Human Resource Management Report: Next PLC Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within Next PLC. It begins with an introduction to HRM, defining its core functions and importance within an organization. The main body of the report is structured around four key tasks. Task 1 explores the various functions of HRM within Next PLC, including recruitment and selection, employee training and motivation, handling issues and grievances, providing compensation, measuring overall performance, and making strategic goals. Task 2 delves into the recruitment and selection strategies employed by Next PLC, differentiating between internal and external recruitment methods and evaluating their respective strengths and weaknesses. Task 3 focuses on talent management approaches, examining how Next PLC develops job descriptions and provides development opportunities for its employees. Finally, Task 4 analyzes the HR systems and processes used to manage employee performance. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and offering insights into the effectiveness of Next PLC's HRM strategies.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES:.............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management (HRM) is basically defined as an management activity related to
managing people within an organisation. Increase in efficiency leads to increase in production
which is done with proper human resource management in an company (Boon and et. al., 2019).
Without HRM company is not able to operate its daily functioning. HR department is responsible
for handling all issues related to people who is linked to company for effective workings of daily
operations of an organisation without any grievances. Next PLC is an UK based company which
was founded in 1864 by Joseph Hepworth. Its headquarter is in Leicester, UK. Current CEO of
the company is Simon Wolfson. The company deals in clothing, home products and footwear.
This report consist of role of HRM functions within Next PLC, effectiveness of recruitment and
selection strategies of representative company, approaches of talent management and examining
HR system and processes in management of company's performance.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
Functions of human resource is not concerned only by managing manpower of company
but it also consist of managing raw material, appropriate distribution of resources and etc. for
effective working in organisation (Boon and et. al., 2018). Human resource plays many role in
Next PLC, some of them are explained below-
Recruitment and Selection of employees- Recruitment and Selection are two different
words with different meanings. Recruitment means attracting more candidates to apply for a
particular post in an company whereas selection is selecting an best candidate among many
alternatives for offered position. In context of Next PLC, they conduct a online exam for their
offered designation. Candidates who passed the exam can enter the office for further interviews
along with all necessary documents. Then they select required candidates who fulfil all skills
needed for offered post. The company record and kept necessary information along with
themselves whose skills are different from offered job so in future if they required similar skilled
person, then they will directly call those candidates and ask for appointing date for interviews.
Appropriate recruitment and selection process of company leads to attain real talented people for
betterment of company. Hence, a fair way of selection process for representative company helps
to grow faster by selected best skilled employees.
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Training and Motivating employees- Training consist of activity which is related to
teaching an individual or a group of individuals for a particular skill or behaviour required in
company(Carnevale and Hatak, 2020). Next PLC provide on job training which means
employees are getting training while doing their jobs. Sometimes for basic job positions,
company did not offer training session because they already select required skilled employees.
Line managers are appointed by HR manager for training of their employees. Motivation is an
activity which help in positive change within an person. In context of Next PLC they motivate
their employees by appreciating them for their good work and provide extra wages so the
employees get more motivated to work more effectively.
Handling issues and grievances in organisation- Every organisation has issues like rude
behaviour of other employees and managers, strikes, arguments and etc. It is the role of an HR
manager to resolve all the issues of company which creates obstacles to achieve organisational
goal on time (Chams and García-Blandón, 2019). So, in context of Next PLC, their HR manager
ask the feedback of their employees in which they mentioned what are their big issues related to
company and what they want from their company. HR manger read all feedback carefully and
take actions on those issues. To save the company from labour strike, they provide safe and
healthy working environment and timely bonus payments because most of the strikes are related
to these two factors only.
Providing appropriate Compensation- Compensation means providing monetary help in
case of injury of workers with in an organisation and in form of reward for workers good
performance. In context of Next PLC, HR manager is responsible for salary distribution of
employees and providing extra wages for extra working hours. They also offer health insurance
for their employees.
Measuring overall performance- Measuring overall performance of an organisation to
see whether the company is going in a right direction or not to achieve their business goal on
time is the another major role of HR management (Choi, 2019). Next plc HR managers appoint
line managers which will report to them about the performance of their departments individually.
After this HR manager of representative company measure overall performance and analysis
which department is lacking behind and why. Taking suitable measures to overcome these
situations is also HR manager responsibility in Next plc.
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Making strategic goals- strategic goals include how workforce do their work, who will
report to whom, time period of completing a task and many others (Cooke, 2018) . In context of
Next plc, HR managers communicate to line managers and discuss their strategies with them and
also ask for changes in strategies which is made. HR management of Next plc also allow some
suggestions from workforce side in strategies making process because it is considered that
workforce should be feel comfortable in adopting any strategy and this is done only by taking
suggestions from workforce and include their good suggestions in strategy making process.
TASK 2
Recruitment is attracting more candidates toward company to accept more applications as
much as possible. Every company adopt different strategies for their recruitments process.
Recruitment is first procedure in search of talent for organisation in which company invites
talented people and then approach to best candidate (Gill, 2018). There are two types of
recruitment in Next plc which is internal and external recruitments.
Internal recruitment- Internal recruitment consist of recruiting people from within
company like giving vacant position to another already existing employee. Many of the
companies go for internal recruitment for higher positions because it is less risky. Some of the
internal recruitment factor of Next plc company. Some of these internal methods are explained
below-
Employee Referrals- Here, company ask their working employees that whether they
know from their contact to fulfil vacant job position. Friends, family members and any known
individual of working employees are recommended by that employee and ask to attend
interviews. Existing employees are ask to recommend only those names who have particular
skills which is needed (Kim and et. al., 2019).
Promotions- If an working employee posted on higher position to fulfil that high post
because of that employee's good and effective performance, then this is called promotion
strategy.
STRENGTH WEAKNESS
 Candidates are already aware about
policies and working environment in
employee referrals of Next plc as who
 Next plc lack behind in adopting new
ideas and skills from outside as
employees are from companies
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is recommending their name already
tell them all this things.
 Employees of Next plc motivated by
promotions to work harder and
effectively for better positions in an
company which leads to achieve
organisational goal in rapid speed.
 This process helps to save time and
money in searching new applicants and
spending training cost is reduced
because vacant job is fulfilled by
known employee from organisation
itself and he is already trained.
(Järlström, Saru and Vanhala, 2018).
 Conflicts may arise, employees of
company may think that why only that
particular person is selected for
promotions and not them.
 Cultural clash definitely arise in case of
appointed employee is of same religion
or a good friend of manager.
External recruitment- Attracting more candidates to fulfil vacant job by applying participants
from outside the organisation is called external recruitment. Most of the companies go for
external recruitment for lower positions or for workforce.Few examples of external recruitment
are determined below-
Social Media- Posting adds on social media like Facebook, Instagram and other social
media sites about new requirement of company for new employees (Macke and Genari, 2019).
Today most of the people are using social platforms so more candidate is aware to apply for job.
Employment Agencies- Companies contacted to employment agencies for providing
skilled candidates. Employment agencies have list of many different areas skilled candidates.
Therefore, to save time in searching candidates, companies take the help of these agencies. These
agencies collect the required skilled needed by company and then they find candidates from their
list to match those requirements and those who matched have call from this agencies and they
provide information to that candidate that company is hiring new employees.
Strength Weakness
 New and fresh ideas are taken into
company by recruiting external people.
 Lot of time and cost is spend in
recruiting external candidates as it is an
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New people will bring new ideas which
leads to innovative growth (Meyers and
et. al., 2020).
 Less conflict occurs within Next plc
because new employees is recruited and
there is no feeling of jealousy within
company.
 From external recruitment Next plc also
offer their competitors talented workers
with little high salary to take an
advantage of capturing competitive
talents.
long process because company have to
find whether the candidates are skilled
or not.
 Candidates are not aware about
policies, strategies and rules and
regulations of company.
 Employment agencies are not very trust
worthy. Sometimes they send
unmatched skilled participants and they
also charge a fixed amount for their
services (Nalla and Varalaxmi, 2018).
Selection takes place after recruitment. Selection is a process in which required and skilled
matched candidates are selected from various candidates. The selected candidates are best among
all participants. Some selection types are explained below-
Online Test- Online tests are conducted to shortlist main skilled candidates and select
chosen participants who performed good in this exam. Online tests are basically conducted for
direct selection of skilled candidates. Participants who scored high are selected for a particular
job (Järlström, Saru and Vanhala, 2018).
Interviews- direct contact of employees and manager in which manager ask questions to
interviewer (the person who come for interview) to know communication skills and personality
of individual (Papa and et. al., 2018). Most of the companies adopt interview method for
selecting employees and Next plc is one of them.
Strength Weakness
 Online test are conducted to select
skilled people hence it saves time
because who pass this test has already
those skills which is required by Next
plc.
 Sometimes candidates may become
nervous in interview by facing their
manager. In this case they are not able
to express their skills properly.
 In online test manager is not able to
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 Interview of candidates help in
knowing the personality and verbal
quality of selected people.
check the communication skills and
personality of an candidate (Reina and
Scarozza, 2021).
TASK 3
Talent management is an process in which companies tried their best to recruit and attain
their best employees who constantly develop their skills so that the company have best
workforce and best quality of workforce leads to best output. Basic aim of talent management is
to retain their workforce for longer time period. There are some approaches of talent
management some of them are explained below-
Developing job Description- Job description (JD) is an written document in which all
information related to job is mentioned like duties of that job, required qualification, working
conditions and many other (Boon and et. al., 2019). In context of Next plc, they are providing JD
which mentioned each and every information related to job so best candidates should recruit
without any confusion. Their JD mentioned required skill properly and also the working
experience. They strictly mentioned in job description that if any part of their above requirement
is not fulfilled then they will reject the candidate. Hence, this shows that Next plc recruit specific
skilled people without any irresponsibility in hiring workforce for their company.
Provide development Opportunities- providing proper training on new techniques of
work or on new technology to existing employees considered under development opportunities
where the existing workforce have best opportunity to develop their skills and this helps to attain
more skilled employees for long period of time (Ren, Tang and Jackson, 2018). In context of
Next plc, they allow time to time training to their workforce that how they have to handle
different behavioural customers as this is retailing company so many different attitude people are
their customers. So, a proper training is given to their workforce which is helpful to increase the
skills and talents of employees and to attain them within the company for longer time. Hence,
this approach is also opted by Next plc.
Performance Assessment- In this approach performance of each employee is measured
and recorded in a record sheet by management team. After recording performance, manager
show this sheet to their employees so that they will get to know in which segment of work they
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are performing well and in which segment they are lacking behind this is helpful for employees
to focus more on productive activities which gives benefit to company rather than spending their
time and skill on unproductive activities (Robinson 2018). In context of Next plc, they lack
behind in adopting this approach and because of this only their skilled employees are not able to
utilize their efforts on right thing, right place and on right time. The company directly fired those
employees who did not perform good after giving warning but they did not help employees to
know that how they can improve. This results in high employee turnover which not good for
company because main aim of talent management is to attain more talented people for longer
period of time. It is suggested that company must follow a performance record sheets to measure
performances of employees and on timely basis this sheet should be should to their employees
and manager should help them to point out the unproductive activities and recommend them how
they convert their unproductive activities to productive activities to increase their skills which
results in less employee's turnover in Next plc.
Selection Process- A fair process is must be followed for the selection of an particular
candidate. Sometimes company select their known people for the job whether they lack lack
behind in having appropriate skills and talents (Saeed and et. al., 2019). This should not be
happen within an organisation. An equal and fair opportunities should be given to each
participant to be chosen for company on the basis of their knowledge and skills. In context of
Next plc, their employees suggest their known ones at office for new job profile but then also
they have to go through selection process which was set by company like giving online test,
facing face to face interviews. Hence, Next plc apply this approach in their organisation with fair
and equal chances for selection of skilled people. This approach helps the company to attain
actual talented people which is very beneficial for company by reaching the main goal with
talent and skilled workforce.
Effective Compensation- Company must offer appropriate amount of compensation to
their employees which is not too high and also not too low as compared to their competitors
(Shen and Zhang, 2019). But it should be appropriate to satisfy their employees, company should
also provide some benefits like free parking, free tea and snacks, no salary cut in case of
emergency leaves and etc. Next plc provide some compensation benefits as well as they are
lacking behind in some criteria for compensation distribution. In Next plc, they allow 25 %
discount to their employees when they buy any Next plc product. Another good way which they
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are using is that, employees are using Next plc cards for shopping which allow them to buy any
product from same brand and pay later. These two strategies help company to attain more
employees. But the company is lacking behind in satisfying their employees on basis of salary
they are offering. Most of the employees are not satisfied with their salary, they complain that
they were offered less salary as compared to work and efforts which they are putting in
company. Secondly, the company is not paying for extra working hours and also there is no
money benefit when employees work on holidays like bank holidays and on some special
occasional days and etc. Therefore, employees have less opportunities to earn more by giving
more efforts to their company. Hence, Next plc is not working properly in adopting this approach
of talent management. It is recommended that to satisfy their employees and to gain more
talented people at workforce they must allow compensation on extra working hours.
TASK 4
A proper HR systems and policies is beneficial for organisation because all major
strategies and making appropriate decisions are basically depends on Human resource
management of company. All HR policies and systems should be effective in context of both
organisation as well as in context of workforce (Tang and et. al., 2018). The effectiveness of
some HR policies and strategies which impacts upon business operations of Next plc are
explained below-
Better Management Training- Training is not only related to train subordinates or
workforce of company but it also related to give time to time training to management also to tell
them how they can improve their performance in motivating their junior employees. A good and
well trained management leads to smooth working within an organisation which helps to achieve
organisational goal on time(Carnevale and Hatak, 2020). In context to Next plc, their new
managers get training from their old and experienced managers that how they handle each
situations in company. Hence, Next plc is focusing on good training of their managers which
helps in increasing profit earning ratio as compared to last year. Therefore, it is clear that better
management training impacts positively upon business operations and helps the company to
reach its main objective.
Focus on Culture- Company's culture means set of rules and regulations which should be
followed, values, attitudes and behaviour of employees which they must follow to make good
environment in organisation. Culture of company plays a very important role in organisational
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growth and success. Managing company's culture is the responsibility of HR manager. HR
manager makes some appropriate policies related to their internal culture of company to reduce
conflicts and motivate subordinates to work efficiently (Zaid, Jaaron and Bon, 2018). Next plc
follow disciplined work culture with full behavioural control of employees inside company is in
the hand of HR managers. Representative company's cultural policies mentioned that there
should be equal and fair work environment by giving equal chance to both males and females in
company. It says that treat all employees equally and fairly regardless on gender, skin colour,
religion and etc. This company has 44% of females engage in board of directors which means
senior authority of company allow female participation also and in context of overall
participation of female employees is 47%. Employees have different religion, different skin
colours and they are working together without any discrimination at work place which shows
that Next plc is using good cultural policies which help the company to work with more friendly
environment and this impacts positive upon organisation to increase their goodwill by providing
good cultural environment and increase in goodwill helps in attaining more employees which is
good to achieve goal of Next plc.
Compensation- It includes salary package of employees, health and care benefits
(insurance and other facilities), compensation in case of injury and emergency leaves and
maternity leaves and etc. Compensation systems are handled by HR managers (Chams and
García-Blandón, 2019). Therefore, compensation should be made properly because it plays a
major role to motivate employees. It is considered that good and appropriate compensation
which is offered to employees gives benefit to company as employees are satisfied and satisfied
employees always put their best efforts in the task assigned to them. In context of Next plc, they
are lacking behind to invest more on compensation benefits to their teammates. Most of the
employees are not satisfied with salary offered even they are not offering extra pays in case of
extra work of employees which impacts negative upon company as their reviews fall down and
their works are switching to their competitors who offer more compensation benefits. They only
give compensation in case of injury happened to worker at work place. To overcome this
problem and convert this negative impact to positive impact, company must start giving extra
payment for extra working hours and must provide benefits like maternity leaves. They are
required to invest more on giving satisfactory benefits to their employees.
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Technological role- updated technology plays an very significant role in companies
growth. New and advanced technology helps to produce more qualitative products which helps
to gain more customers. It is HR managers role to ask for senior authorities to replace old and
outdated technology in place of advanced one. For this HR manager analysis external
environment of specific technological factor (Reina and Scarozza, 2021). After adoption of new
technology in business it is again the responsibility of HR to train their existed workforce for use
of new machines and equipments. Updated technology is effective in production of good quality
of products which is essential to achieve business goal in rapid speed. In context of Next plc,
they analyse their technological need and then adopt updated technology. They are retailing
stores and now when time changes and more retailers are using online way to expand their
business, they also switch to digital marketing and make their own app available at google store
for shopping from same brand. They also adopt changes in production by changing their old
machinery with new robotics equipments. This technological change helps them to gain more
customer attention by providing good quality of products. Therefore, technological change is
compulsory for organisation to achieve its goal.
Motivation- It is an activity which consist of influencing people to work harder and
effectively to complete their task. Positive motivation provides an positive impact on workforce
which gives positive output of work. Motivated workforce is always considered as more
effective than normal workforce (Chams and García-Blandón, 2019). HR manager is responsible
for providing motivation to their team. In context of Next plc their HR manager motivate them
by appreciating their good work in front of whole staff which helps to motivate that individual as
well as others to do good work for appreciation. Motivational activities within an organisation
plays a very significant role to achieve organisational goal because a motivated workforce work
more efficiently and they are more dedicated toward their work and directly a dedicated person
complete the given task on time with best efforts applied by them. This is why motivational
activities consist of activities related to achieving business main goals.
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