An Analysis of HRM Strategies and Leadership at KFC India

This report offers a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at KFC India. It begins by introducing the concept of human capital management and its significance for organizational success, specifically in the context of KFC's fast-food business. The report delves into various relevant HRM models including the Fombrun Model, Harvard Model, Guest Model, and Warwick Model, explaining their applicability and benefits for KFC India. It then examines essential HRM functions such as recruitment and selection, human resource development (HRD), motivation, and performance appraisal, providing specific recommendations for improvement within KFC's Indian operations. The report further evaluates HRM software programs like BambooHR and Workday, assessing their potential for enhancing HR efficiency. Finally, it explores the characteristics of effective leaders and identifies leadership models suitable for KFC India, concluding with a summary of key findings and recommendations to optimize human capital management within the organization.

Managing Human Capital
and Entrepreneurship

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Relevant HRM models applicable for KFC................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
Functions of HRM and recommendations to KFC India for further improvements...................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
Critically evaluation of HRM Software programs......................................................................5
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
Characteristics of effective leaders and model suitable for KFC India.......................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Human capital management is a combination of practices for recruiting, managing,
developing and optimising the human resources of an organisation. Thus, it play an important
role in the growth and success of an organisation as it support human resources in improving
their performance through conducting several HRM practices such as recruiting, selection,
motivation, performance appraisal etc. It also support leadership through allocating the role and
responsibilities related with bringing out maximum output from employees working in an
organisation (Absar, 2012). KFC is an American fast food restaurant which is engaged in
producing and selling multiple variety of food products such as Fried Chicken, Chicken
sandwiches, soft drinks etc. is selected for the purpose of preparing this report. The project
includes various HRM models which are more applicable to an organisations to manage human
resources. In addition with this, HR functions such as recruitment and selection, HRD,
Motivation etc. are also described under this report. Apart from this, HRM software programs,
characteristics of an effective leaders are also discussed under this report.
TASK 1
Relevant HRM models applicable for KFC
Human resource management is considered as an effective strategic approach to the
effective management of human resource so that the maximum efforts can be gained by
organisation in achieving their desired goals and objectives. For this, HRM models play an
important role in bringing maximum output from employees working in an organisation. There
are four types of HRM models which includes Fombrun Model, Harvard Model, Guest Model
and Warwick Model. There are various aspects which are associated with the application for
KFC which are discuss below:
 It provide an analytical framework for examining human resource management for
example, situational factors, stakeholders etc.
 KFC used to legalise specific HRM practices that provide uniqueness to HRM
practices.
 It helps in describing the importance of key HR practices which motivate HR
manager to take further decision related with implementation of HRM practices.
1

 It assistances in increasing proper knowledge the characteristics of HRM which will
be. established through effective variables relationship to the research their desire
aims and objectives.
Therefore, these four models are more useful for KFC Food chain India to adopt within
organisation which support their HR practices to the next level directly making business more
competitive among their rivals in market. It can be further understood through explaining these
four models in detailed manner which are given as under:
The Fombrun Model
By the help of this particular model which is associated with core functions of
management such as selection, appraisal, development and rewards and their relatedness with
each other. Every function is equally important at the respective role which is effectively reliable
for the company to aim on overall development of the company. But such model is more easy to
implement and can serve as a heuristic framework so as to describe the nature and importance of
HR activities (Akingbola, 2013). Therefore, it may be adopted by KFC operated its chain in
India as it assist their staff members to work hard and perform better through providing them
motivations in terms of giving rewards, promotion etc. Such model helps in attaining loyalty of
employees and increases their work commitment with company for longer period of time.
The Harvard model
This model comprising of six critical elements of HRM such as stakeholder’s interests,
situational factors, HRM policy choices, HR outcomes, a feedback loop through and longer
duration consequences. It can be further understood under the below: Stakeholders interests indicates the importance of trade-offs between the interests of
owner and employees. Thus, it become the challenge of HR manager to manage the
interests of all stakeholders so as to maximise their satisfaction level. For example, owner
expect to earn more revenue whereas shareholders expect to earn high interest on their
investment therefore it must require for KFC India to manage the balance of interest.
 Employee influence: It includes the delegation of roles and authority to the employees on
the basis of their skills and knowledge which maximises their interest and working
behaviour by which the maximum outcome can be gained by an organisation.
Thus, by the help of this model company can manage all the resources which are helpful
for attaining overall performance and stability in near future time. by this help of this, a well
2

organise characterization of HRM that can established variable relationship among the
employees and staffs can easily be formed.
The Guest model
This model was developed by David Guest in the year 1997 and considered as more
superior model as compared with other models. It mainly focuses on six elements of HR which
includes HR strategy, HR practices, HR outcomes, Behavioural outcomes, performance results
and financial consequences. As looking inversely, the financial gain of company is very much
based on the performance of employees which can be derived through maximising their working
behaviour at workplace. Maximising the employee behaviour can be possible with the help of
HR Practices which help in giving employees healthy work environment, flexibility of work etc.
and HR practices are formulated under HR Strategies, therefore all are interrelated with each
other. Thus, it become more beneficial and superiors for KFC India as it is mainly focuses on the
developing potentially of human employees which maximises their contribution towards its goals
and objectives (Carter and Greer, 2013).
The Warwick Model
This is the model which was developed by two researchers namely as Hendry and
Pettigrew of University of Warwick. Like other models, it also consists of five components of
HR which includes external environment, internal environment, business strategy content, HRM
context, HRM content. It is considered as business strategy and HR practices which are covered
by guest model as well and also external and internal environment in which all the business
activities are operated. External environment includes several factors such as political, economic,
social etc. whereas internal environment included employee’s morale, organisational culture etc.
Therefore, the main strength of the model is, it identifies all environmental influences on HRM.
such model is more helpful for KFC India to adopt as it assists HR Manager to make decision
after examining all such internal and external factors which can affect the existence of
organisation in competitive market (Cooke, Saini and Wang, 2014).
Harvard model: It has been seen that a large part of business organisation is uses this
particular model in order to acknowledges the existence of multiples stakeholders within KFC.
By the help of this, people can easily be able to rooted in the human relations tradition among the
people. This is more probably the most seminal model of HRM and that has been a major impact
3

on academic debate on the subject. Although, he never publicly revealed the recipe, it will be
admitted to use of salt and pepper and other material while making the product.
The organisation use Harvard HRM model in order to manage and coordinate distinct
organisational activities within the workplace.
TASK 2
Functions of HRM and recommendations to KFC India for further improvements
Human Resource Management play an important role in increasing potentiality of
organisations through making their employee more capable and skilled so that maximum
contribution can be gained in achieving desired goals and objectives. KFC has vast business in
India expanding across entire country wide range of personnel. For this, HR manager performs
various functions which are determined as under:
Recruitment and selection: HR manager is wholly responsible to fulfil the requirements
of human resources of an organisation through conducting recruitment programs and selection.
Thus, it becomes one of the most challenging task for HR manager. Recruitment and selection
required lots of attention and resources to employ and hold the prospective employees. It starts
with the invitation given to eligible candidates through using various modes such as short-listing
of individual, interview, presentations and aptitude testing etc. This will enables the organisation
in process of appointing effective personnel within the organisation.
Recommendation: It has been recommended for HR manager of KFC India to test the
candidates through adding aptitude and other tests in the recruitment process so that the skilled
and more qualified candidates can be selected who can contribute more in overall performance of
an organisation. Apart from this, using telephones for interview and e-mail for sending offer
letter to the candidates minimises the time and efforts by HR manager.
Human resource development: It is related with enhancing the overall development of
employees which assist them to achieve growth and success in their personal as well as
professional career. For this, HR manager is conducting several development programs such as
learning and training sessions, seminars, trade shows and corporate responsibilities. There is
need of providence of training to HR personnels for improvement of their basic skill as they are
able to do actions in future. Organisation coordinate distinct training and development program
4

for their worker to improve their skills and abilities as per their requirement (Gruman and Saks,
2011).
Recommendation: It has been recommended that HR manager of KFC India must
required to give flexible working options to their staff so that they can work according to the
time frame they preferred. For example, some employees demand to work at day shift whereas
some demanded to work at nigh shift. It help company in retaining experienced employees for
longer period of time.
Motivation: It is also an important functions that to be performed by HR manager for the
purpose of achieving loyalty and work commitment of their employees towards an organisation.
Motivation increases performance level of employees i.e. important to provide at workplace. It
can be possible through giving appreciation to employees of KFC in terms of rewarding them
with extra monetary payments, compensation, promotion, working hour flexibility, medical
insurance etc. This will maximise the interest and working behaviour of employees of KFC due
to which they contribute maximum to the achievement of desired goals and objectives (Caldwell
and et. al., 2011).
Recommendation: It has been recommended to HR manager of KFC India to provide an
opportunity to their staff to give their feedbacks about the issues faced by them at workplace so
that the proper steps can be taken to resolve their issues as quickly as possible. This will
increases the motivation level as well as increases the work commitment of employees with
company for longer period of time. Apart from this, freedom also required to be given to the staff
while performing their allotted task which brings motivation among them to develop new and
innovative ideas to complete task more effectively.
Performance appraisal: The performance level of employees are properly evaluated by
HR manager of KFC according to their performance. By performing such functions, It help
organisation to identifying the high performer and low performer according to which the roles
and responsibilities are allotted. It also help HR team to draw a certain development plans who
are failed to give their maximum output (Paauwe and Boon, 2018).
Recommendation: It has been recommended that HR manager of KFC must required to
establish specific performance standards with the fixed time frame so that it encourages
employees to work hard and give their best efforts in achieving pre-determined target within
allotted time period.
5

TASK 3
Critically evaluation of HRM Software programs
HRM Software programs is a software application that combines different human
resources functions including recruiting and training, performance analysis, benefits
administration etc. These are different HRM software programs which can be adopt by HR
manager of KFC in managing human resource in more effective and efficient manner. Such
software programs includes BambooHR, Zoho people, Workday, iCIMS talent acquisition,
SuccessFactors, Halogen Software, TribePad etc. which are discussed as under in detailed
manner:
BambooHR: It is an online HR software system which enables HR manager to smooth
switch from spreadsheets to an Human resource information system (HRIS) that will help in
meeting most of their business needs. HR manager can use this system as HRIS and applicant
tracking system (ATS) features which makes for them to manage the different aspects of the
employees. It also offers HR manager's deep visibility into strategic factors like employee
retention and turnover (Pasban and Nojedeh, 2016).
Zoho People: It is considered as a simple HR platform which help HR manager to
manage employees activities including time/attendance, records and leaves. It helps in
determining and tracking the information of each and every employees along with their
performance records. Apart from this, such system facilitate employees as well in helps in
accessing their information whenever they need through the employee self-service portal.
Workday: It is well known and popular SaaS enterprise-class system which can be used
by every companies operated at global level. Such programs offers payroll, financial and human
capital management solutions designed for modern organisations. User can easily use such
system without taking help of IT expertise. It is also assisting HR manager to secure data of their
employees due to having latest security functions in such software (Shields and et. al., 2015).
SuccessFactors: It is also one of the popular application which are used by most of
organisations in business world. Such system offers fresh opportunities to develop and innovate
in their existing business functions which drives company ahead in the competition with their
rivals in market. It is cloud based and contains flexible features to optimise workforce and
workflows. Along with this, such system contains many features such as performance solutions,
6

on-boarding, recruiting tools, an applicant tracking platform, succession, planning, HR analytics
etc. Using such system will boost productivity and engage and motivate their staff members.
Deskera HRMS software: It is such kind of software which help HR manager to easily
manage the EPF contribution of employees based on the norms pre-determined by the
Employees Provident fund, India. Such system generates tax calculation based on the tax
residency status of the employees. Along with this, it contains various other important features as
well such as enables HR manager to align human resource with the organisational goals through
tracking key employee performance indicators through out the year. It also facilitate user to tract
regular working hours as well as overtime and time-off payments (Wood, 2018).
Recommendation: It has been recommended to the Board of Directors of KFC India to
use Deskera HRMS software among various options as it support HR Department to develop
their employees performance which indirectly makes positive impact on the overall performance
of an organisation. Deskera HRMS software contains many beneficial feature which can
facilitate HR Manager of KFC India to maximise the interest and working behaviour of their
staff members. The reason of adopting such system are given as under:
 Addressing the entire spectrum of organisation payroll requirements which makes more
speedy and efficient payroll processing with relative configuration.
 It allows HR manager to develop their recruitment process through making it more
simple, transparent, intuitive and interactive.
 Using such system allows HR manager to align workforce with company's goals and
objectives through tracking their performance level using KPI tool.
 It generates time-sheets for each and every employees, tracks working hours, overtime
and time off payments.
 Such system also provides a host of personalized services via self service employee
dashboards. The employees can view information related to them and manage daily task
from a single, secure, web based platform (Nankervis and et. al., 2016).
 It provides the HR department ability to manage each employees details and keep track of
all employees activities.
Therefore, such system brings beneficial outcome to KFC India as it supports and brings
transparency between HR manager and employees of company encouraging them to perform
7

their allotted roles and responsibilities in better way so that their desired goals and objectives can
be easily achieved by an organisation within pre-determined time period.
TASK 4
Characteristics of effective leaders and model suitable for KFC India
Leader act as a motivator for employees through giving them proper guidance and
direction so as to complete allotted work in more effective and efficient manner. KFC is one of
the well-known food chain restaurant which provides multiple number of food products such as
fried chicken, chicken burgers, French fries, soft drinks etc. The issues which are identified are
related to low quality of products, low employee support etc. At present time, their food chain
restaurant in different countries achieve huge success with the help of maximum contribution
made by the employees that can be gained through giving them proper guidance and motivation
by HR manager who act as a leader as well (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Therefore, Leader must
have specific skills and characteristics which directs employees to contribute more towards
organisational goals and objectives. It can be further understood under the following:
Characteristics of an effective leader:
Good communicator: A leader should be a good communicator who establish healthy
relations with the workforce. There are large number of employees are working in KFC India
coming from different nations and backgrounds due to which they feel hesitations while
communicating with co-workers. Therefore, it is required for leader to make interaction with
them and allows them to share their ideas and opinions which increases their interest and
working behaviour while performing allotted task and responsibilities.
Open-minded: An effective leader should consider the suggestions and feedbacks on
priority while decision making process. It helps in maintaining good working atmosphere and
allow employees to feel important for their organisation. It assist a leader to make an effective
decision considering all issues and feedbacks of employees which brings motivation among them
(Grivastava and Kleiner, 2015).
Rewarding: A leader act as motivator in order to bring maximum output from their
employees. It can be possible through rewarding them with extra monetary payments,
compensation, incentives etc. after analysing their overall performance using different software
8

programs. It help in maintaining loyalty and commitment of employees with company for longer
period of time.
Open to change: An individual become an effective leader by taking into account all
point of views and making possible efforts in changing existing policies, programs which are not
beneficial to an organisation as a whole. Leader is mainly focuses on the statement “changes
achieve success”. For example, setting target for employees to get extra monetary payment will
bring motivation among employees to work hard and give their best efforts.
Delegator: An exceptional leader realized that success cannot be achieve at their own
efforts as it required combined efforts from employees working in an organisation. For this, a
leader should act as delegator in which he/she allotted roles and responsibilities to their staff
members on the basis of their skills and knowledge which can bring maximum outcome to the
company (Martin, Gollan and Grigg, 2011).
Hence, in regard of coping up with the numerous identified issues related with hiring,
selection and motivation of human resources, this is significant for KFC India to have the traits
like this to thrive success. Therefore, here is suggested some models that can be managed by
company to improve their leadership style more effectively.
Leadership Models/Styles:
There are various leadership models among which two leadership can be adopted by HR
manager to bring beneficial outcome to KFC India. It can be discussed in brief as under;
Democratic leadership model: In this, manager or leader gives freedom to their staff
members to execute allotted work with the help of their own ideas and thoughts as manager do
not interfere in their activities. It encourages employees to develop new and innovative ideas to
complete allotted task without thinking of any interruptions by the management. This, it
maximises their satisfaction level of employees and retain them for longer period of time
(Human Resource Management Models, 2018).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above project report that the growth and success of the
organisations are very much depend on the contribution of employees due to which it is required
for HR management to perform its several functions such as training and development program,
recruitment and selection. Rewards and compensation etc. to develop their skills and knowledge.
There are various HRM models as well such as The Fombrun Model, The Harvard model etc.
9