Human Resource Management Practices at Harrods: A Report

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ICON College of Technology and Management
Faculty of Business and Management Studies
BTEC HND in Business
Human Resource Management
Tutor: Dr Reza Aboutalebi
Submitted by:
Full Name: …………
ID No: …………
Session: April 2019

Human Resource Management
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Executive Summary
This report is a review of the Human Resource management team for Harrods,
which is a leading departmental store. It gives a general overview of the organisation
and what it stands for in relation to HRM. The key duties of the HRM have been
explained. A detailed investigation has been undertaken to be made in regards to the
selection and recruitment, planning of workforce, training programmes, incentives
and rewards programmes. Employee relations have been highlighted as important
along with employee engagement. In addition, various outwardly and inwardly
operational factors have been discussed in this report.
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................. 4
Background of the company........................................................................................4
LO1 Explain the purpose and scope of Human Resource Management in terms of
resourcing an organisation with talent and skills appropriate to fulfil business
objectives.................................................................................................................... 5
Explain the purpose and the functions of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and
resourcing an organisation (P1, M1)...........................................................................5
P2 Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and
selection...................................................................................................................... 7
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses approaches to recruitment and selection
(M2, D1)...................................................................................................................... 7
LO2 Evaluate the effectiveness of the key elements of Human Resource
Management in an organisation..................................................................................9
Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation for both the
employer and employee (P3, M3, D2).........................................................................9
Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising
organisational profit and productivity (P4, D2)..........................................................10
LO3 Analyse internal and external factors that affect Human Resource Management
decision-making, including employment legislation...................................................11
P5 Analyse the importance of employee relations with respect to influencing HRM
decision- making.......................................................................................................11
Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM
decision- making (P6, M4).........................................................................................12
D3 Critically evaluate employee relations and the application of HRM practices that
inform and influence decision-making in an organisational context..........................12
LO4 Apply Human Resource Management practices in a work-related context.......13
Illustrate the application of HRM practices in a work-related context, using specific
examples (P7)...........................................................................................................13
Provide a rationale for the application of specific HRM (M5).....................................19
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 19
References................................................................................................................20
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Introduction
Every company has an HRM, which is not just an extension of the tasks allotted for a
manager but also much more the reason why this project has set out to explain the
significant functions of the HRM, its weaknesses and strengths. The benefits and
justification of tasks undertaken by the HRM have been looked into as well in relation
to the company’s long term business objectives. Employee relations have been
marked as an important area for the present HR to focus on. Employment laws have
also been looked into in order to justify the kind of effect it has on HRM’s decisions.
Various profiles of candidates have been presented as a part of the process of
simulation for an interview that is to be undertaken by the HR in order to go on to
decide who and why they would be hired.
Background of the company
The business of Harrods has is multi-faceted with that of them manning aviation,
property management and interior designing groups. Beyond what has been
mentioned before, Harrods is also popular as a departmental store brand in the
United Kingdom. The store is especially significant for offering all kinds of beauty
related services like that of Moroccan spa to Maria Tash piercing. They have
everything from food to fashion to that of a gifting store for personalised gift
wrapping. They also have so much to offer in terms of customer collection, wellness
clinics, pharmacy and a section for conducting eye tests.
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LO1 Explain the purpose and scope of Human Resource Management in terms
of resourcing an organisation with talent and skills appropriate to fulfil
business objectives
The most important task for the HRM is to deal with that of “people” that is the
precious human capital without which technology cannot be advanced or tapped for
better utility (Torrington et al., 2017). The department makes sure that the labour
management and labour capital is allocated properly so that there is no disguised
unemployment or underemployment leading to the degeneration of the economy and
loss of company reputation.
Explain the purpose and the functions of HRM, applicable to workforce
planning and resourcing an organisation (P1, M1)
As per Decenzo et al., (2016), HRM is the department that is concerned with people
dimension. The HRM serves purposes manifold one of which is that of mobility
(both internal and external), the HRs make sure the organisation informs everyone
concerned about internal vacancies and organise IJPs or the Internal Job Postings
for promotions. They are responsible for external mobility by making special
secondment of career planning (Berman, 2015).
The HRs make sure that the payroll duties are fulfilled properly and they take care to
note the deductions and incentives that comprise of the employee compensation.
The HRM is responsible for the putting up of banners and fliers indicating what to do
in case of any incident of a safety hazard. It not only shows the company’s care for
health and safety but also the department’s own initiative in warning people who
operate heavy machinery (De Bruecker et al., 2015).
The HRs brainstorm to create the perfect job descriptions or job design pertaining to
what qualities are required for that of a certain position. This enhances the
advertisements as they go up for that of the recruitment and head-hunting drives
and the candidate knows what lies ahead of him or her as they apply.
The HR recruits candidates that are they do more than just interview them as
explained in the last part of the assignment.
HRM itself is a survival strategy for Harrods as they have to plan every detail before
the operations team can take over. They have access to certain key statistical
figures that are discussed with the financial department and that helps them in
performing as per expectations and increase company profit. The company makes
sure the HR functions to increase the sale by putting up fliers for sale or discounts
all across the shop floor for the shoppers to browse through (Lu, 2017).
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Figure 1: HRM processes
Source: (Hauff et al., 2017)
The HR makes sure they plan and monitor the workforce on the regular and hence
workforce planning is a process that blends seamlessly with the rest of the
organisational functions in order to achieve fruitful results. The staff or human capital
as mentioned before is handled and groomed in a way that they have enough
knowledge in regards to what the organisational objectives are and can act in
alignment to the same. At the end of the day, this process is all about meeting
targets of service, legislation, regulation and production.
Figure 2: Tasks under workforce planning
Source: (Hauff et al., 2017)
Company resourcing involves concentrating on intrinsic sources of the competitive
edge or advantage of a company like Harrods. It mainly involves the linked
processes of selection, recruitment etc. It is part of the company’s duty to make sure
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the employees are shown the way in terms of being trained and groomed or maybe
just motivated correctly (Reilly and Williams, 2017).
The concept of hard and soft HRM was propounded by Michigan (Theory X) and
Harvard (Theory Y). The concept of Theory Y or soft HRM corresponds to the
department being more motivating and applying strategic integration and
encouraging than hounding employees for targets to be met. This is also known as
the Humanistic model. Hard HRM or Theory X is more objective and performance
goals oriented with having more of cost control and that of hiring and firing (Michael,
2017).
P2 Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to
recruitment and selection
The approach of best-fit picks up from that of the contingency theory and it
emphasises strategies of HR should be in line with that of the circumstantial context
of the company. It is seen in the light of vertical integration and aligning of the
company’s commercial processes and strategies of the HR. The approach of best
practice is laid on the assumption that there are several well-guarded commendable
practices of the HRM that leads to the enhanced organisational performance given
any situation. It pertains here to that of practices like that of selective hiring. There
are several disadvantages and advantages to the same. The advantages of the
best practices approach are that it helps gives the staff the kind of knowledge they
need to function by facilitation of training and enhancement of performance by way
of appropriate appraisals. The disadvantages are that it indicates that an employee
is just a machine reflecting the tradition of capitalism. The advantages of the best-
fit approach are that it makes sure everyone knows that the system of rewards is
necessary to be aligned to the company strategy for long-term productivity and
profits and it results in gaining competitive advantage (Armstrong, 2017). Just as
there are advantages there will also be certain disadvantages like in this case
where it cannot accept the challenges of different contingencies or adapt to the
same.
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses approaches to recruitment and
selection (M2, D1)
There are other types of recruitment such as external and internal. Internal
recruitment means hiring from within by way of revised job allocation or promotion.
External recruitment is hiring by way of external drives for recruitment like that of
partnering up with consultancies and placing of online commercials. The advantages
of being that it are cheap and fast for that of internal hiring. The disadvantages are
that it can leave positions that are crucial; to be vacant that upsets the whole
chain of task allocation and realisation. Such a large amount of vacancy is unhealthy
for the pace of work. People are motivated to work in order to achieve promotion but
since everyone is not promoted there arises clashes of ego and it is de-motivating
if someone is not rightfully promoted due to the presence of corruption, favouritism
and nepotism. This ultimately hampers work progress, profit earning and
productivity. For the external hiring, the cons are very obvious like that of the
increase in cost of production due to having to partner with consultancies or
employee exchanges for head-hunting (Jøranli, 2018). Moreover, it might result in
the alienation of an employee who might not feel comfortable in a certain
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organisation however there are positives also like that of finding fresh ideas from a
so-called outside candidate.
The idea is to find the best person for a job and for the culture but other retail chains
like that of Next, Crew Clothing and Ted Baker mostly depend on internal
recruitment for the sake of specialisation. Harrods being a departmental store
catering to so many people's needs will always require newer people to provide
fresher ideas so that industry expansion happens so they can follow the external
way of recruitment.
Other international companies like that of Asda, Tesco or Argos that are in the
league with Harrods can make use of the same or it can be deduced that they do
already for creating a dedicated workforce aligned to the company’s values. Internal
recruitment and too much of it, aligned to that of the best-fit practices might not be
the best for Harrods or for other companies for hiring as it might deny the
organisation the chance to get a fresh unbiased perspective and hence lead to
stagnation of the company.
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LO2 Evaluate the effectiveness of the key elements of Human Resource
Management in an organisation
HRs are always under pressure to do everything better and facilitating the reduction
of cost at the same time (Wood, 2018). This section talks about the faculties of HRM
in helping with the company growth in context to that of Harrods. Successful
evaluation of the same has been made as the “directorates” were consolidated into a
successful HRM (Harrods departmental store, 2019).
Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation for both
the employer and employee (P3, M3, D2)
The main areas requiring HRM intervention is that of job layouts or designs, the
flexibility of work, training and up-skilling and performance management. Job
design seeks to organise tasks, responsibilities etc into a single unit for achieving
multifarious objectives.
Figure 3: Types of job design
Source: (Vanhala and Ritala, 2016)
Job enlargement method seeks to include similar tasks under a single job role to
keep the employee active and engaged by such a way of horizontal integration.
Job enrichment method is the designing of a post in a way that it gives employees
more independence in planning and performance management.
The positives of a good job layout are:
● Is key to the understanding of the organisation work-culture and norms by
assessment of its needs. Determines the changes in the cultural environment
within the company for the employee to understand.
● A milestone in that of the selection of the perfect employee.
● Motivation and driving force is generated from the same as the employee can
focus on how to get something done and lead to better productivity.
Training is crucial for the many aspects of development for the employee (Hassan,
2016). Role-play makes the learner or trainee take up the role of the job by
simulating real-time work conditions. Coaching assists motivated employees to
make changes to further their industrial ambitions. Harrods carries out drives for the
overall benefit of the employees as a part of their employee relations program.
Simulated training is a way of training that takes the employee away from it for a
while making sure that the exposure leads them to be better equipped to face job-
related challenges by portraying real-life problems.
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Training objectives mostly are in enhancing trainee performance and in the
adjustment to the ways of the organisation (Tummers et al., 2015). It also addresses
the fact that every employee is valuable and hence their morale is boosted.
Enhancement of trainee performance makes the organisational profit and
productivity rise.
E-HRM denies the need for a sound HR system due to technological advancement
for the past ten years or so (Marler and Parry, 2016). Traditional HRM is what is
maintained by a company like that of Harrods who know the value of the “human
touch”.
The job ranking methodology is simple and economical where jobs are classified
from the highest to lowest based on their value. Job grading or classification
chooses from a predetermined range of categories that various jobs are categorised
under (Robst and VanGilder, 2016). Companies like Harrods mostly take the help of
job ranking methods itself.
Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising
organisational profit and productivity (P4, D2)
Performance management is a part of micro-management in a company by
keeping strict tabs on the performance of employees by way of appraisals, feedback
etc (Buckingham and Goodall, 2015). The concept of flexible working incorporates
the way of working that suits a staff’s needs for example of having a culture of
allocating work from home. Harrods makes sure that the employees are treated fairly
during task allocation and due to their focus on communication they can come in late
as long as they finish the tasks assigned within the time stipulated.
Performance Management helps in ensuring that the workforce comprehends the
importance of the contribution of their efforts towards the achievement of company
goals (Shields et al., 2015). It also makes sure the workforce is aware of something
that is being expected of them and the employer that is Harrods can ascertain if they
have the required skills for it or if they need training. With the combined efforts from
the employer and the employed the company can achieve optimum performance and
revenue generated by sales. Since it is an aspect of micromanagement it
pressurises the employees and stretches them out in an unhealthy way in case the
HRM is not following the soft approach.
Flexible working can go both ways so it is kept a check on by that of Harrods for
optimum performance and labour management which is the key to organisational
productivity and that of sale increment. It gives employees the independence to
make their own decisions which enhances focus on work to an extent (Hörning et al.,
2018). It cultivates more responsibility and accountability helping in performance
enhancement and management. If total independence is given workers might take
advantage of it leading to loss of faith of the company on them, flexible working is
only restricted for certain industries and positions that of the HR associate who can
choose to work remotely as well for example due to the advent of technology the HR
Directors or managers can conduct live training sessions in Harrods itself or conduct
seminars.
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LO3 Analyse internal and external factors that affect Human Resource
Management decision-making, including employment legislation
P5 Analyse the importance of employee relations with respect to influencing
HRM decision- making
Employee relations refer to the company’s ways of managing the relationship
between employers and the employed. It is important because it enhances the
organisational balance by maintaining a state of perfect compromise between
employers and employee (Griffin et al., 2015). Human satisfaction is a prerequisite
for higher productivity. Conflict resolution skills of the HRM are tested and conflicts
always reveal new paths by moving away from that of the conventional ways
according to modern social scientists.
Trade Unions are bodies that are there within an organisation formed by the
employees from a related field working on their behalf for the protection of their
interests (Hernaus et al., 2019). Trade Unions help the employees negotiate with
the employer by framing a body of grievances and follows up on ways of resolution.
They are the voice of the employees in the organisation..
Directly linked to the HRM are the areas of performance management which is also
under the purview of the managerial staff. The HR assesses staff capacity and
calibre in order to allocate tasks in order to get maximum productivity. The HRM
manages recruitment by carefully selecting candidates embodying the spirit of the
organisation with the best skills. They make sure the job description is absolutely
clear about what the employer can expect from the employee clarifying any doubts
about it.
The company, Harrods via that of employee relations and engagement makes
sure that if the employees can reach out to the HRM any time they have to by
adopting an open door policy (Griffin et al., 2015). Working culture and conditions
are hence marked safe from worker-generated disruptions like strikes and lockouts
which look shameful on the part of the company. Job designing is made to clarify
preliminary doubts but the employees can always go back to the HRD for a
clarification. It is part of the HR duties to make sure the workers are safe as
described in the early part of the study. The HRM frames policies making sure to
follow the situation closely after the factoring in of the above criteria so it does have
an effect on that of its moves and decision making. Their way of leadership is
mostly democratic and communication is very open and hence it is one of the most
people-oriented and companies in the UK.
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