Human Resource Management Report: ASDA, HRM Practices Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices, focusing on workforce planning, recruitment, selection, and employee relations within the context of ASDA. It explores the purpose and functions of HRM, emphasizing the importance of attracting and retaining skilled employees. The report examines various recruitment and selection approaches, including internal and external methods, along with their strengths and weaknesses, highlighting the 'best-fit' and 'best-practice' approaches. It also delves into different HRM practices, such as training and development, payments, benefits, and awards, and their impact on both employees and employers. The report further analyzes the significance of employee relations and the influence of employment legislation on HRM decision-making. Finally, it includes practical applications of HRM practices, such as developing questionnaires and job offer letters, underscoring the importance of effective HR practices in hiring processes.

Human Resource Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Explain the purpose and functions of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and
resourcing an organisation......................................................................................................3
P2 Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
explain the bestfit and best practice approach........................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3. Different HRM practices in an organisation which can help employees as well as
employers...............................................................................................................................7
P4 Effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational profit and
productivity along with several different practices such as, planning, organising, recruitment
and selection...........................................................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5. Examine the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision
making. ..................................................................................................................................9
P6 Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM
decision making. ..................................................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P7. Application of Human Resource Management practices develop a questionnaire, job offer
letter, and. Explain detail how important it is to use hr practices while hiring....................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is a term which is used within the firm for managing
workforce at workplace effectively. Whereas, HR department executes several functions like
considering and fulfilling the needs and wants of employees, providing training and appraisals to
them and main purpose behind execution of these functions is to achieve organisational goals in
given time-frame. Purpose of HRM is to enhance the productivity or profitability of firm through
improving working effectiveness of employees. Taken firm for this assignment is ASDA which
was founded in 1949 by Peter and Fred Asquith at West Yorkshire, England. Company operates
its functions at national level and approx. 165000 employees are working within the firm.
Present report will describe the importance of employee relation within the workplace along with
impact of legislations on HRM practices. In addition, Implementation of HRM practices in
workplace will also covered in this report.
TASK 1
P1 Explain the purpose and functions of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and resourcing
an organisation
Human resource management is a process of managing the workforce of firm effectively
so that goals would be achieved in the given timeframe. This process includes several functions
like training, hiring, staffing or motivation of workforce to enhancing their efficiency. Main
purpose of HRM is to recruiting best candidates for the firm so that productiveness of firm can
be enhanced which is beneficial for growth and success of organisation. In ASDA, their HR
managers should analyse the requirement of workforce so that business operations would be
executed in effective manner. They should work as a bridge between top management and
employees within the workplace so that requirement of employees can be identified by seniors
and fulfilled accordingly (Storey, 2014). Main motive of HRM is to hire right candidates,
providing training to them so that organisational goals would be achieved in pre-determined time
period.
Purpose of HRM in workforce planning: For maintaining high morale of employees within the organization: In ASDA, main
purpose of HR managers is to motivate their workforce and for this, they provide several
perks, benefits and rewards to their employees on the basis of their performance level.

With the help of this, they not only increase confidence level of their employees but also
highly efficient workers are retained at workplace for long timeframe.
 To arrange and maintain adequate manpower inventory: It is another purpose of HR
manager of ASDA in which they have to analyse the requirement of human resources at
workplace which assists them in identifying current and future needs of human resources
in the firm. In addition, this purpose helps the HR managers of ASDA in arranging right
persons at right job and on right time.
Functions of Human resource management:
Functions of HRM are mainly categorised in two parts i.e. managerial and operative
which are given as below:
 Managerial functions: In this function, HR managers of ASDA must organising,
staffing, directing or controlling all operational activities of firm so that present
objectives of firm can be achieved within the timeframe. For carrying out these functions
effectively, HR managers of ASDA must allocate the needs of human resources then they
must staffing required human resources (Guest, 2012). After this, they must direct all the
employees to accomplishing the given tasks effectively and at last, they have duty to
control all unnecessary activity so that organisational goals would be achieved easily.
 Operative functions: This is also an important kind of function which is performed by
HR managers of ASDA. In it, they must procure, develop and motivate their employees
effectively so that they can retain within the firm for a longer period. Main purpose of
this function is to retain highly experienced employees at workplace so that all operations
of workplace would be managed effectively.
Scope of HRM
 Welfare Aspect – It is related with working conditions and comforts of employees which
includes food, transport, Health and safety etc. Scope of this aspect is very wide for
ASDA because it not only increases loyalty of employees towards ASDA but also retain
them in firm for a longer timeframe.
 Personnel or labour Aspect – This aspect includes planning, recruitment, placement,
promotion of employees. Scope of this aspect is very wide for HR managers of ASDA
because it assists them in identifying basic needs of employees so that through fulfilling
them loyalty of employees can be enhanced towards firm.

 Industrial relation Aspect – It includes employees-employer relations, collective
bargaining, action committee for grievances etc. This aspect is very important for the
workplace of ASDA because it enables the management to maintain healthy atmosphere
at workplace.
P2 Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
explain the bestfit and best practice approach.
Recruitment – It is an action of enlisting new workers within the workplace so that their
contribution can be taken for achievement of goals. Main objective of recruitment is to attracting
large pool of capable candidates for vacant positions of firm so that efficient or experienced
employees can be hired for the firm. For attracting highly efficient employees, managers of
ASDA have to form two kind of documents which are given as below:
Job Description – This document includes all information like responsibilities, roles,
skills which are required to perform the duties for the vacant job position recruited by HR
manager of ASDA through discussing with the managers of department for which human
resources are required (Budhwar, 2013). So that, eligible candidates can be invited for
recruitment process.
Person Specification – It outlines knowledge, skills or qualities which are required
within the invited persons so that they can easily perform job duties without facing any hurdles.
Apart from that, there are mainly two methods of recruitment which are used by ASDA
so as to hiring eligible candidates. These methods are mentioned below along with their
advantages and disadvantages: Internal recruitment process: This is a process which is beneficial to adopt by ASDA
as it help HR manager in maintaining healthy relations with their existing and
experienced employees and also retaining them with company for longer period of time.
It can be done through giving promotions or any other appraisal which increases their
position within the organisation.
Strength Weaknesses
Strength of internal recruitment is that, it saves
time and money of company which can be
used by them in other operations.
Promotion of one employee can bring
demotivation in other employees who didn't get
promotions. It can also increase conflict among

them which wrongly impact on healthy
atmosphere of workplace.
 External recruitment process: This process is used by ASDA when they have to hire
candidates from external sources. With the help of it, employees with having new ideas
and skills are hired which helps the firm in gaining growth and success in market
(Brewster, 2017). For e.g. HR managers of ASDA uses e-recruitment system for grabbing
attention of eligible candidate towards recruitment process. Strength or weaknesses of
this method are given below:
Strength Weaknesses
This method is very cost effective and can
attract large number of efficient candidates
within a shorter period of time.
The major weakness of external method is that
most of eligible candidates have not computer
systems because they are from other locations.
Due to which chances of getting efficient
employees are lower in this process.
Methods of selection in ASDA Company: Several methods of selection are used by HR
managers of ASDA which are given as below with their strength and weaknesses:
Interview – In it, HR managers have to select eligible candidates on the basis of their
capabilities and at same time they can also conduct mock test in order to identifying whether the
candidates have capability to work for firm or not. Strength and weaknesses of interview
methods are given as below:
Strength Weaknesses
This process is beneficial as it saves the time of
selection and managers of firm can easily
identify the skills and capabilities of shortlisted
employees in a very short time period.
This selection method is totally based on skills
and efficiency of interviewer. Due to
inefficiency of interviewer, several unsuitable
candidates are hired sometimes within the firm
which leads inefficient working environment at
workplace.
Application form method – This method is used when number of shortlisted candidates
from internal and external sources of recruitment are higher rather than vacant position of

organisation. In it, a series of specific questions are provided to each shortlisted candidate and
each one have duty to fill it. With the help of this method, HR managers of ASDA can easily
select the most suitable candidates for their workplace.
Strength Weaknesses
 Overall information of eligible
candidates can be gathered through
single form which can be used in
further recruitments.
 This method is very cost and time
consuming.
From the above both practices like recruitment and selection, selection is most
appropriate approach among of them because it not only examine the skill but also enables the
management in determining capabilities of candidate. ASDA uses this approach carefully for
which they uses application form and interview methods so as to select the best suitable
candidates. These methods are best because it supports the HR managers of ASDA in selecting
better candidates.
TASK 2
P3. Different HRM practices in an organisation which can help employees as well as employers
HRM practices are used by the HR managers for managing organisational functions or
operations effectively. Good HRM practices guides the managers of firm in building effective
relations between employees and employer. Some of HRM practices which are used by
management of ASDA are given as below:
 Training and Development: This practice states that, it is mandatory for each
management of firm to make high investments in training so that required efficiencies
can be acquired by employees. It includes induction session for newly joined workers so
that they can perform their duties within the workplace effectively. Apart from that,
training should provide to employees on regular basis so that their efficiencies can be
matched as per the current market trends (Banfield, 2018).
 Payments, benefits and awards – According to this practice, management should
provide incentives, benefits and awards to their employees on the basis of their
performance so that productivity and profitability of firm would be maintained at
marketplace. In ASDA, Their managers use such practice for reducing employee turnover

and for this, they organize several activities at workplace like best employee of the month
along with this they provide flexible working option to their employees so that employees
can provide maximum efforts for accomplish the given task.
Benefits to employer Benefits to employees
 Training and development is beneficial
for employers as it helps them in
maintaining high efficient team at
workplace.
 Payment, awards and benefits are
necessary for providing because with
the help of it, motivation or morale of
employees will be build which creates
high productivity of firm at
marketplace.
 In case of employees, different kind of
training and development programmes
increase their efficiencies and skills
which helps them in taking growth in
their professional career.
 Through getting payment, awards and
benefits their standard of living is
improved.
 Another benefits of payment, awards is
that their basic needs can be fulfilled.
P4 Effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational profit and
productivity along with several different practices such as, planning, organising,
recruitment and selection
From the above task, it has been analysed that there are some important HRM practices
which are used by ASDA i.e. benefits and awards, training and development which are beneficial
for themselves and their employees. In addition, these practices also play very effective role in
growth and productivity of firm. Effectiveness of these practices are given as below:
Planning and organising – These two are important practices of HR managers of each
firm in which firstly they have to analyse the performance level of their each employee so that
current performance level of the employees can be identified properly. Planning function is
related to how to retain knowledgeable and experience employees within the workplace whereas,
organising means to conduct training and development programmes for the employees who are
not working well. Main purpose behind both these practices to reduce employee turnover. In
context of ASDA, HR managers conducts training programmes on the regular basis so that
efficiency and skills of employees can be maintained at workplace.

Recruitment and Selection- Recruitment is process of finding and hiring best suitable
and qualified candidate for vacant job position of the firm. In case of ASDA, company performs
its operations at wide level therefore human resource are required on an interval of time period.
Due to which they follows a high structured process in recruitment and selection process because
they believe in hiring right candidate for the job.
Training and development session: In ASDA, Their Managers organise training and
development sessions for their employees so that their efficiencies can be improved and they
provide maximum efforts in growth and success of firm. Main reason behind this practice is to
increasing skills and capabilities of employees so that their enhanced skills and efficiencies can
be used in solving critical situations of workplace. In addition, these sessions also provided by
them to newly joined employees so that they can understand their duties at workplace and
performs accordingly which will leads the firm towards growth and success in marketplace.
Payment benefits and awards – This practice also plays very effective role because
with the help of it, management of ASDA can easily identify best and lower performer within the
workplace which is beneficial in managing performance within the ASDA. Main aim behind
using these practices is to retain the talented employees at workplace. This practice also supports
the management in increasing motivation level of their employees due to which their loyalty is
enhanced towards the firm. These practices also beneficial because when employees will get
motivated and provide their maximum efforts in accomplishing task it will leads the ASDA
towards enhancement in productivity and profitability.
TASK 3
P5. Examine the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision
making.
Employee relations can be defined as the efforts of employer to create or maintain
positive relationship with its employees. Through making positive relations organisation can
easily keep their employees loyal and more participative in each activity of workplace. These
relations are affected by several factors and can impact on decision making. These factors are
given as below:
Trust – Performance of employees are very much depended on this factor because this
factor leads healthy relationship at workplace. Trust plays very crucial role in increasing

motivation level of the employees due to which they participate in each activity of workplace
which is beneficial in achievement of goals along with reducing the conflicts from workplace.
Openness – This is an psychological concept which encourage the individuals to perform
duties at workplace without facing any hurdles. This factor automatically increases participation
of employees in each activity of workplace and because of this, healthy relations are formed at
workplace which leads the firm towards growth and success at marketplace.
Importance of employees relations in decision making:
Promotion: In it, managers of ASDA must promote their highly efficient employees due
to which employees will be motivated and healthy relationship will be built at workplace. For
this, management of ASDA should examine the performance of their employees on regular basis
so that in future, promotion will be provided to them without facing any difficulty. In addition,
this kind of promotions not only supports the management in making effective decisions for
achievement of goals but also make healthy relations at workplace.
Sickness Leave: If management of ASDA will provide paid sickness leaves to their
employees then this will supports in creation of healthy relationship between employees and
management. In addition, if employees get paid leaves regularly then it will create negative
impact on the productivity of firm. Therefore, it is essential for the managers of ASDA to
formulate effective strategies and decisions while adopting this element for improving
relationship at the workplace (Lock,2012).
Overtime payment – This is also a crucial element because it supports the employees in
getting extra payment of their work at increased rate for working more than usual number of
hours in the day. It can be prove very beneficial in creation of healthy relationship because when
employees will perform extra work for earning money and profitability then it not only beneficial
for them but also support the ASDA in achieving its goals in pre-determined timeframe.
P6 Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM
decision making.
Employees legislations can be defined as the laws and regulations which are made by
regulatory bodies of nation in order to protecting rights of employees working in the firm. If
management of ASDA will not follow legislations properly then misunderstanding between
employees will be create which enhances conflicts issues at workplace. Several kinds of laws
and their impact on decision making are given below:

 The Equal pay act 1970: According to this law, each employee has right to get pay as
per their performance or skills rather than based on caste, sex etc. If management will
provide payment to their employees as per favouritism or biases then it will leads
conflicts and dissatisfaction at workplace which will not beneficial for future growth of
firm. For e.g. in 2014, women staff members of ASDA have filed complaint against the
management due to receiving less payment then male workers which breach of equal pay
act was. Due to these issues, thousands of female workers were left their job from ASDA.
Therefore, it is very essential for the management of ASDA to equally treat their
employees so that any kind of issues will not be faced by them in future.
 Data protection act 2018: This law states that, each manager of organisation has
responsibility to not to disseminate private information of employees to unauthorised
parties. For e.g. if employee's data will be hand over to wrong persons then their faith and
trust on firm would be reduced which will impact on their efficiencies and performance
in adverse manner (Paauwe, 2015). Therefore, management of ASDA have duty to
consider this act while hiring new employees and take that information from them which
is essential for them.
 Health and Safety Act, 1974 – As per this act, each employer like ASDA have duty to
implement all measures at workplace which are related with health and safety of their
employees. If management of ASDA will not follow this act properly then they must pay
penalties which is not beneficial for brand image of organisation.
 Disability discrimination act 1995: As per this act any employer have no right to
discriminate employees on the basis of disability, gender, racism or sex. If employer
found guilty then strict penalty or jail will be faced by them. In previous year this
legislation was replaced by equality act, 2010 which also defines same right and authority
to employees while working within any organisation. Any kind of discrimination on the
basis of gender, racism, sex is punishable offence and involved person would be punish
by government if found guilty.

TASK 4
P7. Application of Human Resource Management practices develop a questionnaire, job offer
letter, and. Explain detail how important it is to use hr practices while hiring.
In achievement of organisational goals, HRM practices plays very supportive role. In
ASDA, team of HR department can use these practices in order to form an effective job
specification for Front-end developer. All these practices are given as below:
Job description: – It is a written document which consists of all responsibilities or duties that
should be performed by individual as front-end Developer. After examining, HR manager of
ASDA have prepared job description for Front-end Developer which is given as below:
Company: ASDA
Job Position: Front-End Developer
Qualification: B.TECH (IT/CS)
Job Description
 In ASDA, there is a requirement of a talented and passionate front-end developer to join
our fast-paced and innovative digital team. Company is looking for recruiting skilled
developer who is pragmatic but obsessed with reaching for the best with experience in
building customer focused and high conversion web pages
Responsibilities
 Create new features for users.
 Make changes regularly in websites so that in future any problem can't be faced.
 Formulate effective feasibility in UI/UX designs
 Increase the speed and efficiency of IT systems.
 Assure that all user input is validated before submitting to back-end
 Build effective relations with colleagues and teammates so that work should be done
within the given timeframe.
Required skills
 Proficiency in web mark-up, including HTML5, CSS3
 Having good communication and problem-solving skills.
 Basic knowledge of request handling, partial page updates

 Good Knowledge regarding the digital marketing principles
 Proficiency in code versioning tools like Git/Mercurial/ SVN.
Working Hours – 9.30 – 6.00 pm
Creation of Structured Interview - From the above job advertisement, HR manager of
ASDA can easily attract a large number of applicants. This job advertisement will be post in
newspaper and websites. After this, a questionnaire will be framed out by HR manager for
selecting highly suitable candidate.
 Tell me about yourself ?
 Why was you left your previous job ?
 What are your major skills suitable for the role of Front-end Developer ?
In ASDA, several number of person specifications of candidates are examined by their
HR managers. After this, they have selected best candidates for the role of Front-end developer
whose skills and efficiencies are matched as per their expectations. Resume of selected applicant
is given below:
Person Specification
Formal Details:
Name- Mack John
Address- 140, opposite of front line
Contact no.- 78994848484
Email id- [e-mail]
Career objective- To acquire a reputed position within the workplace where I can use my
capabilities and efficiencies for growth and development of firm.
Experience of 2 years as a Front end developer in Sainsburry
Qualification
Educational Qualification University Percentages
B. Tech (IT) Oxford University 69.70%
IT skills

 JavaScript
 PHP developing
 Command Line
Personal Information
Date of Birth- 23 rd August 1988
Languages Known- English, French, German.
Job Offer Letter
Mr./Ms.LastName
Address
City, State Zip Code
Dear Mr./Ms. Last Name,
ASDA is pleased to offer you position of Front-end developer. Your skills and experience are
found fit for the role of front-end developer in IT department.
Your joining date will be June 1, 20XX and starting salary will be 8000 pound per month. The
appraisal will be based on your performance and it will be done in the month of April in each
year. If you have accepted this offer letter then please provide second copy of this letter on mail
id of organisation. All the benefits and compensation plans are attached with this letter.
If you have any question regarding this offer letter than you can call us on 1800-18-9999 we
will available at each time for your help.
Sincerely,
HR Department
ASDA
Importance of these HR practices - These HR practices are very important to use by
HR managers of ASDA while hiring or selecting candidates. Through using these HR practices,
most suitable and talented candidate will be hired which will be beneficial in obtaining future
organisational goals effectively. Effective use of HR practices will not only increase the
productivity but also made the each task of IT department easier which is beneficial for the firm
in gaining sustainability and profitability in marketplace.

CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that HRM practices plays very crucial role in
growth and success of firm. In addition, purpose and function of HR managers provide effective
support to the management of firm in achievement of organisational goals. Several recruitment
and external methods are used by the organisations in order to hire suitable candidates for firm so
that their contributions can be taken for enhancing productivity and profitability of firm.