Evaluating HRM & Workforce Strategies: Woodhill College Case Study

This report focuses on human resource management (HRM) within Woodhill College, a UK-based institution experiencing growth. It delves into the purpose of workforce planning, highlighting the HR manager's role in aligning staffing with organizational objectives. The report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of various recruitment and selection approaches, including internal, external, and third-party sourcing. Furthermore, it evaluates HRM's functions in providing talent and skills to meet business objectives, covering recruitment, training, motivation, and employee relations. The report also critically evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection, emphasizing the importance of selecting the best sources to improve quality and efficiency. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments for students seeking academic support.

Human Resource Management
(TASK1)

Introduction
 This report is having focus on the human resource
management in Woodhill college. Human resource
management is the process of managing the human
resource in an organisation. Woodhill College in the
UK has expanded in the recent years and has a need
for more members in the staff.

a) Purpose of workforce planning and role of
HR manager
Workforce planning is a process of identifying the organisational
needs and selecting the required size, quality and type of workforce
for the organisation. It includes selecting the people as per
experience, knowledge, skills and creativity to have the right people
for the right job. It focuses on the quality as well as quantity of
workforce for planning, selecting and recruiting the members for the
job. It is the most basic function of the human resource
management.

Continued..
Work force planning is the process of staffing but in a more planned
and well defined way. It includes identifying the staffing needs of all
the departments and combine it with the company objective to have
the accurate planning about the workforce. The working of the
employees should also be planned in a way to attain maximum
efficiency. Proper workforce planning can help to determine the
estimates for funding and budgeting.
Woodhill College need to have a proper workforce planning to have
the quality and efficient members in the staff. The college has a
selection panel for recruitment but proper guidelines have to be
provided to them as to select the best candidate according to the
college requirements, which is possible with the proper workforce
planning. The HR manager of the college has the responsibility to
create a workforce plan to attain the objective of the institute

b) Strength and weaknesses of different
approaches to recruitment and selection
Recruitment and selection is the process of identifying and
analysing different options and hiring the best option available. It
has different approaches for recruitment and selection for the best
option.
Internal sourcing- It is the method of selecting from already
recruited employees within the organisation to fill the vacated
position. It can be vertical hiring or horizontal hiring which includes
hiring from within the same hierarchy level from different
departments or from lower level in the same department. It induces
loyalty and motivation in the employees. Whereas, it can also lead
to jealously among the team members and create obstructions in
smooth functioning.

Continued..
External sourcing- This is the most basic form of resourcing in an
organisation. It involves the process of selecting the employee from
external sources such as advertisements in newspaper, announcements,
online etc. This enables the company to have a newer perspectives and
ideas. This method is also useful when internal sources are available.
Unlike internal sources this process is costly and time consuming for the
firm and involves longer time to fill the vacant position which leads to
decrease in the efficiency level.
Third party sourcing- This method includes a third party to search for the
suitable candidates for the firm in order to save time and workforce
involved for this work. The company outsources the process to a placement
agency to find the qualified candidates and the company has to invest
limited time to interview such candidates. This process however is time
saving but the cost involved is high as the agency is paid for searching
required workforce.

c) Assessing the functions of HRM in providing talent
and skills appropriate to fulfil business objectives
Human resource management is the key function for any
organisation to function in a proper manner. It not only searches and
recruits the required workforce it also plans to maintain the
workforce while training and developing them for maximum
efficiency. The performs several functions in an organisation, some
of them are:
Recruitment- The recruitment function begins with the planning
and making strategies for the workforce. The HR department
analyses the needs and requirements of every department and align
it with the company goals to attain the type of workforce required. It
includes the estimate of demand and availability of workforce. In
Woodhill College the HR needs to find the desired candidates as per
the requirements of the institute.

Continued..
Orientation and Training- After recruiting the workforce, this is
the first step towards training the employee to help in adjusting and
acquainting in the organisation and with the job profile. The training
function involves guiding the employee about the skills and
knowledge about the job. It includes training and development from
time to time when required. Woodhill College will have to provide
guidance and training to the employees in order to make them
acquaint with the pattern and working of the institute.
Motivation- The motivation function provides encouragement and
stimulus to perform better in the organisation. It presents the
employees with more opportunities to continue through
performance appraisals and personal benefits for the individuals.
The HR in Woodhill college needs to create motivation techniques
based on the employees interest and needs. This will help to reduce
staff turnover in the institute.

Continued..
Employee relations- This function is the most important part as it
involves maintaining the relations with the employees and labours.
The HR needs to have an effective communication the employees in
each department to maintain the proper functioning and removing
obstructions due to personal or organisational reasons. The HR of
the College will have to communicate properly with all departments
to analyse the working of the employees.

d) Evaluating the strength and weaknesses of different
approaches to recruitment and selection
Recruitment and selection function involves the process of finding
the right resources and selecting from the pool of qualified and
experienced candidates to fulfil the desired job profile in the
company. There are many approaches for recruiting and selecting
which provides various options for the company.
The most widely used approach is of external source which involve
selecting the candidate from outside the organisation. The
organisation opens up to a large pool of candidates increasing the
chances to select the accurate person for the job. It provides a newer
outlook for the organisation but it is expensive and time consuming
process. Whereas the internal recruitment involves selecting the
candidates from the organisation which gives the benefit of filling the
vacant position with a trusted employee and opportunity to perform
better. This can also create an environment of competition among
peers leading to conflicts.

Continued..
The HR of Woodhill College needs to select the best source among
the various options available to recruit the candidates with desired
quality and skills. Analysing the pros and cons for the options the
suitable sources for recruitment needs to be selected to improve
quality and efficiency of the institute.

e) Critically evaluate the strength and weaknesses
of different approaches to recruitment and
selection
In an organisation the recruitment and selection decision is the most crucial
part. This process helps to acquire the most suitable employees for the job
among the pool of qualified candidates. The methods used for recruitment
in an organisation may depend upon its policies or working. The sources
available for recruitment are such as advertisements, online recruitment,
campus placements, placement agencies, internal recruitment by
recommendation and promotions, etc.
To opt for the suitable method for recruitment the HR manager has to
evaluate the job profile and company objectives to determine the suitable
method. For example, internal recruitment might be suitable in the case
when company needs to appoint immediately or with proven loyalty and
trust for the company. This can also result in conflicts between colleagues
and can be counter productive if the employee does not have the required
skills and training. In these cases, where it is important to have the right
knowledge and skills for the job, external source of recruitment if preferred.

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