Human Resource Management Report: Case Study - Chocola & Microsoft

This report delves into the principles and practices of Human Resource Management (HRM), using Chocola Fantastica and Microsoft as case studies. It explores the purpose and functions of HRM, examining recruitment and selection methods, and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. The report analyzes employee benefits, including flexible working arrangements, and assesses how Microsoft motivates its staff. It further investigates employee engagement, key approaches to foster it, and relevant UK employment legislation. The report also includes practical applications such as person specifications and job advertisements, offering recommendations for enhancing the selection process and providing rationales for specific HRM practices.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
(a) Purpose & functions of Human Resource Management........................................................3
M1 ..............................................................................................................................................4
(b) Strength along with weakness of selection method...............................................................4
M2 Assess strengths and weakness of various approaches for recruitment and selection..........5
(c) Two possible betterment that could be made by Chocola Fantastica for enhancing its
selection process..........................................................................................................................5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................6
(a) Benefits to employees............................................................................................................6
M3 Explore various methods in HRM........................................................................................7
(b) Evaluation of benefits which is providing to both employees & Microsoft..........................7
(c) How Microsoft motivate its staff members...........................................................................8
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
(a) Explain employee engagement and why it is an essential part in developing effective
employee relationship within Microsoft.....................................................................................9
(b) Key approaches to engage workers.....................................................................................10
(c) Important elements of UK employment legislation.............................................................10
M4 Evaluate the key aspect of employees relations and employees legislation which effect
HRM..........................................................................................................................................11
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................11
(a) Person specification.............................................................................................................11
(b) Advantages and disadvantages of advertising jobs.............................................................12
(c) Recommendation to the job advert for the receptionist vacancy to be place and why........14
M5 Provide the rational application for the specific HRM practises........................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management define as a practice of hiring, recruiting, managing and
deploying staff members of an organisation. With the help of effective human resource
management, company will be able to attain their goals and objectives in an effective manner. It
is basically done in order to develop strong foundation for achieving their objectives and build
positive brand image of the company at the market. Main intention is to create HRM practises to
raise overall productivity of company (Banfield, Kay and Royles, 2018). They focus on several
departments such as recruitment, compensation, selection and all other decisions related to
employees of company. Functions of all other departments are dependent on human resource
department of company. In this report Chocola Fantastica and Microsoft has been considered.
Report is basically divided in two sections first section Chocola Fantastica has been taken as a
base company. In second section Microsoft has been considered. It is a company which believes
in managing human resource of their company effectively in order to increase their competence
and overall productivity.
LO 1
(a) Purpose & functions of Human Resource Management
HRM is to provide improvement and guidance to existing and new employees in
company. This department is involved at all levels and impacts overall process of decision
making in company:
Purpose: HRM plays very essential role in the improvement of the company. There are
some essential functions of HRM which is essential for the attainment of goals and objectives of
the company in an effective manner. Main purpose behind human resource function is that work
should be done within stipulated time frame and produce positive outcome. Along with this,
purpose behind these functions is that each and every activity of Chocola Fantastica is conducted
in such a manner that they can produce effective outcome(Bratton and Gold, 2017).
Functions of HRM team
Selection: HR department in every institution aims to hire skilled and competent
candidates which can help company in achievement of their objectives. In Chocola Fantastica,
this department does proper analysis of their candidates so that they can hire best candidates in
their company. Main aim behind this purpose is that management team of the company can hire

skilled and capable candidate for their organisation (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2018). There is
high unemployment in area where organisation is situated, which leads to high number of
applications for job. With the assistance of this, managers will select skilled and capable
employees so that they can execute their task effectively and create positive results. They have
their own written test on English comprehension and maths which is conducted for the
applicants. There is criteria of passing marks which is 50% in both subjects. Candidates clearing
written test further called for PI (personal interview) round and then final decision of selection is
made. This ensures that selected candidates have required competence and capability needed by
the company.
Organising events: There are various events which are organised by HR department of
Chocola Fantastica such as events for rewarding employees for their performance, recreational
activities for employees(Brewster, 2017). Main purpose behind this human resource function is
that by conducting such functions within the organisation will develop affirmative brand image
of the organization at competitive market. All such efforts help employees in increasing their
performance level as they get motivated to perform better and they develop a sense of
competition among them. Importance of this function is that it will make positive image of the
organisation at the market which enhance their overall profit and performance.
M1
Human resource management help to achieve the organisation gaols and objective as they
manage the operational activity which leads towards the expansion and growth. In the context of
chocola Fantastica, HR department have to use select the best in class employees from the
industry to minimize the cost and improve quality. The major responsibility of HR to organize
events and provide proper training in order to capture large market share. Further company must
create a positive corporate culture which help in improving skills which help in fulfilling the
organisation objective effectively (Bryson, 2017).
(b) Strength along with weakness of selection method
In relation with “Chocola Fantastica” HRM division has specific method of selecting
employees which affects company's performance. Improved method of selecting employees must
be adopted by the human resource department of company this will reduce grievances of
employee if any and will prove very helpful in enhancing the whole efficiency of the staff
members.

Selection: It is a process in which written test takes place and in second round personal interview
is conduced for those candidates who are well-qualified in first round is conducted (Delery and
Roumpi, 2017). This helps in proper assessment of a person in terms of skills possessed.
Strength: There is a selection test which is conducted this helps in assessment of
candidate and then selecting them based on their score.
Weakness: candidates many times have confusion and complains that test is not
conducted fairly and then some newly selected candidates have failed to complete their
probationary period.
M2 Assess strengths and weakness of various approaches for recruitment and selection
Selection and recruitment are consider as one of the essential aspect for hiring the
employees. Here are some strength and weakness while recruitment and selection process.
Strength Weakness
 In selection and recruitment process
company can hire best employees base
on their experience ans talent
 In interview process HR have
opportunity to interact with candidate
face to face to know individual skill
and ability.
 The main weakness of selection process
is that candidate can tell lie about their
skill and experience which can be a loss
for company.
 The major disadvantage of Interview is
that it can be bias in nature as it taken
by the person.
(c) Two possible betterment that could be made by Chocola Fantastica for enhancing its selection
process.
Written test: In Chocola Fantastica written test is of not much use as they hire for making
chocolates and other work related to it. Written test is generally conducted for those profiles
where technical skills are needed (John and Taylor, 2016). Hence, human resource department
should focus on assessment of candidate on other skills which are needed to perform the job.
Mock test: A mock test will be much useful for candidates as this will help recruiter of
Chocola Fantastica in analysing various skills possessed by candidate and then selection decision
can be made according to their performance in mock test. Mock test will help in assessing and
selecting best candidate among all applicants.

Recruitment: It is a process in which best candidates are hired in a company for a
vacancy. Efforts are made that this process is done in a manner which is cost effective and also
can be done in available time period. There are several steps such as analysing requirement,
attracting maximum candidates, screening of applicants, hieing employee and integration of new
employee in company. There are basically two approaches of recruitment:
External recruitment: In this approach companies are filling their vacancy outside
company (Kidron, Tzafrir and Meshoulam, 2016). This leads to innovation and new experience
in company, but is has a demerit that it is a long process and leads to increase in cost for
company.
Internal recruitment: In this approach employees are recruited within organization.
Through promotion, demotion, transfers and many other techniques are used to fill vacant
position. This method saves lot of time and cost of company so there is no need to look for
external sources.
Task 2
(a) Benefits to employees
Microsoft is a company which was formed in the year 1975 and its headquarter is located
in Redmond, Washington. It deals in various commodity such as computer software, personal
computers and different types of electronic items. They aim to train their employees on different
perspectives which increases their abilities, competence, overall knowledge & skills (Li and et.
al., 2015). They have started to provide internship and training programmes for future growth of
their employees. These internship programmes are part of company's new plan of action in order
to retain their worker for long duration and decrease their employee turnover cost.
Benefits to the staff members:
 Company provide different internship programs which will assist in enhancing their
knowledge and skills. It will help them in having adequate skills from future growth
prospect. Internship programmes of company helps individuals in developing various innovative
ideas and implementing them in company which helps in creating opportunities for them.
This type of programs is quite beneficial for the employees.
Benefits to Microsoft:

 Internship programs as well as trainings help in order to develop positive image of the
organisation and help individuals in company to enhance their competence level. This
enhance their efficiency and productivity at workplace. This will also provide company
in getting a competitive advantage as all companies are having some unique and
differentiation which will help them in creating a dominant place in commercial
enterprise (Nieves and Segarra-Ciprés, 2015).
 In terms of monetary values also lot of savings can be done as, organization need to pay
stipend to the interns. It has been analysed that these stipends are quite low in terms of
amount as compare to the salary paid.
M3 Explore various methods in HRM
There are different HRM practise which are used in organisation are explained down
below:
Healthy and safe workplace: The best HR practise is to provide healthy and safe
workplace for employees. For Hr Microsoft must ensure that employees get safe workplace and
healthy environment. For example company just render cab services to females who are working
late nights.
Performance based bonus: For the company like Microsoft HR must provide bonus on
the hard work. For example for overtime company must pay bonus to employees to motivate
them. This technique help in organisation to achieve their target effectively in limited time
frame.
(b) Evaluation of benefits which is providing to both employees & Microsoft.
Flexible working arrangements are essential as they help employees to set timings for
their working (Reiche and et. al., 2016). Employers of Microsoft are providing flexible working
hours to its subordinates. There are different types of flexible working arrangements which
includes part time work, customized working hours, job sharing, telecommuting, work from
home and so on. All these benefits are provided to the employees by the management team of
company. The benefits of flexible working hours to employers and employees are listed below:-
Benefits to Employees
 Microsoft provides employees to work from home when employees are not able to come
to office. Microsoft management thinks that employees must feel relaxed while working
so work from home provides them advantage.

 Microsoft employees are able to talk to their friends or relatives through email chat,
message chat, video chat and so on while they are working.
Benefits to Employers
 If employees are given flexible working hours, then their satisfaction level will be high.
Employees can increase firm's productivity or profitability and able to achieve targeted
goals in an effective manner (Smith, 2016). Thus, it is beneficial for Microsoft to make
effective benefits to employees.
 Flexible working hours helps in minimising employee turnover. This helps in maximising
the overall performance of company.
(c) How Microsoft motivate its staff members
In today's competitive environment, organisations provide various benefits and
advantages in order to motivate their current staff members. In references to Microsoft,
management team of the organization mainly focus towards satisfying the requirements of
customers by providing them high quality services. For this, it is essential for managers to satisfy
their employees first by motivating and encouraging them towards their work. This as a result,
increase the efficiency and productivity of employees working within the organisation (Stewart
and Brown, 2019). There are various other methods with the help of which employees can
enhance their effectiveness which are as follows:
Health and Safety: In order to support the employees motivated and encouraged towards
work, administrator of the company provide them healthy and secure working environment.
There are some basic requirements which includes drinking water facilities, clean and hygiene
room, safe and secure use of technologies and so on. All these facilities motivates current staff
members in an effective manner which as a result increase their efficiency. In the present context
of Microsoft, managers of the company provide various health care sessions which make them
aware about the current situation in the environment. Along with this, it has been analysed that
all these methods motivate employees in an effective manner (Wilton, 2016).
Training and development sessions: It is one of the most important session provided by
each and every organisation to their worker. With the assistance of this, staff members will be
able to produce positive outcome and develop various future opportunities for them. In context
of Microsoft, it has been said that manager provide training and development sessions to their
employees within every 3 months (Wood, 2016). With the help of this, staff members of the

company work in an effective manner and reduce wastage and scrap while developing services.
This as a result provide growth opportunities to the staff members.
Task 3
(a) Explain employee engagement and why it is an essential part in developing effective
employee relationship within Microsoft
Employee engagement is defined as relationship between employees and employer of the
organisation. An engaged employee is one who is enthusiastic about his work and takes positive
action towards creating reputation of the organisation. Employee engagement is important as
these employees care about work and performance of organisation. If an employee feels involved
within the company, he is mentally and physically devoted towards attaining goals and
objectives of company (Banfield, Kay and Royles, 2018). Such employees bind together the
work commitment, effort and satisfaction. Employee engagement within Microsoft is important
because of the following reasons -
Better communication - When employees are engaged truly, there is improved employee
retention, sales metrics, customer satisfaction and overall profitability. Those organisations
which are creative and innovative only those can have employee engagement percentage high.
When employees are engaged, they work together happily with other colleagues in Microsoft.
This helps in increasing efficiency and relation among employees.
Empowers decision making – Employees of Microsoft are engaged and they work
together towards attaining a specific goal. When these employees are working together, this
accelerates problem solving and learning. This results in good decision making and
responsiveness. Good and effective employee relationship empowers decision making and builds
sustained engagement with time.
Clarity of purpose – Engaged employees are said to be more responsible in working and
achieving organisational goals. Leaders are able to convey plans and strategies effectively to
employees and subordinates (Bratton and Gold, 2017). The leaders can easily align employees
the purpose and goals by breaking down barriers between organisation and leadership.

(b) Key approaches to engage workers
There are various ways of engaging employees within the company. Microsoft is a big
company and it focuses on providing satisfaction to employees. Microsoft has different
approaches towards creating employee engagement and these are listed below -
Organising knowledge events – The events organised by Microsoft focuses on increasing
learning experience of employees. The leadership team of Microsoft are humbled by power of
technology (Brewster, 2017). If any new technology is introduced them employees of Microsoft
are given information by their leaders. This increases the level of engagement and involvement
of employees.
Involving in Activities – Microsoft organises various employee engagement activities.
All these are related to new technologies. In this way, employees are given knowledge about new
technologies while having fun. This is a great strategy in which individuals learn effectively.
(c) Important elements of UK employment legislation
It is essential for every organisation to follow various employment legislations given by
law. UK government has imposed different regulations which are followed in Microsoft. Some
of the laws are mentioned below -
Working Time Regulation,1998 – According to this law, it says that each and every
worker must be given equal right to work according to the decided hour of working. In Microsoft
all employee has flexible working hours. Flexible working hours provide satisfaction to
employees. They think organisation is taking care of them. This increases the chances of
employee retention.
Diversity and Equality Act, 2010 – According to this regulation, all employees have to
treat their colleagues, staff and other employees in an equal manner. They cannot discriminate
other individuals at workplace on the basis of colour, religion or caste. Discrimination among
employees creates negative environment at workplace so it should not be practised (Bryson,
2017). Microsoft leaders consider that such discrimination does not take place at workplace and
all employees are treated equally.
Employee rights Act, 1996 – This regulation describes relationship between employees
and employers. This defined what employers expect from employees and what employers can
ask to do at work. All employees recruited in Microsoft are not discriminated on any basis. They
are provided all rights given to other individuals working in the company. The employment Act

1996 provides right to provide leave for child care and right to request flexible working hour
pattern (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2018). Microsoft employees are given all these rights.
M4 Evaluate the key aspect of employees relations and employees legislation which effect HRM
Good relation with employees and managers help in expansion and growth. HR have the
responsibility to create a healthy environment in organisation so that job can be done effectively.
Where as employees legislation plays an vital role in providing benefits to employees . There are
different legislation which must be taken consideration by HR like regulation act and equal
wages act. This provide safety and security to employees within organisation and HR must
ensure that all employees gets equal benefit without any bias.
Task 4
(a) Person specification.
Chocola fantastica is hiring for position of a female receptionist. They are focussing on
English comprehension and maths test. These skills will be analysed by a written test which
company will be taking of all the candidates (Delery and Roumpi, 2017).
PERSON SPECIFICATIONS
Title: Receptionist
Department: Management
Report to: Administration Manager
Attributes Essentials Desirable
Competencies Individual should have
effective communication
skill while taking calls and
attending anyone. Along
with this, they should have
polite nature and handle
adverse situation calmly.
Greet all the guest and visitors
warmly and support them in order
to understand the environment of
organisation.
Experience Candidate must have 6 Must have basic experience and is