Kingfisher Case Study: Evaluating HRM Practices & Effectiveness

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Kingfisher, focusing on the purpose and functions of HRM, including planning, recruitment, selection, directing, and controlling. It assesses how these functions contribute to talent acquisition and skill development, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of internal and external recruitment approaches like transfers, promotions, advertisements, and external agencies. The report also examines the benefits of HRM practices for both employees and employers, such as improved motivation, unbiased judgment, and access to a wider talent pool. Furthermore, it evaluates the effectiveness of HRM practices in enhancing organizational productivity and profitability, critically assessing their application with specific examples. The report emphasizes the importance of employee relations in influencing HRM decisions, discusses key employment legislations and their impact on HRM decision-making, and highlights the applications of HRM practices within Kingfisher to ensure effective management and development of its workforce.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................1
Purpose and functions of HRM..............................................................................................1
Assessment of how the functions of HRM can provide talent and skills...............................3
Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection...................3
Benefits of HRM practices in context of Employee and Employer.......................................6
Effectiveness of different HRM practices in context of increasing organisational productivity
and profitability......................................................................................................................7
Critical evaluation of the HRM practices and application using a range of specific examples
................................................................................................................................................8
Importance of employee relations in context of influencing HRM decisions........................9
Key employment legislations and its impact on HRM decision making.............................10
Critical evaluation of employee relations and the application of HRM practices that inform
and influence decision-making.............................................................................................11
The applications of HRM practices......................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
The business organisations are highly depend on the three key resources in order to run
their business operations smoothly i.e. physical resources such as machine, equipments, etc.,
financial resources such as debt, capital etc. and human resource. Among all these resources
people play pivotal role in the growth of the business. In order to manage the human resource of
the organisation the organisations use strategy named as human resource management (Al-
Ajlouni, 2019). Human resource management is basic concept of managing the people of the
organisation effectively in order to provide them with job satisfaction and align them towards the
organisational goals. The present report on human resource management is based on Kingfisher.
The report will discuss the purpose and scope of the human resource management. In regard to
this the report will cover strengths and weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and
selection. Further benefits of HRM practices in context of employer and employees and
evaluation of these practices in regard of organisation productivity and profitability is discussed.
Moreover report will outline importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM
decision making. At last report will highlight the applications of HRM practices.
Main Body
Purpose and functions of HRM
Human resource management is the effective process of recruiting, deploying and
managing employees of the organisation. The aim of HRM is to hire best candidate who can
enhance productivity of company and help in achieving goals of the organisation. In Kingfisher,
HRM identify requirements of employees and hire best candidate which help them to maintain
competitive advantage. Human resource management is the process of recruiting, selecting,
providing orientation, training and development, compensating, and appraising performance
which can help to maintain good relations and develop the organizational performance (Turner,
and et. al., 2019).
Workforce planning is the process of analysing, planning workforce, forecasting
assessing gaps, and determining target talent management for the purpose of ensuring people are
placed at the right place (Mazzucco, and et. al., 2019).
HRM is the main activity for each organization as it influences the number of employees
and fill needs which can help to develop the business productivity. In relation to KINGFISHER,
human resource management plays important role as it analysis the environment and recruit the
talented people that applicable to workforce for managing each task and developing
performance. The functions of HRM are as explained:
Planning – This is main function of HRM where workforce are resources are recruited
by formulating effective plans and strategies. In relation to KINGFISHER, human resource
management perform this function by formulating effective plans and recruit the skilled people
which can help to managing all activities and functions (Barajas, 2019).
Recruitment and selection – This function is applicable to recruitment and selection of
skilled people who can work in organization. The HRM management of KINGFISHER, applied
this function to analysing vacancy, recruiting, and selecting the candidates that can help to
develop the business performance.
Organising – In an industry there are number of employees are working who needs to be
organise properly that can help to completing the work and managing activities. The workforce
which is working in KINGFISHER is organised by HR management that can help to managing
the work properly (Dolgui, and et. al., 2019).
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Directing and controlling – This function is needed to direct and control the workforce
which is working in the organization and supports to develop the productivity. The HR
management of KINGFISHER is understanding the goals of their workforce and give the right
direction which can help to accomplish the business goals.
Purpose of HRM
 Maintain high morale- Purpose of HR managers in Kingfisher is to improve motivation
level of the employees so that they can deliver better productive services to increase
profits of the company (Arunprasad, 2017). They motivate employees by providing
financial and non financial benefits which increase efficiency in performance and boost
confidence of the employees. The suitable direction is provided by HR which assist them
and improve performance level of employees.
 Maintain manpower inventory- The main purpose of Kingfisher HR managers is to
recognise actual requirements of employees in the working place and recruit skilled and
knowledgeable candidate. They provide direction to the company in hiring right
candidate at right job on right time. It will help in accomplish current and future
requirement of manpower inventory so that company will execute its business operation
on time (Nam and Lee, 2018).
Functions of HRM
 Managerial function- HR of Kingfisher, perform managerial function like organising,
staffing, directing, controlling activities of workplace in order to achieve organisational
goal (Bastida, 2018). They plan staffing process to hire best workforce as well as direct
them to enhance productivity and then control their actions to improve effectiveness in
working environment.
 Operational function- HR managers of Kingfisher, execute operational function such as
procurement of employment, compensation, development, healthy relationship, stability
of employees and so on (Bello-Pintado, 2019). In this HR pay attention to the
development programmes for workforce to improve its current skills and knowledge. HR
of Kingfisher provides healthy working conditions and compensation to retain their best
staff.
Assessment of how the functions of HRM can provide talent and skills
From the above discussion it can be assessed that HRM is important for organization as it
recruit and select the right people and manage them properly. The HR management of
KINGFISHER uses the planning, recruitment & selection, directing, and controlling the
activities which can help to managing each function and develop the organizational performance
by selecting right people and getting work done effectively (Easa, and El Orra, 2020).
Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection
Recruitment
The recruitment is the well known approach of the human resource management in which
organisations influence and inspire the probable candidates to apply for the job opening. It is the
process of attracting talented applicants. Kingfisher use two ways of recruitment in order to
pinpoint talented applicants for an organisation. The two approaches of recruitment used by
Kingfisher are:
Internal Recruitment
The elementary process of recruitment in which Kingfisher approach the workers and employees
from the inside of the organisation. For internal recruitment the two approaches used by the
Kingfisher are:
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Transfer: The process of internal source of recruitment in which the HR manager of the
Kingfisher shift an already working employee from one location to another with the same
amount of responsibilities.
 Strengths
The employees are benefited in their personal and professional growth by working in new
environment and also its job opportunities are increased.
 Weaknesses
The employers may have to incur the additional cost of training of employee to transfer in new
area and if employee doesn't adjust in new place may lead to loss of productivity.
Promotion: Promotion is the best way for internal recruitment and also for the management of
human resource in this the current employees is upgraded to higher level position on the basis of
performance (Singh and et.al., 2021).
 Strengths
This the best method to motivate and retain the employees also the employees get opportunity to
enhance their capabilities with more responsibilities (Chanda, 2020). This is the best way to
increase job satisfaction.
 Weaknesses
Sometimes this may become reason of internal disputes in organisation if deserving employee is
not promoted which may hamper the employees performance and can lead to conflicts in
Kingfisher.
External Recruitment
The external recruitment is the elementary process of recruitment in which the recruiters of the
Kingfisher evaluate the candidates from the open pool in order to hire the candidates with new
skills (DEVI, 2018). Kingfisher is the reputed company therefore, this is better approach of
recruitment in order to attract talented employees. The different approaches of external
recruitment used by the Kingfisher are:
Advertisements: The advertisement is the form of external recruitment in which organisation
publish their advertisement of vacancy for particular job role in print media and social media.
Kingfisher also use this method of recruitment.
 Strengths
The advertisement has strong potential to reach the people in every corner and attract the talented
candidates for the Kingfisher. As company is multinational organisation therefore, this is
beneficial to attract the candidates from world wide.
 Weaknesses
The advertisements is the slow process as the feedback is not immediate therefore, it is not
applicable during urgent hiring.
External Agency: There are several agency that are linked between he job seekers and the
organisations (Gilal and et.al., 2019) . Multinational organisations like Kingfisher use this
method of recruitment in which agency provide the organisation with some outstanding CV.
 Strengths
This is effective way of recruiting as the pool of candidates is already selected one therefore,
requires less efforts and time also response is immediate.
 Weaknesses
It is costly form of recruitment as agency cost very high amount of fees to the organisations and
candidates for information.
Selection process
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Selection is the process of the hiring the candidate by brainstorming and evaluating the job
profiles of selected list of candidates (Hameed and et.al., 2020). Kingfisher use different methods
of selection as the job role. Some basic methods of selection used by the Kingfisher are:
Interview: The interview is the process of the face to face meeting of candidate and interviewer.
In this the selector of the Kingfisher ask the question to the candidates to analyse its capabilities
and knowledge
 Strengths
The interview is best way to analyse the personality, body language, gestures and real knowledge
and skills of the candidate (Yap Peng Lok and Chin, 2019).
 Weaknesses
The interview is the time consuming and costly form of selection process for the Kingfisher.
Aptitude test: The aptitude test is the written exam in the form of multiple choice questions or
the one word answer of mathematics and general knowledge to check the mental ability of the
candidate.
 Strengths
In Kingfisher this method is useful as this is standardized and also there is no bias judgement of
the candidates.
 Weaknesses
This method requires the time for evaluation as the results are not quick and also setting
questions for the test is difficult.
Benefits of HRM practices in context of Employee and Employer
Managing the employees is a difficult task for which Kingfisher use different HRM
practices which are beneficial for both employee and employer (Kellner, 2019). Some of the
HRM practices are discussed below:
Recruitment and Selections
It the HRM practices in which the duty of the HR manager of the Kingfisher is to recruit and
select the talented employees for the organisation (Krishnaveni, 2018). In this the Kingfisher use
different ways of recruitment to attract candidates and selection tools to hire the best candidate
among the alternatives.
Benefit to employee's
 This practice helps the employee's to have biased free judgement of their capabilities and
also by this they get opportunity within the organisation to get promoted.
 This practices keeps the employees motivates for the internal recruitment in order to gain
promotions or transfers for their performance.
Benefit to employers
 the employers will get chance to recruit the best talent outside the organisations and also
through this the employers can attract the talent from all over the world.
 The employers get benefit to motivate their employees through the promotion and
internal recruitment. Hence, this also build trust among the employees for the employers
(Yong and et.al., 2020).
Training and Development
The practice of upscaling the skills and knowledge of the current and newly employed
employees of the organisation in order to foster their capabilities and to guide them properly as
per their job roles (Memon and et.al., 2020). Kingfisher effectively use this technique of HRM to
enhance the productivity of the organisation.
Benefit to employee's
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 This helps the employees to achieve their need of self actualization in order to stay
motivated and dedicated towards the objectives of the organisation.
 This also helps the employees in personal and professional development which is useful
for their career growth and also to grab the opportunities within Kingfisher.
Benefit to employers
 This practice of HRM helps the employees in retaining their employees and also to build
their confidence to increase their productivity towards the firm.
 This HRM practice help the employers of the Kingfisher in garbing new opportunities of
the market with the trained and skilled employees.
Effectiveness of different HRM practices in context of increasing organisational productivity and
profitability
Learning, training and development is the effective HRM practices which supports
employees to get training, managing each function properly. Training is used to develop the
understanding level of their staff and improve their ability to work effectively. In relation to
KINGFISHER, learning, training and development practice is used by human resource
management by analysing skills of new employees which can help to managing each task and
attain the higher performance by accepting challenges. This practices get ready all staff to adopt
the challenges and new activities can be valuable for business organization and helps to attain the
business goals. Thus, above explained HRM practice is effective for organisation (Blom and et.
al., 2020).
Workforce planning is the HRM practice which is used by management to analyse supply
and demand of employees, assessing gaps and forecasting which can help to manage all
activities. KINGFISHER is the using the workforce planning as practice where in it analysis the
vacancy and select the right people that can help to managing each function and complete the
task properly. This also supports all working staff to understand their role and demand of
employees then perform all function. This helps to increase the organizational productivity as
well as profitability by completing task and developing business performance (Moustaghfir, El
Fatihi, and Benouarrek, 2020).
HRM practices aims at the improvement of the skills of employees and managing the
employees by motivating and encouraging them towards the organisational goals. The
effectiveness of the HRM practices help the employers of the Kingfisher to manage the conflicts
of the people, increase the employees potential for work, provide them better opportunity, align
the people towards company's mission and vision and much more (Mohammad and et.al., 2017).
It is critically evaluated that the effectiveness of above HRM practices helps the Kingfisher in
increasing profitability and productivity as discussed below:
Recruitment and Selections
The Recruitment and selection practice is the most common and well known practice of
the organisation. In context of Kingfisher the company use external agencies, social media in
order to hire the most talented and well trained crew manners in order to improve their passenger
service in the flight. Also company has effective recruitment techniques to hire the best pilot
from all across the world that are licensed and have the capabilities to fly new technology fleets.
The recruitment and selection also help the Kingfisher in hiring the employees from within the
organisation. This build the employees motivation and that also pursue them to optimally utilize
their capabilities for productivity and profitability of the Kingfisher (Mira Choong and Thim,
2019).
Training and Development
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The training and development practice of HRM is the strong tool which huge value for
the employers and employees of the Kingfisher. In Kingfisher the employers conduct and
arrange the training and development session for the pilots to learn new technology aircraft's for
which company also appoint experts from the best flying institutions. This helps the the company
to quickly grab the new technology for the better service and sustainable development that also
reduces their cost of fuel and increase profitability (Nam, 2018). In Kingfisher the cabin crew
members are provided with new language learning course this boost employees growth and skills
and also convince them to work hard for organisations productivity.
Critical evaluation of the HRM practices and application using a range of specific examples
HRM practices such as training & development, and workforce planning are important for
organization to use as it helps to understand the challenges and accept them smoothly. This all
get ready all employees to perform well by utilising their skills and abilities to work. For
example, KINGFISHER is applying Training & development practice to teach something new
and valuable to staff who gets ready to work and manage each task. With the help of workforce
planning management retain their staff for long period and provide them appraisals that supports
to attain the higher profitability in the changing environment.
Importance of employee relations in context of influencing HRM decisions
The HR ensure positive employee relationship in order to improve employee performance at
working place. If Kingfisher fail to maintain good relationship with their employee then overall
productivity of company gets affected (Ojo, 2019). HR manager of Kingfisher focus to improve
employee relation so that their HRM decision will achieve organisational goal.
Retain loyal employees-Losing loyal customers is the biggest loss for the Kingfisher
profitability so HRM focus to provide healthy and comfortable environment which appreciate
loyal employees to retain with the company. HR encourage healthy relation and provide training
to the employees to build its skills and capabilities. It also beneficial for employees career
opportunities so, loyal employees will stick to the company welfare. The benefits of employee
relation is to retain loyal staff that affects the HRM decisions positively. The HR management of
KINGFISHER has decided to retain their staff as they are good in work and ready to accept
changes any time. With the help to strong positive relations between employer, employees and
customer’s goals of HR could be completed. This also helps to develop the organizational
productivity and performance by managing each function and task (Yassine and Singh, 2020).
Fewer workforce conflicts- Scope of workplace conflicts will decrease with the help of
healthy and positive relationship. Peaceful workplace deliver advantage of strong relation with
employees and employers which ultimately support and help in HRM decision making of
Kingfisher. Because decease in conflicts improve productivity and appreciate employees perform
in effective way which accomplish HRM goals. The HR of respective company can easily
circulate its norms and principle in the workplace which help in achieving employees and
organisation goal. If employees are enjoying their work after being around their management,
and co-workers then there is strong chances to reduce conflicts that might be arises while
working. In relation to BURGR KING, employees are enjoying the benefits of employee relation
where they work collectively with their seniors and superiors (Zaitouni, Harraf, and Kisswani,
2020).
Increased productivity-The positive relationship with employees boost confidence to
perform in productive manner and generate revenue of Kingfisher. When employees feel
comfortable then they also perform best practices of business activities. The HR manager of
Kingfisher build harmony at workplace by providing rewards in favour of work contribution.
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Employees who works at the workplace is having positive relationship with their boss that likely
to be more productive by managing each work and task. Whenever KINGFISHER is launching
new products and services then management shares with employees which can help to get new
ideas to reach out their customers and developing organizational productivity.
Enhance motivation- HR of Kingfisher, develop positive relationship with their
employees which enhance motivation level of workforce (Sammarra and et.al., 2017). HR
deliver rewards and compensation to encourage motivation level of employees. This will ensure
empowered morale of employees who promote business of Kingfisher.
Enhanced work life balance – HRM decision also affected positively by creating the
good employee relation as it helps to manage all work and challenges properly. In relation to
KINGFISHER, work life balance is created with the help of employee’s relation that motivates
and complete the work in certain period of time.
Key employment legislations and its impact on HRM decision making
Employee legislation includes rights of employee that help in improving relationship with
employers. These laws protect interest of employees and employers to enhance performance and
profitability of company. Several employment legislation which impact HRM decision making
of Kingfisher are as follows-
Equality Act-This act is the combination of Race Relation and Disability Discrimination
Act that ensure equal opportunities to the workforce of Kingfisher. This law does not permit any
kind of discrimination on base of sex, age, religion, and gender (Shin, 2018). This act is
formulated for the purpose of preventing the employee’s rights and discrimination in recruitment
& selection process. This is against of unfair treatment and discrimination between employees.
The management of KINGFISHER should be use equality act in their organization where it
provides the equal opportunity to their staff and recruiting on the basis of their skills as well as
characteristics. This will promote confidence, harmony and reduce conflicts at the workplace.
HR of Kingfisher have to follow this regulation otherwise their operations can be terminated by
the government.
Employment protection Act- Under this Act, HR of Kingfisher provides certain
structure of working hours, salary, pension. This will improve employee motivation and they
enhance their productivity to accomplish company goal. Company should give appropriate
amount of salary package based on its skill and qualification otherwise court will announce
organisation at breach of law.
National minimum wages Act 1998 – This act is related to providing the minimum wages
which is decided by government that helps people to live their livelihood. KINGFISHER is
requiring to apply NMW legislation in their organization which can help to influence the number
of employees and get work done effectively (Salas-Vallina, Pasamar, and Donate, 2021).
Health and Safety Act- The employer of Kingfisher ensure health and safety of the
employees in the workplace. Employees are the essential assets which improve company
revenue so it the responsibility of organisation to ensure safety and healthy measures in its
business practices. This element of employment legislation is related to providing good health
and safety to their staff who are working at the workplace. This is important for each
organization to understand the employees demand and provide them good health and
compensation in case of incurred any injury. KINGFISHER is applying health and safety laws in
their organization that build the employee morale to work more and accept the challenges
(Mariappanadar, 2019). HR of Kingfisher can maintain health and safety of employees by
providing them safe equipment, positive working environment and travel opportunities which
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access safety and health management in their operational system.
Dismissal and employment Contracts- In Kingfisher, employees and employers both
can terminate the job position in entity. The employers can utilise dismissal whereas employees
can utilise resignation. This law is mutually followed by employees and employers in the
organisation. Employee must deliver written statement of resignation to the organisation before 1
weak.
Critical evaluation of employee relations and the application of HRM practices that inform and
influence decision-making
While running a business and managing functions it is important to keep in mind that
organization is following all HRM practices as well as legislation that ensure employees that
company also thinks about welfare of staff. For example, KINGFISHER is the large organization
that uses Health and safety act 1974 to provide the good health and safety to their staff. National
minimum wages act is being used by employer to provide the at least minimum wages to their
staff that can help to develop the organizational productivity and influence HRM decisions
positively. To fill the job vacancy there is need to prepare the job description and job
responsibilities that influences the applicant to apply for job and attaining their objectives.
The applications of HRM practices
Job description
Job title: Flight attendant
Department: Ground duty
Report to: Cabin Crew Manager
Company: Kingfisher, UK
Job Summary: The flight attendant of the Kingfisher are responsible for attending passengers
and welcoming them into flight (Singh and et.al., 2021). They also ensure the passenger's safety
and comfort in the flight during their journey.
Roles and Responsibilities
 Their duty also include adequate supply of foods and beverages, ensuring sanity and
cleanliness in cabin and functioning of all the emergency equipment.
 There role is to guide the passengers to wear their seat belts and switch off phones
before take-off for safety.
 They also conduct all the safety checks before the flight.
 They assist passengers in finding their seats.
 Manage and monitor passengers and cabin crew rules and regulations.
 Prepare report of flight incidents.
Qualification Requirements
 3 years of graduation in any science background.
 Certificate of Cabin crew course
Experience
 1-2 years of experience as the flight attendant.
Person specification
Skills Required Desired
 English fluency *
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 Great communication
and interpersonal skills
*
 Team management
skills
*
 MS office Knowledge *
 Customer centric
approach
*
 Knowledge of another
language
*
 Critical thinking and
problem solving skills
*
Interview questions
 Tell me about yourself ?
 Specify your strengths and weaknesses
 Why you want to become flight attendant
 Tell any 3 key duties as flight attendant
 Tell me what additional language you speak other than English.
Offer letter
14 August 2021
XYZ
Kingfisher Plc
London, UK
([e-mail])
Dear ABC,
We are pleased to inform you for your selection as a flight attendant position at Kingfisher. All
your duties and responsibilities, financial offering and other benefits of this position are
discussed in below attachment (Yap Peng Lok, 2019). We are delighted to see you are our
organisation. For confirmation Kindly sign the duplicate copy of this document and resend us
till the 30 august 2021.
We are looking forward to see you at our organisation.
Sincerely
XYZ
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that for large organisations like Kingfisher
management of the staff, pilots and crew members is highly essential in order to provide the
tourists and customers outstanding service. It is very important for the Kingfisher to hire talented
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employees for which choosing effective recruitment and selection technique is important part of
HRM. As part of HRM the Kingfisher must adopt effective HRM practices like training and
development and appraisals to enhance the level of profitability and productivity among
employees. Hence, For human resource management Kingfisher should also comply with all the
legal rules and regulatory in order to have ethical Human resource practices.
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