Human Resource Management (PDF)

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Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management 1
Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
The possible ways to contribute to the achievement of the strategic direction.......................................2
Role of the Human Resource Manager in the recruitment of employees...............................................3
Advantages of the performance appraisal and reward plans..................................................................5
Adoption of the effective reward plans by the company........................................................................6
Evaluation of the succession planning strategy......................................................................................6
Recommendation of the motivational theories applied to Saturday staff and flexible staff...................7
Types of the organizational culture........................................................................................................8
Identification and analysis of the HR related problem...........................................................................9
Effective communication strategies to engage stakeholders..................................................................9
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The human resource management (HRM) is the process of hiring and developing
employees so that they can become important and valuable for the organization. The HRM
comprises practices like job analyses, appointing the right people for the organization,
orientation, training, providing benefits, deciding compensation, motivating employees,
maintaining proper relations and more. It even procures, develops and maintains human
resource and helps to attain individual, organizational and social objectives. This report
comprises the human resource problem faced by the Home Cozy which is a mail-order
shopping company based in New Zealand. It provides high value-added logistics with the
assured speedy delivery system. The competitive advantage which represents a company
different is its speed of delivery (Mone & London, 2018). The merchandises are delivered to
the customers within the 48 hours. The report comprises the ways which contribute to the
strategic direction. It includes the role of the human resource manager. Further, the
advantages of the performance appraisal and reward plans have been described. The effective
reward plans have been suggested. The succession planning strategy of the company has been
evaluated. The motivational theories have been also applied to both Saturday and flexible
staff. The types of organization culture have been suggested along with the identification of
the HR problem. Finally, the effective communication strategies are applied in order to
engage stakeholders.
The possible ways to contribute to the achievement of the strategic direction
The achievement of the strategic direction of the Home Cozy is possible with the
following ways:
Transparent communication: The communication is required to be transparent in the
successful contribution towards the achievement of the strategic direction. The
communication should be processed from bottom to top down for the successful strategic
planning process. It should take place with communication at all levels of employees by
informing about the strategic planning process to be taken place (Brewster, Houldsworth,
Sparrow & Vernon, 2016). The input is provided in the strategic planning process through
feedback surveys, meetings, focus groups and more.

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Focus: The strategic direction focuses on the things that are likely to change about the
business. The goals should be created and the objectives should be specific for attaining the
goals. The specific goals are assisted by clear objectives and can be incorporated by the
managers and employees. It offers every employee to focus on what they need.
Risk-taking innovation: The innovation requires trying something new. It is much safer to
make changes in the things that have been done in the past. But in order to innovate on the
large scale, it requires planning all kinds of ideas. For instance, wild ideas in the surveys
should be taken seriously given to the employees (Mustafa, Lundmark & Ramos, 2016).
Employee engagement: The employees’ engagement is an important element. The employees
are incredibly helpful when it comes to strategic direction. For instance, the inputs provided
by the employees help senior-level employees to get insight into the challenges and day to
day issues. It is essential to involve employees in the strategic planning and direction for the
Home Cozy. It helps in executing strategies. The ethics have a role in the employees’
engagement as it contributes towards business goals (Albrecht, Bakker, Gruman, Macey &
Saks, 2015). As a result, the employees feel motivated and work with efficiency and
effectiveness. The human resource factors discussed above transparent communication,
focus, risk-taking innovation, and employee engagement are helpful in achieving the strategic
goal of the company.
Role of the Human Resource Manager in the recruitment of employees
The human resource manager at Home Cozy wants to recruit employees. in order to
recruit employees, the managers required to consider:
Factors to be considered in the recruitment process
Experience: The experience is an important factor to be considered in the recruitment
process. The proven track record of the success of a person is a positive factor for the
company. The company will always prefer to choose a candidate with experience than one
without it.
Hard skills: The hard skills are easy to define skills which are learned by the applicants in
the university or past jobs. It is not possible to do job training without acquiring the right
skills (Yamazaki & Yoon, 2016).

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Soft skills: The soft skills are essential along with hard skills. The soft skills are not
measurable and are often taken as personality traits. For instance, communication skills, work
ethic and more. If a person has only hard skills but not possess any soft skills then that person
cannot contribute hundred percent efforts.
Education and credentials: The education background has an important role in potential
employees. The degrees and education should be checked which is a complement for the
Home Cozy.
The improvement facilitated by the induction processes
The employee and organization improvements facilitated by the induction process
have a role in bringing new employees on the board and improving efficiency and
productivity for the organization (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The induction process plays an
important role in reducing the amount of time taken by the employees to get up to the speed
and contribution towards the organization. There are various technologies which can
streamline and automate the induction process to ensure consistency and time savings. The e-
learning programme which is a technological trend helps to guide new employees about the
history and culture of the company, its scope, structure, products, services, policies, and
procedures. The online inductions also allow employees to gain information at their own
place (Marchington, Wilkinson, Donnelly & Kynighou, 2016).
A workplace learning programme
The effective workplace learning program helps to attain two goals, meeting the needs
of the organization and improving abilities of the employees. These goals are possible to
attain with the help of effective induction and appointment process. A workplace learning
programme should consist of programmes like a learning management system (LMS) and
development of the learning paths.The implementation of the (LMS) is effective for the
company as it determines the individual needs and accessing resources to close knowledge
gaps (Koster & Wittek, 2016). The development of the learning paths for each employee
helps in focusing on the professional development of the employees. The data is also helpful
in getting better results to set clear performance metrics.

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Advantages of the performance appraisal and reward plans
The performance appraisal is the evaluation done on the employees in regard to their
job performance over a certain period of time. It is a system which provides financial
compensation based on the individual or group performance. The advantages of the
performance appraisal are:
Improves performance: The performance appraisal mainly focuses on improving employee’s
performance. It helps in analyzing and evaluating the opportunity factors such as social
process and technology.
Employee development: The performance appraisal helps in determining who is in need of
training as it offers information regarding strength, potentials, and weaknesses of the
employees.
Career growth: The performance appraisal works as a tool for the employee’s career planning
and development. It also assists in preparing a SWOT analysis of each employee.
Promotion: The appraisals help the management in determining which employee is to be
promoted, transferred or rewarded (Wiegmann & Shappell, 2017).
Employee retention: The reward plans maps out the alleged paths for the complete career of
an employee. When the employees are hired by the small businesses on the basis of a total
rewards program, the business can realize at which bonuses, pay raises, increased vacation
and benefits occur during the individual’s career path (Pestonjee, Gupta & Delery, 2015).
Out of the advantages of the performance appraisal and reward plans discussed above
employee retention and career growth can improve employee’s performance in the Home
Cozy (Al-Emadi, Schwabenland & Wei, 2015). The career development aims at maximizing
the employee resource utilization and it is possible with the help of the performance appraisal
and reward plans. The career development as a source of performance appraisal offers the
opportunity to evaluate progress toward goals (Kim & Holzer, 2016). The appraisal can even
be used by the self-assessment of the employees. The performance appraisal should be done
on the scheduled intervals in order to retain employees. The high-performance employees
should be rewarded to spur towards improved performance.

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Adoption of the effective reward plans by the company
The performance-based pay systems offer financial compensation based on the
individual or group performance. The reward plans are used by the Home Cozy to reward
performance and motivate employees. The rewards identified by the company are bonuses,
promotion, pay, traveling expenses, working on special assignments and so on. Under this
system, the company starts recruit from an initial training grade and then progress through
and eighth-grade pay scale as per the individual performance (Jacobs, Belschak & Den
Hartog, 2014). The company also assigns different jobs to the employees for the functional
flexibility and the employees can receive higher grade payment. For instance, when the
grade-8 picker packs at the speed of a grade-3 packer, then the worker will be still paid at the
top rate.
The most effective reward plans which can be used by the Home Cozy to improve employee
performance can be benefits and recognition. The benefits are the type of extrinsic reward
which can be offered to the employees in order to improve their performance (Brewster,
Mayrhofer & Morley, 2016).The compensation includes salary, overtime, profit sharing,
commissions, and bonuses. It comprises items like retirement plans, health insurance, use of a
car, expenses for meal and travel along with the entertainment allowance. The benefits
provided by the company motivate employees to perform well and encourage staying for a
long time in the company (Helmreich & Merritt, 2017).
The recognition is another reward plan which can be used by the Home Cozy. It serves
reward by acknowledging the accomplishment of the employees. This award is more like
‘wall of fame’ for the employees who meets and exceeds the conventional goals. The
‘employee of the month’ is the award which can be given by the company as a part of the
recognition. The goals set for the recognition can be short term, long term or combination of
both(Nyberg, Moliterno, Hale Jr, & Lepak, 2014). The rewards can even be in the physical
form as a certificate of contribution or it can be intangible like a day of paid leave. The
recognition works well as long as it is consistent and fair.
Evaluation of the succession planning strategy
The
evaluation of the succession planning strategy assists in identifying the areas of the strength
and weakness in the workplace and the succession planning efforts. It assists in developing

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the strategies which mitigate potential risks and ensures comprehensive workforce plan. It
also integrates processes like talent management and employees retention. The strong
strategic planning is critical to the success of the company. The succession planning strategy
of the Home Cozy is planned effectively, identifies the top performers and high potentials,
communicates the plan and its value and focuses on pooling the talent (Harrison & Lock,
2017). The mentoring programmes are successful for the Home Cozy. It offers structured
opportunities to the employees to learn from the experienced members of the company. The
program facilitates leadership development by matching capable mentees with mentors. It
offers guidance and expertise to the appropriate succession candidates. This program
improves employee retention by providing guidance and support to the talented employees
needed to navigate and integrate with the company’s culture. The mentoring program is best
for the company if it is used with the technology (Cheng, 2014). The succession planning
with strategy has become important in addressing the challenges faced in the succession
planning. The mentoring software can reorganize the procedure of candidate identification
and selection by tracking development progress. It is helpful in collecting feedback from the
mentors regarding the potential candidates. The employees can be positioned appropriately
with the help of the right software (Wehrmeyer, 2017). Hence well-developed staff and
employers can only plan success in succession.
Recommendation of the motivational theories applied to Saturday staff and flexible
staff
The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory can be recommended to the Saturday staff to
improve employee’s engagement and productivity. As per this theory, employees have a
pyramid hierarchy of needs that satisfies them from bottom to top. The Maslow’s theory
covers belonging to a social circle to pursue talent through self-actualization. The pyramid of
the needs can be divided into two categories, deficiency needs, and growth needs (Ployhart,
Nyberg, Reilly & Maltarich, 2014). The deficiency needs include physiological and safety
whereas growth needs include belonging, self-esteem and self-actualization. If the deficiency
needs are not fulfilled then the person feel deficit and it suppresses the development.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be specifically applied to the Saturday staff to ensure
deficiency needs are met which means proper wages (Al Ariss, Cascio & Paauwe, 2014). It
also implies creating an environment which develops employees to their fullest potential. As
per this theory, job insecurity blocks an individual from higher growth needs. There are

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physiological, security, belonging, self-esteem and self-actualization needs which can be
fulfilled in order to engage employees for a long time and enhance productivity.
The motivational theory suitable for flexible staff is ERG theory. As per this theory, the
needs of the human can be divided into three sets:
Existence needs: The existence needs include all the material and the physiological desires
like the basic needs needed to survive.
Relatedness needs: It comprehends social and external esteem, relationships with significant
co-workers and employees. It also means to be recognized and feel secure as a part of the
group.
Growth needs: It is the most important aspect for the company. It includes internal esteem
and self-actualization, it obliges a person to do creative and productive effects on him and the
atmosphere. This also comprises desires to be creative and productive in order to compete for
meaningful tasks. The problem faced by the flexible staff can be easily resolved by providing
more reliable options (Stavrou & Ierodiakonou, 2016).
Types of the organizational culture
Home Cozy can make use of these two types of organizational cultures to support
success in the company:
Adhocracy culture: The adhocracy culture is created on the basis of energy and creativity.
The employees in such type of organizational culture are encouraged to take risks and the
leaders are viewed as innovators or entrepreneurs. The focus is given on doing things first. It
is a dynamic and creative working environment. The organization is held together with the
emphasis on the individual ingenuity and freedom and held together by experimentation. The
core values of the organization rely on the change and swiftness. The long-term goal of this
type of organizational culture is to grow and generate new resources (Deery & Jago, 2015).
The availability of the new services is seen as a success which is beneficial for the Home
Cozy. It promotes individual initiative along with freedom.
Hierarchy culture: This culture is based on the two things structure and control. The work
environment is considered formal in this structure with the strict institutional procedures for
guidance. The leadership here is based on organized coordination and monitoring. It develops

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culture emphasized on the efficiency and predictability. The values comprise consistency and
equality. Formal rules and policies both are kept together in the hierarchy organization
culture. The long-term goals such as stability and results are paired with the efficient and
smooth implementation of the tasks (Rosen, Kacmar, Harris, Gavin & Hochwarter, 2017).
The personnel management here guarantees work and predictability.
Identification and analysis of the HR related problem
The HR related problem faced in the Home Cozy is recruitment and retention of the
staff. over the last two decades, the company is recruiting temporary staff with the relative
ease. Also, the problem of the recruitment and retention is constrained to the temporary and
the Saturday staff. The problems identified with these two groups are different. The Saturday
staff leaves the organization within a month or even weeks (Sanders & Lin, 2016). The
problem with the Saturday staff is not recruitment but wastage, time and effort, and money
linked with the training recruits who leave the organization within a short period of time. The
flexible staff dislikes the notice period which is given to them for the no availability of work
in the organization. Both of these situations can be managed by offering good pay and
incentives to the employees. The Saturday staff can be easily retained for a long time by
offering higher pay scale. Such employees enhance the productivity of the company as these
employees are more satisfied with the working conditions. The flexible staff can be attained
by offering productivity-based incentives. Such an incentive program can overcome the
issues faced by the staff. The collaboration with the employers gives recognition to the
employees (Farndale, Brewster & Poutsma, 2014).
Effective communication strategies to engage stakeholders
The communication strategies to engage stakeholders can be:
Transparent information: The information should be made available to the stakeholders in a
transparent manner. The information made accessible in the transparent form helps in
engaging customers. it is a time taking the process to know the intentions and role of the
stakeholders which can affect the information available (Shappell, Detwiler, Holcomb,
Hackworth, Boquet, & Wiegmann, 2017). Home Cozy can easily provide transparent
information along with facing its HR issues.

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Feedback to the stakeholders: The stakeholders should be provided with feedback on the
regular basis to show how their interest and problems are being resolved. It can help Home
Cozy to enhance its performance and generate interest of the stakeholders. The follow-up
actions can actually improve the image of the company in the market place (Gupta & Shaw,
2014).
Conclusion
This report concludes that the Human Resource manager has an important role in the
factors to be considered for the recruitment process, employee and organization
improvements and in the workplace learning programme. The performance appraisal and
reward plans are capable of employing and retaining staff in the organization. The succession
planning strategy has been critically evaluated and the mentoring programme is best for the
company. The motivations theories have been recommended for the Saturday and flexible
staff. The organizational cultures like Adhocracy culture and Hierarchy culture are suitable
when it comes to adapt in the organization. The HR problem faced by the Home Cozy has
been cleared out. The suggested communication strategies are capable enough to engage
stakeholders in the organization. Home Cozy can easily improve the organization
performance and retain employees for the long time by adopting the above measures. The
performance appraisal and reward plans huge roles in retaining employees. It works like
motivation to them. As a result the organization can enhance its productivity.

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