Human Resources Management Report: A Deep Dive into HR Practices

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices. It begins by explaining the purpose and importance of HR functions within an organization, addressing issues like high employee turnover and evaluating current selection methods, including their strengths and weaknesses. The report then proposes improvements to the selection process, such as enhanced communication and competitive salaries. Furthermore, it outlines a person specification for a receptionist role, discusses job advertising methods, and recommends optimal advertising channels. The report also analyzes the benefits of graduate training, flexible working arrangements, and job design for employee motivation. Employee engagement is defined and its importance is discussed, along with key approaches to engage workers and relevant UK employment legislation. The report covers the application of these concepts within the context of an organization named 'Say it with Chocolate' and Microsoft, providing practical insights and recommendations for effective HRM.

HUMAN RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1- (LO 1)...............................................................................................................................1
a.) Explanation on purpose of HR function and its importance in organisation....................1
b.) Explaining Strength and weakness of current selection method.......................................2
c.) Evaluation of two potential improvements which enhance selection process in entity....3
TASK 2 (LO 4)................................................................................................................................4
A.) Person specification for the job role of receptionist.........................................................4
b.) Discussion on advantages and disadvantages of the current methods to advertise the job in
organisation............................................................................................................................5
b.) Recommendations regarding where the job could be advert for the role of receptionist. 6
TASK 3 (LO 2)................................................................................................................................7
a.) Evaluation of benefits of graduate training and internships to both organisation and
employees...............................................................................................................................7
b.) Identification of flexible working arrangement and its benefits to both organisation and
employees...............................................................................................................................8
c.) Evaluation of Microsoft work to motivate its workers through designing of job role....10
TASK 4 (LO 3)..............................................................................................................................11
a.) Explanation of the term employee engagement and its importance................................11
b.) Critically evaluating key approaches for engaging workers which discussed in the Summit
and the importance of such approaches to improve communication at the workplace........13
c.) Identifying key elements of UK employment legislation which influence HR decision 14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is considered as strategic approach which is used by
effective administration of particular organisation in order to achieve business goals and
competitive advantage of entities. Thus, the management has to play vital role which is through
HR planning and performance (Wright, 2018). In this report, purpose and function of HR
function will be evaluate where current problems will also be explained with strength and
weakness of current selection method. Further, person specification will be created for the job
role of receptionist. Moreover, in this report term employment engagement and its importance
will be discussed in context of Microsoft organisation where key approaches for engaging
workers and key element of UK employment legislation will also be explained.
TASK 1- (LO 1)
a.) Explanation on purpose of HR function and its importance in organisation
Purpose of HR function is to coordinate with the employees of organisation in order to
achieve organisational objectives and to meet its future goals. Their main role is to satisfy needs
and wants of the employee so that employee satisfaction will get maintained. In 'Say it with
chocolate' organisation, current issue is regarding high employment turnover and the quality of
some items was not that effective as it was (Cascio, 2015). Thus, to solve such problems,
following are the function which HR manager will have to play in this organisation.
Aligning human resources and business goals:
HR officers are considered as asset for an organisation which work to oversee leadership
and culture. Main work of HR officer is to develop proper vision and mission of work among
employees and to communicate it properly to people so that they have full knowledge about
work which needs to develop for achieving business goals.
Re-engineering organisation process:
Another function of HR manager is to monitor the performance of organisational process.
If it is found by them that such process is not appropriate in terms of business objectives then it
is responsibility of HR officer to re-design such process.
Listening and responding to employees for maintaining job satisfaction:
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In order to solve employment turnover in organisation, purpose of HR is to listen and
solve employees needs and wants. By complying with labor laws and another laws HR officer
will able to solve issue in 'say it with chocolate' organisation.
Staffing and training:
Another function of HR manager is to provide timely training to staff which motivates
them to increase skill which required in improving their work. Training helps employees to
develop skill which required in completing new organisational culture. It is also true that
employee looking for opportunities which provides industrial growth. Thus, HR has to provide
professional development possibility for employees of the organisation (Bratton and Gold,
2017).
To integrate with laws and ethics:
HR manager is also responsible for maintaining proper ethical practises and comply with
laws and legislation so that proper work positive work environment gets developed. Non-
compliance of laws and regulations will result in the workplace which has unfair employment
practises and also unsafe working environment which create dissatisfaction among employees to
work in organisation.
b.) Explaining Strength and weakness of current selection method
Selection is a process whereby a firm choose specific kinds of tools in order to select
specific people from the applicants which they received in an appropriate legal environment.
Thus, strength and weakness of 'Stay it with chocolate' organisation is as follows-
Strength Weakness
 Right candidate have been selected by
proper assessment of employees on the
basis of their knowledge,
communication and analytical skill.
 Employees get selected through
integrity test where measurement is
developed on attitude of candidates.
 In order to determine their capabilities
for doing any work, ability test also
 Major weakness of selection method is
that there is no fairness in the test,
recruiter select candidates with bias
nature.
 There is lack of reliability in this
method where performance of the
candidate will not get measured.
 Recruiter's hire candidates without
communicating personally. Candidate
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have been conducted in selection
method.
will only hire through passing the test
because of which their capability in
making innovative chocolates did not
get identified (Brewster, Chung and
Sparrow, 2016).
c.) Evaluation of two potential improvements which enhance selection process in entity
In order to solve high employment turnover, Stay it with chocolate' organisation will able
to develop following two improvements in their selection process of the candidates. Such two
improvement are as follows-
Communicate a lot in interview process-
In order to get the right employee which has the potentiality in order to achieve
organisational objective then communicate to candidate a lot in their interview process. It is true
that communication is one of a key element in selection process of employee. There are different
kinds of people which are involved in the process of hiring and each one have to develop clear
communication with the candidate which helps them in analysing capability and ability of
candidate in order to complete specific work (Reilly and Williams, 2016).
Offer competitive salary for attracting business candidates-
Candidates gets more attracted if company provides a salary which satisfy their needs.
Thus, Stay it with chocolates company have to offer attractive salary which provided by its
competitors on similar positions. Qualified employee will not be interested in providing their
work to entity which will not offer competitive salary to them.
Adequate attention on interview process-
Recruiter of the entity must have to be adequate and to be willing in order to invite
several kinds of applicants in interview process. In such process figure out the potentiality of
candidate in order to fit into entity's culture. Use their answer as chance to measure their honesty,
genuineness and behaviour regarding work competition.
Thus, these are the ways by which Stay it with Chocolates organisation will able to hire
skilled employees by which the issue which currently running in entity will get solved (Worley
and Pillans, 2019). Through this way organisation will also able to improve their quality in
making chocolates.
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TASK 2 (LO 4)
A.) Person specification for the job role of receptionist
Job title Receptionist
Department/selection Administration
Report to Administration manager
Main purpose of the job  Person has to provide professional and pleasant
experience to clients who visits the site.
 Willingness to work with flexibility in context of
changing organisational requirements.
 Efficient to answer incoming telephone enquiries with
great communication skill.
 Ability to work effective under pressure
Key tasks  To manage couriers
 To meet and solve inquiry of the clients
 To keep the receptionist area neat
 To attend and answer organisational phone calls
 Maintaining availability of stocks as per the employee
requirements
 To distribute posts of the company
 To manage board meetings
 To conduct duty which assigned by higher authorities
 To answer customer service support
Responsible for equipments  He/she has to use IT facilities like telephone
switchboard.
 Must have to manage stock relates to stationary for
organisation employee
 Maintaining order of refreshments.
 Keep tracking employee presence and to allocate them
bags and attendance log.
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Required skills  Effective telephone skill
 verbal communication
 Microsoft office skills
 Professionalism
 Supply management
Budget which required in the job advertising of Receptionist is as follows-
Expenses Amount (£)
Advertisement in the newspaper 800
Advertisement on job portals 1200
Administrative expenses
Printing and mailing 750
Office supplies 280
Telephone expenses 300
Salary to staff 3500
Total expenses 6830
b.) Discussion on advantages and disadvantages of the current methods to advertise the job in
organisation
Chocolate presence employs method of posting jobs internally on the notice boards that
have its won merits and demerits.
Strengths: Posting and communicating job vacancy internally provides better career
growth and opportunities to the existing employees. Such recruitment strategy helps in the
boosting the morale of the current employees and makes them feel important in the organisation.
Another advantage of this method is elimination of advertisement cost. No cost is incurred for
posting a job internally that helps the company in reducing its total operating costs for the period,
thereby raising the profitability by a noticeable amount (Cascio, 2015).
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Weaknesses: It rules out the probability of putting more deserving candidate on the
vacant post as no external communication of vacancy is made on a public platform. It leads to
the stagnation of creativity level in the organisation by not introducing fresh blood in the
company.
Posting of job on vacancy notice board outside organisation's gate:
This method recruitment employed by the company has following benefits and
limitations that are discussed below:
Advantages: The above mention method is less costly than any of the other kind of
advertising the job like posting the job vacancy in newspaper and job portals involves large
expenses. Visitors and the existing employees can recommend the HR department the potential
candidates from their social circle who are competent enough to perform the job role. These
activities help the HR in reducing their efforts of identifying and attracting desired candidates for
the specific job role in the company (Noe and et.al., 2017).
Disadvantages: There is high of possibility that people ignores such notices on the board
outside the organisation's gate. This method the restricts the opportunities of having pool of
talented people from which the most desired candidate can be chosen by the HR of Chocolate
Presence.
b.) Recommendations regarding where the job could be advert for the role of receptionist
Being a Human Resource Officer in the company, it is recommended that organisation
needs to advertise the vacancy of receptionist post in the newspaper, its official site and on the
other job websites rather than posing outside the organisation's gate. These methods would
provide the company a range of competent candidates from whom the best could be picked for
the required job role. However, there is an argument when considering these methods that
posting jobs on newspaper and websites costs too much but these cost can be recovered quickly
when right person is put to right job in the form of increased productivity and efficiency in
operations in total.
The recruitment strategy of positing job vacancy internally is very viable and profitable
in terms of higher employee satisfaction by providing opportunities for growth and development.
It helps in motivating employees when they see themselves growing in the company. The cost of
such job advert is very economical which save time, money and pull off excessive load from the
HR department of Chocolate Presence. Another aspect which is advantageous to company is that
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existing employees makes referrals of people they that helps in eliminating the necessity of
recruiting people from the very first stage that is searching right candidate for the job (Worley
and Pillans, 2019).
There have ben various elements which have been required for the post of receptionist in the
organisation such a having better communication practices, analysis of consumer requirements,
arranging the operational practices etc. however, these are the approaches which would be
effective in managing the operational satisfactorily. Moreover, there can be several ideas which
would be effective in motivating the workforce. It includes activities such as creation realistic
goals, providing employee recognition, implicating training and development program for
motivating the workforce accordingly. Along with this, analysing the performance of employees,
recording their efforts as well as rewarding them on their performed operations. It is one of the
motivating factor which would be effective in motivating the entire staff to undertake the
operational activities seriously.
TASK 3 (LO 2)
a.) Evaluation of benefits of graduate training and internships to both organisation and
employees
Graduate training program is the best way for developing a workforce which are fully
talented and will able to achieve the core values of companies their aims and objectives. This is
the program which provide benefits to both organisation and to employees (Noe and et.al., 2017).
Thus, advantages of graduate training in terms of employees is as follows-
More productive:
This is world which has rapid changing working cultures therefore, programs like this
will help employees to develop skills where they will able to become more productive and
quickly in order to achieve business objectives.
Elimination of skill gap:
Nowadays, entities wants more train graduates. It is because they want worker which has
skill to meet business objectives and to complete specific work. Thus, this training helps in
eliminating skill gap which employers are demanding more while recruiting in companies.
Training and development opportunity:
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This provides graduates to meet with real world scenario in order to handle day to day
business situations (Albrecht and et.al., 2015). This is the type of opportunity for them in order to
enhance their career growth with a good start. Through these activities, graduates attracted in
large companies which provide advantage in their employability.
Benefit to organisations:
Skilled employees:
Major benefit of this program to organisations is that they will get employees which have
the full knowledge regarding working environment. Nowadays, employer only want skilled
employee which have the efficiency in completing business related tasks.
Improve and Boost productivity:
Businesses which are looking for boosting their productivity as soon as possible as well
as to develop goods and services which is more valuable than through this program they get the
workers which have full knowledge regarding employment capability. Thus, this will help entity
in getting workers which have the more alternative options for completing organisational
objectives.
Thus, the graduate program which initiated by Microsoft organisation will help both
employees and organisation in terms of achieving organisational objectives. Employee will able
to achieve a good start in their career and entities will get the workers which have the knowledge
of conducting organisational tasks (Taylor, Doherty and McGraw, 2015).
b.) Identification of flexible working arrangement and its benefits to both organisation and
employees.
Recently, Microsoft has offered programs and policies which contribute in developing
positive work environment in organisations. Motive behind this development is to achieve better
work with the options of flexible opportunities and learning. This is the way which provides
management alternative solutions in order to meet business goals. Such flexible work
environment includes work in part-time, job share, work remotely, flexible working schedule and
work compressed weeks (Rothwell, Hohne and King, 2018). This is the way of developing
motivation among employees so that they will provide their best efforts for completing specific
projects of the organisation. According to this arrangement, each employee will given a laptop so
that he or she can work remotely. Each office must have touchdown spaces which used by
employees when they are travelling for any type of long commutes. This is the facility which
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provided with the satellite location where employee will able to reserve their space when they
needed for work related to firm scheduling. Distribution of technology in terms of virtual
hardware is also provided so that employees will able to access their work with any type of
device which is at any time.
Benefits to employees:
 There is a flexibility in meeting family needs, personal obligations and in real life
responsibilities conveniently. According to this employee will able to go parent teacher
meet conference, will able to take yoga class etc.
 Employees are allowed to work from home if they live in areas from where it takes more
than an hour to reach workplace.
 Employees will able to increase the feeling of personal control which over the work
environment. This is the way by which companies will able to provide entrepreneurial
spirit whereby allowing employees to determine own schedule and work environment. This will also help in reducing burden of employee during workload situations
(Brookfield, 2018).
Benefits to organisations:
 It will help employer in increasing employee morale, their engagement and the
commitment of work towards entities.
 This flexibility also helps in increasing ability to get the employees which have
outstanding skills in order to achieve organisational objectives.
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