where HR has to perform different task in order to carry out all the function of
organisation. Further HR manager at the time of establishing action plan need to identifying
requirement of clients at workplace (Berman and et. al., 2012).
Different purpose associated with HRM are described below:- Maintaining relation of internal employees:- In every organisation in order to carry out
all the process of business effectively then in such case HR manager require to maintain
good relation with their internal workforce. Apart from it, they also focus on relation
between superior and subordinate to know whether it is stable or not. Effective utilisation of resources:- Company's HR management need to maintain all the
data related to resource availability on the basis of which they can make proper
framework regarding utilisation of resources in future. The main objective behind it is to
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ensure production and manufacturing for the purpose of cost reduction and better
productivity. Ethical culture:- Company need to establish positive culture in organisation so that
workforce can easily do their work effectively. Further, ethical practices among internal
employees lead to fair trade practices which maintain the brand image and goodwill of
company (Boella and Goss-Turner, 2013).
 Compliance of legal laws:- Waitrose limited is largest supermarket in UK where HR
manager has to comply with all the rules and regulation which are enforced for protection
of employees. Whole HR team has to ensure that legal legislation must be followed in
effective manner so that no complication arises in respect of achieving goals.
Apart from it different function of management has been performed by HR department of
Waitrose limited which described below:-
 Planning:- The first and foremost function of management in which planning related to
market strategies, policies procedures and tactics are made in advance manner. Further,
different task and responsibilities must be planned in advice manner so at the time of
execution no problems arises.
 Organising:- Under this step, HR manager has to organise all the activities in effective
manner so that no problem arises in future. Further manager clearly communicate with all
workforce that what task they have to perform and after completion to whom they have to
report so that no confusion develop in other operations.
 Staffing:- It is the third function of management in which HR manager has to select able
employee in order to fill the vacant job position. Different approaches has been used by
them at the time of recruitment and selection process so that right candidate can be
chosen for right position (Functions of HRM, 2017).
 Training and development:- This is the major function of management in which
systematic training programmes will be organised for all new and existing employees.
Further, they need to appoint professional trainer who guide them regarding all the latest
tools and techniques used recently in external environment so they effectively carried out
all the work.
 Employment engagement:- This function explain the role of HR manager in order to
initiate workforce for active participation in every task and operations of business.
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Further, it must formulate such policies in which those employee who fully engaged in
each project and give relevant suggestion will be rewarded by benefits and incentives.
Therefore Waitrose Limited has to include all the above function in order to carrying each
operation of management effectively (Boxall and Purcell, 2011).
P2. Strength and weaknesses of approaches related to recruitment and selection
Both recruitment and selection are complex procedure which require full efforts and time
of HR manager is order to design proper framework which help in completing all the operation
in effective manner. In dynamic environment, different changes in respect of customer taste,
demand and needs developed so to cope up with all challenges of rivalry HR need to select
professional employee who has a capability to perform every task in appropriate manner.
Different approaches like internal and external source used by every HR manager to select right
candidate for right position and it is prescribed below:-
Internal source:- It is the most common and easiest source of recruitment in which
candidate has been selected from internal organisation without getting the intervention of
external source. HR manager fully known about the skill and ability of workers on the basis of
which selection has been done. But every method has their own strength and weaknesses which
described below:-
Advantages Disadvantages
 This method save time, effort and money
of organisation because of internal
selection (Daley, 2012).
 Employees are already familiar with
working atmosphere and culture so there
is no need of training and development
procedures.
 Staff member are promoted
automatically which motivate them to
perform task effectively.
 Able and experienced person are chosen
for business profile.
 Kill the talent of new employees because
of dominance of internal employees.
 Existing employees are not able to
understand all the changes coming in
environment which leads to lot of
problems and issues.
 Chances of partiality and favouritism are
more in organisation which demotivate
existing employees.
 Limit to the selection of potential
employees for job profile.
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External source:- This is the modern and advance source of recruitment in which employees are
selected outside the organisation. Under this pool of applicants are send their resume but only
deserving candidates application are chosen from available alternatives. Different source of
medium has been used like advertising, social media and internal sites in order to create
awareness about job profile (Gospel and Sako, 2010).
Following are the strength and weaknesses of External recruitment which described below:-
Advantages Disadvantage
 New ideas are generated more because of
selection of able and professional
employees.
 Chances of growth and profitability for
business is more because of innovative
and creative ideas.
 Get people updated with knowledge,
skills and professional education which
help company to take rational decision
making.
 Greater choice of selection is always
their because of availability of number of
applications.
 Chances of conflicts and disputes are
more because of different opinion and
viewpoint between existing and new
employees.
 Lot of time, efforts and money incur in
this source of recruitment.
 Existing employee are generally
demotivated because of priority given to
new employee in decision making.
 Reduce the possibility of promotion
opportunities.
Therefore, Waitrose limited must select that source of recruitment which suited to overall
organisation structure of company and give optimum return to them in terms of productivity and
growth (Heizer, 2016).
P3. Benefits derived from HRM practices
In organisation there are different types of practices which has been used by organisation
in order to develop various activities. The use of these practices allow them to perform different
task related to recruitment, selection, performance up-gradation and training development of
employees. Further, HR manager has to maintain the coordination between superior and
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subordinates so that all the HRM practices has been carried effectively without any errors and
disputes.
In today scenario competition has been grown up with rapid fast speed because of which
demand and wants of customers also increases so to beat all the challenges of rivalry company
require to adopt such HRM practices through which they get utmost advantage in terms of
profitability and market share (Hoque, 2013). Different benefits that earned from the usage of
HRM practices from Waitrose limited point of view are stated below:- Increase positive environment:- Organisation at the time of performing daily task
effectively then in such case HR manager require to adopt HRM practices in their
policies and procedures which enhance positivity and harmony among workforce. This
further help them to use their skill capabilities in solving daily internal matters. For
example in Waitrose work has been divided in different department among workforce
according to their specialisation by the use of HRM practices in order to carry out all
activities properly which enhance positivity and ethical practices in working
environment. Maintain Quality standard:- HR manager generally used all HRM practices in working
environment so that employees maintain the standard quality in respect of goods and
services. Different training and development events has been organised by HR so that
employees are familiar with latest techniques used at the time of delivering products and
services to target audiences. Career advancement:- If any individual working in particular organisation expect better
career growth in their personality. So in order to fulfilled the dreams and requirement of
employees HR manager uses different HRM practices in which they organise various
events in which professional guide them in which field they advance their growth.
Further, manager personally interact with employees to direct them that in what manner
they achieve success in their life (Jiang and et. al., 2012). Flexibility:- In business world different technologies and digitalisation developed by
various start-ups that induce existing company to make changes in their organisational
structure. Further, organisation uses different HRM practices through which they guide
employees that how modification is important for business success which leads to
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flexibility among workforce in order to implement all the modification in business
environment. Staff motivation:- In organisation if HR included rewards and recognition policies in
their working structure then it help in enhancing the performance of employees. At the
end of year employees must be appreciated with rewards and recognition if they perform
well then it help in motivating all the workforce which allows them to use their skills and
talent and think out of the box in order to take rational decision at the time when they
suffer any complex situations (Marchington and et. al., 2016).
 Ethical practices:- HR manager establish such policies and procedures which ensure
proper compliance of legal rules and regulation in working environment. Apart from it
HRM practices also helpful in maintaining ethical practices in organisation by removing
all the possibility related to unethical way of working which leads of better image and
goodwill of company.
P4 Effectiveness of human resource management practices in increasing productivity and profit
The practices of human resource management are prove to be very effective in terms of
increasing productivity and profitability of company. These practices includes employee
empowerment, appraisal system, training and development of workers, compensation, health and
safety etc. These are the main factors that highly contributes in growth and sustainability of
every business concern. It also assists in increasing morale of workforce and reducing turnover
rate of employees.
As Waitrose is a large supermarket chain, many employees are working in it for the
purpose of offering goods and services to customers. So, it is required by human resource
manager of company to satisfy their employees. For this, they implement various HRM practices
in order to motivate employees and encourage them to work in better and effective manner. It put
positive impact on profits and productivity of company. By proper execution of human resource
management practices, firm attain high profits by following perspective:
Innovative & high performing manpower: By implementation of HRM practices, an
innovative environment is promoted in organisation which helps in increasing motivation of
workforce (Mok and et. al., 2013). A healthy environment with good facilities is provided by
Waitrose to its employees so that they encourage more to perform their duties in an effective
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manner. These initiatives of firm assists in increasing their productivity and performance & it
enhance their profits.
Setting effective direction and its execution: In setting goals, priorities, purposes, role of
employees and direction, managers & leaders of Waitrose play crucial role. They recruit
employees for right position at right place on the basis of their skills and capabilities. These
individuals highly contributes in growth of company and lead it towards superior position with
high profits and productivity (Nickson, 2013).
Efficient reward drive performance: Rewards are directly related with performance of
an individual as it put high impact on employee performance. Manager of Waitrose implement
effective reward system for employees in which they give recognition and reward to individuals
for their work. This helps in increasing their morale and promotes a positive work culture at
workplace. By this, employees feel satisfied and they work towards attainment of high
profitability and productivity of firm.
Non monetary factors: There are various non monetary factors such as recognition,
praise, challenge, feedback, exposure, learning opportunities etc. which helps in improving
morale of employees. Managers, team members and leaders of Waitrose get these elements
which increase their excitement, energy, motivation and loyalty towards firm. Effective
utilization of such non monetary factors assists in improving profit and productivity of
organisation.
Updating skills of workforce: In current scenario, market is highly competitive. To cope
up with market competition, it is required by company to create a big pace of change. It means,
existing skills of manpower should be updated on regular basis. Human resource manager of
Waitrose has the responsibility to determine skill needs of workers and design a suitable training
programme (Purce, 2014). Development of effective training session administer opportunity to
employees for learning new things and in improving existing skills. By this, they get motivate
and work towards accomplishment of organisational goals. It will effectively raise profit and
productivity of Waitrose.
Sharing & collaboration: When outsiders collaborate with organisation and willingly
share their views or ideas, profit & productivity of Waitrose improves magically. Human
resource management department of company facilitates in developing formal approaches to
enhance the manner in which collaboration and sharing process takes place.
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All the above defined points depicts effectiveness of human resource management
practices in raising profitability and productivity of Waitrose. So, it is essential for manager to
implement all such practices in effective way to increase growth of company.
TASK 2
P5 Significance of good employment relation and its influence on HR decision making
Each individual share some relationship with their colleagues and fellow members. They
effectively interact with each other so that a good relation can be maintained among them
(Sparrow and et. al., 2016). An interactive workplace helps in increasing motivation among
employees which can't be measured in monetary terms. Opinions of workforce facilitates
manager in taking effective decisions. So, in Waitrose, it is very essential that a good relationship
is keep maintained between management and employees. Good coordination and cooperation
among them helps in attainment of organisational goals in an effective and efficient manner. So,
employees and management needs to work collectively as single unit in order to accomplish
common goals. Significance of employee relation is defined below:
Easy working: If relation between management and employees is good then working
becomes easy in an organisation. It reduce work load on single individual and ensures timely
completion of tasks. In Waitrose, managers delegate roles and responsibilities among their staff
members so that, desired goals can be attain on time. It is not possible for an individual to do
every work so, divided responsibilities eases workload and in turn increase productivity. Good
relation between employees increase their participation in activities of firm and helps in decision
making of managers.
Reduce conflicts among manpower: Good relations between employees lowers down the
chances of arising conflicts. It promotes coordination and cooperation among workers. They trust
each other and work collectively towards attainment of common goals. In Waitrose, employees
consider their fellow members not as competitors, but as colleagues. It facilitates manager in
making better decisions and results in higher productivity (Huselid and Becker, 2011).
Employee loyalty: Interactive & pleasant work surroundings of Waitrose facilitates in
developing loyal workforce. They perform their assigned duties willingly as they feel motivated
because of good relationship between them. A healthy work surroundings contributes a lot in
growth and success of company. It encourage employees to put their whole efforts in attaining
objectives of firm and lead it towards high profit and productivity.
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Ensure equality by good communication: Managers of every organisation should
ensures that communication must be effective. It helps in developing equality at workplace as it
ensures manpower that there is no discrimination takes place within enterprise in any
perspective. It increase motivation level of workers and promote healthy environment at
workplace. It directly influence their performance and enable them to perform their duties
effectively. Proper communication system aids human resource manager of Waitrose in taking
effective and right decisions on time (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017).
So, from the above mentioned points it can be understand that good employee relation
proves to be very beneficial for Waitrose in terms of creating positive work environment. It helps
manager in their decision making process regarding various activities and functions of firm.
P6 Important components of employment legislation & its impact on HRM decision making
For existing and newly appointed employees, each firm maintain employment legislation
and Waitrose do the same. It put critical impact on decision making process of human resource
management. Some key components of employment legislation are defined below:
Ensuring equality: In every perspective, equality should be ensured by manager of firm
at the time of appointing new candidate. Equality should be in wages, health facilities, working
hours, safety and other things. Firm must ensure that there is no discrimination takes place
among employees based on their age, sex, religion, culture, education, beliefs etc. If any
discrimination occurs in any criteria, legal assistance can be taken by worker for fulfilling their
demand. Equality influence employees of Waitrose in positive way.
Health and safety: These are the factors that needs to be considered by management of
organisation (Meredith Belbin, 2011). A healthy and safe working environment should be
provided to workforce so that they are able to work in proper manner and perform their duties
effectively. It assist Waitrose in improving motivation of employees and they are encourage to
work willingly in organisation. Safety measures are also provided by firm to their manpower so
that chances of occurring accidents becomes less. It improves employee relation and increase
their engagement in activities of company. Effective decisions are taken by managers with the
help of this.
Time of work: It is important for employees to be aware of their working hours. Firm
needs to properly communicate daily or weekly working time to employees for performing their
duties. Proper compensation is also provided by company if workforce perform overtime duties.
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Sufficient leaves should be administered to them on particular occasion so that they feel happy
and satisfied at workplace. This time distribution helps managers of human resource department
of Waitrose in making effective decisions.
Poor compensation: Compensation plan should be clearly defined by firm to their
employees during recruitment process. Employers must tell them about their working hour
length as well as minimum wages (Alfes, and et. al., 2013). Information regarding all such things
should be clearly communicated by company to their workers. After they agreed on terms, firm
hire individuals.
Defining positions: During recruitment process, firm hire suitable candidate and define
their position in company. It is necessary for company to tell employees about their roles and
responsibilities. It helps in taking effective decisions regarding human resource management.
Above mentioned are all the legal actions that must be ensured by manager of Waitrose
during recruitment process. It positively influence decision making process of HRM.
P7. HRM practices used in work related context
Due to digitalisation and better techniques in business world it is vital for organisation to
use different applications in which various HRM practices has been used for better operations in
organisation (Lengnick-Hall, Beck and Lengnick-Hall, 2011). Common approaches that has
been used by Waitrose Limited in their organisation structure are described below:-
Job Specification:- It is derived from job analysis in which statement has been prepared
in which different components related to job has been mentioned that tell about the duties,
responsibilities and minimum qualification required to perform that particular task. Further, it
described about the skill ability needed in individuals through which they accomplish operation
of business.
JOB SPECIFICATION
Organisation name:- Waitrose Limited
Job Title:- Assistant finance manager
Qualification:- MBA OR PGDM in finance
Essential criteria:-
 Complete all the daily targets in efficient manner.
 Maintenance of financial data in proper manner.
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 Ability to handle all the complex issues and problems.
 Deep knowledge of accounting policies and financial data
Desirable criteria:-
 Require an experiences of 4.5 years or more
 Proper knowledge about recent financial changes arises in environment.
 Effective communication and intellectual skill at the time of delivering services to
customers.
Job Description:- It is basically general document that tells about the general task, duties and
responsibilities that person has to perform at particular job profile. In order words it tell about all
the terms and conditions related to employee salary, compensation benefits, working hours and
all the important information which need to be understand by individual at the time of doing job
(Wilson, 2015). Apart from it Waitrose limited HR manager require to ensure that all standards
has been specified before appointing person in respect of particular profile.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Organisation Name:- Waitrose Limited
Division:- Finance department
Location of job:- England
Summary of job
Company is looking for competent person who easily fulfil all the requirement of Assistant finance
manager. Further, individual must have proper knowledge and understanding about all the
financial measurement on basis of which they perform task effectively.
Roles and responsibilities
 Compliance of all financial laws and regulations.
 Maintaining harmony and peace in whole environment.
 Ensure that no fraudulent activities has been arises in relation to financial data of business.
Apart from it interview has been conducted in which basic knowledge of individual has been
checked to know whether they are aware about the history of organisation and also the vision
mission of company. Common question which has been asked in interview are described below:-
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Q1. Tell me about yourself?
Q2. Explain your experience in previous job and why he or she left this organisation?
Q3. Where do you see yourself after 5 years in that company?
Q4. Describe the basic qualities that must be their in financial manager?
Further, CV is another medium through which information has been gained about individual
personality and their background (Boselie, 2010). Format of resume are stated below:-
CURRICULUM VITAE
Curriculum Vitae
Name:- Adam Levine
Address:- 28 department opposite central park residency, England
Contact No:- 657845213
Profile Specification:-
Require an MBA specialise in finance field having an experiences of 4.5 years or more in order to
become the part of company and also gives many opportunities for growth and development.
Effective communicator with proper knowledge accounting techniques and mechanism.
Specialisation:-
Degree in finance field
Proper knowledge about all the financial data and information
Conflict management
Educational qualification: -
 Bachelor in Commerce. (B.com) Masters in Business administration (MBA) (Specialise in finance sector)
Declaration:
I hereby declare that all the information provided is true and is best of my knowledge.
Date:
Place:
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CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from whole assignment that Human resource management plays an
important role in overall operations of business. Further, HR manager has to select those
techniques which help in recruiting and selecting the best candidates for vacant job position.
Apart from it various HRM practices has been utilised so that employees are benefited at the
time of performing daily targets of company which leads to accomplishment of objective in
effective and efficient manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Alfes, K., and et. al., 2013. The link between perceived human resource management practices,
engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The international
journal of human resource management. 24(2). pp.330-351.
Berman, E. M. and et. al., 2012. Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes,
processes, and problems. Sage.
Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and practice in European human resource
management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield survey. Taylor & Francis.
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.
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.
Huselid, M.A. and Becker, B.E., 2011. Bridging micro and macro domains: Workforce
differentiation and strategic human resource management.

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.
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Lengnick-Hall, C.A., Beck, T.E. and Lengnick-Hall, M.L., 2011. Developing a capacity for
organizational resilience through strategic human resource management. Human
Resource Management Review. 21(3). pp.243-255.
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.
Meredith Belbin, R., 2011. Management teams: Why they succeed or fail. Human Resource
Management International Digest. 19(3).
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
Functions of HRM. 2017. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.keka.com/5-major-
functions-human-resource-management/>.
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