HRM Report: Strategies and Practices for Say it with Chocolate Company

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of human resource management (HRM) practices, focusing on the case study of 'Say it with Chocolate.' It begins with an introduction to HRM, outlining its purpose and functions, emphasizing recruitment, selection, training, and development. The report then delves into the strengths and weaknesses of both internal and external recruitment methods, offering potential improvements to the current selection methods. It explores the benefits of various HRM practices for both employers and employees, and assesses the effectiveness of these practices in raising organizational profit and productivity. Furthermore, the report discusses the importance of employee relations in HRM decision-making, examines key elements of employment legislation, and concludes with the application of HRM practices.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Purpose and the functions of HRM.......................................................................................1
P2. Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection.................3
P3. Benefits of different HRM practices within for both the employer and employee..............5
P4. Effectiveness of different HRM practices to raise organisational profit and productivity.. .6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision-making............7
P6 Key elements of employment legislation and it's impact on HRM decision- making...........8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P7 Application of HRM practices...............................................................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is a process which manages the organizational activities in
a structured manner. The core task of the management is to provide recruitment, selection for
staffing, placement, induction, training and development, motivation, compensation and benefits.
These all are the basic activities which is accomplished by the HR management. The main
motive of the this department is to increase the productivity of the firm through effectively
utilization of the workers and also encourage them to improve their performance. The human
resource management is also develops the policies and practices for the employees and they also
plans to attain the goals of the organisation. The report is based on the human resource
management of the 'Say it with Chocolate’ which is based in North Yorkshire and a renowned
name for innovative chocolate based greeting cards. Microsoft is also another company which
has culture to encourage personal growth and development opportunities of their employees. The
report comprises of purpose and functions along with strength and weaknesses, benefits for
employees and employer, effectiveness of different HRM, and employee relationships. In
addition it also includes the employment legislation and application of HRM (Bloom and Van,
2011).
TASK 1
P1. Purpose and the functions of HRM
HRM or human resource management has a crucial role in organization with some
priorities such as recruitment and selection to increase the productivity through hiring the
workforce according to their specialization and qualification. 'Say it with Chocolate’ is basically
a chocolate greeting cards firm and it also has a small team to manage gifts for the customer. If it
needed to measure the accounts of the company then it needs to hire an employees who has
ability to to determine the profits and loss of the company. To attain this they follows a
procedure for recruitment, selections and training and development for the new and old
employees to increase the performance and productivity of the company (Scullion and Collings,
2011).
Purpose of Human Resource Management
There are some core purposes of human resource management in 'Say it with Chocolate’
because it plays an important role between the employer and employees to create a healthy
environment at workplace. The purposes can be mentioned as below -
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 Developing a good environment – It is the major responsibilities of HR manager to
create a positive environment while working in the organization Because when there is
not a good atmosphere to work the employees feels detached with their work. In 'Say it
with Chocolate’ the HR professional is responsible to construct a specific structure that
flows in a sequential manner. For an example, it prepares a small gifts that needed to
packed by a separate packaging department. There is a need to divide the work in
modules because the both team can work simultaneously and their work will not harm by
each other. The human resource management creates a good atmosphere to work in
cooperation (Nankervis and Baird, 2016).
 Legislation – The human resource management develops some some laws and rules for
the employees that must be followed by the employees of the organization. If 'Say it with
Chocolate’ has an HR manager then they have to build some rules that are prepared to
give them the benefits of working with organization and to the company also. The
employees abide to work on minimum working hours, leaves, etc.
 Employee management – The human resource management recruits and selects the
candidates for the firm with some rules and different criteria of working such there may a
requirement for the part time employees who can work for 'Say it with Chocolate’ . For
an example, there is need of packaging designer so the employee can work as part time or
according to flexible working hours. The employees can be managed without any issues
in the firm.
Function of HRM
There are some core functions of human resource management that works for goodwill of
the firm. 'Say it with Chocolate’ can raise the productivity through these functions which will
aid to support the company to attain its predetermine target and the functions are as follows -
 Recruitment and selections – When a firm needs some staff to run a business
successfully then they recruits the employees according to the requirement. As the 'Say it
with Chocolate’ is chocolate specialist then it needs to hire a specialist who can examine
its products before launching it in the market. In order to recruit and select the candidates
it need to follow the different approaches (Daley, 2012).
 Training and development -After recruiting the appropriate candidate's there is a need
to provide training to them to make the work flow in systematic way. This training will
enhance their skills to work with 'Say it with Chocolate’ as it is learning process which
develops new skills to work.
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Role and responsibilities of a human resource
The major role and responsibilities of a human resource manager is recruitment,
selections and training and development for the 'Say it with Chocolate’ because of all of these
duties increases the production capacity of the firm (Kehoe and Wright, 2013).
 Recruiting and selection of the employees as per the requirement of the organization is an
one of the important responsibilities of the HR professional.
 Developing the policies of the company is also an essential responsibility to run a
company for a long run.
P2. Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection.
Recruitment and selections are the primary function of an Human Resource Manager.
They have the power to hire employees with the suitable qualification, skills and experience
according to the job role requirement. The HR professionals will analyse the qualification and
qualities should be poses by an individual in order to fulfil the roles and responsibilities of the
designation. Such as as 'Say it with Chocolate’ needs to recruit a product manager in order to
take the responsibility of production of the product but for this the individual needs to be
qualified and skilled according to the position. There are two kinds approaches of recruitment
and selection that is known as internal and external approach and these are defined below -
Internal recruitment and selections – As the name indicates that internal recruitment is
in - house resource recruitment. In this approach the in – house resources are promoted to the
next level designations of the organization. Because the people who are working with the
organisation they wanted to get promoted as experience and knowledge they acquired matters
for the company. So it is obvious that they are looking for the opportunities to grow with the
organization because if the firm would not satisfy them they can left the job and that can be
harmful for the company . Internal recruitment need to provide the information to the employees
so that they can grab the opportunities to proceed in their career. In 'Say it with Chocolate’
internal recruitment can be determined according to their previous performance as what they
have done and what are the improvement in skills. On the behalf of these factors the the existing
employees would get promotion in the company (Vörösmarty and McIntyre, 2010). There are
some strength and weaknesses of internal recruitment and selection that are given as below -
Strengths Weaknesses
 Promoting existing employees of 'Say it
with Chocolate’ is beneficial for the
 If 'Say it with Chocolate’ would
promote the in – house workforce then
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company because it will not consume
time to take decision as HR
professionals already aware with
knowledge and qualification of the
employees.
 The employees are already giving their
best performance therefore, there is no
need to invest in training.
 The employees will become more loyal
towards the firm because they are
getting promotion and job satisfaction.
the young and deserving talent will not
be able to get the job (Kusluvan and
Kusluvan, 2010).
 The unemployment will be increased.
 It will create a vacant post because the
existing employees will get the
promotion. This will reduce the
productivity due to the lack of human
resources.
External recruitment and selections – The internal recruitment is about to promote the
workers of an organization whereas external recruitment and selection is hiring the employees
from outside world. The external recruitment is complete procedure which requires to put efforts.
In order to hire the employees outside the organization the HR needs to publish the
advertisement regarding the vacancies. The advertisement can be published through various
mediums like newspapers, magazines, journals, professional websites – LinkedIn, etc. After
getting the advertisement the desired candidates can send their resume to the organization
websites through email and by post also to the physical address. Then the HR analyse the the
resume and call them for the interview the interview can be a test for 50% marks to qualify the
test for 'Say it with Chocolate’. There is some particular criteria for external recruitment that has
some strength and weaknesses such as -
Strengths Weaknesses
 External recruitment hires the new
talent that is required to achieve the
goals with new strategies and ideas that
can give a new direction to the firm.
 There is a broad area of selection of
talent for a desired designation.
 The firm will become able to expand
the working with new ideas and
 The external recruitment needs to train
the new employees to develop skills in
them (Gruman and Saks, 2011).
 It takes a lot of time of selections as
cause there is vast pool of aspirants
who wanted to get the job.
 The company needs to invest on the
training and development of the new
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innovation that enhance the
profitability.
employees so that they can work
according to the organization culture.
Current selection of methods
Internal and external approaches of recruitment can be followed by 'Say it with Chocolate’ to
attain the objectives of recruitment and selections that will increase the productivity and
performance of the organization. The present selection of the firm is to analyse the ability of the
candidates through integrity test, personality test, knowledge of data analysis. The company can
can utilise all of these test with external approach because it will give an idea about the
candidates intelligence. Whereas it will increase the time of internal promotions that is not good
for the company (Ployhart and Moliterno, 2011).
Potential improvements of current selection methods
Screening of the candidate can be improved to know about the past experience and
working field along with their specialization area that can increase the focus on the qualified
candidates. It needs to increase the potential of the organization by analysing the various factors
through conducting test and interview phases. 'Say it with Chocolate’ is a small firm but they can
hire the new employees through provide recruitment information to candidates. They can also
examine their practical knowledge. As they can ask some questionnaire in the interview and
analyse their knowledge in the related field for the selection of an appropriate candidate.
TASK 2
P3. Benefits of different HRM practices within for both the employer and employee.
Microsoft has practices of the HRM that has some benefits for both of the employer and
employee. These practices are essential for the organisation and employees that are given below
-
Benefits of employer
Flourishing culture of the Microsoft - Microsoft maintains a good culture among the
employees as there are so many people who came from diverse background so it is necessary to
develop the rules and to make them happy and give them atmosphere to work well. This healthy
culture is good for the company because there will not be a place for conflicts that can affect the
working and other activities (Blume and Ford, 2010). If there is no hurdle in working and
process then it will be easy to work smoothly and because of this the company will can grow
more with a friendly culture.
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Training and development - Training and development is also providing benefits to the
employer cause the trained staff is the source of increased productivity of the firm. Microsoft aid
to support their growth with the trained staff because this training and development increases
their profit, productivity and performance (Kraaijenbrink and Spender, 2010).
Benefits of employee
Rise in confidence – When the candidates get trained after the selection then they will
get more confident to work with efficiency. The increased self – confidence reflects in their
performance as they accomplish the given task in an effective manner.
Skills and personality development – As long as an individual works in a field they
improves knowledge and skills and that is also beneficial for the employee. As Microsoft is a
brand in itself everyone seeks to work with it because the employees can earn skills and
knowledge that can enhance their ability (Pieterse abd Van, 2010).
Apprenticeship and graduate training schemes
Microsoft offers apprenticeship and graduate training schemes to the people because it gives the
exposure to the company and to develop the skills and build a new source to recruit young talent
as they also gathers the technical knowledge that are related to different job role. Apprenticeship
is for the people who are between 16 to 24 years. It gives a chance to them to start their career
win early age with salary. This is beneficial for the aspirants because they do not need to spend
money on tuition and be able to work with learning. On the other hand the graduate training
schemes gives the opportunities to the people who wanted to be successful with learning and
skill development to work in team (Guest, 2011).
Opportunities of permanent job role
If once an individual got permanent on job role then they can get other opportunities to
incline in their career. It does not mean that if they are permanent then they cannot get the
promotion during work in the same organization. Opportunities are not stuck at one place as a
person involves in other projects and interact with the lot of people and they can explore the
world to improve their knowledge and skills. As much as they involved in the activities within
the organization they will get the chance to learn and experience new things.
Motivation of workers
Microsoft can motivate their workers through organizing appreciation ceremony for them
and they can also give them rewards through increased in salary and bonus according to their
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performance in team and as an individual. Motivation boost up the employees to work with
enthusiasm that can increased the firm's benefit (Crook and Todd, 2011). Motivation can be be
given through job design such as job enlargement which consists of expanding the scope of with
additional activities. Job enrichment is also a great opportunity for the employees to improve to
make them a chance to grow more.
P4. Effectiveness of different HRM practices to raise organisational profit and productivity.
There are several human resource management practices that can enhances the profit and
productivity of the staff that reflects in the performance of Microsoft. There are such concepts
and practices that can improve the performance and productivity of the organization. The
employees needed to determine the effectiveness of the employees in different sections of the
company are as follows -
Flexible working practices
Microsoft adopted the flexible working practices that gives a flexibility to the employees
that how long, when and where they can work. It gives a freedom to to choose their own work
style. Employees can access flexible working through human resource policies which required
to approval from the HR manager. There are three kinds of flexible working policies such as full
time, part time and career flexibility. The benefits for Microsoft to opt this policies includes
increase in employee morale, employee engagement, and commitment to the organization. It
reduces the absenteeism and tardiness, outstanding employees.
Employee engagement – Employee engagement is one of the core practices of HR
manager cause it is essential to engage the people in activities according to their ability,
knowledge, skills and experiences. It is important for the employees that they participate in the
team work because because it will increase the production of the firm this is the reason that HR
assign the equal opportunities to the employees to grow and develop the skills.
Focused management – Microsoft has a focused management which is required to
determine the objectives and goals. To achieve the goals they show a direction to the
subordinates which can take them towards the target (Datta and Guthrie, 2010).
Create a brand – Human resource manager has the ability to recruit one of the best and
deserving employees who can give involvement to create are band image of company. Microsoft
has a great taskforce which put its efforts to build a brand image more strong. As initial it was
not able to sustain but as much employees came together to work in team with inventions and
innovation they established the organization among the top technological companies. Human
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resource management practices works for the employees benefits and therefore, they are skilled
and knowledge which creates a brand image. All of these HRM practices can increase in rise in
profit and productivity (Bloom and Van, 2011). .
Moreover, Microsoft organizes several hiring program for the aspirants who wanted to
work with it. According to the case study of Microsoft, 'Autism Hiring Program' through which
the talented software engineer hired and that increased the profit and productivity of the
organisation. Campus recruitment is also a great idea where organization can find a diverse
ideas and techniques that can take an entire day of the candidates to analyse their qualification
and skills which are required to expand operations of the company.
P7 Application of HRM practices.
The HR management practices can be define as recruitment, selections, training and
development to shape an organisation and attain the objectives. There are some application that
need to be analysed by the human resource manager to get the qualified and desirable candidates.
There is a particular process which they need to follow that are described as below -
Job analysis – Job analysis is process which used to identify the requirement to hire the
employees for a job role such as 'Say It With Chocolate' is hiring a receptionist for the company
in order to assist its front desk (Scullion and Collings, 2011).
Job description – Job description is about to provide a brief regarding the job role for
which the candidates can submit their resumes. It includes designation, salary, responsibilities,
etc. 'Say It With Chocolate' can specify the information regarding the job role so that people can
read and apply for that vacancy if desires to do so.
Job title
Receptionist
Reporting to Administration Manager
Main purposes of job To handle the telephonic queries and take the appoints.
Key tasks  Meeting and greeting clients
 Booking meetings
 Arranging couriers
Job Responsibilities
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 Providing customer service support
 Answering the phone calls
 handling the paperwork
Personal specification – Person specification specifies qualification and skills of the
person who fills the application for job role. For an example, for a receptionist the qualification
can be graduate with BBA from any affiliated university of the United Kingdom, that can aid to
support the information which requires for the job role (Nankervis and Baird, 2016).
Personal specification
Qualification required Bachelors in any field
Master in marketing or any Field
Diploma in management
Experience  2-3 year working experience in same
field
Area of expertise Cognition to communicate effectively with
customers and business bodies
Management activities
Number of vacancies 2
TASK 3
P5 Importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision-making.
For a business organisation, their employees are known as its key strength who provide
their effective contribution in business activities and approaches. Microsoft is a large scale
software organisation in which large number of employees provide their quality services in order
to achieve their target goals and objectives properly. In this, management of firm needs to create
impactful strategy to engage employees in a specific task. Employees engagement is a business
approach that assist to provide better and desirable results to management of firm. In this
process, workers of a Microsoft are usually working together to committed with target objectives
and goals in order to get desirable success (Daley, 2012).
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Employees engagement is an integral strategy which is basically used to attain desirable
success and outcomes easily. Employee engagement is essential aspect that is used to build
positive relation within an organisation. This integral strategy assist to accomplish target goals
and objectives effectively such as the work and activities should be divided among the
employees according their capabilities and qualification. The employees should involve in
decision making because they are working with the company can suggests some points that can
be supportive for the company (Kehoe and Wright, 2013). There are some of the key approaches
to engaging workers and the importance in terms of improving communication in the workplace
are also determined below as-
 Resolving conflicts – Communication is a medium to build direct relation between
employees in effective manner. It assists in engaging employees together to resolving
their issues and conflicts easily. Understanding the significant of better communication,
Microsoft opt effective communication channels such as social media, electronic media
etc. in order to manage their conflicts and disputes. Microsoft basically uses these
approaches in their business activities to resolving issues and conflicts easily and thus
improving the workplace communication in an organisation. These are the most efficient
factors that assist in providing better results. Through this, employees show their interest
to accomplish specific task and objective by their combined efforts.
 Sharing work – Employees engagement is a most specific approach that uses to manage
all business activities in a effective manner. In this process, communication play a most
important role that assist to build positive relation between each and every individual.
Through this, employees of Microsoft are engaged with each others to sharing work and
task properly. Through this they can easily reduce burden from any one individual's. Uses
of better communication process assist to sharing difficult task and work by the mutual
understanding of each others (Vörösmarty and McIntyre, 2010).
 Employees loyalty – Employees engagement is a most specific process in which
communication plays a most important role. Through this, employees loyalty can be
managed in Microsoft different and difficult business approaches to getting higher
benefits and profitability. Better communication always assist to build loyalty of
employees to accomplish each and every task easily. In Microsoft, employees are
working together and uses better communication mode in order to getting desired success
and business outcomes.
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