Human Resource Management Practices in Asda Stores Ltd.

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
LO1: THE PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT....................................................4
P1 AND M1: THE PURPOSE AND THE FUNCTIONS OF HRM, APPLICABLE TO WORKFORCE PLANNING
AND RESOURCING AN ORGANIZATION AND THE HR FUNCTIONS TO FULFILL BUSINESS OBJECTIVES....4
P2 AND M2: THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO RECRUITMENT AND
SELECTION...............................................................................................................................................7
LO2: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE KEY ELEMENTS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN AN
ORGANIZATION.........................................................................................................................................10
P3: THE BENEFITS OF DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION FOR BOTH THE
EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE...................................................................................................................10
P4: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES IN TERMS OF RAISING ORGANIZATIONAL
PROFIT AND PRODUCTIVITY..................................................................................................................12
M3: DIFFERENT METHODS USED IN HRM PRACTICES............................................................................13
LO3: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DECISION-
MAKING.....................................................................................................................................................15
P5: THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS IN RESPECT TO INFLUENCING HRM DECISION-
MAKING.................................................................................................................................................15
P6: KEY ELEMENTS OF EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION AND THE IMPACT IT HAS UPON HRM DECISION-
MAKING.................................................................................................................................................17
M4: KEY ASPECTS OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATIONS.......19
LO4: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN A WORK-RELATED CONTEXT.............................20
P7: THE APPLICATION OF HRM PRACTICES IN A WORK-RELATED CONTEXT..........................................20
M5: A RATIONALE FOR THE APPLICATION OF SPECIFIC HRM................................................................24
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................24
REFERENCE LIST.........................................................................................................................................25
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INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is a tool used by the companies to manage their employees and
the human resource department is responsible for managing all the activities related to
employees. Human resource management is the process of recruiting, selecting, guiding,
motivating, directing, appraising the employees, providing training and development and other
related activities (Noe et al., 2017).
Asda Stores Ltd. a British supermarket retailer and it’s headquartered is in England. The
company started its operation in the year 1949. The main purpose of the Asda is to offer high-
value products to its customers. The company serves to different customer segment and offers
the goods according to their needs. The company gives the credit of its success to their
colleagues and the top management organization also thinks that the members are the real
heroes of the organization (Corporate Asda, 2019).
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LO1: THE PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
P1 AND M1: THE PURPOSE AND THE FUNCTIONS OF HRM, APPLICABLE TO
WORKFORCE PLANNING AND RESOURCING AN ORGANIZATION AND THE HR
FUNCTIONS TO FULFILL BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
Purpose of HRM
The main purpose of HRM is to maximize the profit of the Asda by efficiently and effectively
utilize the human resource of the company. The purposes of the HRM in the Asda are as
follows:
 Defining organizational structure and driving productivity
HRM is a method that helps in driving the efficiency in the organization and to achieve
the organizational goal. HRM helps in defining the outline required to achieve the
organizational objectives. HRM also considered the problems and challenges the
company is facing and tries to bring out the solution for the problem (Caldwell and
Caldwell, 2016).
 Building internal coordination
The need for human resource is to achieve organizational objectives. HRM concentrates
on making proper use of human resources through proper direction and training to get a
positive result.
 Offering employee satisfaction
Due to rising global competition, it becomes difficult for the Asda to retain the
competent personnel and due to this reason the importance of HRM increases. The
organization can satisfy the employees by providing proper training and development.
Functions of HRM
The HRM department of Asda not only gives assistance to the employees but also performs the
managerial, operative and advisory function.
1. Managerial function
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 Planning: HR manager involved in planning the organizational goals and design
the policies and procedures to achieve those goals. Personnel planning means
vacancies of the job position, job description and to identify the sources of
recruitment (Azeem and Yasmin, 2016).
 Organizing: HR manager design the layout of different structure to perform
different operations. Organizing means to define the individual task, delegation
of authority and responsibility to the individuals.
 Directing: The direction function of the HR encourages and motivates the
individuals to effectively achieve the organizational goal. The directional function
becomes a great challenge for the manager because it is the HR manager
responsibility to identify the needs of the employees and the methods that can
fulfil their needs.
 Controlling: In controlling function, the activities of employees are regulated
against the plan so as to achieve the objective on time. Controlling helps the
manager to evaluate the performance in terms of several operative functions.
2. Operational function
 Employment: The HRM department recruits the right number of people at the
right time and in the right place. For the purpose of employment, the manager
uses recruitment and selection method through various sources to ensure the
proper supply of labor.
 Development: It is the main function of the HRM to provide proper training and
development required to perform their role. The management organizes
different training programs for their employees to provide them with proper
technical programs.
 Compensation: The HR manager identifies the need for monetary and non-
monetary rewards and prepares the compensation plan accordingly. The
compensation plan is prepared by taking into consideration different legislation
and rules and regulations of the UK (Foiji et al., 2019).
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 Motivation: The HR manager prepares the strategies to motivate the employees
because motivated employees will contribute more to the organization's
objective.
 Personnel records: The HR department collects and maintains the record of
employees of the organization. This includes details of transfer, promotion, date
of joining, performance appraisal etc.
3. Advisory function
 Advised to top management: HR manager gives advice to the top management
in policy, programs and procedure formulation. He also gives advice to maintain
good relations with the employees and the methods to increase the morale of
employees.
 Advised to departmental heads: HR manager gives advice to different
departmental heads such as job design, recruitment, selection, training etc. The
advice of the HR manager helps the heads of the department in managing
employees and their activities.
Figure 1: Functions of HRM
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P2 AND M2: THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES
TO RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
Following are the strengths and weaknesses associated with different approaches to
recruitment and selection:
Strengths and weaknesses of different recruitment approaches
1. Online job boards and websites
The Asda’s recruitment and selection process are done by attracting the candidates through
their websites and online job boards.
Strengths
 It is a cost-effective method.
 Technology made the recruitment process simple and coordinated process (Randstad,
2019).
Weaknesses
 Wastage of time and energy because it attracts lots of inappropriate application.
 It is not suitable for the employees of the lower management because most of them do
not have the knowledge of computer.
2. Recruitment agencies
Some of the private agencies of the UK provide temporary and permanent employment to
employees (Pittman, 2016).
Advantages
 The company can get specialist expert knowledge through recruitment agencies.
 Most of the candidates prefer to contact the agencies rather than direct contact
with the recruiter.
Disadvantages
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 Skilled and knowledgeable candidates prefer to go directly to the employer.
 It is a costly process.
3. Press advertising
Still, different companies prefer to use press advertising to attract competent personnel.
Asda also uses press advertising for recruitment purpose.
Advantages
 Creates a positive image and positively communicates messages and brand
image.
 Helps in creating brand awareness.
Disadvantages
 The cost of advertising is relatively high as compared to other media.
 The advertising is limited to those who read the newspaper.
Strengths and weakness of selection approaches
The strengths and weaknesses of different selection approaches are as follows:
1. Interviews
It’s a face to face interaction of the employee and the employer.
Advantages
 It helps in measuring the presentation and verbal skills of the candidates.
 It can be a cost-effective process if proper strategies prepared by the management.
Disadvantages
 Candidates can easily manipulate the answers as per the situation.
 It may be a time-consuming process if the number of candidates is more.
2. Cognitive ability test
It is used to measure the logic, reasoning and mathematical abilities of the candidates.
Advantages
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 It is suitable for a complex position in the organization.
 They are suitable when the number of candidates is more.
Disadvantages
 They are both time consuming and expensive method.
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LO2: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE KEY ELEMENTS OF HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT IN AN ORGANIZATION
P3: THE BENEFITS OF DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES WITHIN AN
ORGANIZATION FOR BOTH THE EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE
The benefits of different HRM practices in the Asda for both employers and employees are as
follows:
Benefits for employers
 Promoting positive behavior
The HRM practices build a positive working environment and offer favorable benefits to the
employees that keep the employees happy and also increase productivity. The HRM practices of
the Asda reward the employees for their positive behavior that helps the manager to maintain
a desirable environment in the organizational culture (Guest, 2017).
 Developing employees
Training and development practices not only help the employees in their personal grooming but
it also helps the organization to increase their productivity that helps the Asda in gaining a
competitive advantage over the competitors. The Asda manages the resources for providing
training and to use and share the knowledge.
 Building a flexible working culture
The flexibility in the working culture assists different employees such as older and disables
employees to work according to their convenience. The reason for providing flexible working
condition is that Asda wants to retain the employees by providing flexible working conditions.
 Motivating employees
It is only possible through HR practices to motivate the employees according to their needs. The
successful manager uses the HR practices for increasing their effectiveness and being
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competent in their job position and positively impact the company. The employees working
under the positive manager tends to contribute more in the organizational goal.
Benefits for employees
 Conflict resolution
The HR policies, procedures and practices help in defining the appropriate working behavior on
the workplace. The HR practices also support to solve the matters such as poor attitude,
conflicts due to insubordination, inappropriate languages and other disrespectful behavior of
any member of the organization (Veth et al., 2017).
 Training and development
The employees are an important asset to increase the sales and profitability of the Asda. For
expanding the market share and to capture the market share, it is very important for the
company to provide proper training and development to enhance the technical skills of the
employees (Cohen, 2017).
 Employee relation
HRM practices ensure that the rights of the employees are protected and are not violated by
any of the activities in the organization. The HRM practices protect the employees against
discrimination, harassment and biasness on the basis of caste, religion or gender.
 Information resources
The main responsibility of the HR manager is to provide all essential information to the
employees such as rules for taking leave, worker’s compensation benefits and employee
assistance programs. In case the employee wants any personal assistance then the HR manager
must provide confidential guidance to the employees.
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P4: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES IN TERMS OF
RAISING ORGANIZATIONAL PROFIT AND PRODUCTIVITY
The effectiveness of different HRM practices plays an important role in terms of raising
organizational profit and productivity. There is a correlation between the HRM practices and
organizational profit and productivity of the Asda. The effectiveness of HRM practices can be
seen in these areas:
 Employee retention: For the purpose of retaining the competent employees, Asda
offers different benefits such as high salaries, career development and a positive work
environment. Such HR practices will definitely contribute to increasing organizational
profit and productivity (Wood, 2018).
 Employer branding: Employer branding helps in reducing the cost per recruitment and
helps in increasing the number of quality recruitment in the Asda. This HRM practice
helps in retaining competent employees and increases the company's productivity and
profitability.
 Leadership development: Leadership development program helps in developing the
values and defining the expected contribution made by the leaders in the company’s
overall productivity and profitability.
 Performance management and rewards: Performance management and reward
practices directly contribute to the Asda’s productivity and profitability. The high degree
commitment of employees of Asda is dependent on HR practices for attracting,
motivating and retaining the talented employees.
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