Human Resource Management Report: A Comparative Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices, focusing on two companies: Chocolate Presence and Microsoft. The report begins by defining HRM, emphasizing its purpose and importance, particularly in the context of Chocolate Presence. It evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of current selection methods used by Chocolate Presence, and suggests potential improvements to enhance the selection process. The report includes a person specification for a receptionist role and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of various job advertising methods. The second part of the report examines Microsoft's training and internship benefits, different types of work arrangements, and how job roles are designed to motivate employees. It also explores the importance of employee engagement, approaches to engaging workers, and key legislation influencing HR decision-making. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and recommendations. This report is a valuable resource for students studying HRM, offering insights into real-world applications of HR principles.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
A) Purpose and Importance of HR function...............................................................................3
B) Strengths and weaknesses of the current selection methods used by the organization..........5
C) Potential improvements that could be made by Chocolate Presence to enhance its selection
process.........................................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
A) Person specification...............................................................................................................6
B) Advantages and disadvantages of methods used for advertising of jobs...............................7
C) Recommend the job advert for receptionist vacancy.............................................................8
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
A) Evaluating benefits of training and internship for employees and organisation....................9
B) Different types of arrangement Microsoft offers and benefits of it.....................................10
C) How workers are motivated by designing of job roles........................................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
A) Employee engagement and its important in employee relations at Microsoft.....................11
B) Various approaches of engaging workers which is discussed in the summit......................12
C) Different types of key legislation which influences decision making of HR .....................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is a combination of three words i.e., human which refers to
workforce working in an organisation, resource states raw materials which is required to
accomplish task and management refers to utilisation of resources so that organisation objectives
would be meet (Bratton and Gold, 2017). In other words, HRM is a process of managing
workforce in an organisation so that maximum productivity would be achieved by them. In this
report, two companies has been taken for consideration which is Chocolate Presence and
Microsoft. Purpose of HR and its importance to organisation will be discussed with strengths
and weakness of selection methods. Current methods of advertising jobs will be critically
evaluate and besides this person specification will be made according to the specific job. Various
types of training given by Microsoft will be elaborated with different range of benefits and perks.
Importance of employee engagement is explained and various legislation which every company
follow to avoid legal issues will be explained.
PART 1
TASK 1
A) Purpose and Importance of HR function
Human resource management is considered as an essential process for an organisation for
the impressive management of employees in the company for gaining competitive advantage in
the market (Marchington and et. al., 2016). Human Resource functions are mainly concerned
with the processing and managing the administration programs which have a sole purpose to
increase the productivity of an organisation. These are the basic functions that are used which are
important for Human Resource Management in chocolate presence to achieve their desired goals
and objectives. The purpose of Human resource functions are as follows:
 Staffing- The main function of Human resource is to hire the employees for the
organisation and to accomplish that task staffing process is commenced. The purpose
behind this process is to appeal large number of candidates to applying for the job in the
Chocolate Presence. Staffing helps in resolving the issues faced by the company and
helps in recruiting the suitable candidate for the job.

 Development- Another function of HR involves providing proper training and
development program to the employees for the effective utilisation of their skills and to
eradicate the issues faced by the company.
 Compensation and performance management- compensation is the process of
attracting the employees towards the organisation work as it will lead them to the
adequate and equitable compensation for their contribution in the company.
Performances of the employees should also be analysed properly to eradicate the issues
of chocolate presence. Good employees in the company automatically results in
enhancing the quality of the company's products.
Importance of the HR functions
 Strategic management- It is required by the Human Resource to manage the human
resources in the organisation. The company chocolate presence is facing the problem
regarding the quality of the products they are offering. The cause for this problem is due
to the lack of proper management of the resources. The strategic management will lead to
eradicate the issues in the organisation and will help the company in improving the
quality of the products.
 Wages and salaries- the one of the issues faced by the company is related to the
employees turnover in the organisation. There could be some issues related to wages and
salaries among the employees. So, it is important for HR manager to discuss the problem
with the employees and to solve it by time. By all this it will lead to the reduction of the
turnover in the company.
The company chocolate presence is going through a rough patch as they are facing the
issues regarding the quality, employees turnover and fairness in the selection test conducted by
the company. To eradicate these issues it is required to develop a proper communication with the
employees and to figure out the reasons of their leaving the company. HR is required to report to
the management about this and to resolve the issue by increasing the salaries of the employees.
Employees working with their proper potential in the company will lead to improve the
quality of the products and will help the company to gain advantage for future (Brewster and et.
al., 2016). To solve the issue in selecting the candidates the HR should involve selection process
with fair procedures. It will result in maintaining faith within the candidates and employee
turnover will also be reduced.

Purpose of HRM
Main purpose of HRM is to fill the gap between the employees and employers so that
working activities would be align with the mission and vision of company. Various purpose of
HRM is explained below,
 Internal management: Efficiency of company lies in the hand of HR as their work
includes hiring, training, recruiting, compensating the employees. So the purpose of HR
is the fully utilisation of resources so that competitive advantage would be gained by
company.
 Laws: It is important for company to comply with the laws made by the management as
well as local authority as it protects company to conduct any unethical work. Apart from
this, laws also helps employees to save from exploitation. So the purpose of HR is to
implement the laws to the company so that effective working environment would be
made.
B) Strengths and weaknesses of the current selection methods used by the organization
Chocolate presence is conducting the selection process with the help of assessment test
conducted by them. The test consists of two sections English comprehension and Maths. The
candidate is required to gain 50% to clear the test. The passed candidates will be allowed to give
the interview round which is of 15 minutes and involves informal chat. The assessment test is
conducted to select the candidates and those who will pass the exam will be cleared for the
further rounds that is direct interview. Assessment test is to analyse the basic knowledge of the
candidate and then the job related knowledge is discussed in the interview round. This process
comes with some strengths and weaknesses and they are as follows:
Strengths-
 This selection method is important as it helps the company to hire the suitable candidates
for the job by examining the candidates in the interview round (Reiche and et. al., 2016).
Apart from this, it will also assist them to evaluate the analytical knowledge of
employees as it adds value in the performance.
 Interview round is helpful as it gives chances to the interviewer to formulate the
questions as per the situations and necessities of the job. It directly helps in identifying
the skills and behaviour of the candidate at that point of time only as the candidate will be
suitable for the job or not. Beside this, proper evaluation of the candidates will only attain

with the help of interview, as interviewer can easily assess the potential of candidates by
analysing their performance in the interview.
Weaknesses-
 The weakness that can be evaluated form this selection method is that proper analysis of
skills and capabilities is not determined as it is not possible to judge anyone fully in the
duration of 15 minutes.
There are chances when the interviewer may forget to ask the important questions to the
candidates, which will lead in lack of information about the candidate skills and abilities. It will
result in selecting a candidate who is not suitable for the job. To avoid this it is required by an
interviewer to be attentive and fully aware about the procedure.
C) Potential improvements that could be made by Chocolate Presence to enhance its selection
process.
Chocolate presence is facing problems in their selection process and they need to adapt
some steps to remove the problems through it. The steps to improve this process are as follows:
 The issue which is occurred was regarding the HR manager that he was hiring the
candidates in unethical manner and was found in giving preferences during the interview
round (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes, 2015). So, to improve this process the
company is required to make sure that the informal interview should be changed to the
formal one and the HR manager should conduct the selection process with the utmost
loyalty and should fully focus on the managerial skills and capabilities of the candidate.
 Another step is to include mock test in the interview process for the candidates. This test
will be based on according to the requirement of the job. It will help the management to
judge the skills and knowledge of the candidate in a prescribed manner. This process
should be considered by the Chocolate Presence as it will help in hiring suitable
candidate for the job.
TASK 2
A) Person specification
It refers to description of an individual includes qualifications, experienced while
working, skills etc. which they should possess while applying for specific vacant job (Marler and

Parry, 2016). It derives from the job description which company provides to the candidates so
that they can apply it according to their specification.
Person Specification
Post: Receptionist
Department: Administration
Reporting to: Administration Manager
Attributes Essential Desirable
Qualification & Experience Person should be graduate
with minimum 5 CGPA.
Overall 3 years experienced is
required.
Minimum two years
experienced as a receptionist
is mandatory. Highly
experienced individual would
be preferred.
Skills or Knowledge Person should have excellent
interpersonal skills which
includes verbal and non verbal
communication. Knowledge
of IT and its equipment is
preferred.
Knowledge of IT is mandatory
with expertise in multi tasking
and conversation on phone.
B) Advantages and disadvantages of methods used for advertising of jobs
It is important for every company to advertise their vacant jobs as it is essential for them
to attract more potential candidates. Chocolate Presence opted two different types of ways for
advertising their jobs i.e., internally and posting it on notice board outside the entrance of
company.
Advantages of internal recruitment
Less cost
At the time of recruiting new employees it incurs money for company which consist of
advertising jobs, training cost, equipment cost etc. (Becker and Smidt, 2016). But Chocolate
presence has opted internal recruitment as it would help them to find right candidate with
minimum cost which leads to better profitability of company. They can invest that amount in
training so that proper skills would be inculcate in them.

Fast process
As in a normal process, company advertise their jobs, then shortlisted candidates are call
for aptitude test, after that interview is conducted by using various methods like panel interview,
physiological interview etc. By using internal recruitment, Chocolate presence can hire
candidates in a less time so that vacant position won’t affect productivity of overall company in a
negative way.
Disadvantages of internal recruitment
After mentioning all the benefits of it, still there are cons of this approach which is given
below,
Gap within existing workforce
When someone is promoted to a higher position through internal recruitment, it leads to
vacant position on that old position which creates disruptions in the working operation of
company. So Chocolate Presence HRM should considered this before giving promotion to
employees.
Limited workforce skills
When an individual is promoted or recruited internally then the skills and capabilities of
company remains at the same equilibrium which is negative for organisation growth. For
instance, if Chocolate presence has promoted their existence employees to a higher position then
overall skills of company remain same as no new employees is recruited which might have better
skills and competencies as compare to old employees.
Advantages of external recruitment
Chocolate presence has also opted recruitment by positing an advertisement on their
bulletin boards so that outside potential candidates would be recruited. Various pros of external
recruitment is given below,
Brand Awareness
By opting this approach, it would assist Chocolate presence to increase their brand image
in the market as more people would be exposed to their vacant position. It also leads to increase
in faith in the mind of customers and candidates which persuade to better profitability and sales
for company.
New skills

Main reason of recruiting from outside that company could get a high potential
candidates which can help them to increase their efficiency (Helmreich and Merritt, 2017). For
instance, Chocolate presence can hire person from mathematical background so that new product
would be made after analysing data collected from research.
Disadvantages of external recruitment
Taking long duration of time in adjustment- One of the main disadvantage of this
approach is related with time taken by the employees to adjust in the organisation and to analyse
the culture and working environment of the company. Takes More time to train an
external candidate - It is hard for anyone to find out that the new employees are loyal to them
or not. For instance, after getting training from company, individual can switch to new company
which leads to loss of time and money for Chocolate presence.
C) Recommend the job advert for receptionist vacancy
There are mostly two ways through which company can post their vacant position but
sometimes it does not attract more candidates as expected. To remove their obstacles from
recruitment and selection process, Chocolate presence can opt for social media platform for
advertising their position for receptionist. It will help company to attract more candidates as
online platform has wide reach which could help them to hire different candidates with different
and unique skills and competencies. Besides this, it is easy to shortlist candidates as there are
various technologies and software which would help company to automatically select individual
according to the requirements of company. Moreover, this approach also cost less as compare to
other techniques which is good sign for company's profitability (Kavanagh and Johnson, 2017).
PART 2
TASK 3
A) Evaluating benefits of training and internship for employees and organisation
Training is a way of inculcating new skills and capabilities within new employees so that
they can perform their assigned task with maximum efficiency (Bounfour, 2015). Internship is
way through which newly graduate or post graduate student can apply their knowledge in a real
scenario. There are different types of internship which offers by Microsoft like Design healthcare
in which interns have work with a team to find out ways to resolve healthcare problem and
develop prototypes of UX etc. To qualify for this, students must be enrolled in masters and have

some experienced in designing a portfolio. Other than this, there are hundred of internships
offered by Microsoft.
Benefits to employees
 By getting internships from big companies like Microsoft, individual gets rich working
experience, inculcate skills which would help them to grow in their professional field,
strengthen curriculum vitae etc.
 If a newly graduate person is able to perform with their full potential then there is a
chances of converting it into full time opportunities. Apart from this, financial conditions
of employees become stronger as they are getting stipend from the company.
Benefits to Microsoft
 It assists company to identify their future employees as internship is a period in which
company analyse and monitor every aspect of individual. Through this Microsoft can find
a right potential individual for future (Coetzee, Ferreira and Potgieter, 2015). Besides
this, extra time is not needed by an individual to adjust themselves in climate and culture
of Microsoft as they are used to it in their internship period.
 By hiring an interns for a position, company can save lots of money as they have to pay
them stipend which is low or no stipend. In return, full work is done by an individual
which leads to savings for company. Moreover, if employees is hired after getting
internship for weeks then it persuade to higher retention rate for company.
Training scheme is defined as the programs which are designed to train the employees for
the particular job role and help the employees in increasing productivity in the work and also
leads to benefit the organisation in effective and efficient work. This will help employees in
developing their skills and knowledge. In context of organisation, skilled workforce helps in
providing competitive advantage to company.
B) Different types of arrangement Microsoft offers and benefits of it
Employees are the assets for company as they are one who put all the actions align with
company's goals and mission so that purpose of existence would be attain (Deery and Jago,
2015). There are different types of arrangements which offers by Microsoft is given below:
Plan for the future
It consist of various arrangements which would help Microsoft employees to keep their
future safe like,

 Employee stock purchase plan: In this, employees of Microsoft will get 10 % discount
while buying their stocks. This is beneficial for Microsoft as more shares will be sold by
them which leads to better profitability for company. On the other hand, it would make
the employees financial condition stronger as they are buying highly valuable shares in
lesser prices as compare to others.
 Loan refinancing program: In this, Microsoft assist employees to save the future of
their kids by providing loan or education loans with cheaper rate and easy instalments. It
would make the future brighter for them. Besides this, Microsoft can earn some amount
of money from interest rate they are charging which is positive sign for their balance
sheet.
Enjoy the perks
 On campus: Microsoft always tries to motivate their employees by reducing any
obstacles or hurdles they could face in the future (Crawshaw, Budhwar and Davis, 2017).
Company has different types of shops and services in their campus so that employees
does not have to go out for their needs like grocery, shopping, entertainment etc. By
providing these facilities, employees are highly motivated due to which they perform
with their highest potential. It persuade to increase in overall efficiency of Microsoft
which is good for their profitability.
 Social clubs: Every individual has to do something in their life so to refresh their mood
and keep their health healthy as then only they can work with their full productivity. To
satisfy it, Microsoft has various types of clubs within their campus in which employees
can play or take some rest in their free time. It makes the employees fresh which is one of
the reason of performing hard work at office. Increase working efficiency of employees
has a positive impact on Microsoft also.
Time away:
 Time off: In this, Microsoft offers 15 paid vacation in one year for vacations along with
10 paid US holidays and at last two more holidays are given in which employee can do
their personal work. By using this strategy, Microsoft motivates their employees to work
harder and due to this, comp[any has been able to perform with sustainable performance.
Care for your family:

 Parental leave: In this, 20 paid weeks are given to the mother who has given birth. Apart
from this, 12 paid weeks are also given to the new parents so that proper care of children
would be attain.
Some main HR Practices that are used by Managers of Microsoft in order to increasing
profitability or productivity. These practices are given as below:
 Training and Development: As per this practice, it is very important for the HR
Managers of Microsoft to make high investments on training and development of their
employees so that their abilities and skills would be improved in effective manner. It
consists of providing training to newly joined employees so that they would be adjust
within the working environment in easy manner.
 Recruitment and selection: Recruitment is the process through which an organisation
hire right candidates for vacant position of organisation. In case of Microsoft, they hire
those employees who are technically eligible and highly experienced so that proper
candidates would be hired for vacant positions.
C) How workers are motivated by designing of job roles
Job roles is directly connected to the motivation level of employees as if job assigned to
them is according to their skills and competencies then individual would be able to perform with
the highest potential and vice versa (Bringezu and Bleischwitz, 2017). Different ways through
which Microsoft maintain their employees motivation is explained with the help of theory called
Herzberg’s two factor theory. This theory states that there are two types of factors on which
individual motivation is based on, one is hygiene factors which reduce dissatisfaction and other
is motivational factors which motivates them to work harder,
 Hygiene factors: It consist of various factors like financial benefits, policies at
workplace, working conditions etc. All these factors assist employees to remove their
dissatisfaction towards their company at work. But that does not means that it motivates
them to work harder. For instance, if employees are working in an unhealthy
environment, then their productivity level would be low as they are not motivated enough
to work with their full efficiency. So Microsoft should try to maintain their working
environment healthy so that employees will be motivated enough to work harder thus
increasing overall potential of Microsoft.