Evaluating HRM Practices at Aston Martin: A Comprehensive Report

This report provides an analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) strategies at Aston Martin, focusing on the distinction between HRM and personnel management, and methods to align HR strategies with labor market demands. It explores the impact of national and organizational culture on staff management policies and discusses various organizational HR levers for achieving competitive advantage. The report evaluates job design strategies and good HR practices during the pandemic, offering recommendations for improvement. Key areas covered include the Harvard model of HRM, recruitment strategies, learning and development programs, and reward systems, all within the context of Aston Martin's business environment. Desklib offers this report, along with a wide array of past papers and solved assignments, to support students in their academic endeavors.

Project title: Human
Resource Management

Table of Contents
Introduction:.....................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Discussion of the difference between HRM and personal management and the methods to
align HR strategies with the demand of labour market:..............................................................4
Impact of national and organisational culture of the staff management policies of Aston
martin:..........................................................................................................................................6
Discussion of the different organisational HR levers for achieving competitive advantage:......7
Evaluation of the job design strategies:.....................................................................................10
Evaluation of good HR practices during pandemic:..................................................................10
Recommendation:......................................................................................................................11
Conclusion:.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

Introduction:
Human resource management is termed as the process of management which deals with
selection and recruitment of potential employees as well as motivating employees in order to
enhance their performance which leads to achieving organisation goals and objectives. In relation
to this, the main purpose of HRM practices is to effectively align the goals of employees with the
goals of company in order to accomplish both the objectives of the organisation and employees.
For this report Aston martin company is taken into focus. The company is the famous British
owned brand that manufactures luxurious sports car as well as grand tourers. The report will be
able to explain distinction between HRM and personnel management and discuss ways in order
to effectively align HR strategies with the demands of labour market. The report will also include
the impact of national and corporate culture on staff and also define organisational levers to attain
sustainable competitive advantage. Moreover, the report will also include the strategies of
designing jobs as well as will also cover illustrate HR practices by taking example of local and
transnational organisations.
MAIN BODY
Discussion of the difference between HRM and personal management and the methods to align
HR strategies with the demand of labour market:
The Human resource management and personal management is two different parameters which
supports the company in order to attain better employees management and growth(Kasemsap,
2019). Below are the the basic distinction between HRM and personnel management:
Basis Human resource management Personnel management
Approach This area of management is
stated as modern as well as
specific method in order to
effectively manage human
resources of the company.
This area of management is
basically an older as well as
traditional approach to deal
with the employees in the
workplaces.
Focus The main focus of HRM is to
retain and maintain human
The main focus of personnel
management is to take care of

resources by selecting,
improving them as well as
motivating them to work in
their best versions
(Abdeldayem and Aldulaimi,
2020).
the administrative functions of
the company along with it
taking effective measures in
order to ensure welfare of
workers and improving
relationship with employees.
Job allocation In this approach, the job is
designed and distributed
among team members by
taking into consideration their
skills and expertise levels.
In this area of management,
the job is divided and
distributed among employees
without laying focus
excessively on their skills and
knowledge levels.
Objectives The main aim of HRM is to
boost the participation level of
staff members and to improve
the competency and
productivity level of
employees.
The main goal of personnel
management is different as
compared to HRM. It focuses
only on enhancing business by
improving the production
capacity.
Human resource management concepts and models:
The HRM includes basic models that supports the organisation in developing strategic
decisions in order to coordinate effectively the activities of human resources with business
functions. In context to Aston martin, the HRM model will assist the company in managing their
staff members in the most effective and efficient manner as well as will help the organisation to
meet with demands of labour market in appropriate manner. Below is the explanation of the
Harvard model of HRM:
This HRM model is the most famous and oldest concept of Human resource management.
The application of this model will help Aston martin to identify and analyse the interest of
employees in the most proper manner(Cooke and et.al., 2019). The following are the five
segments of this model in context to Aston martin are:

Stakeholder Interest: This segment will allow the firm in assessing the stakeholders of the
company. This modern approach will not only help the company to identify interests of
shareholders and management but also support the company in analysing the interests of
employee team, labour union as well as government bodies. In relation to it, this model will lead
the firm to develop its HR strategies by considering the rules of current labour laws.
Situational factors:
These factors consists of elements related to staff members, business environment, labour
market and many more that could strongly influence the HR strategies and policies of the
organisation(Baum, 2018). These above pressures can put major effect on the positions and
influencing power of the stakeholders. The timely analysis of situational factors will supports the
firm in identifying the impact of factors such as Law and societal values on its HR strategies
and practice.
HRM policies:
The next approach of this model will allow the Aston martin company to implement
general policies, workflows and processes related to HR after knowing correctly the interest of
stakeholders as well as situational forces. This will support the organisation in performing hiring
and training sessions more appropriately and also lead the company to enhance their feedback
systems.
HRM outcomes:
The next approach of Harvard model is the monitoring the result of the HRM policies as
developed by considering the above factors. The outcome will basically reflect the business
aspects related to retention of employees , competence level and cost effectiveness. Moreover,
the outcomes of HR policies will assist the Aston Martin firm in effectively analysing the key
performance metrics related to HR(Malloch, 2016).
Long term consequences:
This last section of Harvard model is concerned with the analysis of the company and the
staff members. This will help the Aston martin company to effectively evaluate the long term
consequences of HR strategy by doing systematic evaluation of its position in the market as well
as in the mind of workers.

Impact of national and organisational culture of the staff management policies of Aston martin:
The following is the detailed explanation of the impact of national form and corporate
form of culture in the policies of Aston martin organisation related to employee management:
National culture:
The national culture basically includes the group of people who belongs to a same
country. The national culture values of the company changes very slowly as it reflects the
historical experiences of the employees(Jiang, 2016). The national culture within the Aston
martin will impact the staff management practices as it will allow the company to form staff
management policies and laws considering the common view points of the larger group of
employees. In addition to this, the national culture is considered as the group phenomenon which
can only be monitored by comparing it with different groups of individual within the company.
Moreover, the national culture in the company will allow it to focus on group of individuals
rather than an individual employees. This may lead to negative effects as the HRM of the
company will not be able to manage effectively the interest of individual employees which can
result in ineffective management of staff members. However, the national culture will become
effective when understanding the attitudes of team members by comparing with the group of
people of another organisation.
Corporate culture:
The corporate culture deals with the members of the company that are related to each
other, to their jobs as well as with the outside world. The corporate culture helps the company to
become more direct and precise while measuring than the national culture. The Aston martin can
easily define and measure this culture as the company has clear set of goals and objectives.
Moreover, the corporate culture will help the company to measure its activities and practices
related to HR strategies and can also analyse effectively if the culture is supporting the
achievement of the organisational goals or not (Takeleb, Sujono and Jayadi, 2020). The corporate
culture is basically termed as organisational practices that can vary from company to company.
The corporate culture within business environment of Aston martin will help it to know better
staff management practices by examining deeply the staff management policies of different
organisations. In addition to this, the organisational culture will support Aston martin company to
introduce change in its organisational functions and strategies more easily as compared with the

national culture. Furthermore, corporate culture will also support the firm in measuring the
performance level of its staff members in the most effective as well as efficient manner.
Discussion of the different organisational HR levers for achieving competitive advantage:
The companies HR levers supports it in implementing a change in the organisation with
the motive of attaining sustainable competitive advantage as well as ensuring long term growth
and development. The followings are the organisational HR levers:
Human resource planning:
The human resource planning is the type of organisational levers which help the company
in planning and development of their employees in order to gain a competitive advantage in the
market. In context to Aston martin, the Human resource planning assist the company in
undertaking selection and recruitment initiatives in order to find best and talented pool of
employees(Hannabuss, 2017). This planning will allow the company to implement work-life
balance initiatives that can help the organisation to motivate employees in order to gain their best
abilities. In relation to this, the Human resource planning also supports the firm to measure the
performance level of employees and also helps the firm to undertake effective measures related
to developing performance appraisals programs for improving the productivity levels of
employees. By looking from other lens, there are main challenges in front of the HRM of the
company related with managing the uncertain behaviour of workers which can include sickness
of employees or going on vacations.
Recruitment:
The other important lever of HR supports the company to get the right talent at the right
time with the help of practising recruitment strategies and procedures. In context to Aston martin,
the effective recruitment strategy will support to get the right skills and talented pool of
candidates. This will lead the company to get critical skilled and competent workforce which will
allow the organisation to achieve sustainable growth in the proper manner. In addition to it, this
lever of Human resource allows the firm to gain insights about where to find specialised talent
when the need arises while wasting much time and resources. This will support the company in
achieving the competitive position in the market (Afum and et.al., 2021). Moreover, the effective
recruitment strategies will also assist the company to create a pool of great talents which will
directly support the firm in gaining sustainable competitive advantage as compared to their
competitors. On the other hand, there are challenges in front of the company while recruiting

candidates such as lower availability of talented and experienced workforce can negatively
impact the growth attainment strategies of the company.
Learning and Development:
This type of HR lever supports the company in developing an updated and effective
training programs in order to drive individuals in achieving their best abilities and performance
level. In context to Aston martin, this HR strategy will support the firm that the employees are
getting proper and effective trainings. In addition to this, the learning and development strategies
of human resource will help the company in retaining the worthy and experienced employees
which will lead the firm in attaining its growth parameters in the timely and efficient manner.
Furthermore, this will assist the firm in improving the skill set of the entire organisation which
will support the company to initiate change strategies in the most appropriate manner. On the
other hand ,there are challenges in front of the company related to developing effective training
and development programs such as this is often exposed to work force resistance along with it the
poor and ineffective feedback support system can also reduce the benefits associated with
training and developmental programs(Friedman, 2019).
Reward Management:
The reward management is basically the strategy of Human resource management which
deals with the matching the reward system with the performance level of each employees in their
respective job positions. In relation to Aston martin, this helps the organisation to make an
effective reward system for employees in order to motivate them to unleash their true potential.
The attractive as well as transparent reward system will allow the company to encourage
determined and worthy employees to give their best in every challenging situations. The proper
reward management system will allow the management to effectively plan the long term financial
requirements in order to undertake reward programs. In addition to this, the transparency of
reward system will induce each and every employee to improve their performance in order to
gain rewards and prizes (Blom, Kazeroony and Du Plessis, 2019). In relation to it, this will help
the company to gain best from their employees which directly leads the company in achieving a
sustainable competitive advantage in the market. However, there are certain challenges which
can be faced by the organisation while developing reward systems. On of the challenge can arise
when the reward system are not properly linked with business of the company as this may cause

the disruptions in the operations of the company. In relation to this, the other problem can arise
when when the rewards does not matches with the individual needs of the employees which can
demotivate them to work better and in effective manner.
Appraisal:
This HR strategy deals with evaluation of the capability of employees by analysing the
current as well as previous performance of employees. In relation to Aston martin, this lever of
Human resource supports the firm to timely identify and evaluate the performance level of
workers in order to access their strengths and weaknesses (Murphy, Klotz and Kreiner, 2017).
The evaluation of employees strength and weakness will support the firm in enhancing their
strength by giving rewards and also help the company in minimising the weakness of employees
by providing effective training programs. This will help the company in improving its working
performance as well as improving the competitive position in the marketplace. Moreover, the
appraisal program also supports the company in providing timely feedback to employees which
will support the workers to know their performance level within workplace. However, there are
certain challenges in performing appraisal strategies. One of the important challenge is that this
method requires comparing performance of one employee with other employees rather than their
own performance which is often seemed as an inaccurate approach to improve employee
productivity level. The other challenge is that it can lead to clash of the between the employee
and the goals of the company that can result in low performance of workers.
Evaluation of the job design strategies:
The job design strategy will support the company in formulating best job designs after
systematically combining the objectives of the company as well as employees. The following are
the job design strategies undertaken by the human resource management of Aston martin
company is:
Job enrichment:
This strategy involves laying focus on developing the satisfaction level of employees in
respect to their existing job roles (Tung, 2016). The company focuses on considering the
employees desires and perceptive while designing suitable jobs for the candidate. In relation to
it, this also support the company to know what are the things that motivate workers to stay
motivated in their work.
Job enlargement:

The company also consider these approach while designing appropriate jobs. In this
method, the firm adds responsibility to the responsibility to the existing role of the employees
which force them to learn new skills and knowledge in order to perform new task related to their
respective works.
Job simplification:
This is the another method taken care by the company while designing jobs. The form
systematically create a job role that is focused only on the specific task and work. This approach
supports the company in enhancing the productivity level of employees by decreasing other task
and responsibilities from their job role(Pritvorova, Tasbulatova and Petrenko, 2018).
Job rotation:
The company follows this step of job designing in order to enhance the skill and
knowledge levels of the employees. This helps the organisation in building new skills and
competency level in workers which allow the company in maintain competitor position in the
market.
Evaluation of good HR practices during pandemic:
Below are the HR practices that are followed by the local as well as transnational firms
during the onset of pandemic which are:
Creating Emergency response team:
This is the considered as the good HR practices which deals with implementing the
grievance solution teams which help the employees to know solutions of their problems in
timely manner. This strategy suggests that the value and equity is at supreme level in order to
decide regarding solving the issues of the workers.
Fostering employee wellness and safety initiatives:
The good HR practices by the company provides benefits to employees by keeping in
constant touch with employees as well as address the problem and concerns of the employees in
the supportive manner. Empathy practising is also considered as the good HR strategies of the
company.
Recommendation:
There are some important recommendations for Aston martin company in order to improve
organisational performance are:

 It is recommended that the company should align its strategies with the internal and
external forces in order to ascertain the needs and desires of employees within company
as well as analysing the rules of labour market.
 It is further recommended that the talent strategy of the company should be properly align
with the overall objectives of the company in order to ensure any disruptions in the
operations(Amrutha and Geetha, 2020).
 It is mandatory for the company to evaluate the type of training essential for employees in
order to boost employee performance. It is also recommended that the company should
execute well its training and development programs which can support the company in
establishing its change strategies in the most effective manner.
Conclusion:
It has been concluded that effective human resource management is crucial aspect in
order to provide timely solutions of the problems faced by employees as well as boosting the
motivation of employees. The report was able to understand that Harvard model of human
resource management is critical in order to effectively align the objectives of employees with that
of organisation. In addition to this, it was been analysed that corporate as well as national culture
are both essential for the success of the company. Moreover, it has been also concluded that
certain Human resource strategies supports the firm in gaining sustainable competitive position in
the market. Furthermore, It has been analysed that job designing strategies supports the firm in
designing appropriate job meeting with the skills of employees. In addition to this, it has been
also recognised that good HR practices helped the workers improving their productivity level
during pandemic.

References
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