Human Resource Management Functions and Strategies: A Report

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Human Resource Management
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Table of Contents
Assignment 1: Human Resource Management Functions and Strategies.......................................3
Assignment 2: The Job Application Process.................................................................................13
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................19
Appendix........................................................................................................................................21
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Assignment 1: Human Resource Management Functions and Strategies
Executive Summary
It has been introduced in the report that there are different functions of HRM, The scope of HRM
has been explained as well as its purpose has been defined as well. The major functions have
been evaluated along with the different selection and recruitment methods. The value of HRM
practices for the company and the workers has been assessed. There has been evaluation of the
influence of legislation and employee relations in the process of HRM decision-making. The
HRM practices have been applied in the SFIL’s work related context along with the provision of
rationale based on the application.
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Introduction
Human resource management is the process of managing the workforce of an organisation in a
proper manner (Cascio, 2015). This includes hiring the human resources, providing orientation to
them, manage their remuneration, creating rules and systems of the organisation as well as
managing the performance of the labour force. Sheffield Forgemasters International is a private
limited company that falls in the engineering industry. The firm is headquartered in England. It
has been established in the year 1805. At present, James Tate is the CFO, and Graham
Honeyman is the CEO (sheffieldforgemasters.com, 2019). The products manufactured in the
corporation include steel bar, offshore structures, and other steel products.
The report provided in this study will have discussion on the various HRM practices that would
benefit both the organisation and workers. The concept of HRM has been introduced along with
its trend during evolution. The major functions of HR will be described as well as the methods of
selection and recruitment will be evaluated. The significance of employee relations and
legislation of the country in decision-making of HR would be assessed. The HR practices will be
demonstrated in a work-related situation of the chosen firm.
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The main body of the report
Definition of the concept of human resources management and the evolutionary trend
According to the definition made by Edwin Flippo in the year 1984, human resource
management includes planning, organising, administering, monitoring, development, deciding
compensation, and management of workers so that the both the organisational as well as social
objectives are attained. As per the view of Dale Yoder (2007), human resource management is
providing direction as well as leadership to the workforce to enhance the relationship with them.
Jackson and Mathis have defined the HRM in 2010 as the efficient utilisation of workers and
business by managing the activities of the members.
There has been an evolution in the concept of human resource management. It has been evolved
from personnel management, which has included managing the workers. According to Elton
Mayo, human relations are essential to enhance the productivity of the employees. Therefore, he
has been called the father of human resource management. Robert Owen, who has reformed the
working condition of the workers in his cotton mills as well as has provided flexible working
hours to them to improve productivity, has followed the evolution in the trend of HRM. He is
referred to as the father of personnel management. In the 1900s, the personnel management that
has been evolved by “National Cash Register CO.” whose leader has provided personnel
department to the workers has evolved human resource management to provide them safety,
training, and solving their matters.
In this way, human resource management has been developed over the years from the leadership
and management skills of the renowned person. In modern days, the role of HR is not restricted
to the recruitment and selection of personnel. It has been developed into the functions of
providing training as well as connecting the employees and the management of the firm.
The purpose and the scope of HRM and how they apply to workforce resourcing and
planning
The purpose of human resource management is to recruit candidates for the company for
fulfilling the vacant opposition of the firm (Wilton, 2016). The aim of HRM is to fill the required
opposition with efficient candidates to improve the functions of the company by the talent and
knowledge of the personnel.
The scope refers to the activities of the HRM that is efficient for a business to make progress
through the services of the employees. The activities include planning, selection of candidates,
orientation, development and training of the employees, appraising the performance of the
workers, deciding their compensation, motivating them as well as managing the relationship
among the members (O’Donovan, 2019). This also includes providing a safe and healthy
environment for the workers to enhance the culture of the firm as well as to develop a good
environment. The scope is large of this management system as it also incorporates making
policies and regulations of the firm. In this way, the roles of HRM is vast as well as its
importance in any industry is vital.
The HRM of Sheffield Forgemasters International Limited or SFIL has the duty of resourcing
the workforce and planning. The planning of the workforce includes identifying the required
position in the company that needs to be filled by some skilled candidates. Resourcing refers to
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the sourcing candidates from external recruitment or internal recruitment method to fill the
vacancy. It includes making job advertisements, either through print media or through the
internet. Resourcing also incorporates a selection of candidates based on their talent and
qualification. The efficient member who would be able to conduct the specific job of a particular
department in the SFIL should meet the vacant position.
Sheffield Forgemasters International Limited recruits trainees to use the new skills of the
employees to utilise their knowledge in various functions of the company. It mentors the trainees
to acquaint them with the functions of the tasks (sheffieldforgemasters.com, 2019). The HRM
has the role of making guidelines for the company that can be used by the mentors in providing
training to the personnel. The purpose, as well as the scope of HRM, is applied to the SFIL’s
planning as well as resourcing of workforce. The purpose of HRM is to meet the company’s
need by satiating the need for a human resource to meet the business’ objective. The scope is
widened as it has the functions of planning of workforce and delegating them with tasks as per
their capabilities. Therefore, it is applied to the function of SFIL in planning as well as
organising the workforce.
An assessment of the functions of HRM relative to the provision of talents to meet business
objectives
In SFIL, the human resource department has the function of planning workforce and resourcing
them to meet the current as well as a future need of the organisation.
Workforce planning
Planning is the function of human resource management that helps in meeting the requirements
of the organisation’s workforce by evaluating the vacant position and the number of workers that
would be required (Baron, 2016). The human resource manager of the SFIL has to consider the
skills and experience that are necessary to perform the tasks of the vacant position. It has to
develop the skills of the staffs to meet the challenges of the external environment as well as to
have a competitive position in the market. The planning should be done according to the market
of local labour that is the employment population of skilled engineers. HR has the role of
planning the workforce of the organisation by considering the wider economy as the number of
skilled personnel in the specific region determines the growth and success of the company. This
function of HRM would be helpful in meeting the objective of the firm.
Training of the human resource
Providing training is one of the vital roles of HRM in SFIL. It assists the trainees in building
their skills as well as in enhancing the quality of the commodities made by them. The HR has the
function of developing the talent and knowledge of the apprentices so that they would be able to
meet the customers’ demands and be able to make the business successful even in the future
despite the changing environment (Stewart and Brown, 2019). It provides training programmes
for the workers so that they will be skilled enough to satisfy the present as well as future
requirements of the industry. SFIL’s HR provides training to the apprentices to include
innovation by enhancing their abilities. This would be beneficial in meeting the firm’s
objectives.
Resourcing of the labour force
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Hiring employees through various methods is called resourcing. This is the most important duty
of the HRM that includes meeting the requirements of the organisational functions by resourcing
the suitable candidate either from within the company or outside. HR has the role to hire
candidates who are talented enough to meet the firm’s objectives (Watson and Abzug, 2016).
Performance management
It is one such function of HRM that includes managing the performance of the workers by setting
objectives, motivating them, recording their performance, and coaching them throughout their
tasks to improve their performance (Guest, 2017). In SFIL, it would be significant in improving
the talent of the employees so that the objective of the organisation would be met.
Explanation and evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of different methods of
recruitment and selection process
There are generally two methods of recruitment, such as:
External recruitment- This involves recruiting the candidates from outside the company, usually
through the help of the internet or the assistance of consultancy.
Strengths
This method would enable the SFIL to recruit new talent from outsourcing. This would enable
the firm to use the creativity of the selected candidates in improving the quality of the
merchandises. SFIL uses external recruitment by advertising job requirements through its official
website (sheffieldforgemasters.com, 2019).
Weaknesses
However, external recruitment would not be cost-effective as training and orientation procedures
would require time as well as money.
Internal recruitment- This involves the recruitment of the candidates from inside the company
(Snell et al., 2015).
Strengths
Internal recruitment would be beneficial for the firm, as this would reduce cost on recruiting
personnel from outside the firm. The HR would not need to spend time in orientation or training
process.
Weaknesses
The internal recruitment method will create conflict among members if one gets promotion and
others not. This would be harmful to the culture of the organisation that would create a negative
impact on the behaviour and attitude of the workers.
There are some methods included in the selection process, such as:
Screening- In this method, the candidates’ resume is screened to get information about the
candidates.
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Strength- This is vital for the business as it would be able to have the knowledge of the skills
and qualification of the candidates required for the company for the specific role. The selection is
based on the talent and experience of the candidates. SFIL conducts this process to select from a
number of applicants the candidates for the next selection process that is interview
(sheffieldforgemasters.com, 2019).
Weakness- However, the screening method would not be sufficient to assess the personal
abilities of the candidates. The company in order to assess the personal capabilities of
Interview- In this method, the candidates selected by the screening process are interviewed to
assess their capabilities and to examine their potential suitable for carrying out the functions of
the company (Rees and Smith, 2015). SFIL selects the potential candidates to include them in the
apprenticeship programme.
Strength- This would be effective as the company would be able to judge the communication
skill of the candidates.
Weakness- However, the interview process would not be adequate to evaluate the practical
knowledge of the personnel. SFIL should conduct a practical examination to test the capabilities
of the candidates.
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Presentation-refer to appendix
Introduction
In the study given below there will be explanation on various practices of HRM that can benefit
both the employee and the employer. The importance of HRM practices in enhancing
productivity as well as profit of the SFIL would be discussed.
Explanation of different HRM practices used in the organisation and their benefits to both
organisation and employees, including specific examples
HRM practices Benefit to employer Benefit to employees
Workforce planning The practice of planning the
workforce would be beneficial for
the employer as there would not
be unfilled vacant position in the
company (Berman, 2015).
Delegation of the tasks as per the
qualification and talent of the
workers would be effective in
enhancing productivity.
For instance, in SFIL, workforce
planning helps in meeting the need
of the firm through skilled
personnel.
The workforce planning
practice of HR, as they would
be employed in the preferred
position based on their skills,
would benefit the employees.
This would provide them with
an opportunity to show their
potentialities to the company
and improve their careers.
The employees, when
provided with tasks that they
are capable of performing,
would motivate them. This
would be helpful in
simplifying their work. Thus,
there would not be problem in
performing the work and this
would affect their behaviour in
a positive way.
Training The provision of training to the
personnel would enhance their
capabilities as well as simplify the
work that would be beneficial in
increasing the quality of product
and quantity of output (Hassan,
2016).
The SFIL provides training to the
workers so that they would
become capable of meeting the
future demands of the consumers.
The employees, when
provided with training, there
would be an affirmative
influence on skills and
aptitudes. Thus, it is helpful in
simplifying the process of
performing the tasks, as they
would get sufficient practical
knowledge about the work
during the training process.
Performance
management
Management of the performance
of the human resource would be
helpful for the employer to have
knowledge about the abilities of
the employees (Armstrong and
Performance management will
monitor the activities of the
workers that would be
significant in improving their
working skills such as time
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Landers, 2016). Thus, this practice
will be beneficial in determining
the compensation of the workers.
management skill. Thus, the
employees will be capable of
performing the work in less
time, and this would reduce
fatigue.
Resourcing Resourcing the candidates through
various methods such as job
portals, online website, and such
would help in outsourcing
candidates to perform the vital
work of the firm (Taylor, 2016).
This would assist the employer, as
the productivity amount will
increase due to more number of
skilled workers in the firm.
Resourcing of the employees
would benefit the workers, as
they would get the opportunity
to improve their living
standards with the
remuneration and other
benefits provided by the
company.
For instance, in SFIL, the
workers are provides with a
paid apprenticeship for four
years in which their skills are
improved.
Table 1: HRM practices' benefit to employer and employees
(Source: Created by the learner)
Provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of specific HRM practices for contributions
towards profit and productivity in an organisation.
Performance management
Managing the performance of the workers through proper, leading them throughout their
activities in performing the tasks of the firm would enhance the quality of the output. Therefore,
it would be helpful for the business in enhancing the productivity quality and profit level.
Employee retention
Employee retention in the SFIL can be done by motivating them and having a healthy
relationship with the workers. Adequate support during need and appraising their performance
would help the company to reduce the employees’ turnover rate and performance of the tasks in
a proper way (Anitha, 2016). In this way, the business’ profit would increase and with the
motivated and encouraged workers; the productivity would enhance.
Recruiting
The recruitment of the candidates from various sources would help the firm to increase the
productivity of the output by the addition of more members in the company (Sáenz et al., 2017).
Through an increase in the productivity level, the organisation would be able to make a profit as
well.
Reward system
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The workers when are provided with a reward they become motivated in performing the tasks in
a more efficient way (Paauwe and Boon, 2018). This would be important in increasing the
productivity quality and thereby, boosting the profit rate of the corporation.
Training
SFIL provides training to the apprentices so that there would be an enhancement in their
aptitudes and capabilities of performing the various tasks of the company. This process would be
imperative in increasing the productivity level as well as the quality of the output when the
training is put into practice. The organisation would be able to augment its profit in this way.
Conclusion
The study that has been provided above has the discussion on significance of the practices of
HRM in improving productivity as well as boosting profit of the corporation. There has been
explanation of the significance of the HR practices for both the employees and the employer or
company.
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Conclusions
The report provided above has the explanation on concept of human resource management.
There has been provision of scope as well as functions of HRM to assess its role in the SFIL. The
purpose of the HRM has been evaluated to understand the major objectives of HRM in an
organisation. The evolution of the HRM has been discovered throughout the ages. There has
been description as well as analysis of various selection and recruitment processes. The
importance of HRM practices has been assessed in the context of increasing profit and
productivity of the chosen firm, SFIL. The significance of the practices of HRM for both the
company as well as employees has been assessed.
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