Human Resource Management Report for Say it with Chocolate Company

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within the context of the UK-based company 'Say it with Chocolate'. It begins by outlining the core purpose, functions, roles, and responsibilities of HRM, emphasizing its importance in recruitment, employee management, and maintaining effective employee relations. The report then delves into the details of various selection methods, discussing their advantages and disadvantages, and suggesting potential improvements for the current selection process. Furthermore, the report covers personal specifications for a receptionist role, advertisement placement, and provides a sample questionnaire for interviews. The second part of the report focuses on HRM practices and their impact on organizational performance and employee development, including case studies of Microsoft's strategies for employee motivation through reward systems and job design. It also explores employee engagement strategies, key methods to improve workplace communication, and the influence of UK employment legislation on human resource decision-making. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations for 'Say it with Chocolate'.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
a) Presenting purpose of HR functions, its importance and roles and responsibilities of HR1
b) Role and responsibilities of Human Resource Officer.......................................................2
M1...........................................................................................................................................3
c) Pros and cons of various selection methods.......................................................................3
d) Potential improvements for current selection process.......................................................5
M2...........................................................................................................................................5
D1...........................................................................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
a) Personal specifications for the role:..................................................................................6
b) Rationale for suitable medium of advertisement placement.............................................6
c) Advantages and disadvantages of job advertisements.......................................................7
d) Questionnaire for the interview of post of receptionist .....................................................8
M5...........................................................................................................................................8
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
a) Presenting benefits of different HRM practices on performance of organisation and
employees...............................................................................................................................9
b) Developmental opportunities in permanent job role.......................................................10
c) presenting the benefits if approach of Microsoft..............................................................10
d) Strategy of Microsoft to motivate its workers through reward system and job design....11
M3.........................................................................................................................................12
D2.........................................................................................................................................12
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
a) Employee relation ............................................................................................................12
b) Integral strategy of employee engagement for employee relation...................................13
c) Key methods of engaging workers and its importance to improve communication:.......13

d). Employment legislation in the UK and its impact on decision making of human resource:
..............................................................................................................................................14
M4.........................................................................................................................................14
D3.........................................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................16
APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................18
P7 Person specification in accordance to Rodger’s 7 points................................................18

INTRODUCTION
HRM plays a crucial role in every company. Human Resource department does
recruitment, selection, staffing, employees’ responsibilities etc. moreover it is responsible for
overseeing policies and maintaining effective relationship with employees. Further, report will
focus on 'Say it with Chocolate’ which is leading company in UK who produces variety of
chocolate and greeting cards. It presents functions of HR and its importance in a firm with their
roles and responsibilities. It also presents the importance of advertisement with their pros and
cons. Moreover, the report will identify about employee performance, rewards and development
in Microsoft and developmental opportunities which are available for staff at a time of
permanent jobs. Report also presents the importance of employee engagement and discuss about
role of HRM practices for enhancing the profits and productivity of organisation. It identifies
different key approaches in order to improve communication in a work area and also presents
employment legislation in UK that how they influence human resource decision-making.
PART 1
TASK 1
a) Presenting purpose of HR functions, its importance and roles and responsibilities of HR
Purpose: The main purpose of HRM in 'Say it with chocolates' is to maximizes business
productivity by creating new ideas. HRM focus on major areas such as staffing, employees’
management, compensations and benefits. In the context of 'Say it with chocolates', HRM
purpose is to maintain coordination of all employees in order to achieve all defined goals of a
company and to enhance their products quality (Head and Alford, 2015). While on the other side
they also provide training and development areas for their employees in order to increases
company's overall performance. Main purpose of HR is to Motivating employees and
maintaining human resources is the main purpose of company. In human resource management,
training and development opportunities are provided to employees. As they play multi-functional
roles in a quoted company, as recently they grown staff turnover has increases in order to retain
customers loyalty.
Functions:
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Hiring and recruiting- In Say it with chocolate, as they needed candidates so for hiring
and recruiting Human resource team organises interviews so that qualified candidates can be
recruited for the open position (Head and Alford, 2015).
Induction programs for providing training to new recruits: The manager of 'say it
with chocolates' ensure that new joiners are provided complete guidance regarding organisational
policies and their role in company. For achieving this they conduct training sessions for
enhancing their knowledge and skills that further help to improving working performance.
Employees’ benefits- The HR team in “Say it with chocolate's” manages all basic key
aspects of employees’ benefits such a health and dental insurance, reward at a time of good
performance in order to satisfy employees.
Managing resources: The human resource management of “Say it with chocolate's” is
also responsible for managing resources. They assure that all necessary resources which can
affect the performance of employees are available within the organisation and employees did not
feel any shortage regarding this.
Workplace planning: During the recruitment process they ensure that they create the
workforce which can deliver most productive output (Albrecht and et.al, 2015). For achieving
this they make a deep analysis of skills of individuals. Based on the quality assessment of
candidates they introduced them into suitable department and team.
b) Role and responsibilities of Human Resource Officer
 Recruitment: the most important function of HR officers in ‘say it with chocolate's' is to
choose those eligible candidates which help to raise company's profitability at a time of
vacancy. Even they also use selection method to select one out of many, this help HR
officers to select one out of many. As the quoted company has based on the highly
unemployment area and owner wants to increasing employment so they must focus on
recruitment.
 Training: The basic role of HR officer in ‘say it with chocolate's' is to conduct training
sessions for those employees who are weak in their performance. It is also provided to
new candidates also in order to get them comfortable in a company.
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 Employee engagement: HR officers in 'say it with chocolate's' develops and maintain
policies so that organisational culture is improved in a way that it supports employees.
The team members find it easy to engage in the decision making of the organisation.
These officers ensure that employees can communicate easily with the authorities so that
their efficiency and quality of work is not affected adversely due to business culture
(Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017). For achieving goals in given time limit and with
maximum efficiency they also motivate employee's through rewards or appreciation.
 Appraisals: Appraisals help in employee motivation and by encouraging them to work to
their full potential will help indirectly towards a productivity. It is a duty of HR officers
of ‘say it with chocolate's' to keep provides them incentives in order to engage them.
 Management: for HR, management is important job. The role is to manage, create,
implement and supervise all policies and laws within a company and they also keep
monitoring and tracking activities of all employees.
M1
For ‘say it with chocolate's’ HRM needed planning, resourcing, training and
development, reward, performance management, employee relation and this are relating to
provide talent and skills for business. For example, if HR of a listed company will select the right
person who have good qualification and experience will definitely help and contribute towards a
business growth and development. Therefore, skills and talent directly affect overall growth.
c) Pros and cons of various selection methods
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
 'Say it with chocolate's currently uses
home-based assessment in maths and
English which has an advantage such as
it is quite fair to judge and have
relevance of information that helps
management to define applicants’
ability of employees to work in firm.
 Many people left the job because of low
level of employee satisfaction and to
eliminate this disadvantage organisation
can use systematic approach so that
talented employees cannot leave the job
without specific time duration (Cooke,
Saini and Wang, 2014).
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 The personalised method can serve
better in this context as that method
will provide deeper analysis of the
employees.
 If HR have fixed budget, then hiring
internally can save money because they
do not need to employ recruitment
agencies or advertise. By this way it
helps to saves money.
 Selection process helps in firm to
understand current and future needs of
their departments (Jennings and
Stadler, 2015.).
 In the situations when financial plans
have strictness, in such instances inside
contraction can provide cash since
utilizations on enrolment offices or
promotions will not be required which
further help to raise company's
productivity.
 If 'say it with chocolate's uses selections
process individuals will easily
manipulate which creates a result of
losing a job.
 Enrolling inside may be faster and less
demanding and employees have clear
idea regarding the outputs which is
expected from them. But on the other
hand, organisation develops constraint
for the talented resources from which to
look over.
 This cost saving advantage is not
possible with the systematic approach
of selection. That will be costlier than
the method which is presently used by
'Say it with chocolate's'.
Various approaches for selection method:
 Another approach which can be used for selection is personalised method. With this
method organisation selects any candidate only after gaining complete knowledge
regarding candidates. It includes assessment of their past work experience, their
capabilities, expectations and abilities. This method makes selection process highly
effective.
4

 Apart from personalised method 'Say it with chocolate's' can implement systematic
approach of selection. It will eliminate the personal bias during recruitment. It includes
stages such as planning, job analysis and description, marketing and short-listing.
 By using interview method in 'Say it with Chocolate's' will help to identifies best
candidate for a firm and it can be conducted when HR takes a test which is based upon
English Comprehension and Maths because after this, interview will be conduct in order
to get best candidate.
d) Potential improvements for current selection process
For current selection procedure, HR of a quoted company must make some changes
because it will help for the future growth and development of a company. Such that as
assessment is quite costly and time consuming but the use of work sampling and general ability
test are appropriate which help to select best candidate for a company. Such that by using this,
employees make a positive impression upon HR and also makes positivity in a working
environment of a company (Hitt, Xu and Carnes, 2016). As selection process is done by the
purpose to appoint the best candidates for a firm. Potential environments make improvement in
firm to identify ability of employees and their work performance according to the test.
Thus, it is necessary for the organisation to improve the present selection approach so
that its disadvantages can be eliminated. For introducing improvement 'Say it with chocolate's'
can integrate its current approach with systematic approach. It will give access to highly talented
resources. Before making final selection, the company must also include concept of
personalisation. It will acknowledge company with entire history of candidate (Ployhart and
et.al., 2014). However, during recruitment the personalisation must not be used otherwise it will
make process bias which is not healthy for a company.
M2
For Systematic approach of alternative method of recruitment, its strength is that it
response quickly to job vacancies and build high performance team. While on the other side, it
also has disadvantage such as it does not help to find out best candidate for a company.
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D1
It has been critically evaluated that these alternative methods of recruitment are basically
help to develop brand image for a company. For example, if HR of a company provide best
quality of products and design that it will help to improving or retain customers base in market.
Moreover, possibility of court cases related to unfair treatment during a time of process will
cause harm to the brand image of a company.
TASK 2
a) Personal specifications for the role:
Personal specification of receptionist (Covered in Appendix below): As per Rodger 7-
point plan of Personal specification, it defines the physical make- up, attainments, general
intelligence, special aptitudes, interest, disposition and circumstances which includes skills,
experience, qualifications and knowledge for the person in selection process. The person
specification is a document that candidates must have in order to completing the task for a
position which offers by company (Ployhart and et.al., 2014).
In accordance to person specification for receptionist role in 'Say it with chocolate's'
define the receptionist have quality in firm to have experience in to working in administrative
department and handle various responsibilities such as managing customers and visitor who visit
the site and to respond incoming telephones enquires efficiently.
b) Rationale for suitable medium of advertisement placement
Advertisement is the best method which helps to promote all the new innovative ideas to
their customers and it also helps to keep aware customers related to organizational products. It is
a suitable method that helped to understand the products with proper details. In order to find out
best and suitable medium of advertisement, many firms choose it as a promotional strategy and
its help to make better improvement in firm. While on the other side, 'Say it with chocolates'
used the advertisement as a promotion tool to recruitment of receptionist job (Nyberg and et.al.,
2014). The suitable medium for advertisement job is to launch this into a magazines and official
websites as it helps to attract or draw attention of various customers towards it. Another, a
quoted company also chooses newspaper as a medium because it reaches of maximum number of
populations. The advertisement rationale must give clear description of products and services
provided by the company. Its quality must be effective enough which is appealing to the
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consumers so that they can be convinced to use products. The rationale for advertising the
recruitment of receptionist provides detailed discussion that what are the educational
qualification and requirement of working experience for being considerable for the job. It also
demonstrates the required attributes which will be needed for the job. Apart from this the
company introduction must be attractive so that talented candidates give positive response.
c) Advantages and disadvantages of job advertisements
As per case study it is identified that advertisements for recruitment and selections have
been circulated in magazines and official websites and now it is the duty of human resource
officer of 'Say it with chocolate's' to prepare appropriate advertisement structure (Baum, 2015).
Further, there are some advantage and disadvantage of this advertisement for job for the firm as
mentioned below:
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
 The biggest advantage of using
advertisement is that it helps to target
huge audience by using newspaper as a
medium.
 Provide quick response as compared to
others.
 This method can develop publicity and
awareness in low cost.
 Posting job as an advertisement in “Say
it with chocolate's” for receptionist post
in an official website will be more
beneficial because it is 24-hour service
which help to response quickly.
 The job advertisement done on jobs
board outside of the main site gains the
attention of visitors. It will help them to
approach for the job or to recommend it
 To make job advertisement for
receptionist job in “say it with
chocolate's' it receives so many
irrelevant applications which waste lot
of time of HR (Jennings and Stadler,
2015).
 this method can be costly because of
ink and publishing.
 There is possibility that highly skilled
candidates do not get the information
due to limited access of above used
advertising methods.
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to their known persons.
 This can advertise the recruitment
without involving much cost. And HR
can get extremely affordable results
(Kramar, 2014).
d) Questionnaire for the interview of post of receptionist
In selection process for the receptionist in “Say it with chocolate's” the Human resource
conduct interview for the applicants. To appoint the best candidates for firm, in the interview
process the manager asked differ kinds of question basis of that they appoint candidates in firm.
There are six questions human resource asked to the applicants during interview-
1. What do you know about 'Say it with Chocolates and its products & services?
2. What motivates you to do work as a receptionist and administrative work?
3. How you organize your daily schedule?
4. What role does a receptionist play in a customer’s first impression of an organization?
5. How did you add value to your last company?
6. Tell me about a time you had to deal with an angry customer, either on the phone or
in person. How did you handle the situation?
On the basis of these questions human resource managers try to analyse the skills and
perspective of the candidates. It helps them to make better decision and choices that how
candidate can give benefits to the company. Thus, HRM achieves their goals of workplace
management (Paillé and et.al., 2014).
M5
Advertisement is the best method which a quoted company chooses because it helps to
attract wide range of candidates towards it. Using online platform and newspaper is the best
method because today's generation is digitalized and many of them uses internet so it is
beneficial for say it with chocolate to use this medium as a promotion.
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PART 2
TASK 3
a) Presenting benefits of different HRM practices on performance of organisation and employees
Microsoft is one of the leading multinational technology companies who focus on
maintaining effectiveness in an organisational culture growth of employees and development of
opportunities in order to create things to change the world. Microsoft's Apprenticeship
programme was launched nationally in 2010, with the motive of motivating youth to take step in
ICT careers.
On boarding training It is training method which start from joining date of
employee and can be executed in even first year
whenever needed. Usually it is guided and delivered
by leaders who are highly focused for reaching
departmental goals.
Technical skill's development training This type of training lead to engagement in
continuous learning so that employees can keep
themselves updated with advanced technologies.
Benefit for Organization/ Employers Benefit for Employee
 Participation and involvement in
apprenticeship and graduate training
schemes is beneficial for a firm,
because it comprises development of
Microsoft company as well as
employees (Empowering our
employees, 2018)
 It is effective plan of Microsoft because
it is helps in promoting working
productivity. However, increasing
 Help to develop skills which will
further help in his future.
 Helps to enhance knowledge and
training provide organizational
experience and understanding.
 The knowledge advancements will
increase the efficiency of employees so
that they will be able to achieve their
tasks with more accuracy and minimum
chances of errors. Thus, the
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