Evaluating HRM Practices at Tesco: Workforce, Legislation & Relations

This report provides a detailed analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Tesco, a leading supermarket chain in the UK. It explores the purpose and functions of HRM, particularly in workforce planning and resourcing, highlighting the importance of identifying and recruiting suitable employees, fostering employee development, and measuring performance. The report evaluates different approaches to recruitment and selection, including internal and external methods, job analysis, and competency-based assessments, discussing their strengths and weaknesses. It also examines the benefits of various HRM practices, such as training and development, rewards and incentives, performance evaluation, and feedback, for both the employer and the employee. Furthermore, the report analyzes the significance of employee relations in HRM decision-making and identifies key elements of employment legislation and their impact on HRM. Finally, it illustrates the application of HRM practices in a work-related context at Tesco, providing a rationale for specific HRM strategies and critically evaluating employee relations and their influence on decision-making within the organization. Desklib provides access to this assignment and many more solved assignments for students.

UNIT 3- HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
LO1..................................................................................................................................................5
P1 Explain the purpose and the functions of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and
resourcing an organisation...........................................................................................................5
P2 Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection.
.....................................................................................................................................................7
M1 Assess how the functions of HRM can provide talent and skills appropriate to fulfil
business objectives.....................................................................................................................10
M2 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and
selection.....................................................................................................................................11
D1 Critically evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment
and selection, supported by specific examples..........................................................................12
LO2................................................................................................................................................13
P3 Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation for both the
employer and employee.............................................................................................................13
P4 Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational
profit and productivity...............................................................................................................15
M3 Explore the different methods used in HRM practices, providing specific examples to
support evaluation within an organisational context.................................................................16
D2 Critically evaluate HRM practices and application within an organisational context, using
a range of specific examples......................................................................................................17
LO3................................................................................................................................................18
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P5 Analyse the importance of employee relations with respect to influencing HRM decision-
making.......................................................................................................................................18
P6 Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has on HRM
decision-making.........................................................................................................................20
M4 Evaluate the key aspects of employee relations management and employment legislation
that affect HRM decision-making in an organizational context................................................22
LO4................................................................................................................................................23
P7 Illustrate the application of HRM practices in a work-related context, using specific
examples....................................................................................................................................23
M5 Provide a rationale for the application of specific HRM practices in a work-related
context........................................................................................................................................25
D3 Critically evaluates employee relations and the application of HRM practices that inform
and influence decision-making in an organizational context....................................................26
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................27
Reference...................................................................................................................................28
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Introduction
The report has been produced in order to identify various Human Resource Management
practices adopted at the Tesco. Tesco is a supermarket chain based in the United Kingdom. The
report will enable to identify and interpret the importance and significance the functions and
responsibilities of the HRM play in achieving the organisational goals and objectives. The report
will also profess on the importance of employee relations and their performance in the
organisation. The report will lastly discuss the various laws and regulations that have been
developed in order to guide the applicability of employee relations in the UK. The report will
also communicate on external factors that guide and influence the working and functioning of the
employee relations and human resource management in the UK. The report will apply HRM
practices at Tesco in a work-related context.
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LO1
P1 Explain the purpose and the functions of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and
resourcing an organisation.
Human Resource Management is the managerial aspect of management in an organisation which
deals in managing, organising, planning and dealing in the procurement and deployment of
human resources to achieve the organisational goals and objectives. Workforce planning refers to
recruiting and identifying the right person possessing the right and required skills and
competencies at the right place and time. At Tesco, the workforce planning and resourcing set
the HRM purpose and functions on the following basis.
Purpose of HRM
HRM fulfills various purposes and objectives in the terms of workforce planning and resourcing
in the Tesco. The following briefly describes the various purpose of HRM.
 Identifying and Recruiting Employees: The human resource manager is responsible to
identify the potential employees possessing the required levels of skills and
qualifications. The manager is also required to persuade the identified potential
candidates in applying for the positions.
 Employee Development: The HRM also serves the purpose of proving with employee
development for the workforce. The HRM function in the Tesco develops and establishes
various programs and activities that enable to foster the employee development in the
terms of skills and competencies development, performance enrichment programs etc.
(Storey, 2014)
 Performance Measurement: Another essential purpose of HRM is to measure the
performance of the employees and evaluate the reasons constructing drawbacks and
loopholes causing these deviations.
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(Source: Storey, 2014)
Functions of HRM
The HRM functions entail various activities and responsibilities which enable the management
of human resources at the Tesco. The following are HRM function described.
 Workforce planning: This function requires planning and organising the requirements
of the workforce. Workforce refers to the human resources that are employed in order to
achieve organisational aims and objectives. Planning involves identifying future needs of
the workforce and motivating the identified workforce to apply for the positions and fill
in the vacancies available in the organisation.
 Employee Motivation: It is another essential function of the HRM. Employee
motivation increases the working efficiency and abilities of the employees (Purce, 2014).
Employee motivation also ensures a higher level of work morale and enthusiasm in the
employees.
 Reward Management: The HRM at Tesco also performs reward management. Reward
management refers to various activities that analyse the performance of the employee.
This evaluation of the performance further acts as the decision making a base for
identifying the applicability of the various rewards and incentives.
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P2 Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and
selection.
Recruitment and selection refer to the process through which Tesco appoints and deploys
effective and selected human resources in its business organisation. There are basically two
procedures for recruitment and selection that is the internal and external approach.
Internal Recruitment
It refers to the approach of recruiting the candidates from within the organisation. This recruiting
process does not consider external sources of recruitment. The sources of internal recruitment
are:
 Promotion
 Transfer
 Job Rotation
 Employee Referrals etc.
External Recruitment
This recruitment approach considers employing the candidates outside of the business
environment of the organisation (De Bruecker, et. al., 2015). It refers to recruiting from the
external sources. It includes the following source:
 Consultancy firms
 Walk in interview
 Internships
 Advertising etc.
Job Analysis
Job analysis is an analysis technique through which the employer analyses the job to develop a
significant job description. The process enables to identify and determine the duties that are to be
performed and requirements or qualifications for a particular job position.
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Job Description
The job description is a detailed explanation of all the duties and responsibilities that are to be
executed by an individual in order to perform the job position. It entails the description of all the
minute and major duties along with the responsibilities an individual will have to execute. It
states the job requirements, duties, and responsibilities.
Person Specifications
A person specification is a document that depicts all the requirements an individual is required to
possess to satisfy the performance of the job position. The document describes all the details of
education qualification and background knowledge, skills and capabilities a person is required to
achieve.
Competency Approach
The approach adopts the style of interviewing the candidate as per the level of skills and
expertise. The interview guidelines are generated to direct the interview questions. The selection
is made according to the answer given by the candidate.
Strengths:
 The candidates are selected and appointed according to the level of skill and expertise is
possessed by them (Kang and Shen, 2013).
 The candidates are judged according to the actual performance and levels of the
knowledge required to execute the job responsibilities and duties.
 The interview is farmed according to the nature of the job and hence it enables to identify
the required sets of skills and knowledge.
Weaknesses:
 The process of selection and recruitment becomes lengthy through this approach.
 The candidate is essentially judged against the required sets of abilities and qualification
and thus it neglects another perspective of the candidates.
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Contingency Approach
The employers in this technique at the Tesco select the candidates on the basis of conditions and
the situations prevailing. There no specific terms and conditions that are to be fulfilled during the
interview and recruitment process in this approach.
Strengths:
 Due to the dynamic nature of the approach the management adapts towards the changes and
modifications in the business environment.
 It enables to appreciate and analyse the skills and qualifications of the employees apart from
those required by the job description (Kang and Shen, 2013).
Weaknesses:
 The approach does not follow a standard approach and it creates a situation of confusion and
ambiguity for the selection panel.
 The selection is based on the interview performance which may differ from the actual
performance of the individual.
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M1 Assess how the functions of HRM can provide talent and skills appropriate to fulfil
business objectives
According to Rai Technology University (2017), the functions of HRM like the workforce
planning enables to deploy the right people at the right time with the right skills to accomplish
the goals and objective of Tesco. Workforce planning enables to achieve the goals and objectives
by performing all the required activities and duties. The function of reward management and
employee motivation also aids in achieving the goals and objectives for Tesco as employee
motivation increases the working efficiency and capacities and the function of reward
management enables to keep the morale and satisfaction of the employees to work effectively
and achieve the goals and objectives for Tesco (Rai Technology University, 2017).
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M2 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and
selection.
Strengths
The strengths of different approaches of recruitments like outsourcing, promotion, job transfer,
referrals etc. provide with advantages such as reducing in costing and expenditure for
interviewing and recruiting new employees. These approaches also enable to foster the growth
and development of the employees internally within the organisation.
Weaknesses
The weaknesses of different approaches such as the in-house recruitment, employee agency,
outsourcing etc. often fail to perform effectively in the actual working conditions and situations
(Bratton and Gold, 2017). The approaches also cost higher to the employers in the form of
consultancy fees and charges.
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D1 Critically evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to
recruitment and selection, supported by specific examples
At Tesco in-house recruitment is most commonly adopted selection and recruitment approach.
In-house recruitment allows identifying and selecting the desirable candidate within the
organisation. This fosters the working capacity of the candidate as the candidate is already
comfortable in the working environment and the conditions (Ozcan, 2014). The major weakness
of this approach is that establishes the feeling of discontent and dissatisfaction within the
employees who are not selected and lowers the motivation for these employees. This decreased
motivation for the employees is reflected in the efficiency of the employees and hinders the
growth of the organisation.
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