HR4005 Managing People: Analyzing HRM for Competitive Advantage

This essay critically examines the Human Resource Management (HRM) function and its role in enabling organizations to achieve a competitive advantage. It begins by defining HRM and highlighting its pervasive, people-oriented, and continuous nature, further exploring its characteristics as both an art and a science. The essay then delves into various people management strategies employed by HR departments, including recruitment and selection, training and development, performance measurement, employee engagement, and rewards and recognition. Each strategy is evaluated for its benefits and potential drawbacks. The essay also discusses common HRM tools and current trends, using TESCO as a case study to illustrate practical applications. Furthermore, it addresses key HRM issues and challenges, such as labor shortages and employee turnover, drawing upon case studies from the hospitality industry to highlight potential solutions like outsourcing, improved productivity, and attractive employment policies. The analysis emphasizes the strategic shift of HR from an administrative role to a key player in strategic planning, ultimately concluding that effective HRM practices are crucial for organizational success and competitive advantage.

HR4005 Managing People
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Semester 2
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Managing people 1
Managing People
Human Resource Management refers to as the supervision function that is accompanying with
the hiring, motivating and marinating the workforce in an organization. HRM in an organization
deals with the issues related to the employees such as training, development, compensation,
hiring and many other. The foremost purpose of the HRM is to confirm that they are able to
satisfy the personnel of company. Moreover, the human resource management ensures that the
employees are contributing enough in accomplishing the goals of the organization (Hendry,
2012). The paper will inspect the HR function along with the important principles of the HRM
assesses. Moreover, it reflects how the functions of the HR help the organization to work
effectively in attaining the competitive advantage.
Human Resource management nature reflects that HRM is based on the certain policies and
principles that contribute to the organization for achieving the goals. HRM is a pervasive
function which merely means that it is not specific to any individual department. Therefore, it
manages all the types from the lower level to the top level departments of the organization
(Ashraf, 2016). HRM activity is primarily people oriented which reveals that they believe in
work for and work with the personnel. The motive behind this is that they want to bring the
people and organization together to attain goals. Though, this nature of the HRM might lead to
certain issues in the organizations. The nature of the HRM states that it is a continuous activity
which means all the factors of production are desirable to be regularly updated and improved that
is crucial to cope up with the fluctuations and increase competition (Chand, 2018).
Every concept in the management has some unique features or characteristics. Similarly, the
human resource management also has some characteristics such as it is the combination of art

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and science, a service function, Interdisciplinary and fast-changing, mainly focus on the result
and some other (Patidar, 2014). This is the fact that art and science of the HRM are very complex
but HRM is art when they manage the people by recourse to creative and innovative approaches
and it is science because of its precision and rigorous application of the theory in the
organization that is essential. It is a service function because it assists to all the functional
departments. One of the most significant characteristics of the HRM is Interdisciplinary and fast
changing. It changes itself in accordance with the changing environment of the competitive
world (Rasel, 2015). Moreover, the HRM focus on output due to which it motivates the people to
give their 100% best to accomplish the goals.
The main function of the HRM in the association is the management of the people. This is the
fact that the company desires correct personnel at work because this is the only way through
which they can attain the objective of the company (Amisano, 2017). There are different
strategies used by the HR of the company for the management of people. Some of them are: -
Recruitment and selection strategy states the selecting and hiring the talented people in the
organization as this is one of the effective people management strategies. It is difficult to
understand the position empty in the organization in a year. After the staffing forecast, the HR of
the business makes the plan that is connected to the recruitment and comprises the identification
of the responsibilities, knowledge, skills, core competencies along with the culture fit candidate
for the organization who can become the ideal personnel (Boone, 2015). An interview process is
conducted by the organization that allows them to learn the candidate and their skills which
assist them in determining that the candidate is suitable to fit for the company or not. Though,
sometime in the interview HR of the company can select the person who might not encounter the

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expectations of the company. At the time of the interview, it is not possible to recognize the right
and wrong person.
The individual’s management can be done in the organization with the use of training and
development strategy of the HRM. Training and development to the team in the association is
essential as this is an effective way through which the workforce can enhance their performance
for achieving the organization goal (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Though, the HR of the company
has to devote too much time and money on training.
People management can be done in the organization with the measurement of a person
performance which ensures that they are meeting the expectations of the company or not. This
measurement also allows the company to share the feedback with the employees that contribute
to improve the performance of the employees (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016). This
ultimately brings the improvement in the performance of the company. Performance
management is not only significant for the organization but also for the personnel as this is the
way through which they can showcase their skills and can earn bonus, appraisals, and
compensations. Though, this is the time-consuming process and complex to be done by HR.
The best way out to check the employee’s satisfaction with the association is the employee
engagement. The organization can check the employee engagement in the events that take place
in the organization. Most of the companies prepare the survey through which they can check the
satisfaction level of the employees in the company (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). This will help
the company to manage their people by bringing the changes in the activities which pointer the
employee’s engagement, satisfaction, and motivation.

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Rewards and Recognitions strategy is one of the effective strategies through which the company
can appreciate the employees and make them feel valuable. Talented people who will get the
rewards and recognition in the organization will remain in the employees. This reflects the way
through which the HR of the company manages the people in the organization. Though, there are
many peoples who don't stay in the organization after recognition because of other better
opportunities (Brewster, et.al, 2016).
The above strategies and their procedure are performed by the Human resource management
team of every organization because there are person-centric and they recognize the worth of the
employees in the organization. This is the purpose due to which they accept different strategies
which benefit them to manage the persons in the organization. People management is essential
for the business to accomplish the competitive advantage over the competitors of the company.
All these strategies reflect the contribution of the HRM in the organization.
There are numerous companies who make use of the people management tools with the help of
the HRM of the company. The names of the tools which are commonly used by the HR of the
company include Labour Time Tracker, Upwork.com, Trello, TribeHR, Do.com and many
others. A labor time tracker is a tool that is mainly used by the companies as this helps the
employees to punch in their hours on a virtual card (Brandon, 2018). This will help them in
analyzing the number of employees who are present.
Current patterns and trends of the HRM contain the basic practices that are performed by the HR
in an organization. Therefore, the trends and patterns of the organization vary with the
organization. For instance; the HRM at TESCO consists different activities like recruitment
talent analysis, provision of a good working environment, programs that help the company in

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retaining the employees who are performing worthy in the organization and many other. The
company believes that these trends of the HRM are very essential as this helps the company to
make the employees feel respected. The employees who feel value are highly motivated
employees and these personnel help the company to achieve the objective of the company.
Moreover, the company believes that the use of the shift work enhances the capability of the
people to work hours that suit them conferring to their requirement. Flexible working hours
provide the company an advantage to construct an extensive multicultural team of the workers
(Samantara and Sharma, 2015). This is the fact that the HRM plays a vital role in the working of
the company as well as it subsidizes in making the environment healthy for work which helps the
company in accomplishing the competitive advantage effectively.
TESCO Company focuses on the health and safety regulations and training to the employees.
The training to the employees helps them to keep the employees positive for the customers but
also for the staff who are working with them under one roof. The company uses a wide range of
the different models that help them to ensure that through these models companies can achieve
its goals. The company makes use of the commitment-based model under which the company
does not force the employees or team to achieve the framework rather the fulfillment of the goals
is looked at as the possible through respect that is self-control and co-ordination (Samantara and
Sharma, 2015). This model brings the improvement in the employee’s performance with the help
of motivation they work to achieve the objective of the TESCO management.
TESCO knows that there is necessity of the improvement in the competitive market as there is
cut-throat competition in the market. TESCO knows the fact that they have numerous
employees who conserve a substantial experience. Still, it is essential for the company to offer
them training which is essential to sharpen their skills. Moreover, the company should try to

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deliver the maximum rewards and facilities to the employees which are one of an effective way
of creating competitive advantage.
The trends and the patterns help the company to achieve their objective. This can be evidence
with the assistance of the case study of the “Strategic Human Resource Management in U.S.
Luxury Resorts—A Case Study". Rendering to the case study, the UK luxury resorts faced issues
related to the shortage of the labor in the hospitality management as they depend on the workers
from other countries for the housekeeping, restaurants and the landscaping position (Taylor and
Finley, 2008). Moreover, when the company found enough employees then they started facing
the problem of the turnover of the employees which was one of the major difficulties that hurdle
the company to accomplish the goals of the organization. In the UK hospitality industries, the
companies were beholding for those employees who can offer them the best services, who have
expertise to deal with the consumers, employees with experience which enhanced the issues of
the company. Solutions that were introduced by the HRM of the company consists outsourcing,
improving productivity, providing training, developing attractive employment policies and many
others.
A national trend in the HR is to move from administrative role to incorporation of the HR in
Strategic planning. This movement was aided by the development of notion of the human capital
or human assets in the particular organization. The human resource management of the company
contributed well in making the employees satisfied because this is one of the effective ways
through which they can retain the talented employees (Taylor and Finley, 2008). Moreover, this
will improve the position of the company in the market. This will contribute to attracting
maximum employees towards the company which is solitary objectives of the US hospitality
industry.

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The overall analysis reflects that the HRM practices play an imperative role in an organization
without which the association is not able to accomplish its objective in the market. Though,
while leading these practices of HRM the company might face certain problems due to which
they need to take particular steps to overcome it. The practices and policies of the company
related to the HRM help the company to generate the competitive advantages in the competitive
market which is indistinct from the example of the TESCO Company.

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References
Amisano, C. (2017) What Are HRM Strategies? [Online]. Available from:
https://bizfluent.com/about-5529235-hrm-strategies.html [Accessed 26th April 2018]
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S. (2014) Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. UK: Kogan Page Publishers.
Ashraf, M. (2016) What are the features of human resource management? [Online]. Available
from: https://www.bayt.com/en/specialties/q/274751/what-are-the-features-of-human-resource-
management/ [Accessed 26th April 2018]
Boone, M. (2015) 5 People Management Strategies for Organizational Success [Online].
Available from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-people-management-strategies-
organizational-success-boone-mba-mj [Accessed 26th April 2018]
Brandon, J. (2018) 5 Brilliant People-Management Tools [Online]. Available from:
https://www.inc.com/john-brandon/5-brilliant-people-management-tools.html [Accessed 26th
April 2018]
Bratton, J., and Gold, J. (2017) Human resource management: theory and practice. UK:
Palgrave.
Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P. (2016) Globalizing human resource management. New
York: Routledge.
Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P. and Vernon, G. (2016) International human resource
management. UK: Kogan Page Publishers.

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Chand, S. (2018) 10 Most Important Characteristics of Human Resource Management [Online].
Available from: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/management/10-most-important-
characteristics-of-human-resource-management/5423 [Accessed 26th April 2018]
Hendry, C. (2012) Human resource management. New York: Routledge.
Patidar, M. (2014) Nature and Scope of Human Resource Management [Online]. Available from:
http://www.enotesmba.com/2014/04/nature-and-scope-of-human-resource-management.html
[Accessed 26th April 2018]
Rasel (2015) 14 Characteristics of Human Resource Management (HRM) [Online]. Available
from: http://bankofinfo.com/characteristics-of-human-resource-management/ [Accessed 26th
April 2018]
Samantara, R. and Sharma, N. (2015) Talent management at Tesco: A case study. Parikalpana:
KIIT Journal of Management, 11(2), p.95.
Taylor, M. and Finley, D. (2008) Strategic human resource management in US luxury resorts—
A case study. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 8(1), pp.82-95.