HRM Report: Purpose, Practices, and Applications at Microsoft

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within Microsoft Corporation. It begins by explaining the core purpose and functions of the HR department, including managerial and operative functions such as planning, organizing, recruiting, job design, and performance appraisal. The report then assesses various HRM approaches, focusing on recruitment and selection, reward systems, and workforce planning, including competency-based and proactive approaches. It examines specific HR practices like motivation, flexible working hours, delegation, and training, addressing challenges such as maintaining privacy and security and promoting work-life balance. Furthermore, the report explores employee relations and engagement, highlighting the importance of these factors for organizational flexibility and employee well-being. The analysis covers employment legislation and its influence on decision-making, alongside the application of HRM practices in a work-related context, including the use of digital methods to improve recruitment and selection processes. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and implications of these HRM strategies within the context of Microsoft's operations.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................4
1. An explanation of the purpose of the HR function and important roles and responsibilities
of HR function.............................................................................................................................4
2. Assessment of the various approaches....................................................................................6
3. Examine the methods used in HR practices............................................................................7
4. Employee relation and employee engagement........................................................................7
5. Employment legislations.........................................................................................................8
6. Employee relation and employment legislation influence decision making and business
objectives.....................................................................................................................................9
TASK2...........................................................................................................................................10
7. Applications of HRM practices in work related context.......................................................10
8. Digital methods of improving recruitment and selection process.........................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFRENCE...................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is the function of management which is involved in
recruiting, hiring, deploying and managing an employees in the organisation. This department in
the organisation is responsible for development and growth of the company. Organisation
undertaken in this report is Microsoft corporation which was founded in 1975 and deals in
computer software, hardware, electronics, social networks, etc. This report will explain the
various purposes and function of human resource management (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). It
fir assess the approaches of workforce planning, recruitment, etc. It will also examine the various
methods of HR practices. Ana analyses of employee engagement and employee relation will be
done. Than important elements of employment legislations will be explained with various
applications of HRM practices like person specification, job description, etc. And lastly it will
focus on various technology, digital platforms, social networks, etc. useful in improving
recruitment and selection process.
TASK1
1. An explanation of the purpose of the HR function and important roles and responsibilities of
HR function.
Human resource is used to describe the people who work for the company and the
department which is responsible for managing resources related to employees. This department
of the HRM looks after the hiring, management and firing of staff. It emphasis on the function of
people within the business that assure efficient work activity are there in the company every
time. In other words, the term human resource management signifies three words in which
human stands for skilled workforce and manpower in the organisation, resource is referred to as
limited availability and management is concerned with the aim of optimum and efficient use of
resources which are scarce and limited in nature (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Thus, together it
means using the potential of skilled manpower effectively and efficiently to accomplish
organisational goals and objective. HR department of the Microsoft will need various types of
function in the organisation which will have different purposes and they are discussed below :
HR functions
Managerial functions

 Planning : This function of HRM focuses on planning related to the number and types of
employees required in the organisation who will be able to accomplish the desired
objectives of the company. It also helps management to gather, analyse and identify the
present and future needs of the employees (Brewster and et. al., 2016).
 Organising : In this function, a work or task is assigned to every employee in accordance
with their skills and abilities so that they can complete the task effectively while
contributing in achieving organisational goals and objectives.
 Directing : This function is useful in energizing employees at various stages and making
them contribute to the organisations goals and objectives.
Operative function
 Recruiting and hiring : One of the most important function of human resource
department is to look after the hiring and recruitment in the company. It is the process of
hiring and finding the best qualified personnel by searching and stimuli them to apply for
job in the company (Brewster and et. al., 2016).
 Job analyses and design : This function of HRM is useful in describing the process of
analysing a job into various components. It is the systematic exploration, study and
recording the responsibilities, duties, skills, etc. which are required to perform a
particular job.
 Performance appraisal : It is the process which defines personality and performance of
the employees which is monitored by the supervisor or manager.
 Training and development : This function enables employees to acquires various set of
skills and knowledges which will help them in performing the job effectively and
efficiently (Wright, 2018).
Purpose of HR functions
The above explained functions of HRM has various purposes in Microsoft because each
function operates with a separate set of objective and purpose which are discussed below :
 The main purpose of training and development function in Microsoft is to organise and
alleviate learning and development in the employees (Brewster and et. al., 2016). It is
done because to assist the employees for effective job performance through relevant skill,
knowledge and abilities.

 The purpose of recruitment is to attract and empower an ever increasing number of
applicants to apply for jobs. They focus on recruiting and hiring right person for the right
job at minimum cost so that organisational goals and objectives can be accomplished.
 Performance appraisal is the evaluation of employees which enhances their contribution
in accomplishing organisational goals and objectives. They focus on providing
continuous feedback, measure performance accurately, assures clarity in expectations and
actual results.
 Employee motivation is very important because it enables management to meet the
companies goals. This aims to increase the productivity and allow an organisation to
accomplish higher level of output.
2. Assessment of the various approaches.
There are various approaches which Microsoft follows in their operations an their
assessment is discussed below :
 Recruitment and selection : This is the human resource functions which is useful in
identifying, attracting, screening and hiring the qualified and skilled person for the vacant
position in Microsoft. Recruitment and selection are the most crucial elements in the
organisation because choosing right employees will take the business to the next higher
level (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017). There are various approaches of recruitment and
selection and they are internal and external. Internal approaches of recruitment means
when a candidate is recruited or hired internally that is within a organisation like transfer,
promotion, etc. External approaches includes hiring a person through external sources
like online, digital platform, social media, etc.
Advantages Disadvantages
When employee is recruited internally, it
increases their morale level, cost effective, less
time consuming.
External recruitment provides an opportunity
for fresh talent in the industry that will make
company competitive in the long run.
External recruitment is a costly affair and can
longer time than hiring from within the
organisation.
Internal recruitment can create create conflict
among people when one of the subordinate is
placed at higher level.

 Reward system : It is the compensation which employees receives in return of the work
performed by them in the organisation. Every employee works in the company for the
benefit of financial reward which is very important so that they will be motivated towards
the attainment of organisational goals and objectives. It is a definite set of distributing
tangible and intangible returns as a part of employment relationship. There are various
types of reward systems like financial and non financial, intrinsic and extrinsic, etc. So
financial rewards are those which deals in monitory terms like bonus, incentives, etc. Non
financial rewards are those which deals in non monitory factors like recognition,
performance appraisal, respect, attention, etc.
Advantages Disadvantages
As every employee work for the money so
financial reward is the key to motivate people.
Non financial reward focuses on motivation
schemes which can mean more for the
employment engagement.
Financial rewards lacks to identify the need of
the people, their behaviour, motivation, etc.
Non financial rewards can some times incur
heavy cost in transferring or promoting a
person.
 Workforce planning: It is defined as a continuous procedure which helps in alignment
of organisational priorities and needs of employees so that business objectives can be
achieved appropriately. This will benefit Microsoft in formulating evidence based
strategies. Approach related with workforce planning is discussed below:
Competency approach: This approach will benefit Microsoft in identifying various
competencies set so that mission, goals, vision of company can be aligned in a strategic manner.
This will help Microsoft to achieve desired outcomes in a timely manner.
 Development and training: This procedure will benefit workers of company in building
an appreciable attitude, knowledge and skills due to which their working potential will
increase. Approach in context with development and training is mentioned below:
Proactive approach: This is a simple approach which do not need any type of pre-
planning. With the help of this approach, manager in Microsoft can train workforce in an active
manner both within or outside company.

 Performance management: This is a procedure by which employees of company tries to
deliver their best performance. By offering them incentives, appreciations and
introducing other activities, their performance can be improved considerably. In context
with Microsoft, approach of performance management is discussed below:
Comparative approach: This approach will involves ranking of employees form high to
low level so that their performance and contribution towards the success of company can be
measured appropriately. By this, performance of workforce in Microsoft can be improved in a
considerable manner.
3. Examine the methods used in HR practices.
Microsoft faced problems of maintaining privacy and security. As the secrecy hampered,
the employee feel demotivated to work with the organisation. Beside this, for example, during
the time, when competitors launched new software then, Microsoft put pressure on their
employees to work more and it created burden on them and also restricted them to maintain work
life balance (Cascio, 2015). So, for this purpose, HR department of the Microsoft started using
various practices which will be useful in accomplishing organisational goals and objectives and
they are discussed below :
 Motivation : Microsoft motivate people to work in the organisation so that goals can be
accomplished. For example, company can use various motivational tools that can be
either financially or non financially. Financial motivation includes incentives, bonuses,
etc. while non financial motivation includes respect, recognition, promotion, transfer, etc.
This will resolve the problem of demotivation faced by employees.
 Providing flexible working hours : Employees will be provided with flexible working
hours which will enable them to maintain a balance between their work and life and they
will not feel pressure or burden. Thus, it will help in minimising labour turnover and
absenteeism rate. For example, due to flexible working hours, employees will not be
forced to work without their choice, they can continue and accomplish work as per their
convenience.
 Delegating work : HR department will divide the work into smaller task and it will
assigned to the employees according to their skills and abilities so that organisational
goals can be achieved effectively. For example, this will help the workers in Microsoft to
perform their work with full efficiency.

 Training : For meeting with the competitors services and products, Microsoft will focus
on providing the required training to the people so that they will gain new skills and
knowledge (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2018). For instance, training will make them aware
about how the work is to conducted and helps in achieving objectives.
4. Employee relation and employee engagement.
Employee relation is an organisations efforts which focuses on maintaining healthy and
good relations between employees and employers in the organisation. This is because every
individual needs people to share, exchange ideas, thoughts, talks. If there is a good relation
between the people working in Microsoft than it will enhance them in actively engaging and
involving themselves towards the attainment of goals and objectives. If employee relation and
employee engagement is enhanced than, it will be enable flexibility in organisation. This means
Microsoft will be able to adopt themselves in responding rapidly to the changes in the external
factors, thus enables flexibility in operations. This will also provide flexible working hours, over
and above that time, they will not be required to work over and above the specified timing. This
will enhance them in maintaining proper balance between the work and life. An employer of
choice will offer an attractive work culture and work place atmosphere which will be useful in
retaining the employees (DeCenzo and et. al., 2016). It is not an easy task and leaders of the
Microsoft work hard so that they can become employers of choice. These leader will identify and
analyse the organisations weakness and they will decide the direction which will be beneficial in
accomplishing organisational goals and objectives. Flexible working practices will help people
involve in the organisation activities so that they will feel motivated for the work which is to be
performed.
Flexible working approaches are on rise and provide flexibility to employees to work
where and when they wish to. These approaches will bring numerous benefits for Microsoft.
Some approaches of flexible working hours are discussed below:
 Flexitime: It is an popular approach which will allow the workforce in Microsoft to have
some control on their working hours, especially their starting and finishing working
periods.
 Annualised hours: This approach is mainly used by seasonal industries but employees
in Microsoft can use it to deal with fluctuating workload and stress by fixing working
hours on annual basis.

 Zero-hour contracts: This approach states that an individual will not work for company
on permanent basis but company can demand that person by calling them during work.
This approach is not suitable for Microsoft.
5. Employment legislations.
Employment law or legislation is a broad term which covers all the aspects of
employment. These laws exist to monitor the relationship between the business and the
employees. It protects and prevents the rights and interest of employees in the Microsoft.
Employment legislation is a continuously evolving term which is increasing becoming more
important in the organisation due to various controversies which affects the business or
employees in Microsoft and they are discussed below :
 Data protection act 2018 : This is about precaution regarding the crucial information
and gives assurance that it will be used properly and legally. In UK, this act will focus on
that all employer need to be aware of their duties under the law as the penalties or fines
for breaking the contract.
 Transfer of undertaking regulation : This law is concerned about protecting the terms
and conditions of employees in cases when business is transferred from one owner to
another owner .
 Employment tribunal : This addresses claims which may be brought against employers
by employees which will be concerned with tribunal or termination. It includes
information on tribunal procedures and hearings, defending claims, cost, compensation,
awards, etc.
 Dismissal : This is concerned with the occurrence when a contract is terminated with or
without the prior notice to the company, a fixed term contract ends and cannot be
reviewed (Noe and et. al., 2017). It includes various types of information regarding
different kinds of dismissal like unfair, wrongful and constructive.
 Discrimination at work : This law is required to be followed by employer because it
protects and prevents the bullying and harassment at workplace. This law includes
information regarding various types of bullying which can be offensive, intimidating and
malicious behaviour. They also provide content on harassment under Discrimination act
regarded as unwanted conduct which is relatable to the protection of individual's identity.

 The equality act 2010 : This law justifies the equality between men and women with the
right to pay equal for same work at same rate and value. Apart from this, it contains
information regarding equal value, pay audits, comparable worth, pay and case law, etc.
6. Employee relation and employment legislation influence decision making and business
objectives.
Employee relation and employment legislation are the most crucial elements in the
Microsoft which has a strong influence in decision making and accomplishing business
objectives. It is discussed below :
 Employment legislation is concerned with protecting the interest of the employees. When
employees rights will be protected and they will feel secure than it will be useful in
developing good employee relationship which will motivate people to work for the
attainment of goals and objectives of the organisation (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang, 2014).
 When the organisation makes decision regarding the compensation than they must keep
in mind the employment legislation acts of equality which provides equal pay for equal
work performed between man and women. This will make people enhanced and they will
work for the accomplishment of business objectives.
 Organisation must not use strict policies for accomplishing business objective. This can
create demotivation among employee and also if they feel burden of work then this can
affect their mental ability. Thus, they will follow flexible working hours as per the
employment legislation.
Effectiveness and strengths of employee legislation:
Organisation must use various employment laws relating to their safety, harassment, etc.
which will protect their identity and respect. This in turn will reduce the chances of conflicts and
develops employee relation such that they will feel secure and safe and work with full zeal and
confidence which will contribute in achieving organisational objectives.
Effectiveness and strengths of employee relation:
The decisions of the organisation must not create misunderstanding or conflicts between
the people. Effective employee relation will be useful in maintaining the environment
comfortable for the people so that they can work with full concentration. By this, it will be easy
for company to achieve their desired business objectives in timely manner.

TASK2
7. Applications of HRM practices in work related context.
Job Description
Company : Microsoft
Job title : Software engineer
Job detail : Our company creates world's most cutting edge software products
and for this we are searching for software engineer who can
design, develop and install software solutions.
Requirements : Bachelor's degree in computer science
Master in Technology
2+ year experience in software engineer or developer
Experience in designing integrative applications
Excellent knowledge of relational database like SQL, HTML
Experience in developing web applications like JSF, JWT, etc.
Qualification and skills : Bachelor's/ masters in computer science
Effective communication skills
Presentation skills
Flexibility in understanding change
Ability to demonstrate understanding of projects from clients
perspective.
Person specification
Attribute Essentials Desirables
Skill Technical competency, ability to
communicate with clients. Use of
logical, analytical and creative
approach. Business skills and
commercial awareness. Ability to
work in team and alone while
Ability to use more than one language
like C++, HTML, Java, etc.

managing workload. Proven ability
to deliver production quality
system.
Knowledge Technical knowledge of computer
hardware and applications. Proven
tract record of working, within a
busy, client focussed organisation.
Evidence of application programs.
Knowledge of interaction design,
usability and accessibility.
Experience 2+year commercial experience.
Desire and experience to learn new
technologies. Ability to write, read,
understandable and easily
maintainable code.
Experience of ASP.NET, Visual
studio, MSQQL Server. Good
understanding of client side web
technologies, understanding of OOP.
Personal
circumstances
Must have legal identity to live and
work in UK.
Driving licence.
Interview
Q1. What programming language you have used in past ?
Q2. How much you can code on daily basis ?
Q3. What distinguishes a great software engineer from good one ?
Q4. In your opinion, what are the principles of good software engineering?
Job Offer Letter
Microsoft
ABC building,
London
12345678

Date : 27.02.2019
XYZ
PQR Building,
London
Subject : Job offer letter
Respect sir,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been appointed as a software engineer in our
company. The terms and conditions of employment are attached with this letter. You are
required to join our office from 7.03.2019 and we want your response by 3.03.2019. In case you
do not respond about your confirmation then this offer letter will be terminated after that date.
In case of any queries you can contact us on the number and mail id which attached with this
letter.
Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
HR manager of Microsoft
8. Digital methods of improving recruitment and selection process.
Recruitment and selection are the most important function of HRM because hiring right
person can make the business more profitable and leads to the greater heights but if it is not done
properly then it can affect the organisation in accomplishing goals and objectives. The modern
method of recruitment and selection has improved the procedure of selecting a suitable candidate
in Microsoft and they are discussed below :
 Use of technology : There are various recruiting technologies which help in identifying
and selecting suitable candidate for the vacant position. It helps in minimising the
subjective element and helping recruiters to make decisions effectively. There are various
stages in the process of recruitment and each stage is prone with different technology
enabled tools which makes the process easy (Tyson, 2014).
 Online resources : There are various online resources on which job description can be
uploaded by the company and large pool of candidates can apply. They are the websites
which are operated by job recruiting agencies.

 Digital platform : There are various digital platforms which are presently big companies
are using to recruit people. They use various mode of video conferencing or Skype chat
to take interview. This gives them the ability to interact with people at any part of the
world at any time. This also enables the use of cost effective mode of recruitment and
saves a lot of time of recruitment.
 Social networking : Various social networking sites like Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn,
etc. are used which helps in advertising the job vacancies for tapping large pool of
candidates (Wilton, 2016).
Technology is very important to recruit and select workforce within an organisation.
Digital platform and online sources are best medium to advertise for the job vacancy. With the
help of social media, company can hire talented persons that can contribute towards the success
of company in a desired manner. But if manager of company will not be able to use social and
digital media in a proper manner then it will create chaos due to which brand image of company
can reduce and individuals feel reluctant to join Microsoft as their workplace. By using the
technology, firms can determine whether the candidates has the technical skills which can assist
them in their working.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that human resource management
department of the organisation plays a very important role in effectively operation of the
functions. It has been analysed that the tools and techniques used in HRM focuses on
maximising the employee contribution and how to use HR methods to gain competitive
advantage. It has focussed on various methods which helped in making recruitment and selection
process more efficient like technology, online sources, etc. which are cost effective and less time
consuming. The various functions and their purposes explained above has explained that they are
very important in business organisation so that goals and objectives can be attained.

REFRENCE
Books and journals
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster and et. al., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.Storey, J., 2014.
New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Brewster and et. al., 2016. International human resource management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Brewster and et. al., 2016. New challenges for European resource management. Springer.
Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and practice in european human resource
management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield survey. Taylor & Francis.
Cascio, W.F., 2015. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2018. Human resource management in sport and recreation.
Human Kinetics.
DeCenzo and et. al., 2016. Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, Binder Ready
Version. John Wiley & Sons.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human
resource management. The Academy of Management Annals.8(1). pp.1-56.
Noe and et. al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Tyson, S., 2014. Essentials of human resource management. Routledge.
Wilton, N., 2016. An introduction to human resource management. Sage.
Wright, P., 2018. Fundamentals of human resource management. Management.5. p.27.
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Employment law. 2018. [Online] Available Through :
<https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/emp-law>