Human Resource Management Assignment

This assignment examines the role of Human Resource Management in Sainsbury's, a leading supermarket chain in the UK. It analyzes key HR functions, including workforce planning, recruitment, training, and employee relations, and their impact on business objectives. The assignment also includes a case study demonstrating the application of HR practices in a real-world scenario and evaluates the use of technology in improving recruitment and selection processes.

Student Name ID
Unit Number and Title Unit 03– Human Resource Management
Academic Year 2018-19 Cohort September 18 Term 2
Unit Leader Assessor
Assignment Title Human Resource Management
Issue Date 14/01/2019
Submission Start Date 11/02/2019
IV Name
Deadline for assignment
submission
25/02/2019
Learners Declaration: I certify that the work submitted for this unit
is my own and the research sources are fully acknowledged.
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1. Purpose and the key roles and responsibilities of the HR function.........................................3
2. Approaches to work force planning, training and development, reward system and
performance management...........................................................................................................5
3. Inclusion of case study examples to examine the different methods used in HR practices....7
4. Approaches to effectiveness of employee’s relation and employees engagement..................8
5. Key aspects of employment legislation.................................................................................10
6. Evaluation of how employee relations and employment legislation inform decision making
and meets business objectives...................................................................................................11
Task 2.............................................................................................................................................12
7.Application of HRM practices in a work-related context......................................................12
8. Evaluate the use of technology on improving the recruitment and selection process...........16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18
2

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management is an approach of recruiting, selecting and managing
employees within the organisation. It is a strategic approach for the effective management of
employees within the organisation (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). This enables the employee's to
work efficiently and attain organisation goals. The report is based on Sainsbury's which is the
second largest chain of super market in UK. It is a public limited company with 16.9% of
market share in supermarket. This report is based on purpose and scope of HRM and various key
roles and responsibilities of HR function and approach to workforce planning, recruitment and
selection, training and development. Further it elaborates how employee relations and
employment legislation inform decision making and application of HRM practices in a work
related context.
TASK 1
1. Purpose and the key roles and responsibilities of the HR function.
HRM within the organisation plays a crucial role in attracting, selecting and maintaining
work force in order to attain organisational goals and objectives. Purpose and key roles and
responsibilities of HRM are described below-
Purpose of HR function
Purpose of HRM in Sainsbury's is to retain the existing employees as well as attract new
employees while providing adequate compensation and training facilities (Bailey and et. al.,
2018). The major purpose of HRM is to enable the organisation to attain its goals by proper
management of employees by providing maximum job satisfaction.
Functions of HRM
Recruitment and Selection- It is concerned with proper recruiting and selecting the
candidates according to skills required to perform the job. Its major purpose is to fill vacancy in
the organisation and maintains quality of workforce within the organiosation.
Training and Development- Providing training sessions to the employees enhances their
skills and capabilities to improve business activities efficiently. Major purpose of this function is
to enhance sills and capabilities of the individual so that they can handle complex business issues
and gain competitive advantage.
Functions of HR
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Staffing- HRM at Sainsbury is responsible for selecting the right candidate at the right
time and at the right place to ensure respective company achieves its business goals effectively.
Compensation- HR at Sainsbury should provide proper compensation to its employees
which motivates them to perform effectively and attain the desired outcomes.
Health and Safety- HR at respective company should ensure that proper health and
safety of the employee should be taken into consideration s that employee's can work effectively
without any problems or issues.
Employee's and labour relations- It is the main function of HR at Sainsbury's to
develop and maintain effective employee relations so as to reduce conflict and allows employees
to interact with each other and creates a harmonious work place environment.
Maintains effective employee relations- HRM at Sainsbury should maintain effective
employee relations by maintaining open and honest communication so to minimise conflicts and
reduces employee turnover. Main purpose of this function is to maintain effective employee
relations and achieve organisational targets within set time frame.
Key roles and responsibilities of the HR function
There are some specific roles and responsibilities of HR function that are as follows-
 HRM within the organisation is responsible for analysing the skills required for
functioning the business activities and hence according conducts recruitment and
selection process.
 HRM major role is to maintain effective employee relations in the Sainsbury's by
maintaining open and honest communication in company and resolving employees
conflict which leads to effectiveness in organisational performance.
 It major role and responsibility is to provide adequate training and compensation benefits
to its employees which enables them to work effectively and achieves company' s goals.
 Its responsibility includes maintain health and safety of employee's ensuring healthy and
safer work place environment.
 It roles and responsibilities includes providing proper compensation to the employee's
according to their performance of work.
Significance of HR in acquiring Talent
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HR is primarily responsible for acquiring talent within the organisation by proper
recruitment and selection of employees. It benefits the organisation as with the help of skilled
workforce it assists company to meet its set targets. It also benefits the company in achieving
higher profits and productivity and provide maximum employee satisfaction by a way of
providing adequate training and compensation benefits which enables them to work efficiently
(Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017).
Significance of HR at Sainsbury's
HR at Sainsbury's helps in attraction and retention of the candidates by providing the
proper training as well as provide compensation according to employees performance. It also
benefits the company by a way of achieving maximum profitability for the company by retenting
the best candidate by provide them extrinsic and intrinsic rewards.
2. Approaches to work force planning, training and development, reward system and
performance management.
HRM in Sainsbury's has different approaches to workforce planning, training and
development, reward system and performance management which are described below-
Work force Planning
It is a strategic approach in which employers of the respective organisation anticipate
needs of employees and deploys them to work by proper recruitment and selection. It is an
effective approach to plan right kind of workforce and meet organisational goals and objectives.
Approach to Work force Planning
Situational work force planning- This approach determines the variances between the
actual need of employees in Sainsbury's. It is used as onetime approach and assist the company
to recruit the needed employee's in order to meet specific business challenge (Brewster, Chung
and Sparrow, 2016).
Work Load approach- This approach to work force planning focuses on load of the
work on employee at Sainsbury's and effectively takes decision to recruit and hire individuals
according to requirement at organisation.
Training and Development-
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Providing training to the employees enable them to enhance their skills and knowledge
and perform job duties in an effective manner. Development focuses on employee’s growth for
future performance rather than current job roles. Sainsbury's focuses on both current and future
growth of employees.
Approach to Training and development-
On the job Training- This approach focuses on providing training to the employees
when they are on the job which enhances skills and capabilities of individual to perform job task
effectively.
Off the Job Training- This approach provide training to employees away from their
work place such as at the specific training centre (Briscoe, Tarique and Schuler, 2012). It
includes various methods such as simulation programmes, vestibule training etc.
Performance and reward system
When the employers of the Sainsbury's provide adequate compensation and reward
system to its employees according to their performance of work it motivates them to work
efficiently and attain goals and objectives of the company. There are two types of rewards at
Sainsbury such as extrinsic and intrinsic rewards
Extrinsic rewards- These are the tangible rewards that comes from the employer which is
directly related to job performance of employee's. Sainsbury gives extrinsic rewards in the form
of extra pay, fringe benefits, promotions and profit sharing.
Intrinsic rewards- These are the intangible rewards and Sainsbury provide them to employees in
the form of words of praise, recognition etc.
Approaches to Reward System
Total Reward Approach- This approach states that this reward strategy benefits the
employee against their work such as increase in pay and pension according to work as well as
flexible working, and career advancement opportunities. This assist the employees to work
effectively and earn more rewards (Budhwar and Debrah, 2013)
Approach to Performance Management-
Total Quality Approach- This approach focuses on maintaining quality of performance
in employees work. Employees performance could be managed by properly monitoring of
employees performance which enables them to perform effectively and achieve organisational
goals.
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Employees performance can be increased by providing by performance appraisal such as
providing compensation to the employees according to their performance. When employees are
provided appraisal according to their work, it motivates employees at Sainsbury to improve their
performance.
Moreover employee performance is assessed at Sainsbury by continuing monitoring of
managers of the employees performance and providing feedbacks o them to improve their
performance.
Recruitment and Selection
It is a process of searching and influencing the suitable candidates with appropriate skills
and knowledge to fill vacancy of job position within the company. Selection is an activity of
choosing the right candidate at the right time for the correct job position within Sainsbury's.
Approaches to Recruitment and Selection
Internal Recruitment- It is the approach of filling the vacancy of job from its existing
workforce. It assists Sainsbury's to save lot of time, cost and resources and creates employees
confidence to work more effectively.
External Recruitment- It is a process of recruiting and selecting a fresh candidate
outside the organisation, this enables the organisation to get most talented employees at a wider
range.
Sainsbury is effectively developing employee experience and knowledge by providing them
necessary training which enhances their skills and capabilities and makes them to work complex
task which increases their experience for perform task effectively in future time period.
Selection process at Sainsbury includes conducting of interviews and various online test so as to
select the best qualified candidates.
3. Inclusion of case study examples to examine the different methods used in HR practices
Case Study Example- In Sainsbury's main issue addressed is employee turnover in
which employees are dissatisfied by workplace environment because of the presence of high
level of stress in order to provide goods according to customers’ needs and desires and therefore
employees are not compensated according to their performance. This affects motivation of
employees to work effectively, in such cases effective training should be provided and open
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communication should be maintained so as to increase interactions among employees and
employers so as to reduce employee’s turnover.
In order to resolve the issue respective company has adopted various HR practices which are as
follows-
 Extensive Training- Training should be provided to the employees so as to enhance their
skills and capabilities which makes them to perform task effectively (Human Resource
Best Practices. 2018). Training allows employees to properly analyse customer needs and
provides goods accordingly. This helps in reducing employee turnover and able to attain
desired goals and objectives (Buller and McEvoy, 2012.).
 Proper Compensation- In order to avoid employee turnover, Sainsbury's should
properly compensate the employees according to their performance and should provide
extra pay according to their work done in order to increase their morale and confidence.
This benefits the organisation increase its productivity and generate more revenue for the
company.
 Flexible Working Environment- This practice adopted by Sainsbury's makes the
employees feel comfortable to work effectively in harmonious work place environment.
When employees are provided with flexible working hours, sharing of work
responsibility, this encourages them to work dedicatedly towards the company and
maximises profitability.
4. Approaches to effectiveness of employee’s relation and employees engagement.
Employee Engagement- It refers to extent to which employee's feel passionate about
their jobs and works dedicatedly towards the organisation in order to achieve goals and
objectives. Employee engagement enables the organisation to maximise their growth and
profitability.
Sainsbury’s uses Sirota’s Three-Factor Model of Engagement
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Illustration 1: Employee Engagement Model
(Source: Employee Engagement Model, 2018)
Employee Relation- It refers to the efforts of the organisation to develop and maintain
strong relationship between employees and employers. Effective employee relation enables the
employees to give their best efforts and makes them loyal towards the organisation. There are
some approaches for effective Employer and Employee relations in order to enhance employee
engagement in the organisation which are Psychological approach, Sociological approach,
Human Relations approach and Giri and Gandhian approach (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017).
From all of this approaches Sainsbury's uses Human Relations approach which emphasis on
behaviours of individuals and groups at the work place and assist in modifying their behaviour
towards the achievement of organisational goals and objectives. It states that if the employer and
employees within Sainsbury respect each others value and both apply human relations approach
to their mutual relations, in such way industrial conflict can be minimised and it leads to more
effective realisation of goals.
Flexible Organisation- In Sainsbury's flexible organisation structure is the one in which worker
can easily adapt to customers needs and efficiently perform their work in order to attain business
objectives.
Flexible Working Practices- It is an strategic approach which the Sainsbury should adopt in
order to improve the performance and productivity of company by providing compressed
working hours, sharing of work responsibility which assist the employees to become more
dedicated towards their work and attain set goals (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017).
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Employer of Choice- Employer of choice is an employer that offers a harmonious work culture
and work place environment that attracts and retains superior employees and helps organisation
to achieve desired goals and objectives.
This approaches when are adopted by the organisation it enables the organisation to
attain its goals more effectively.
Effectiveness of this approach
 It assists the organisation in attaining its realistic goals more effectively which reduces
conflicts and increases moral of the employees to work more productively.
 It leads in collaborative working which leads to generation of new ideas and allows
Sainsbury to provide more innovative products to achieve targets within specified time
period.
5. Key aspects of employment legislation
Employment legislation is the law which control and regulate the functions of employment
within the organisation. It affects both employer and employee directly. Sainsbury's manager
adapts some employment laws to attain maximisation of profit effectively. Some of the laws are
as follows-
 Anti-discrimination Act,1946: Anti-discrimination act is designed to prevent employees
from different harassment and inequality on the basis of gender, caste, creed, religion etc.
It ensures that all employees are equal before the eyes of the law in every aspect like
salary, working environment, promotion etc. (Drucker, 2012). Sainsbury's behave equally
with their employees in every terms and it has an effective impact on HRM decision as
they are concern about employees morale and satisfy their need and takes decisions
collectively without any discrimination.
 Minimum wage act 1961: According to this act, it states that an employer should set a
minimum rate of wage covering basic needs to both skilled and unskilled labour. It is not
legally bind but statuary. In case of Sainsbury's , managers are very attentive in setting
the wages for their employees. And it influence HRM decision that employer behaves
ethically in providing the salary to their employees which motivates them to give their
best for an organisation growth (Harrison and Lock, 2017).
 Wage and hour act 1998: This act defines that an employer frame wages according to
the hour an employee worked and also for extra work like overtime pay, weekend pay
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and extra benefits etc. It provides satisfaction and motivation to employee as they are
getting reward according to their effort. Sainsbury's manager provide reward to their
employees according to their work they have done and also they keep a list of employees
who did overtime. It greatly influence the HRM decision as they have to set fair
compensation considering their extra hour work pay.
6. Evaluation of how employee relations and employment legislation inform decision
making and meets business objectives.
Effective employee relations within the respective organisation assist the employees to
work with great dedication and motivation and achieves goals and targets efficiently. There are
various employment legislations acts which enables company to carry their business honestly
and transparently. There is a greater importance of employee relations and employee legislation
which informs HRM decision making and meets business objectives-
 Increase in profit and productivity- When the respective company involves employees
in decision making process it makes them feel as a valuable part of the organisation and
starts working with great dedication to achieve goals and objectives. This leads to
increase in profit and productivity of the company. When the organisation regulates its
business in accordance with the employment legislations it enables the employees to
perform effectively according to laws and acts and meets business objectives (Kehoe and
Wright, 2013).
 Increases dedication of the employee's- When there is effective relationship among
employees and employers it reduces communication gap and increases open and honest
communication at work place environment. This leads to dedication of employees and
increases job satisfaction for the employee and meets business objectives. It has a greater
impact upon HRM decision making as it becomes responsibility of the Sainsbury's to
make decisions involving employees so as to make them dedicated to achieve business
objective (Kim, 2012).
 Enhances Team Work- Effective employee relation enhances employees to work in
team and attain appropriate goals. This leads to effective employee engagement within
Sainsbury and assist the company to meet its business objectives. This assist the
employee to work in teams and achieve organisational goals within set time frame.
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This way effective employee relations and employment legislations informs business decisions
and meets business objectives.
Sainsbury's business objectives- Its objective includes recruiting and selecting the best
candidates to provide outstanding quality products to its customers.
HR at Sainsbury's is helping to achieve this objectives by a way of selecting the most appropriate
candidate by properly analysing their skills as well as provides off he job and on the job training
facilities to enhance their employees and assist company in achieving business objectives.
Strengths- It assist the company to increase their product portfolio with the help of qualified
employees and attains business objectives.
Weaknesses- It incurs huge cost and time for the company to recruit and retain prospective
candidates son as customer's demands keeps on changing.
Advantages- By selecting the best possible candidates it helps the company to attain business
objectives and captures larger market share.
Disadvantage- Extensive training facilities incurs high cost for the company which is a
disadvantage for the company.
Effectiveness: It will assist the company to enhance greater market share by providing quality
products and increase their product portfolio towards achieving objectives.
Ineffectiveness: It will be a costly process for the company to provide training to the employees
as the customers demands changes frequently and it would be difficult for them to retain
employees for a longer time period.
Task 2
7.Application of HRM practices in a work-related context.
Job Description- It is a formal written document which states duties, roles and responsibilities
for the specific position which the individual needs to perform.
Company Name: Sainsbury
Job title: Marketing Manager
Department: Marketing
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Reporting To: Commercial Head of Marketing Department
Job Type: Full Time
Salary: £ 72,000
Location: London
Job Purpose:
 Frame marketing plans and strategies to increase company's profit.
 Prepare Marketing reports on monthly basis so as to estimate sales of company's
products.
 Collecting results of the market research and control quality and quantity of production.
Responsibilities
 To lead and motivate marketing employees to perform their task efficiently.
 Properly analysing the customer needs and providing products accordingly.
 Maintain regular supply of goods and services at reasonable prices in market.
Interested applicants can share their resume on [e-mail] or through LinkedIn or given
contact number.
Thanks & Regards
ABC
Human Resource Manager
Sainsbury
London
Contact number: 01508537389
Personal Specification- It is the document describing skills and attributes that the respect
company requires in candidates in order to perform their job roles and responsibilities. Here is
the required Person Specification of Marketing Manager (Nickson, 2013).
PERSONAL
SPECIFICATION
JOB TITLE:- Marketing
Manager
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Experience Necessary Demanding
Working experience as a
Marketing Manager .
5-6 years Minimum of 5Years
Skills/knowledge/cognition Necessary Demanding
Skills in computer technology
software.
Certified diploma in
marketing courses.
A+ Grade
Qualifications needed in
educational sector
Necessary Demanding
 Masters in Business
administration
 Company Secretory
 Graduate (Marketing
and sales
Maximum work should be
done according to marketing
and sales department.
A+ Grade
Personal skills Necessary Demanding
 Good knowledge of
marketing plans and
policies,
 Good Decision making
skills.
 Excellent knowledge
of conducting market
research and analysing
information.
Candidates should
compulsorily required to have
communication skills in order
to deal with different clients
coming from different nations
and cultures.
English(UK), (US) and (AUS),
Spanish and French.
Interested candidates please send their resume at hr@Sainsbury's.com.
Time of reporting: 10:00 am to 06:30 pm
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Interview Questions
 What is the most important skill needed to coordinate with subordinates to make them
effectively perform their job tasks.
 Tell about the strategy you would adopted in marketing a product in previous company.
 How to conduct market research and which sources to use in order to collect information.
 Which distribution channels and promotional activities are the most effective in attaing
organisational goals.
OFFER LETTER
Sir, Madam
Address
Date
With reference to your application submitted and subsequent interview conducted with our
manager at our head office, London. Management is pleased to offer you the position of
Marketing Manager, as your skills and experience will be ideal fit for this position to work in
head office at a salary range of £ 72,000 per year as per the rules and regulations.
Kindly bring the duplicate copy of this offer letter duly signed as a token of acceptance of this
offer.
Regards
Sainsbury's limited Company.
OFFER LETTER
Sir, Madam
Address
Date
With reference to your interview conducted we are pleased to offer you employment at
Sainsbury. We fill that you skills and capabilities will be valuable assets for the company.
As per our discussion you are appointed as as marketing manager w.e.f 1 march 2019 at a salary
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range of £ 72,000 per year as per the rules and regulations.
If you wish to accept this offer, kindly sign the second copy of this letter and return us to the
same.
We look forward to welcome you as a new employee at Sainsbury's.
Regards
HR team
Sainsbury's limited Company.
8. Evaluate the use of technology on improving the recruitment and selection process.
Technology plays a crucial role in recruiting and selecting the prospective candidates.
With the help of Internet, communication has increased to a wider extent.
 With the help of online social portals, it helps in identifying the skilled workforce
according to the requirement of the organisation and therefore saves cost and time of the
respective company in selecting the candidate's from the list of applicants (Pattanayak,
2018).
 There is a great benefit of the digital technology as with the help of social networking
tools it assists the company to improve the recruitment and selection process (Pieper,
2012).
 It improves the recruitment and selection process as the technology has made easier to
test candidate’s skills and competency level in order to judge their skills according the
job tasks.
With the help of technology, online sources and digital and social media tools improves the
recruitment and selection process by screening out the best candidates from large sources of
applicants.
Technology- It has a greater advantage because with the help of technology it is able to attract
large number of prospective candidates and becomes strength of the company to remain
competitive in complex business environment.
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It has a major disadvantage/weaknesses as it incurs major cost for the company to attract huge
candidates.
Online sources- It has a great advantage as company is able to qualified candidates according to
their requirements and at a appropriate salary.
Disadvantage/weaknesses- It is a time consuming process for the company to select the best
candidates from huge applications.
Digital and social media tools-
Advantage/strengths- As customers are active in social media tools it assist the company in
recruiting the best possible candidates and attains organisation goals.
Disadvantage/weaknesss- Company will require an expert to recruit candidates from social
media tools which would incur cost or the company.
Effectiveness of Technology in Recruitment and Selection
 It helps Sainsbury in hiring the most appropriate candidate in the company within a short
period of time as well as conduct various test of the employee in order to judge their
efficiencies, this assist in better selection of candidates.
Effectiveness of Technology for online platforms and social networkings
 It will assist the respective company to get qualified candidates as there are various job
portals which helps Sainsbury's to get the most efficient candidate and therefore doesn't
leads to much wastage of resources.
Ineffectiveness Of Technology in Recruitment and Selection-
 It will be a very expensive process for the company as it will consume lot of time and
resources in conducting various test to judge the skills and capabilities of the individual
towards working in Sainsbury.
Ineffectiveness of Technology for online platforms and social networkings
 Technology can only bring the candidates towards the company, it will require high cost
for the company to recruit experts for the proper selection of candidates from online
platforms and social networking sites.
RECCOMENDATIONS-
It is highly recommended for the company to analyse candidate’s skills and capabilities
effectively and therefore do the recruitment and selection process. Moreover Sainsbury should
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provide adequate training and compensation to its employees which motivates them to work
effectively.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that HRM plays a significant role in
recruiting, selecting and managing employees effectively in the organisation. With the help of
effective approaches, it enables companies to take proper decision regarding work force planning
and resourcing. It also discusses employment legislations and its impacts upon HRM decision
making as well as analyses how technology improves recruitment and selection process within
the company. It also signifies how HRM practices are applicable in work related context.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014.Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bailey, C. and et. al., 2018. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.
Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and practice in European human resource
management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield survey. Taylor & Francis.
Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016. Globalizing human resource management.
Routledge.
Briscoe, D., Tarique, I. and Schuler, R., 2012. International human resource management:
Policies and practices for multinational enterprises. Routledge.
Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. eds., 2013. Human resource management in developing
countries. Routledge.
Budhwar, P.S. and Debrah, Y.A. eds., 2013. Human resource management in developing
countries. Routledge.
Buller, P.F. and McEvoy, G.M., 2012. Strategy, human resource management and performance:
Sharpening line of sight. Human resource management review. 22(1). pp. 43-56.
Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2017. Human resource management in sport and recreation.
Human Kinetics.
Drucker, P., 2012. The practice of management. Routledge.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Kehoe, R.R. and Wright, P.M., 2013. The impact of high-performance human resource practices
on employees’ attitudes and behaviours. Journal of management. 39(2). pp.366-391.
Kim, S., 2012. The impact of human resource management on state government IT employee
turnover intentions. Public Personnel Management. 41(2). pp. 257-279.
Nickson, D., 2013. Human resource management for hospitality, tourism and events. Routledge.
Pattanayak, B., 2018. Human resource management. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Pieper, R. ed., 2012. Human resource management: An international comparison (Vol. 26).
Walter de Gruyter.
ONLINE
Human Resource Best Practices. 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.digitalhrtech.com/human-resource-best-practices/>.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT MODEL. 2018. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.sirota.com/employee-engagement-surveys/employee-engagement-
model/>
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