Human Resource Management Report: John Lewis Partnership Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within the John Lewis Partnership. It begins with an introduction to HRM, defining its core functions and importance within an organization. The report then delves into specific tasks, including the ...Read More

Human Resource
Management

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1............................................................................................................................................1
P2............................................................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3............................................................................................................................................4
P4............................................................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P5............................................................................................................................................5
P6............................................................................................................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
P7............................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
HRM defines as the process of recruiting and developing of employees in such a way that
it becomes precious to an organisation. In includes development and training, planning of
organization needs, resolving of the conflicts and maintaining communication with the
employees of every department. In order to study this report John Lewis Partnership is taken. It
is a multinational retail organisation that deals in clothing, home products, banking and financial
services (Storey, 2014). The following report will cover various functions and purpose of HRM,
different approaches that could be use by company for recruitment and selection along with its
strengths and weakness. Benefit of various practices of HRM along with significance of
employee’s relation is also discussed. At last report will cover application of various practices of
HRM in an enterprise.
TASK 1
P1
HRM refers to the coordination of people to attain set goals and objectives of company.
It is very essential for the manager of John Lewis to understand about the need of workforce in
order to gain the competitive benefit (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Employees are the major
constituent of an organisation and the HRM plays a great role in enhancing skills and motivating
workers. Some of the major function of HRM in context of John Lewis is discussed below:
 Recruitment and selection: It is defined as the selection of the most potential candidate
who fit best for a specific job. It is very important for the manager of John Lewis to select
the best individual as by this optimum resources can be used in an organisation.
Recruiting the best employee help the company to reduce the cost of mistake and would
also encourage the unmotivated employees to learn something new. The main purpose of
HR function is to enable smooth running of working of the company and also to get new
talents in the enterprise. If this HRM function will not performed in a proper manner,
organisation will not be able to hire talented employees due to which their productivity
can reduce. An organisation's prime objective is related to acquiring effective talent in
relation to drive the firm towards profitability. With this function, the firm could achieve
the same as effectiveness in this aspect, would lead to acquisition of appropriate and
competent employees.
1

 Training and development: It is the important function of HRM as it helps in improving
the performance of employees. Training and development programme support manager
of John Lewis to enhance the skills of their employees which is helpful in increasing in
the output of the organisation. So it is the responsibility of manager of John Lewis to give
training on regular basis so to motivate their employees. Purpose of this function is to
improve the working of company by providing development programmes (Brewster,
Chung and Sparrow, 2016). In case if employees in John Lewis will not be given training,
they will feel uncomfortable while working in company due to which organisational work
will not be performed in a desired manner. Moreover, appropriate training would allow
the firm in enhancing the productivity, which would help them in engaging their
employees more, which is yet another crucial objective of the firm.
 Managing the employee’s relations: It is one of the major function of HRM as without
the employee’s organisation cannot exist. So it is very essential for the manager of John
Lewis to create and maintain good relations with employees so that they are able to know
each other both at the personal as well as professional level. By doing so organisation is
able to reduce the conflicts and disputes that usually arise in the working. Purpose of this
is to involve every worker in the decision making process so that the individual morale
get improved. Inappropriate relations in the employees of concerned company will results
in conflicts and issues. This will impact the revenues and working productivity of
company in a negative manner. Thus, healthier relations would help the firm in
enhancing the scope of better working environment, which contributes in its goodwill,
that is a prime goal of the firm.
 Orientation: It is one of the process which helps an employee to adjust at the workplace
with their new task and other team mates. Manger of John Lewis is responsible to provide
orientation program to their new staff which clear about the goals and objective of the
company. Here the purpose of HR function is to enable the workers to know about their
job role and the duties which are required to be followed by them during their working.
Without orientation, it will be difficult for employees to understand about the working of
company and this will reduce their motivation level of delivering their best performance.
Moreover, this allows the firm in motivating their employees, which would contribute in
2

enhancing their performance and comfort level from the beginning, thus, enhancing the
performance of the company.
Roles and responsibilities of HR function:
 Offer development and training programs to workers so as to get the task completed both
effectively and efficiently. This will benefits the newly joined and already existing
workers in performing every task with full efficiency so that different activities of
company can be performed smoothly.
 Another role of HR function in John Lewis is to choose the best candidate among all
other in the recruitment process. This will help the company in selecting that capable
candiate which will be able to perform well even in challenging situations.

 Beside this, HR department of company is needed to keep a detail about each employees
working in the company. This will help them in acknowledging their achievements and
true working potential which can be further enhanced for the betterment of company.
 This responsibility of HR function is responsible for resolving any issues and conflicts
that arise at the work place. If these problems will not be resolved in a timely manner,
employees will feel demotivated and productivity and profitability of company will
suffer.
P2
Both recruitment and selection is one of the important function of HRM as it the process
through which right person is appointed for the right task. In order to recruit the employees John
Lewis is using both internal as well as external recruitment (Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley,
2016). Different approach of recruitment is mentioned below: Internal recruitment: It is the process in which recruitment takes place within the
organisation itself. In other words, it can be said that the employees which are already
working for John Lewis apply for the different job position. This method is used to save
time and cost of the organisation and also help in increasing the employees’ motivation.
The common internal sources are promotions, transfer and re-employment of ex-workers.
Following are the strengths and weakness of internal sources.
Strength: With the help of internal recruitment, desired candidate for vacant job will be
selected from within organisation. Due to which extra expenses of company will reduce. It is
3

easier for selected employee to understand organisation work as recruitment take place within
the organisation itself.
Weaknesses: Interview process might create conflict and dispute among the employees
as there is only one person out of all employees will get promoted. Company will be devoid of
skilled and talented employees which may be recruited of external recruitment has taken place.
However, the firm could conduct internal recruitment through several ways described
below:
▪ Job Board: This method could be undertaken by the organisation in context of
posting the vacancy in relation to the vacancy within the company. Its strength is
that, it is fairly cheaper for the company as the firm would not be required to
spend much on advertisement. However, its weakness is that it might restrict the
firm to acquire new talent from the outside, which would refrain creativity within
the company.
▪ Promotion: Another way through which the organisation could ensure internal
recruitment is through promoting a junior employee on a senior and vacant
position. The strength of this method is that it allows the firm to save its time in
recruitment and selection. However, its weakness is that it might demotivate
others in context of not getting the same benefit.
 External recruitment: It refers to the process of recruiting the people outside the
organisation. Here new people are enrolled in an organisation that brings new ideas to the
company. It is the process by which company is able to attract more number of people
toward the organisation (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2018). The common internal sources
which are used by the manager of John Lewis are advertisement in the newspaper and
online recruitment method. Strength and weakness of external recruitment sources are as
follows:
Strength: By using the online recruitment, large number of options are available for the
company to choose. Due to this kind of recruitment, feedback of an individual candidate about
the can also be collected.
Weaknesses: This method is not suitable for the candidate who are not having the excess
to internet and has a lack of knowledge about the computers. Recruiting candidate form outside
4

can increase the cost for company. As selecting a new person will require interview process of
more than three steps which will require capital investment. There are certain ways through
which the company could do external interview:
▪ Advertising: Newspapers or social media could be used by the company to ensure
acquisition in relation to resourcing an organisation with effective human
resources. Strength of this method is that it allows the firm to enhance the scope
of recruitment as social media and newspaper ads have wide reach, However, its
weakness is that this process is quite costly.
▪ Employment Agencies: These agencies are responsible towards sending in best
candidates for a prominent job role. Strength of this method is that it allows the
firm to judge competent candidates as guaranteed by the experts. However, its
weakness is associated with perception amongst candidate against competent
status of the firm to recruit their own employees effectively.
 Selection: It is the process of picking up the individual which suit best to fill up the
position. The method which is used by the manager of John Lewis is Interview. Manager
will come to know about the personal and professional information of the candidate with
the help of interview. Interview is the first step of selection which is followed by the
other test and final round of interview (Riley, 2014). The strength and weakness of
interview method is discussed below:
Strength: Selection of desired candidates will help the company in performing complex
work will utmost simplicity. Different people having high abilities and talent can get job in good
organisations due to which their career growth will be high. This method assures recruitment of
skilled candidates only.
Weaknesses: It is considered as a incomplete process as to select a most suitable
candidate written test is also very important. Candidates which will not be selected will get very
demotivated due to which they may face reluctance in approaching other vacancies in same
organisation.
Thus by using a proper recruitment and selection process, the most suitable candidate can
be selected by the management of John Lewis which will help in getting the effective and
efficient results (DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016).
5

TASK 2
P3
HRM provide various practices which proved to be very beneficial for both employer as
well as employees. Some of the practices are mentioned below:
Benefits to employer:
 Good work place environment: John Lewis is keeping its workplace healthy and
hygienic for their employees. Employers by providing a healthy work place will enable
the employees to give better results as employees are the pillar of an organisation.
 Training and development programmes: The HR manager of John Lewis is
responsible to provide training and development session to their workers which will
improve their capabilities, skills and knowledge (Foster, 2014). This also increases the
confidence of the managers as they are handling lot of employees at a single time and
providing training. Offering training to the employees will help them in improving their
skill due to which their working potential will increase. This will help the company in
earning high revenues along with productivity.
Benefit to employee:
 Rewards: Employers in order to motivate the employees reward are given both in the
monetary as well as non-monetary form. It is beneficial for the employees as it help in
boosting the motivation of the employees which helps them to deliver their best level.
This will have a positive impact on the organisation as this increases the overall
productivity of the organisation. This would help the firm in enhancing its profitability
due to better motivation of employees and appropriate criteria for success.
 Flexible working hours: John Lewis provide flexible working to their employees. The
benefit of flexible hours is that employees are able to deliver their task assigned at the
time which suits them the most. It has a benefit to employer too as it is beneficial in
keeping the employees loyal toward the organisation. It would further allow the
employees of the firm in enhancing the productivity levels of the staff, due to the comfort
the firm would be giving them in relation to their own working. Hence, it would
contribute in its profitability and sustainability.
6

P4
By using of various HRM practice in the working culture enable the organisation to gain the
profit and productivity of an organisation. If John Lewis provide healthy workplace to the
employees, it would reduce the absenteeism. Company also conduct some of the surveys where
they tell the employees about the benefit of healthy workplace. This enable every one of the
organisation to create healthy environment. As positive vibes always result in completion of task
efficiently (Harrison and Lock, 2017). Providing of rewards to the employees in the terms of
promotion, certificates, trophies and other monetary incentive will encourage the employees to
complete their work. Also rewards help in increasing the morale of individual as a results
employees develop a trait of self-motivation. Thus rewards will help in development of both
individual as well as organisation. As the employees are provided with flexible working hours so
sometimes they could also fulfil the need of the company by working some extra hours and this
will help in creating good relation with the company and help in improve the profitability of the
organisation. The managers of John Lewis provide regular training enhance the skills of the
workers. For the growth of company, effective training results in the creativity and innovative
ideas. Thus it can be said that with the help of best HRM practice enhances the morale of their
employees which result in growth and success of an enterprise.
 Rewards and incentives: It is an important HRM practice which can assists in
enhancing profits of John Lewis. In expectation of appreciation and rewards, each
employee of company will give their best performance due to which organisational work
will be accomplished in a proper manner. This will helps the company in achieving
maximised sales and high profits. If rewards will not be offered to employees, their
morale will go down and they will not be able to give their best performance due to
which revenues of company can suffer.
 Consulting the employees : It is another HRM practice in which employees are also
consulted by company before taking decisions. Due to this, workers of John Lewis will
feel more important and their engagement towards company will enhance. This will help
the company in increased productivity due to which their profit margins will increase
itself. If employees in concerned company will not be consulted then they will feel
detached that will acts as a hindrance in their efficient working.
7

TASK 3
P5
Employees relation is very important for an organisation as through this everyone at the
workplace are able to know each other. Moreover, building or strong relationship also reduces
the chance of dispute and conflict which results in timely completion of task. The effective
relations result in engagement of every employee at the time of decision making. Thus the HRM
department of John Lewis must look after every department in order to check the relationship
among the employees. Maintaining employee relations will benefits the firm in accomplishing
every task with greater efficiency. This is because due to good relations, workers in John Lewis
will prefer to work in a coordinated manner. Due to this, there will be less chances of
misunderstanding and overall productivity of company will enhance. If employee relation in
John Lewis will be strong, then employees will work individually. This will reduce their team
spirit due to which organisation can suffer hardships in achieving their goals.
Employment relations and engagement: a collaborative approach:
The following approach state that it is very crucial for an organisation to maintain the
relationship as thorough this organisation is able to achieve a successful position. John Lewis by
including workers in the decision making process promote the employee’s engagement which
results in generation of innovative and creative ideas (Kavanagh and Johnson, 2017). This will
assist John Lewis to maximise the profitability. Employment engagement help the company in
retaining their workers for a long time. This approach is also beneficial for boosting the morale
of employees and also encourages them to execute with their best ability. It is the work of HR
manager to undergone through the functioning of every department. As by the valuable relations
goals and objective could be easily achieved. Timely reward should be provided to the
employees so to increase their motivation (Morgeson, Brannick and Levine, 2019).
The benefit of relations among employees and manager will result in easy acceptance of a
business decision. There are some of the benefit of employee’s relation that influence the HRM
decision is discussed below:
8

 By developing of good relations with the subordinate, HR manager is able to know the
needs of the employees. This will enable the manager of John Lewis to take action which
is beneficial to the organisation and their employees.
 Keeping a good relationship also reduces the conflicts at the workplace. Thus it reduces
the interference of other department.
 If employee relation in John Lewis will be strong, this will help employees in properly
adapting the new decision of management. This is because due to their coordination,
employees will be able to perform different business activities in an efficient manner.
 Due to appropriate relation among employees, company can take decision of introducing
various types of development program where different kind of training can be given to
some employees so that their performance can improve in future. These employees can
further train other employees due to which organisational productivity will increase
considerably.
Therefore, management should focus on developing an effective results as through this
productivity and human satisfaction can be increased.
P6
Employment legislation defines as a law which regulate the employees who are working
within an organisation. This law will give details how the employees should be treated at the
workplace. John Lewis should work according to the employment legislation so to keep the
employees satisfied and motivated. Some of the act of Employment legislation and their effect
on decision making of John Lewis are mentioned below:
 Equal pay act, 1970: As per this act, both man and woman should get equal payment for
their work (Pedersen and Thibault, 2014). There should be no discrimination on the
ground of caste and gender. If discrimination is seen at the workplace, employees have
the right to sue a case against the manager of the company. It is therefore essential for the
manager of John Lewis to provide equal pay to everyone at the workplace. This will help
the company in taking decisions regrading the payment to the workers wherein the John
Lewis will provide equal pay and wages to the employees who are performing the similar
task irrespective of their gender.
 Sex Determination Act, 1975: This act protects both man and women from any kind of
sexual discrimination. Manager of John Lewis should not be partial toward their
9

employees and must pay equal wages to both men and women as per their qualification.
HR manager should also involve everyone in the decision making procedure without
taking side of a particular gender. Therefore, the company focuses on recruiting and
hiring a person as per their qualification, skills and knowledge base and not as per their
gender and enhances equal opportunity for both men and women.
 Health and safety Act, 1974: This act guarantee healthy working conditions of
employees at the organisation. The main motive of the act is to keep the surrounding
clean and avoid using some harmful substances which affect the health of the employees
(Purce, 2014). It is the work of HRM of John Lewis to look after the working
environment at the premises and must provide some of the safety measures by which
employees feel save. Therefore, the company will take decision regarding the strict
actions to be taken against those people who are involved in performing unethical
practices in the premises.
 National minimum Act, 1998: According to this act, it is the right of every employee to
get minimum wages which are set under the act. John Lewis must adhere to this act and
should provide minimum wages to the employees. Therefore, company will have impact
on decision regarding the payment where each and every employee needs to be paid not
below the minimum wage decided in the act and they are legally entitled to get that.
TASK 4
P7
There are different organisational practices which are essentially required to be followed
by the human resource department of the company. Such practices must be adopted in order to
maintain the proper organisation structure and operations. Recruitment and selection process
used by the management of the company so that they can hire and recruit qualified employees
who help or make their contribution in the growth of company by performing task and work of
the organisation in appropriate manner. With the use of effective recruitment an selection method
company can select knowledgable person who are use their efforts in development of the firm.
Job description: The job description is a statement of document which depicts the
relevant skills and other requirements which a candidate must have in order to attain the set goals
for the company. It contains the proper description of a particular jobs with set of roles and
10

responsibilities to be performed by the applicant. Below is the job description of HR manager
within John Lewis.
Job description
Job Role : Human resource manager in John Lewis
Job Description : The human resource manager of the company is a vital function
of management where it involves hiring, selecting, training,
compensating, etc. to the employees working for the betterment
and accomplishment of overall business goals and objectives.
Job Role : Human resource manager ill need to perform the role of recruiter,
trainer, motivates the team, organises guidance sessions,
maintains the attendance and other grievances faced by the
employees.
Job Responsibility : Develop and implement HR strategies and initiatives aligned with
the overall business strategy
Bridge management and employee relations by addressing
demands, grievances or other issues
Manage the recruitment and selection process
Nurture a positive working environment
Maintain pay plan and benefits program
Job specification: It is the written statement that states about the duties and
responsibilities which are need to be performed by the candidate for specific job profile. In a
work related context, following is the job specification for application as an HR manager in John
Lewis.
Job Specification
Basis Essential Desirable
Qualifications Masters and bachelor's degree
from recognised university.
If any additional diploma
course in related field.
Skills Managerial skills,
communication, presentation,
Working with different
computer applications and
11

etc. software.
The questions to be asked in the interview:
 Why should we hire you?
 Tell me something about yourself?
 What are your strength and weakness?
 Why you have left your previous job?
Curriculum Vitae: It is often known by the name of CV. It is complete overview of a candidate
life's work.
Curriculum Vitae
Name: John Thomas
Address: B12, Opposite to St. Johns Church
Phone Number: 857698572
Carrier objective: Looking for a company which provides growth and opportunity to my carrier.
Academic Qualification:
Graduate
MBA (HR)
Experience:
1year experience as HR executive in XYZ Limited
Personal skills:
Ability to handle the team effectively
Self-motivated toward the work-based
Declaration:
I hereby declare that the above information is accurate in accordance with my degree.
Thank you
12

Curriculum Vitae
Name: Rose Merry
Address: C21 Opposite to St. Johns Church
Phone Number: 744556624
Carrier objective: Looking for a company where I can use my academic knowledge and enhance
the professional skills.
Academic Qualification:
Graduate
MBA (HR)
Ph.D. in HR
Experience:
Two year of experience as HR executive in ABC limited
One year of experience as HR manager in CBC limited
Personal skills:
Training and orientations
Ability to handle the team
Declaration:
I hereby declare that the above information is accurate in accordance with my degree.
Thank you
13

Documentation of preparatory notes for the interview
Proper job specification is required. CV is also required for the job. If candidate is having
a previous experience somewhere the letter of company is required.
Selection criteria
For the job of Human resource manager Rose Merry is selected as she is more qualified
for the job and also having experience more than other employers (Renz, 2016).
Legal compliance
It refer to legal framework and structure which is follow by the company to hire and
recruit employees during the time of recruitment and selection process. The organisation follows
all the national authorities plans, policies, rules, regulations to hire employees.
Job Offer letter
Appointment Letter
Name: Rose Merry
On the behalf of John Lewis, we inform you that you are appointed as a Human resource
manager in our organisation.
Position: HR Manager
Salary: USD 65000/- (p.m.)
Incentive: Based on the performance
We will soon contact you regarding the paper work.
Looking forward to welcome you as a part of our team.
Regards
Nick Jones
Human resource Director
John Lewis
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report it can be summarised that for effective working of an
organisation HRM plays a great role. This report has discussed about the purpose and function of
HRM and also the role of HR in context to the company. So many approaches of recruitment and
selection are used by company in appointing the most suitable candidate for the workplace.
14

HRM practices is useful to both the employers and workers and is important for attaining the
success of both individual as well as organisation. Employees engagement plays an important
role as it helps in smooth functioning of an organisation. It is very crucial for the department of
HR to know about the employment legislation in an enterprise.
15

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
16