Human Resource Management: Role and Comparison of HR Policies in Tesco and Marks & Spencer

This report discusses the role of human resource management in an organization and compares the HR policies of Tesco and Marks & Spencer. It also includes a reflection on personal experience and identifies areas for potential development.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................5
Role of human resource management.........................................................................................5
Comparison of companies HR Policies.......................................................................................7
REFLECTION.................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
Books and Journals...................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management is basically full form of HRM, it involves hiring,
recruiting, training, on boarding and managing the employees in the organization. It is mostly
known as human resource(HR). It is business function that is responsible for all the issues and
complaints related to the employee within the company (Stone, Cox and Gavin, 2020). Human
resource management is a strategic approach for effectively management of the people in the
organisation. The word human resource was first came into picture in the year of 1900 and later
it is broadly adopted in the year of 1960. Human resource management consists developing,
analysing, evaluating and monitoring the workforce to accomplish the organisational objectives
more effectively and efficiently. It plays important role for both employees and organisation. It
creates link among them. Moreover, human resource includes employment recruiting, planning,
new recruitment drive, job satisfaction, training of people, employee motivation program and
various other aspects related to employees within the company for smooth operation. It also
involves managing industrial relationship and union relationship. The human resource in the
company make sure that employees are working well towards the organisational goals and
objectives. It is helpful in increasing profitability and productivity of the organisation. In the
human resource management there are skilled human resource professionals. There is a proper
dedicated HR department defined in the company, it can vary in size and structure according to
the need of the organisation (Macke and Genari, 2019). There are various objectives of the
human resource management that includes organizational objective, functional objective,
personal objective and societal objective within the organisation. This report contains the brief
introduction about the human resource management and role of human resource in the
organisation. It also includes various human resource policies comparison among the chosen
organisation as Tesco and Marks & Spencer. In addition with reflective self-evaluation of
people management & team working ability with the help of personal experience to demonstrate
strength and areas for potential development. At the end, overall conclusion of the report is
described.

MAIN BODY
Role of human resource management
Human resource management plays a significant role in the company to developing and
planning the administration policies for the employees. A well organised human resource
management is helpful for uninterruptible operation of the organisation that directly impact on
productivity and profitability. According to Dave Ulrich there are four major role of human
resource in an organisation that includes strategic partner role, administrative role, employees
champion role and change agent role (Anwar and Abdullah, 2021). In case of strategic partner
role, it helps to create strategies to achieve desired output whereas administrative role tells about
legal policies and paperworks. Similarly, employee champion role defines that managing the
talent or skilled workforce in the organisation. However, change agent role helps human resource
to making change in policies to do things faster. In addition with there are other human resource
role as following:
 Organisation design: In this human resource management plays important role to
designing organisation structure, authorities and duties. Human resource is responsible
for defining the job structure for every position in the company. They defines the job
description to identify that which person is more suitable for available position in the
organisation.
 Human resource management planning: In this the purpose of human resource
planning to make sure that company has right skilled people for the particular task or
work. It identifies the available position in the company, future requirements and present
evaluation of the employee within the organisation (Sarina, 2018). It is basically a
planning which analyses the demand and supply of the people in the company and how to
select them from various sources. Human resource management planning describes
strategies for the long and short term requirements of man power in the company.
 Staffing: In this the role of human resource management is recruiting and selecting of
staff for the organisation. When proper identification done to know about the available
vacant position after that human resource select the right people for that specific task.
This process can be done through interview process, online or offline test and group
discussion to scrutinizing skilled people for the company. Human resource finds people

from various sources such as display ads for their requirements on social networking
sites, open vacancy and many more.
 Training & development program: After recruitment process human resource provides
training to new people to tell them about their work and responsibilities. Training and
development program is also provided for existing employees of the company to enhance
their skills and capabilities. It is foremost role of human resource management to train
their employee to achieve the organisational goals and objectives. Training &
development includes personality development, skill development program and training
of latest technology etc. It is essential for the company that their employees are well
trained and skilled due to that it creates positive impact on overall productivity and
revenue of the company.
 Organisational development: Human resource is the main source that creates the
interpersonal relationship among the employees of the company. It can be achieved
through organising various activities in the company such as motivational program,
games, cultural events and many more. It helps people to know that company takes care
of them. It also create good relationship among employees as well as organisation.
 Incentives & benefits: There are various benefits for the employees provided defined by
the human resource management. If there is any employee in the company working more
than assigned then there is responsibility of human resource to provide them incentives
for extra work. There are also some benefits given by human resource to the employees
for their good work. Benefits includes transportation facility, house rent allowance,
internet bill and many more.
 Complaints and queries: Human resource management plays a crucial role to make
employee happy towards the work. The human resource management department handles
the complaints and queries of the employees and provide them the solution (Enis, 2018).
It is due to that there are many people in the organisation with different background,
culture, religion and race. They faces discrimination everyday. Hence, human resource
management resolve such issue related to such activity. It also includes bullying because
it is common now days. Human resource takes care of employees problem to make them
happy and stress free.

 Union relation: As employees have their own union with their leader. The human
resource management plays a key role to manage relation between union or labour and
the company. If there are any demands by the unions, human resource tells the higher
authority about this. Basically it defines a link among organisation and union. It is very
important to maintain the union and organisation relationship in order to achieve the
higher growth and potential in the market.
Comparison of companies HR Policies
 Reward policy – The reward policy was introduces in order to appreciate the employees
working in the organisation. The employees always involved in the organisation work
and helps in achieving the organisational goal, so reward policy was made. For
appreciating the employees Tesco made the promotion quickly in order to boost the
motivation of the employees, where as Marks & Spencer pay extra money as any
incentive as a reward for good performance of the employees.
 Child labour policy – The children's have right to educate, for the sake of earning
income the children's are not allowed to do work especially the work which is hazardous
for their health (Mirfakhar, Trullen and Valverde, 2018). As per the child policy of Tesco
the children below the age of 14 are not allowed to work in their organisation, where as
per the policy of Marks & Spencer the children below the age of 15 years are not allowed
to work within their organisation and at some particular area it limit is exceed to 18 years.
The children below the age of either 15 or 18 ears are not allowed to perform any work
within their company.
 Retirement policy – After the age of 60 years the efficiency to preform the work become
low. The people are not able to work properly and this affects the performance of the
company as well as is dangerous for the health of the old age people so to avoid these
circumstances retirement policy was introduced. The time for which the employees has
survived after retirement it is the responsibility of the company to take care of them, for
this as per the retirement policy of Tesco, they do a life insurance policy of the
employees and the employees has to pay a certain amount in that policy (Dakhli and et.
al., 2019). At the time of retirement the company pays the five times amount that is being
paid by the employees on that life insurance policy. Where as per the retirement policy of
Marks & Spencer the employee and the employees contributes the same amount of

money starting from the time of employment and at the time of retirement the amount is
being paid to the employee.
 Equal Opportunity policy – This policy states that we have a diverse culture, so each
and ever person should get the equal opportunity. Any kind of discrimination should not
be made on the basis of culture, caste, colour, religion or any other factor such as gender.
Apart from this on the basis of gender no discrimination should be made in terms of pay.
Both the gender should get the fair and equal pay. As per the equal opportunity policy of
Tesco zero tolerance is terms of bullying, any kind of discrimination and harassment
activities are not at all considered, if someone found performing these activities will be
fired and have to pay the penalty and as per the equal opportunity of Marks & Spencer
any discrimination on the basis of age, caste, nation, religion, culture and colour was
made then the person will be prisoned and had to pay a heavy penalty (Lopes and Silva
Gomes, 2022) .
 Recruitment policy – Different companies uses different ways for recruiting the
employees. The way through which their cost can be reduces and the best kind of work
force is being appointed by them is chosen by the companies. As the employees or the
work force are the most important kind of assets that the companies have with them. The
the policy used by the Tesco for recruitment is external recruitment, it means the
employees are recruited from outside the company, fresh hiring is take place. In Marks &
Spencer the company prefer internal hiring, this means the employees working within the
organisations are being given being promoted to the higher position or transfer is made to
fill the vacant vacancy. This is the best way to save the expenditure or cost occurring on
the training of the new employees.
 Health and safety policy – To look after the employees health and safety while working
in the organisation is the responsibility of the employer. While working in hazardous
factory the health of the employee can be affected and at any construction site the
chances of danger is high. This will make the employees fear while working in the
organisation so the policy of heath an safety is made. Tesco made policy in favour of the
employees that if any mis happening takes place while working in the organisation the
company will pay the amount as per the designation of the employee to his family
member. Where as the Marks & Spencer states that in case of any mis happening takes

places and the employee dies then the company will recruit the other member from his
family, who will take care of the lively hood of the family.
 Training and development policies – In order to increase the skills of the employees
training an development policies were introduced. After recruitment process human
resource provides training to new people to make the new employees aware about the
work and responsibilities. Training is also provided for existing employees of the
company to enhance their skills and capabilities. The Tesco gives training at the time of
joining where as Marks & Spencer use to give training on the monthly bases. To evaluate
the performance of the employees (Esoimeme, 2020) .
REFLECTION
While working as an HR in the company I had a great experience. I learned many new
things which helps me in gain the practical knowledge. I learned to mange the team. Initially I
find difficulty in time management as I was not habitual of preforming these activities. I used to
miss my deadlines. To improve this I will prepare to do list which will help me identifying which
work is more important and which is less important (Cirillo, 2018). Behalf of that list I will sort
my work accordingly and achieve to complete my work on time. Other other weakness I find in
myself while working in the organisation was to manage the team. The team belongs to different
region an culture. They don't use to listen me, as I also belong to different culture. So my view
an opinions do not match with their ideas. Sometimes it is the cause of conflicts too. To avoid
this I will first listen to my team what they are trying to say and then only I will give my opinion.
I will work with my team and make efforts to work with them in coordinator. By strength was
my communication skill. I was the skills by which people can be influence and convense easily.
By making this strength my skill talked with my team and we came together to attain the goal of
the organisation. This ability helps me in building the bet kind of team, which always brings a
positive output. The human resource team is considered as the reflection of the company, so
byhavi8ng a good communication skills I was able to present my company in a efficient manner.
I was being appreciated by the management for this. I use to give training to my team on the
skills set which my team to not have. A proper sessions are conducted by me in order to work
more efficiently.

CONCLUSION
From the above file it can be concluded that the Human resource management is very
important to have a good team or work force within the organisation. As they are the only one
who recruits the best kind of work force for the company. The HR policies plays a vital role in
development of the organisation. The company having a good HR polices helps in increasing the
image of the company. The employees get motivate to work in that kind of organisation. The
Tesco and Marks & Spencer has bit different policies but both are in favour of the employees.
The employees feels motivated when the organisation has the good HR polices. Lastly we see the
reflection. As an HR our company what strength and meekness are present. And what steps can
be taken to overcome from those weaknesses.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Stone, R.J., Cox, A. and Gavin, M., 2020. Human resource management. John Wiley & Sons.
Macke, J. and Genari, D., 2019. Systematic literature review on sustainable human resource
management. Journal of cleaner production, 208, pp.806-815.
Anwar, G. and Abdullah, N.N., 2021. The impact of Human resource management practice on
Organizational performance. International journal of Engineering, Business and
Management (IJEBM), 5.
Sarina, T., 2018. Enhancing knowledge management (KM) in the fourth industrial revolution
era: The role of human resource systems. In The Palgrave handbook of knowledge
management (pp. 411-435). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Enis, F., 2018. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN
EVERYDAY BUSINESSADMINISTRATION. In 4th International Conference
Economic Sciences" Functioning of economic systems in the global world" (pp. 20-25).
Mirfakhar, A.S., Trullen, J. and Valverde, M., 2018. Easier said than done: a review of
antecedents influencing effective HR implementation. The International Journal of
Human Resource Management, 29(22), pp.3001-3025.
Dakhli, M. and et. al., 2019. Tesco in China: How Could Things Go So Wrong?. NeilsonJournals
Publishing.
Lopes, H.S.C. and Silva Gomes, J.F.D., 2022. The Alignment of the Top Structure of the
Portuguese Armed Forces. Focus on HR Strategy and Policies. In Developments and
Advances in Defense and Security (pp. 409-419). Springer, Singapore.
Esoimeme, E.E., 2020. Using the risk-based approach to curb modern slavery in the supply
chain: The Anglo American and Marks and Spencer example. Journal of Financial
Crime.
Cirillo, F., 2018. The Pomodoro technique: The life-changing time-management system.
Random House.