HRM Report: A Comparative Analysis of Chocolate Presence and Microsoft

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices, focusing on two distinct companies: Chocolate Presence and Microsoft. The first part of the report delves into Chocolate Presence, examining the purpose and importance of HR functions, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of their current selection process, and suggesting potential improvements such as training workshops and the use of employment agencies. It also includes a person specification for a receptionist and evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of current job advertising methods. The second part shifts focus to Microsoft, evaluating the benefits of graduate training schemes and internship programs, identifying flexible working environments and their advantages, and exploring how Microsoft motivates employees through job role design. Furthermore, the report defines employee engagement, emphasizes its importance in employee relationships, assesses key engagement approaches, and analyzes the impact of UK employment legislation on HR decision-making related to recruitment, training, and development. The report concludes with an overview of the key findings and recommendations for both companies.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
a) Purpose and importance of HR function with its current problem and further growth
measures.......................................................................................................................................1
(b) Strengths and weakness of current selection method taken by Chocolate presence..............3
(c) Two potential improvements that can be undertaken by Chocolate presence for improving
selection process..........................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
(a) person specification for receptionist at Chocolate presence...................................................5
(b) Advantage and disadvantage of current method of advertising job internally and externally
......................................................................................................................................................6
(c) Recommend suitable placing of the job advertisement for the vacancy of receptionist and
justify...........................................................................................................................................7
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
(a) Evaluate the benefits of graduate training schemes and internship programs of Microsoft
for the organisation and employee's.............................................................................................8
(b) Identify the flexible working environment and its benefits for Microsoft and employee's...9
(c) How Microsoft motivates its employees through designing different job roles..................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
(a) What is employee engagement and why it is important for Microsoft's employee
relationship.................................................................................................................................11
(b) Evaluate key approaches of engaging workers and how they improve communication
within firm.................................................................................................................................12
(c) Impact of UK's employment legislation and their influence on HR decision making on
recruitment, training and development measures within the firm.............................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
In an organisation, human resource management is the department that helps
the organisation to carry out suitable business operations and activities within the firm or
an enterprise. It is a practice of managing the employees or work force, in general within
an organisational setting (Wright, 2018). An organisation is required to maintain
suitable strategies and policies within an enterprise to meet the organisational
objectives. The present report's first part will cover the operations and HRM functions
within a Chocolate firm, Chocolate presence and the second part of this report is done
on Microsoft.
The report aims to define the purpose and importance of HR functions within an
organisation. Besides this, suitable strength and weakness of the selection process of
the firm and potential improvements are been suggested. Other than this, suitable job
description and person specification is been presented with a proper job advertisement.
Other than this, the improvement in employee performance and development using
training process is evaluated with assessment of importance employee engagement
measures have within selected companies.
MAIN BODY
PART 1
TASK 1
a) Purpose and importance of HR function with its current problem and further growth
measures
The HR functions plays a very crucial role in the management of business
activities which are performing within an enterprise like Chocolate presence. This will
help in improving the quality of chocolate based products and services that are offered
by the firm (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Some major purposes of HR and its suitable
importance are as follows:
 Carrying out recruitment process: This is the major and foremost important
task of a HR department within an organisation. The HR functions or objectives
that are taken within the organisation will help in carrying out of selection process
for highly skilled and effective employees by Chocolate presence. The HR
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department of Chocolate presence plays an important role in improving work
force and getting new employees by the means of advertisements, candidate
source and conducting interviews to hire suitable work force. It is important for
the firm to have a suitable and skilled workforce.
 Providing security at Job: As per the occupational safety Act, 1970 and Health
and Safety at workplace act, 1974, employer like Chocolate presence is liable to
provide appropriate safe environment to its work force. It makes the organisation
to reduce the chances of workplace injury and working within fatal conditions.
This is also essential in order to manage and maintain the compensations related
claims and set up appropriate policies to be followed by selected chocolate
manufacturing enterprise.
 Allocating suitable benefits and compensation: This is an important function
that is required to be taken in consideration by the selected chocolate firm. The
compensation is been provided in case of any loss or injury to an employee.
Besides this, it will help in placing compensation structure and increasing
competitive payments. Suitable payroll is been taken in consideration that will
help in providing effective benefits to employees in need. It is important to
maintain employee satisfaction level, loyalty towards firm and reduce employee
turnaround at Chocolate presence.
 Following different labour laws: As per the norms, different labour laws are
required to be followed by the organisation in order to facilitate employee
retention within firm (Bailey and et.al., 2018). It is also important to mitigate any
sort of indifference and conflict at work place. This will improve the overall
performance and work environment at Chocolate presence.
 Training and development: This is another important aspect of an HR
department within the firm. Training the existing as well as the new recruits will
help the chocolate firm to increase efficiency of their workers and maintain
profitability of the organisation within the market. It is important in order to sustain
overall functionality of the enterprise. The suitable training to the recruited
employees about the gift and chocolate making will improve the performance of
Chocolate presence.
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At present, Chocolate presence is facing the issue of reduction in quality of some
product and increasing employee turnover. To tackle these issues, suitable recruitment
policies and measures can be follow under future plans of the firm for development
purpose. Formulation of appropriate policies helps firm in satisfying employees which in
turn results in improving efficiency and reducing turnover of employees.
(b) Strengths and weakness of current selection method taken by Chocolate presence
The selection process of Chocolate presence is very basic and involves the
assessment of a candidate using online or by own assessment test of English
Comprehension and maths, required to be passed out with 50% score. Following it, an
interview process is been carried out including the informal chat of 15 minutes. This is a
very general method of selection and can be considered to be taken by the firm, as
there is no specific HR executive. However, this selection process is been questioned
for its fairness.
This process has certain strengths and weaknesses which are required to be
considered by the management of Chocolate presence to improve their selection
process. Some major strengths and weaknesses of this selection process are as
follows:
Strengths:
 The skill's assessment using evaluation process involving English
Comprehensive and maths helps the management of organisation to identify and
access the basic language and calculative knowledge of a candidate.
 The 15 minute informal interaction with the potential candidates will help the
management of organisation to identify the behavioural qualities and mindset of a
candidate within the organisation that will help in suitable planning of their
training measures within selected chocolate enterprise.
Weaknesses:
 The present selection process does not provide the effective and proper
knowledge about their skills for chocolate or dessert making. This may lead the
firm to recruit non feasible and inappropriate employee.
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 As the expertise or specialization of a candidate remains unknown, proper
training and development process can be affected, impacting overall
performance of the organisation.
(c) Two potential improvements that can be undertaken by Chocolate presence for
improving selection process
Effective improvement measure can be taken in consideration by the selected
chocolate manufacturing firm, Chocolate presence. As the current selection process by
organisation involving just English Comprehension and maths test, followed by an
informal interview, the core skills and knowledge of a potential candidate remains
unidentified. Thus, in this case, other selection approaches can be taken by the firm that
will help in proper management of employee selection and placement operations within
an organisation. In order to enhance the selection process, firm can use an other
method for selection or can provide training to employees initially so that they will be
able to perform their duties in an effective and efficient way. The two effective measures
of the selection process that can be undertaken by selected chocolate based enterprise
are as follows:
 Organising training and Workshops: As the firm exist in an area of high
unemployment rate, Chocolate presence can organise a suitable workshop or
training program related to chocolate making and related services. This will aid in
improving their knowledge and basic skill set related to chocolate making and will
prove out to be a cost effective approach for the firm, reducing expenditure and
resources to be implemented for training, selecting and placement process. It will
also help the firm to get suitable, skilled and knowledgeable work force. It will
help in maintaining the overall product quality of the firm, thus enhancing
customer satisfaction level (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017).
 Employment agencies: There will be certain employment agencies which will
get the biodata or details of skilled workforce on their data base and will be able
to provide suitable potential candidate to Chocolate presence for its effective
growth and management of the placement and selection process within the firm.
This approach is quite costly but time saving for the firm and assist the
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organisation to get the best candidate as per their requirements. Managing this
process will help in meeting the operational needs of selected organisation.
Following of both the approaches will improve Chocolate presence performance
and thus, will help in increasing employee retention and satisfaction level.
TASK 2
(a) person specification for receptionist at Chocolate presence
Person Specification
Skills and attributes Details Essential/
desirable
Knowledge and
Qualification
 Basic English communication
(verbal and non verbal)
 IT specialisation
 must be able to handle customer
relations
E
E
E
Skills and attribute Meeting and greeting clients
Professional workplace ethics
Able to use ICT tools
Good Time and resource management
skills
Able to make and receive telephonic
communication
Positive attitude towards work
Must be able to arrange couriers and
parcels
Maintaining the details of stock items
Able to book meetings
Must be able to perform any duty
assigned by Admin manager
maintaining employees and visitors
E
E
E
E
E
D
E
D
D
E
E
D
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attendance record
Taking and providing order details
Experience Must have at least one year experience
working as a receptionist.
D
(b) Advantage and disadvantage of current method of advertising job internally and
externally
In the past and still, Chocolate presence is using the job advertising approaches
like internal notice circulation within staff members and their family or friends. For the
external advertising approach a physical notice is been placed over the noticeboard on
the external site wall of the main site of firm (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017). This
process of job advertising will help the organisation to carry out the selection process
within the firm. It has certain advantages and disadvantages which are required to be
maintained and sustained within the organisation.
The biggest advantage of this approach is that the internal circulation among the
existing staff for a particular job role (for example, receptionist), and will help the
organisation to have an accessibility to the most skilled and appropriate candidate for a
job role within the organisation (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016). Besides this, it
will also prove out to be effective cost and time saving approach of candidate selection.
The placing of the job advertisement notice on the external wall of the firm will
help in getting more candidates as the applicants for production or administration
vacancy are very high and thus, assists in getting appropriate work force within the
organisation. As chocolate presence is located in an area of high unemployment rate,
placing job advertisement using this medium will help in getting a good response for the
recruitment process. Besides this, it will also raise the awareness about the job activities
that will help in asseessing skilled and knowledgeable candidate by effectively
showcasing the required traits and qualities to be possessed by a desired employee.
However, its has certain disadvantages too. The internal selection process by
circulating the job advertisement notice among the employees will restrict the innovation
process. Besides this, its is susceptible to get alligated as an unfair process
(Marchington and et.al., 2016). The external placing of job advertisement on the
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noticeboard of main entrance will attract unwanted attention, impacting performance
and quality of products and services which results in declining product quality. This
method of advertising job restricts the entry of highly skilled and talented staff which
may impacts negatively on firm's performance.
(c) Recommend suitable placing of the job advertisement for the vacancy of receptionist
and justify
Internal circulation of the job advertisement and its external placing on notice
board the job vacancy of receptionist, it creates an awareness about availability of job
within the business enterprise. As these measures are inadequate, the firm is required
to undertake suitable alternatives that can be utilised by the firm. These alternatives will
help the organisation to improve the quality of operations and thus, will lead the firm to
improve the quality of selection process that will help in enhancing the quality of
services and meeting the set objectives of the firm. For this purpose, the firm can opt for
online advertising using website and social media platforms. It will prove out to be the
best and most suitable medium of placing the job advertisement for the selection of
receptionist (Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley, 2016).
The selection and use of these digital and online mediums will prove out to be
beneficial for both, candidates and employer. As with the passage of time, the
technological services and tools are penetrating in every aspects of the organisation
and its operations. Thus, in such condition, use of the online advertising mediums to
handle the selection process and placing an advertisement for a job vacancy of
receptionist at the firm will help in proper assessment of the business activities and thus
will lead Chocolate presence to get knowledgeable and skilled labour or candidate for
the job.
The target market for the present job vacancy will be the female candidate with
the experience as receptionist in previous firm. The organisational cultural of chocolate
presence will provide the suitable delivery of the various benefits and facilities to the
employee along with an opportunity of growth.
The major reason behind choosing this medium is that it is quite economical and
effective medium for placing the advertisement for vacancy of receptionist within the
firm (Reiche and et.al., 2016). This is a faster, cheap and widely accessible method for
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placing of the job advertisement within the organisation. It helps the HR executives in
communicating appropriate job specification and requirements for assessment of the
suitable candidates. Besides this, it will also save time and effort of the HR department
of Chocolate presence. This can be chosen as the best platform for the selection of
suitable candidate for the organisation as per their target market and organisational
culture.
The budget for carrying oiut the job advertisement is as follows:
Equipments £1000
Work force £2000
Set up £250
Transportation £100
Total £3350
PART 2
TASK 3
(a) Evaluate the benefits of graduate training schemes and internship programs of
Microsoft for the organisation and employee's
Internship or graduate training is the practice of providing the industrial exposure
to a graduate student, turning out to be a potential candidate or employee for a firm.
Microsoft, being the most innovative and effective enterprise, offers suitable trainings
and internship to its employees as well as college graduates. This is a very significant
process and helps the organisation to get good access to skilled and knowledgeable
work force (Nankervis and et.al., 2016). This helps the organisation to improve the
quality of services and thus will lead the organisation to improve the overall
performance of the candidates as well as the enterprise. This has the two way benefits
for both, interns and Microsoft. Some major advantages or benefits of this, graduate
training scheme and internship programs for the firm are as follows:
Benefits for interns and graduate students:
 Getting industrial exposure: It provides the graduate students with a proper
industrial exposure that will help them to get knowledge about the real time
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application of their skills and knowledge. This will also improve their outlook
towards how the work is been done within a corporate organisation.
 Improving knowledge and get specialisation: The graduate training and
internship programmes that are undertaken by Microsoft will help the candidates
or graduate students to improve their knowledge and skill set and focus upon a
specialised topic or skill sets that improves the quality of their performance and
will assist them to perform their roles with much efficiency.
Benefits for Microsoft
 Get potential employees: The graduate training and internship measures
undertaken by the firm will prove as the assessment criteria for the organisation
to evaluate the skills and knowledge of their trainees or interns and thus, will
assist Microsoft to get skilled and knowledgeable employee to work upon their
projects (Brewster, 2017).
 Increase scope of innovation: As the new graduate trainees and interns en
roll in these trainings and internship programs, they bring new and innovative
ideas for the organisation and thus will help in improving the quality of their
performance and thus will increase the effectiveness and efficiency to produce
new and innovative goods or services. Skilled and knowledgable employees help
organisation in bringing innovation within firm which leads it towards high growth
and success.
(b) Identify the flexible working environment and its benefits for Microsoft and
employee's
Microsoft provides the suitable and effectively flexible working environment that
encourages the employees to improve their work performance (Wilton, 2016). It helps
employees to meet operational requirements and attaining objectives of company. As
Microsoft is a global firm working within many countries in different time zones and
environmental conditions, it provides its employees or workforce with suitable and
effective working environment and working policies like work from home, providing
personal laptop or system to facilitate remote working etc., that are flexible in nature and
thus, improves the overall performance of the employee's and the firm. Some benefits
or advantages of flexible working environment at Microsoft are as follows:
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