HRM Practices in the Workplace: Chocolate Presence Case Study

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Human Resource Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 4
Part 1–The Purpose and Scope of HRM and Recruitment and Selection & the
Application of HRM practices in the workplace................................................................4
Task 1...........................................................................................................................4
a) Explains the purpose of the HR function and its importance to the organization,
given its current problems and future plans for further growth..................................4
b) Explains the strengths and weaknesses of the current selection methods used
by the organization....................................................................................................5
c) Evaluates at least 2 two potential improvements that could be made by
Chocolate Presence to enhance its selection process..............................................6
Task 2...........................................................................................................................7
a) Create a person specification for the role.............................................................7
b) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the current methods of advertising
jobs in the organization (internally within the organization and on the noticeboard
outside the main entrance).......................................................................................8
c) Explain where you would recommend the job advert for the Receptionist vacancy
to be placed and why..............................................................................................10
PART 2 - Employee performance, development and reward & Factors that influence HR
decision making............................................................................................................. 11
Task 3.........................................................................................................................11
a) Microsoft offer graduate training schemes and internships. Evaluate the benefits
to both the organisation and employees of such schemes.....................................11
b) Microsoft offers a range of flexible working arrangements for staff. Firstly, identify
some of these arrangements and then evaluate the benefits of offering these to
both Microsoft and its employees............................................................................12
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c) Evaluate how Microsoft motivates its workers through the way it designs its job
roles........................................................................................................................ 13
Task 4.........................................................................................................................14
a) What is meant by the term employee engagement and why is employee
engagement such an important part in effective employee relations in Microsoft?. 14
b) Critically evaluate the key approaches to engaging workers discussed in the
Summit and how these approaches improve communication in the workplace......15
c) Identify the key elements of UK employment legislation, explaining how they
influence HR decision making such as recruitment, training and development and
reward..................................................................................................................... 16
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 17
References.....................................................................................................................18
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Introduction
The aim of this assignment is to understand the core principle of Human resource
management. In the onset of the assignment, the purpose and scope of HRM have
been discussed. After analyzing this part, the functions of HR, especially recruitment
and selection are addressed properly by considering the example of Chocolate
Presence Company. Then, the assignment discussed employee performance,
employee engagement. To efficiently address these factors, Microsoft has been taken
as an example. Moreover, the role of employment legislations of the UK on the making
decisions of some HR-related factors, such as recruitment, training, and reward.
Part 1–The Purpose and Scope of HRM and Recruitment and Selection & the
Application of HRM practices in the workplace
Task 1
a) Explains the purpose of the HR function and its importance to the organization,
given its current problems and future plans for further growth.
Human resources are an important part of any organization. In the case of Chocolate
Presence, Human resource manager hold a vital position on the development of the
company. HR managers of an organization are mainly responsible for recruiting,
selecting, motivating and directing employees to meet the set goals of the organization.
As employees performance directly influence the organizational performance, so the HR
manager plays a vital role to encourage his subordinates to improve their performance.
Along with this, the HR manager also evaluates the performance of his subordinates
and based on the evaluation report, the manager is responsible for taking decisions
regarding training and rewards. If the organization felt certain lacking in the
performance, then he recommends training for those employees and those, who attain
their target points easily, the HR manager should provide monetary and non-monetary
rewards for their employees (Ferraris, Erhardt and Bresciani, 2019). These functions of
HR help Chocolate Presence to overcome its current challenges. On the other hand, to
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mitigate the problem of Chocolate Presence, the HR personnel should employ
advanced recruitment technologies. Even, it is necessary for an HR manager to hold a
neutral approach while hiring any people for the vacant post. After hiring a candidate,
the first responsibility of an HR manager is to provide a written company of appointment
letter, which is one of the ethical responsibility of an HR manager (O’Donovan, 2019).
Therefore, the HR managers of Chocolate Presence should obey the aforementioned
functions to avoid internal or external conflicts.
To attain future growth of the organization, the organization should look after the health
and safety matter of its employees. Because of this, the HR manager of this selected
organization should prepare certain policies for employee wellbeing. On the other hand,
the HR manager should collect information from employees regularly to identify the
internal grievances of employees, which may help the manager to select appropriate
motivational plans for their employees. Apart from this, appropriate compensation
strategies and reward strategies help an organization to gain employee satisfaction. As
the employee is the key aspects of every organization, so the HR manager of Chocolate
Presence should look into these aspects for attaining further growth (Ferraris, Erhardt
and Bresciani, 2019).
b) Explains the strengths and weaknesses of the current selection methods used
by the organization.
Based on the case scenario, the HR manager has conducted a written test and
interview for fulfilling the gaps within the organization. Currently, applicants for the
vacant post of Chocolate Presence are questioning about the fairness and transparency
of the selection process. The current selection process has some strengths and
weaknesses, which are addressed below. The HR personnel of this organization should
concentrate on the weaknesses of the employed section process and try to transform
the weaknesses into strengths.
Advantages of Current Selection Method
Thorough conducting English and math test, the HR personnel can identify the right
peons for the right vacant place. After crossing 50% marks in each subject, the first
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responsibility of the HR manager of this organization is to check the references. After
analyzing the existence of references and gather information from the references about
the applicants, who have scored 50% marks in each subject. Based on the gather
information from the references, the HR manager called applicants for the interview
session. Therefore, before gathering information from the references, the HR manager
can take the selection decision quickly, which helps to fill the gap in a very short period
of time. It is the main advantage of this selection process (Zahiri and et al., 2019).
Disadvantages of Current Selection Method
Only the written test is not enough to examine the capability of an applicant. For this
reason, the company should organize a practical test for the applicants. Hence, it is one
of the disadvantages of the current selection method. For example, an applicant may be
good in English comprehension but the communication skill of the applicant is not
satisfactory. Moreover, communication skill is highly needed for every employee. By
employing this selection method, the HR manager cannot hire an adequate person for
the post. Moreover, the cost of the current selection method is comparatively huge than
other selection methods (Shah, 2019).
c) Evaluates at least 2 two potential improvements that could be made by
Chocolate Presence to enhance its selection process.
The HR personnel of the organization should convince their higher authorities to
allocate financial resources to purchase advanced technologies to conduct selection
process transparently. The company should not check the papers manually. By
employing software, the company can check the test paper easily and quickly.
Moreover, the HR personnel analyzes the validity of the references of the applicant,
who have passed both the tests. Using technologies, the company can collect
information about their applicants easily. Moreover, the validity of references also
minutely checked with the help of technologies (Barrick and Parks-Leduc, 2019).
Therefore, the HR personnel should utilized technologies and advanced software to
enhance the selection process of Chocolate Presence.
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On the other hand, the company should conduct a practical test along the written test to
efficiently judge the capabilities of the applicant. After passing these test, the HR
personnel should organize the integrity test for their selected applicant to measure their
skills, attitude, and experiences. Along with this, in the review session, the HR
personnel should conduct personality describing test, which is very essential for
analyzing the confidence level of candidates. Through these tests, the HR personnel of
this organization hires suitable personalities for their organization (Zahiri and et al.,
2019). These two improvement processes will help the HR personnel to select the right
person of the vacant post of the Chocolate Presence.
Task 2
a) Create a person specification for the role
HR personnel of Chocolate Presence posted the details about the vacancies of several
posts on the noticed board, which is hanged outside of the main entrance of the
organization. Currently, the organization has a vacancy in the post of a receptionist.
Before selecting a suitable person in the receptionist post, the HR personnel of
Chocolate Presence Company should prepare a job description of the post. The
receptionist of Chocolate greeting card and gift manufacturing company is responsible
for handling clients and greeting customers. For this reason, a person, who will apply for
this post, should have communication skills and also have a proper dressing sense. On
the other hand, a good receptionist must have the skills to answer and forwards phones
calls efficiently without hampering others interest. The HR personnel of this company is
mainly looking for the person, who have patience. As, the receptionist of Chocolate
Presence is liable for doing administrative paperwork, so the willing people should have
basic computer knowledge, which may help the person to complete the administrative
works (Ellington, Brannick and Levine, 2015).
Moreover, the duty of a receptionist is to create a good first impression about the
company. Communication skills, proper dressing sense, and presentable attitude are
highly needed for the post of a receptionist. By using communication skills, the
receptionist of this company will provide adequate customer service supports to their
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clients to improve the customer base (Baker, 2017). Along with this, the receptionist of
Chocolate Presence is also responsible for performing duties, which are given by the
reporting authority, i.e. Administrative manager. The basic requirements or
specifications, which are needed for the post of a receptionist, are given below:
Job Specification for Receptionist
Academic Qualification Graduation from Recognized University
Skills Requirements Communication Skills
Proper Dressing Sense
Presentable Attitude
Good behvioaur
Patience
Organizational skills
Customer Service Giving Attitude
Basic Computer Knowledge, especially
Proficiency in Microsoft Office
b) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the current methods of
advertising jobs in the organization (internally within the organization and on the
noticeboard outside the main entrance).
Based on the case scenario, it is observed that most of the companies have mainly
circulated their vacancy details internally in the past time. Chocolate Presence
Company provides information about the physical vacancy of the company on the
noticed board, which is hanged beside the entrance gate of the company. By using this
job advertisement method, the company has witnessed certain opportunities as well as
certain barriers while employing suitable people of the vacant place.
Advantages of Current Job Advertisement
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Less Time Taking: By employing this job advertisement process, the company can hire
suitable people in less time. Through this recruitment process, the company can easily
gather information about the candidates from their existing employees. Based on their
employee’s references, the HR personnel of this organization can select suitable
employees for the organization (Christensen and et al., 2017).
Cheaper: This job advertisement process is comparatively cheaper than other job
advertisement process. The HR personnel provides a writing copy of the job description
of the vacant place and post it beside the entrance gate. Here, the cost of the current
job advertisement is nil. For advertisement purpose, the company does not have to pay
advertisement fees to the job advertisement agency (Estabrooks and et al., 2017). It is
also considered as the advantage of the current job advertisement process.
Boost Employee Engagement: This advertisement process creates a good impact on
the employee. Hiring from employees family and friends helps Chocolate Presence to
gain their trust. For this reason, employees of this company always try to improve their
performance standard to meet the organizational standard (Christensen and et al.,
2017).
Disadvantages of Current Job Advertisement
Cannot Outsource Skilled Personnel: Because of this job advertisement, the
company cannot outsource skilled personnel for their organization to fill the vacant
place. It may hamper the productivity of the organization.
Limited Choice: This job advertisement process has limited choice. Due to this job
advertisement process, the HR personnel is not able to hire adequate personalities for
the post. Because of the limited choice, hired employee sometimes cannot meet the
expectation of the organization, which hamper the productivity of the organization (Lattie
and et al., 2018).
Conflicts among Workforces: After putting this job advertisement on the notice board,
the company may face certain internal conflicts, which hamper the productivity level of
the organization. Because of their employee’s preferences, the HR personnel of this
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organization also feel huge pressure while hiring any candidates (Miller and et al.,
2017).
These are the advantages and disadvantages of the current job advertisement process,
which is employed by Chocolate Presence.
c) Explain where you would recommend the job advert for the Receptionist
vacancy to be placed and why.
Firstly, the HR personnel of Chocolate Presence should prepare a job description of the
vacant place, i.e. receptionist. After preparing job description, the HR personnel should
communicate with job advertisement agencies regarding the matter of job
advertisement of receptionist post. After that, the HR manager should select an
adequate advertising agency for posting a job advertisement. Moreover, selecting a
suitable advertising agency, the HR personnel and managerial heads of the
organization should select different types of advertisement mediums to post job advert
for the receptionist vacancy. Therefore, it can be suggested that the HR manager of
Chocolate Presence should advertise their job advertisement with the help of job
advertising agency (Hauff and Gousios, 2015).
By employing this recommended job advertisement process, the company can have a
countless choice while hiring adequate personnel for the vacant place. Moreover, the
selected advertising agency will also help the HR personnel of this organization to
select the right person for the vacant place. The company can reach skilled unemployed
people within a fraction of a second by using this job advertisement process. The HR
manager of this organization also hires skilled adequate personalists for the post of a
receptionist. Along with this, this advertisement can also mitigate the internal conflict,
which may arise because of the current job advertisement process (Ganesan, Antony
and George, 2018). For these reasons, the company and the HR manager should take
help from the job advertising agency while advertising job advert for the post of a
receptionist.
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PART 2 - Employee performance, development and reward & Factors that
influence HR decision making
Task 3
a) Microsoft offer graduate training schemes and internships. Evaluate the
benefits to both the organisation and employees of such schemes.
As the goal of this organization is to manufacture or prepare unique things to bring
changes around the world, so the company focused on the training and internship
programmes. By conducting training schemes and internships programmes, the
company can improve their employee’s skills and knowledge. It creates a good path for
maximizing organizational assets. From these programmes, Microsoft can improve the
overall productivity of the company. Along with this, Microsoft provides opportunities for
freshers to join as an intern of the company and enhance their practical knowledge.
From young blood, the company can also find some extraordinary talents and also gave
them employment opportunity (Suchomel and et al., 2018). In the perceptive of
Microsoft, extraordinary talents, which the company found from internships, are called
human assets for Microsoft. Along with this, from internship programmes, interns can
get guidance from the skilled supervisor of Microsoft, which helps them to prepare
themselves for the corporate world.
For newly joined employees and existing employees, Microsoft offers training scheme.
In the training scheme, the company provides knowledge to their newly joined
employees about the basic principle of the organization and also teach them how to
behave with their colleagues. It helps them to adopt the organizational cultural easily
and also helps them to provide their contribution in an effective manner. Along with this,
to aware employees about advanced technologies, the company also organize several
training activities and workshops for their staff members. Taking part from training
schemes and workshops, employees of Microsoft can improve their knowledge, which
definitely helps them to take measures to improve their performance level (Worthington
and Worthington Jr, 2019). If the employee’s performance improves, then it will
automatically create a good prospect for the company. Skilled employees also
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considered as organizational assets. Because of the experiences and knowledge of
skilled employees, they can also motivate their subordinates by giving proper guidance.
It helps Microsoft to improve employee attachment level.
b) Microsoft offers a range of flexible working arrangements for staff. Firstly,
identify some of these arrangements and then evaluate the benefits of offering
these to both Microsoft and its employees.
Microsoft always asked their employees to give their best effort, and according to this,
the company also has taken certain steps for its employees to meet their employee’s
expectation level. The company always tries to provide a better life for their employees
and their families. This company also provide an opportunity for their employees to
request for the flexible working environment to their supervisors after completing 26
weeks under the same supervisors. It also helps employees to enjoy the flexible
working environment within their organization (Hendrickson and et al., 2017). The
flexible working environment also helps Microsoft to enhance the performance of
employees, which leads to organization success. On the other hand, Microsoft authority
concentrates on the health and safety purpose of their employees. For this reason, the
company has taken several measures for its employees to stay them healthy. After
working long hours, the company also give breaks to tier employees for refreshment
purpose, which also helps them to stay mentally calm. This innovative approach helps
the company to maintain the quality of the organization (Raziq and Maulabakhsh, 2015).
Simultaneously, the company also offers a flexible work schedule for its staff members,
which may help the company to gain its employee's commitments. To create a flexible
working environment, the company can provide a generous vacation for their
employees to spend time with their family and friend outside the premises of the
organization. This approach also helps the company to create a flexible working
environment for their employees. Even, Microsoft also offers several activities for its
workers to bring some refreshment within their staff’s life. To create a good impact on
their customer’s mind, the company also implement certain schemes for their
employees to provide care of their employee’s family. Microsoft also takes responsibility
for helping their employees to continue their education properly (Kvande, 2017). The
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