Human Resource Management Report: Thomas Cook HRM Analysis

This report analyzes human resource management (HRM) practices within Thomas Cook, a travel and tourism company. It explores the importance of HRM, including employee retention, training and development, and conflict resolution. The report outlines the formation of a human resource plan, addressing resourcing strategies, scenario planning, and labor turnover analysis. It also examines the current state of employee relations, highlighting the impact of employment laws on HRM, such as the Employment Relations Act and the Employment Rights Act. Furthermore, the report delves into job descriptions, person specifications, and compares different selection procedures in service businesses. The contribution of training and development in business operations is also discussed, offering a comprehensive overview of HRM strategies and their practical application within the context of Thomas Cook's business environment.

Human resource
management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Importance of HRM..............................................................................................................1
1.2 Formation of human resource plan.......................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Current state of employee relation .......................................................................................4
2.2 Affect of employment laws on human resource management .............................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Job description and person specification...............................................................................6
3.2 Comparison of different selection procedure in two service business..................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Contribution of training and development in business operations........................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The significance of managing human resource is continuously increasing because every
organisation want to hire appropriate candidates in the company (Lanzarone, Matta and Sahin,
2012). It is the role of HR department to hire ''best man for a job''. The concept of trade union is
now outdated and firm are focusing on development of HR division. They play crucial role in
managing demand and supply. Thomas Cook is a leading company in travel and tourism sector.
They are running their business in various part of this world. This report will discuss about the
role of HRM, a human resource plan will also become part of this file. This assignment will also
explain about employee relation. The impact of employment legislation will be included under
this project. Comparison of various selection process will get cover in the report. The file will
further discuss about importance of training and development programme.
TASK 1
1.1 Importance of HRM
Employees are key strength of a company. Thomas cook is also very serious serious
about developing of their workers and this can be considered as the main reason that they are
now allotting huge amount to their HR wing. This department is responsible for performing
various kind of functions like hiring, conflicts resolution, provide training to personnels etc.
Below is importance of human resource division:
Human capital value – The problem of employee retention in travel and tourism industry
is continuously increasing. Big organisation like Thomas Cook are also facing various kind of
trouble because of this issue. HR wing help in selecting right people in the enterprise, they do not
try to recruit someone who is best in then sector, their prime aims is to find most suitable person.
Human resource department of mentioned company provide them some extra edge over their
competitors. Most of their senior manager are working in the organisation from a long time and
they are providing stability to the firm.
Training and development – Finding the flaws in workers is crucial for formation of a
quality workforce. HR department identifying the training needs of employee so they can update
their current skills and get fast promotion. They can save huge sum of the enterprise because
hiring a new candidate is much costlier compare to developing new talent in the existing
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employee. Proving training to the workers who are working at lower level like Drivers etc. is
essential for providing better customer satisfaction to the clients.
Illustration 1: Human Resource Management.
(Sources: Human Resource Management. 2017)
Conflicts resolution – Around 22,000 people are working in Thomas Cook. Thinking of
two staff members never completely matches with each other (Love and Singh, 2011). Dispute
among them is normal thing. Managers of human resource department have essential training for
resolving conflicts, they solve the conflicts between two parties and develop a positive working
relationship with them.
Role and purpose of HRM
Recruitment – Recruiting right candidate for a post in the primary role of human resource
department. Beside this, they are also responsible for making plans relating to promotion in the
organisation. At the time of identifying the best person for senior post, top level management
seek their help.
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Manage employee relation – Thomas Cook want to maintain good connection with their
workers. Human resource division play significant role in maintaining good relationship with
employees. They work as a bridge between staff members and management of cited company.
Follow employment law – Thomas Cook is operating in many nations, acts relating to
employment in these countries are different. HR department is responsible for complying all the
rules relating to job. They communicate and check all regulation for discrimination, harassment
etc.
1.2 Formation of human resource plan
Human resource plan is essential for finding the correct number of employee that will be
needed in the organisation in present scenario and in upcoming time (Marks and Mirvis, 2011).
Proper monitoring can reduce the level of risk in and rectify the various mistakes at the point of
their generation. Below is the human resource plan for Thomas Cook:
Resourcing strategy – Main aim of this planning is to reduce the problem of employee
retention. If they successfully solve this trouble then it will reduce their staff cost and the overall
productivity of the employee will also increase. This will help cited company in earning some
competitive advantages on their competitors.
Scenario planning – This plan should have high flexibility because the business
environment is rapidly changing and if company will make rigid plan then they may face serious
difficulties in upcoming time. The strategy must be cover variety of situations like worst case
scenario and best scenario. The plan should also focus on garbing the opportunities which is
present in the industry.
Forecast demand and supply – Every years hundreds of people leave this organisation.
The remain may vary but ultimately it is not good for the company. Cited enterprise should
concentrate on finding the right number of people that is need in the company in present
scenario. If this figure is close to actual need then this will reduce millions of the pounds for the
firm which current they are spending on surplus employee or avoiding scarcity of the workers.
This plan should not ignore all the future expansion and contraction strategy, if a company is
expanding their operation in forthcoming time then they need of employee will be much higher
compared to present scenario.
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Analyse labour turnover – Finding the correct rate of labour turnover can reduce the
additional work of human resource department, if they analyse labour turnover in an effective
manner then they can minimise issues like panic hiring.
Analyse work environment – Human resource plan will also focus on developing a
healthy and positive working environment. This will help Thomas Cook in retaining their skilled
and talented worker. Ultimately, it will provide competitive advantage to the company.
The main issue of cited firm is that the employee working at lower level change their jobs
in short period of time. This plan will basically focus on proving them better job satisfaction so
they can become the part of the company for a long period of time (Phillips, Stone and Phillips,
2012). Employees working at high post are generally satisfied with their job and the retention
rate is very low at this level. This plan is very flexible and it concentrate on the key issue like
maintaining proper balance between demand and supply. This type of planning will provide
competitive advantage to the company by reducing cost of managing staff and retaining skilled
worker at ground level.
TASK 2
2.1 Current state of employee relation
Employee relation is related to involving the workers in the process of decision making.
Making a strong connection with employees pour confidence in the workers, it improves their
morals and they try to give their best in for the organisation. Normally, the labour turnover
various sector is every high but in travel and tourism industry most of the firm are not much
concerned about this problem. People working is industry do not want to leave it because of
different reason like, good working employment, high paying jobs etc. Thomas Cook organise
various kind of events for the workers in order to motivate them. This make a positive impact on
their productivity. Senior managers involve lower level workers for the process of decision
making, they ask for their significant advice and consider it at the time of making effective
strategies. The working hours in hotel and tourism industry is flexible, cited company want to
retain talented people in the organisation so they allow workers to change their shift in case they
have any other work. When staff members have complete knowledge about the rules relating to
working hour, overtime regulation and employee contract then the chances of conflict between
management and workers reduce.
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Thomas Cook also organise training events to the workers so they can develop new skills
in them. When personnel feel that company is serious about development of the employee then
they cooperate with enterprise in hard time. A healthy working environment is essential for
retaining workers in the enterprise. The scope of additional income in this sector is high, a waiter
working at a Hotel can work for extra hours in order to earn more salary. These kind of facilities
are motivating various youngsters to work in this sector. Employee relation management focuses
on areas like difference between contractual and statutory employment rights. Rules relating to
discrimination also become its significant part. Their are many regulation regarding work routine
in tour and travelling sector (Kinicki and Kreitner, 2012). This industry is related to various other
sectors like Aviation, Hotel, etc. Rules in these business are different so employer like Thomas
Cook has to face different kind of issue at the time of maintaining good relation with the
employees.
2.2 Affect of employment laws on human resource management
It is compulsory for every organisation to follow various norms relating to employment.
If an enterprise do not follow them then they may have to face serious legal consequences. HR
department is responsible for checking whether the company is following legislations relating to
employment. They should consider these norms at the time of hiring and promoting employees.
Below are some rules and their impact on management of human resource:
Employment relation act – This law contain various rules relating to significant topics
like unfair dismissal of employee. Human resource division play crucial role in hiring and firing
workers. HR manager of cited company should check whether the termination of a staff
members is done according to this law. If enterprise do not follow legal procedure then they may
to cope up with legal problems in upcoming time. Employees have right to take maternity and
parental leave (Kamoche, 2011). HR wing should manage the supply and demand of worker by
keeping this law in their mind. Travel and tourisms is sector where number of part workers is
very high. Normally organisations do not care about these employees and it can various kind of
hindrances for the companies who are operating in travel and tourism sector.
Employment right act – This act is basically the modified version of labour law. It also
include contract of employment, redundancy payment act and wages act. This law states that all
the term of employment decided by employer and employee should be written and given to
worker in two years from the date of starting job. The HR department should have complete
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knowledge about issues like time off, suspension etc. Unfair dismissal, redundancy payments,
employer insolvency etc. are some of the main part of this law and if HR manager do not follow
these regulations then cited company may have to pay significant amount of money as fine
imposed by court or government authority.
TASK 3
3.1 Job description and person specification
Name of organisation – Thomas Cook
Department name – Customer service division
Job title – Senior Customer service executive
Job summary – The prime aim of senior customer service executive is to solve the queries of
clients relating to offers and plans of offered by the company. They have deal with the complain
of customers and try to solve them by transferring it to respective department. They have to call
the premium clients and convince them to buy new offers relating to holiday package.
Person specification
PERSONAL SPECIFICATIONS
Experience Essential Preferable
As a customer service
executive
4 - 6 5
Technical skills Basic knowledge of computers
and internet.
Information about latest
mobile and chatting soft-wares
Education Post grade degree in
marketing and sales
Additional certificates of
various course of
communication skill
Personal qualities Good communication and
negotiation skills
Leadership quality
Reporting time – 10 a.m. To 5 p.m.
Job description – It contain various rules relating to duties of selected person, job specification
and tools that will be used for accomplishing a job (Jarvis and Rigby, 2012). The first step in this
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process is to check the qualification of a candidate and then match it with the requirement of the
organisation. In next step the details of job is developed so a correct person can be recruited for a
post. Roles and responsibilities of selected candidate is decided so any kind of confusion can be
cleared in case of any conflict in future.
JOB SPECIFICATION
Job description – Selected person have to resolve the complains registered from the side of
customers. They have to convince customer to buy the premium holiday package.
Key responsibility
 Solve problem of customers
 Take feedbacks from the clients who choose premium holiday package
 Divert the call to respective department in case customers have any techniques and
serious query
 Tell the benefits of various plans to the potential customers who are interested in buying
premium or any other package.
Personal profile
 Age of candidates must be between 25 – 40
 Must possess a post graduation degree
 Candidate should have an ability to work in the pressured condition
 Selected person should qualify the process of background check and medical check.
3.2 Comparison of different selection procedure in two service business
Generally the recruitment process of various companies in travel and tourism sector is
same. Below is the selection technique of cited company:
Interview – This is the first steps of recruitment process, the interviewer try to determine
the soft-skills and basic technical knowledge of the candidate. They also ask them about their
previous job if the candidate have some experience. The type of interview depend upon the
position for which participants are going to acquire in upcoming time. Stress, job related,
technical are some popular type of interview.
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Presentation – In order to verify the claimed skills of potential candidates. HR managers
may ask participants to give a presentation of their skills. If they attain success in representing
their talent in a better way then their changes of selection enhances (Jabbour and et. al., 2013).
Test – This is basically taken for analysing some general and technical knowledge about
a topic. No company want to hire a dumb person so these kind of test contain normal questions
relating to reasoning and maths. Sometime organisations also put questions relating to general
knowledge because it is an important part of a persons personality. In travel and tourism sector,
this test is taken for finding the technical knowledge of a person. This industry is related to
providing
Psychometric test – The importance of this test is continuously enhancing in this era. It
helps in determining the behaviour and personality traits of a candidates. If recruitment team
understand the nature of a candidate then they can check their fit-ability in the organisation. The
test is consider as the last step in the selection process, this exam is very expensive so company
only choose limited candidates for this last step.
The selection procedure in Aviation industry is very different compared to travel and
tourism sector. Before taking any interview, first companies in aviation sector try to check the
technical knowledge of the candidates (Huselid and Becker, 2011). They do not care about
reasoning and general knowledge. In interview, HR wing of these organisations try to analyse the
amount of pressure which worker can face in unfavourable conditions. The first step in the
selection procedure is to take written test. If a person fail this test then it means that they do not
have to sound technical knowledge. Different kind of training is needed for various posts in
aviation industry. Once is person clear interview and psychometric test then are selected for the
training procedure. In aviation sector is is important to the pass the test which is taken after the
completion of training. This kind of step is not followed in the Travel and tourism sector.
TASK 4
4.1 Contribution of training and development in business operations
Providing continuous training to the employees is essential for growth of the company.
Providing higher level of customer satisfaction is significant in travel and tourism sector (Guest,
2011). Normally people connect training to the personal development of an employee but
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training relating to health and safety and providing first aid is essential in every major
organisation. Below is the assistance provided by training and development:
Increase productive – A trained worker can always accomplish a task in less time and in
better way. If an employee increase his/her productivity then it also enhance his/her moral. This
is crucial for their career growth. A trained worker can manage the work in effective manner,
they can take more responsibilities and provide on the job training to the new employees. If a
worker attain their personal goals then the problem of job satisfaction minimises.
Organisational performance – Business environment is continuously changing, if cited
firm provide timely training to the workers then they can easily improve their organisational
performance. If the staff member are aware about new techniques of working then they can attain
goals of the company in effective manner. Introducing modern technology in the organisation is
helping Thomas Cook in reducing their operational cost. They are also expanding their area of
operation by developing new talent in the employees (Dul,Ceylan and Jaspers, 2011). Training
and development activities may cost some money in the initial stage but once employees learning
new skills then they help organisations like cited company in enhancing their profitability by
significant amount.
Competitive advantage – Quality workforce provide extra edge to the company, trained
workers can provide better customer satisfaction to the clients. The competition in travel and
tourism sector is continuously increase and having a speciality in the organisation make a
different image of the company.
Better working culture – When workers get essential training then a good working
environment at the workplace take place (Buller and McEvoy, 2012). When highly trained
employees share their knowledge with other workers, the work life of employees get improves.
Every one want to work in a quality organisation. Talented potential worker get attracted towards
a company who spend money on training of the employees.
CONCLUSION
At the end, it can be concluded that human resource management play significant role in
attaining organisational goals. By making a human resource plan, an organisation can solve the
problem of imbalance between demand and supply. It is the duty of HR division to make sure
that company is following all the regulations relating to employment.
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