Human Resource Management: Concepts and Applications

This assignment provides a comprehensive study guide on human resource management, covering its definition, concepts, and applications. It includes references to various academic papers and research studies on HRM, as well as online resources for further learning. The summary of the assignment highlights key topics such as strategic talent management, high-performance work systems, and the importance of intellectual capital in organizations.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK-1 ..........................................................................................................................................1
P1- Purpose and functions of HRM in context of workforce planning for Aldi.........................1
P2- Strength and weakness of various approaches to recruitment and selection........................2
TASK-2 ...........................................................................................................................................3
P3- Advantages of different HRM practices in Aldi for both employer and employee.............3
P4- Effectiveness of HRM practices for increasing Aldi's profit and productivity....................4
TASK-3............................................................................................................................................5
P5- Importance of employee relations with respect to decision making under HRM. .............5
P6- Key elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM in context of “Aldi”......6
P7- Demonstrate the utilization of HRM practices with the help of examples related to Aldi...8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Labour force is one of the major assets of any organisation. They acts like a heart of any
company and this is because they are responsible for carrying out all necessary task within and
even outside the corporation. A machine though needs command by a human to function in the
most effective manner (Armitage, Marschke and Plummer, 2010). Human resource is the
personnel of any enterprise and human resource management can be defined as managing and
directing people of any organisation so as to achieve the target of company. As per this given
report, Aldi is one a leading brand of grocery retailers in all over the world. They have more than
7,000 sales outlet across 70 major countries. Company was established in Germany (1913) than
moved towards U.K since 1990. This report will be helpful in determining various aspects of
human resource management (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). H.R function is very important for
measuring the effectiveness of any organisation in terms of human resource management. There
are different HRM practices that will help the company to grow in the market. Human resource
management thus can be concluded as the most crucial part of any organisation.
TASK-1
P1- Purpose and functions of HRM in context of workforce planning for Aldi.
Workforce planning for the mentioned company “Aldi” can be concluded as one of the
major area where the company needs to take decision. As Aldi is a leading brand in the global
world therefore, they need to focus towards recruiting best workforce in order to perform every
function of organisation in the most effective manner. Given below are some of the main purpose
of HRM.
1- To conduct job analysis- Under job analysis, there are basically two factors. First is
the job description and second is job satisfaction (Avey, Luthans and Jensen, 2011). Job analysis
in overall can be defined as analysing nature of many employment positions.
2. Best utilisation of work force- Human resource management incudes all those factors
that can be helpful in determining the best practices to fully utilise the work force of a company.
This is one of a key functional area of H.R.M because all the work done by an employee can
only be beneficial for the organisation if it is moulded in a correct direction.
3. Performance appraisal- This can be understood as a major idea behind giving
feedback to employee on the basis of their performance in the company. This can be in both
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negative as well as in positive aspects. This is important to analyse work performance in order to
increase salary and to give promotion. On the other side, ultimatum is provided to those
employee whose performance is not satisfactory.
4- Training and development programs- Providing training to the new as well as to the
existing employee is very essential in order to get appropriate results or output. Therefore, this is
the core responsibility of any Human resource manager (Bakker and Demerouti, 2010). This will
help the employee to understand their role and responsibility and hence they can perform better
in their area of performance.
5- Maintenance of work force- Basic purpose and function of HRM is to organise,
evaluate and direct the employee in such a way that they can performance best in their assigned
area of duty (Black, Clemmensen and Skov, 2010). This can be done by making a proper plan for
work force arrangement. Their duties and responsibilities should also be specifically mentioned.
Therefore, on the basis of above points, it is very clear that workforce planning for Aldi
can be done by determining core purpose and function of human resource management.
P2- Strength and weakness of various approaches to recruitment and selection.
As per given scenario of Aldi, there is major requirement of recruiting new staff into the
organisation. For this purpose, human resource manager needs to adopt various approaches of
recruitment and selection process. Its strength and weakness should also be evaluated in order to
successfully achieve objective of company (Boxall and Macky, 2012). Effective process of
recruitment and selection in any organisation is as important as water for human being. Different
companies can adopt various approaches for this purpose. Given below are the major approaches
towards recruitment and selection.
1. Job description- Any systematic recruitment process started with maintaining an
absolute job description. It basically indicates all details about a job profile. This may includes
salary, job responsibility, working hours and so on. This helps the candidate to analyse the job
profile with respect to their interest and preferences.
2. Skills inventory- This is again a very important responsibility with any organisation.
This is related to making a list of all desired skills and qualification that will be needed for a
specific task (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). This will actually help the organisation to find suitable
candidate as per their requirement. There represents a detailed list of all skills, qualification and
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trait that must be posses by a candidate in order to apply for the job. This also helps the applicant
to select job profile as per their qualification and skills.
3. Job posting strategy- This can be a major part of making recruitment and selection
process more systematic (Chen and Huang, 2010). This includes job posting by a set of pre-
determined ideal skills by the recruiter.
Now given below are the major strengths and weaknesses of approaches to recruitment and
selection for Aldi.
In context of strength-
Quick decision making- It is very important factor of internal promotion (Collings and
Mellahi, 2010). Recruiters need to respond quick and thus it become strength of recruitment and
section to hire and promote existing employee without wasting time.
Chances of getting best result increases- As when maximum number of people will be
hired as per the requirement of present job profile, this will definitely push the company ahead in
order to attain organisation's goals and objective.
External recruitment: It helps to bring a new talent in the company which can supports
in to the process of the company.
Internal recruitment: It is a faster process to fulfil the requirements of the company for
a particular post.
In context of weakness-
External recruitment and selection approaches are time consuming- This is because
it consists of several stages and thus it become more complex to hire an employee.
Inappropriate selection of candidate- Sometimes due to wrong estimation of recruiter,
there are chances of hiring inappropriate candidate in the organisation.
External recruitment: It creates an extra financial pressure on the finance department of
the ALDI to recruit a person. Whole recruitment and selection process has done in this which has
different stages.
Internal recruitment: It is a substitute option to accomplish requirements for a
particular time period which is the main weakness of this recruitment procedure.
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TASK-2
P3- Advantages of different HRM practices in Aldi for both employer and employee.
Human resource practices are beneficial in context of employer as well as employee. As
Aldi may perform many HRM practices in order to attain sustainability in the market (Dowling,
2011). This can be defined as all possible area that needs to be covered under human resource
management. This aims to maintain a flexible, caring and open management approach so that all
the personnel can feel motivated. This will definitely improves the effectiveness of any task
performed (Guest, 2011). Given below are the major practices that will help “Aldi” to effectively
utilize their work force and employer can feel motivated at the same time.
1. Talent acquisition- This is a process of hiring best skilled candidates for the company.
This will also boost the talent of employer to collect a team of most capable employees for the
organisation.
2. Healthcare benefit- For both employer and employee, it is essential to be healthy.
This is because a human can only work properly until and unless they are physically fit.
Therefore, it is a foremost responsibility under HRM practices to be fit and keep the work force
of the company also fit.
3. Conducting different moral boosting programs- It is important to keep the work
force active and alive in order to give them full support to perform in their best possible manner.
For this purpose, organisation can plan for various programs that will boost the confidence
among employees (Halpern and et.al., 2010). Management can also participate as a role model.
Advantages of above mentioned practices of HRM are given below-
A)- Improve the productivity of the company- With the help of various HRM
Practices, both employer and employee can perform best within the range of their roles and
responsibility. When people of company can perform their assigned task in the most effective
manner then this will definitely enhance the overall productivity of the cited company that is
Aldi.
B) Market share will increase- One of the best benefit of HRM practices is that it can
help in getting maximum number market shares for the company. This is because if employee
and employer are motivated towards their individual roles, then they will work in most effective
manner (Kang and Snell, 2012). As a result of this, company will be able to achieve a good
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image in the market and hence chances of getting maximum number of market shares will
increase.
P4- Effectiveness of HRM practices for increasing Aldi's profit and productivity.
Various HRM practices plays a vital role in enhancing company's growth and
development. Different practices are meant to achieve different goals of the company.
Effectiveness of each adopted practices by mentioned company are given below:
1- Company is getting a stable market position- As “Aldi” is one of a leading grocery
retailers in all over the world. Therefore, stability of this company in the market can be achieved
by their unique and promising way of conducting HRM practices (Kang, Morris and Snell 2013).
This will definitely gives a tremendous opportunity to the company for earning maximum profit
and productivity. A stable market position is one of a major goal of any organisation. Company
may adopt many techniques and strategy to attain suitability in the market. By following various
HRM practices such as a fair wages and salary policy, extra remuneration for extra work, healthy
working environment, training and development, recruitment and selection of best candidates for
the company and many more. These factors are responsible for maintaining company's good
image in the market.
2- Increased number of location- As with help of several human resource practices, the
company can actually maximize its number of location in all over the world. Currently they have
10,366 stores. Increased number of outlets indicate more earning for the company. Therefore,
cited business can actually make profit (Lengnick-Hall and et.al., 2011). They are not restricted
to their current number of stores and therefore in their future planning, company may expand
their business and this will again lead to maximize their profit margin.
3- Graph of revenue increased- Due to several HRM exercises, revenue of cited company has
been increased. It was recorded as 53 billion as for the year of 2010. This estimation has been
increased now. Therefore, it indicates that profit and productivity of “Aldi” can be maximize by
following some basic HRM practices. As per the current market position of the cited company, it
can be concluded that “Aldi” has actually doing great in the market. They have adopted many
human resource management practices in order to attain a position of suitability.
They have actually increased their productivity and profit in the market.
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TASK-3
P5- Importance of employee relations with respect to decision making under HRM.
Employee relation is a key of performance indicator of a company. Almost every
organisation focuses toward maintaining a healthy employee relation within the company. In
context of cited organisation, it is observed that management has actually created many ways by
which employee relation can be improved (Liao and et.al., 2010). This is very important aspect
of mentioned company because once a company are sharing a good employee-employer bond,
then only target of their business can be fully achieved. Trade unions are having a significant
role in the employee relations and related decision making, they leads employees and
communicate on behalf of them. So it is essential to make a better working envio0rnment in the
company and make a better change in the working policies which are better for the employer and
employees. A good employees relation will be helpful in making best decision for the company.
One of a major role of Human resource management is to make plans of the corporate. For this,
they need to take many decisions.
Now a days organisation focuses towards making decisions on the basis of various
opinion from the side of employee as well. Participation of each and every member of the
company in decision making criteria has become very important for the company. This is
because employee are actually responsible for performing task and obtain the output. They must
be knowing all areas of work (Mondy and Martocchio, 2016). Therefore, they can give best
suggestion to the company. Participation of both employee and employer in any HRM decision
making criteria will only be possible if they are sharing a good bond with each other. Due to
major importance of this, companies are now a days trying to be more informal among each
other. Given below are the basic advantages of maintaining employee relation in the cited
company-
1. Objective of HRM practices can be achieved- If company do not have stressful
environment and every employee is working happily within the organisation, then this lead to
the fulfilment of the main purpose of HRM practices.
2. Complicated task can become easy- If organisation is working as a whole, then many
complicated operations can become easy by sharing it with other work force of the organisation.
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3. Generate a feeling of belongingness- When people feel affiliated with the company
and management can actually can develop this sense of togetherness, then a happy working
environment can be created. This will motivate employee to work in a most effective manner.
4- Reduce the number of absenteeism- If people will feel good at their working place
then this will automatically encourages them to come and work for the mentioned company. This
will lead to minimize the number of absent people in the organisation (Boxall and Macky, 2012).
As a result, maximum number of employee will work for the “Aldi” in order to achieve best
result for the company.
5- Chances of conflicts will decrease- When people are happily working as per their
designation, then naturally there will be less number of conflicts that can arise within the
organisation. This will lead to maintain peace in the organisation and hence all the work can be
performed smoothly.
P6- Key elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM in context of “Aldi”.
For commencing any business unit, it is very important to evaluate all legal aspect of it.
For the cited company, all the decisions under human resource management should be taken as
per the legal norms of the country. Given below are the standard legislation under human
resource management that will directly affect the decision making criteria of the above
mentioned company.
A- Equal opportunity act- According to this, all the individual in context of employment have
to get fair chance of getting job. They can not be discriminated on the basis of their cast, religion,
age, gender, race. This law has to be followed by cited company at the time of recruitment and
selection. They have to make sure that each and every candidate will get equal chance of
employment.
Other legislation
1- Fixed term employment- There should be no discrimination among permanent and
temporary employee. Everyone has to perform in the given set of resources, no one will get any
extra benefit until and unless it is specifically mentioned in the legal framework.
2- Wages and hour- (Fair labour standards act), that is also known as FLSA determines
a parameter on which minimum pay is set. This act also establishes standard time of work in a
day. This law has to be followed by the cited company in order to recruit best potential candidate
for a specific post.
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3- Leave provision- Human resource management of cited company should clearly
convey all the rules regarding leave provision at the time of hiring. There has to be medical and
casual leave provision (Ng, Schweitzer and Lyons, 2010). A company can not terminate any
employee on the basis of taking leave until and unless it was previously mentioned in the terms
and conditions of the company.
4- Occupational safety and healthy act- This act says that there has to be a mandatory
criteria for maintaining health and safety of each and every employee of the organisation.
Therefore, decision should be taken by the cited company under the area of human resource
management to provide all safety to their work force.
5- Compensation for extra hour of work- Human resource management have to make
sure that employee will be benefited as if they are working overtime. They have to make sure
that the compensation should include extra benefit for doing surplus work for the company.
` Above are the basic legislation under HRM that cited company have to follow in order to
successfully take decision against each and every operations of the company. These element
plays a vital role in taking all necessary decisions in respect of Aldi.
P7- Demonstrate the utilization of HRM practices with the help of examples related to Aldi.
Application of all human resource practices can be shaped as per its importance in the
organisation. In context of Aldi, it can be said that they have successfully implemented all
possible practices of HRM in order to get best possible results from their company (Ng,
Schweitzer and Lyons, 2010). Given below are the basic application of Human resource
management with respect to work related context:
1- Recruiting best staff for the company- It is one of the major task of any HRM
activity in order to select the best potential candidate for a specific job profile. This can be
understood by seeing real example of Aldi. This company has actually adopted many method to
make their recruitment and selection process more effective and authentic.
2- Providing training and development programs- This can be considered as one of
the major responsibility of HRM in order to effectively trained employee of their company. Aldi
have made a great training procedure that can help the work force to complete their task in the
most effective manner.
3- Performance management: Team and HR managers works together to improve
performance of their employees which can help to them to attain their team and organisational
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targets. In this task HR managers provide attractive rewards offerings which motivates to
employees to work hard and more against the organisational objectives.
CONCLUSION
This can be estimated by analysing the given report on the company named “Aldi” that
human resource management is one of a key area of any organisation. They are responsible for
actual handling all aspects related to personnel of the company. There roles and responsibility
includes recruitment and selection, training and development, wages and salary administration.
And so on. Importance of employee relation is necessary so as to maintain a sense of
belongingness among workers. This will definitely direct them to fully focus towards their target
and hence cited company can actually achieve its goal.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Armitage. D., Marschke. M. and Plummer. R., 2010. Adaptive co-management and the paradox
of learning. Global environmental change. 18(1). pp. 86-98.
Armstrong. M. and Taylor. S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Avey. J. B., Luthans. F. and Jensen. S. M., 2011. Psychological capital: A positive resource for
combating employee stress and turnover. Human resource management. 48(5). pp. 677-
693.
Bakker. A. B. and Demerouti. E., 2010. The job demands-resources model: State of the art.
Journal of managerial psychology. 22(3). pp. 309-328.
Black. D., Clemmensen. N. J. and Skov. M. B., 2010. Pervasive Computing in the Supermarket:
Designing a Context-Aware Shopping Trolley. International Journal of Mobile Human
Computer Interaction (IJMHCI). 2(3). pp. 31-43.
Boxall. P. and Macky. K., 2012. Research and theory on high-performance work systems:
progressing the high-involvement stream. Human Resource Management Journal.
19(1). pp. 3-23.
Boxall. P. and Purcell. J., 2011. Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Chen. C. J. and Huang. J. W., 2010. Strategic human resource practices and innovation
performance—The mediating role of knowledge management capacity. Journal of
Business Research. 62(1). pp. 104-114.
Collings. D. G. and Mellahi. K., 2010. Strategic talent management: A review and research
agenda. Human Resource Management Review. 19(4). pp.304-313.
Dowling. P., 2011. International human resource management: Managing people in a
multinational context. Cengage Learning.
Guest. D. E., 2011. Human resource management and performance: still searching for some
answers. Human Resource Management Journal. 21(1). pp. 3-13.
Halpern. B. S and et.al., 2010. A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems. Science.
319(5865). pp. 948-952.
Kang. S. C. and Snell. S. A., 2012. Intellectual capital architectures and ambidextrous learning: a
framework for human resource management. Journal of Management Studies. 46(1).
pp. 65-92.
Kang. S. C., Morris. S. S. and Snell. S. A., 2013. Relational archetypes, organizational learning,
and value creation: Extending the human resource architecture. Academy of
Management Review. 32(1). pp. 236-256.
Lengnick-Hall. M. L and et.al., 2011. Strategic human resource management: The evolution of
the field. Human Resource Management Review. 19(2). pp. 64-85.
Liao. H and et.al., 2010. Do they see eye to eye? Management and employee perspectives of
high-performance work systems and influence processes on service quality. Journal of
Applied Psychology. 94(2). pp. 371.
Mondy. R. and Martocchio. J. J., 2016. Human resource management. Human Resource
Management, Global Edition.
Ng. E. S., Schweitzer. L. and Lyons. S. T., 2010. New generation, great expectations: A field
study of the millennial generation. Journal of Business and Psychology. 25(2). pp. 281-
292.
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Online
Human Resource Management (HRM) - Definition and Concept. 2016. [online]. Available
through<http://www.managementstudyguide.com/human-resource-management.htm>.
[Accessed on 4th July 2017].
Human Resource Management. 2016. [online]. Available
through<https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/hrm/>. [Accessed on 4th July 2017].
Soft and Hard HRM. 2015. [online]. Available
through<http://www.tutor2u.net/business/reference/soft-and-hard-hrm>. [Accessed on
4th July 2017].
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