HRM Report: HR Functions, Selection, and Employee Engagement

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of human resource management (HRM) practices, focusing on Chocola Fantastica and Microsoft. It examines the purpose and importance of various HR functions, including recruitment, training, and reward management. The report critically reviews selection methods like aptitude tests and informal interviews, proposing improvements such as structured interviews and the STAR method. It also develops a person specification for a receptionist role and evaluates job advertising methods, recommending social media. Furthermore, the report analyzes the benefits of training, internships, and flexible working arrangements, emphasizing their positive impact on employee loyalty and retention. It explores employee engagement strategies, highlighting the importance of communication, teamwork, and consistent information exchange. Finally, the report examines the influence of UK employment legislation on HR decision-making, covering acts such as the Equal Pay Act, the National Minimum Wage Act, and the Sex Discrimination Act.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Human resource management plays an important role in any organisation. HR manager is
responsible for employee benefits, hiring, planning, training and developing employees skills and
knowledge. The report below is based on Chocola Fantastica and Microsoft.
One of the key requirements of the report included purpose, importance and function of
HR function along with strength and weakness of selection methods, person specification,
benefits and limitations of present method of advertising jobs. From the report it was found that
the functions of human resource manager are recruitment, training, performance appraisal,
reward management, and so forth. Furthermore, aptitude tests and informal interviews were
identified as selection methods and were critically reviewed as per their strengths and
weaknesses. Moreover, as per recommendations, STAR Method is recommended to the
company.
The report also required development of person specification for role of receptionist, and
current method of advertising methods used by the organisation and suitable recommendation. It
was found that the firm uses internal as well as notice board advertising to promote the job role
vacancy. However, after detailed comparison of methods like newspaper advertising and social
media, the latter was recommended to Microsoft, due to having effective advantages for the firm
with respect to the job role which they are advertising.
Examination of benefits of training, internships and flexible working hours was also
required within the report. It was found from the examination of these aspects, that flexible
working hours are beneficial for employees, as they become loyal towards the organisation and
get retained effectively. In addition, training and internships allow students to appropriately
explore the workplace life within the company. Moreover, both these arrangements has
exceptional benefits for both employers and employees, which is advantageous to the company
in long run, in terms of productivity and profitability.
Furthermore, the report also needed analysis of employee engagement, along with
internal and external factors affecting HRM Decision Making and employment legislations.
Approaches for engaging workers were analysed, which reflected, that network, communication,
teamwork and consistent information exchanges help the firm in engaging employees in a better
manner. Moreover, certain employment legislations, such as Equal Pay act 1970, The National
minimum Wage Act, 1998 and Sex Discrimination Act, 1975 were analysed, which reflected that

each of these act influences reward system, recruitment as well as training and development,
respectively.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................2
TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
A) Purpose and importance of different HR functions................................................................1
B) Selection method's Strengths and weakness..........................................................................2
C) 2 improvement in selection process........................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
A)Person specification for the role..............................................................................................4
B) Current methods of advertising jobs Advantages and disadvantages.....................................6
C) Recommended job advertisement...........................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
A) Graduate training schemes and internship benefits to both employees and Microsoft..........9
B) Flexible working arrangements at Microsoft........................................................................10
C) Microsoft motivates workers by designing job roles............................................................11
TASK 4 .........................................................................................................................................12
A) Employee engagement and its important in effective employee relations in Microsoft......12
B) Evaluation of the key approaches to engaging workers and the approaches that improve
communication in the workplace...............................................................................................12
C) UK employment legislations and its influence on HR decision making..............................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is a procedure of managing people of the business(Human
resource management, 2019). There are various responsibilities that HR manager of an
organisation perform such as hiring, recruiting, planning, organising, directing, reward
management, performance appraisal, conflict resolution and provide employee benefits in order
to motivate them and improve performance of the employees (Meijerink, Bondarouk and Lepak,
2016). All these functions help employees in satisfaction of job, retention, increase performance
and utilize the resources effectively and efficiently. Present study is based on ‘Chocola
Fantastica’ and Microsoft, they need suggestions and understanding of different HR functions
and their purpose in workforce planning and resourcing. ‘Chocola Fantastica’ company wants to
expand its business in other areas for which company need a suitable recruitment and selection
method. Report will include selection and recruitment methods strengths and weakness that
company uses, benefits of different HR practices to employees and employers and how they are
raise productivity and profitability of company. Further report will also include importance of
employee relation and how it influence decision making of HR. Some employees legislation act
are also highlighted which affect decision of HR manager. Lastly report will include an
application of HRM practice with specific examples.
TASK 1
A) Purpose and importance of different HR functions
Human resource management is a process that is used to manage a business as well as
employees within the organisation. Furthermore, they are required to appropriately ensure that
each employee within the company provides maximum outcome to the firm along with achieving
their personal and professional objectives for growth and development.
There are several purposes of an HR. As an example, they are required to maintain
positive relations within the organisation between employers as well as employees. Another
purpose of HR is to ensure that each legislation associated with employees and workforce are
complied effectively. The purpose reflecting positive relations would help in developing a sense
of loyalty within the employees of Chocola Fantastica and hence, the firm would experience
relief in its problem of staff turnover. Moreover, compliance with several legislations would
ensure rightful delivery of products to customers, hence, reduction in amount of long standing
customers.
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Along with these purposes, there are various functions that HR manager of Chocola
Fantastica company perform and are as follows:
 Recruitment: HR is responsible in recruiting the best talents from the pool and it is the
important function of HR manager. The main aim is to attract right applicants suitable for
the job offered and selecting them according to the qualification required. Chocola
Fantastica HR need to recruit candidates who are suitable for the respected job and have
preferred skills and knowledge(Bello‐Pintado, 2015). It is important for company to hire
persons who are able to maximise the profits and productivity of company.
 Training and development: HR of Chocola Fantastica provide training and
development sessions to the respective employees in order to gain skills and knowledge.
HR is responsible to provide training session to keep employees and mangers update
about the change in external environment. The main aim of this function is to increase the
knowledge and skills of the working employee so that they perform better and achieve
business objective. It is very essential to provide the respective training and development
sessions to the employees in order to retain them for longer period and provide value to
them (Valeau and Paillé, 2017).
 Reward management: HR manager need to give reward to employees for their good
performance. The main aim of this is the evaluation of performance of employees and
rewarding them for their hard work. Chocola Fantastica HR manager need to reward
employees like promotion, appreciation, bonuses, gifts etc. It is important for company to
provide reward to employee so that they feel motivated and valued and will perform
better to achieve goals.
Chocola Fantastica company want to expand its business in other areas. Company is
rapidly increasing along with employee turnover is also increasing. For expanding in future
company need fresh talents in the organisation, recruitment function of HR will be very
important for them (Berman And et.al., 2019).
B) Selection method's Strengths and weakness
Selection:
It is a process of selecting suitable candidates from the pool of candidates for the job
profile. It refers to choosing suitable candidates based on the qualification and selecting them for
vacant position. Chocola Fantastica need to select the most suitable candidates who is able to
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perform the given task better and is self motivated in achieving business objectives and goals.
There are various methods used by Chocola Fantastica to select candidates are:
 Aptitude test: It is used to identify potential of individual to succeed in particular task
with prior training and knowledge. Chocola Fantastica also use aptitude test for selecting
candidates (DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016). Company has created created own
assessment test which applicants complete on line or in person on English comprehension
and maths. There are some strengths and weakness of aptitude test that are given below:-
Strengths Weakness
 Strength of candidate is identified and
provides better understanding of
candidate.
 It helps Chocola Fantastica company to
hire candidates for different profiles on
the basis of their test results.
 It is time consuming process.
 Actual capability of candidate is not
known for example, a candidate is
brilliant but not able to pass the test and
an average candidate is able to pass the
test (John. and Taylor, 2016).
 Informal interview: It is a casual meeting with the candidates such as over coffee or
lunch. It is unstructured interview, it is not traditional job interview but the aim of the
interview remains same whether a candidate is suitable for the organisation or not.
Chocola Fantastica company conducts informal interview of 15 minutes and decide to
hire the person or not. There are strengths and weakness for informal interviews:
Strengths Weaknesses
 It provides better understanding of
individual.
 It is comfortable and more flexible.
 There is a chance to get distracted from
the interview.
 It is a costly process.
C) 2 improvement in selection process
It is very essential for Chocola Fantastica to select right employees for right profile
because they are the reason behind the success of the company. Selecting right employees rises
profitability and productivity of the company, as well as ensure that customers are served in a
better and more effective manner (Noe and et.al., 2017). To attain this purpose, there are 2
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improvements which need to be made by Chocola Fantastica in selecting employees which are a
follows:
 Structured interview: Chocola Fantastica needs to follow formal interview method to
select the employees. Under this method, a set of questions, job responsibilities and
personal interest are formulated and methods of evaluation are decided. It is beneficial for
company to conduct formal interview as it helps in identifying the potential of an
individual, who could contribute the most to the job and would remain engaged with the
company as per the firm's requirements. It is the most common method used by
organisations in selecting potential candidate. It is beneficial for company in identifying
effectiveness, consistency, fairness and legal protection. However, its disadvantage is that
it consumes a lot of time, which could be improvised through setting up questions and
time frame beforehand.
 STAR method: Chocola Fantastica needs to use this method which is used to describe a
specific situation, task, action and result. It is beneficial for company in judging
employees productivity and efficiency (Reiche and et.al., 2016). In this method candidate
is put in a situation which an individual need to encounter, then candidate think of the
task which need to be performed and take strategic actions. After the situation is solved
then interviewer analyse the performance of the candidate and decide whether an
individual has potential to do the job or not. It is beneficial in terms of making employees
familiar with the kind of environment in which they are required to work in, as well as
what is expected of them. However, its weakness is that it is quite costly, which would
require the firm to set up appropriate budget and prerequisite resources to carry out this
method appropriately.
Out of the two methods, STAR method must be used by the firm in acquiring new talent
for the company. This is because, it would allow the firm to judge employees in a better manner,
along with giving effective experience to candidates regarding how the firm functions, so that
they could make better decisions. This two-way benefit would ensure longer engagement of
employees within the company that would reduce staff turnover.
TASK 2
A)Person specification for the role
Job Title:- Receptionist Department:- Administration
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Criteria Essential Desirable Level of Skill
Skills required
Verbal and
written
communication
skills
Problem
solving skills
Excellent IT
skills
Ability to work
under pressure.
Telephonic
skills
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Intermediate
Expert
Expert
Intermediate
Expert
Attainment
Graduate in any
subject
Yes
Knowledge
Having
knowledge of
word and excel.
Yes
Yes
Intermediate
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Having
knowledge of
PowerPoint
presentation
Beginner
Relevant
experience
Having
experience of 3
years in this job
role in good
organisation
Having
Experience in
conducting
meetings
Experience in
customer
service support
Yes
Yes
Yes
Intermediate
Expert
Expert
Disposition
Work as a part
of team
Flexibility in
work
Interested in
giving
Yes
Yes
Yes
Expert
Intermediate
Intermediate
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B) Current methods of advertising jobs Advantages and disadvantages
Internally within the company:-
Advantages Disadvantages
 Less time consumption is there for
hiring the candidate
 Less cost is acquired
 People are familiar with the culture of
the organisation
 Employee become more engaged
towards there work(John and Taylor,
2016).
 Employees retain for long period
 Less paperwork is involved
 Company is already aware about the
strength and weaknesses of the
candidates.
 Limited number of potential candidates
are there.
 It can create discord in the organisation
 Lack of qualified candidates from
different fields
 Lack of innovation and fresh thinking
 Recruiting from a team can result in
poor performance of the group.
 It creates another vacancy for the post
that selected employee have left
Externally within the organisation (Notice Board):-
Advantages Disadvantages
 Company can have new skilled
employees that can help in growth of
the firm(Meijerink, Bondarouk and
Lepak, 2016)
 There are number of candidates and
company can select the best one
 Company can compete in market with
the help of new skilled employees who
are having risk taking ability.
 Good ideas and be generated that are
 Candidates may have limited
understanding about the company and
its culture.
 High cost is involved for advertising
and then hiring
 It is also time consuming as post
advertisement is required in order to
have best possible candidates.
 Process of selection may or may not
come up with the best possible
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new to the organisation.
 People may have huge experience for
the respected field.
candidates(Bello‐Pintado, 2015).
C) Recommended job advertisement
There are different ways to advertise for the recruitment of vacant position in an
appropriate manner. However, one of the best ways according to present market conditions is
social media platform. Several advantages associated with this methods are mentioned below:
 It increases the job visibility:- For the respected post advertisement on social media is
helpful to increase the job visibility as number of people are active on social sites and
search for vacant positions. It helps to attract and recruit the talented candidates as it
gives the platform for the company to choose the candidates according to its job
description.
 High Quality candidates:- Many of the experienced candidates apply for the vacant jobs
by viewing the advertisements on social media. This helps the firms to select the best
possible candidates having quality of skills that can become benefit for there
organisation.
However, there are certain cons associated with this method as well. These are discussed
as under:
 Lack of Privacy:- With social media, there is high threat to private information of
applicants in case they inquire anything related to the job advertisement. Moreover, social
media does not provide any privacy in case applicants share their personal information
with the firm.
 Inappropriate Targetting:- Another disadvantage associated with the same is that the
company could not target a specific market as the advertisement could be viewed by all.
This might cause roadblock within acquiring right candidate for the job.
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