Functions and Practices of Human Resource Management in Retail Industry

This report explains various functions and practices of Human resource management in the retail industry. It discusses the purpose and function of HRM in workforce planning and resourcing an organization, strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection, benefits of HRM practices for employees and employers, and the effectiveness of HR practices in raising organizational profit and productivity. It also highlights the importance of employee relations in influencing HRM decision-making.

Human Resource
Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Purpose and function of HRM applicable to workforce planning and resourcing an
organization..................................................................................................................................3
Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection.......................4
Benefits of different HRM practices within an organization for employee and employer.........6
Effectiveness of different HR practices in raising organizational profit and productivity.........7
Importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision making..................8
Key elements of employment legislation and its impact it has upon HRM decision-making.....9
Application of HRM practices in a work related context. ........................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is the process of managing human resource at the
workplace. It includes recruitment, selection and various other processes related to human
resource. There are various HR practices which helps in increasing productivity and profitability.
HRM also plays a significant role in Oak Cash & Carry Ltd. The company was established in
2000. it provides cash and carry services to its clients. It is a retail company which provides wide
range of goods in bulk to its clients like caterers, retailers, offices and local vendors. The
company mainly functions in United Kingdom. This report explains various functions and
practices of Human resource management in retail industry. It also describes various approaches
related to recruitment or selection process and impact of HRM practices in profit making and
decision-making process. As well as it also identifies importance of employee engagement and
key elements of employee legislation.
MAIN BODY
Purpose and function of HRM applicable to workforce planning and resourcing an organization
Human resource management is the process of managing workforce in the office to
achieve specific goals and objectives of company. Human resource management in retail
industry is a critical process because workforce is a key success factor in the retail industry.
Negative shopping experience can cause customer dissatisfaction.
Workforce planning refers to planning and forecasting workforce supply and demand
(Farndale, Nikandrou and Panayotopoulou, 2018). It is the process of analysing, forecasting and
planning for the required workforce. OC&C Ltd follow these steps for planning their
workforce : first gather all the relevant information for your workforce planning process. Then
analyse your current workforce profile, develop the action plan and implement the action plan.
Lastly they monitor, evaluate and revise their plan.
Various functions of HRM:
The main functions of HRM are recruiting, planning, directing and controlling human
resource at workplace. These are some functions of human resource management :
Planning :
it is a process of forecasting future needs of and demand of new employees, with respect
to goals and objectives of the company. Effective planning is not about only numbers but it also
includes quality standards (Hassan, 2016).

Recruiting :
It is the process of searching and identifying the potential candidate for vacant job in the
company. The main purpose of this process is to identify qualified and appropriate worker for the
job (Noe and et.al, 2018).
Training and development:
It is very important for the growth of employees as well for the company. In this, HR
department provides effective and appropriate training to the employees. Training programs
improve performance of employees (Santhanam and et.al, 2017). HRM also contributes in career
enhancement programs to accelerate performance of workers and productivity in the company.
Performance management:
Performance management is the process of measuring and analysing employees
performance. It helps in improving employee's skills that support an employee to perform better.
It is a management tool which helps upper management in evaluating employees' work. The
main goal is to create healthy environment in the office so employees can perform better with
their abilities (Zaid, Jaaron and Bon, 2018).
Talent management:
It is an important process to attract, hire, develop and retain high performers. The main
purpose of this is to boost employee's performance in the office. Various people management
practices are used in talent management process (Farndale, Nikandrou and Panayotopoulou,
2018).
Purpose of HRM :
The main purpose of HRM is to attract and hire highly skilled employees to achieve
organizational goals and objectives. It also prevents various issues related to human resource and
increase company's productivity (Armstrong and Taylor, 2020). It deals with various important
processes related to workforce.
Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
Recruitment and selection is important for the organizational success. It allows company
to attract and hire new employees. It is the process of identifying potential candidate and
attracting them to apply for the jobs In the organization (Hassan, 2016). There are various
approaches to recruitment and selection :
Recruitment :

Recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting potential candidate for vacant job.
There are various approaches of recruitment process :
Internal recruitment:
Internal recruitment is processed within the company. It is the process where vacant
positions are filled from inside the business organization. It provides a chance to employees to
change his position in the company (Noe and et.al, 2018). It can be done through promotion and
transfers, employee referrals, retired employees made freelancers or part-time workers.
Strength : One advantage of this method is that it is cost effective and it also accelerates
employee morale. It also helps in retaining top talents (Santhanam and et.al, 2017). Employees
feel motivated in this approach. For example- If assistant manager in Oak cash and Carry Ltd is
getting promotion than he feels more motivated and valued.
Weakness : One disadvantage is that internal hiring can reduce the number of potential
candidate. In this case, company can miss out talented person.
External recruitment:
External recruitment is the process of hiring new candidates from outside the
organization. It includes various processes like advertisements, interview and screening etc.
approaches of external approaches include advertisement on TV, advertisement in newspaper,
private employment agencies, walk-ins, labour contractors, campus recruitment etc (Zaid, Jaaron
and Bon, 2018).
Strength : Advantage of this process is that it brings new talents to the company. New talent can
give new ideas to achieve organizational goals (Armstrong and Taylor, 2020).
Weakness: Disadvantage of this process is that it is a time-consuming and costly process.
Manager has to give advertisements and training to new workers.
Selection process:
This process refers to selection and short-listing of right employee who has appropriate
knowledge and qualification related to job position. It includes various methods like interview
and testing (Farndale, Nikandrou and Panayotopoulou, 2018). These are some important
approaches of selection process
Interview:

It includes various stages for selecting and hiring new staff. Formal conversation is
conducted to evaluate capability of candidate. Main aim of interview is to identify various
important information about the employee (Hassan, 2016).
Testing:
It helps employer to access the knowledge and capability of candidate to perform tasks
related to job.
Strengths : Testing and interviews allow manager to identify various skills and knowledge of
candidate. With the help of interview, HR manager can decide that candidate is suitable or not
for the position.
Weakness : One drawback is that it can't give clear picture and information about employee.
Sometimes a person can lie to interviewer and test also can be ambiguous that can affect further
results (Noe and et.al, 2018).
Benefits of different HRM practices within an organization for employee and employer
Human resource department is an important department in retail organization. There are
different effective HR practices that can increase productivity and performance for both
(employee and employer). Various HRM practices are as follows :
Benefit to employee
Training and development: It is a crucial part of HRM. This approach is used to
improve employee's performance. This types of programs are designed to achieve various goals
and objectives (Farndale, Nikandrou and Panayotopoulou, 2018). One benefit is that it increases
job satisfaction and morale of employees. Training also improves skills and knowledge of
workers.
Performance appraisal: It is the systematic evalution of the employes performance and
to understand the abilities employees for future growth. It is the common method used to
appreciate the best performer. By effective performance appraisal the company can encourage
employees to perform better and can create best results from employees (Santhanam and et.al,
2017). For example- If managers in the Oak Cash and Carry Ltd appreciates the best performers
in front of everyone then it can increase morale and performance of employees. Other
employees also get encouraged by this practice.
Benefit to the employer

Training and development: There are various benefits of training and development to
employer as It reduces employee turnover rate and also helps company to keep updated with
various changes in the business. Employer can promote people from within the organization and
this will reduce the costs incurred on hiring.
Performance appraisal: Benefit of employer is that organizational productivity and
profitability increases as the employee give performance to their fullest. Employer can also
identify areas for further training, and they could learn about areas of the business that could be
improved. Employers by this practice can decide about the promotions and transfers (Zaid,
Jaaron and Bon, 2018).
Effectiveness of different HR practices in raising organizational profit and productivity
There are various HRM practices which can increase organizational performance and profit.
Some practices are as follows :
Performance appraisal :
It is the process of reviewing worker's performance and abilities. OC&C Ltd uses this
practice to determine employee's contribution to the organization. It helps employees and upper
management to create employee development plans through additional training and development
programs (Armstrong and Taylor, 2020). Performance appraisal increases communication
between manager and employees also increase job satisfaction and morale of employees. All of
these factors lead to organizational success and higher productivity or profitability. For example-
monthly meetings and evaluation of workers in retail company can increase worker's
effectiveness and thus improves productivity (Zaid, Jaaron and Bon, 2018).
Strengths – This practice helps to check the employees' performance, helps to identify training
and development needs, boosts morale of employees and increases profit and productivity of
OC&C Ltd, employees come yo about their key work areas.
Weakness – These sometimes gets affected by workplace politics, superior might find it
uncomfortable to judge their subordinates performance, can create dissatisfaction among
employees.
Motivation :
Employee motivation is an important factor as motivated employees bring more revenue to the
company. As OC&C Ltd believes that motivation is strongly related to commitment of the
employees.

Strength – It helps in increasing employee morale, employees get to know their strength,
organisation productivity is improved.
Weakness - Not all employees get motivated by same technique, if the employees do not have
good relations with superior then employees don't take interest in motivation programmes
(Hassan, 2016).
Providing relevant training and development :
Training increases the employees skills to perform the task and it also reduces the wastage of
resources. Therefore, OC&C Ltd invests in providing relevant training to handle and operate the
machines and system as it will raise organizational profit and productivity.
Strength – Providing proper training helps the company to keep up with industry changes, give
employees an opportunity to learn, helps in grabbing new talent.
Weakness – If proper training not provided then it can lead to increased stress, loss of interest
and employees can leave the organization.
Flexible working :
Human resource are the asset of the organization and add value to it. Flexible working relates to
taking into account individual's personal needs and includes some degree of working from home.
OC&C Ltd also allows their employees to choose when and where they work in some cases.
Strength – Employees feel satisfies as they get time for family and personal needs, boosts
productivity, reduction in overheads as working from home can massively reduce time and cost.
Weakness – It sometimes blur the home and work balance, leads to procrastination of work,
causes difivulty in communication.
Importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision making
Employees are the asset of every organization. They are the reason behind the success of
the firm. Maintaining healthy relations with the employees enhances their satisfaction and
engagement. OC&C Ltd also believes that strong employee relations are required for high
productivity and human satisfaction in the organization. The following are the importance of
employee relations in respect to influence HRM decision-making:
Decision regarding hiring from within the organization – Employee relations plays an
important role when HR thinks of recruitment. Oak Cash and Curry Ltd believes that good
relations with the employees helps in tapping the internal workforce which ultimately

reduces the cost of hiring, selecting and training and also there is no need of orientation as
the employee is already aware about the organization and it's culture. Because of good
employee relations HRM can take the decision to recruit among the existing employees and
this reduces the cost which might occur if the organization recruits from the external source.
Decision regarding conflict management – When employees are involved in the decision-
making by the HR, they gain a feeling of stake in the organization. OC&C Ltd maintain
employee relations as it helps in maintaining peaceful atmosphere at the workplace, their
involvement in the organization leads to loyalty on employees part and conflicts are avoided
without any effort made by the HR. So HR can take decision to invest less time and efforts
in managing conflict in the organization.
Decision regarding changing or making new rules – If HR has to make changes in any rules,
healthy relations with the employees helps in compliance of rules easily by the employees.
Oak Cash and Curry Ltd HR doesn't have to make many efforts in making employees
understand the rules. Employees smoothly compliance with them. If the relations with
employees are good then they can take the decision of making new rules or making changes
in the existing one and employee will not resist to the new rules and change.
Decision regarding training – Good relations with the employees helps in improving workplace
environment and relationship. If the employees are given opportunity to raise their opinion
and to share their knowledge and given adequate time to show their skills it will improve the
relationships at the workplace (The Advantages of Employee Involvement in Decision
Making. 2019). HR of OC&C Ltd can gather information and feedback regarding whether
there is need to conduct training or not if they have good relations with the employees. They
will be comfortable in giving correct feedback of the work, their superior, boss etc.
Key elements of employment legislation and its impact it has upon HRM decision-making.
Employment legislation means the laws which are binding on the workplace or
employment which have to be followed by both the employer and employees working at the
workplace. These legislation impacts HRM decisions as they have to make the policies and rules
after considering all the rules given in the act.
Equal Pay Act, 1970 – It is the act of the Parliament of the UK. This act secures the right
in terms of pay equally to both men and women in the same employment. HRM of Oak Cash and

Curry before deciding on the salary structure keeps the rules of this act in mind that prohibits any
less favourable treatment between men and women in terms of pay and condition of employment
like similar job title, work rated equal under a job evaluation scheme and the work that requires
same skills, efforts and knowledge (Smith, 2016).
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 – It is the act establish to secure health, safety and
welfare of the employees at the workplace. HRM of Oak Cash and Curry Ltd considers all the
points provided in this act and make decision taking the following factors into consideration:
they have made the provision for maintenance of complex plants and system which are tends to
affect the health and safety of the employees. They also provide information, training and
necessary instructions which are suggested by the act (Almond. and Esbester,2018).
Data Protection Act 1998 – This act was designed to protect the personal data stored in
the computers or even in paper filling system. HRM of Oak Cash and Curry Ltd makes policies
after considering the acts principles like the processing of the data should be done in fair and
lawful way. Appropriate measures should be taken against unauthorized processing of
organization's data. Personal data of organization should not be transferred to another country or
territory unless specified to do so (Carey, 2018).
Working time regulation act 1998 – This act puts a limit on working hours of the
employees. This act also provide the right to a minimum daily rest period between each working
day or shift and to a minimum weekly rest periods. Oak Cash and Curry Ltd HR takes into
consideration all these aspects which are there in the act and provide employees with the
standard working hours, rest periods and leaves.
Sex discrimination act 1975 – This act render unlawful sex discrimination on the
grounds of gender, marriage etc. the focus of this act is on promoting equality of opportunity
between men and women. HRM of Oak Cash and Curry Ltd considers both the conditions of
discrimination against men and women and also discrimination against married person in
employment field (Hackett, Steptoe. and Jackson, 2019).
Application of HRM practices in a work related context.
Job Specification.
Oak Cash and Curry Ltd

Position : Stock Manager
Description
Stock Manager has to keep a track of and maintain inventory. Determine the re-order
level, economic order quantity and contingency planning for the stocks.
Experience
2 years experience as stock manager at any retail store.
Education
Graduation in commerce.
Post Graduation in commerce.
Additional Requirements
Experience in supply chain management.
Salary as per experience and skill.
Person specification
Essential criteria Desirable criteria
Presentation skills
Calculating order levels
Contingency planning
Problem solving ability
Knowledge of computer and technology
Knowledge of logistics
Job advertisement
Vacancy Announced
Oak Cash and Curry Ltd
Is looking forward for hiring responsible and dynamic store manager with worked record and
experience.

Qualification : Graduation and Post Graduation in commerce.
Work experience : 2 years experience as stock manager at any retail store.
Additional Requirements : Experience in supply chain management.
Salary as per experience and skill.
Interested candidates can apply on the below mail address within 5 days.
Email ID : [e-mail]
Contact No. : 9852221100, 9963178540
CV
David Williams
[phone]
[e-mail]
Career Objective
Looking for a reputed organization where I can deploy my skills and add to
organization's growth and myself.
Professional Profile
Store management professional looking for the managerial position in any retail store. I have
been a part of retain industry for last 3.5 years and have designated to various positions like
cashier, supervisor, inventory organizer and monitor, inventory planner and also supply chain
logistics.
Core Skills
Management skills
Decision-making skills
Research skills
Communication skills
Creative thinking
Positive attitude
Effective planning skills.

Education profile
Graduation in commerce
MBA in marketing
Diploma in supply chain management
Work Experience
Worked as a stock supervisor in retain store for 1 year.
Worked as a cashier at a food chain for 1 year.
Worked in supply chain logistics department and inventory organizer for 1.5 years.
Declaration
I hereby declare that all the information provided above are correct to the best of my
knowledge.
David Williams
Interview Questions
Q1. Tell me something about yourself? Or introduce yourself?
Q2. Why should we hire you?
Q3. Why you want to work with our organization?
Q4. If suppose there is an emergency situation or workload at some day how would you deal that
situation?
Q5. How you see the position of store manager?
Q6. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Job Offer
Oak Cash and Curry Ltd
16 September 2020
Dear, Mr. David Williams
Congratulations on being selected for the position of Stock Manager. We request you to join the
store and take the hold of your position on 27st of September 2020. We hope you will have a

great journey and will add more growth and potential in your job as well as career ahead.
This is Jack Thomas, Human Resource Assistant
Human Resource Department,
Oak Cash and Curry Ltd
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that HRM of Oak Cash and Curry Ltd perform functions like
workforce planning and resourcing of the organization and has some purpose behind that. They
recruit and select employees through different approaches like internally or externally, by taking
test and interviews etc. and every approach as certain strength and weakness. HRM perform
various practices and these practices benefits both the employer and the employee in the
organization. Oak cash and Curry Ltd also evaluate different HRM practices raising profitability
and productivity. They also believe that HRM decisions are impacted by relations with their
employees. HRM of Oak Cash and Curry Ltd also takes employment legislation into
consideration while making rules and policies, some legislation are equal pay act 1970, health
and safety act 1974, data protection act 1998 etc. Lastly the following applications or format of
HRM practices are specified: advertisement for job specification, CV of the candidate, interview
questions and job offer.

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