HRM in Practice Report: Woodhill College, Tesco, and ITV Analysis

This report delves into the practical application of Human Resource Management (HRM) within organizations like Woodhill College, Tesco, and ITV. It explores key HRM functions, including workforce planning, recruitment strategies (internal and external), and the significance of employee relations in decision-making. The report analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of various recruitment approaches, such as referrals, promotions, campus placements, and management consultations. It further examines the advantages of HRM practices for both employers and workers, evaluates the effectiveness of training programs (using Tesco as a case study), and discusses the impact of employment legislation on HRM decisions. The report also includes a job vacancy example for a finance professor, outlining essential qualifications and responsibilities.

HRM in practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Purpose and function of HRM...............................................................................................1
P2 Strengths and weaknesses of various approaches of selection .............................................3
TASK 2 .......................................................................................................................................4
P7 Applying HRM practice in the organisational context..........................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Advantages of HRM practice to the employer and workers .................................................6
P4 Evaluation of effectiveness of training practices in Tesco ...................................................7
TASK 4 .....................................................................................................................................8
P5 Importance of employee relation relating to HRM decision making....................................8
P6 Key employment legislation and their impact on HRM decision making ..........................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
The importance of human resource management is enhancing in this era because various
organisation like colleges private companies, government authorities etc. now understand that if
they will hire appropriate people then they can easily attain their objectives. The demand of
quality workforce has increased in last three to four decades (Dul, Ceylan and Jaspers, 2011).
Their was a time when firms did not understand the significance of workers, but in today's
business environment corporation has different division for this recruiting and maintaining good
relations with staff members. This report will discuss about various activities, relating to human
resource, that is performed in the organisation like Woodhill college, Tesco and ITV. Functions
of HRM and workforce planning will become important part of this assignment. It will also
include strengths and weaknesses of various recruitment approaches. Benefits of HRM to
employer and worker will be explained under this project. This file will also talk about
significance of employee relation and the impact which they make on decision making process
relating to human resource management.
TASK 1
P1 Purpose and function of HRM
HR department of Woodhill college are not following various principles relating to
managing human resource. Employees are key strength of an organisation and if they will leave
it then it will make a negative impact on the growth of an institution. A quality workforce can
help a corporation in achieving aggressive goals, most of the firms want to recruit best person in
the industry but this thinking is wrong. They should select a person who is fits in the enterprise
and understand the culture of company. In present scenario, Woodhill college is facing problem
of high turnover. This can happen because of various reasons but overall ignoring this trouble
can be considered as the blunder which is management of this institution is committing. Below
are some main reason for workforce planning and the function of HR manager regarding this
work:
Reduces risks – Organisations make plan so they can cope up with any kind of
uncertainty that can happen in upcoming time. Woodhill college is already facing problem of
employee retention, workforce planning will help them in finding the actual need of workers
which will be needed in the institution. HR manager play crucial role in this process, they should
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try to identify the timing and number of staff members who have left the college in past. This
will help them in ascertaining correct quantity of candidates that will be needed in the
organisation (Troshani, Jerram and Rao, 2011). If future of rate of retention is considered in
workforce planning then then the problem of insufficient number of teachers can be resolved. It
is the function of human resource manager to find and analyse all the data so they can make
effective plan. A sound programme can help in good retention rate. The mistakes like panic
hiring and laying off employees can get minimised by through this planning.
Illustration 1: Human Resource Management.
(Source: Human Resource Management. 2017)
Early problem identification – An organisation can find the mistakes which they are
committing but the timing is very important. Identifying troubles at early stage is one of the main
purpose of workforce planning. It can save lot of money of the Woodhill college and reduce the
extent of damage. The role of HR managers is very important in this complete process, they if
they make good plans then they can easily find the troubles like high employment retention, lack
of talent in the organisation etc. This will also assist in reducing the cost of human resources.
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Smooth working – One of the prime reason behind workforce planning is smooth
functioning of the organisation. When management and employees have a correct path to follow
then they can perform their duty in an effective manner. This problems like delaying in taking
crucial decision relating to recruitment, can get reduce by a significant amount (Human Resource
Management, 2017). Development of college can also be done without having any confusions
and conflicts. It is the function of HR manager to ensure that any kind of hurdle in the planning
should be removed on the priority basis so an effective plan can be formed in less period of time.
Employee relation – One of the most important function of human resource department is
maintaining good connection between management and employees. Their effort are essential for
decreasing number of conflict in the organisation, this is important for smooth functioning.
Purpose of workforce planning – Workforce planning is necessary for keeping right
number and quality of manpower in an organisation. Many employees leaves Woodhill college
because of various reasons. If planning of required number of employees will not be done in an
organisation then company may end up in a situation of less or more number of workers which
are required in college. Workforce planning is related to supply of employees who have desired
set of skills so they can assist an organisation in attaining their short and long term goals. Below
are some other purpose of HRM:
Employee motivation – Workers continuously need motivation because they are human
being and their needs changes with time. One of the main purpose of HRM is that it make sure
that the demand of every employees get fulfilled so they do not leave the organisation. Woodhill
college should start a reward system for teachers in order to motivate them to do their job in
better way.
Communication – Delivering important message to all the personnel of Woodhill college
is another purpose of HRM. HR department is suppose to do the work of reducing
communication gap between various departments and employees.
Increase efficiency of workers – Employees need training. Focusing on training and
development of employees is another is key purpose of HRM. By finding and removing
shortcoming in a teachers, Woodhill college can increase their efficiency.
P2 Strengths and weaknesses of various approaches of selection
Recruiting best person for a job is the main objective of human resource department.
They seek various kind of qualities in a candidate but one of the most important is learn-ability
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and adaptability. Basically there are two types of source for selection, first is internal and other is
external (Guest, 2011). Referral from the sides of employees, promotion etc. are some of the
most important types of prior method. Campus placement, walk-ins, management consultation
etc. are major source of external recruitment. Below are their strengths and weaknesses:
Referral – In this option, HR managers can ask current employees of the Woodhill
college to refer some of their family members or friends who can fit for a particular position
(Internal and external sources of recruitment, 2011).
Strength - The candidate selected through this mode have some idea about the
organisational culture because one of their known in already working in this enterprise.
Weakness – If too many relatives of an employee is selected in the college then they can
make a union and raise inappropriate demand. Generally people who are recruited using this
source leave in bulk. This may create huge burden on HR team as they have to opt for wrong
option of selection like panic hiring.
Promotion – In this process, a vacant position is filled by promoting existing employee.
Normally a experienced and talented worker is given a new designation.
Strength – This recruitment source motivate workers to perform better (Shaw, Park and
Kim, 2013). It does not involve any selection cost which indirectly contribute to the better
financial position of the institution.
Weakness – If Woodhill college will fill a position through promotion then they may face
issues relating to fresh talent in forthcoming time.
Campus placement – In this approach of selection, HR managers of an organisation go
to a college for hiring appropriate employee.
Strength – Various position can be filled in short period of time by using this mode of
recruitment. It can help mentioned college in recruiting talented candidates at a less price.
Normally fresher do not ask for more salary so an organisation can select more workers at a
decent amount of cost.
Weakness – Most of the candidates who sit in campus placement do not have any
experience (Jabbour and et. al., 2013). Corporation has to spend huge sum of their training, they
can not give desired results to the management in short period of time because they take lot of
time in understand the work and organisational culture.
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Management consultation – This approach is generally adopted by big corporation. In
this method, human resource division take assistance of an external company who provide
various services relating to HR work like recruitment.
Strength – Consultation firm are experts in this filed so they provide great assistance in
hiring best person for a job (Lanzarone, Matta and Sahin, 2012). They always have a database of
skilled and talented workers so if organisation need an employee in less time then they can send
right candidate.
Weakness – These hiring agencies charge huge amount of money for their services. If
Woodhill college opt for this option then if may put additional burden on their financial amounts.
As mentioned above there are two source of recruitment:
Internal source – Sometime organisations ask their employees to refer their friends or
relatives for a particular post. They are promote current employee for a new position in order to
fill a vacant place.
Strengths – It does not involve much cost and employees hired through this source are
most reliable compared to those who are recruitment from by using external sources. Their is a
higher probability that they will not leave the organisation in less time and promoted employees
feel motivated they get a chance to work on new position.
Weaknesses – Main disadvantage of this source is that it decreases the number of options
in term of candidates who are eligible for a post. Another problems is that this approach restrict
new thinking in the organisation. Referrals and promoted employees do not bring new energy in
the organisation.
External source – Hiring candidates from outside of the organisation by using different
method like campus recruitment, Walk-in, etc. is main concept behind external source.
Strengths – It is easy to find a candidate who have exact set of skills which is required for
a position. More option eases the work of HR and high number of employees can be recruited by
using this source.
Weaknesses – It is costlier and sometime selecting a candidate from outside of the
company demotivate current employee who want to work on a particular post. Methods used in
external source are time consuming.
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TASK 2
P7 Applying HRM practice in the organisational context
Job vacancy for professor of finance.
JOB VACANCY
Number of positions (teacher of finance) – 3
Topics: Financial accounting and management
Three seats for professor of finance is available in the Woodchill college of UK. People who are
seeking career in teaching this subject can apply these post, being part of this prestigious
institute can help a candidate in their future growth.
Essential qualifications -
 A post graduate degree in finance
 Good teaching skill
 5 years experience as a professor in any prestigious college
 Good communication and soft skill
Salary – 15000 – 25000 pounds per months ( this amount is negotiable)
Interested candidates can send their CV and a cover letter on the email address of the college
i.e. [e-mail]. Applications will not be accepted after first of December,
2017. All the choose applicant will receive a mail before 31st of December and the date of their
interview will be stated in this mail.
This advertisement will be posted on job.ac.uk, it will also get publish in various
employment magazines along with some national newspapers.
Personal specification:
PERSONAL SPECIFICATIONS
Experience Essential Preferable
As a professor 4 - 6 5
Technical skills Diploma in computer
knowledge
Certificates in advance
courses of computer
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accounting
Education Post grade degree in any
course of finance
Doctorate degree in financial
accounting
Personal qualities Good communication and soft
skills
Leadership qualities
Reporting time – 10 a.m. To 5 p.m.
Job specification
JOB SPECIFICATION FOR PROFESSOR OF FINANCE
Job description – The selected candidate has to teach various subject of finance. They have to
make test paper for students and then check them. On an average, the recruited person have to
30 – 40 lectures in a week. Sometime they may also have to work on by taking problem solving
classes.
Expectation from candidate :
 Expertise in different topic relating to finance
 Above average teaching skills
 Current knowledge about work that is happening the field of finance.
Requirements :
 Post graduate degree in Finance
 At-least four year experience in teaching
 Basic knowledge about various accounting soft-wares
Using technology can help Woodhill college on recruiting correct person for all the three
position. Earlier they were dependent on internal sources, they could only contact limited
potential clients. But by using online platform and registering on job portals they can find more
candidates in less time. This will also reduce their cost of recruitment.
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TASK 3
P3 Advantages of HRM practice to the employer and workers
Human resource department perform various significant task in an organisation.
Companies like Tesco understand their importance and they are focusing on getting more
strength to this division. Following is the difference between training and development:
Training Development
 Training is not a long term process, it
can be in few weeks or months.
 It mainly focus on increasing technical
knowledge of the workers.
 It is related to learning new techniques
of working, sometime old knowledge is
modified.
 Training assist an employee in
performing better.
 Development involve years, it is a
lengthy process.
 Different types of concepts and
theoretical knowledge is taught in this
process.
 It is basically related to execution of the
skills that is learnt in various learning
sessions.
 Development is related to attaining
overall growth of worker, it included
career and personal growth.
Identification of training needs
Manager of human resource division can take find the training need of employees by
checking their current skills (Kamoche, 2011). If HR department think that the knowledge
regrading work of a worker is outdated then they can provide him/her essential training.
Sometime staff members contain desired level of talent that is needed in the organisation, but by
analysing current business environment manager can find the new dexterities that personnels
may need in forthcoming time. Tesco believe in using on the job training, they like to send their
new and existing employees in the actual area where they will work in upcoming time. They use
different approaches like coaching, job rotation etc. so workers can acquire knowledge about
more than field. Sometime they also take assistance of off the job training methods, it is mainly
use when they want to pour theoretical knowledge in their employees.
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Benefits of systematic training to Tesco and their workers
To Tesco – This company is market leader in UK because their staff members are known
for proving better service and products to the customers. They was exact idea about 'how to treat
a consumer' which is very important in retail sector. Systematic training is giving some extra
edge to this organisation. Quality workforce helped them in maintaining decent level of profit in
tuff time (Marks and Mirvis, 2011). When an enterprise spend huge amount of sum on
development of their personnel, they gain their loyalty. This is necessary for reducing retention
rate and increasing job satisfaction in the workers. Systematic training play an important role in
in increasing productivity of employees. If workers will perform well then it will directly make a
positive impact on revenue of this company.
To employees – Every individual want to improve their personality and knowledge about
the their work. Systematic training help them in this task, it is good for their career growth and it
also increases their income. Tesco has a incentive scheme, a trained worker can easily earn more
money because their productivity enhances after attending learning session (Wagstaff and Lie,
2011). Training help in improving morals of the a personnel, it also develop a confidence in their
personality. Systematic training can increase the chances of getting quick promotion of a worker.
It can enhance their salary and promote them to desired position in the company.
P4 Evaluation of effectiveness of training practices in Tesco
If a company has good quality of workforce then they can easily move forward towards
their mission. Millions of employees are working in Tesco, providing training to them in a
continuous process in this enterprise. Their was a time when this corporation was not spending
much amount of development of staff members but when they faced problems like long strikes
etc. then they start investing huge money in this area. This firm is dependent on their domestic
business, they do not have strong presence in developing markets like Asia, North America etc.
but still they are seen as a significant global player of retail sector due the pool of talent that is
present in this firm. Development of employees is one of the main goal of this enterprise, they
organise a systematic programme for worker so they can learn new and updated skills relating to
technology and their own field (Huselid and Becker, 2011). Productivity of their personnels is
continuously increase and they are giving this company competitive advantages.
Profit is Tesco is falling because of various external factors but still they hold top spot in
their domestic market. Recently, their profitability is increasing because the amount which they
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have invested in their workers in now paying them expected return. Their on the job training is
very effective for employees as well as for corporation also. Staff members get practical
knowledge about various task and it reduces the fear of uncertainty which personnels may have
at the time of performing some new task. Approaches like mentoring help workers in enhancing
their productivity. Sales person in Tesco are trained by using this method. Instead of focusing on
proving theoretical information to them, company ask them to work in a retain store so they can
learn various significant things 'how to sell a product to the customer'. They are going earn more
revenue in upcoming time because of their trained staff (Buller and McEvoy, 2012). The
practices which they have used for the development of employees are impressive. It helped in
motivating personnels, this directly made a positive impact on their productivity. One of the
major weakness of their training programme is that it fail to solve various shortcomings that is
present in the working culture of the company, employees learnt new skills but they fail to
improve current one. Another problem of relating to development practice is that it does not
involve all the workers of the enterprise. Millions of people are working in this corporation and
providing training to them is a expensive and time consuming task.
Conflict management – Tesco understand that disputes in the organisation make a
negative impact on growth of enterprise. They are working on a system where they are trying to
resolve a conflict at the point of its generation. Productivity and profitability of an organisation
can be increased by having an effective conflict management. Developing and implementing a
sound system of conflict management require training to employees.
TASK 4
P5 Importance of employee relation relating to HRM decision making
It is very difficult for a company to attain their goals without support from their workers.
Maintaining good relationship with them is essential for growth of an organisation. ITV is also
running various programmes so management can have more engagement with the employees
(Phillips, Stone and Phillips, 2012). They discuss various issues with them in order to know their
view about a matter. Following is significance of employee relation for ITV:
Loyalty – Every organisation want loyal people in their enterprise. All the efforts which
ITV is putting for making good contact with the staff members is related to earning their trust
and loyalty. This assist human resources department at the time of planning future workforce.
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