HRM Practices and Employee Relations: A Comprehensive Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices, focusing on their purpose and functions within an organization, particularly in workforce planning and resourcing. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of various recruitment and selection approaches, highlighting the importance of internal versus external sourcing and different selection methods like interviews and application forms. The report further explores HRM practices that benefit both employees and employers, including training and development, and the significance of employee relations in influencing HRM decision-making. It identifies key elements of employment legislation and their impact on HRM. The report uses Marks & Spencer (M&S) as a case study, illustrating the practical application of HRM practices in a work-related context, offering insights into how HRM contributes to organizational goals and success.

Human Resource Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Explain the purpose and functions of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and resourcing
an organisation........................................................................................................................3
Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection.5
Different HRM practices in an organisation which can help employees as well as employers..8
Different HRM practices that help an organisation to increase in profit and productivity....8
Analyse the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision
making....................................................................................................................................9
Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM decision
making..................................................................................................................................10
TASK 2 .........................................................................................................................................12
Illustrate the application of HRM practices in a work-related context, using specific examples
..............................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
HRM refers is considered as the formal schedule under which people works
collaboratively as a business asset for grabbing common goal. The main and foremost purpose of
this department is to increase work efficiency of organisational performance by utilising
available workforce in effective manner. It is considered as the approach which is used
strategically in the company for enhancing business growth by attaining competitive advantage
within the industry (Banfield, Kay and Royles, 2018) . This assignment is based on M & S, a
popular company of retail sector. The company was incorporated in 1884 in United Kingdom.
M&S operates in luxury clothing, food and home products. This project report includes detailed
knowledge about function of HRM practices and their purpose for workforce planning. Along
with this, weakness and strength of various approaches of selection and recruitment. It also
includes, HRM practices benefits for both employer and staff. Detail study about the significance
of employee relation in HRM practice. (Bratton and Gold, 2017). This report further elaborate
about the outcome of employment law on HRM practices. At last, this report will discuss
identify how HRM practices actually apply in work related situations.
TASK 1
Explain the purpose and functions of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and resourcing an
organisation.
Human resource is the process of hiring and creating the individual in such a way that
they can be beneficial for the organisation in achieving their goal and objectives. This includes
staffing, directing, planning, organisation, and controlling all the employees by providing them
effective training and development programmes, also by providing them compensation according
to their work so that the aims and objectives of a firm can be accomplished (Brewster, 2017) .
M&S is renowned retailer all over the world that aid their best quality services to their
consumers. To maintain the reputation of the company, it is required by the HR manager to
implement its all functions regarding job so that they can render the best services to their clients
and can able to fulfil their requirements. Some of the important functions which are necessary to
be executed by HR manager are mentioned below:
Functions of HRM

 Recruitment and Selection - This is the most important and commonly used function of
HR department as this aid company in hiring best eligible and suitable candidates who
will execute their job role in an effective manner. Recruitment is the process of hiring and
selecting the right applicants at right job for the right job post. In relation to M&S, HR
department need to analyse the actual demand of staff within organisation and then with
the help of various recruitment method they can select deserving candidate among pool
of applicants (Brewster, Brookes and Gollan, 2015). As a result, these employees will
help in achievements of goals and objectives of organisation. The Board's objective of
M&S is to build a sustainable business through consistent, profitable growth and this
function helps M&S to achieve its objective as through this method they select the
talented and skilled candidates which are beneficial for their organisation. Training and Development – This function helps in providing training and development
programme to the active force of organisation so that they can increase their skills, ability
and improve their working capability in order to achieve pre determine goals and
objective of enterprise. In regard with M&S, HR manager conducts training and
development programme for the present workers at daily interval.
 Compensation & Benefits - It is the responsibility of manager to provide compensation
and benefits to its current employees. On the basis of designation monetary benefits will
be given to their employees. Manager of M&S is required to convey necessary
information of benefits to their employees on a regular basis so that they can take
advantage within the given time period. The main objective of M&S is to provide
friendly and positive working environment among their employees and this function
helps to achieve this objective as this builds positive relationship between employees and
management of the company and motivates them to perform their work in an effective
and efficient manner (Friedman, 2017).
Purpose of HRM
To enhance the working capability of staff in order to achieve goals and objective of
organisation is the main purpose of HRM. This can be done productively by building positive
relationship between the management and staff of the company. HR manager of Marks and
Spencer need to develop short term and long term goals. Short term goals are mainly related to
high volume roles and immediate requirements of labour and resources whereas, long term goals

includes future projects and strategies for business growth. This will benefit company to improve
their workforce planning programme and communication process. HRM functions are effectively
carried out within organisation by usage of two approaches which are described below -
 Hard approach - The hard approach to HR might be expected to result in a more cost-
effective workforce where decision-making is quicker and focused on senior managers
Employees are treated as resources within business organisation. Employees are
controlled in a way that they work as per their potential and desired goal is achieved.
M&S do not use this approach as for them their employees are very important assets or
resources (Harrison and Lock, 2017).
 Soft approach – Soft approach stresses the human aspects and concerns are with
communication and motivation. People are led rather than managed. Employees are
treated as first resource within business organisation and are considered as important
source to gain competitive advantage. They focus on enhancing their skills and make
efficient plans and programmes so that employees can enhance their development skills.
M&S treat employees as individuals and plans are made as per that. They focus on
planning long term strategies and conduct two-way communication between employer
and employee.
Soft approach can be used by HR of M&S, so that bridge can be built between employee
and employer in terms of effective communication. This will help manager of M&S to solve any
kind of disputes occurring within organisation.
Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection.
HRM finalised the skilled workers having ability to perform business activities by using
the various methods of recruitment and selection. In context to M&S, for getting huge amount of
option among these candidates, the company HR uses both internal and external recruitment
methods (Lu, Zhu and Bao, 2015) . The candidates who perform in recruitment process then they
are shortlisted for the selection method as in order to hire best candidates among them. Marks
and Spencer uses following recruitment and selection methods:
 Internal source – According to this method, HR manager of the company hires
candidates within the company. In M&S, managers promote their existing staff only if
their skills and ability will match with the desired position in the company.

Strength Weaknesses
As the employee's gets promoted in the
company it will motivate them to work hard.
Promotion of one employee can be demotivated
for other employees. It will also lead to
conflicts between them, which will negatively
impact on their performance.
Too much money is needed in recruitment
procedure as internal recruitment helps in
saving cost and time of the company.(Lu, Zhu
and Bao, 2015)
It increases the employees expectations from
HR manager, as it is not possible for the
manager to promote every employee.
 External source – This method of recruitment enables to hire the employees from
external sources like online recruitment, recruitment agencies, campus placement etc.
This method is used to grab more attention from the applicants towards the organisation.
HR manager of M&S uses online recruitment method to grab the attention for the
recruitment process. The strength and weaknesses of online recruitment methods are as
follows -
Strength Weaknesses
This method is cost-effective. Only the potential candidates can be able to
apply in the campus placement, the limitations
are there for outsiders, so there are only limited
students who can apply for job.
This method helps in gaining the fresh talent
and technology updated employees.
It could be seen to be discriminatory with those
candidates who are not computer literate. This
seems to be the weakness of this method.
In this method, technology helps to manage
vacancies effectively and coordinates
processes.
Use of CV keyword search can also lead to
allegations of discrimination.
This method handles high-volumes of There are many inappropriate applicants who

applications in a consistent way and records
volume of response easily to feedback which
phrases and job advertisements work best.
upload their data wrong which waste the time
of company, so the company has to take care
before appointing the individual for job.
Methods of selection in Marks and Spencer Company: Marks and Spencer HR manager is
using interview for final selection of best qualified employees among shortlisted candidate from
both sources of selection (Marchington and et. al., 2016). This method is helpful in examining
candidate on the basis of their recruitment. And HR manager can also conduct a mini mock test
at the time of interview in order to check whether the candidate is capable for the job or not.
Their are some strength and weaknesses of this methods which are as follows -
Strength Weaknesses
Any mistake and misunderstanding can be
easily rectified in an interview. As both
interviewer and interviewee are presented in
front of each other.
This method is not a complete process, as using
this only not help an organisation like M&S to
select appropriate candidate which can fulfil
the demands of organisation.
Interview help interviewee in making proper
relationship with interviewer.
Personal details may not get discovered in
proper and authentic manner.
Interview process saves a lot of time within a
short communication. (Mosakowski, 2017) .
Interview is a organized process of collection
of data. In this the success depends on the
efficiency of the questioner.
Through interview process sufficient
information can be collected. Because they can
ask any question from the candidate.
Some confusion may be arisen in the future in
the case of the interview, because there is no
evidence actually that have been discussed at
interview.
Application form method can also be used by the M&S for selecting highly skilled
suitable nominee among shortlisted candidate from internal and external sources of selection.
The strength and weaknesses of Application Form methods are as follows -
Strength Weaknesses
 Ease of comparison for employers.  This method is time consuming.

 Standardized format
 Complete details of candidate can be
gathered without any misses.
 Personal details can be fall into the
wrong hands.
 Details of candidates can be untrue.
Different HRM practices in an organisation which can help employees as well as employers.
Human resource management is said to be one of the most important practice for an
organisation in modern business. It helps an organisation in improving relations between
employee and employer. There are various HRM practices that considered by managers of M&
S which have been stated as under:
Recruitment and selection - Recruitment is a quite important process that involves
screening, assessing and selecting potential candidates for a job. In case of Marks and Spencer,
their recruitment and selection practices are usually a part of their workplace culture. Managers
of M& S follow a quite structured process for recruitment and selection as they believe
employing right candidates for right job profile.
Training and Development - Training and development are almost two sides of the same
coin. It involves providing orientation sessions to newly joined employees, keeping training
seminars for skill development etc. Development on the other side is a broader aspect and
focusses on overall personality development of employees in M& S.
Benefits to employees Benefits to employers
 Training and development helps in
raising skill level and area of expertise
of employees in M& S.
 HRM practices are essential for
employees as they provide a healthy
discrimination free environment to
employees.
 In case of employers, training and
development is helpful in employee
retention hence increasing productivity
of their organisation.
 Selecting right kind of candidates helps
managers and owners in achieving
organisational goals within specified
time frame.

Different HRM practices that help an organisation to increase in profit and productivity.
In modern management human resource management plays an important role. This help
to manage the employees which are working with the organisation and work to maximise the
profit of workplace. HRM involves practices like hiring a capable person, sharp their skills by
providing them appropriate training and provide them a fair environment of workplace, so that
they can give their best and help in achieving organisational goals (Budhwar and Debrah, 2013).
Below are some HRM activities which can help Mark & Spencer to increase their profitability
and productivity:- Selective Hiring – This is a type of human resource management practice which is very
common in organisations of modern era. Mark & Spencer use to hire those employees
which are skilful and have knowledge about the responsibilities which they have to
perform. In this special training and development sessions are provided to them which
enhance their capabilities. This helps an organisation to make self managed and effective
teams in the organisation, which reduces the work pressure and increase in quality goods
and services. They can also provide best available compensation to their employees for
the work they have done. Selective hiring benefits, company to hire only those candidates
who are effective for their organisation and provide effective outcomes. This can be
helpful and result in increasing the productivity and profitability of the firm by managing
each and every task in an effective time frame.
 Sharing Information – Sharing information is very important in an organisation. This
help employees to gain knowledge about the work they have to done for the employee
along with the pattern which they have to follow. This is an area where many big
organisations of the world has suffered (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017). Marks &
Spencer can adopt this HRM practice to their organisation. This will help them to make a
good flow of information in the organisation and also decreases the status difference
between employees. Sharing information aid employees to acquire skills and knowledge
form others and complete their target and objectives in more effective manner which will
automatically leads towards high productivity and profitability.
Analyse the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision making.
Employees are the most valuable asset for an organisation that the firm itself does not
want to loose them as they help in achieving their goals and objectives. The meaning of an

employee in an organisation is simply, the efforts an organisation make to build a strong
relationship between employee and employer. If the organisation having good relationship with
their staff members then they are very close to achieve their targets, objectives and goals. If
workers perform their task efficiently and contribute their full potential in the attainment of
organisations goals and objectives, then this is the responsibility of HR manager to compensate
them with reward. It has been notice that workers relationship with other employees has their
own influence over the process of decision making of HR manager. Along with this, if HR M&S
managers keep good relationship with their employees then it will be easy for them to take
decisions(Ehrnrooth and Björkman, 2012.). With this relationship, they have the benefit that
whatever decisions taken by the HR is totally acceptable by the employees without any disputes
and also this represent a positive environment at working place. There is some major importance
of employee relation in respect of influencing HRM decision-making -
 The good and strong relationship with the staff can helps HR manager to understand their
basic needs and requirements. After understanding the need of staff, the HR manager of
M&S can take decisions which are helpful and beneficial for the staff as well as for the
organisation and management.
 Managers of M&S includes the employees of their organisation in the process of decision
making as after this, they are one whose work will be affected by decisions taken by the
managers.
 The strong relationship between employees and HR manager can reduce the chances of
disputes and conflicts.
Therefore, it has been noticed that HR manager of M&S should pay attention on building
their effective relationship with their staff in order to take successful decisions for the
improvement of organisation. In addition to this, the strong and positive relationship also helps
an organisation to achieve their targets and goals in less period of time (Ganopoulos and et. al.,
2013). This is to suggest that HR manager of M&S need to conduct regular based meeting with
the employees, so that the employees can share their problems and issues in the meeting. Along
with this they can also share about the new technologies and trends, policies for the betterment of
the company. As a result, for the growth of an organisation effective employee relation is
promoted.

Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM decision
making.
Different country has their own rules, regulations, laws and legislations for their citizen
so that equality can be given to them and they can feel protected from getting injure and hurt.
Like other nation as UK, It has also developed certain employee’s laws for both worker and
company which give direction to these firms. These laws and legislation are need to be consider
because they directly impacts the decision-making process of a company. These are some ways
which directly impact the decision-making of an organisation are outlined below:
 The legislations for employees are made for the security and for the safety of the workers,
because it is essential for a company to have safety equipment for reforming any activity.
If the organisation fails to do so then they can have to face some serious allegations
which can harm their business activities (Gheiratmand and et. al., 2015).
 Along with this, this is the duty of the HR manager to provide proper training to
employees so that they can perform their task with proper knowledge. So that proper
orientation should be given to the employees at the time of recruitment.
There are several laws and regulations which help employees in an organisation which
give them equality and rights at work place. Thus, in the relation with M&S, HR department has
incorporated certain laws which are mentioned below -1. The Employment Act – Employees who use to work in an organisation have some basic
rules and rights for their privacy. This also give them equality rights in an organisation
along with freedom. The rights which an employee get under this are age, gender, race,
national origin, or religion. According to this Act Under Section 86 (The employment act,
2019), it is the right of an employee that without giving any valid reason and prior notice
to the workers, company cannot terminate them. Along with this, employees have equal
right of getting same wages if they are working in same post. There should not be any
discrimination on the basis of gender. (Gomes and et. al., 2012).2. Sex Discrimination Act 1984 – This laws was formulated in the organisation by the
regulatory bodies to protect employees from discrimination on the basis of gender, caste,
nationality, colour etc., thus, if there is any kind of activity taking place in organisation
than employees are free to register complaints against the person.(Discrimination, 2019).

M&S have separate departments for such issues and company is taking proper action if
such things happened in organisation.
3. Equality Act, 2010 – It is one of the most powerful and useful act, profound in the year
2010, regulatory bodies of UK has successfully removed all the unethical actions taken
by the organisations. Different kinds of rights are given to an individual under this act
such as they get the job according to their talent, qualifications, skills , capabilities and
knowledge. This act, also help in protecting people from facing discrimination at the
work place and other then it like in society.(Guest, Paauwe and Wright, 2012).
TASK 2
Illustrate the application of HRM practices in a work-related context, using specific examples
M&S is a retail industry and has its presence all over the world. It has been noticed that
HR manager of the company is not able to perform their job responsibility efficiently and
effectively(Storey, 2014). So in order to ascertain the best and right candidate for the job, HR
manager of company have used below mentioned document -
Application of HRM practices in Marks and Spencer is mentioned beneath -
As Marks and Spencer's employees number is high i.e. 84,939. therefore, it becomes vital
for company to manage people in much more effective sense so that their performance do not
decrease at workstation. For this, HRM practices could directly improve the same with the help
of a system named as Performance Management System (PMS). Application of this system for
workforce will lead M&S to achieve departmental objectives, aid in delivering regular coaching
which will directly put positive impact on skills and competence of staff.
Apart from this, affect of HRM practices over decision making process of Marks and Spencer's
can be seen from the above scenario where adoption of Performance Management System (PMS)
took place from existing system which was previously followed by the company.
This change was made for the basic reason and i.e. improvement of performance level of staff.
Job Advertisement
HR generalist required
The dynamic and energetic applicants are invited, who are effectively responsible and well-
trained in all department of handling all the products of M&S. In addition to this, one should

also have the knowledge of selling the products home products and branded clothes of M&S.
HR generalist
Candidates with following applications and skills are eligible to apply-
 Applicants should have the minimum experience of 3 years in customer service sector
 Eligible to care of food products and regular taking care of all products.
 Ability to sell home products and branded clothes in the retail industry.
 The one should advise their customers in effective way
 Able to finish the sales target accurately and make proper budget report of selling
records
The salary package will be attractive and other incentives will also be offered.
Applications can be sent by potential candidates through e-mail to the following
[e-mail] or contact at 0140-9766643.
Time-scales
Inviting candidates 25- 5 February, 2018
Short listing of candidates 7- 9 February, 2018
HR round 12 February, 2018
Date schedule for Interview 15-18 February, 2018
Person Specification
Post: HR generalist
Department: HR department
Key: This show that what is required when like an evidence:
(A): Application form, (I): Interview, (R): Role
Attributes Essential Desirable
Qualification & Experience Diploma or Post-graduation in
management field from
any college. Minimum 3
years of working
experience as working in
Experience of working in HR
departmental filed in
relation to management
sector

a HR department
Skills or knowledge Effective communication
skills in both written and
verbal. Exceptional phone
etiquette
Ability to learn changing
product line and keen
attentiveness to treat
employees at best.
Creation of Structured Interview - As per the above stated Job advert, Marks and Spencer
managers can easily influence and attract huge number of applicant. This Job Advert can be
place on websites and in newspapers. After that, for conducting a interview round an
questionnaire will be required by the human resource manager for selecting a deserving and
appropriate candidate.
 Describe something by which the company may achieve profits?
 What are the main role and responsibilities of HR generalist?
 How will you develop positive relationship between staff at workplace.
 What skills you have that will make you a better deserving candidate
P8. Evaluate the use of technology.
In today's time there is great use of technology, online resources and social networking
tools to improve the recruitment and selection process.
 This helps the firm M&S to get the most valuable talent from a wider opportunities.
Digital technology is fast in selecting people, therefore saves a lot of time an cost, by the
use of online resources, the firm can be able to attain the highly skilled applicants for
their organisation so that the staff can attain their business goals.
 This increases the productivity of the business as technology has made easier to test skills
and competency levels of the individuals performing the job.
 Also, the firm can hire the applicants by selecting and taking their interviews on video
conferencing.

CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it is concluded that human resource or HR is an
systematic process of hiring and selecting effective candidates to fulfil required job position for
any organisation. Major purpose of HRM function is to retain staff for a long period of time in
the company. The purpose and functions of HR manager are depthly discussed above in the
following report. There are different type of strength and weaknesses to approaches that is
essential for every company to overcome in order to enhance growth and productivity of
company. It has also been analysed that internal recruitment is the most cost effective method for
the company (Welch and et. al., 2011). sHR manager of the company with the help of interview
selection method can easily find most suitable and eligible employees for the vacant place. It has
been analysed that HR practices are beneficial for both the staff and the management. These
practices of HR lead to increase the productivity of the company. Employee engagement
activities are beneficial for the company For the improvement of employee's interpersonal
relationship, employee engagement activities are beneficial for organisation. Along with this, it
increases the satisfaction level of consumers which increases the productivity of the enterprise
too.