Human Resource Management Report: Merrill Lynch Firm Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Human Resource Management (HRM) within the Merrill Lynch firm. It begins with an introduction to HRM, defining its purpose and scope in achieving business objectives and competitive advantages. The report delves into the core functions of HRM, including planning, organizing, directing, and controlling, as well as crucial aspects like orientation, recruitment, selection, and training and development. It explores various recruitment and selection approaches, such as job descriptions, skills inventories, job posting strategies, and multi-step recruitment. The report also differentiates between hard and soft HRM approaches. Furthermore, it examines the benefits of various HRM practices, including learning, training, development, flexible working options, and employee performance management, highlighting their positive impact on both the firm and its employees. The report offers a clear understanding of HRM principles and their practical application within a financial services context.

Human resource

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management within an organisation is related with application of
strategic approaches for effectively managing the people and personnel of the organisation in
order to achieve the business objector along with attaining competitive advantages in the
industry it is operating. In the present report a detailed discussion related with HR activities and
its function with in organisation Merrill Lynch Firm is done. This includes the purpose and scope
of the human resource management with in the business is presented regarding resourcing the
business with skilled and talented people for achieving business objectives.
The benefits of HRM practices is explained in context of learning, training and
development practices, flexibility in working, management of employee performance and its
monitoring, reward and payment management. Furthermore, it includes analysis of the external
and internal factors which impacts the HRM decision making and key legislations which are to
be considered while making HRM related decisions. Moreover, the report present illustration on
the application of HRM practices in the context of business for Merrill Lynch Firm with
selection one of various practices (Bondarouk, Bos-Nehles and Hesselink, 2016).
TASK 1
Human resource management:
Within an organisation HRM serves critical purpose which can be defined as a function
implemented by business to deal with the concerns related with staff of the organisation and the
people who are directly related with the business regarding their hiring, performance,
compensation, safety, benefits, wellness, training and motivation. The human resource
management is also a premeditated approach for managing people and the work culture within a
company.
Purpose of HRM
The main purpose of human resources management is to organize the right abilities, skills and
also knowledge of implementing the strategies. It also helps in coordinating the organization
individuals for communicating, achieving the particular goals and objectives. It full-fill the needs
with the staff and also maintaining the satisfaction of employees in the Merrill Lynch Firm
(Deshpande and Golhar, 2015).
Nature, function and scope of human resources management
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HRM is basically concerned with the maintain the workforce of the organization from that there
are so many major roles that plays by the HR, whereas there are various functions of HRM
which has been follows;
Planing:- it is important to have planning of everything which is running in the
organization because it is the responsibility of the HR manager which makes each and every plan
because it helps in establishing the goals and objectives of the organization and also help sin
achieving it on time. Planing includes the determining of the personnel programs that contribute
for completing the task. there are so many planning which needed by the Merrill Lynch Firm
such as the job description, recruitment and selection process and so on (Guerci, Longoni and
Luzzini, 2016).
Organizing:- after establishing all the goals and objectives of the organization then it
comes to organizing where all the programs has been developed & achieve it. There are so many
things which has been organized by the human resource management such as ait makes all the
planing into actions in proper and systematic manner. It makes the grouping of all the personnel
activities for the positions and functions. It also helps in coordinating the activities of various
employees.
Directing:- The function of HRM is to creating the plans and also implementing all the
plans in very smooth manner and which is depended upon the people. This function of the HRM
is to encouraging people for work willingly and also effectively for achieving the goals of the
Merrill Lynch Firm.
Controlling:- The term controlling refers to regulating and running the activities
according to the plan and it has been formulated which is based on the Merrill Lynch Firm. This
function complete the HRM function cycle where the managers easily observes and subsequently
comparing all the results according to the set of standards. It also helps in evaluating &
controlling all the performance of the departments.
Orientation:- it is one of the step that helps the employees for moving towards and also
adjusting their themselves for the particular job. It is a process of giving brief knowledge about
the specific aspects of their new job which involves the benefits programs, pay etc.
Recruitment & selection:- it is one of the main function of the HRM where it chooses
the right people, at right time for right place in the organization. It basically designed for
maximizing the people and also meeting the objectives of organization (Jamali, El Dirani and
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Harwood, 2015). Where it a process of screening, short-listing, sourcing and also selecting the
right individuals for the required and vacant positions.
Training and development:- it is one of the main and core function of the human
resource management where it directly affects the skills and knowledge of performing of the
employees. the main role of conducting the training and development program is to helping the
employees for learning the particular knowledge and also improving the performance of the
employees. it particularly focuses on the growth & development of employees and also
improving the future performance of the employees for achieving the goals of Merrill Lynch
Firm.
Recruitment and selection approaches
From effective recruitment & selection of the job candidates and individuals where the Merrill
Lynch Firm. There are different types of approaches of recruitment & selection which are as
follows;
Job description:- Systematic hiring policy is generally begins with the accurate
description of the jobs where it involves all the detail information about all the aspect of the job
such as the job task, pay, reporting etc. the main strength of the job description is it easily
motivate employees and also employees thinks they are trusted with so many greater
responsibility of the organization and on the other hand the weakness of the job description is it
emphasizes the employees from the wrong aspects of their work.
Skills inventory:- this step is just identifying the right candidate for the particular job
and role in the Merrill Lynch Firm where it compiles the comprehensive listing for representing
the set of ideal skills of the employees for each and every job. The strength of the skills
inventory is it gives a brief description about the education, skills and current experiences of the
employees and weakness is sometimes all the details are not right and proper.
Job posting strategy:-from developing this strategy for the job posting is an systematic part of the
recruitment & selection process. According to the list and set of the ideal skills in the hand and
also it is in the favour of the organization. The strength of the job posting strategy is it post the
job on different sites and portals and on the other hand the weakness is receives so many
unwanted application from so many candidates (Jayasinghe, 2016).
Multi-step recruitment:- it is an systematic process where the interview process has
been provided for the deeper insights into all the interested jobs which easily meet the desired
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skills and profiles of the candidates. Multi-step recruiting is more challenging for the manager
because the directors and managers have to collaborate in this situation and take a decision
accordingly. The strength of multi-step recruiting is it identify all the lacks and skills of the
employees from both the manager and director point of view and weakness is it creates so many
problems when both are not agreed on one statement and decisions (Sparrow and Otaye-Ebede,
2017).
Hard approach of HRM
The hard HRM approach is related where each one is task focused and low commitment for
treating the employees simply as the resources of the organization and the main focal point is
performance management where it achieves the goals of the Merrill Lynch Firm. It is based on
the traditional approach of HRM where it controls the cost, moving, firing and also hiring of the
employees.
Soft approach of HRM
It is an approach where it includes the treating of the employees as one of the Merrill Lynch Firm
most important assets. From using the soft approach it shows that the employees of the
organization is one of the critical assets which are the key strategies of the firm which runs for
the long term (Bondarouk, Bos-Nehles and Hesselink, 2016).
TASK 2
The effectiveness of key elements of human resource management in an organisation
Benefits of different Human resource management practises
There are many benefits by undertaking different Human resource management practises
within Merrill Lynch Firm for both company as well as employees working in it. The human
resource practises are as follows -
Human resource
practise
Benefit to Merrill Lynch firm Benefits to employees
Learning,
training and
development
Decrease in employees turnover
rate – The company Merrill Lynch
by following effective training and
development program in their work
place able to retain employees
Job satisfaction – The employees by
getting proper training and
development able to attain their
satisfaction of job by working in
efficient manner and use different
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within the company by satisfying
their development and learning
goals.
Competitive advantage – Another
benefits company attains by
training and development campaign
in the company is that by efficient
training company is able to attain
goals on time and in efficient
manner. This helps the company to
gain competitive advantage against
their rivalries prevailing in the same
industry.
Achievement of organisational goal
– The Merrill Lynch by conducting
efficient training, learning and
development program in their work
place able to train and guide
employees towards goal of
organisation (Bratton, and Gold,
2017). Therefore, training program
helps employees to stay more clear
for organisational goal
achievement.
Enhances image – Merrill Lynch
firm is able to provoke their image
in front of employees and the
prevailing market. The company by
proper development and training
program able to enhance their
image by providing efficient
technique which they have learnt in
training. Their efficient performance
reflects their improvement in job
position.
Development of skills – Employees
working in Merrill Lynch by getting
proper training able to develop their
individual knowledge, experience and
goal (Omotayo, 2015). Proper
training helps them to attain
individual goals in effective manner.
Work efficiency – The employees able
to enhance their efficiency of work by
adopting techniques they learn in
regular training. The company by
conducting training at regular
intervals able to attain maximum
work efficiency.
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learning and positive environment.
Flexible working
options
Efficient goal achievement –
Merrill Lynch firm by offering
flexible working options to their
employees enable them flexibility
by make them free from time and
place boundation. This help the
employees to work in free
environment and according to their
convenience environment they able
to work efficiently. The employees
contribute more towards attaining
organisational goal with efficiency.
Work life balance – Flexibility in the
company Merrill Lynch enable
employees to manage their
professional life with personal life.
Employees feel happy working with
an organisation with enable them to
balance their work life with that of
personal.
Employee
performance
management and
monitoring
Increase productivity – By
measuring performance of
employees working in the company
and properly monitor their tasks
able to gain productivity at an
increasing trend. The company
Merrill Lynch measure employees
performance and monitor their
achievements which enhances their
overall performance and their
productivity contributes to the
growth of company.
Increase in growth and competitive
advantage – The company able to
attain competitive advantage by
minimising the mistakes of
employees which provide assist to
Identify key strengths and areas of
improvement – The employees by
performance management able to get
proper guidance of their superiors and
also able to attain knowledge of their
key strength which reflects their
quality (Guest, D. E., 2017). Also,
they able to know about their
weaknesses which they need to
improve for their efficient career
development and growth.
Build self confidence – By
performance management in Merrill
Lynch firm, the employees get proper
guidance from the beginning of task.
Also, by accomplishing task in
appropriate manner with proper
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the Merrill Lynch in attaining
success and growth. Resultant the
Merrill Lynch firm able to attain
competitive advantage against their
competitors by proper monitoring
and performance management of
staff members.
guidance build a feeling of
confidence in staff members.
Payment and
reward
management
Employees engagement – Merrill
Lynch firm provide both monetary
and non monetary benefits to their
employees for their valuable ideas
and suggestion which help the firm
in executing critical decision
making. Also, employees interest
retains with the working of
company enables a sense of
belongingness for getting rewards
and recognition.
Boost loyalty – The company by
satisfying individual goals for
development and growth enables
loyalty among employees. They
work with concentration and
efficiency towards the company
getting rewards. Along with it, the
turnover of employees by attractive
perks from rivalries also decreases
with reward and payment
management within Merrill Lynch.
Satisfy individual goals – The
employees try to work harder to attain
rewards in any monetary and non
monetary form. Also, they
accomplish their individual goals and
development by attaining rewards,
perks and other benefits from the firm
Merrill Lynch.
Inspiration for hard work - Merrill
Lynch firm by offering payment and
reward management able to inspire
other employees to work hard and
motivate them by providing benefits
in various forms to retain their
interest.
Effectiveness of different human resource practises
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Learning, training and development - Merrill Lynch firm enables training and
development on regular intervals is beneficial for both company and employees working in it.
The company Merrill Lynch able to gain profitability as well as able to increase productivity by
conducting training, learning and development program for their employees. On the other hand,
employees also feel confident and turnover ratio of employees also decreases with regular
training campaign. The employees efforts and hand work help Merrill Lynch firm to attain
profitability and productivity.
Flexible working options – The company Merrill Lynch enable flexible time and
flexible work place option for their employees. This enables the employees to work in stress free
environment which enhances their own productivity and that of company as well. Also, the
employees able to manage their work life with personal life. This enables efficient working in the
company and flexibility enables Merrill Lynch firm to enhance productivity and profitability
within organization.
Employee performance management and monitoring – The Merrill Lynch firm for
controlling and regulating employees working by performance management and also provide
them guidance for accomplishing the task in work place. The human resource department
identifies key strengths and weaknesses which need to be improved by employees. This analysis
determines the capability of employees which is helpful for company to allot their task matching
with their capabilities. This enables efficient goal achievement along with productivity and
profitability for the company Merrill Lynch.
Payment and reward management – The system of monetary rewards and non
monetary rewards in company Merrill Lynch create job satisfaction and motivation to contribute
hard work among employees. The department of human resource offers rewards to employees
engagement by contribution of valuable ideas which assist company in decision-making.
Employees working in Merrill Lynch firm also attain incentive benefits every quarter which
provide aid in satisfaction of individual goals which lead to accomplishment of organizational
goal. The reward management affects on productivity as well as increase in profitability of
Merrill Lynch.
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TASK 3
Employee relations
Employees relations means to efforts to handle relationship among workers and employers. The
company with effective good employees relations programs gives fair and conformable treatment
to all workers, so that they will be serious to their jobs and loyal to the firm (Schumacher and
et.al., 2016). Having good employee relations is important to every firm, as when workers and
administrator share positive relations, employees engagement, productiveness, motivation and
high morale. Workers who get along with their manager and enjoy instead of feel nervous about
going to work in the morning that have better overall work experience. Happy employees work
harder, make netter work, ultimately keep consumer happy and thriving business. Strong
employees relation is very necessary and important for making the decisions of human resource
manager of Merrill Lynch firm.
Conflict resolution: The degree of conflict within firm is decreased when work environment is
efficient and friendly. This can be happened through strong relationship among employees while
they are working in team, because every people have different ideas and opinions (Ali and et.al.,
2015). Therefore, human resource management make decisions in terms of dividing people in
group. Less conflict outcome in the workers being capable to focus on the activities at hand, and
they are more productive.
Productivity: Powerful employees relations make pleasurable environment within workplace. It
raises the employees motivation and raised employee morale. Thus, it is important to build
employees relations at the workplace. Also, human resource department of the Merrill Lynch
firm organize different employee relation programs that have experienced enhances in
productiveness. Thus, high productiveness of firm can lead to raise profitability for the firm.
Employee Loyalty: The drastic effect on employee loyalty by creating productive and pleasant
work environment. Strong employees relations promote loyal workforce within Merrill Lynch
firm. It is important to improve workforce retention, so that employee relation is beneficial for
cut cost of recruitment, hiring and training forceful (Ghani, Hashim and Rahman, 2018). For
most of the companies, the high cost of employees turnover outweigh the cost of employee
relation program which they have in place . It assures that employers has trained and skilled set
of workers when lower employee turnover.
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Therefore, human resource management of Merrill Lynch firm needs to focus on build
strong relationship with employees which can be key to ultimate success of company that
outcomes are beneficial. If the powerful relations is in place workers can be more productive,
more cost-efficient, make fewer conflicts and can be more loyal (Jayasinghe, 2016). Strong
relationship is also important by which employees are also motivated and involved in each and
every decision-making procedure within the Merrill Lynch firm. Also, highly motivated
employees help to improve the performance of individual and team within the firm.
Employment legislations
This helps in regulating the relationship of the employers and employees of the
organization by effectively complying with various legislations (Opoku, M.P and et.al., 2017).
Employment legislation states that the employers and employees of the organization has an
effective hiring and dismissal process. It helps in treating all the employees of the organization
with fair treatment and care (Belloc, 2016). There are various types of legislations within which
organization must comply which mainly includes:
Anti- discrimination Act: This law states that all the employees of the organization are
treated with equal respect. This is done on the basis of race, age, disability, sex, gender, status,
etc. every individual of the company should be treated with utmost respect. Individual of the
company should not be discriminated or treated unfairly (8 Federal Laws that Protect
Employees, 2019). This law helps employees of the employees to get harassed and victimized.
Compliance with this law helps in smooth functioning of the organisation (Fredman, 2017).
Employees working at the same designation must be given equal play and must not be
discriminated on the basis of gender.
Health and safety legislations, 1974: This law states that the employees of the
organization must be provided with proper ventilation, air conditioning, washing facilities,
refreshments, safe passageways, lighting, office space, hygiene, clean and safe working
environment, etc. it helps in maintaining positive working environment which in turn results in
higher operational standards and efficiency (Reese, 2015). It is also very useful in protecting the
employees from any hazardous activities and makes sure that company takes various effective
measures which helps in protecting employers and employees and maintaining positive work
force environment which results in higher operational standards and efficiency (Reese, 2015).
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