Importance of Employee Relations in HRM Decisions

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management function is concerned with management of work force within
company. It is one of the most crucial function of organization that highly contributes in growth
and success of it. Various practices are included in HRM such as training and development,
recruitment and selection, compensation, performance management etc. that helps in motivating
employees and encouraging them to work towards achieving objectives of company. This report
is based on Tesco which is one of the leading grocery retailers of UK (Armstrong and Taylor,
2014). The company was established in year 1919 and offer variety of products to people of
many countries. The report covers purpose and functions of HRM along with strengths and
weakness of recruitment and selection process. Moreover, advantages of applying human
resource management practices for employer and employee and effectiveness of these in
improving productivity and profit of firm are included. Apart from this, significance of good
employee relation and elements of employment legislation are defined. At last, implementation
of HRM practices in context of organization is included in the project.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
P1. Justify the purpose as well as functions of HRM along with it's application for the workforce
planning and management of resources
HRM can be defined as the strategic approach to manage people within company in an
effective ways that they assist business in gaining competitive advantage. This function is
designed to increase the performance of employees so that enable to accomplish strategic
objectives of company.
Purpose of HRM:
The main purpose of human resource management is to hire skilled and knowledgeable
workforce within firm so that all the activities can be performed in effective manner and leads
firm towards high growth and success. In Tesco, the purpose of HRM is to ensure that healthy
and safe working environment is provided to employees and all are treated fairly without any
discrimination (Bratton and Gold, 2017). It also aims to increase engagement of employees
within activities of firm and motivates them to perform well.
Functions of human resource management:
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There are various functions associated with human resource management which plays vital
role in company. Some of the functions in context of Tesco are mentioned below:
 Training and development: it is one of the crucial functions of organisation in which
employees are undergoing training that helps in developing their skills and knowledge
base. Workforce with high skills and competencies assist firm in attaining improved
productivity and profits. In Tesco, human resource manager is responsible to arrange
appropriate training session for its employees so that they can get opportunity to develop
their skills and knowledge. This will help in improving motivation level of workforce and
they are encourage to work towards attainment of objectives of company.
 Recruitment and selection: the prime objective of human resource management
department is to hire skilled and knowledgeable candidates within organization who are
able to perform their duties well and achieve preset objectives. In context of Tesco, it
uses both internal and external sources of recruitment to hire candidates (Brewster and
Hegewisch eds., 2017). They first invite applications in order to attract large pool of
candidates and then select the most suitable among them who are capable to attain goals
and objectives of company in an effective and efficient manner.
 Employment relation: it is the crucial responsibility of human resource manager to
develop good relationship between management and employee. Maintenance of good
employment relations within organization supports in ensuring healthy workplace as well
as eliminates conflicts that take place within company. In Tesco, it is the imperative
responsibility of manager to maintain good relation between employer and employee so
that disputes can be resolved effectively and healthy workplace culture will be
maintained within firm.
Hard and soft HRM approaches:
In hard human resource management approach, employees are treated as resources and are
not considered as the important part of company. Their existence in company is only for
performing operations and activities. On the other side, soft HRM approach is concerned with
treating employees as the valuable assets of companying organization provide them with
development opportunities on continuous basis. In Tesco, soft HRM approach is used by
managers and the entire workforce are treated as organization’s valuable asset.
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