HRM Functions, Recruitment, and Practices at Sainsbury

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Sainsbury. It begins by outlining the purpose and functions of HRM, specifically focusing on workforce planning and resourcing within the retail giant. The report then delves into the strengths and weaknesses of various recruitment and selection approaches, including internal and external methods, and different selection techniques like interviews and assessment centers. Furthermore, it examines the benefits of implementing different HRM practices for both the employer and the employees, highlighting aspects like employee motivation, performance improvement, and conflict resolution. Finally, the report touches upon the elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM decision-making. The report aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how HRM principles are applied within Sainsbury and their overall effectiveness.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
The assignment is based on Human resource management. It is a practice of recruiting,
hiring, and managing the human resources of organisation. This study will include Sainsbury for
performing various task of organisation. Sainsbury is involved in a retail business and deals with
various products such as Hypermarket, supermarket, convenience shop etc. This organisation is
based in UK and performing its various activities there to attract more customers. This
assignment will include human resource management functions and purposes for workforce
planning and resourcing. This study will include information about various strength and
weakness of recruitment and selection approaches. Furthermore, this tasks will explain about
different HRM practices followed in the organisation. Moreover , it will analyse the benefit of
employee relation to influence human resource management decision – making. This project will
also explain about emplyment legislation elements and its effect on HRM decision- making.
TASK 1
1. Purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce planning of Sainsbury
Purpose of HRM to workforce planning
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Workforce planning is a strategy used by Human resource manager to identify the needs
of employees of company to provide organisation with potential workforce to achieve the
objective of organisation. The purpose of HRM include managing workforce, designing work,
providing training and development in order to maximise productivity of firm. HRM assist
organisation by formulating various policies to effectively achieve the targeted goals. HRM
purpose is to hire potential employees, train and develop their skills and knowledge to improve
their performance level to accomplish desire goals (Albrecht And et.al., 2015). Human resource
management provide potential worker to organisation by various research and also play a role of
motivator for employees.
Function of HRM
Human resource management perform various function in order to maximise the
productivity of organisation. These functions are related to management of human resources in
organisation. The following are various function performed by HRM for workforce planning and
resourcing:
 Planning : Planning function of HRM is related to formulating various strategies and
plan in order to achieve the objective of firm. Planning assists Human resource manager
in identifying various job vacancies, planning for job requirement, identifying various
sources of recruitment etc. Planning assist Human resource manager in achieving the
targeted goals effectively and efficiently (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). HR assistant of
Sainbury perform this function of human resource management in order to identify
various sources of recruitment and to formulate various policies and procedure for
effectively achieving objectives of organisation. Human resource management make
planning relating to objectives of firm.
 Organising : Organising function of human resource management is related to
organising various activities of firm to provide responsibility to subordinates. Organising
function of HRM is related to developing an organisational structure to carry out various
operations.
 Directing : Direction function of HRM is related to guiding the employees of
organisation in order to identify if work is going on in a planned way or not. Direction
perform motivation to employees in order to achieve the objectives of organisation.
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 Controlling : HRM perform this function to take corrective action if the activities of firm
are not according to planned way (Boon and et.al., 2018). This function is related to
controlling deviation by comparing the actual result with standards to take corrective
action to achieve target of firm.
Other functions
 Recruitment and selection: Recruitment is Human resource management is a process of
hiring qualified candidate for a particular job position. Recruitment process involves
proper planning in order to attract potential candidate for performing various activities of
Sainbury. HRM assistant of Sainsbury perform this function in order to attract qualifies
personnel's for the job. Selection involves screening of candidate in order to choose right
candidate for right job.
 Training and development : Human resource management perform this function in
order to improve the knowledge and skills of its employee. Training and development
function of human resource management is concern with providing proper training and
development program for increasing employee's knowledge to improve their efficiency
level for maximising productivity of firm (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Training and
development is provided to employees in order to identify their weak points for
improving them.
HRM Assistant of Sainsbury perform this function in order to attract human
resources for performing various activities of organisation. HRM assistant perform this function
to formulated various planning and for recruitment and selection of Highly qualified personnels
to maximise the productivity of organisation. This function of HRM performed by HRM
assistant of Sainbury will provide employees knowledge and skills to improve their performance
level to achieve the objectives of organisation. This function assist in providing employees with
various knowledge regarding tools and techniques used for performing different activities,
various knowledge regarding culture of organisation etc.
2. strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection for the
Sainsbury
There are various recruitment approaches which are used will help the firm to improve
the workforce and thus will lead the organisation to enhance the quality of business activities in
much suitable and significant manner. The various recruitment processes that are been taken in
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consideration by the selected business firm (Purce, 2014). Sainsbury will support in improving
its performance and thus help in effective productivity of the firm. The approaches used by
organisation will assist in improving the quality of products and services. Some major
recruitment and selection methods that are been taken in the firm are:
Internal recruitment process: This involve the proper management of the hiring and the
recruitment process that is been taken in consideration by the firm. This process is been taken in
consideration that will help the organisation to enhance the quality of products and operations
that helps the firm to improve the business operations in a very effective way. A wide variety of
measures are been involved in the internal recruitment process that will help the organisation to
hire the best candidate for the job. Some major approaches of internal recruitment process are as
follows:
Employee referral: This is the process where and existing employee refers the candidate for the
job vacancy. This is a cost effective measure that is been taken in consideration by the firm to
improve the recruitment process.
merits of the recruitment process:
 This is the most cost effective measure of the recruitment process that is been carried out
to get the suitable candidate for a job role.
 It helps the firm to save time and resources that will be spent on the hiring process a t
Sainsbury.
demerits of the recruitment process:
 The major weakness of this recruitment process is that it is susceptible to lack of surety about
the effectiveness and skill set of the candidate that is been referred (Gupta and Shaw, 2014).
External recruitment process: This is the process which is been followed by the firm in order
to have the good accessibility to have a good management of the recruitment policy that has
impacted the placement and hiring process within the firm. This is the major way of hiring by the
firm as it helps the enterprise to get the suitable employee or workforce for carrying out their
retail business related operations in much effective and efficient manner. It involves the
following recruitment and hiring process:
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Direct recruitment: this is the practice which is been followed by the HR department of the
firm to get the workforce directly. This will help the fir to set their requirements and get the
employees or candidates accordingly. It has following strength and weaknesses:
merits of the recruitment process:
 This process will help the firm to get the employee or the candidate as per their
requirements for the job and thus will help the enterprise to meet their requirements in
much effective manner. The employees selected through this process has minimal
turnaround rate.
Demerits of the recruitment process:
 The major drawback of this employee recruitment process is that it is very extensively
time and resource consuming effecting revenue of the firm. The screening and other
HRM related process that are been involved in this measure may cause the firm to lose
the vital resources and thus may lead to the failure of the organisational structure of the
firm (Armstrong, 2014).
Different approaches of Selection: Selection method is a process to differentiated the candidate
in order to identify and hire the best candidate for the job. Selection of the candidate is made by
way of interviews, personality profiling , online screening and testing, group exercise. Selection
is related to hiring the best personnel for the job.
One to one interview :
In this type of interview only
there are two persons available
for the interview which
involves the interviewee and
the interviewer. This is a most
effective way of selecting the
right candidate.
Strength
 Technical skills can be
judges with in depth
information.
 It avoids interference
of any other
interviewer.
Weakness
 The cost of one to one
in interview is higher.
 This process is more
time – consuming.
Panel interview: Strength Weakness
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In this type of selection
method candidate is selected
after giving answers to the
questions asked by numbers of
interviewers. This method is
used to gain knowledge of
other people perspective about
the candidiate
 This interview saves
times for the
organisation.
 The responsibility is
divided among
different interviewers
which ensure that all
the question will be
asked.
 This method of
selection requires
planning in advance
and thus it is a
complicated process.
 It builds pressure on
candidate
Assessment centres :
In this type of selection
method organisation involve
group of candidates at a
particular place and then do
the selection procedure .
Strength
 This centre is used for
selection , training and
promotion of
candidates.
 This method is
effective because
candidate is judges by
many experts.
Weakness
 Assessment centre is
very costly.
 Highly experienced
managers are required
to judge the candidates.
3. Benefits of Different HRM practices for employer and employee of Sainsbury
Human resource management practices consist of techniques used by HR assistant in
order to improve the efficiency level of employees. Employee is the person that work in the
organisation to get the salary. HR practices also assist in providing motivation to employees etc.
these practices of HRM consist of compensation management, management of performance of
employees, hiring qualifies personnel's etc.
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HRM practices benefits to employer
HRM practices assist the organisation in achieving the objectives of firm effectively and
efficiently. HRM practices assist he employer in increasing their market share by hiring qualified
personnel for performing different activities. Benefits provided by HRM practices to employer
includes improving performance of organisation by providing training and development to
employees. Employer is benefited by Implementing various HRM practices this assist in
reducing employee turnover for firm. This practices support firm in increasing production level
of organisation. There are various concern of Employer which are reduced by implementing
different HRM practices . These concerns are related to employee issues, low growth rate etc.
HRM practices help employer in resolving conflicts, build a relationship with employees etc
(Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016). Sainsbury by adopting HRM practices have benefited to
employer in resolving various conflicts of its employees, increasing performance level of
organisation etc. Flexibility within organisation helps in gaining the objectives of organisation
effectively and efficiently. Flexibility in the organisation can assist in increased productivity of
firm. Performance management helps employer in getting better results by measuring the
performance it can assist in increasing the brand image of organisation.
HRM practices benefits to employee
HRM practices provide various benefits to employees of the organisation. Human
resource practices assist the employees in developing their skills and knowledge with the help of
training and development provided by HRM to improve employee's performance level to achieve
the goals of organisation and individual goals. Human resource practices provide employees with
job satisfaction as these practices will improve their performance level which in turn will
motivate them to retain in the organisation. Human resource practices assist in improving the
performance level of employees which provide them motivation to work harder to achieve the
objective of firm. HRM practices will help the employees in improving communication with
different department to reduce conflicts arising due to lack of communication. Hrm practices
helps in rewarding employees on the basis of performing their best for achievements of
organisational goals. HRM practices also assist in increasing the employee though process which
helps in innovation and creativity to increase the productivity of firm. The HRM practices
adopted by Sainbury have benefited its employees in raining their performance and also assisted
them in increasing their knowledge and skills to achieve their personal objective to acquire
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reward and incentives . This will assist in improving the performance level of organisation which
helps in increasing their market share. Flexibility in the organisation assist in making positive
environment and also employees become more responsible towards the work. Performance
management helps the employees in getting appraisals and also attract more benefits and
incentives for them.
Effectiveness of HRM practises to raise profitability and productivity of Sainbury
Effectively implementing Human resource management practices helps the organisation
improving the profitability and productivity of firm. Human resource practices assist in
employee retention which is beneficial for organisation to retain qualified personnel to achieve
organisational objective effectively and efficiently. Human resource practices helps in improving
the knowledge and skills of employees which leads to increase in their efficiency level that
attract revenue for organisation. Human resource practices helps in motivating the employees by
providing them various benefits such as reward, appraisals etc. that motivate them to work harder
for achieving objectives of organisation to increase profitability and productivity (Wilton, 2016).
Effective human resources practices include employee security, training and development
reducing communication barriers etc. human resource management practices helps the
organisation in raising their profitability and productivity by improving performance level to
increase their market share to grow their business. HRM practices benefit the organisation by
providing them qualifies personnel's to perform various activities in order to increase
profitability of firm. Sainsbury uses effective HRM practices to increase productivity and
profitability of firm by providing it employee with better training and development , motivating
the employees etc. there are various disadvantages of HRM practices which may affect the
profitability of organisation such as employee dissatisfactions, high turnover of employee etc.
Different methods of HRM practices
There are different methods used by human resource management to perform various
practices such as recruitment, training and development , performance appraisals, job analysis
etc. to increase the productivity of organisation. These human resource practices helps the
organisation in improving their employee's knowledge and skills. For example, Sainsbury
organise training and development programs to increase the knowledge and skills of its
employee with the help of various techniques (7 Human Resource Best Practices, 2017).
Training and development provided by HR assistant of Sainsbury assist in gaining competitive
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advantage for firm as it will increase their productivity level and leads to increase in their market
share. Recruitment is a method used by HRM to employ qualifies personnel's for the right job.
For example, HR assistant of Sainsbury recruitment function to employ qualified candidates for
organisation to improve its performance level for growth and success of firm.
There are different reward and payment system that consist of intrinsic and extrinsic
reward system, financial and non financial rewards, performance based rewards etc. Intrinsic
reward system is the satisfaction which employee get from that particular job it includes factors
of esteem and self actualization needs. Extrinsic reward system is provided externally. It is
provided in form of money. There are various performance management methods which helps
the human resource manager in monitoring the performance of the employees . These methods
include using rating scale, taking feedbacks from the employees to improve their performance.
Providing proper training etc.
4. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
The various recruitment process that are been taken in the consideration by the selected
business enterprise will support the firm to enhance the quality of products and services that are
been offered by the firm and will also lead the organisation to have an effective growth and
development of the business operations and action plans that are been taken in consideration by
the firm. The evaluation of strength and weaknesses that is been associated with the various
recruitment policies will help the organisation to enhance the quality of different business
operations which will support the profitability of the selected business entity. The internal and
external recruitment processes that are been taken in the consideration by the firm will set the
standards and the evaluation process that will assist the fir to improve the quality of business
operations and activities to a greater extent (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang, 2014).
This implementation of a wide quality of recruitment processes will support the
organisation to have a good productivity and thus will help in improving the customer
satisfaction level. The assessment of this recruitment processes will help the firm to improve
their performance and thus will lead the organisation to have a suitable and significant growth.
This will help the firm to easily evaluate the skills and knowledge of a newly recruited
employees and thus will enhance the quality of products and services that will support the firm to
improve its productivity and effectiveness to a greater extent (Glendon, A.I. and Clarke, S.,
2015). Sainsbury will also evaluate the internal and external environmental processes that will
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help the firm to enhance the quality of measures which are been followed by the fir to improve
the quality of services and thus will lead the enterprise to enhance the quality of products and
services of selected retail enterprise.
The training and skill enhancement measures that are been taken in consideration by the
firm in order to improve the quality of business measures and action plans that are been taken in
consideration by the firm. This will motivate the workforce to enhance their performance and
improve productivity. The different recruitment measures which are been discussed above will
be followed by the firm accordingly to the environment and the business operations that are
followed by selected enterprise at its store.
TASK 2
5. Importance of employee relation in respect to influence HRM decision-making of Sainsbury.
Human resource management by maintaining a good relationship with its employees
assist in improving their performance level . There are some importance of employee relation
which assist HRM decision -making :
Communication is effective : Maintaining good relation with the employee communication
between different department is effective and there are fewer chances of conflicts between
different departments. Effective communication between departments assist human resource
manager in decision- making regrading various different function of management. Proper
communication will boost the morale of employees (Sparrow and Makram, 2015). Sainsbury
maintains a healthy relationship with its employee to have effective communication between
department to increase productivity of firm. Effective communication helps Sainsbury in
decision – making regarding its various functions such as recruitment, planning for strategies etc.
Reducing conflicts: Good relationship with employees helps in reducing conflicts and create a
positive environment for working of various activities. Employee relation also helps in reducing
the employee turnovers and assist in retaining highly qualified personnel in an organisation.
Sainbusry in order to reduce conflicts in organisation ensure that healthy relations are maintained
with employee's to reduce conflicts and also reduce employee turnover.
High performance : Maintaining relationship with employee' s assist in increasing performance
of employee's by motivating them and maintaining healthy relationship with them. It assists in
improving the productivity of organisation and thus helps in various decision- making regarding
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