Strategic Human Resource Management: A Study of Morrisons' HRM Practices

The assignment discusses the importance of Human Resource (HR) planning in a company, particularly in the context of Morrisons, a leading supermarket chain in the UK. It highlights the various HRM practices that contribute to increasing employee productivity and describes the different HR aspects of the organization. The significance of employee relations and legislative acts influencing HR decision-making processes are also discussed. Additionally, the report evaluates the methods and resources used by HR professionals to practice HRM in the organization.

HUMAN
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
ASSESSMENT 1 (Covered in ppt).............................................................................................................3
ASSESSMENT 2........................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Explain the purpose and the functions of HRM.................................................................................3
1.2 The strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection.....................4
1.3 (M3) Methods used in HRM practices and application with reference to Morrisons........................5
1.4 (D2) Critical evaluation of HRM practices and application within Morrisons.....................................5
TASK 2.......................................................................................................................................................5
2.1 (P5) Importance of employee relations impacting HRM decision making in Morrisons....................5
2.2 (P6) Elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM decision making of Morrisons.....6
2.3 (M4) Aspects of employee relations management and employee legislation affecting HRM decision
making of Morrisons................................................................................................................................7
2.4 (D3) Critical evaluation of employee relation and application of HRM practices affecting HRM
decision making of Morrisons..................................................................................................................7

TASK 3.....................................................................................................................................................7
3.1 (P7) Job description and person specification of team leader with reference to Morrisons.............7
3.2 (M5) Rationale of job description and person specification in the recruitment procedure in context
to Morrisons............................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................9
INTRODUCTION
Human resource management practiced in the company acts as a tonic for the growth and
development of the organization (Daley, 2012). Human resource management not only deals
with the recruitment process but is responsible to perform different tasks for the company. The
report aims to throw the light upon the purposes and scope of HRM in the organizations. They
are responsible for the enrichment of the company with skilled, talented and retained employees.
The report also describes the various principles of Human resource management followed in the
company. Significance to various factors affecting the decisions of HRM is also evaluated. HRM
practiced in a work related context is also discussed in the report. The report is drawn with
reference to Morrisons Supermarket Company (Bratton and Gold, 2012). It is ranked as the
fourth largest chain of supermarkets in UK. The company has successfully established itself as a
brand and the market shares have grown significantly through the years and has company
adopted efficient HRM policies.
ASSESSMENT 1 (Covered in ppt)
ASSESSMENT 2
TASK 1
1.1 Explain the purpose and the functions of HRM
Human resource management deals with all the people of the organization. They design
some of the strategies so that overall performance of the employees can be improved. The
purpose of the HRM is to increase the productivity, growth and performance of the employees in
the organization (Wright and McMahan, 2011). This can be used by Morrisons so that they can

hire or recruit an employee as per their requirement. The main aim of this functional unit is to
increase the core competencies oamong all the workforce through training and development
programs. The retail industry can improve their HR policies by following some of the functions
such as staffing, compensation system and designing the work in an efficient manner. These are: Recruitment and selection: It is the role of HR manager to hire a candidate who have
potential to do the work in an efficient manner. For this, the manager has to follow an
appropriate process so a skilled workforce can be created within the company. Health and safety: The manager have to follow all the legislative laws and regulations so
all employees will be able to get a healthy and safe environment at the workplace.
 Compensation and rewards: These are necessary in order to increase the motivation
level of the employees. Rewards can be related to the monetary and non monetary. If any
workers met with an accident then that person will be liabel to get the compensation from
the company (Buller and McEvoy, 2012).
Through all these functions, Morrisons will be able to improve their growth and position
in the market than any other market leader in UK.
1.2 The strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
Morrisons can use different approaches in order to hire the potential employees. Some of
the methods are: Internal sourcing: In this kind of approach, firm hire a new employee from the existing
workforce. Most of the organizations are using this approach so that their expenses can
be minimized as their no need to provide training to the workers. The advantage of this
approach is that through this the motivation level of staff members can be enhanced
(Guest, 2011). The disadvantage of this is that they will not be able to hire any skilled
and innovative candidate from the external world. External sourcing: This is a kind of approach that can be used by Morrisons in order to
recruit the candidates from the external world. For example, the manager can use some
tools such as newspapers, job boards and so on in order to hire an employee in the
enterprise. The strength of this approach is that through this they will be able to get
skilled workers so that overall objectives of the enterprise can be enhanced. Through
this, the brand awareness of the organization can be enhanced. The weakness of this
approach is that through this the internal motivation level of the employees will not be
increased.

 Third Party sourcing: In this type of process, any third party agent recruit the qualified
employees for the organization. Through this, the firm will be able to hire skilled
candidates.
1.3 (M3) Methods used in HRM practices and application with reference to Morrisons
HRM practices in the cited company involve many functions such as recruitment of talented
workers, training, promoting etc. It also involves activities like organizing, planning, directing,
controlling etc. of the staff members (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2011). The practices include
team work and disciplinary acts. The training methods includes technology based learning,
simulators, on the job training, coaching, mentoring, delivering lectures, group discussions,
tutorials, role playing, management games, outdoor training, films and videos, case studies,
planned reading etc. The recruitment methods involves preliminary screening of resumes,
telephonic interviews, personal interviews, group discussions, cultural fit selection, filtration of
candidates, technical evaluations, aptitude test, etc. The HR’s are also responsible to retain the
existing employees and increase their productivity. For this they adopt the methodology of
appreciation and acknowledgements (Jiang and et.al., 2012). This can be done by giving awards
and rewards to appreciate their work and motivate them to perform better. They also conduct
meetings to resolve the issues faced by the employees in the quoted company.
1.4 (D2) Critical evaluation of HRM practices and application within Morrisons
The critical evaluation shows that HRM practices enhances the potentialities of the staff
members and motivates them to put more effort in order to increase the profitability and the
quality of the products offered. The HRM practices must be carefully done as it involves a lot of
investment and time (Meredith Belbin, 2011). The planning of the practices is time consuming
and lengthy.
TASK 2
2.1 (P5) Importance of employee relations impacting HRM decision making in Morrisons
For a firm to succeed maintenance of healthy employ relationship is very necessary.
Healthy relationship with the workers helps the company to increase its productivity and
profitability. If a good relationship is built then operations running in the company will be
harmonic and smooth. This will reduce the chances of conflicts and disagreements. In order to
create good relations with employees it is important to understand the perspectives as well as
their emotions (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). To do this interaction with the workers needs to be
increased. This can be done by conducting regular meetings, negotiating with them, listen to
their suggestions, try to resolve the issues they face, motivate them. To improve the
performances work and efforts of the labors and other staff members needs to be acknowledged.

Acknowledgement can be done by giving awards and rewards on a regular basis (Lengnick-Hall,
Beck and Lengnick-Hall, 2011). Sessions for listening and understanding their problems and
circumstances could be organized so that no employee feels alone in the company. Healthy and
happy environment in the organization will aid the workers to increase their potentialities and
hard work. More efforts and skills will in turn increase the productivity of the company.
The decision making of HRM gets influenced by the employee relation. All the decisions
or policies before implementing in the company have to be thought from the perspective of the
employees. If there are cases of reluctance or disagreements then the decision needs to be
changed rather modified.
2.2 (P6) Elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM decision making of
Morrisons
The key function of the HRM is to make sure that all the legislation acts are implemented
in the cited company (CHUANG and Liao, 2010).The various laws the Human resource
management are:
1. Equal Opportunities:
 Equal Pay Act 1970 - This act states that all the employees should be paid equal salary.
All the profiles must offer equal salaries to the workers.
 Race Relations Act 1976 - This act follows to eliminate discrimination amongst the staff
members on the basis of race. Workers of all races should be considered equal
(Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
 Anti- discrimination Act 1964 – According to this act No discrimination on the basis of
caste, religion, gender etc. should be practiced in the company.
2. Employment Protection:
 Employment Rights Act 1996 – In this act the duties and rights of the workers are clearly
stated. It involves the maternity and paternity leave, all the information regarding
termination is to provided, information about all the working days etc. should be provide
(Armstrong, 2011).
 Working Time Regulations Act – This act states that the working time durations should
be clearly defined to the staff members. They a right to rest 11 hours a day.
 National Minimum Wage Act 1998 –This act offers the employees to be paid with a
decent minimum salary.
3. Health And Safety:

In this acts such asHealth and Safety at Work Act 1974, The Factories Act 1961, Office, Shops
and Railway Premises Act 1963, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1988,
TheFire Precautions Act 1971 etc. are involved for protection of health and safety of employees
(Purce, 2014).
2.3 (M4) Aspects of employee relations management and employee legislation affecting HRM
decision making of Morrisons
The HRM decisions in a company are highly influenced by the employee relations. The
issues such as leave permissions, awards, wages, work load, conflicts etc. are to be resolved and
taken care while deciding the policies and treaties for the company. The act of equality, employ
protection, health and safety should be implemented in the company (Sparrow, Brewster and
Chung, 2016). Moreover, the legislation and all the acts are to be kept up to date regularly and
are to be taken care while deciding anything for the company. Timely checking of the employees
issues and implementation of all the acts should be done to make effective decisions.
2.4 (D3) Critical evaluation of employee relation and application of HRM practices affecting
HRM decision making of Morrisons
The critical evaluation shows that the building of employee relation has a very positive
impact on the company. It helps to increase trust and belief which in turn increases the
productivity of the workers (Storey, 2014).However, there are possibilities those workers take
advantage of the relationship. HR decisions may get influenced by the bonding and flattery. It
could sometimes be difficult to take an action against any wrong practice with good relation.
Also, there are chances of partialities and preferences which may deteriorate the equal
opportunity act for all other employees (Hendry, 2012). HRM decisions should be unbiased and
fair foe everyone in the cited organization.
TASK 3
3.1 (P7) Job description and person specification of team leader with reference to Morrisons
Following is the job description for a team leader in the cited firm:
JOB TITLE=> Team leader
JOB SUMMARY=>
 Take responsibility of and manage team of employees.
 Convey objectives of the organization and deadlines to the employees (Berman and
et.al., 2012).
 Motivate team members to put more efforts

JOB DUTIES=>
 Provide support to managers and when manager is on leave perform his duties
 Answer the questions of the team members
 Allot work to the team
 Convey deadlines
 Generate performance report of team and do necessary improvements.
 Help company to provide quality products and services
 Conduction of team meetings and negotiations
 Resolve the issues and conflicts of the workers (Wright and McMahan, 2011)
PERSONAL SPECIFICATIONS=>
 Good leadership skills
 Efficient interpersonal skills
 Strong motivational skills
 Effective customer service skills
 Self- motivation and optimistic behavior
 Good relationship building
 Problem solving ability
 Result oriented approach
3.2 (M5) Rationale of job description and person specification in the recruitment procedure in
context to Morrisons
Job descriptions are necessary for every vacant designation. It acts as a tool which offers
clear and accurate description of what the duties would be (Harzing and Pinnington, 2010). This
helps the candidates to get a notion of what the functionalities would he perform and make
judgment whether to apply or not. It also provides a gist of the cultures and values of the
company. Personal specifications helps the candidates to know what skills would be required by
him. He can work on those skills to perform better at workplace (Huselid and Becker, 2010).
CONCLUSION
The report suggests that Human Resource planning involves many functions within a
company. The HRM practices play an important role in increasing the productivity of the
employees. The report describes the different HRM aspects of the leading supermarket company

Morrisonswhich is well established in UK. The significance to employee relation and the various
legislation acts which influences the decision making procedures of the HRM are also described.
The methods and resources used by HR’s to practice HRM in the organization are also evaluated
through the report. The HRM activities and approaches to meet the goals of the organization are
described in the report.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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CHUANG, C. H. and Liao, H. U. I., 2010. Strategic human resource management in service
context: Taking care of business by taking care of employees and customers. Personnel
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Armstrong, M., 2011. Armstrong's handbook of strategic human resource management. Kogan
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Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New
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Routledge.
Storey, J., 2014. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals).
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Berman, E. M. and et.al., 2012. Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes,
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Harzing, A. W. and Pinnington, A. eds., 2010. International human resource management. Sage.
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