Human Resource Management: Employee Relations and Practices Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within the context of Marks & Spencer. It explores the purpose and functions of HRM in workforce planning and resourcing, emphasizing recruitment, selection, training, and development. The report examines the strengths and weaknesses of internal and external recruitment methods, highlighting their impact on organizational effectiveness. It also delves into the importance of employee relations, key elements of employment legislation, and their influence on HRM decision-making. The report evaluates the effectiveness of various HRM practices, such as performance appraisal, reward systems, and dispute management, on both employer and employee, as well as their contribution to organizational profit and productivity. The analysis covers different HRM practices and their benefits to the organization, including the importance of employee relations and legislation. The report concludes with a critical evaluation of employee relationships and the application of HRM practices, offering valuable insights for effective HRM strategies.

HUMAN
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Purpose and function of human resource management applicable to workforce planning and
resourcing...............................................................................................................................1
Strength and weakness of different approaches of recruitment and selection........................3
Effectiveness of different human resource management practices to both employer and
employee.................................................................................................................................6
Effectiveness of different human resource management practices raising organisational profit
and productivity......................................................................................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
Importance of employee’s relationship and key elements of employment legislation..........8
Key elements of employee legislation and their impact on HRM decision making..............9
Application Of HRM Practices............................................................................................10
Critical evaluation of employees relationship and application of hrm practices..................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management aims at managing its human resource in effective way so
that employees contribute their efforts and knowledge in achieving organisational goals and
objectives (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Organisation focuses on training and development of
employees in order to increase their efficiency which can result in gaining competitive
advantage. Marks & Spencer operates its business in retail market and provides clothing, home
products, furniture and luxury food products. In order to maintain its retail business, it requires
high number of qualified and efficient employees. This report includes various human resource
management practices and their befits to organisation, it also includes purpose and functions of
human resource management in planning and resourcing of employees. Importance of employee
relation, key elements of employment legislation and their impact on decision making is also
explained further.
TASK 1
Purpose and function of human resource management applicable to workforce planning and
resourcing
Human resource management aims to bring effectiveness in the performance of
employees to gain competitive advantage and achieving goals and objectives. Human resource
management impacts the human resources and operations of organisation by providing training
and development that results in innovative and creative process (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Marks
& Spencer focuses on maintaining effectiveness in organisational operations by managing
effective human resource management team (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017). Workforce
planning is a continuous process which is applied by employers to meet needs and wants of
employees.
Purpose of Human Resource Management
The main purpose of human resource management is to optimize the efforts and
knowledge of employees and maximize the productivity and profits of the organisation. Human
Resource Management focuses on acquiring the knowledgeable employee, develops their
knowledge by proving training and development and retain them for achieving organisational
goals and objectives. Marks & Spencer aims at coordinating HRM for employees so that
objectives can be accomplished. It can be done by recruiting and selecting qualified employees
and introduce practices which satisfy them (Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley, 2016).
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Functions of Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management is related to managing productivity, providing training
and development to employees etc. Human Resource Management communicates with every
department of organisation so that it can maintain proper flow of accurate and important
information which can bring effectiveness in operations leading to accomplish objectives
(Internal Sources of Recruitment, 2018). Various functions of Human Resource Management are
explained below.
Recruitment and selection: Selection and recruitment of employees to fulfil the staffing
need i.e. the primary responsibility of Human Resource Management. By selection and
recruitment of talented and knowledgeable employees, organisation can achieve its long term
goals. Marks & Spencer aims at recruiting the talented employees who can bring effectiveness in
the business operations and work towards achievement of organisational goals (Brewster and et.
al., 2016). Marks & Spencer operates its business in retail markets offering large variety of
products to its customers and so it requires talented and knowledgeable employees at every level.
Therefore, human resource management of M&S aims selection and recruitment of the best
available employees.
Training and development: After selecting and recruiting employees, Human Resource
Management of Marks & Spencer focuses on providing training and development to employees
so that employees can make the best use of available resources and bring effectiveness in
business process or operation (Smith, 2014). HRM aims at utilizing skills and knowledge of
employees to bring efficiency and also focuses on developing those skills.
Performance appraisal: Human resource management assess the employees'
performance so that further training can be provided, if needed. Marks & Spencer measures the
performance of their employees in order to appraise the talented employees and make them
satisfied.
Reward system: HRM of M&S gives rewards to employees in order to appreciate them
for their high performance and is given in form of incentives or salary increment or promotion.
This benefits organisation through encouraging employees to work harder and in better way and
bring efficiency in operations (Asrar-ul-Haq, 2015).
Managing disputes: Human Resource Management also manages proper functioning of
business operations. There are certain situations in which disputes may happen between
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employees and so HRM focuses on resolving them.(Jennings and Stadler, 2015). HRM focuses
on maintaining proper functioning of business operations.
Maintaining working environment: Human resource management focuses on making a
work culture that encourages and motivate employees. A good work culture drives the
performance of employees and brings positive outcomes. Marks and Spencer aims at maintaining
good working environment that leads to efficient flow of business operation and also provide
employee satisfaction.
Employee satisfaction: The main aim of human resource management is to provide
satisfaction to employees so that they put their efforts in achieving targeted goals. Marks &
Spencer aims at encouraging and motivating employees so that they feel satisfied for their job
and put their best in business operations which result in effectiveness in process (Friedman,
2017).
HRM recruits and selects talented employees who brings innovation and creation in
business process. HRM also focuses on bringing efficiency in business process which leads to
improve business process. HRM provide training and development to its employees which brings
talent and skills in company and it also applies practices retaining those talents and skills.
Strength and weakness of different approaches of recruitment and selection
The basic and important role of human resource management is to select and recruit
employees who can work towards achievement of organisational goals. Recruitment is finding
and selecting the best suitable candidate for job profile in a company. Marks & Spencer uses
various approaches while selecting and recruiting employees which are explained below and
their strength and weakness are also explained (Schaufeli and Taris, 2014).
Internal Selection and Recruitment
Internal recruitment method used by human resource management helps to identify the
capable employee within the organisation. It basically refers to hiring candidates from
organisation only. Marks & Spencer uses internal recruitment approach for selecting and
recruiting employees which benefits organisation to retain the talented employees. Internal
recruitment is done by promoting a candidate or transferring employee from one department to
another or even by employee referrals (Hawkins, 2017).
1. Transfer of employees is done from one job profile to another. This is done to bring change in
their work to bring innovation which can benefit for future promotion.
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2. Promotion refers to giving higher level of work position or job profile to employees. This is
done to appreciate employee's performance level and encourage them.
3. Employee referrals refers to present employee referring the job profile to suitable candidates
from friends and family and also recommand about them to organisation. This helps organisation
to save time and cost in hiring and selecting candidates (Barrick and et. al., 2015).
Strength Of Internal Recruitment:
 Marks & Spencer uses internal recruitment and selection of employees because it is cost
effective. The process of internal recruitment can be done quickly and it saves time as
well.
 Arranging interviews, posting advertisement, selection procedure, administration cost can
be saved by Marks & Spencer by doing internal recruitment.
 Training and development of employee is not required as he/she already knows about
organisation, its culture and objectives (Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley, 2016).
 Internal recruitment of an employee motivates and encourages other employees and they
also show their potential towards work and benefits Mark & Spencer to retain valuable
employees.
 Internal recruitment benefits Mark & Spencer in employee retention and also encourages
them to seek for development within organisation (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017).
Weakness Of Internal Recruitment:
 Internal recruitment limits the entry of external potential talent which can not be achieved
without internal recruitment. Marks&Spencer avoid external skilled and talented
candidates which can be available outside the organisation.
 Internal recruitment blocks new ideas from new people. Mark & Spencer fails to
introduce new ideas and talents by recruiting internally. Internal recruitment is adopted
by Marks & Spencer limiting the pool of talented and skilled knowledgeable persons
available outside the organisation.
 Internal recruitment provides limited choice of talented people and avoids large number
of choices which can be availed by external recruitment (Asrar-ul-Haq, 2015).
 Promotion can be done through favouritism factor. Human resource management can
promote its favourite but not so talented employee and ignore the talented ones. It affects
Marks & Spencer as it will lead to staff of talent-less crowd.
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External Selection and Recruitment
External recruitment refers to hiring and selecting candidates from outside the
organisation. There are various methods for recruiting people from external environment to fulfil
the vacant position of organisation. Following are some methods of external recruitment (Smith,
2014).
1. Media advertisement: This method is generally preferred by organisations for external
recruitment. Marks & Spencer also uses various medium of media such as newspaper,
magnetizes, business journals, TV to advertise about recruitment and selection.
2. Human resource management of M&S visits various colleges to select and hire students
directly from campus. And it is referre as campus recruitment (Friedman, 2017).
3. Marks & Spencer also searches and selects candidates through electronically and it is
called e-recruiting by using online job portals where candidates upload their resume.
4. Human resource management also prepares for walk-in interviews where candidates are
invited to come and give interviews.
Strengthen Of External Recruitment:
 External recruitment provides large number of talented candidates and human resource
management selects the best of them which can bring efficiency and innovation.
 External recruitment process allows new ideas, fresh or new knowledge and skills of
persons which can bring positive outcomes for Mark & Spencer.
 Candidates with wide range of skills and experience can be hired through external
recruitment. Marks & Spencer can hire fresh talent through external recruitment and
bring innovation in its operations (Hawkins, 2017).
 Marks & Spencer creates healthy competitive environment within organisation between
new and internal employees of organisation which can bring positive outcomes.
Weakness Of External Recruitment:
 External recruitment is very time consuming as it has various steps to be followed. Marks
& Spencer is adopting external recruitment that has to follow a long process.
 External recruitment is expensive as it requires advertisement, vacancy announcement,
interview arrangements, administration cost etc.
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 Marks & Spencer may get uncertain response because human resource management may
not find suitable candidates for vacant position in the organisation (Jennings and Stadler,
2015).
M&S optimise both internal and external both recruitment and selection procedure as per
the workforce requirements and different circumstance cooperated by the company.
Effectiveness of different human resource management practices to both employer and employee
Human resource management aims at managing personnels of organisation in a manner
that brings positive outcomes through their effective performance. Different practices adopted by
human resource management helps in achieving organisational goals and it benefits both
employer and employee. Various HRM practices adopted by Marks & Spencer which results in
increasing profit and productivity are explained as follows:
Human resource management recruits and select employees to fulfil the vacant places
with qualified candidates. This practices adopted by HRM results in hiring of new knowledgable
person with new and fresh ideas which can benefit organisation to achieve its goals and increase
productivity (Smith, 2014).
Human resource management aims at retaining talented and skilled employees so that it
can be used to gain competitive advantage. HRM encourage and motivate employees to bring
innovation by providing them proper training and development. Employees feel motivated
towards work and put their best efforts and result in positive outcomes.
HRM provides health insurance, life insurances and other policies to employees in order
to retain and motivate employees. They also aim at maintaining flexible spending accounts,
provides scheme of disabled coverage, tuition reimbursement, etc. so that it can motivate and
encourage employees and satisfy them (Jennings and Stadler, 2015).
Training and development practice adopted by HRM helps employee to learn, reinforce
knowledge, develop skills and learn additional information. This motivate and encourages
employees to learn and gain from training sessions which benefits organisation in innovation and
creation in its business process and its productivity is also increased.
HRM practices also involves performance appraisal of employees in which employees
performance is measured. Employees performance is monitored in order to appraise their level of
performance, encourage them and rewards are also given (Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley,
2016).
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Human resource management aims at minimizing the employee turnover and so it
focuses on retaining of employees. Different practices are applied to retain talented and skilled
employees who can bring effectiveness in business operations. Employees also feel secured and
satisfied towards their job.
Human resource management adopts orientation program helps to provide various details
to employees which includes details about their roles and responsibilities, job description and
makes them feel comfortable (Schaufeli and Taris, 2014). This practice adopted by
Marks&Spencer makes employee feel comfortable and satisfied which result in positive
outcomes in way of increased productivity.
HRM aims at providing good working environment which can bring effectiveness in
business process. Marks&Spencer aims at motivating and encouraging employees by providing
them with good and comfortable working conditions. This results in effective business operation
and also employees feel motivated.
Effectiveness of different human resource management practices raising organisational profit and
productivity
Human resource management aims at managing human resources of company and treat
them as main pillars of the company. Recruitment is one of the HRM practice that helps the firm
in brining new talent in business unit. Internal recruitment is beneficial for the organisation
because it helps in reducing the hiring time. If M&S recruits people from external environment
then it would have to spend huge time for circulating information of vacant post, screening
resumes and finding the best candidate out of many, but internal selection procedure helps
business in selecting deserving candidates in less time (Hawkins, 2017). Furthermore, it is also
helpful in minimising cost of business. If Marks and Spencer hires people from external
environment then it would incur advertisement cost and other expenses. By hiring people from
existing atmosphere, company would be able to minimise cost of operations. This new people
work better in business and contributes well in achieving goal of business. Right recruitment
helps in raising productivity of the company and raising its profitability as well..
Training and development is another HRM practice in which HR manager provides
training to people. This helps in raising their existing skills and developing professionalism
among them. By this way they perform event better in business unit and helps in raising profit of
company Furthermore, performance management is another practice, entity measures
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performance of all employees and accordingly provide them reward and recognition. This is
beneficial in order to motivate people but sometimes this demotivae people those who do not
receive any promotion. (Functions & Practices of Human Resource Management, 2018). It
might be possible that they don’t perform their duties well. Furthermore, it is costly process
because entity will have to spend huge amount to hire candidates and giving them training so that
they can understand their job and can perform well in business unit.
TASK 2
Importance of employee’s relationship and key elements of employment legislation
Significance of employee relationship
Maintaining healthy relationship with employees is the way to get success for every
organisation. Workers are the assets of business; if entity has developed healthy bonding with
them then it helps in avoiding conflicts and implement changes significantly. Marks and Spencer
is the leading clothing company that always offers trendy cloths to consumers. The main agenda
of enterprise is to attract more people and expand operations across the world (Armstrong and
Taylor, 2014).
 Healthy relationship with employees aid management in getting innovative ideas. HR has
to make necessary changes in firm time- to-time but human resource manager is required
new ideas that can support in achieving goal. By involving people in decision making
process company becomes able to gain trust of staff members, by this way they share
their ideas and actively participate in decision making process. This relation aids the
M&S in running operations significantly and minimising mistakes (Bratton and Gold,
2017).
 Health relationship aids M&S in avoiding conflicts in organisation, by this way all
workers feel happy and they put their hard efforts to achieving goal of company. This
aids HR in making changes in their recruitment and performance measuring decision
efficiently.
 Strong bonding between employees and employers assists in influencing HRM decision
related to changes, training etc. Healthy relationships motivate staff members and make
them positive towards brand. This encouragement helps them in minimising confusion
and performing their duties well (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017). By this way, company
becomes able to retain their skilled employees in the firm for longer duration.
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 It aids in minimising staff turnover issue and entity will be able to retain its talented
people in business for longer duration.
Key elements of employee legislation and their impact on HRM decision making
Employment legislation can be defined as laws that help in managing employees well and
governs employment in the organisation. Its main purpose is to run business legally and
minimising controversies related to employment. Various kinds of employment legislation are
required to be followed by each firm. Impact of these laws on HRM practices of M&S is
described as below:
Health and safety act: This legislation states that all companies are required to maintain
healthy environment at workplace. They have to provide safety to its workers. This impact in
HRM decision making process because HR manager of M&S has to provide insurance and have
to complete all documentation of used material. HR manager of M&S gives training to its
workers to protect themselves from such kind of risky work practices (Brewster, Mayrhofer and
Morley, 2016).
Equality act: It is another legislation that states that entities are required to pay to each
worker equality and firms cannot decide salaries on the bases of gender or age. Marks and
Spencer follows this legal guidelines and HR manager of the firm gives appraisal and wages to
each candidates on the basis of their workplace performance only (Brewster and et. al., 2016).
Data protection: This act instruct to all business unit to keep personal information of
workers confidential. M&S does not disclose details of its employees with others. It has
maintained record of all workers and keeps this data protected.
Anti-Discrimination act: This legislation prohibits discrimination at workplace and
companies cannot discriminate people on the bases of their race, sex, religion etc. Thus, during
the recruitment and appraisal, HR of Marks and Spencer have to follow these guidelines and
entity has to offers salaries to its employees on the bases of their talent and experience (Smith,
2014).
Application Of HRM Practices
Marks and Spencer aims to retain its skilled employees in business for longer duration for
which entity continuously work to improve its human resources practices.
Job advertisement
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M&S has vacant post of HR executive, for that it will have to give advertisement for the
vacant post so that deserving candidates can apply in the company.
Company Marks & Spencer
Location London
Post HR executive
Wages As per experience
Qualification MBA from recognised university (MBA in
HR)
Graduation in commerce
Experience 2-3 years in relevant field
Skills required Excellent communication skill
Technical skill
Problem solving skill
Presentation skill
Personal specification
Post HR executive
Education MBA in HR
Responsibilities and role Person is required to recruit talented people
Arrange training for employees
Maintain records
Manage human resource
Experiences 3 years
Skills and abilities Communication skill
Technical skill
Creativity skill
Administrative skill
Company takes support of internal and external both recruitment methods that helps
enterprise in selecting most deserving and skilled people (Asrar-ul-Haq, 2015). Company is
planning to hire HR executive for that manager of the firm has to give advertisement in news
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