Analysis of HRM Selection Methods at Chocolate Presescence

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within Chocolate Presescence, a growing UK-based company. It begins by defining HRM and its importance, then delves into the company's current selection methods, including homemade assessment tests and informal chats, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. The report suggests improvements such as structured interviews and psychometric tests to enhance the selection process. Furthermore, it includes a person specification for a receptionist role, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of current job advertising methods (internal and external), and recommends optimal placement for a job advert. The report then explores the benefits of graduate training schemes and employee engagement, examining key approaches to engaging workers and the influence of UK employment legislation on HR decision-making. Finally, it concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for Chocolate Presescence's HRM strategies.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
a) The purpose of the HR function and its importance to the organization................................1
b) The strengths and weaknesses of the current selection methods............................................2
c) 2 two potential improvements that could be made by Chocolate Presescence to
enhance its selection process......................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
a) Create a person specification for the role................................................................................4
b) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the current methods of advertising jobs.........5
c) Explain where you would recommend the job advert for the Receptionist vacancy to be
placed and
why.............................................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
Microsoft offer graduate training schemes and internships and benefits of them.....................7
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
a) What is meant by the term employee engagement and why it is important part in effective
employee relations....................................................................................................................10
b) The key approaches to engaging workers in the summit and these approaches improve
communication in the workplace..............................................................................................11
c) The key elements of UK employment legislation and how they influence HR decision-
making.......................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is an strategic approach to the effective management of the
employees and the peoples who are working within the company so that they can help the
business to gain a competitive advantage. It can be a process or a way in which an organisation
hires the employees and provide training to them so that they can help the company to achieve its
organisational objectives. This assignment based on Chocolate Presescence which is a rapidly
expending company based in North Yorkshire and provide tailor-made chocolate based greeting
cards and present across the UK. In this report will discussed about the purpose of the HR
functions and its importance to the firm and strengths and weaknesses of the current selection
methods that are used by the company. A job description will be explained for the role of
receptionist with the advantages and disadvantages of the current methods of advertising jobs.
Further will be defined about employee performance, development and reward & performance
that influence HR decision making. The key elements of employment legislations and the impact
it has upon HRM decision making will be described (Al Ariss, Cascio and Paauwe, 2014).
TASK 1
a) The purpose of the HR function and its importance to the organization
HRM is the term which is used by the company to describe formal systems devised for
the management of the employees and workers within a firm. In Chocolate Presescence, it can be
a process of recruiting, hiring, deploying and managing the organisation's employees.
Functions of HRM
There are various functions of HRM and they are as following:
Recruitment-In Chocolate Presescence, it is the most important and challenging function
and task for a manger because a lot of attention and resources re required to organise this process
to select or hire a skilled candidate. The main purpose of this function is to chose, select and hire
a talented applicant for the vacant position or post within the company. In the company, the
business suffer with the problem of lack of employees within production team, finance,
marketing, production and distribution team. So this function is appropriate to recruit the
employees for the vacant positions. It is important function because with the help of this function
manager can find a qualified person which help in achieving organisational objectives or future
growth (Albrecht and et. al., 2015).
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Training & development- It another function of HRM which is necessary to make
improvement in the current or future performance of the employees by increasing their ability,
skills and knowledge. In Chocolate Presescence, there is a issue related to the quality of some
items and employee turnover. To solve these issues the manager of the company can use this
function and provide training and development sessions to its employees so that they can
improve the quality of products. The main purpose of this function is to improving and
increasing the skills and knowledge of the workers so that they can help in the future growth of
the company. It is important function because if the company can provide training to them, they
can learn about various new things and enhance their abilities at personal and professional level
which help them in their future growth and reduce employee turnover (Alfesn and et. al., 2013).
b) The strengths and weaknesses of the current selection methods
Selection is process and method which is used by the manager of the firm to make
differentiation between applicants in order to identify or select a skilled, talented or qualified
candidate for the vacant position or a specific job or post. There are various methods such as
interview, tests and exams that can be used by the HR manager of a company to find out a
capable applicant. In Chocolate Presescence, there are two methods of selection that are used by
the company to select candidates, they are as following:
Home-made assessment tests- It is a tests which is designed by the management of Chocolate
Presescence to select applicants. This test include maths and English comprehension in which
compulsory to get 50% to pass a candidate in it. There are various advantages and disadvantages
of this test which are as following:
Advantages- It is a good and right method to select a candidate for the vacant position
because by using this method the management department of the company can easily judge or
analyse the level of knowledge. With the help of this method, they can select a qualified
candidate for the filling the position.
Disadvantages- It is cost and time consuming process. This method is not relevant for all
because some people are good in theoretical part or some in practical. The fact that someone has
an assessment for something does not necessarily mean that they ill perform well.
Informal chat- It is a type of interview which take place in a casual sitting, such as over lunch
and coffee. It is not structured like a traditional and formal job interview (Buller and McEvoy,
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2012). In this type of interview, the aim of the interviewer is to assess that candidate who will fit
in the organisation at both profession and personal level.
Advantages- It is a good method for candidate because they can share their views openly
and they feel comfortable in it because it is not a formal or structured process. There are
flexibility because there are no fixed set of questions and they ask anything according to the role
of the position (Cascio, 2015).
Disadvantages- There are maximum 10-15 minutes are provided to interviewer to judge
or analyse the skills and knowledge of a candidate so it is not easy to identified a qualified
candidate. There are high chance of wrong selection for a right position.
c) 2 two potential improvements that could be made by Chocolate Presescence to
enhance its selection process
In Chocolate Presescence, there are some problems arise related to hiring new employees
for various department such as finance, marketing, production etc., employees turn over and the
quality of some products or items is not as high as it used to be. So solving these issues and
getting or finding out skilled and qualified candidates the company can use some selection
process that are as following:
Structured interviews- It is a quantitative method of research and a structured method of
interview in which the HR manager of the company have a lot of time and a formate of interview
questions related to the job profile. It is beneficial for Chocolate Presescence because by this this
method they can get more knowledge about the candidate and analyse their skills and knowledge
according to the job position. It is time and cost consuming process because in it the interviewer
directly asked questions related to the job role. It help in enhance the selection process because
with use this method the manager of the company can chose right candidate and they show their
loyalty towards the firm and improve the condition of employee turn over. It is useful because
with it the they can gather correct information to the applicants about them.
A bought psychometric test- It is a tests which is a standard and scientific method used by the
company to measure the individual metal capabilities and behaviour style. In Chocolate
Presescence, it is important method to improve the current selection process. By using this
method of selection the manager of the company can identify a skilled and capable applicant
which can help in the organisational growth by manufacturing and developing good quality
products and items (Daley, 2012). This method is useful for the firm because it help in
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improving the selection process such as assessment test and informal chat. In assessment test, the
management of the company judge numerical ability and communication or English
comprehension knowledge. With the help of this method they can easily judge the numerical
ability, mentality tests and behavioural test of the candidates which help in the growth of the
company (Gatewood, Feild and Barrick, 2015).
TASK 2
a) Create a person specification for the role
A person specification is a documents that outline the educational requirements, training
experience as well as more personal qualification of a candidate that must be needed for a vacant
position. It can be a description of the qualifications, skills, experience, knowledge and other
attributes which an applicant must to have or possess to preform a job duties and responsibilities.
Person Specification for Receptionist
Essential Desirable
Skills  Good written and
verbal communication
skills.
 Need to be have time
management skill.
 Proficient computer
skills including
Microsoft Suite such as
word, power point and
excel.
Knowledge  High school diploma or
equivalent.
 Certificate in office
management.
Experience  Prior experience in
customer service or
related field.
 6 months experience as
Front office
representatives or
smiler role.
Responsibilities  Serves visitors by
greeting, welcoming
and directing them
appropriately.
 Having information
 Receiving and sorting
daily mails.
 Perform clerical duties,
take memos, maintain
files and organise
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about the use of IT
facilities, telephone
switchboard and
stationary stock.
documents etc.
Attitude Professional attitude and
appearance
Polite and customer service
attitude.
b) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the current methods of advertising jobs
Currently, there are two methods of advertisements that are used by Chocolate Presence
are internal advertisement and notice boards or external wall advertisement. These methods are
used by the company to hire or recruit new employee for the vacant positions (Hoye and et. al.,
2012).
Internal job advertisement- It is a job advertising method in which the management
department of the company circulate the information regarding vacant position through its
existing staff and their friends, family and others. In Chocolate Presescence, the management
department of the company use this method to recruit new employees.
Advantages- It is cost and time saving process because the management department of
the company do not use any tool or technique to provide notification and information regarding
recruitment and job vacancies. Any type interview and selection procedure do not use by the
management department of the company. It vis a word of mouth advertisement so the cost does
not invest in organising recruitment process. It improve the employee loyalty.
Disadvantage- There are high chance of wrong selection because candidates are refereed
by existing employees or their friends, family etc. and the skills or knowledge did not be
analysed in a proper manner that they are able to the vacant position or not.
Notice boards or external wall advertisement- In Chocolate Presescence, the company use
external wall advertisement for filling the vacant positions of different department such as
finance, marketing, production and others. It is a easy way to hire or recruit candidate and not
consume more cost because a memo write by the manager of the company which include
information regarding the vacant positions and stick it on the notice board. Wall advertisement is
also a easy process because in this the information regarding the vacant post, are print on the
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wall so that the people of outside of the company can know about it (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang,
2014J).
Advantages- It is important because due to external advertisement, new people and external
person get information about the vacant positions of the job. With the use of this advertising tool,
new talent, ideas, knowledge, skills and others enter within the organisation which help in the
organisational growth. It is beneficial for the company because by conducting interview and
others, the manager of the company get or collect correct information about the candidate (Jiang
and et. al., 2012).
Disadvantage- It is cost and time consuming process because when the management
department of the company use the external advertising, they organise recruitment and selection
process such as interview and others to select the candidate. When the company print the
information on the outside of the firm or wall it consume cost or time.
c) Explain where you would recommend the job advert for the Receptionist vacancy to be placed
and
why
In Chocolate Presescence, the HR manager of the company can recommend and use
various job advertisements such as Job site, local newspaper and company website etc.
Job site- It is an internet location where information relating to a specific subject or
group subject can be assessed. In Chocolate Presescence, the management department of the
company can advertise and provide information or notification related to the vacant positions of
different department such as finance, marketing others. It is an important tool to inform the
candidates in about vacancies or the roles and responsibilities of the post. Now these days there
are various job sites such as indeed, Monaster, CareerBuilder etc. that help organisation to
advertising related to vacant post.
Local newspaper- It is an another tool that can be used by the management department
of Chocolate Presescence to provide information about the vacancy. News paper advertising
allows advertisers to more effectively reach smaller, niche audience, including those in specific
geographical areas. It is less cost effective and spread information in wide demographic areas.
Company website- It is also an important tool of advertisement that can be used by the
manager of Chocolate Presescence to provide notification of vacant positions of different
departments. Company website is important because it provide background details and
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information about the business of the organisation or service. In the company, the management
department of the company can use the company website as an advertising tool and can mention
the information about the vacant positions (Kehoe and Wright, 2013).
TASK 3
Microsoft offer graduate training schemes and internships and benefits of them
Training and internship both constitutes developing a particular skill to a desires standard
by instruction and practice. It can serve as an highly useful tool for organisation that wishes to
bring an employee into a place where they can do their job more efficiently and conscientiously.
Through proper training and internship organisation will be able to motivate and influence
employees which will help them to achieve set goal in a more efficient ways. Microsoft offers
various training and internship programme to its employees at different levels of the
organisational structure (Luthans and Doh, 2012). which is beneficial to both employees and
employer in certain different ways. These can be further elaborated below:
Benefit to employees.
A training and internship program allows graduates to strengthen their skill which
requires improvement. It also helps employees to work more efficiently and effectively in the
organisation. Training provides certain different benefits which can be elaborated below:
 On the job training: It comprises of providing training to the employees within their
own working environment so that new employees feel comfortable and they can increase
their level of expertise in the working process. This helps them to use different tool and
equipment which will be required in their future roles. It helps employees to work
smoothly as they have been training under administration of skilled staff. Which help
them to increase their confidence level. Through proper training and with timely
feedback employee tent to learn more.
 High earning potential: Through advance training and learning employees will be able
to work efficiently and tent to make less mistake as they have been trained by the
experts. They will understand the basic element of their job profile and it will help them
to contribute more to the job. Thus they can achieve higher return by working hard and
they can also work toward exceeding their performance level to a higher extent. Different
organisation have different grad systems. Employees training system will help employees
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to take advantage of these grad system by earning incentives and bonus for their hard
work (Noe and et. al., 2017).
 Job security : sometimes employees needs organisations assurance that they require their
services, especially in time of economic hardship in the market. By providing training to
the employees organisation can show employees that they value their employment with
the company. It generate a sense of security in the mind of employees about their profile
in the company and they feel motivated towards their work (Purce, 2014).
 Better career prospects: Through training and internship graduate will know more about
organisation working, structure and their responsibilities. Which will help graduate to
capture different opportunities available with in the Organisation. It can help them to
capture opportunities such as promotion, new responsibility and more pay. Through this
they can shape their career in the right direction.
 Global opportunities : Industries and technology are constantly changing . By providing
regular training organisation ensures that their employees remains updated with the
industry's regulations and latest technology. Graduates tent to learn faster in comparison
to others as they are more technology driven. In order to ensure this organisation will
provide different training programme to the employees which will help them to know
more about the the global aspect of the economy and the company. Thus employees will
be able to tap global opportunities through prior knowledge being provided by company.
Benefits to the organisational
A well trained employee usually shows higher level of productivity and higher quality of
work output in comparison with an untrained employee in the workplace. Training at initial level
will help the organisation to increase and enhance the skills of the employee in performance of a
particular job which is being assigned to them. An increase in skill will result in increasing
overall quantity and quality of work. Microsoft's Training and internship programme will
provide several benefit to the organisation that can be elaborated below:
 Affordable: Organisation will hire new recruits and will provide training and internship
facilities to them in order to save cost because new entrant tents to expect low income as
compared to the already existing one. As they are new in the industry they have a certain
kind off zest to work and prove themselves in the organisation. They will push their limit
to a higher extent because of their fresh attitude towards work (Renwick, Redman and
8

Maguire, 2013). They are going to learn more through these training and internship
programme because they a have sense of fear as they are new. In order to reduce it they
will pay more focus in the sessions. This will benefit organisation as they will work will
full enthusiasm in the business.
 Return on investment: Investing in workforce through training and development will
result in increased motivation and commitment. It will also increase and improve the
recruitment and retention process (Vaiman, Scullion and Collings, 2012). If organisation
depicts that they are ready to invest in their work force they will find it easier to attract
better candidate to apply for their vacancy and are more likely to hold staff for a longer
period and will also reduce the recruitment cost. A clear training will also help the
organisation to align their work with their set goals. With the proper training return is
ensured as staff put skills into practice in the workplace. After all, well trained and skilled
employees mean increased productivity and growth.
 Ready to mould: Through prior training graduates have already developed an habit for
learning so they will have a comfort level with the changing environment. Organisation
can use them in order to shape them according to their requirement. As graduates are
compared to blank canvas organisation can paint them as per their needs through
different training programme as they tent to accept it as well. Because they have been
getting continuous training.
 Solid business skills: Training will help the graduates to increase their skills like written
and oral skills. Training programme such as orientation and soft skill training programme
will help students to come out of their comfort zone and will help them to increase their
communication skill required in work place. Other programmes such as debates will help
them to get to know about different aspect and will help in developing their businesses
skills. It will also help to create a friendly relationship between organisation and its
employees.
 New perspectives: Organisation needs to adopt new ideas and innovation in order to
cope with the dynamic environment. Introduction of graduates in the organisation will
help them to bring new ideas and creativity as they are fresh talent. They posses certain
skills which are not presented in the old workforce. Organisation can take suggestion
from new staff and old staff as well. which will provide them with a wider range of idea
9

to choose from and also it will help them to choose ideas which will better suit the
situation (Harrison and Lock, 2017).
Microsoft motivates its employees by providing the various benefits and it also design their
job roles which help the employees of Microsoft to work in a motivated manner. They
protect the human rights of the employees and they understand the needs of the employees by
empowering them and they conduct their meeting at various different location such as
meeting in teh meetings in the tree house which provides a healthy work environment.
Maslow's need hierarchy theory: It is basically based on motivational theory that motivate the
personnel of Microsoft like first comes the basic need which covers food, shelter and clothing if
this is not satisfied then human cannot be motivated to achieve other need. After that people look
for safety need, belongingness as well as esteem need which help personnel to achieve self
Actualisation state.
Flexible working arrangement for the staff
Time away- Under this arrangement the company provides flexible working hours to the
employees. Management allows workers to take leaves and are given vacations and holiday
packages.
Benefits to the organisation:
 This helps organisation in improving the productivity of the Microsoft as stress free
workers produce more output.
 Microsoft also enjoys good image in the market due to this factor.
Benefits to the employees:
 Employees zeal to work more and earn gets increased due to this factor.
 Flexible working arrangement allows workers to take appropriate breaks, this helps in
reducing problems like stress, anxiety and depression. It improves and maintain their
mental and physical health
Flexible working arrangement for the staff
Time away- Under this arrangement the company provides flexible working hours to the
employees. Management allows workers to take leaves and are given vacations and holiday
packages.
Care for the family- Under this aspect Microsoft allows its workers to make time for
those people who are close to them.
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