Human Resource Management Report: HRM in a French Patisserie

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within the context of The Cronut, a French patisserie aiming to expand its bakery chain. The report begins by outlining the purpose and functions of HRM, emphasizing workforce planning and resourcing strategies, including operational and strategic aspects. It then details how HRM functions contribute to achieving business objectives, such as staffing, performance, and administration. The analysis extends to the strengths and weaknesses of various recruitment and selection approaches, followed by an examination of the benefits of different HRM practices for both employers and employees, and their impact on organizational profit and productivity. The report also critically evaluates various HRM methods. Furthermore, the importance of employee relations in influencing HRM decision-making is discussed, along with key elements of employment legislation and their effects. The report concludes with a critical evaluation of employee relations management and employment legislation, focusing on their impact on HRM decisions within The Cronut, and includes job and person specifications for various roles, recruitment methods, job advertisements, candidate processing, interview preparation, and selection processes.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................1
Section 1.....................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce planning and resourcing in the
Cronut.....................................................................................................................................1
1.2 How the functions of HRM can provide talent and skills appropriate to fulfil business
objectives................................................................................................................................2
1.3 Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection.............2
Section 2.....................................................................................................................................3
2.1 The benefits of different HRM practices for the employer and the employees...............3
2.2 The effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational profit
and productivity......................................................................................................................3
2.3 Critical evaluation of different methods in HRM practices.............................................4
Section 3.....................................................................................................................................4
3.1 The importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision-making4
3.2 Key elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM decision-making.......5
3.3 Critical evaluation of the key aspects of employee relations management and
employment legislation that affect HRM decision-making in the Cronut.............................5
TASK 3......................................................................................................................................6
A. Job and person specification of varied posts.....................................................................6
B. Recruitment methods.........................................................................................................8
C. Job advertisement..............................................................................................................8
D. Shortlist and processing applications of suitable candidates.............................................9
E. Interview preparation and best practice in interviewing suitable candidates.....................9
F. Selection process and best practice in selecting suitable candidates...............................10
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The adequate execution of human resource management in SME is quite recent
phenomenon. As employees have very significant role in small firms, the HR management is
increasingly important in the development and realisation of small business success. The HR
management can allow SMEs to establish and sustain their competitive advantage over others
in the market. Here, the report is briefing about purpose and functions of HRM in the French
patisserie, The Cronut to expand its new bakery chain. The paper is illustrating the scope of
HRM and its key elements that would support the bakery owner in attracting and recruiting
right and capable staffs for the new store. The content is also analysing potential factors that
may influence the HRM activities of business and at last the overall process of inviting and
selecting best potential employees for the bakery is discussed.
TASK 1
Section 1
1.1 Purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce planning and resourcing in the
Cronut
The purpose of workforce planning for the Cronut is to set the process that the bakery
can execute to maintain the most effective management/employee team possible, ensure long-
term success and increase profits (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). The following are two main
functions of HRM in the bakery:
Operational
 To optimise employees hours and work schedules
 To optimise the talent distribution among cooking, reception and housekeeping, etc.
departments
 To determine the functional needs and hire new staffs to meet such needs
 To reassess the employees as necessary
 To make sure highest possible job satisfaction to workers
Strategic
 To forecast the needs of talent in future
 To identify and evaluate potential options for sourcing in future
 To execute an adequate strategy of workforce analytics
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1.2 How the functions of HRM can provide talent and skills appropriate to fulfil business
objectives
The HRM at Cronut can facilitate best skills and talent to achieve the following objectives:
Staffing objectives – The HRM is concerned to ensure that business is adequately staffed. The
HR manager will also compete in the job market to make sure that talented and best staffs are
recruited to assist in fulfilling the profitability goal of the business (Bratton and Gold, 2012).
Performance objectives – After conducting appropriate workforce planning, the HRM also
support the business in ensuring that employees are well dedicated and motivated to increase
their performance.
Administration objectives – HRM at Cronut will fulfil the responsibility of company’s
smooth operation. The HR manager will support the company in comply with legal
obligations and thus, ensure the attainment of conducting ethical business goal (Briscoe and
Schuler, 2004).
1.3 Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
The potential methods for the recruitment and selection of employees at Cronut are
internal (i.e. selecting staffs within the firm) and external (i.e. recruiting from outside the
business). However, the management should evaluate the following strengths and weaknesses
of each method before adopting it in their process:
Advantages of internal approach:
o It may facilitate substantial savings at Cronut, as short training period will be required;
o The firm will be able to assess potential of a person to carry out the vacant job ( Dowling,
2008).
Disadvantages of internal approach:
o Limited internal sources;
o Less choice;
o No opportunity.
Advantages of external approach:
o Qualified candidates will be selected by bakery;
o Fresher input and skills will be used for the expansion of bakery business;
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o Creative generation would support in differentiating the offerings at bakery from others;
o Better growth opportunities will be facilitated through right personnel.
Disadvantages of external approach:
o Limited understanding of company;
o Time consuming;
o Higher risk;
o Dispute with existing staffs (Fadel, 2012).
Section 2
2.1 The benefits of different HRM practices for the employer and the employees
Human resource management practices helps to enhance the productivity of employees of
The Cronut in following ways:
 Hiring and Training of workforce: Manpower planning is one of the most important
practice of effective human resource management. HRM helps in devising efficient
hiring strategies for bringing right kind of people in the Cronut.
 Performance management system: One of the key responsibility of HRM is to motivate
employees. The performance management system helps to carry out the same by
defining the individual role and providing feedback for improvement or rewarding after
assessing the performance (Roberts, 2017).
 Building culture and values: HRM is expected to create a favourable working
atmosphere and culture to bring the best out of employees. It also helps to increase job
satisfaction.
 Conflict management: Conflict arises from disagreements between employer and
employees. It is HRM’s role to work as a mediator in effectively resolving such conflicts.
 Developing relations: This is another benefits of HRM that helps to establish pleasant
relations within the Cronut (Storey, 2007).
2.2 The effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational profit and
productivity
The organisational profit and productivity is significantly dependent on high-
performing and innovative employees. HRM practices are influential in team productivity by
means of hiring and retaining exceptionally capable and motivated employees. Another
important productivity factor is a good manager or leader (Workforce planning and HR
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templates, 2016). Effective leader set direction and execute strategies to increase productivity
and organisational profit with the help of HRM practices like HR planning, effectively hiring,
training and motivating employees. Moreover, the pronounced utilisation of HRM practices
which increases the performance such as incentive and bonus payment, ensuring participation
and empowerment, provision of job security, promotion and rewards, recognition, and
training for skill development result in not only higher productivity but also higher profits in
the organisation (Cardon and Stevens, 2004).
2.3 Critical evaluation of different methods in HRM practices
HRM practices influence the skills of people working in the Cronut. For example,
recruiting procedures have a significant influence over the type and quality of staff members
at the restaurant. Providing various training programs such as on-the-job experience, basic
skills development, mentoring further influence employee development. HRM practices also
affect employees’ motivation by encouraging them to work harder. For example, Cronut may
link the performance appraisal with incentive compensation system in order to increase
productivity and profits (Chandler and McEvoy, 2000). Another area where HRM practices
can influence the Cronut’s performance is provision of organisational structure. Structured or
programmed job limits the opportunity to work beyond individual’s role and results in under-
utilization of their skills and abilities, whereas flexible structure encourages employee
participation for example, through cross-functional teams, job rotations and quality circles
(Daily and Huang, 2001).
Section 3
3.1 The importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision-making
Employee relations influences behaviour of individuals at work as well as effects
attitude and motivation of employees. An effective employee relation offers employee
recognition, and other resolutions of issues, so that employee becomes more happy and
productive. Employee relations activities influence HRM decision making with respect to
negotiate employment agreements, train managers to follow agreements into practice, and
deal with any disputes that may arise (Daley, 2012). It is essential to utilising a responsive
and cooperative approach in this regards in order to achieve successful human resource
decision making. The human resource department of an organisation handles several
complaints of employees on routine basis. Thus HRM decisions are influenced by employee
relations for settling differences between managers and co-workers. Maintaining good
employee relations helps in carrying out several HRM activities such as reducing
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absenteeism, increasing harmony at workplace, improving motivation and morale of
employees, attracting skilled workforce, lesser attrition and subsequent reduction in cost of
retention, shared learning and continuous development of human resource of the organisation
(De Kok and Uhlaner, 2001).
3.2 Key elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM decision-making
There are several employment legislations and laws that govern and regulate the
relationship between employer and employee. Some of the key legislations that impacts the
HRM decision-making are –
 The Employment Rights Act – Employment Relations Act of 1999 and 2003 provides
contractual rights to employees with respect to itemised pay statement, national
minimum wages, terms and conditions of work and protection against unfair dismissal
at work.
 The Equal Pay Act of 1970 – ensures same pay for women and men for doing the same
type of work at similar rank.
 The Working Time Directive, 1999 – makes sure a maximum of 48 hours working
week, and a four week holiday (Gibb, 2001).
In this way, employment legislations covers many aspects of HRM decisions such as
minimum wage, paydays, working hours, overtime, annual vacation, leave, resolving
disputes, termination, deductions, sexual harassment, record keeping, etc. HRM decisions
around these topics that are covered by employment standards, must be made in accordance
with the appropriate law.
3.3 Critical evaluation of the key aspects of employee relations management and employment
legislation that affect HRM decision-making in the Cronut
The bakery business is a labour-intensive small businesses and involves low levels of
connection to employer organisations and trade unions. Working conditions in this business
are very different from other service businesses like restaurants and hotels in the industry.
Therefore, key challenges of employee relations that impact HRM decision making like
issues with undeclared work, employment of young workers, seasonal work, inadequate
working hours, and health and safety at work. Moreover, The HR manager of French
patisserie – The Cronut, is responsible to familiarize with the local and national employment
laws related to minimum wage, overtime, tips, and other applicable labour laws (Heneman,
Tansky and Camp, 2000). Minimum wage refers to the hourly or monthly wage of employees
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that must be paid at minimum. Tips related law suggests that distribution of collected tips is
voluntary decisions of employees and employer cannot influence such decisions. Overtime
refers to extra work hour that employees put beyond the 48 hours week for which employees
should be paid extra to compensate. There are other laws related to minors and alien or
migrant workers for which necessary legal restrictions should be followed by the store.
TASK 3
A. Job and person specification of varied posts
French pastry chef
Education Associate’s degree or certificate
Job skills Capability to make range of baked items,
sense of aesthetics, attention to detail and
managerial skills
Salary $42000
Job growth 10% growth
Duties and responsibilities
 Prepare desserts according to current menus;
 Decorate cakes
 Create and bake breads
 Plate desserts to serve the guests;
 Create baked items for specific diets;
 Create a budget for the purchase of ingredient;
 Train the staff members of kitchen to fulfil the imposed standards;
 Organise staffs of kitchen and supervise them properly.
Personal features
 Physical strength
 Aesthetic sense
 Passion for savoury and sweet baked foods
 Learning abilities
 Perseverance
Store manager
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Job responsibilities
 Build and implement profit and sales plan of the bakery
 Ensure the overall profitability of bakery
 Maintain the weekly, quarterly, daily and annual financial tools of reporting
 Ensure adequate coverage of team members
 Maintain appropriate standards to prevent loss
 Oversee all media and cash management functions
 Plan, communicate and execute all new product information and sales promotion
effectively.
Qualifications
 College education
 Proficient in computer and familiar with MS Outlook, Excel and Word
 Must have efficient decision making and problem solving abilities
 Detail-oriented, well-organised and able to perform multi-task
 Must have good written and verbal English communication skills
Waiter
Responsibilities
 To offer excellent counter and waiting service in the bakery
 To offer pro-active, friendly and professional customer services
 To effectively produce, take and serve adequately, the orders of customers
 To clear tables
 To assist in monitoring stock levels
 To assist in unit cleaning and kitchen preparation
Person specification
 Good customer care skills
 Appropriate interpersonal skills of communication
 Enthusiasm for and experience of delivering local, seasonal and fresh drink and food
order
 Ability to perform under pressure
 Flexible approach to hours of working
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Hostess
Job description
 Schedule advance reservations of dining for guests
 Direct and instructs the personnel of dining about the needs of customers
 Ensure the requirements of customers are properly met
 Greet customers as they arrive and take them to the seats
 Inspect and maintain the facilities of dining
Person specification
 Well-versed in answering on telephones
 Talen of maintaining inventory
 Knowledge of MS Excel and Word
B. Recruitment methods
The bakery online promotion as a desirable working place through the website and
other internet sources is an element of e-recruitment. The main purpose of this type of
recruitment to make the process more effective and efficient and less expensive. The method
of online recruitment can support the bakery in reaching wide pool of potential employees
and facilitate their selection process easy. The following two types of e-recruitment method
will be used in Cronut:
Job portals – Here the HR manager will post the vacancies with complete personal and job
description, which then allow for searching of suitable resumes corresponding to particular
opening (E-RECRUITMENT, 2017).
Resume scanners – It is the main advantage that job portals provides to the business. It will
enable potential candidates to filter and screen their resumes by the pre-determined
requirements and criteria’s of the job (including qualifications, skills, payroll, experience, etc.
(Arjomandy, 2013).
C. Job advertisement
The Cronut
West Coolangratia
Store manager
$45K
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A well-known French patisserie is looking for a store manager for its new bakery at West
Coolangratia. The bakery is known for its vast choices, exceptional freshness, friendly staffs
and low prices.
As a store manager you will be responsible to:
 Merchandise
 Manage staff and stock level
 Set and ensure that budgets are met
 Ensure that pleasant shopping experience is provided by the department
 Ensure that employees are abide by health and safety policies
You will need to have following capabilities to be positively considered for this job:
 Energetic, fun and result-oriented nature
 Previous experience of management
 Proven experience of exceeding store targets
For a long-term successful career with the bakery, apply today. Send applications to
[e-mail]
The above advertisement will be placed at LinkedIn, CareerOne and MyCareer sites to get
the applications of talented and best people.
D. Shortlist and processing applications of suitable candidates
Shortlisting is the important part of recruitment process and involves carefully
slimming down the number of job applications. The first step is to identify essential criteria
and desirable criteria from the job description and person specification and devise a rating
system to score applicants against these criteria. Applicants who receive zero scores for
essential criteria can be discarded and remaining candidates could be ranked in order of
scores. This provides the list of applicants to invite for the next stage of interview. It is also
necessary to inform unsuccessful candidates by providing rejection letter. The successful
candidates will get interview letter mentioning the details like name and title of the job,
listing required documents, and a copy of detailed job description along with policy
documents (Kotey and Slade, 2005).
E. Interview preparation and best practice in interviewing suitable candidates
The shortlisted candidates are assessed through selection interview which provide a
chance to the candidate to meet the employer / manager face to face and exchange
information related to his candidature. Interview preparation involves thorough reading of
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candidate’s application and CV, prepare interview questions by listing standard and specific
questions, checking the arrangements for meeting the candidates and interview room, check
candidate’s reference and ensure availability of adequate time. Interview good practices
consist of following a similar structure for all candidates, utilising scoring system, asking
candidate-specific questions where necessary and asking the candidates for evidence or to
provide examples in support of the answers they give. The interview should be ended by
asking the candidates if they have any questions or would like to add anything important
(Peccei and Rosenthal, 2001).
F. Selection process and best practice in selecting suitable candidates
After the interview a short note should be prepared writing to refer the job description
and person specification. The interview panel should discuss each one’s candidature and
decide after seeing all candidates. The successful candidate should be contacted and informed
about taking forward of their application to the next stage of the process. After acceptance by
the applicant, the panel should also contact the unsuccessful candidates and provide them
feedback. All documentation relating to the recruitment process should be kept confidential
for up to 1 year. The rigorous employment checking is always a good practice to follow and
references should also be thoroughly checked to ensure objective verification of information
(Yew Wong, 2005).
CONCLUSION
The above report concludes that human resource management is connected with high
profits, work productivity and increased capacity of innovation. It also revealed that an
effective HRM can enhance the small business chain ability to develop, select and motivate a
workforce capable to produce excellent results. The HRM as carrier of skills and knowledge
in the HR management has to be strategic partner that would contribute to the development
and realisation of SMEs strategic plans. In this given context of French bakery, the HRM
allowed the firm in adjusting its business policies according to the market demands and
compiling with all legal obligations in the business functions and activities.
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REFERENCES
Online and Books
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Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Briscoe, D.R. and Schuler, R.S., 2004. International human resource management: Policy
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Dowling, P., 2008. International human resource management: Managing people in a
multinational context. Cengage Learning.
E-RECRUITMENT. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.hrhelpboard.com/recruitment/e-recruitment/113>. [Accessed on 27
February 2017].
Fadel, K., 2012. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - NATURE, SCOPE, OBJECTIVES
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<https://www.hr.com/en/app/blog/2012/10/human-resource-management---nature-
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<http://www.business.vic.gov.au/hiring-and-managing-staff/staff-recruitment/
workforce-planning-and-HR-templates>. [Accessed on 27 February 2017].
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performance in small and medium-size enterprises. Entrepreneurship: Theory and
Practice, 25(1), pp.43-43.
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resource factors in environmental management. International Journal of operations &
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