Human Resource Management Practices at Aston Martin Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Aston Martin. It begins with an introduction to HRM and its importance, followed by an overview of Aston Martin. Task 1 explores the purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce planning and resourcing, including recruitment and selection, training and development, and orientation. It also examines the strengths and weaknesses of different recruitment and selection methods. Task 2 delves into the benefits of various HRM practices for both employees and employers, such as compensation and rewards, and employee relations. Furthermore, it evaluates the effectiveness of HRM practices in raising profit and productivity, focusing on training and development, and conflict resolution. The report also analyzes the importance of employee relations and the impact of employment legislation on HRM decision-making. Finally, Task 4 applies HRM practices in a work-related context. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and offering insights into effective HRM strategies.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM that are applicable to workforce planning and resourcing...1
P2 Strengths and weaknesses of different recruitment and selection..........................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3 Benefits of different HRM practices for employee and employer.........................................4
P4 Evaluation of effectiveness of HRM practices in terms of raising profit and productivity....5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P5 Analysis of important of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision
making..........................................................................................................................................5
P6 Identification of the key elements of employment legislation and its impacts upon HRM
decision making...........................................................................................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
P7 Application of HRM practices in a work related context.......................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is an effective approach to manage the staff members at
work place. It is beneficial for the organisations as it help to accomplish business goals such as
achieving competitive advantage, profit and productivity maximisation by recruiting skilled
employees. In order to be a successful business entity effective management of human resource
is the key element which should be focused by top executives (Al Ariss, Cascio, and Paauwe,
2014). The enterprise which is selected for this report is Aston Martin which is a British
manufacturing company of sports cars. The company was founded in year 1913 by Lionel martin
and Robert Bamford.
This assignment covers various topics such as purpose and functions of HRM, their roles
and responsibilities, strengths and weaknesses of recruitment and selection, effectiveness of key
elements of HRM etc. Analysis of internal and external factors that are affecting HRM decision
making, employment legislation and application of HRM practices in work related context is also
discussed under this report.
TASK 1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM that are applicable to workforce planning and resourcing
Overview of Aston Martin: Aston Martin is a manufacturing company which is
executing its business all around the world. The organisation was founded by Lionel Martin and
Robert Bamford in year 1913. Currently the business is operated by the enterprise with the help
of 3000 employees. Its headquarters are in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, UK. Net income of
the company is around 79 million pound (Overview of Aston Martin, 2019).
Workforce planning: The process which is used to align needs and preferences of the
company in order to make sure that all the legal requirements are fulfilled by the organisation
(Workforce planning, 2019). There are various types of functions that are performed by Aston
Martin for workforce planning. All of them are described below:
Human resource management: The process in which all the work force of the
organisation is managed by the HR manager is called human resource management. For all the
large as well as small business entities it is very important to conduct it is an appropriate manner
so that predetermined goals can be achieved successfully. In Aston Martin HR managers are
highly concerned with this procedure as they focus on the productivity of whole company. There
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are various types of functions that are related to HRM (Bratton and Gold, 2017). All of them
with their purpose, roles and responsibilities are described below:
Recruitment and selection: These are the main functions of HRM and main purpose of
it is to hire skilled, experienced and knowledgeable individuals for the vacant posts of Aston
Martin. Role of both of them is to identify needs of the company so that all of them can be
fulfilled by selecting best candidates. Responsibility of this function is to make sure that right
applicants are hired by managers of the organisation. It is also used in workforce planning and
resourcing by HR of Aston Martin as it guides to find best suitable individual for the entity
(Buettner, 2015).
Training and development: The main purpose of this function is to enhance
productivity of Aston Martin by increasing engagement and work quality of existing and new
employees. Training and development plays a vital role in workforce planning because both of
them results in improved performance and satisfaction level of staff members. Responsibility of
this function is to build consistency and increase productivity in the work of employees.
Orientation: Main purpose of this function is to introduce a new worker to the existing
employees of Aston Martin and provide information regarding job. Role of orientation is to
encourage confidence of new staff members and help them to adapt the occupation faster.
Responsibility of this function is to contribute in effective and productive work force. In the
process of work force planning and resourcing orientation is used to reduce anxiety and gain
employee commitment.
P2 Strengths and weaknesses of different recruitment and selection
Workforce planning: It is a continuous process in which need of the organisations that
are related human resource are analysed then different approaches are used to fulfil them. One of
them is talent management which is used by Aston Martin in which HR managers formulate
strategic plans. All of them focuses on analysis of skills and competencies, achievement of long
as well as short term goals etc. factors.
Recruitment: The process in which best suitable candidates are find and hired by the
managers of the organisation is known as recruitment (Cascio, 2015). Two different types of
methods are used by Aston Martin for this procedure. Both of them are as follows:
 Internal recruitment: In this method, existing workers are used to fill vacant posts of
Aston Martin. Promotions, employee referral, internal advertisement etc. The HR
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managers of the company use employee referral for internal recruitment in which current
staff members are selected from their social network. It leaves positive as well as
negative impact on the organisation which can be understood with the help of following
points:
 Strength: This option helps to increase employee retention rate because organisation try
to retain its skilled and knowledgeable workers. Another benefit of this alternative is that
it helps to save money which could be spent by the company to hire a new staff member.
 Weakness: It can limit diversity and creative ideas because young blood will not be
introduced in the organisation. This method may also result in decreased moral of other
employees.
 External recruitment: In this method employees are hired from outsider resources. It is
used to better the performance of the whole organisation. Different types of this approach
are job portals, campus visit, website, walk in and social media. Human resource
managers of the company use job portals to recruit new employees. In this method staff
members for vacant posts are hired from different online sites. Strengths and weaknesses
of this method are as follows:
 Strength: This external recruitment method is cost effective because it helps to save
money by posting job adverts online and reduce labour cost. It is an easy way to analyse
candidates whether they are suitable for the enterprise or not.
 Weakness: It is a time taking process because there are large number of applicants and
managers have to select best from them which takes too much time. Chances of fraud
application is also high in this method.
Selection: It is the process of choosing the best applicant from all the candidates who
have applied for the job. There are various methods of selection which can be used by
organisations. These are online screening, interview, aptitude test, personality profiling etc. For
recruit job portals are used by Aston Martin but for selection purpose interview method is used in
order to analyse that applicants are actually capable and skilled or not (Strengths and weaknesses
of interview, 2018). Strength and weakness of this method are as follows:
 Strength: Interviews helps the managers to select the right candidate for the jobs. It is a
time and cost effective method because it results in hiring of skilled and experienced
workers.
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 Weakness: Sometimes in the process of interview the interviewer or the candidate miss
the important information due to negligence which is not good for both of them.
Training and development: Different types of training and development programs are
conducted by the organisations for its existing and new employees in order to enhance their work
quality and productivity. There are various types of training and development approaches such as
reactive, proactive and systematic etc. From all of them proactive approach is applied within
Aston Martin in which they try to provide them effective training in which they can find advance
solutions for future consequences, in order to enhance performance of the company.
Performance management: It is a process which is concerned with improvement and
enhancement of performance of the organisation. There are various types of approaches that can
be used by companies for the same purpose. These are comparative, attribute, behavioural, result
and quality approach. In Aston Martin comparative method is used by the managers in which
they provide ranks to the employees for their good performance and then make sure that
appropriate benefits are provided to them (Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2018).
Reward system: It can be defined as a program in which principle of providing rewards
to the employees according to their performance is followed. There are two different types of
approaches of this system monetary and non monetary. When incentives and bonus are provided
these are known as monetary and promotions are considered as non monetary benefits. Both of
them are used by managers of Aston Martin in order to motivate the employees and enhance
their work quality.
TASK 2
P3 Benefits of different HRM practices for employee and employer
There are various types of HRM practices that are implemented by the organisations in
order to achieve goals such as attaining competitive advantage and profit maximisation. Some of
them that are used by Aston Martin are as follows:
Compensation and rewards: These are the monetary payments that are made by the
employer to its employees. In Aston Martin workers get appropriate amount for their work as
organisation believes that monetary benefits can result in good performance and motivation of
staff members (Kramar, 2014). This practice is beneficial for workforce because they get good
compensation and rewards according to their efforts. It is also advantageous for employer
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because with the help of this HRM practice they can motivate their employees by providing
monetary benefits and enhance their productivity.
Employee and labour relations: For all the organisations it is very important to
maintain good employee and labour relations so that a good working environment can be
established. This practice is used by human resource managers of Aston Martin in order to
analyse issues and problems that are resulting in decreased staff members engagement. It is
beneficial for staff members because they can share their problems with their superiors. It is also
advantageous for employers as they can assess the issues of workforce and resolve them
appropriately by interacting with them.
P4 Evaluation of effectiveness of HRM practices in terms of raising profit and productivity
There are various type of HRM practices that may help to raise organisational profits and
productivity. Two of them that are used by Aston Martin are as follows:
Training and development: In this practice appropriate training regarding the job role is
provided to the employees so that they can work effectively (Popescu, Comanescu and Sabie,
2016). For example, staff members of Aston Martin are facing issues in the job roles and not able
to work effectively due to lack of skills. In this situation the human resource managers of Aston
Martin can use this practice and provide skills training to them so that the problem can be
resolved appropriately. Professional training and development programs can be conducted for the
staff members so that detailed information regarding job can be provided to them and work
quality can be increased. When employees get skills training then they will work more
effectively which will increase productivity of the organisation and increase profits.
Conflict resolution: In this type of practice conflict related issues are resolved by the
managers. For example, if in Aston Martin higher authority and lower level employees won't get
agree on something such as compensation, bonus etc. then it will result in conflict between then.
It will also affect the productivity because when workers have issues with the company then they
won't work effectively (Purce, 2014). This issue can be resolved with the help of this practice in
which both the parties sit together and communicate with each other and then find impressive
solution for the problematic situation. Apart from this, when problems get resolved then workers
work hard and put high efforts to accomplish goals successfully which helps to enhance
organisational profits and productivity.
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TASK 3
P5 Analysis of important of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision making
For all the business entities it is very important to support employee relation and
engagement as both of them can help to achieve business goals whether they are long term or
short term. In Aston martin different approaches are used to consider both the elements. These
are described below:
Human relations approach of employee relation: In Aston Martin managers of the
company use this approach to build good relation with employees so that their performance can
be enhanced. All the staff members who are working with the company are considerable as
important asset upon which overall performance of organisation depends (Sikora and Ferris,
2014). This principle of the business entity helps to establish good relations between employee
and employers as this will help to fulfil their ultimate needs.
The effectiveness of this approach is determined from the point that this will help an
organisation to become employer of choice where employees loves to work with passion along
with positive team spirit. This will tends to conversion of an organisation nature to be more
flexible.
Skill oriented job approach of employee engagement: In Aston Martin managers equip
employees in such jobs in which they can put their best efforts and that suits to their skills. It
helps to enhance engagement rate of them in their job responsibility because it build interest of
them to perform tasks with high efforts. When workers enjoy their work then it can help to
increase productivity of the company.
Effectiveness this approach can be analysed with the concept in which employers place
employees on such jobs in which they can work more productively. It will help the organisation
to be employer of the choice because workers does not leave such companies where they are
equip in such activities that are related to their field of interest (Storey, 2014). All these activities
of Aston Martin helps it to conduct flexible working practices in which they allow their
employees to work in flexible hours.
Both the above described approaches are the internal factors that affect human resource
management decision making because employers have to make effective decisions according to
the issues or situations that are affecting employee relation and engagement.
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P6 Identification of the key elements of employment legislation and its impacts upon HRM
decision making
Government of all the countries implement certain types of laws for the organisations that
are operating business under it. For all the business entities it is very important to follow all of
them so that operational activities can be executed appropriately. Some of the legislation that
should be considered by Aston Martin are as follows:
National minimum wage act, 1998: According to this act all the organisations are
required to follow the pay scale which is set by the government. Under this act people over 25
years should get 7.83 pound per hour, age group of 21 to 24 should get 7.38 pound per hour and
age group of 18 to 20 should get at least 5.90 pound per hour. This rule of government will affect
decision making of HRM because if the wages of labour are less then the decided criteria then
managers have to make changes in the decisions according to the legislation (National Minimum
wage act, 1998, 2016).
Human rights act, 1998: According to this act all the employees of the organisation
have right to be treated equally with fairness, dignity, and respect. It may affect decision making
of human resource management of Aston Martin if the managers are not following it and not
treating the employees equally.
Employment relations act 1999: This act states that all the employers are required to
maintain good relations with its employees so that all the operations can be executed in
appropriate manner. If the managers of Aston Martin are not having good relations with its
employees then it may affect decision making of the human resource management because the
earlier taken decision will be required to be modified according to act.
TASK 4
P7 Application of HRM practices in a work related context
Job specification: It is a document in which required skills and experience is being
mentioned by the organisation in order to provide appropriate information of the job role to the
applicants. A job specification for the post of mechanical engineer in Aston Martin is as follows:
Company Aston Martin
Department Manufacturing & Engineering
Job profile Automotive Engineer
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Job location Edinburgh, UK
Experience 2 years
Job summary Aston Martin is looking for an automotive engineer who can
handle the tasks at workplace effectively. Applicants should
have impressive knowledge of mechanical engineering and
designing of sport cars.
Skills required  Impressive knowledge of sport car market.
 Skills to form creative ideas for designing model of cars.
 Ability to handle consequences and conflicts at work
place.
 Effective decision making skills.
Roles and responsibility  Handle subordinates at wok place effectively.
 Designing cost effective models of sport cars.
 Development, evaluation and testing of theoretical
designs.
Curriculum Vitae: It is a written overview of an individual in which information
regarding skills, academic knowledge and experiences are recorded (Wright, 2018). A design of
C.V. is as follows:
Name: Silvia Jones
Address: Primrose hill, London, United Kingdom
Contact number: 2316548976
Job Experience: 3 years working experience on the post of mechanical engineer in Toyota.
Specialization:
 Specialization in design, control, robotics as well as neutral engineering
 Good knowledge of Microsoft word, excel and power point.
 Knowledge of visual art and creativity.
Skills:
 Ability to handle conflicts at work place.
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 Impressive technical and decision making skills.
 Ability to work in team and handle it as a leader.
 Effective negotiation and communication.
Qualification:
 Masters in mechanical engineering from Oxford university.
 B.tech from Oxford University.
 Senior secondary from St. Mary school, London.
 Secondary from St. Mary school, London
Declaration: Hereby, I ensure that all details provided by me is valid.
Date: 12/03/2019
Place: United Kingdom
Interview Questions:
 Tell me something about your self?
 What are your academic qualifications?
 Why you left your old organisation?
 How would you define a axle system and car's wheel to a common man?
Justification: The candidates who apply for the job are selected on the basis of their
skills, knowledge, experience, nature, communication etc. Recruiter selects them by analysing
various factors about them such as their capabilities and urge to be a part of the company
(Wright, Coff and Moliterno, 2014).
Job Offer of Aston Martin to Silvia:
15th March 2019
Aston Martin
Welwyn Garden City, England.
Dear Ms. Silvia Jones
We are glad to inform you that you have been selected by us for the post of Mechanical
Engineer in Aston Martin. Your salary will be around £93000. We are looking forward to see
you.
Thanks & Regards
Human Resource Manager
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Aston Martin
Rationale for conducting HR practices: In Aston Martin HR practices were conducted
to find impressive solutions for the business problems such as decreased employee engagement,
conflicts etc. With the help of those practices all the issues were dealt appropriately which has
helps to increase productivity and profits. Another reason behind the implementation of the
HRM practices is to achieve competitive advantage and develop the organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that human resource management is
the process of managing employees at workplace so that they can work productively. Different
types of approaches are used by the companies for workforce planning, recruitment, selection,
training, development, performance management and reward system in order to increase
productivity and profits. There are various types of HRM practices such as compensation and
rewards, employee and labour relations, training and development, conflict resolution etc. that
are also used to enhance productivity and profits. There are various types of regulations that are
imposed by the government such as Anti discrimination act, 1991, National minimum wage act,
1998 and other that are required to be followed by companies and affect HRM decision making.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Al Ariss, A., Cascio, W. F. and Paauwe, J., 2014. Talent management: Current theories and
future research directions. Journal of World Business. 49(2). pp.173-179.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Buettner, R., 2015, January. A systematic literature review of crowdsourcing research from a
human resource management perspective. In 2015 48th Hawaii International
Conference on System Sciences (pp. 4609-4618). IEEE.
Cascio, W. F., 2015. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2018. Human resource management in sport and recreation.
Human Kinetics.
Kramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource
management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management. 25(8). pp.1069-1089.
Popescu, G. H., Comanescu, M. and Sabie, O. M., 2016. The role of human capital in the
knowledge-networked economy. Psychosociological Issues in Human Resource
Management. 4(1). p.168.
Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New
Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). 67.
Sikora, D. M. and Ferris, G. R., 2014. Strategic human resource practice implementation: The
critical role of line management. Human Resource Management Review. 24(3). pp.271-
281.
Storey, J., 2014. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals).
Routledge.
Wright, P., 2018. Fundamentals of human resource management. Management. 5. p.27.
Wright, P. M., Coff, R. and Moliterno, T. P., 2014. Strategic human capital: Crossing the great
divide. Journal of Management,. 40(2). pp.353-370.
Online
Overview of Aston Martin. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.astonmartinlagonda.com/>
Strengths and weaknesses of interview. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.businesstopia.net/human-resource/strengths-and-limitations-interview>
National Minimum wage act, 1998. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/national-minimum-wage-manual/
nmwm01030>
Workforce planning. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/organisational-development/workforce-
planning-factsheet>
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