HRM Report: Employee Engagement, Performance, and Line Managers

This report delves into the critical relationship between employee engagement and organizational performance, specifically within the context of Unilever. It examines the essential role of line managers in fostering a positive work environment and driving productivity. The report explores the importance of soft skills development, such as communication and emotional intelligence, for line managers and their impact on employee satisfaction and customer service. It also addresses the consequences of inadequate people skills in line management and the significance of embracing diversity in the global business environment. The report includes a reflective statement, a management report analyzing various aspects of HRM, including recruitment, performance management, and talent management, and concludes with recommendations for improvement, offering a comprehensive analysis of human resource management practices and their influence on organizational success.

HUMAN
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE – REFLECTIVE STATEMENT.................................................................................1
Requirement for understanding the relationship between engagement of employees and
organizational performance by line managers.............................................................................1
Need of good people skills to line managers...............................................................................2
Requirement of being positive to line manager about diversity in the current global business
environment.................................................................................................................................3
Self evaluation ; people management..........................................................................................4
PART TWO : MANAGEMENT REPORT ....................................................................................4
Introduction..................................................................................................................................4
Soft skills development by line manager with its benefits and difficulties to organisation........5
Consequences of not having good people skills for line management. ......................................6
Line managers reaction in Unilever diversity learning events. ...................................................8
Recommendations........................................................................................................................9
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

PART ONE – REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
Requirement for understanding the relationship between engagement of employees and
organizational performance by line managers
According to my view, it is essential for the line managers to understand the relationship
between employee engagement and organizational performance as it play a vital role in
operations of a business. Unilever is a huge company in which it is essential for its line managers
to undertake this thing and implement all its procedures (Day, 2019). Line managers are the one
who are responsible for high level of performance within a specific area. Employee engagement
has a huge impact on performance of an organization. As per my view, the way in which the
assets of an organization are being managed by an employee matters a lot in production of the
products and services that are being produced in an organization. There are several factors which
influence employee engagement that includes leadership, empowerment, communication,
training, performance management and many others, these are the factors that play a crucial role
in performance of an organization in order to achieve its objectives.
There are several outcomes from employee engagement to performance of Unilever
which includes increasing profits and productivity, improvement of quality, financial success,
betterment of employee relation and organizational culture. Proper engagement of employees can
help the organization in incurring higher profits that also leads to increase in productivity. With
the rise in profits, onuses and incentives also increases for employees which encourages and
motivates them to work more effectively and creates their loyalty towards organization.
Employee engagement helps in improving the quality of organization which significantly
influence on customer satisfaction. Effective engagement of employees can lead to have a higher
effect on the organization's financial success (Bailey, Benson and Bruner, 2019).
From this task, I can learn about several elements of HRM module which includes
recruitment, performance management, benefits to administration, workforce management,
absence and leave management and talent management. These aspects help to understand and
learn about HRM module from which I came to know about these aspects which helps in
increasing the productivity and profitability of the organization.
I can use several HRM theories or models to evaluate my views and opinion. There are
basically five models of HRM which can be used to evaluate the opinion of several aspects in
management of human resource. The model that is being used by me to understand the concepts
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of HRM is the standard casual model of HRM which is a model that shows a casual chain that
starts with the business strategy and that ends through the processes of HR with an improved
financial performance (Chen, Jiao and Harrison, 2019).
CIPD article can be used to evaluate my answers, as certificate and diploma qualification
from chartered institute of personnel and development which is a significant experience that is
being associated for human resource management professionals. This can help in gathering
several aspects of HRM which play a crucial role in operations of an organization.
This model helps me to understand several concepts of HRM which are being used in an
organization in order to perform effective operations of production and management in the
organization. It helped me to understand that HRM outcomes leads to improved internal
performance like increased productivity, quality and innovation. These outcomes help in
increasing financial performance of an organization which consist of profits, financial turnover,
return on investment and better margins.
Need of good people skills to line managers
According to me, a line manager is a person who is responsible for managing the
employees and resources in order to achieve specific organizational goals. The role of line
manager includes several which helps them in blending of tasks and people management. These
includes several roles which are performed by line managers that includes recruitment and hiring
talents for the purpose of filling team positions, providing support and training to new hires,
providing coaching and performance feedback to all the members in the team and the most major
element monitoring individual and team metrics with performance versus targets. These are the
major aspects which helped me to understand the needs of HRM practices and why they are
important as per the view of line manager.
People skills are an important element for an organization in order to achieve its
objectives as it helps the company in adding values to it. It is essential for a line manager too as
all the major decision regarding operations are being taken by the line manager of an
organization. People skills are those sets of idea which enables a line manager to effectively
communicate with others and decreases the possibilities of miscommunication. It helps a
manager to resolve conflicts and issues in an organization. These skills of mutual understanding
and effective communication is essential for a line manager to develop its skills and take the
organization towards attainment of its objectives (Naeem and et.al., 2019). Unilever is a huge
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company which have several channels of distribution which make its line manager essential to
communicate effectively with its employees and manage the work according to achieve its
objective.
Effective management skills are necessary to understand by a line manager as he is the
one who is responsible for all the operations which are being conducted within the organization
in order to achieve objectives of the organization. Effective management skills help a line
manager in understanding team dynamics with encouraging good relationships, delegating in a
more effective manner, communicating effectively, increasing ability to plan, decision making
and problem solving. It is the best way through which a line manager can attain the objectives of
Unilever so that company can involve its operations more effectively and efficiently. It also
helps in motivating the sub-ordinates which significantly increases their morale and make them
work more effectively and efficiently which helps in increasing the productivity of an
organization.
In this task I came to know about importance of people skills for a line manager. It also
helped me to learn about performance management which is an element of HRM aspect
(Megahed and et.al.,2019).
Requirement of being positive to line manager about diversity in the current global business
environment
As per my views, diversity is a major aspect of organisational life in the present global
business environment. It is essential for every business to evaluate the factor of diversity and
implement them as it play a significant role in achieving the objectives of a business in
international market. It is essential in the modern market to implement diversity as it helps in
generating innovative ideas with understanding local markets and acquiring new talents. This
diversifies the thinking and planning of an organisation which allows to think on a broader basis
with a large workforce which can generate more ideas than a smaller work force(Nikolova,
Schaufeli and Notelaers, 2019).
The main aspect which comes into our mind while diversification is innovation. A
company which employs a diverse workforce is better in understanding the demographics of the
global consumer marketplace where it serves and it is also better equipped to thrive in that
marketplace than a company which have a more limited range of employees demographics.
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Another aspect in diversification is adaptability, which allows an organisation to adopt
the culturally and technologically all the factors of the diversified market in which company is
taking an entry. Diversity enables unique thinking and improved decision making through a
deeper and more comprehensive world-view.
Problems are very common in huge companies which prevents the operations but the
resolving the problems play a vital role in an organisation which is being performed by a
manager. Diversity helps in solving the problem in an organisation much more easily as it has
more workforce which results in more use of brains that results in resolving the issues and
conflicts more easily, but wrong actions can create a huge mess in an organisation and creates
more problems (Robertson, 2019).
Decision making is being easier with a wider work force, as it involves huge number of
minds. It is an advantage in a diversified organisation as it consists of more number of
employees than a undiversified organisation which makes it unique and more
effective.Self-evaluation ; people management
The company in which I want to work is Unilever which store is based at Kingston upon
Thames, UK. It would appear that the predominant leadership style within this environment is
good enough where I can practice and build more skills in the same field by taking more and
more experience in the same, as predominant leadership is a driven form of leadership which is
based upon the self-enrolment, alignment and commitment of Unilever to a vision which is led
by an influential individual. Likewise, the overall approach to human resource management
appears to be more significant and vital in understanding the working of a human resource
department in Unilever and how it influences the operations of an organisation in order to
achieve its goals and objectives. Therefore it is likely that I will be able to practice good people
management within this environment because I am good at people skills which I came to know
by doing this project and it also helped me to analyse that I am not good in problem solving
which I will rectify by attending problem solving sessions and overcome this issue (Day, 2019).
PART TWO: MANAGEMENT REPORT
Introduction
Human resource management is concerned with the managing of human capital of the
company. It improve the performance of employees in the company, prepares the strategy that
make the employee's work in efficient and effective manner (Bailey, Benson and Bruner, 2019).
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Unilever is the company of British Dutch which mainly retails consumer goods. The co-
headquarter of Unilever company are situated in London, United Kingdom. The products that are
mainly delivered by the company are food and beverages which leads the company to earn 40 %
revenue, beauty products, personal care products, cleansing agents, etc. In this report the
discussion will be based on line mangers develops soft skills with its benefits and difficulties
which will increase employee engagement and organisation performance. Further the study will
be based on the effects that line managers not have skilled people in its organisation. The study
will discuss the reactions that line managers experience in the company in perception of
diversity.
Soft skills development by line manager with its benefits and difficulties to organisation
Soft skill means the personal attribute or the skill of interaction with others which makes
good impression on others. Soft skills improves the relationship with others. The development of
soft skills is difficult. Some of the soft skills are adaptability, customer’s services, public
speaking, communication, emotional intelligence, etc.
Some necessary soft skills that need to be supported by the line managers are emotional
intelligence and communication skills which will increase the level of employee engagement
and the performance of organisation. Benefits are:
 Soft skills improve the customers satisfaction from the products that Unilever is offering
this benefits the organisation and the employees feels that they are doing quality work in
the organisation which further benefits them in terms of reward, incentives or bonus to
motivate for more hard work in their work for the organisation (Day, 2019).
 The soft skills improve the leadership skill and makes the strong team which benefits the
organisation to increases its productivity. Employees working in the team improves their
communication and interaction with others help them the importance of team work in the
organisation.
 Communication reduces the gap between top management and the lowers authority
which help the employee to understand the work culture of the organisation which
benefits the employee to retain in the company as communication helps the employees to
convey their problems and suggestion to the top management which further improves the
organisation performance by the suggestion that employees give to improve the work
culture of Unilever (Johansen and Sowa, 2019).
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The difficulties that line manager face to support the soft skill development in the employees are:
 When the emotional intelligence is not developed by the line managers of Unilever
company then the employee in the company does not feel the sense of belongingness
towards the organisation which will decreases the employee concentration on work and
further it impact on the performance of organisation which tends to decrease as the work
culture in the organisation is not suitable for the employees (Landolt, Stephan and
Scherrer, 2019).
 When communication is not good in the organisation like the employee feels difficulty in
communication to the top authority but the channel of communication is complex in the
organisation which impact the company performance to decreases as it is not able to get
suggestion or the grievance from the employees.
 With autocratic leadership style the company will face difficulties to take proper decision
for the growth of the organisation and it will negatively impact on the employee as they
were not included in the decision making process further the company will reduce its
financial performance of the Unilever company (Lira and et.al.,2019).
 If the organisation does not follow the flat organisational culture than it impacts the work
culture of the organisation as the employee does not retain in the company for longer
time due to the working environment in the company which is not friendly for the
employees.
 According to CIPD view point the performance of the organisation improve when the
employee is able to understand what the organisation needed from the employee to
achieve the organisational gaol for which the employees are not able to understand the
motive of the company and the employees does not possess the required skills, support or
resources (CIPD. 2019).
Consequences of not having good people skills for line management.
Effective skills that are required in employees such as team work, conflict management,
to deal with change management etc. which helps the organisation to solve the problems in
relation to the employee engagement and performance of the employees because it will increase
the job satisfaction of the employee according to the society human resource management the
employee engagement will be increased when the company follows the flat organisational
culture which is able to provide better communication help to adopt the changes when
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organisation make changes in its strategies (Megahed and et.al.,2019). It improves the work
relation and creates the happy organisational structure for the employees.
 When line managers take proactive approach to ensure the wellbeing of employees as it is
important in the Unilever because it helps the employee to adopt healthy working
environment which can help in building work life balance. Healthy work behaviour
reduces the health risks for the employees and lowers the risk of chronic diseases. Which
will benefit the organisation to reduce its expenditure on the diseases as fewer health care
cost expenses will appear for the company.
 The line manager helps to facilitate higher level of collaboration with the strong team
work in the organisation which is important because it will help to increase the problem
solving capabilities in the employees and make the exchange of idea in the team will
increase the creativity in the employees for doing best in their work (Naeem and et.al.,
2019). By working in the team the different solutions given by the employee will help the
company to get the best solution for the problem as it enable the democratic leaders to
broaden their scope for getting innovative idea to solve the problem which will improve
the company efficiency and performance.
 Line manage needs to understand the conflicts that are happening within the employees
of the organisation as the healthy conflicts make the organisation to understand the
problem deeply within the organisation and unhealthy conflicts make the working
environment difficult and bad impact on the employee about the company image. When
line manager is able to understand the nature of conflict it makes easier for the employee
to find the root cause of the conflict and identify the employee who is started conflict in
the organisation (Nikolova, Schaufeli and Notelaers, 2019). Line manager can make
resolve the problems of employee who started conflicts by privately talking to employee
which will help the organisation to stop creating negative image in the minds of other
employees.
 Line manager in the company needs to make its employee understand the changes that
are made by the company in their strategies it is important to analyse changes that needed
for the organisation to compete with the rival companies in the market. For effectively
implementing the change management the line manager of Unilever company needs to
communicate clearly with its employees and create the effective plan for the survival of
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the company, delegation of the task is also important for the line managers(Robertson,
2019). It important because it increase the productivity, input, services and the returns in
business. Which further reduces the negative outcome and increase the positive results
for the company.
As the consequences which are not engaged in good practices in management of people
by line managers will impact the organisation to reduce its organisational performance it will
impact to reduce the employee efficiency. With lack of team work the company will not able to
get best solution of the problem and the creativity will be less in the company. Unresolved
conflicts will impact negatively on the employee and the working culture of the company will
get fully disturbed (Stevenson and Moore, 2019). Poor change management make the work
culture complex to understand by the employees because of all these factors the company is not
able to produce the acceptable result and unable to achieve its objective.
Line manager’s reaction in Unilever diversity learning events.
The current perception is of diversity in Unilever company is that it is leading towards
the development because of its organisational structure and the working environment for the
employees are suitable to deal with many dynamic changes in the company(Waddell and
et.al.,2019).
The line managers are likely to react positively with development relating to the diversity
within the teams and the networks because
 the reason is it increases the communication skills in the employees
 Another reason is the conflicts in the company are less
 the productivity of the Unilever increases
 the main potential reason is that it increases the profit of the company
The line managers likely to react negatively in the management development event
relating to the diversity within Unilever are:
 the reason is conflicts may arise in the company when environment of the organisation is
not good for the employees.
 The reason is that Unilever does not focus on the wellbeing of the employee of Unilever
company (Bailey, Benson and Bruner, 2019).
 The another reason is that the company employees are not able to adopt the changes in
the organisation in relation to the strategy that are changed by the company.
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The overall reaction of line managers in Unilever company is likely to be able to adopt
the changes because the company is able manage development of company in the diversified
learning events and had built the capabilities to compete with the rival companies in the market.
Recommendations
Senior leaders of Unilever company wanting to introduce good people management
practice will need to convince line managers for interrelationship between effective people
management, organisational sustainability and competitive advantage because
 The company is recommended to retain the talented employee and attract them by
providing attractive monetary reward, improve and increase the manager engagement,
focus on developing the skills of employees which will impact the company to increase
the organisation goodwill in the market which will attract the talented and skilled people
towards the company (Chen, Jiao and Harrison, 2019).
 The company is recommended to manage people effectively which will impact to
decrease the employee absence and increases the company turnover which will help the
company to retain its talented employee in the company.
 The company is recommended to follow the flat organisational structure which will
improve the working culture of the company and increases smoothness in communication
channel of the company. The company can follow democratic leadership theory which
will make the company to work in team and involve employees in the decision making.
The company should follow its ethics towards fulfilling the requirement of the employees
that satisfy the employee needs from the company (Landolt, Stephan and Scherrer, 2019).
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that HRM plays the significant role in the
development and growth of the Unilever company. It increases the overall performance or the
company and employee engagement in Unilever company. Good practices in relation to people
management is an essential line of management within the country volatile, complex and
uncertain business environment because it helps to increase the capabilities to adapt the changes
that happen in the external business environment. The management report mainly cover the
aspects that are related to the improvement of the soft skills that are mainly communication,
emotional intelligence, etc. which helps the line manager of Unilever company to increase the
performance of organisation and increase the presence of employee from work. Further the
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report discussed about the consequences that line managers faced and reacted on the diverse
situations for not having skilled employees in the company. Furthers the report discussed about
the diverse situations that company faced and the reaction of line manager on the company
events.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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CrossFit. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology.17(3). pp.197-211.
Chen, J., Jiao, L. and Harrison, G., 2019. Organisational culture and enterprise risk management:
The Australian not‐for‐profit context. Australian Journal of Public Administration.
Day, G.E., 2019. Understanding organisational culture in the hospital setting. Transitions in
Nursing EBook: Preparing for Professional Practice. p.59.
Johansen, M.S. and Sowa, J.E., 2019. Human resource management, employee engagement, and
nonprofit hospital performance. Nonprofit Management and Leadership.
Landolt, P., Stephan, R. and Scherrer, S., 2019. Development of a new High Resolution Melting
(HRM) assay for identification and differentiation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
complex samples. Scientific reports.9(1). p.1850.
Lira, L.A.N. and et.al.,2019. Mental Maps as a Strategy in the Development of Successful
Intelligence in High School Students.
Megahed, A. and et.al.,2019. International Business Machines Corp.Predicting the probability of
opportunities to be won from organization information. U.S. Patent Application
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Naeem, A. and et.al., 2019. HRM practices and faculty’s knowledge sharing behavior: mediation
of affective commitment and affect-based trust. Studies in Higher Education.44(3).
pp.499-512.
Nikolova, I., Schaufeli, W. and Notelaers, G., 2019. Engaging leader–Engaged employees? A
cross-lagged study on employee engagement. European Management Journal.
Robertson, M.B., 2019. Employee engagement in the goal setting process: can employee
engagement theory improve the goal setting process? (Doctoral dissertation, University
of Liverpool).
Stevenson, R.D. and Moore, D.E., 2019. A Culture of Learning for the NHS. Journal of
European CME.8(1). p.1613862.
Waddell, D. and et.al.,2019. Organisational change: Development and transformation. Cengage
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CIPD. 2019. [online]. Available
through<https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/people/performance/
factsheet>.
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