HRM Report: Analysis of Chocolate Presence and Microsoft HR Practices

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of human resource management (HRM) practices, focusing on case studies of Chocolate Presence and Microsoft. The report begins by examining the core HR functions within Chocolate Presence, including recruitment and selection methods, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and potential improvements. It also delves into the creation of a person specification for a receptionist role and evaluates various job advertising methods. The second part of the report shifts its focus to Microsoft, exploring flexible working arrangements, employee motivation strategies through job design, and the importance of employee engagement. Furthermore, the report discusses the key elements of UK employment legislation and their impact on HRM decision-making. Overall, the report aims to provide insights into effective HRM principles and practices through detailed case study analysis.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN
PRACTICE
CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................1
PART – 1 CHOCOLATE PRESENCE.................................................................................................1
TASK – 1..............................................................................................................................................1
Main HR functions – Purpose, significance, present problems as well as future plans......................1
Current selection methods of Chocolate Presence – Strengths and weaknesses.................................3
Improvements that can be made in the selection process of Chocolate Presence...............................4
TASK – 2..............................................................................................................................................5
Person specification for Receptionist in Chocolate Presence.............................................................5
Existing methods of advertising jobs – Advantages and Disadvantages............................................6
Recommendation for placing advertisement for the Receptionist vacancy and its justification.........7
PART – 2 MICROSOFT.......................................................................................................................8
TASK – 3..............................................................................................................................................8
Identifying range of flexible working arrangement in Microsoft and evaluating benefits of the same
...........................................................................................................................................................9
Assessing the ways Microsoft motivates its employees through its way of designing job roles......10
TASK – 4............................................................................................................................................11
Defining the term Employee engagement and its importance in effective employee relation..........11
Evaluating main approaches to engage employee............................................................................12
Discussing the main elements of UK employment legislation and their impact in HRM decision
making.............................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is a specialized and separate function that needs to be
performed by each and every manager. Further, it is that branch of management which is
concerned with recruiting an individual, selecting them and finally developing them so that
they can be best used as an employees (Sundar, 2013). Therefore, it can be said that HRM
makes sure that every worker makes maximum contribution towards the accomplishment of
the organizational goals and objectives. It is very essential function within the firm for
attaining pre-determined objectives through proper training, development and management of
human asset of the organization. Pertaining to this, the current research report aims to
comprehend the principles of effective human resource management by taking into account
case studies of Chocolate presence and Microsoft.
The first section of the study deals with the Chocolate presence being based in North
Yorkshire. The firm is involved into the business of tailored made chocolate all over the
United Kingdom. There is high level of employee turnover within the company and even a
complaint is being lodged regarding poor quality of products by the customers. Thus, being a
Human resource officer of the firm, the major task is to assess the recruitment & selection
approaches and discuss possible improvements that can be done to make sure further growth
and success of Chocolate presence. The second part of the study is about Microsoft in which
various training and development programs being adopted by the company will be elaborated
significantly. The paper will also throw light on flexible working practices and other related
benefits both to the workers and the firm. The final part of the report will pay attention on
ways of motivating employees through designing job roles.
PART – 1 CHOCOLATE PRESENCE
TASK – 1
Main HR functions – Purpose, significance, present problems as well as future plans
Main Purpose of HR function
The main purpose of human resource management is to develop as well as manage the
human resource a crucial asset of the company by understanding their needs, wants and
demands. With this function in hand, chocolate presence can significantly offer training and
can develop and manage their human asset so that they can achieve their objectives.
Additionally, HR function also helps in maximum utilization of the present resources with
least possible costs (Farndale, Scullion and Sparrow, 2010). In Chocolate Presence, the main
purpose of HR function is to make improvement in the skills as well as abilities of the
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workers with a view to attain high level of performance. Furthermore, it also helps in
maintaining relationship and create strategic plan, approaches, and procedures in order to
develop their employees.
Main Functions of Human Resource
The human resource has same kind of functions to perform in almost every
organization as in Chocolate presence. For achieving high level of performance and success,
different approaches, methods and procedures are being adopted by the company to recruit
right employees for the job positions (Boxall and Purcell, 2003). The most vital functions of
human resource management are being defined underneath:
 Recruitment & selection – It is one of the most significant as well as intricate function
of the organization. With this, Chocolate presence recruits and select potential
applicants for the vacant job position. They adopts different methods such as referral
tests, interview and assessment test for selecting best candidate.
 HR planning – Human resource planning function of the firm helps in forecasting the
future demand of human asset within the company and makes arrangement for the
same in advance with a view to have smooth flow of activities and operations.
Seeking help from this function, Chocolate presence can recruit and select consistent
workforce within the firm at right time and place (Fleetwood and Hesketh, 2009).
 Compensation as well as benefits – With this, the firm motivates their staff members
to work efficiently. The HR managers of Chocolate presence ensures that fair amount
of benefits and compensation is being rendered to their employees in order to make
them satisfied.
 Training and development – Seeking help from the training and development
function, existing skills, competencies, abilities and capabilities of the employees can
be augmented. Even the areas which needs some more development and
improvements are being identified and training event are being planned accordingly
(Becker and Gerhart, 2006).
 Performance management – This function supports in measuring the performance of
the employees and provide rewards and recognition on the basis of the assessment.
Those workers who surpasses the benchmark level are being recognized and even
workers with average level of performance are motivated to work better by
identifying flaws. With this, timely corrections can be undertaken and performance
level of the employees can be enhanced.
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HR officer – Roles & responsibilities in Chocolate Presence
 Within the Chocolate presence, the main role of HR officer is to develop the whole
system, Human resource initiatives and planning implementation for the same.
 He is also responsible for planning recruitment as well as selection for the firm
 HR officer also helps in resolving issues related to employees
 He also plans for the drew up for future demand of the employees (Katou and
Budhwar, 2015)
 Preserving documents, records of employees and all necessary legal requirements.
Present problems in Chocolate Presence
Currently, there are many problems in HRM within the Chocolate presence. It is not
that efficient enough and because of this, there is high level of employee turnover. The
management is also not in a position to control the increasing level of employees. In addition
to this, the recruitment and selection methods within the firm is also not adequate (Guest,
2011). Further, the human resource managers within the company has adopted improper
assessment test and therefore, issues related to fairness and biasness is generating
continuously.
Future plans for further growth
With a view to lead the firm to the path of glory and victory as well as to attain further
growth, it is very vital for the human resource management of Chocolate presence to create a
plan concerning effective management of their employees. Pertaining to this, the firm have
been planning and executing different strategies concerning retention, team building,
motivation and cooperation. In addition to this, they are even planning to make necessary
arrangement for training and development events with a view to resolve current problems and
issues being faced by Chocolate presence (Buller and McEvoy, 2012). In regards with the
recruitment and selection process of the firm, planning is being carried out by the HR
managers and they are adopting such method and approaches which are efficient, effective
and fairer such as written test in place of assessment test.
Current selection methods of Chocolate Presence – Strengths and weaknesses
Selection techniques
used by Chocolate
Presence
Strengths Weaknesses
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Assessment test
Assessment test helps the
firm to have capable and
skilful employees on board
(Torrington and et al., 2011).
However, the method is not so
trustworthy and there are
chances that skills of the
candidates might not be judged
efficiently.
References
With this method in place,
Chocolate presence can
significantly clear out those
individuals whose behaviour
was not good at their past job.
But, references are generally
supported by the issues related
to legality. There are some
companies who have certain
laws in relation with the asking
questions to references and
thus, there are high chances of
fraud as well (Bratton and
Gold, 2012).
Informal interview
Seeking help from this
method, the HR managers of
Chocolate presence can
understand their applicants
easily and effectively. It
makes the candidate
comfortable at the time of
interview.
However, this method is
consumes more time and many
a times it ends up with
misleading information since
the discussion being taken
place between the interviewer
and interviewee is informal.
Improvements that can be made in the selection process of Chocolate Presence
The strengths as well as weaknesses of the selection process being used by chocolate
presence is being discussed above. As per the case study, it can be said that these methods are
not sufficient and efficient enough to manage the increasing workforce within the company.
Even some of the applicants are of the view that these selection methods are unfair. Thus, it
becomes necessary to improve these methods (Bach and Edwards, 2013). Firstly, the existing
assessment tests of mathematics should be changed to personality tests, aptitude tests and
psychometric test. These method will help the managers to have better judgement. Next, it is
vital to add behavioural questions while taking informal interview of the applicants. With
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this, better understanding of the applicants and his or her thinking process can be judged. The
choices being made by the candidates should be evaluated and based on that they should be
selected for the required job position.
TASK – 2
Person specification for Receptionist in Chocolate Presence
Title of the job Receptionist
Recruitment Manager HR manager of
Chocolate
Presence
Department Administration
Reporting to Administration
Manager
Date: April 2019
Qualification required Essential Desirable Met
 For becoming a
receptionists of Chocolate
presence, NVQ diploma
is required.
 Or he or she should
possess some certified
courses certificates in the
areas of HR development
and communication.
Yes
Yes
Required Familiarity
 For becoming a
receptionists of chocolate
presence minimum 2 Yes
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years of experience in the
HR field is quite essential
 One or more than one
year of knowledge in
regards with the field of
customer service is
desirable
Yes
Individual features &
conduct
 Understanding in relation
with the information
technology and computer
basics (Armstrong and
Taylor, 2014)
 Time management skills
 Inter-personal as well as
good communication
skills
 Knowledge concerning
Grievance handling and
several other issues
related to human resource
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Existing methods of advertising jobs – Advantages and Disadvantages
Existing methods Advantages Disadvantages
 Seeking help from this
method of recruitment,
chocolate presence can make
their existing staff members
motivated and can encourage
 This method as some
limitation has well. If the
recruitment is being done by
internal sources than there
will no diversity, uniqueness
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Internal recruitment
within Chocolate
presence
them to work hard so that
pre-determined goals are met
(Saari and Judge, 2004).
 In addition to this, if the
employees are being chosen
through internal sources than
the flow of activities and
operations will not be
disturbed and will be
continuous workflow.
as well as innovation within
chocolate presence.
 Other than this, there are
chances that very few
innovative ideas and opinions
will be generated as same
talent and ability is being
chosen for the new job
position.
External recruitment
on vacancy notice
board of the firm
 If employees are being
selected from the external
sources than the chocolate
presence will have wide
range of experienced people.
 Large pool of competent as
well as efficient employees
will be present from which
the HR managers can select
the best suited applicant for
the vacant job position.
 However, this method has
some disadvantage as well. It
consumes lot of time.
 Furthermore, there are
chances that this process of
recruitment might not able to
trace out all the qualities of
the candidates (Boudreau and
Ramstad, 2007)
Recommendation for placing advertisement for the Receptionist vacancy and its justification
Considering the case study of the Chocolate presence, it can be noted that the
company has adopted two main methods for advertising the job vacancy of receptionists that
internal to the existing workers and secondly, placing notice board outside the walls of the
company. But, according to the view point of Human resource manager of Chocolate
presence, these two methods are not so appropriate and desirable and thus, need to be
replaced or changed with a new one. Consequently, for the purpose of placing advertisement
for the vacancy of job position of receptionists the most pertinent and suited method is print
media. The vacancy can be placed in newspapers and magazines (Collings and Mellahi,
2009). This is being regarded as one of the most popular and easiest way of reaching large
population. In addition to this, print media is generally being adopted by many business
organizations for recruiting efficient people. Additionally, this method will also help
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chocolate presence to communicate the job vacancy for receptionists to wide range of people
and thus, more capable and skilful applicant can be sourced. Finally, this method is also not
so much expensive thereby it helps in maintaining budget and provide options of selecting
own space for announcement as well.
PART – 2 MICROSOFT
TASK – 3
Analysing the Benefits of Graduate training schemes and Apprenticeship both to the
organization and employees
HRM is being regarded as one of the most crucial as well as important component of
Microsoft. The human capital is being managed by adopting various approaches and practices
by this department. In the current section, Microsoft which is an American multinational
technology company will be studied significantly. The organization has developed a culture
that helps in encouraging both personal as well as professional development of their
employees. In addition to this, it also provide varied benefits, recognition as well as rewards
to their workers so that they can feel acknowledged and motivated to achieve higher goals
(Koys, 2001). Furthermore, the human resource management within Microsoft takes into
consideration varied types of function as well like recruitment & selection, training and
development, performance management, flexible working practices etc. All these functions
helps the firm to better manage their valuable asset. However, the most popular and known
among all is graduate training schemes and internship or apprenticeship program of
Microsoft.
Throwing light in relation with the apprenticeship, it is being defined as the system of
training in which new generation gets the chance to work or take experience while working.
Further, such type of trainings are being performed at the time of work and also lasts for three
to seven years. Once these trainings are finished, particular employees receives a professional
certificate of competence. Further, speaking in volume about the graduate training schemes,
Microsoft invest huge on such schemes. Under such training programs, graduates who have
impressive academic results are being employed by the human resource professionals of the
firm. They are being selected as they does not have experience and practical knowledge about
the outer world (Dyer and Reeves, 2005). Other than this, the graduate training scheme also
helps in building the gap and provide necessary competence and abilities to the graduates
with a view that they can also hold a position in this dynamic and complex business scenario.
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The period of training lasts for 1 to 2 years and can be taken place in varied areas of business.
It offers pool of opportunities to students prior selecting their final career options.
Benefits of apprenticeship
Benefits to Microsoft Benefit to employee
Seeking help from this training program, the
company can decrease their high rate of
employee turnover and absenteeism
With this, the workers can gain knowledge
and experience about certain field and can
improve their skills as well.
Secondly, it also helps in increasing the
level of production and improves the
relationship amid the workers
Apprenticeship provide opportunities to
workers to depict their skills and
competence into practice (Huselid, 2005)
Benefits of graduate training scheme
Benefit to Microsoft Benefit to employee
With this training scheme, the firm can
choose best applicant from wide range of
graduates
It helps an individual who are good in
academics but generally lacks experience
and knowledge of the practical world
Seeking help from the graduate training
scheme, company can have skilful and
competent workforce on board by paying
lower salaries, as people with high level of
experience will demand more for the same
job (Armstrong, 2006).
Employee gets a chance to rotate in
different departments and thus, they gets
acquaintance of varied functions within the
company
Identifying range of flexible working arrangement in Microsoft and evaluating benefits of the
same
Talking in reference with the flexible working arrangement, it is being defined as a
practice that offers tractability or suppleness to the employees in terms of working hours,
time of work as well as place of work. Microsoft as initiated this approach in order to show
their concern in regards with the family, career and parents of their staff members. Many
other organizations are also making use of these approaches as they are getting familiarity
with the benefits of these arrangements in their daily chaos at the workplace. Range of
flexible working arrangements are being adopted by Microsoft such as compressed hours,
part time working, variable hours, work from home facility and job shares (Arthur, 2004).
9

These approaches offers their employees range of opportunities to have work life balance.
Further, these approaches also provide uncountable benefits both to the company and to its
workers and some of these are being defined below:
 Improved well-being – Well-being of the workforce is the major area of focus for the
managers of Microsoft. By offering flexible working practices, company encourages
employees to have positivity and enthusiasm for their work. It also helps in their
physical as well as mental well-being
 Increased level of productivity – Workers adopting flexible working practices such as
work from home allows them to save lot of time on commute and thus, can work
efficiently. They can even finish off their tasks earlier and faster ().
 Reduction in costs – In Microsoft, hot-desking schemes are getting very famous. It
has allowed the employees to make use of communal seats and computers on the days
when they come to office. This support the firm to save costs in terms of larger office
space.
 User-friendliness – innovative technology such as Google apps is being used by the
firm for communicating with each other. It helps the employees and employer to stay
in touch. Increasing accessibility of smart phones has enabled the employees to access
their mails, documents and files from any location in just a single click.
Assessing the ways Microsoft motivates its employees through its way of designing job roles
Motivation is a systematic process of influencing the behaviour of an individual in a
direction that helps the firm in achieving their pre-determined goals and objectives.
Numerous methods are used by Microsoft in order to motivate their employees. However, the
most crucial out of all is role, system and job design. Workers at every level within the
company gets an equal chance of being rewarded for their extra ordinary performance. Even
workers with greater level of commitment in terms of their work are provided stock options
schemes by Microsoft (Cho and Perry, 2012). These employees also gets equal amount of
incentives and rewards. Several other benefits are also offered to the staff members for their
excellent performance such as child care facility, transportation, discounts, food availability
etc. Other than this, company also develops new workplace set up and job design for
confining many issues concerning human resource. Under such job design the employees are
clustered together as per their responsibilities and jobs and a team is created. It helped in
regaining the confidence level of the workers. Because of this, effective communication and
interaction amid the workers was possible within Microsoft.
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