Managing People Case Study Report

This report evaluates the HRM models and theories adopted by FarmBox and their impact on staff behaviour and productivity. It also provides recommendations for improvement.

MANAGING
PEOPLE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................3
TASK – 1 ..................................................................................................................................3
Defining the models currently used by FarmBox and ways these models impacts staff
behaviour and productivity ....................................................................................................3
TASK – 2...................................................................................................................................5
Evaluating the suitability of HRM theories and models .......................................................5
Positive components and areas of improvement ...................................................................6
TASK – 3...................................................................................................................................7
Identification and recommendations of HRM models............................................................7
CONCLUSION .........................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Considering the current pace of business environment, each and every company have
to emphasize on the ways of handling people at the workplace in order to attain high amount
of profits. Additionally, it involves predetermined practices which includes end to end
procedures concerning to retention of the workers, optimization of talent and procurement of
talent for the purpose of performing business activities effectively and efficiently (Gerhart,
2016). Separately from this, there are different components being involved in management of
people such as creation, communication, collaboration and comprehension, these needs to be
consider for effective management. The present research study will be based on the case
study of FarmBox and will evaluate varied recruitment and selection models and theories.
Further, the impact of HRM models and their appropriateness on the productivity as well as
behaviour of the staff will also be emphasized. The last section will throw some light on
recommendations to the case company to improve their production level.
TASK – 1
Defining the models currently used by FarmBox and ways these models impacts staff
behaviour and productivity
Before moving towards the theories and models adopted by the FarmBox, it is crucial
at this point of time to gaze about some of the issues being faced by the company in the given
case. According to the case, the orders of the company are decreasing at a tremendous speed
which is affecting the production level of the business. Other than this, complaints of the
clients is another vital problem being faced by FarmBox during the process of recruitment
and selection. The main issues being found out after evaluating the whole case is all about
recruitment and selection process and performance plus retention of the workers (Armstrong,
2016). This is due to the fact that due to surge in the demand of orders, company hired
employees through adopting online advertisement without considering their skills, experience
and knowledge. Even, they were not given any training prior allotting them individual
responsibility. All this resulted into decreased level of production and cost effectiveness of
the business. Thus, it is quite crucial for the company to adopt some alterations which are
essential for carrying out recruitment process in an effective manner. FarmBox made huge
amount of investment for meeting out the rising demand of the customers. They bought
equipments that were needed for performing operations of the business. Besides, because of
these problems the production level and profit levels were influenced extra-ordinarily. In this
current time of pandemic, it is necessary for FarmBox to consider all the perspectives of

business by which their undertakings can be performed smoothly and efficiently (Boxall and
Purcell, 2016). Thus, the main purpose of this report is to identify what theories are being
adopted by the company and the manner they are influencing the whole process of the
business. FarmBox has utilized different human resource management models and theories
such as Ability, motivation and opportunity theory, human capital and 5 P model for carrying
out their business transactions and detailed description is being done below:
AMO (Ability, motivation and opportunity) theory
There are three important components of the work system according to the AMO
theory and these are prospects, motivation as well as ability. All these three helps in shaping
the characteristics of the employees. Additionally, the organizational objectives can be
attained effectively if this HRM theory is in place as it helps the business to move towards
the direction where advanced tactics are being used by the managers for inspiring their
workforce. Firstly, ability is concerned with the policies along with HR activities that helps in
ensuring that all the employees have suitable skills, proficiency and knowledge for attaining
predetermined tasks (Guest, 2017). Moreover, there are some actions as well which helps in
augmenting the recruitment and selection process of the firm. With this, qualified and
adequate personnel can be hired for the vacant job. On the other side, inspiration is related
with accomplishment of the HR policies and job. Opportunity, on the additional needle
indicates the prospects that the firm offers to the workers. If all these elements are missed by
the firm, the behaviour of the staff will be highly impacted. They will not be motivated for
accomplishing business activities and there will be more attrition and absenteeism.
Human capital theory
Talking about this theory being adopted by FarmBox, it is referred as the mainstay for
all the HR specialists of the companies. It simple explains all the individual characteristics
which are indispensable for the purpose of high level of productivity, for example, teaching,
talents, familiarity and understanding of the staff members. Thus, investment in regards with
talent and understanding must be made by the organization by adopting effective training and
development sessions. This is due to the fact that their experience and knowledge will
provide an aid to the manager to surpass their set performance levels. FarmBox Company has
not appointed any HR manager plus the recruitment and selection of the workers were being
done in haste and no prior skills of the applicants were examined (Jiang, 2018). This has
majorly impacted the productivity of the company. In addition to this, they are made to work
for longer hours and that was too more than mentioned in their contract.

5 P’s model
This model is being formulated by Mildred Golden Pryor and has termed it as a
strategic management model which needs the arrangement of five variables for improving the
business and its operations. These are purpose, principle, process, people and performance.
FarmBox has utilized this model in the sense that they had a sole purpose of recruiting new
staff members for meeting out the rising demand in the market. Further, principle related to
the manner organization consider their human resource. Company has regarded its employees
as granted and make them work from longer hours (Ferguson and Reio, 2017). The third
aspect is processes which is not adhered by FarmBox at all and there were no guidelines
being given to them. Moreover, people in the organization were demotivated and are not
willing to work more for the company. They required training and development. Finally, the
last one is performance which indicates measurement of performance level of the workers
which involves setting up of metrics, KPI’s and so forth.
TASK – 2
Evaluating the suitability of HRM theories and models
There are different models being applied by FarmBox such as AMO theory, human
capital theory and 5 P’s model, however all these models are not properly utilized while some
are utilized effectively by the company. Considering the very first theory i.e. Ability,
motivation and opportunity theory, it is quite suitable for the company. All the workers in the
company does not have required level of knowledge, experience and skills. Even, the leaders
of the company have not evaluated the capabilities of the employees at the point of selection
and hiring. The workers are made to work for long, more than the hours mentioned in their
contract, and thus, they are highly dissatisfied (Cascio, 2015). Due to this, the productivity of
the company is decreasing at a tremendous pace. Addition to this, the employees of FarmBox
are also finding new jobs as the employer is just busy in meeting out the rising demand due to
Covid19 and has not focused on their motivational level. This was all happening as the
human practices were not used adequately. Moving towards the second HRM model being
applied in the company that is human capital theory, it can be said that this theory is not
suitable for the firm because with this, the production of the firm is decreasing. Human
capital model emphasize on the fact that employees of the organization have the power to
impact its success. Companies need to consider their human capital as crucial and valuable
asset if they want to exist in the market. This is actually not taking place in FarmBox due to
assortment of reasons.

Underpinning the discussion related to appropriateness of the HRM model in
Farmbox, the last model i.e. 5Ps model is quite appropriate because all the five P’s were
applied in the company. This can pertains to the fact that with the increase in the demand of
the customers, the owner of the company was in great need to augment their production level.
However, this can be achieved with more employees in place (Bühler and et.al, 2018). So,
with this purpose in intellect, new employees were recruited and hired and considered him as
granted. Furthermore, processes were not properly adopted and online advertisement were
used for recruiting personnel. No training and other developmental activities were included
for evolving personnel on board. Their performance level was also not evaluated and thus,
they were seeking job outside.
Positive components and areas of improvement
Though all these HRM models were adopted by the FarmBox for managing the
human capital, it was not effectively utilized. For the first theory i.e. AMO theory it can be
said that it was quite suitable for the company and if adequately utilized, it might reap out
different positive elements such as enhancement in the capabilities of the workers to achieve
desired goal, motivate employees for higher level of production and will going to provide
better prospects of growth in FarmBox. Furthermore, in regards with the human capital
model, if it has been used by the employer effectively it might have positive influence on the
performance level of the workers. Thus, there is a need of improvement required in several
areas. Firstly, the compensation differentiation needs to be managed. Those workers who are
appointed in haste by the owner of the FarmBox because of increased demand were paid less
along with long working hours. Compensation of these workers must be increased. Secondly,
effective training and development sessions must be planned for newly appointed workers so
that they can acquire new skills and work hard to enhance the production level (Sparrow,
2017). The final model is 5P’s HRM model, which needs lot of improvement. It is crucial for
the owner of the FarmBox to have some principles or core value for a team to be motivated
such as promotion for higher work level achieved, non-monetary benefits etc. Other than this,
processes in regards with the manner activities are conducted in the company should be
documented effectively so that workers can easily know their job responsibilities. As stated in
the model, people involves the manner organization consider their human resource. In the
current case study, company has regarded its employees as granted and make them work
from longer hours. Thus, it is important for the owner to determine the degree to which
people are empowered and teams are in place. Additionally, it is also crucial to ascertain

whether there is a requirement of training within the teams or not and there is self-direction in
the groups or not. After identifying effective sessions for enhancement of skills should be
planned. Last but not the least, it is necessary for the managers of the FarmBox to measure
the performance level of the workers. Key performance indicators along with baselines must
be establish so that actual and anticipated performance can be measured (Cocca and Alberti,
2015). Besides, a good performance appraisal system should be in place such as 360 degree
for analysing the work of the employees. Those achieving the targets must be given different
monetary as well as non-monetary benefits.
TASK – 3
Identification and recommendations of HRM models
Following are the different identified models of HRM which can be used by FarmBox
to improve their operational productivity,
The Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna Model :
It is HRM model which provides emphasis on the four different functions which helps
in the interrelation of the four different functions. These funtions are, selection, appraisal,
development and rewards. They are known to be the consituent components of human
resource management and are known and expected for being very contributive to the
organizational effectiveness (Human Resource Management Models, 2021). The downside of
this model is that it ignores all the other factors that are environmental and continegent that
can impact the HR functions.
Harvard Model :
This is a model which claim to provide a comprehensive which consists of the six
critcial dimensions that include in the model are, stakeholders, interests, situational factors,
Hrm policy choices, HR outcomes and long term consequences which directl and indirectly
impacts the flow of the organization and stakeholders. The output of this model is known to
be directed directly towards the organization and the stakeholders.
The Guest Model :
This model is considered to be one of the superior models in comparison to the other
models. These details of the model claims that the HR manager has the specific strategies.
These strategies began with having certain demands which when executed resulted in the
better outcomes that included performane and financial rewards (Tiwari, Srivastava and

Kumar, 2019). In this model the major emphasis is on the logical sequence of the six
components HR strategy, HR practices, HR outcomes, behavioural outcomes, performance
resutls and financial consquences. The reason why it is considered to be superior is because it
help in the identifying the field of HRM. Only issue with this model is that it is not always
able to handle the complexity of the people dynamix.
FarmBox which is online retailer of food and services needs to understand the
importance of different HR practices which would help it improve the productivity. It can be
said that the HR management of the organizational can use the Guest Model for gaining
access to the results which are essentail for the desired outcomes. As per this model the HR
manager needs to demand certain practices which can be executed by the organization in
order to develop the business outcomes that include the behavioural performance and impact
the financial rewards of the business. This will help FarmBox to ensure having talented
individuals, this can be said as the stronger onboardng facilities which would help the
business in improving the employee retention. This can be said as the model which would
allow the company to access the employee benefits which will result to less complaince
issues. As a result of this model the HRM of the organization will be available for the
employee Anytime and Anyplace. This model is known for its efficiency which is a helpful
for saving time and energy. With the help of this model the HR management will be
successful in developing logic into the HR practices which will be done in the sequence that
very few complications and issues will arise.
CONCLUSION
With the help of this project it can be concluded that FarmBox will be able to increase
its productivity if its following the different HRM strategies and model which are discussed.
In this project HRM recruitment and selection models, theories and concepts. It helps in the
explaining the how these things impact the behaviour of the employees in the oranization and
how it impacts the organization productivity. In this project the identification of the postivie
elements used by the of the theories of HRM used by this organization. In this project the
identification of different models of HRM and reccommendation of the one which can be
used by FarmBox has been made.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Armstrong, M., 2016. Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice.
12thed. Kogan Page Ltd.
Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2016. Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Bühler, M., and et.al., 2018. Nicotine dependence is characterized by disordered reward
processing in a network driving motivation. Biological psychiatry. 67(8). pp.745-752.
Cascio, W.F., 2015. Strategic HRM: Too important for an insular approach. Human Resource
Management. 54(3).
Cocca, P. and Alberti, M., 2015. A framework to assess performance measurement systems
in SMEs. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. 59(2).
pp.186-200.
Ferguson, K.L. and Reio, T.G., 2017. Human resource management systems and firm
performance. Journal of Management Development. 29(5). pp.471-494.
Gerhart, B., 2016. Research on human resources and effectiveness: some methodological
challenges. Chichester: Wiley.
Guest, D.E., 2017. Human resource management and employee wellbeing: towards a new
analytical framework. Human Resource Management Journal. 22(1). pp.22-38.
Jiang, K., 2018. On the shoulders of giants: a meta-review of strategic human resource
management. International Journal of Human Resource Management. 29(1). pp.6-33.
Sparrow, P., 2017. The death of strategic HRM and business partnering: failure to deliver, or
wrong? IES Conference.
Tiwari, V., Srivastava, S. and Kumar, D., 2019. Adoption of HRM practices: A practical
model-case study of a hotel. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM).
21(4). pp.59-63.
Online
Human Resource Management Models, 2021[Online]. Available through:
<https://www.managementstudyhq.com/hrm-models.html#:~:text=The%20four
%20HRM%20models%20are,and%20(iv)%20The%20Warwick.>