Human Resource Management Project

This project analyzes the human resource management practices of IKEA, a global furniture retailer. It examines key HR functions, including workforce planning, recruitment, training, and employee relations, and their impact on business objectives. The project also includes case study examples to illustrate different HR methods and the effectiveness of employee relations and employment legislation in decision-making.

Unit Number and Title Unit 03– Human Resource Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1. Explanation of the purpose and the key roles and responsibilities of the HR function while
highlighting the significance that HR plays...........................................................................1
2. Assessment of approaches to workforce planning, recruitment and selection, development
and training, performance management and reward systems. ...............................................2
3. Inclusion of case study examples to examine the different methods used in HR practices.4
4. The approach to and effectiveness of employee relations and employee engagement, with
mention of the flexible organisation and flexible working practices and ‘employer of choice’.5
5. Key aspects of employment legislation with in which organisation must work................6
6. Evaluation of how employee relation and employment legislation inform decision making
and meets business objective..................................................................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
7. HRM practices in a work-related context..........................................................................8
8. Evaluation of use of technology for making recruitment and selection process better....11
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management may be defined as an approach to manage people in an
organisation effectively and effectively. It is designed to maximise the productivity of employees
as a well-managed employee will perform better and will also contribute towards achievement of
organisational objectives. IKEA is a furniture retail company, which has its headquarter in
Netherlands and was founded in 1943 with around 2,08,000 employees working in 2018. It is
world's largest furniture retailer since 2008. The study will include purpose of HR function,
different methods of HR practices, application of HRM practices, different approaches of HRM
and much more.
TASK 1
1. Explanation of the purpose and the key roles and responsibilities of the HR function while
highlighting the significance that HR plays.
Human resource refers to that part of management which manage the peoples at the work place
for accomplishing organisational goals efficiently.
Purpose, significance, roles and responsibilities of HR functions are as follows:
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION – Recruitment is the process of attracting,
finalising and selecting the candidates. Selection is the process of choosing the right candidate
for right position at right time (Recruitment and selection, 2018). Purpose behind recruitment is
that when vacancies come in the IKEA, the employer of IKEA can get suitable candidates for the
1
Illustration 1: Key roles and
responsibilities of HR
Source: (Purpose and key roles and
responsibilities of HR, 2017)

suitable vacancies. Purpose behind selection process is that Employer of IKEA can get best and
most suitable candidate for the vacancy, who matches with their selection criteria. Role of human
resource manager of IKEA in recruitment and selection are to hire the suitable candidates with
proper selection process, to prepare job description and job specification and to maintain records.
Responsibility is that to hire the most talented employees and function is to give them proper
training.
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT –
Training is the process of giving specific knowledge and build specific skills
which is important for required vacancy, Development is much more which is focus on
personality development and attitude. Purpose behind training and development of the
employees of IKEA is that to Retain those employees and achieve new heights(Newell and
Scarbrough, 2017). Role of HR manager of IKEA for giving training is that to make good policy
and procedure for Training, to give proper training to employees so that they can help IKEA to
achieve their goals (personal as well as organizational) and also develop themselves in better
way.
EMPLOYEES RELATION –
Employee relation is an important function of HR of IKEA, it includes taking care of
employees, providing them various incentives, perks, facilities and solving and voice their
problems by IKEA (Marchington and et.al., 2016). Purpose behind this relationship is to retain
them, make them happy and comfortable, improve employees and employers relationship in
IKEA and create good environment. Role of HR manager of IKEA are to conduct various
employees' welfare and entertainment programs, involvement of employees in decision making
process and quicker grievance handling process.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL -
Performance appraisal is the method done by employer to evaluate the performance of
employees. Purpose behind performance appraisal of employees of IKEA is to check and rate
their work, provide feedback about their work to them, take decisions about their promotion.
Role of IKEA HR manager during performance appraisal are to make clear and transparent
appraisal process, not bias during giving rates to employees and giving rate on the basis of
employees' performance and organizational behaviour, not on the personal or other
basis(Dessler, 2016).
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Importance of HR at IKEA in acquiring new talent is that they help in finding out the
right mix of candidates that are suitable for the organisation in order to achieve the organisation
goal effectively and efficiently. They help in selecting those people who can do their job
effectively and achieve the targets as well as those people who fit best in their position.
2. Assessment of approaches to workforce planning, recruitment and selection, development and
training, performance management and reward systems.
Assessment of approaches are as follows:
Approaches to workforce planning
There are 3 approaches of workforce planning
Workforce approach - this approach is concerned with managing the employees of an
organisation
Workload approach – this approach is concerned with managing the amount of work in an
organisation
Competency approach – this approach focuses on mastering the competencies of employees in
order to achieve organisational success.
IKEA adopts competency approach of workforce planning in order to improve the productivity
of employees by identifying and developing behaviour of an individual employee which will in
turn help to achieve organisational objectives effectively and efficiently.
Approaches to recruitment
There are 2 approaches of recruitment. One is internal recruitment which focusses on hiring the
employees from within the organisation and the other one is external recruitment which focusses
on hiring the employees from outside the organisation. IKEA adopts external recruitment method
to recruit its employees through its website(Reiche and et.al., 2016). Company adopts external
recruitment method in order to recruit the most talented employees and without any bias.
Approaches to selection
There are 4 main approaches of selection and those are-
Asking behavioural questions
Assessment test
Personality test
Panel interview
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IKEA adopts assessment test for assessing the skills of an individual such as communication
skills. The advantage of using this skill is that it helps in reducing the cost for selecting the right
candidate. On the other hand, disadvantage is that it results in long waiting time for results.
Approaches of training and development
There are 2 approaches of training and development and those are on the job training and off the
job training and development methods. On the job training method include coaching, monitoring,
job rotation and apprenticeship. On the other hand, off the job training include vestibule training,
lecture method, discussion method and e-learning.
IKEA adopts coaching and monitoring method for training and development of its employees
through continuous guidelines and controlling.
Approaches of performance management at IKEA
There are 5 majors approaches of performance management and those are behaviour
approach, results approach, quality approach, attribute approach and comparative approach.
IKEA adopts results approach to manage the performance of its employee's as on the basis of the
results the company would determine the management of performance(Albrecht and et.al.,
2015). Apart from this, it will also help in giving appraisal to employees. Ikea uses 360-degree
feedback approach to appraise its employees. Under this method, appraisal of employees would
be based on the feedback taken by the peers, subordinates, superiors and the employee itself.
Approaches of reward system at IKEA
There are 2 types of reward system approaches. One is intrinsic reward and the other is
extrinsic reward. Intrinsic rewards are those rewards which are intangible in nature such as
providing recognition (employee of the year) . The other one is extrinsic rewards which are
tangible in nature such as compensation in the form of bonus, rewards such as 3% raise in salary
and benefits such as maternity benefits. Ikea adopts both the approaches of reward system to
keep its employees satisfied and motivated to retain them for a longer period of time.
3. Inclusion of case study examples to examine the different methods used in HR practices.
There are 4 different methods used in HR practices and those are
 Learning, development and training – Learning focusses on acquisition of knowledge
while development means overall growth of an individual. On the other hand, training is
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concerned with improving the skills of an individual associated with a particular
job(Newell and Scarbrough, 2017).
For example, Cadbury has developed systematic training, development and learning
programmes for its existing as well as new employees which has lead to development of
their skills and knowledge and in turn has resulted in increasing the productivity of
employees.
 Flexible working options – flexible working options are those options which help in
maintaining proper work-life balance such as part-time jobs, work in shifts, work from
home, etc.
For example, Google provides flexible working options to its employees so as to keep its
employees motivated in order to retain them for a longer period.
 Employee performance management and monitoring - it is concerned with managing and
controlling the performance of employees.
For example, Coca-Cola has developed effective system for management and monitoring
the performance of employees in order to improve the performance of employees as well
as to get better results in the future(Wright, 2018).
 Payment and reward management – it is concerned with managing the payment and
reward of employees in such a way that employees would be satisfied and motivated to
work better.
For example, nestle provides attractive rewards to its employees which increases their
engagement as well as helps them to keep them motivated.
4. The approach to and effectiveness of employee relations and employee engagement, with
mention of the flexible organisation and flexible working practices and ‘employer of
choice’
Employee relations:
It may be defined as the ability of the company to manage the relationship between the
employer and employees. The basis motive behind improving the employee relation is that it
helps in motivating the employees and developing a sense of belongingness in the mind of
employees so that they retain in the company for a longer period of time.
Employee engagement:
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It may be defined as the degree to which employees work passionately towards their job
and retain in the company and work hard towards the achievement of the objectives of the
company. The basic motive behind employee engagement is to keep the employees engaged and
happier by involving them in various activities and making efforts to improve their confidence.
The 3 main approaches or models are:
 Robinson model of employee engagement – this model is concerned with making the
employees feel valued and increase their engagement. Ikea follows this model of
employee engagement to make its employees feel valued and engaged through training,
appraisal, communication, job satisfaction, equal pay and by providing various kinds of
benefits(Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017). This is a very effective approach to maintain and
build employee relation because if an employee would feel valued than it will have a
positive attitude towards its employer and hence would foster employee employer
relationship.
 Atkinson flexibility model – this model is used to optimise allocation of human resources
with respect to market instability and workforce flexibility. It divides the employees of an
organisation into 2 parts. One is core group and other is peripheral group, which are
organised in a company based on 3 kinds of flexibilities and those are functional,
financial and numerical. Ikea used this model in order to increase the plasticity in the
fluctuating market as well as complex business environment. Thus, this model helps the
company to predict the situation and survive and grow even in the complex business
environment.
 Schmidt model of employee engagement – this models suggests to retain and recruit best
employees in terms of skills, knowledge and expertise. Ikea focusses on recruiting the
best candidates for the organisation and taking care about well being of its employees to
motivate and retain employees for a longer period which is essential for smooth running
of business as well as for increasing the profitability of a company. This methods helps
Ikea in engaging employees which improve employee relations.(Bratton and Gold,
2017).
IKEA as flexible organisation:
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IKEA is a very flexible organisation as it has set flexible working hours for its employees
with timely breaks for them in order to rest and relax. Apart from this, the company also provide
flexibility in working such as by providing them facility such as work from home.
5. Key aspects of employment legislation with in which organisation must work
Data protection Act 1998
According to this act companies are responsible to manage the information of job
applicant through staff involved in recruitment services. This act protect employee's personal
data which is provided to company at the time of recruitment. IKEA company is responsible for
protecting confidentiality at all stages of recruitment and provide safeguarding procedures to
personal information of employees. IKEA must work on this legislation for maintaining healthy
organisation environment by satisfying employee about safety of their information(Wright,
2018).
Health and Safety Act 1947
This act protects the workers from the health and safety issues at the work place. Health
and safety act designs fundamental structure which define the principles for managing health and
safety of workers at workplace. IKEA company has to focus on this act to provide protection to
their workers through training and supervision to ensure good health and safety of employees
and also provide the information and guidelines about the accidental zones for reducing the
causes of accidents(Bratton and Gold, 2017).
Equality Act 2010
Equality act provide the job security from discrimination in terms certain aspects such as
disability, reproject, marriage, maternity and religion. It provides the legal framework for protect
the rights of individual and advance equality opportunities for all. IKEA company must work on
equality act because if company discriminate their employee due to their religion and disability it
unlawful under this act. If IKEA company treat someone unfavourably because he works on
part-time or any other reason it is also against the equality act(Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017).
Employment Contract Act
This act refers as framework which design legal relationship between employee and
employer. It includes the various element such as employees work, remuneration and direction
and supervision in which employee has to perform their work effectively. IKEA company must
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work on this act after recruiting the employee because it defines the contract of employment in
terms of their rules, compensation and working time for workers. If both employee and
management satisfied with their work, it increases the better relationship between both of them
and also accomplish the organisational goal effectively(Marchington and et.al., 2016).
6. Evaluation of how employee relation and employment legislation inform decision making and
meets business objective.
Health and safety act provides protection to workers in terms of health and safety issues
in an organisation, in which employee feel secure to work at the workplace effectively towards
the attainment of the organisational goals. Through this act manager takes decision in IKEA
company that no one employee work on hazardous work places(Collings, Wood and Szamosi,
2018). IKEA provides the training and development activity for working on accidental zones
which increase the efficiency level of employees and also maintain the good relationship
between management and employees. When workers feel insecure about their health and there is
no proper arrangement for water facility, improper lighting or ventilation in industrial
establishment they can not perform well and thus it increases labour turn over. It ensures the
organisation to take decision for creating healthy work environment(Brewster and et.al., 2016).
Equality act includes the procedure which shows equal pay for equal work in the IKEA
company. It plays an important role in building a harmonious relationship between employee and
employer. If manager of IKEA company not treat employees in equal manner it will increase
conflicts among them and reduce the motivational level of employees. Employee relation and
equality act is important aspect which plays an important in accomplishing organisational
objective effectively because if employee relation is better between worker and management it
encourages employee to give their best efforts towards the attainment of organisational goal and
equality act consider, advance equality opportunities for all which also retain employee
performance(Reiche and et.al., 2016.).
Employment act designs a framework which maintain legal relationship between
employee and employer in IKEA. Through employment act organisation take decisions about
work and compensation for encourage employee to work effectively towards attaining
organisational goals efficiently. After developing employment agreement, it reduces causes of
conflicts between employees and employers and increase relationship between both of
them(Bailey and et.al., 2018).
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Data protection Act includes the safeguarding procedure of employee’s personal data and
confidential reports of employees. With the help of data protection act, IKEA takes decision for
securing personal information of job applicant by the staff of recruitment. IKEA makes satisfy to
employee that their data should be used legally which increases employment relationship and
encourage employees to work effectively for accomplishing organisational objective (Collings,
Wood and Szamosi, 2018).
Effectiveness and advantages of employee relation and employment legislation is that it
helps in maintaining healthy and positive environment at the workplace as well as reducing the
complexities in working. On the other hand, its ineffectiveness and disadvantage are that it may
lead to distraction from the work and ensuring that the company comply with all the employment
legislation becomes difficult sometimes.
TASK 2
7. HRM practices in a work-related context
Job description
Job Title Human resource assistant
Reports to Human resource manager
Roles (main purpose) For helping and supporting the daily operation of human resource team
and participate in hiring process from first to end.
Responsibilities  Use human resource data base to review and track the employee
information.
 Maintaining up to date human resource files.
 Responsible for new people arranging in the organisation.
 Resolving conflicts at the workplace
 appraising the performance
 providing training and development
Qualification Graduate and Post Graduation Degree in Human resource management
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Person Specification
Title of the job Human resource assistant
Date: 11/02/19
Qualification required Essential Desirable Met
Post graduation in Human
resource management
graduation in any
specialization
Yes
Yes
Yes
yes
Need of Experience
0 – 3 years
0 – 5 years
Yes
Yes
Yes
yes
Personal characteristics
& conduct
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Effective oral and written
communication skill.
General knowledge of
various employment
laws and practices.
Yes
Yes
Yes
yes
interview questions
▪ How will you motivate the employees?
▪ Which method of recruitment and selection would you use?
▪ What will be the basis for performance appraisal?
▪ How will you maintain good relation with your employees?
offer letter
March 1 2019
Mr. Stephen Robbins
109 main street
Cambridge TA 19
Dear candidate,
IKEA company is pleased to offer you the position of assistant human resource manager. Your
performance is good during the interview and your skill and knowledge are ideal for this
position.
As we discussed, Your joining date of job is 15 march 2019. The starting salary is $28000 per
year and is paid on the monthly basis.
Your family medical coverage will be provided by our employee state insurance plan and will
be effective from the first day of joining. IKEA company offers a flexible paid time off plan
which include holiday, sick leave and personal leaves. Eligibility for the company retirement
plan begins 90 days after you start job.
If you choose to accept this job offer, please send the confirmation E-mail.
Please let me know if you have any query regarding job information.
John Lennon
director, Human Resource
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IKEA Company
Leiden, Netherlands
8. Evaluation of use of technology for making recruitment and selection process better
Strength and weakness of technologies-
technologies strength weakness
Social media Availability of huge applicant
data pool.
Sometime mention information
about candidates is wrong.
Online sources Attractive candidates can be
hired through various software
such applicants tracking
software.
Costly and time consuming
method
Recruitment is the most crucial part performed by human resource department of Ikea. It
identify job vacancies and analyse job description and recruit right candidate for the job who has
efficient knowledge and skills to perform the task and can increase productivity of the
organization. Selection is the process of selecting right person for the right job, at the right time
and at the right cost. Ikea focuses on using modern technology like artificial intelligence for
recruitment and selection process to improve the working efficiency by automating the task of
resume screening which are performed manually by the recruiters. This makes recruitment and
selection process fast and efficient, which helps company to focus on more important task and
enhances productivity of the organization.
Social networking and online platform is one of the best tool to screen best and suitable
candidates for the job through twitter, LinkedIn, indeed which keeps Ikea updated about the
candidates and can select the best candidate which suits their job profile. Social networking and
online platform efficiency are that it helps organization in expanding network and building
employment awareness which increases effectiveness of recruitment and selection process. On
the other hand, its inefficiency is that sometimes few fake companies take advantage and gather
the data of students and collect money to give them jobs.
Use of technology for recruitment and selection
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Ikea focuses on using improved technology which enhances productivity and reduces employee
turnover. Technology helps in reaching out candidate who are best suitable for the job with the
help of social media, job board, career website and email system.
Technology helps to improvise recruitment process by applying analytic strategy to hire best
candidate. Ikea uses various software application such as “Applicant Tracking System” to track
candidates and make recruitment process more easy.
Applicant tracking system helps handle recruitment needs electronically. Ikea also focuses on
improvising digital interview platform which creates flexibility for recruiters to take interview
from anywhere and at anytime by scheduling video based interview which saves time and
money. Hence, Ikea shifts its focus on modern technology and implementing digital platform
and social networking to hire best candidate in the organization which increases efficiency of
recruitment and selection process and makes it more cost effective and time efficient. The
effectiveness of using technology in recruitment and selection is that it would help in gaining the
competing in this competitive world by recruiting talented employees while on the other hand its
ineffectiveness is that it would increase the cost of recruitment and selection.
Advantage of use of technology
It helps in achieving competitive advantage and beating the competitors by recruiting the
most talented employees from large number of people in a most time efficient manner. For
example; using social media in order to recruit and select employees the company can encourage
applications from large number of candidates and would have a greater choice to select the best
candidate.
Disadvantage of use of technology
Use of technology leads to increasing the cost of recruitment which may weaken the
financial position of the company as well as more efforts would be invested. For example: If the
company uses social media in order to select and recruit employees then it would encourage
large number of applicants and thus this will lead to increase in the cost of the company as
company has to bear lot of expenses in order to test the abilities of all the applicants as well as
more efforts would be invested in order to find out the best among so many applicants.
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Conclusion
From above study it has been concluded that there will be various employees legislative
such data protection act, health and safety act and employment contract act, which is must follow
by IKEA company for encouraging the interest of workers and building better relationship
between employee and employers towards attainment of organisational goals. It evaluates that
how employee relation and legislation inform decision making and accomplish organisational
goals. This study also explained the job description, interview question and job offer letter for
the assistant of human resource management. It defines the evaluation of various technology for
improving the recruitment and selection procedures such as social media and online resources.
RECOMMENDATIONS
From the above study it has been recommended that the
 Ikea should use flexible working options in order to keep its employees satisfied and
develop a sense of belongingness in the mind of employees.
 Since Ikea has gone for modernisation of technology. Technological changes would not
be easily acceptable by the employees. Hence, the company should make efforts in order
to motivate employees to accept the technological changes in a positive manner.
 Ikea should design job description and person specification in such a manner that will fit
the best to fulfil the requirement of a company.
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REFERENCES
Books and Publisher
Albrecht, S.L. and et.al., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices
and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational
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Bailey, C. and et.al., 2018. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C. and et.al., 2016. International human resource management. Kogan Page
Publishers.
Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2017. Human resource management in sport and recreation.
Human Kinetics.
Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T., 2018. Human resource management: A critical
approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.
Dessler, G., 2016. Fundamentals of human resource management. Boston, Massachusetts:
Pearson.
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.
Marchington, M. and et.al., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page
Publishers.
Newell, H. and Scarbrough, H., 2017. Human resource management in context: A case study
approach. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Reiche, B.S. and et.al., 2016. Readings and cases in international human resource management.
Taylor & Francis.
Wright, P., 2018. Fundamentals of human resource management. Management.5.p.27.
Online
Purpose and key roles and responsibilities of HR. 2017. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.humanresourcesmba.net/lists/5-purposes-of-the-human-resources-
department/>
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Recruitment and selection. 2018. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.tutorialspoint.com/recruitment_and_selection/what_is_selection.htm>
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