Human Resource Management Literature Review

This assignment requires a systematic literature review of human resource management (HRM) in multinational companies operating in Africa. It asks students to analyze research articles on various aspects of HRM within this context, including challenges, best practices, and future trends. The review should synthesize findings from multiple sources and provide insights into the unique complexities of HRM in African multinational settings.

Managing and Co-ordinating
the Human Resource Function

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1 Organisational objectives that the H R is responsible for delivering. Explain it using
suitable example also justify in ethical manner..........................................................................1
2.1 Summary of two different ways HR objectives can be delivered in organisation..............2
2.2 Analysis of HR functions varies between organization on the basis of sector and size.......3
3. Explain two major theories of change management and select one that can be used and
evaluated.....................................................................................................................................3
4 Prepare a report on the contribution of HR functions to the business. Also include brief
summary of criteria and methods you would use to evaluate the HR functions contribution....6
5. Article in order to identify and evaluate research indicating linking of HR policies with
positive organisational outcomes................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: McKinsey 7s model for Abu Dhabi National hotel...................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is done with objective of maximizing performance and
efficiency of employees in order to increase growth of firm. Due to this, HR department only
considers those candidates who are suitable for the firm and can perform their tasks effectually.
Thus, the most suitable candidates are selected and provided with effective training and learning
program according to work (Acklin, 2013). This report presents responsibilities of HR
department by considering an example of Abu Dhabi National hotel which is government owned
hotel situated at United Arab Emirates. In this functions and responsibilities of Hr is considered
in oredr to achieve objective of organization. Along wityh this size and sector of organization
also cause huge impact on HR department of organisation. Due to which their processing get
affected. Various change management theories are also considered in order to implement
changes into business group.
1 Organisational objectives that the H R is responsible for delivering
Human resource management is provided with responsibilities such as planning,
developing, administrating policies and program for increasing the growth of business group. In
order to manage and concentrate effectively, they set some objectives for better results. All the
objectives are mentioned as below:
 Utilising resources effectively
 Increasing development at individual level
 Making effective relationship between organisation and employees
In order to achieve these objectives, their functionality is fixed through which they can
easily reach at their goals. Every firm has common objective like increasing efficiency, skills and
abilities of candidate and make them more capable for producing better results. For every
organisation, it is very important that their employees must have adequate skills and are able to
manage or perform their work in an effective manner (Frenkel, and Yu, 2014). Along with this,
they should also consider some other factors such as personality development and behaviour
with other members in organisation. Along with that, company should also provide performance
benefits to their employees in the form of appraisals. For example, Abu Dhabi National hotel is a
government owned organization in which human resources are considered as major functioning
areas. That are following:
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 Planning: Under this planning or designing of job takes place by considering various
features in the form of nature, requirements, workforce on the basis of that selection
process of staff takes place. Abu Dhabi National hotel also follows same approach for
analysing the task and on the basis of results, planning takes place by implementing
necessary changes. In this, they consider all resources and workforce as well as divides
them on the basis of requirement of task. Staffing: In staffing, major emphasis is placed on the selection procedure of candidates
based on their requirement. Every firm has different needs and vary on the basis of
sectors and fields. Similarly, Abu Dhabi National Hotel has many requirements on the
basis of which they engage staff. As it is a hotel, so they give importance to cooking staff
mainly for which they hire employees at various levels and supervisor. For improving
quality of services, they provide training to their employees. Staff development: Every organisation provides various training and learning programs
to employees in order to increase their efficiency (Fuseini, and Kemp, 2015). Similarly,
Abu Dhabi National hotel also offers various training and development programs to their
employees so that company can also grow through their skilled employees.
 Staff maintenance: In order to maintain strength of employees in the organisation, they
should provide proper appraisals so that workers remain at the same place for long time.
Along with this, they should also ensure environment of workplace. Abu Dhabi National
Hotel offers various increments and bonus to their employees. Along with this, they
maintain healthy and peaceful environment for effective work force of firm.
By implementing all parameters of HR functions, Abu Dhabi hotel is maintaining the
growth of organisation and with this, department is delivering their responsibilities effectively by
which organization is growing faster. HR department should preform their job in ethical manner
by follow all code and conducts that are implemented for them, they should remove all the
decisions that may create poor ethical impression on employees. Along with this they should also
maintain fairness and justice in their decion so that employees so that social justice can be
maintained into firm.
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Two different ways in which HR objectives can be delivered in organisation
In order to deliver HR objectives in organisation, various approaches are available
through which they can easily involve employees in order to achieve their target. But out of
them, two are considered as the most important for increasing participation of staff into new
activities, for making profit as well as to get recognised at the global level. For this, two major
ways are mentioned as below:
Employee’s objectives: In any company, first thing that is ensured by the HR department
is availability of staff. For every organisation, efficient workforce is considered as a primary
need to run any business. Due to this, they are able to utilize resources in an efficient manner.
For this, they make changes in the organisational structure and give them an important place
(Horwitz, 2015). Abu Dhabi National hotel also considers it as an important segment for the
growth of any organization. Due to this, they hire only skilled and experienced workforce who
can perform their job with perfection. As it belongs to hospitality industry, where customers are
directly interacting with the service provider and staff, in that case, they also focus on the
personality of employees. They should also provide various training so that employees can
satisfy clients.
Performance objective: Another way is performance objective in which actions and
presentation of employees are considered so that they can measure the efficiency of staff. In
order to increase the capabilities of workers, various motivational and learning programs are
started by firms. Similarly, Abu Dhabi National hotel also considers this factor in order to
analyse and estimate the performance of workers. For this, they are providing training and
appraisals along with various benefits as well as they should also conducting review from their
employees for growth of organisation.
Ways through which HR can deliver objective.
There are various ways are available through which HR is able to provide their services
to the organisation. The HR department of Abu Dhabi National Hotel also involves various
objectives for better results. Such as HRM outsourcing, HRBP and shared services. In order to
to understand this process effectively, lets discuss them one by one. First process is shared
services, In this approach is used to make the process of the organisation centralized. With the
help of this process costing and expenditure of company get reduced (Horwitz, 2015). Along
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with this processing is handled into various subunit therefore, outcomes are more accurate. The
another approach can be considered as HR Business Partner (HRBP). With this help of this
process, HR is able to align various departments of organisation. Such as employee,
management, finance and so on.
In order to improve efficiency of the process various guidance and consultancy is
provided by the HR. In order to compare shared service with HRBP, various difference are
determined. Such as the head of HR department is handling, managing, various queries and
questions. Along with this issues related to employees payrolls, organisational environment
and workers benefits are also controlled under this unit. On the other hand HPBP only develop
various strategies and implement them effectively (Fuseini, and Kemp, 2015). As they are
considered as one of the talented advisors of organisation. Along with this they help in order to
increase relevance and value of company. Therefore, Abu Dhabi National considers both the
unit of HR department significant, in order to increase profitability of company by managing
process effectively.
Analysis of HR functions varies between organization on the basis of sector and size.
Usually, all the companies follows same HR functions but there are slight changes
available on the basis of sectors and size of organization. On the basis of sectors HR
functionality get changed because in private and public sectors economy factors are considered
with different approaches such as in private sector as major emphasis is placed on making profit
so their polices varies accordingly and generating more profit but in case of public sector
importance is give to quality rather than quantity due to which they make policies quality
oriented so that they can achieve customer satisfaction easily. Therefore, in private sector HR
develop policies through which organization can maximize profit where in case of public HR
departmet develop policies that make policies in order to improve quality of services.
In large businesses, they are having huge regulation of capital (Kekäle, 2015). Therefore,
they can afford large workforce. But in case of small organisation, they are having limited capital
due to which they are not able to hire large staff in that case they give preference to skilled,
experienced and multitasking staff so that they need not require huge workforce for single job.
So in this HR departmet hire huge work force and maintain their performance by implementing
various policies. In large organisation various training programs are organised in order to
improve quality of employees and make them more efficient, but in small organisation they
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generally, hire qualified and capable employees so that they do not need to spend extra on
training programs. In this HR hire only skilled employees I order to reduce burden of
organization.
3. Two major theories of change management.With example.
In order to manage changes every organization needs to implement changes in to their
firm for this they implement various change management approaches. Through this they try to
focus on the time, efforts and experience that are required for outcomes. Some of the best change
management approaches are following:
Lewin's change management model: It is one of the popular model which is preferred for
understanding the structure of organization and on the basis of that needs are specified. By using
this approach organisation is able to know the changes that are required for bringing profit into
firm. Model is divided into three stages such as unfreeze, changes and refreeze that are
mentioned below:
 Unfreeze: It is first stage of this model in which preparation of implementing changes
takes place. For this firm have to find out all the crucial points that are essentially
introduced in to new structure (Mekwa, and et. al. 2016). The main reason of
implementing this is, it brings profit. From this stage organisation is able to re-examine
the core of business group.
 Changes: It is second stage of this process in which changes are implemented into
structures. This process may take lots of time in development and impose changes. For
this stage to be successfully executed trust and assurance is important in organisation.
Along with this communication is equally important. Refreeze: It is the last stage of this process in which acceptance of changes takes place.
After this operation firm will be again in stable position. Due to this it is known as
refreeze stage. It is required to measure the outcomes of changes that are implemented
into structure and also test comfort of employees with new system.
McKinsey 7s model: This model is mainly used to maintain persistence even if it is out of trend.
For this various stages are involved such as:
 Strategy: Under this stage planning takes place in order to implement changes that are
required for future.
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 Structure: Under this all the attributes and features are described that are required in new
model.
 System: For the completion of task, activities are performed step by step and each of
them are interrelated.
 Shared value: In this core or main values are shared with running process.
 Styles: In this changes that are adopted by an organisation are considered as style.
 Staff: It refers to the employees of organization that are working for organisation.
 Skills: These are considered as the attributes that should be possessed by workers of firm.
For Abu Dhabi National Hotel, changes are managed by using McKinsey 7s model which
is following:
Illustration 1: McKinsey 7s model
(Sources: Acklin, 2013)
Strategy: Abu Dhabi Hotel should implement strategies like managing new location, re-
branding or having international marketing.
Structure: Abu Dhabi National hotel should follow bottom-up approach for effective changes.
System: They should fragment their structure into small modules so that problems can be
identified easily and changes can be implemented effectively. Customers should be provided
flexible package configuration.
Shared value: Abu Dhabi National hotel should be aware of social needs and local community,
all the facilities are provided by considering these factors.
Styles: They should follow both top-down and bottom-up approaches, where top-down is
considered for management and bottom-up is followed for pricing.
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Staff: Abu Dhabi National hotel should hire skilled employees along with this provide time to
time in order to enhance their ability (Rezaei-Moghaddam, 2016).
Skills: They should hire employees who have problem solving ability, have critical solving and
have knowledge of database.
4 Contribution of HR functions on business. Along with criteria and methods use to evaluate.
Human resource function plays an important role in business by contributing effective
and efficient results in order to achieve goals of organization. In order to include methods that
are used in contributing are commitment, congruency and competency as well as cost effective
that are mentioned below:
 Commitment: HR department of any business association are committed to provide
qualified and skilled employees that helps firm in order to reach their objectives. Due to
this they provide various training and learning program to new staff so that they can
improve performance of employees and help organisation in order to gain more profit.
Along with this they also provide various motivation so that staff can focus on their
objective easily and maintain peaceful environment of company.
 Competency: Through this HR function they try to ensure compatibility of employees.
For this during requirement process selection process is organised containing various
stages and at each stage screening of candidates takes place. With this only efficient and
capable employees will be entered into firm (Serafini and Szamosi, 2015).
 Congruency: Through this they concentration on both management and employees and
test their vision in order to achieve their goal. In case if any one of them is not convinced
with other objectives then new policies will be introduced by collaborating various
suggestions that are provided by both groups.
 Cost effectiveness: Through this they try to make process cost effective ad want to make
effective use of resources. In order to reduce cost they implement various strategies such
re-engineering and re-designing due to this previous structure will not get waste
completely.
In order to achieve these goals they use some methods are used to evaluate implementation such
as:
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 Accomplishment of objective: This is considered as the first stage if HR function
evaluation because through this they measure the progress in order to reach target. For
this all the stage are monitored carefully in order to identify the progress.
 Service overall evaluation: In this stage agreement is considered that is signed between
client and service provider in order to analyse the requirement that customer is expecting
from owner.
 Subjective overall evaluation: Under this satisfaction index is maintained by the HR in
order to analyse employees view towards organisation. In this companies policies and
regulations are considered as parameters of estimation. On the basis of that firm is able to
identify all sections on which staffs are having problems and solutions are also provided
in order to make healthy environment of organisation.
 Bench marking: Under this all previous data are compared in order to improvise
business strategies so that profitability of company can be increased. Through this
organisation is able to identify weak points and can easily take measures in order to
remove them (Sheehan and et. al. 2016). This is considerably important for project
management because through this difficulties are divided into small modules due to
which solution become simple.
5. Article in order to identify and evaluate research indicating linking of HR policies with
positive organisational outcomes
According to (Sparrow, 2016), effective HR practices are essential for the the growth of
organisation. It helps in enhancing creativity and innovation of employees. Through this step
companies are able to effective face challenges, balance between internal and external factors
and produce maximum outcomes. With the help of maintaining HR policies, organisations are
able to present effectively at global platform. Therefore, all the companies works in order to
maintain effectiveness of HR practices and activities into their organisation. On the basis of
above research it is analysed that Abu Dhabi National Hotel is able to enhance productivity and
provide promising services to their customers. It supports effective performance of their
employees and also helps in achieving job satisfaction. Through implementing these practices
they are able to maintain creativity and innovation into their work, it helps in contribute
increased growth of company and maximising profitability.
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Linking between HR policies and organizations achievements are close because all the
rules and regulations are considered for development of company by improving performance of
employees. Usually, they perform multidimensional task that in order to focus three main
dimensions such as finance. For this various other factor are also considered such as budget,
growth, shares and sales of firm. On the basis of this customer satisfaction flow chart is
developed by setting economic range that can be easily achieved. Along with this some other
parameters are also considered equally important such as quality, delivery and safety of
employees due to this policies HR is able to provide strengthening to business organisation. In
order to maintain link at organisation each segment has to be considered and all employees
should be satisfied with the policies and provide support.
Main objective of HR department is to provide efficient employees to firm for this they
involve proper selection process in which various stages are involved in order to test the
candidates from every aspects (Turner and et. al. 2016). After this training sessions are provided
in order to develop all skills that are required by organisation. At the end of this stage teams are
divided in order to produce effective outcomes. Similarly, Abu Dhabi National Hotel is also
having strong HR functions that is actively performing all operations in order to maintain
positive impact on form by hiring effective and efficient candidates who are able to perform their
work by maintaining quality of their services.
Another major HR policy is compensation management, under this compensation and
rewards are provided to employees in order to encourage them for perform their task more
effective and along with this they try to inspire others in order to do the same. This is very
effective for the growth of organisation because if employees are putting their 100% at
individual level in that case chances of failure automatically get reduced. Also according to
various research it is clear that compensation that is provided in the form of bonus, intensives,
multiple pay are used to make direct impact on the work of employees (Sparrow, 2016).
Similarly Abu Dhabi National Hotel is also providing compensation to their employees in
the form of bonus, incentives and multiple charges to influence employees to work effectively.
Along with this they are providing various facilities such as health and training so that other
employees get attract in order to improve performance (Wong and et. al. 2016). Organisational
performance make impact on overall performance of organisation. Along with this various other
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plan of action are also considered such as employment security, decentralization of decision
making due to which decision-making power is distributed among larger group.
By involving into levels such as higher authority and lower employees and on the basis of
their suggestion final decision is implemented. Due to this every employees of organisation is
considered important for providing suggestion because of this employees are able to interact with
higher authority and can easily present their view in front of them. Along with this they reduces
the barrier that may cause at different levels of organization in the form of office arrangement
and status distinctions, employees are provided with healthy and peaceful environment so that
employees will not face any kind of unnecessary pressure. So that employees can perform their
task effectively without any difficulties (Sparrow and Makram, 2015). Abu Dhabi National Hotel
is also implementing decentralized decision methodology due to which every employee of
organization is able to present their view and employees at lower level can interact with the
employees of higher level due to this positive impact cause on organisation environment.
Abu Dhabi National Hotel considers various linking approacher are available through
which HR is able to generate positive results for the organisation. Such as by linking their
services in order to improve their performance, providing effective services, increasing human
capital in organisation and the last is building and improving organisational capacity. In order to
provide services by improving performance through linking (Sheehan and et. al. 2016). This is
considered as an essential step in order to improve performance and maintain competitive image
into market. In order to effectively implement this process various approaches are considered
such as decision making, applying strategies and so on. In this process another approach is
effective service, in this step developing and maintaining process is considered. To maintain it
performance various process are considered such as communication, resolving conflicts and
problems. During this activity HR is provided with various responsibilities, in order to
generate effective results.
Next process can be considered as increasing human capital. Under this process
effective and capable employees are hired into the Abu Dhabi National Hotel. With the help of
these employees organisation is able to increase profitability. Therefore, human capital is
considered as an essential need of the company (Acklin, 2013). In order to maintain effective
work force into company, various levels are implemented. In order to maintain effectiveness in
performance, last step is considered as developing organisational capacity. For this various
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activities are organised into the organisation. Such as training, learning. With the help of these
activities capabilities of employees can be enhanced. Along with this it help to motivate them in
order to face new challenges efficiently.
High performance working refers to the activity of HR department. Under this various
models and practices are considered , in order to enhance their capabilities of employees. With
the help of this step organisation is able to maintain their growth and increases profitability. This
step cannot be implemented at any single area. In order to generate effective results it should be
implemented at larger extend. Along with this human capital is also important term of this
process (Acklin, 2013). Under which HR considers various selection process to hire efficient
and capable employees for the organisation. With the help of these employees they are able to
maintain and increase performance and generate effective results. Both the processes are
having significant impact on the Abu Dhabi National Hotel. Such as improves communication
process, increases profitability, various operational barriers also get resolved. On the other
hand increasing human capital is also significantly important for the growth of the compsny.
Adu Dhabi National hotel also give preference to both the approaches. With the help of them
performance of the organisation as well employees get improved. Along with this effective
human capital are reduces unnecessary expenditure of the hotel (Frenkel, and Yu, 2014).
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above report, it can be articulated that roles and functions of HR
department in any firm are very important. These objectives mainly involve planning, staffing,
employee management and worker maintenance. On the basis of this, various strategies are
developed in order to determine suitable outcomes. Also, it has been assessed that changing
methods are considered under which Lewins and McKinsey 7s model. Further, it can be said that
for Abu Dhabi National Hotel, McKinsey 7s theory is suitable.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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the absorption process of design knowledge by SMEs with little or no prior design
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Frenkel, S. J. and Yu, K. H., 2014. Employment Relations and Human Resource Management in
Asia. The Oxford Handbook of Asian Business Systems. pp.383.
Fuseini, I. and Kemp, J., 2015. A review of spatial planning in Ghana's socio-economic
development trajectory: A sustainable development perspective. Land Use Policy. 47.
pp.309-320.
Horwitz, F., 2015. Human resources management in multinational companies in Africa: a
systematic literature review. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management. 26(21). pp.2786-2809.
Kekäle, J., 2015. A human resources model supporting academic excellence. Tertiary Education
and Management. 21(2). pp.160-171.
Mekwa, N. J. and et. al. 2016. The development of a National Health Research Observatory in
South Africa: considerations and challenges. South African Health Review. 2016(1).
pp.235-241.
Rezaei-Moghaddam, K., 2016. Green management of human resources in organizations: An
approach to the sustainable environmental management. Journal of Agricultural
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Serafini, G. O. and Szamosi, L. T., 2015. Five star hotels of a Multinational Enterprise in
countries of the transitional periphery: A case study in human resources
management. International Business Review. 24(6). pp.972-983.
Sheehan, L. and et. al., 2016. The use of intelligence in tourism destination management: An
emerging role for DMOs. International Journal of Tourism Research.
Sparrow, P., 2016. Strategic HRM, Innovation and HR Delivery for Human Resource
Management, Innovation and Performance. In Human Resource Management, Innovation
and Performance (pp. 15-31). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Sparrow, P. R. and Makram, H., 2015. What is the value of talent management? Building value-
driven processes within a talent management architecture. Human resource management
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Turner, J.A. and et. al., 2016. Systemic problems affecting co-innovation in the New Zealand
Agricultural Innovation System: Identification of blocking mechanisms and underlying
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Wong, A., Liu, Y., Wang, X. and Tjosvold, D., 2016. Servant leadership for team conflict
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