Human Resource Management Practices

The provided document is a compilation of past papers, solved assignments, and research on human resource management (HRM) practices. It includes topics such as job and work analysis, strategic HRM, green HRM, international HRM, and corporate governance. The assignment covers various research methods and applications, including case studies and special issues from journals. It also highlights the importance of employee well-being and socially responsible HRM practices.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce planning in an organisation.....1
P2 Strength and weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection process. .3
TASK 2 ........................................................................................................................................5
P3 Benefits of HRM practices for employer and employee in a company ...........................5
P4 Importance of effectiveness of different HRM practices..................................................7
P5 Importance of workers relation to influence HRM decision-making...............................8
P6 Key element of employee's legislation and it's impact on decision-making process of HRM
................................................................................................................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P7 Applications of HRM practices.......................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management refers to strategic approach which helps company in
managing their employees effectively. This effective management of employees leads to
achievement of competitive advantage. There are numerous of HR functions which helps an
organisation in attaining organisational goals and objectives in effective manner. These functions
includes recruitment, selection and development of employees according to the specified job
role. The current project is based on Marks and Spencer which is an multinational retailer
company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. This Organisation was established in the
year 1884 by Sir Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer (Noe and et. al., 2017). The report
includes description over purpose and functions of Human resource management, along with the
strength and weaknesses of approaches related to selection and recruitment. Furthermore,
effectiveness of HRM practices and importance of employee relations in respect to decision
making process are also covered in this project. At last it clearly shows effective application of
HRM practices in work-related context and use of technology in order to improve recruitment
and selection process are also described in this present report.
TASK1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce planning in an organisation
Workforce planning is an effective work responsibility of HR manager as it helps the
company in fulfilling vacant job role in the company in effective manner. The term workforce
planning refers to the process which states analysing actual requirement of the manpower in the
company and then build up recruitment practices through which it is best candidate can be
selected for specific vacant job role (Bratton and Gold, 2017). In simple terms, this process aim
towards getting right number of individuals and use them effectively in right place and in right
time. In relation with, Marks and Spencer their human resource manager is required to ensure
that company is utilizing their employees skills in right way and recruit them in right place as to
meet organisation and present and future needs (Budhwar and Debrah, 2013). Mentioned below
there are some functions and purpose of HRM that company can take advantage to apply in their
workforce planning:
Purpose of HRM
1

Main function of human resource management is to maintain effective coordination
between between employees and management as to achieve business objectives and fulfilling
staffing needs in efficient way. In relation with Marks and Spencer most important purpose of
their HR manager is to increase productivity of organisation by maximising effectiveness of their
employees. In order to fulfil this company HR manager is required to deal with problems and
issues that related to recruitment and selection, training and development, regularly motivating
employees and communicating in effective way as to satisfy needs and wants of organisation and
customers (Morgeson, Brannick. and Levine, 2019). There are some main function and purpose
described below:
Legal legislation
Every nation have their own set of rules and regulation which is essential for every
company to abide to perform their activities in smooth way. In context with, Marks and Spencer
it is necessary for their HR manager to have knowledge of federal and state laws in relation to
employee management, labour union, wages, conflict resolution and equal employment
opportunity. This will aid company to address issues and concerns in effective way and
strengthen workplace safety requirements.
Development of positive working environment
The main purpose of HRM is to build perfect working environment for employees that
creates an effective bridge between company management and it's workforce. For Marks and
Spencer, it is mandatory for its top level manager to interact with employees at regular basis in
order to find out their issues or obstacles which interrupts them in performing their work and also
creates disturbing working environment (Nankervis. and et. al., 2016). This interaction will
reduce chances of conflicts and leads to development of positive working environment.
Functions of HRM:
Employee Relation: Employees are one of the most important and strongest pillars of
each and every organisation. Maintaining employee relation is crucial function that is required
to perform by HR manager in effective manner. In relation with, Marks and Spencer it is
essential for company HR manager to foster favourable employee relation and have ability to
influence and motivate workers to accomplish organisational objectives in suitable way.
Managers are required to solve conflicts in effective manner and assign task appropriately for
2

maintaining positive employee relation. This directly provides benefits to the company as
employees works in more effective manner which improves their performance (Ulrich, 2013).
Training and Development: Training and development is fundamental function of
Human resource management. It is process in which main focus is to improving current and
future performance of employees by providing them effective education and maximise their
skills through training and development programmes (Martin and et. al., 2016). In relation with,
Marks and Spencer it is essential for company HR managers to provide formative training and
development to their workforce and increase their skills and knowledge in order to maximise
their job performance.
Recruitment & Selection: It is one of the most important and crucial process in which an
HR manager progressively hire and select effective candidates from pool of forthcoming
candidates. In context with Marks and Spencer it is necessary for company HR manager to make
proper staffing plans and procedures, prepare long and short term goals and invest proper
estimated budget in this process (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
P2 Strength and weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection process
Recruiting and selecting are considered as the main function of HRM which helps
company in bringing best candidate to the company. Skilled and efficient staff can take an
organisation towards new heights and helps company to gain large amount of competitive
advantages in a marketplace. Recruitment is developmental process to identify job vacancy and
attract effective and potential candidates as to fill vacant positions in company. On the other
hand, selection process is related to selecting suitable candidates for organisation as per
department needs and desires. Mentioned below there are some sources of recruitment and
selection described:
Internal Source of recruitment:
Internal source of recruitment includes transferring, promotions, internal advertisement
and employee referrals. The strengths and weakness of this method are stated as below:
Strength of Internal Source of recruitment
 As organisation managers are familiar with the skills and behaviour of their existing
workforce it will become easier for them to select suitable and effective individual for
company vacant position. This will results in maximising loyalty and motivation level of
worker and also increase employee retention within organisation (Storey, 2014).
3

Weakness of Internal Source of recruitment
 Lack of diversity is one of the basic weakness related to internal source of recruitment
process. It will hamper organisation to get fresh blood and talent from outside and
improve their production function quality.
External Source of recruitment:
External recruitment sources includes campus recruitment, advertisements, direct
recruitment, employment agencies, professional associations and employment exchanges. The
strengths and weakness of this method are stated as below:
Strength of External Source of recruitment
 The main strength of this types of source is that it recruit candidates from different
geographical locations. This method will aid managers to select appropriate and eligible
individuals of their and organisation choices
Weakness of External Source of recruitment
This process can take more investment as in this process overall verification of documentation of
candidates are required to done as to select effective individuals as per the requirement of
organisation (Stone and et. al., 2015).
All of the above sources are helpful for Marks and Spencer as it helps them in bringing
best employees in company. In order to achieve this process in suitable and balanced way, it is
requires to develop various documents related to job description, interview and person
specification. In job description overall information that are related to vacant post in organisation
and job roles and responsibilities are mentioned.
Methods of selection in M&S Company: HR manager of M&S is using interview test selection
method for selecting best suitable employees among shortlisted candidate from internal and
external sources of recruitment. Mentioned below there is a brief description of this method :
Merits and Demerits of Selection Technique
Merits Demerits
The merit of interview test is that any
misunderstanding and mistake can be rectified
easily in an interview. Because the interviewer
and interviewee physically present before the
interview board. Interview also can help to
This method of interview test is a part of
incomplete process has suitable candidate can
not be selected by interview only. The written
test is more important than the interview.
Interview is a systematic process of data
4

save time to select the best suitable candidate.
Within a very short time
communication can be accomplished with the
interview
collection. The success of an interview
depends on the efficiency of the interviewer.
This inefficiency of an interviewer can lead to
misleading results.
Strength of interview method
Interview mode of selecting effective candidates is bit simpler as in this process
managers can take feedbacks and solve any kind of queries and problems of candidates in the
same mean time (Sparrow, Brewster and Chung, C2016.).
Weakness of interview method
It is a very time consuming process and sometime it can be hard for managers to analyse
and report feedbacks of candidates.
TASK 2
P3 Benefits of HRM practices for employer and employee in a company
Human resource management is an most valued asset of an organisation which helps in
ensuring proper management and utilization of company resources in order to achieve company
predetermined goals and objectives (Banfield, Kay and Royles, 2018). In relation with, Marks
and Spencer basic responsibilities of their HR manager includes, payroll, employee engagement
policies, selection, employee relations, recruitment and compensation management. Mentioned
below there are some practises performed by HR managers of company which benefits both
employees and employers in subsequent way : Training and Development - This practice states the companies that they should do
investment on the high basis in training time so that the employees can improve their
skills and knowledge. Training and development are almost two sides of the same coin. It
involves providing orientation sessions to newly joined employees, keeping training
seminars for skill development etc. Development on the other side is a broader aspect
and focuses on overall personality development of employees in M&S.
 Recruitment and selection - Recruitment is the process of finding and hiring the best-
qualified candidate for a job opening, in a timely and cost effective manner. In case of
Marks and Spencer, their recruitment and selection practices are usually a part of their
5

workplace culture. Managers of M&S follow a quite structured process for recruitment
and selection as they believe employing right candidates for right job profile.
Performance and reward: Reward based on performance benefits an organization to increase
efficiencies of their employees. It will not only help employee to gain extensive benefits and
increase their standards but also aid company to increase their quality of production. Marks and
Spencer manager is taking advantage of performance based rewards to monitor performance of
their workers. They are providing rewards like, non-monetary benefits, paid leaves, holiday
packages and more . This will automatically increase motivation in workers and they
enthusiastically perform their work which will help company to increase their level of production
(Guest, 2017).
 Flexible working options: It is the most important factor which increases greater sense of
being valued among employees. Marks and Spencer manager provide Flex time benefit to
their employees, in this employees are not bound to time in relation to their arrival in a
workplace. In this employer only wants to work as per company standard hours and
accomplish their targeted work. It will help company to increase morale and engagement
of employees while on the other hand workers have better work-life balance and achieve
their targets with full capacity.
Benefits to employees Benefits to employers
1. Training and development helps in raising
skill level and area of expertise of employees
in M& S.
2. HRM practices are essential for employees
as they provide a healthy discrimination free
environment to employees.
1. In case of employers, training and
development is helpful in employee retention
hence increasing productivity of their
organisation (Shen and Benson, 2016).
2. Selecting right kind of candidates helps
managers and owners in achieving
organisational goals within specified time
frame.
6

P4 Importance of effectiveness of different HRM practices
HRM plays an important role in management, which manage the employees and trained
them to gain the profitability and productivity of the company. There are several practices
involved by HRM like hiring a suitable candidate for job, trained them to enhance their skills so
that they can achieve goals and objectives, provide the positive working environment to the
employees, so that they can give their best results in achieving and enhancing the growth and
increases the productivity of the company (Baum, 2016). Some of the HRM practices which help
M&S to enhance their profitability are as follows :
Sharing and collaboration: When different individuals from different geographical
location and culture work together towards company objectives it results in increasing
productivity of company in effective way. With help of this function managers of Marks and
Spencer can make positive interaction with every individual and motivates them as to work in
collaborative way. This will aid in increasing performance of employees and organisation
simultaneously.
Enhancement of skills and ability of employees: Effective HRM practices help company
superiors to make and formulate positive interactions with organisation employees. By
implementing efficient communication channel managers of Marks and Spencer can lead their
workforce towards high growth (Wehrmeyer, 2017). This will also aid company to set their team
goals and objectives more effectively.
Providence of rewards to employees on the basis of their performance: As to gain
workers loyalty and make them work for organisation for long term it is essential for company to
provide effective monetary and non-monetary rewards to employees. It is necessary for Marks
and Spencer to give benefits and rewards like unpaid holidays, promotions, vacations and bonus
to their employees as to improve their performance. By providing these benefits workers think
themselves as an important part of organisation and work more effectively towards company
goals and objectives.
Direction based settings: Managers and leaders of an organisation plays an important
role in creating and developing suitable formative strategies, objectives, goals and targets
according to the need of organisation. There with the help of human resource management
functions Marks and Spencer can appoint suitable and effective managers and leaders in their
7

different departments. This helps in making different policies according to different departments
and results in ensuring qualitative outcomes.
On the basis of above discussion, it can be said that the before mentioned HRM practices
are effective in aligning the behaviour of employees of M&S towards the achievement of
organisational goals and objectives and ensuring that the conduct of workforce is as per the laws
and legislations enforced within the company.
P5 Importance of workers relation to influence HRM decision-making
Growth and prosperity of an organisation totally depend on worker retention. It is
important for manager to build a healthy and positive working relationship with each and every
individual and motivates them accordingly. HR manager of Marks and Spencer manager is
required to listen every issues and problems and discuses the same as to remove the problem of
employee turnover (Knies and et. al., 2015). There are some basic importance of employee
retention mentioned below which helps in maintaining effective decision-making process in
HRM:
Enhancement of profit: With the help of strong and effective relationship among
company workforce and management organisation can effectively increase their productivity
and profitability. In Marks and Spencer main objective of their manager is to implement
formative strategies in order to maintain smooth and positive relation. This will ultimately lead
to maximisation of profit.
Improvement in sales performance: Effective relationship between employees
automatically directly influences sales performance of business organisation. As Marks and
Spencer is a retailing store, so positive relation among employees can efficiently maximise their
sale performance as satisfy consumer needs in proper time frame.
Early Achievement of set Targets: If there is effective and smooth relationship between
company employees and management it will result in maintaining the process of communication
in workplace more effectively (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes, 2015). Managers of
Marks and Spencer can discuss their role and take regular feedbacks from their employees as to
strength company production process and fulfil organisation objectives in effective time frame.
Employee Recognition: In order to increase efficiency of internal structure of an
organisation it is Marks and Spencer is taking advantage of employee recognition to maximise
sense of responsibilities in workers. If an employee feel valued their satisfaction level will
8

automatically fulfilled and their work with great enthusiasm to earn more praise and recognition.
This will simultaneously help Marks and Spencer to produce quantitative outcomes and earn
more profitability. In addition to this, this will benefit company to maintain smooth and
formative relationship between employee and employer.
P6 Key element of employee's legislation and it's impact on decision-making process of HRM
It is important for every business organisation such as Marks and Spencer to follow all
laws and other norms in order to keep their business away from illegal activity. Governing
bodies of United Kingdom have some important rules and regulations which is necessary for
Marks and Spencer to follow as to run their business operates in smooth and effective way
(Budhwar, 2016). By abiding governmental laws company can perform their activities for long
term and ensure proper sustainability in order to increase profitability of company. All of the
main laws are stated which places influence over decision making of Human resource manager
of Marks and Spencer are stated as below:
Equality Act: This act was formed in the year 2010 as to eliminate discrimination on the
basis on gender, nationality, cast, colour and age. This act ensure and protect right of employees
in a workplace and provide them a healthy and safe working environment. Marks and Spencer
implements this act in their organisation as to secure equality right of every individual (M&S
People Principles, 2019). This will results in increasing confidence among employees as they
see themselves equal and important part of organisation and work effectively towards company
goals and objectives.
Occupational Safety and Health Act:This act was enacted in the year 1970. according to
this act it is necessary for an employer to provide proper safe and healthy working environment
to their employees (Domsch, 2017). It is essential for Marks and Spencer to create a positive
working environment and provide effective training to their worker in order to make them
adaptable. It is also important for company to have proper and suitable heath kit in their
workplace and have effective measures to protect their employees from any kind of hazardous
situations. By taking care of safety and healthy need of employees manager of Marks & Spencer
effectively able to bring sense of Loyalty in employees this will directly help them to maintain
smooth and positive relationship between employee and employer.
Family and medical Leave Act: This act was established in the year 1993 in order to
fulfil employee needs and demands related to family and medical requirements. It is essential for
9

Marks and Spencer to provide unpaid leaves to their employees and emergency sick leaves as to
secure their rights. It is necessary for company to provide proper duration of maternity leaves to
their female workers as per mentioned in federal and state government laws.
TASK 4
P7 Applications of HRM practices
Job Details
Post: Sales Executive
Company: Marks and Spencer
Job Purpose
To maintain customer satisfaction by discovering new sales prospects. Negotiate deals and
advice costumers and persuade them in effective manner to buy products and services of
company. Demonstrate products and services to potential consumers through phone and emails.
Roles & Responsibilities
 Develop formative sales and distribution strategies and frame effective policies to
execute them in systematic manner.
 Regularly conduct and participate in sales activities and meetings.
 Make sure payment of receivables are done in timely manner.
 Formulate developmental strategies to build positive consumer relationship as to build
strong loyalty.
 Develop sales reports in weekly and timely manner and provide quick and accurate
solutions to costumers for their query.
 Regularly keeps on evaluating current market conditions and trends so to frame effective
sales strategies and policies.
Person Specification
Post: Sales Executive
Department: Sales Department
Key: This show what is required when like an evidence:
(A) : Application form, (I): Interview, (R): Role
10

Role:
Attributes Essentials Desirable
Qualification & Experience Proficiency in English
language.
Basic knowledge of MS
Word.
High school degree.
Effective communication
skills, offer advice and answer
queries of customers in
effective way. Proficiency in
negotiating contracts and
achieve annual targets.
Skills or Knowledge Remarkable communication
skills and hands-on experience
with MS office.
Traits of adaptability and
effectively deal with angry
and frustrated clients in
complex situations.
Four Job Related Questions:
1. What are major responsibilities of Sales Executive?
2. Skills you have that makes a better deserving candidate
3. How will you pitch me if I ask you to sell me this pen?
4. What interests you most about this position?
Job Offer Letter For Sales Executive
Name: Elijah Mickelson
Address: 15 Tottenham Court Road, London, England.
Dear Elijah Mickelson,
We are glad to inform that you have been selected to work for Marks and Spencer as an Sales
executive in Sales department. Responsibilities for the following:
JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
 Form sales and distribution strategies in systematic manner.
 Conduct and join sales meeting on regular basis and make sure payment of business
receivables are being made in proper time manner.
 Frame positive relationship with consumers and build effective sense of loyalty in them
11

towards organisation.
CONTRACT INCLUDES:
(A) Reporting: You are required to report Stephan Clark working as an supervisor in sales
department.
(B) Basic Salary: The offered Sales Executive Position is at a 5000/ yr + Additional Incentives
based on performance as per company guideline.
(C) Work Hours: Your working hour will start from 9.30 am to 6 pm.
(D)Compensations and Benefits: Your benefits as an sales executive includes: Group insurance,
Transportation, health care and meal card.
We feel delighted to send this offer letter to you which is needed to be approved and signed by
you in order to start your job from 21 January 2019.
Congratulations and welcome to the Marks and Spencer family.
Thanking You,
For Marks and Spencer
( Elena Gilbert)
Human Resource
As per the above stated application of HRM practices, it can be said that Human resource
manager of Marks and Spencer use latest technology and digital platforms can execute their
business functions effectively. Human resource department of this company can promote and
advertise their different products on social networking sites. In addition to this, they can
advertise about their vacant job position in company can hire effective candidates from different
geographical locations. This will benefit company to acquire fresh talents from pool of
candidates and fill their organisation position.
CONCLUSION
From the above stated report it has been concluded that HRM acts as a lifeblood for every
business entity and its working culture as well. This report contains purpose and functions of
HRM along with various roles and responsibilities that are accomplished by HR manager. Also
various selection and recruitment methods have been explained in this report. Here, job
specification and person specification for required position has also been designed. Lastly, it is
12

noticed that HR department in every business concern needs to follow certain rules and
regulations that help in effective planning of workforce. Furthermore, various key approaches
that are related with engaging workers have also been specified.
13

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Noe, R. A., and et. al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Morgeson, F. P., Brannick, M. T. and Levine, E. L., 2019. Job and work analysis: Methods,
research, and applications for human resource management. Sage Publications.
Nankervis, A. R., Baird, M., Coffey, J. and Shields, J., 2016. Human resource management:
strategy and practice. Cengage AU.
Stone, D. L., and et. al., 2015. The influence of technology on the future of human resource
management. Human Resource Management Review. 25(2). pp.216-231.
Jabbour, C. J. C. and de Sousa Jabbour, A. B. L., 2016. Green human resource management and
green supply chain management: Linking two emerging agendas. Journal of Cleaner
Production. 112. pp.1824-1833.
Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W. and Farndale, E. eds., 2018. Handbook of research on comparative
human resource management. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Banfield, P., Kay, R. and Royles, D., 2018. Introduction to human resource management.
Oxford University Press.
Guest, D. E., 2017. Human resource management and employee well‐being: Towards a new
analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal. 27(1). pp.22-38.
Shen, J. and Benson, J., 2016. When CSR is a social norm: How socially responsible human
resource management affects employee work behavior. Journal of Management. 42(6).
pp.1723-1746
Baum, T. ed., 2016. Human resource issues in international tourism. Elsevier.
Wehrmeyer, W., 2017. Greening people: Human resources and environmental management.
Routledge.
Knies, E., and et. al., 2015. Special issue of International Journal of Human Resource
Management: Strategic human resource management and public sector performance.
Morschett, D., Schramm-Klein, H. and Zentes, J., 2015. Strategic international management (pp.
978-3658078836). Springer.
Budhwar, P.S., 2016. International human resource management. Edward Elgar Publishing
Limited.
Domsch, M. E., 2017. Human resource management in Russia. Routledge.
Martin, G., and et. al., 2016. Corporate governance and strategic human resource management:
Four archetypes and proposals for a new approach to corporate sustainability. European
Management Journal. 34(1). pp.22-35.
Ijigu, A. W., 2015. The effect of selected human resource management practices on employees'
job satisfaction in Ethiopian public banks. EMAJ: Emerging Markets Journal. 5(1). pp.1-
16.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Online
M&S People Principles. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/documents/plan-a-our-approach/mns-people-
principles.pdf>.
14