Human Resource Management for Service Industries (Unit 9) Report

This report examines Human Resource Management (HRM) within the service industry, specifically using McDonald's as a case study. It begins with an introduction to HRM and its significance, followed by an analysis of the role and purpose of HRM in the service sector, emphasizing the importance of employee management, motivation, and legal compliance. The report then constructs a human resource plan based on the demand and supply dynamics of the restaurant industry. It further explores the current state of employment relations, addressing issues such as employment conditions, industrial relations, working hours, and the role of young talent. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to the impact of employment law, including health and safety, equality, employment rights, and sex discrimination acts. The report includes discussions about job descriptions, person specifications, and a comparison of selection processes in the airline and restaurant industries. Finally, it concludes with an assessment of the contribution of training and development activities in the restaurant industry. The report provides a comprehensive overview of HRM practices, challenges, and legal considerations within the hospitality sector.

Human Resource

Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Analysis on the role and purpose of Human Resource Management in a selected service industry...3
1.2 Human resource plan based on the demand and supply of restaurant industry..................................4
2.1 Current state of employment relation in the restaurant industry........................................................5
2.2 analysis about the impact of employment law in the management of Human Resource....................6
3.1 Discussion about Job description and person’s specification.............................................................6
3.2 comparison made on the use of selection process in the airlines and restaurant business..................7
4.1 Contribution of training and development activities in the restaurant industry..................................8
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................9
REFRENCES................................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is a methodology that deals with the effective management
of people in the organization. This concept was introduced after the end industrial revolution
significant changes were brought to improve the situation of employees and preserve the rights
of human in the organization. As business is run by the human capital therefore maintaining the
developing workforce is an essential requirement of every organization (Anitha, 2014). Various
activities like recruitment, selection, training and development are the vital part of Human
resource management. McDonald is the company which has been chosen for the purpose of
studying this concept. This is an American based fast food company which was founded in the
year 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald. Its main headquarters is in Chicago, united states.
The topics which are covered in the succeeding report are role and purpose of human
resource in the organization, justification of HR plan, current state of employment relation in the
industry. Discussion is also made on the effects of employment law, job description and person’s
specification along with the comparison between two business in the service industry based on
their selection process.
TASK 1
1.1 Analysis on the role and purpose of Human Resource Management in a selected service
industry
Human resource plays several roles that contributes in the growth and success of the
organisation. As service industry mainly runs by the people, HR manger plays huge role in this
sector, thus McDonald has effectively managed the business operation by maintaining the
workforce. Hr manager of McDonald plays role of leader in a situation of emergency. They
guide the workers in an appropriate direction make them aware about the roles and responsibility
which needed to be completed. Handling the manpower requirement is task which is dealt by the
managers of McDonald’s effectively as the company is known for providing quick services to
the customers this has become possible because the staff actively engages in the activities of
organisation. As result company brand image is positively affected. This also ensured that
healthy and productive environment is maintained in the organisation. Often it happens that
changes introduced by the top management is not accepted by the workers Human resource
management acts as bridge that helps in overcoming apprehension of workforce eliminating
resistances on their part. Another major purpose of HR managers is to ensure the smooth
functioning of organisation by dealing with the employee’s problems (Manvi and Shyam, 2014).
Employee concerns- In the fast and hectic schedule of customers has led to increase
impatience regarding services. McDonald’s main objective was to deliver foods to their
customers in the fastest possible way, thus the human resource department of the company is
indulging in improving the quality of worker’s performance. Hearing employee concerns and
grievances has helped in providing brand certain competitive advantage in the market.
Personnel management- HRM involves in hiring large pool of talents and retaining
them, McDonald’s human resource department maintain the records of each and every employee.

Software like payroll mad MIS are developed as per the requirement of company that contains
the data related to employee compensation. This ensures that issues related to money remains in
the control of management. HR mangers of chosen organisation also provides special training to
further enhance the skills of employees. Thus it is considered as much wider term and is used for
managing the people in the company.
Motivating employees- Another significance of human resource management is
connected to the motivation of employees in the organisation. As less motivated workers lead to
lower productivity and is hindrance in attaining the objectives of organisation therefore
McDonald’s has maintained an effective reward system that ensures employees are awarded for
performing as per standards and are given feedbacks and suggestions in case the performance
standards are not. Providing workers with certain authority and clearing their roles and
responsibilities are essential part of effective HRM.
Legalities- HRM also involves in protecting the organisation from legal proceedings, Hr
managers are responsible for securing the rights of employees. Under the strict HR policies of
McDonald’s ethical behaviour is encouraged in the company (Bakker and Demerouti, 2014).
1.2 Human resource plan based on the demand and supply of restaurant industry
Human resource planning is concerned with the knowing and evaluating the current and
futuristic demands of McDonald so that goals and objectives set by company can be met in an
appropriate manner.
 In the first phase of HR plan a prediction is made regarding the requirement of workforce
this is done by collecting and analysing the data about the positions and people that
working in McDonald’s. Appropriate analysis will save time money and efforts of
management.
 In the next stage the collected data is verified and its authenticity is checked. This is
done by issuing questionnaire to the top management.
 In the third stage after analysing the scenario strategies are built. Decisions are taken
regarding the recruitment process.
The three main stages of human resource planning are forecasting the workforce needs,
identifying internal and external supply of employees, and developing strategies. These are
explained below in detail:
Forecasting workforce needs- Various techniques like trend, ratio, turnover analysis
helps in understanding the needs and requirement of workforce in the organisation. McDonald’s
uses trend analysis which compares the current situation with the past happenings to interpret the
future outcomes. Determining the turnover through turnover analysis is important in order to deal
with the unforeseen situations.
Identification of internal and external supply of employees- This stage involves
assessing the abilities and skills of existing staff and based on the data collected through various
sources such as replacement charts and human resource MIS vacant position in the McDonald is
fulfilled. Managers decide whether to hire people from the internal sources or external sources.

Supply of external candidates depends on various factors such as rate of employment, economy
condition along with the labour rate in the market. Another technique called succession planning
is also used by the McDonald’s to hire people for the topmost position.
Development of strategies- Under this stage McDonalds take measures to cover the
gaps, strategies on how to train the employees in the organisation are being prepared.
Implementation of these strategies are useful for achieving the productive outcome. Though
changes are made from time to time with regards to the plans (Chartrand and Lakin, 2013).
2.1 Current state of employment relation in the restaurant industry
Restaurant industry is known as labour intensive because of the involvement of large
number of humans in this sector thus maintaining the effective relation with employee the
requirement of every business that are part of this industry. This factor is concerned with the
Employees being given good status in the chosen sector. Organization should make them feel
like they are a valuable resource for the business. Freedom and authority on the part of
management will lead to the increment in the initiatives of employees. Over the years issues with
trade unions are becoming increasing concern in this sector, various reasons attached to this
aspect is discussed below in detail:
Employment condition- Growth of this sector is increasing day by day. There are various
outlets of McDonald’s in many countries and level of employment differs in every corner of the
world. The company is providing employment opportunities to the people. Difficulty can arise
with large number of people thus it is important to meet the demands of workforce for the
smooth running of business. Effective relationship with workers has attracted large amount of
employees towards the organisation (Larson and Gray, 2017).
Industrial relation- It is concerned with the relationship between the workers and the
employer, in the restaurant industry low skilled workers are employed every day often it is seen
that claims have been made with regards to improper treatment towards the workers.
McDonald’s avoids the conflicts by protecting the rights of low skilled workers in the industry.
Paying appropriate wages to the workforce has helped in improving the relation with the
employees. As a result, company has acquired positive image in the market.
Working hours- The restaurant industry is known for providing 24-hour service to the
customers this factor takes a toll on the heath of the workers. Improvement in the working hours
is essential for maintaining an effective relation with the employees. McDonald provide flexible
working hours to the workers, proper breaks are also allowed during the ongoing duties. This
ensured increase productiveness on the part of employees. The sector has to follow legislation
made by the UK government regarding specified schedule that should be followed by all the
organisation (Cogin, 2012).
Young talent- Large amount of young workforce work in the McDonald, this shows that
this sector is associated with the involvement of youth. The government of UK ensures that rules
are followed and they are paid as per the standards. Retaining the relationship with the young
employees is beneficial for the success of the organisation.

2.2 analysis about the impact of employment law in the management of Human Resource
Various employment laws have been established by the government of UK in order to
secure the rights of employees working in the restaurant industry. Following theses legislations is
the utmost priority of every organisation as not adhering to them can cause severe damage to the
reputation of the company. These laws directly impact the human resource department, managers
create policies to maintain code of conduct in the McDonald’s and ensures that business does not
have to face any sort of legal issues in future. Different types of laws are explained below in
detail:
Health and safety act 1974- This act has majorly affected the working restaurant
industry, business organisation operating in this sector have to secure the health of employees.
Excess working hours, lifting and carrying packages or items can cause accidents thus rules were
made to protect the workers from such situations. McDonald’s follows the legislation like health
and safety at workplace, manual handling regulations, providing hygienic and healthy
environment to the workers and many more (Sharp, Peters and Howard, 2017).
Equality act 2010- As per this act restaurant industry must ensure that no employee
should be subjected to any type of discrimination at workplace. HR managers have made policies
regarding equal treatment of employees in the organisation and maintained that employees of
different cultures, religion, race are given respect. The company promotes the diversity in the
premises. Not complying these rules can put McDonald’s into legal trouble.
The employment rights act 1996- McDonald’s needed to provide follow the legislations
of this act which states that workers should be given contract in writing which includes the terms
and conditions. HR managers maintains that workers are not derived from minimum wages and
proper dismissal procedure is followed before removing a worker on valid terms.
Sex discrimination act- This act is concerned with protecting the rights of men and
women against discrimination which happens at workplace due to gender and marital status.
McDonald’s had to face legal charges in the past because a women complained lawsuit against
the company, it was stated that women was subjected to harassment and discrimination in the
restaurant premises. This has cause severe effect on the image of the brand in the market. Thus
company has to make strict policies against the harassment issue.
3.1 Discussion about Job description and person’s specification
Job description is a document that contains the detail information about the job position
and roles and responsibilities required to perform that job Specifying these details in a document
helps in clearing the roles and responsibilities regarding job (Daley, 2012). Also through job
description interviewer as well as the candidates becomes aware about the requirement of job.
Person’s specification is the required ability of the person to able to perform the tasks in an
effective manner. To be specific it consists of the talent, knowledge, competencies and
qualification in particular field that makes him eligible for the job
Below is an example of the HR position of hospitality industry:

Job title Human resource manger
Department Human resource
Report to Managing director of McDonald
Location Mayfair, London, UK
Job summary Human resource manager involves in
managing, evaluating and coordinating the
activities of employees in the organisation.
Duties Conducting recruitment selection,
Maintaining employee records, training and
development of employees when required,
communicating implementing policies made
by the top management, reviewing the
performance of workers and maintain quality
standards.
Skills  Leadership skills
 Interpersonal skills
 Communication skills
 Decision making
 Ability to handle conflict in the
organisation
 Good listener
 Ability to work in team
Educational qualification Degree in hotel or business
management
Experience 3 to 4 years in hotel or restaurant
industry
3.2 comparison made on the use of selection process in the airlines and restaurant business
There are different ways in which companies select the candidates for the vacant position.
External and the internal are the two main sources of recruitment and selection process of
McDonald’s. Job posting, transfers and employees who were previously part of the organisation
are chosen under the internal recruitment while advertisement in the newspaper, E recruitment
are the elements of external sources. Through this method large number of applications are
received and screening of applicants is done to filter out the potential candidates that are best
suited for the available position in the organisation. The company conducts various tests in the
next stage which includes personality and technical. Passing these tests prove the worth of
employee and they are further sent for the interview round. Under this communication level of
individual and ability to cope up to difficult situation is analysed (Donate and de Pablo, 2015).
As in restaurant industry employees have to continually serve the customers checking their
patience level is very importance. After this round job evaluation of candidate shows their
performance level. Afterwards organisation verifies the past records of candidate that includes
detail information about the address and authenticity of details provided also what the previous
employer has to say about the selected candidate is also considered if negative feedback is given,

then HR manager might put the applicant on hold. The last stage includes the final selection
interview in which offer letter is given to candidate if the terms and conditions are met.
Selection process of Wizz airlines differs from the McDonald in a way that here the applications
of candidates are screened by the third party in this case the selection process is takes more than
2 days. Tests like aptitude have to be passed by the candidates and following the next day group
discussion is conducted in order to assess the leadership and communication abilities. Pilots also
have to go through medical examination which includes visionary test and function test. The
selected candidates have to wait for over a year before the results is announced (Dries, 2013).
4.1 Contribution of training and development activities in the restaurant industry
The training and development is vital part of Human resource management, under this the
HR managers identifies the hidden competencies of employees and take measures to enhance
them. These activities are conducted both for the existing as well the new joiners. These days
technology is used by the brands like McDonalds to in order to improve the performance level of
workers. Different types of training are discussed below in detail:
Induction program- Under this programme McDonald ensures that new employees are
made to introduce to the culture of organisation and are given appropriate guidance by the
supervisors on how to complete tasks. Through this worker becomes aware of their roles and
responsibilities such as how to take orders from customers and also helping them in
understanding the menu. Learning these tasks on initial days will provide help in shaping their
personality and increasing their capabilities.
Class room training- This is also one of training and development methods which
includes providing theoretical knowledge about the job to the workers. In McDonald this training
session is being conducted for the purpose of increasing the awareness about new procedure that
are added by the management for example TQM in operations and productions department
(Jackson, Schuler and Jiang, 2014).
Apprenticeship- Under this training method workers learn while earning, here
supervisor supervises the performance of employee thus plays key role in developing the skill of
person.
Impacts of training and development programs:
Increased output- As employees becomes aware about their roles and duties and how
tasks are needed to be performed this leads to optimum utilisation of time, money and other
resources as result higher output is achieved
Improvement in the quality- Performing an activity over and over again helps in
becoming specialised in particular area. This leads to improving the quality of performance level
of employees, McDonald workers are known for providing quality services to the customers due
to this factor.

Saves money- losses occurring due to mismanagement of resources can be avoided if the
workers are guided by the managers in a particular direction. Heavy and expensive machinery is
used in the operation of McDonald requires trained workforce (Keep, 2014).
Use of Talent- Not providing enough training to the employees can lead to loss of
potential talent therefore identifying and evaluating the hidden can ensures further growth of the
business. Talented workforce represents the positive image of the organisation.
CONCLUSION
After analysing the report, it can be concluded that human resource management plays
important role in the growth and development of business. Managing the workforce is the main
purpose of HR department. Acquiring, developing, retaining and dissolving employees is part of
HR life cycle. The organisation has to maintain effective relations with workers and preserve
their rights. Various employment laws have been created by the government and complying to
these guidelines is essential requirement for image of the brand. Recruitment & selection as well
training and development are the core functions of HR that ensures higher productivity and
efficiency in the organisation.

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