Contemporary Issues in People Management at Unilever

This report analyses the contemporary issues faced by line managers in people management at Unilever. It discusses the skills, knowledge, and behaviours required for effective people management and the HR processes that support it. The report highlights the importance of good communication, decision-making skills, and leadership in people management. It also recommends that managers focus on employee well-being, provide guidance to remote workers, and maintain good communication and interpersonal relations.

Introduction to People
Management

Executive summary
The report has analysed that people management is one of the crucial activity for
organisation Employees, managers and leaders. They works together with the coordination and
collaborative efforts which impact on the business profitability (Bowden, 2020). People
management assures retain and satisfaction of employees for long trim in business. Due to the
change in the current business environment where Covid-19 becomes an issue which brings
complex activities in workplace. Therefore, the mangers and leaders play vital role in order to
satisfy employee needs through enhancing their skills and overcoming the issues.

Table of Contents
Executive summary..........................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................4
Contemporary Issues face line management faces when it comes to People Management........4
Knowledge Skills and Behaviours needed to be an effective people management....................5
What HR process underpin and support management when it comes to effective performance
management ..............................................................................................................................7
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERNCES:..................................................................................................................................9
Books and Journals:....................................................................................................................9
Online..........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The report aims to understand and identify the need of people management in an
organisation. Human resource management is an activity which contain roles of managers
towards people welfare. These individuals are the key players in the organisation who make
efforts to contribute in the organisation success. HR manager has their duty and responsibility to
look for the employees talent and skills which is not suitable for the company. The include in
recruitment and selection process and keep check on giving trainings and support to the
employees. An HR manager contributes in the overall development of employees by keeps them
retained, occupied and dedicated towards work practices. This report will showcase the managers
practices, skills and knowledge of Unilever (Buhalis, 2022). The company is established in 1929
first in London, England. The company is the global dealer and manufactures of different kinds
of consumer goods. It has diversified operations into different departments at workplace which
require people management. The report is going to analyse various issues which faces by line
managers of company and what skills, knowledge and behaviours are must have in them.
MAIN BODY
TASK
Contemporary Issues face line management faces when it comes to People Management
In the today's business environment, contemporary issues become a major concern for the
business to grow and earn profits. Due to complexities and uncertainties in working practices, the
managers facing hurdles in keeping their employees at right track. These issues influence on the
business flexibilities and its potential to survive with Covid-19 threat. Therefore, the line
managers of Unilever face issues due to change in the customer trends and need for bringing
innovation into market (Byrne, and Revenson, 2021). This require preparing employees for the
same and manage their working practices in an effective manner. Therefore, the managers facing
issues which are described below:
Employee relation: A manager has their first and foremost duty to keep good
connections and relations with the employees. This strategy is required to get acknowledge about
the strength and weakness of the key people and managers would provide support. Good
relations develops through communication, personal interaction and feedbacks. It makes them
feel listened and valued throughout workplace journey. Therefore, in contemporary business

world, the manages facing issues or poor relation. As Covid-19 pandemic has created new
working practices through remote working and employees are not getting interacted with
managers. The Unilever has diversified products and departments so mangers found it difficult to
communicate with remote workers. Due to this, the employees feel lack of support, good
guidance and works under stress and confusion.
Management changes: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, management changes are also
become an issues in the bushiness environment. There are a lot of new plans, policies and
strategies taken place to compete with the market competition and uncertainties. The Pandemic
focused on several government regulation about safety measures. These changes are need to to
be followed by every business (Churchman, 2019). Therefore, the managers of Unilever facing
this issues to keep all the safety practices and manage employees and their working practices
effectively. Many employees get health issues, wants leaves and compensations and demands for
new protective measures like sanitisation, low working hours and many others. So the managers
are not able to look for al these demand simultaneously.
Retaining employees: Employee retention is the main issue facing by the organisation.
In the covid-19, many employees got separated form business or they get terminated. Due to the
low demands and supply, money flow in the economy, the business are not able to pay salaries
and this result in employees termination. Therefore, employee retention is necessary to save
business cost in recruitment process. The managers of Unilever has threatened with this issue
which give rise to need for new hirings (Farndale, Mayrhofer, and Brewster, 2018). The
company works in uncertain and complex management due to which, employee do not want to
retain. So that, Unilever needs to find way to reduce work pressures, take participate in fun
activities and provide work as per employees specialisation. When employees get good working
environment, proper support and guidance they will shows high interest in working with great
efforts.
All these are the key issues faces by line mangers of the Unilever. The company needs to
look for managing people in the modern era good employees are hard to find and easy to retain
by putting influence on their needs and wants.
Knowledge Skills and Behaviours needed to be an effective people management
The knowledge, skills and behaviour of a manager plays vital role in the business
functioning. A mangers with good key skills will win the battle through team support and

coordination. Whereas, an unskilled manager with non-acceptable behaviour will not able to
succeed in managing people as per their orders and wants. A manager require skills to inspire
and motive employees to work according to their set plans (Gould, 2020). A manager with polite
behaviour will create good relations. In Unilever, the company gives opportunities to young and
fresh talented employees. They require more strict as well as friendly environment to keep them
encouraged towards works practices. These skills are defined below:
Good communication: communication is the most powerful skills which could build
good relations and impact on others. Good communication includes great thoughts, clear words
and informative content while writing or speaking. A manager needs to have clear
communication with their employees ( Khan, and Millner, DKrane, 2018). This will seek their
attention and value which helps in building trust. By engaging communication, the managers will
be able to understand their employees good and bad. Also, they will be able to recognise their
talent, capacity and issues in order to provide right solution. A manger must be friendly as well
as professional while speaking so to keep their thoughts and words acceptable among
individuals.
Decision Making Skills: Good decision making skills is the key skill of a manager. As
all the authorities and rights are with Uper-line managers and all the functions depends in their
decided policies and tasks. So that, they need to have good decision making potential to manage
people at workplace. There are many situation arise in terms of conflicts, coordination issues and
employee welfare. This decision making will help them to assure right behaviour towards all the
individuals. The mangers of Unilever needs to take fair and fruitful decision which are in favour
of organisation and employees. The mangers needs to look for the root cause of the problem in
order to identify the solutions that will be undertake smooth functioning. The Unilever has
dedicated operations which require prompt and effective decision making. For that instance, the
managers needs to adjustable behaviour and problem solving skills.
Leadership: It is also an important skill for managers in the business activities.
Leadership is crucial, required and focused to take performed by the leaders. Good leadership
skills will help the individuals to provide guidance and keep their team on the right track of
working. A leaders is the true inspiration for building teams and promote motivation among their
employees (Leisink, and.et.al., 2021). Their are various leadership theories and styles which
helps an individual to become inspirational personality. The managers of Unilever is required to

use transformational and deliberative styles which makes them supportive, informative and a
good mentor. The leaders of Unilever has great personality which keep focus on the employees
welfare, boosting their skills and talent through giving interesting group task, being polite and
attentive. Leadership behaviour in involves learning from experiences, promote employee
participation and believe in deliberating authorities and responsibilities to make employee learn
about new things.
What HR process underpin and support management when it comes to effective performance
management
HR process contain all the activities and roles which A HR manager is required to
perform while working among individuals. These HR managers are likely to involve in the
employees welfare, check on performance, focus on giving rewards and compensation. The
Unilever has large number of employees in which each department has separate HR managers to
look for the employee behaviour and management functions with keen interest (Liu, 2019).
These HR process helps the company to better identify the change occurs in the business and
take vital steps further.
Performance Management Review: as per this process of HR manager, performance
review is necessary which makes them acknowledge about the employee performance at
workplace. The manager hire and select the individuals for the specific positions, but they need
to review whether they are working effective on the assigned job role or not. By reviewing over
the performance, the managers will be able to take appropriate actions as per the requirement.
For instance, in the Covid-19 phase, the changes has drastically influences the business which
create new development in management such as e-commerce, online selling, AI and use of
technologies (McMurray, and Pullen, 2019). In order to analyse, whether the employees
adopting changes in technology. Performance management is necessary to review the task which
has already performed in the organisation. The managers could use many software of
performance check which will help in keeping records of employees work. This will manage the
organisation workplace by giving right role to the right individual.
360 degree Appraisal: As per this HR process, the manager needs to look for the 360
degree appraisal technique in order to retain and manage employees well-being in the company.
Appraisal are the crucial term of motivation for employees which keeps the dedicated at work
and take interest in the task and multi-purpose roles (Starr-Glass, 2019). Therefore, the managers

of Unilever needs to think through the overall performance of the employees so that, they could
select the most deserving persons who are the gem for organisation(Pettinger, 2020). The
company is required to set appraisal limits and boundaries so that, every employees will feel
valued and equally treated. The managers of Unilever must work on this aspect so that, they
would get success in undertaking employee welfare.
Recommendations
The above discussion put lights on the HR manager process and their skills which needs
to be maintained in the organisation. Therefore, some of important recommendation for
managers of Unilever is described below:
 The manager needs to put emphasize on the employee well-being by looking at their
strength, performance and talent and capabilities (Meza-Mejía, and.et.al 2020). This will
keep them informed about the employees pot needs which they expect from organisation.
 The managers of Unilever needs to take effective measures to give guidance to remote
workers so that, they will adopt the changes in technology and work process.
 Also, the managers must need to get in touch with the employees through boosting
communication and interpersonal relations. Therefore, the organisation needs to keep
them indulge and informed about organisation mission, vision and objcetives in an
effective manner.
CONCLUSION
The report has concluded that people management is one of the essential task which is
necessary to performed by HR manager. Employees are the effective resource which needs to be
retained and motivated throughput their workplace activities. Therefore, the report has shown
that the manager face many issues in terms of management change, employee relations and
employee engagement. These issues showcase the need of key skills, knowledge and behaviour
required for the manager to manage people effectively.

REFERNCES:
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McMurray, R. and Pullen, A., 2019. Introduction: Beyond rationality in organization and
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