Human Resource Management Report: Merrill Lynch HRM Practices

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices, focusing on workforce planning, recruitment, and selection processes within the context of the financial services industry, specifically referencing Merrill Lynch. It explores the purpose and functions of HRM, including managerial and operative functions, and their application in workforce planning and resourcing. The report delves into the strengths and weaknesses of various recruitment and selection approaches, such as personalized and systematic methods, alongside internal and external recruitment strategies. Furthermore, it examines the benefits of HRM practices for both employers and employees, including flexible working options, and evaluates the effectiveness of these practices in enhancing organizational profit and productivity. The impact of employee relations and legislation on HR decision-making is also discussed, offering insights into how these factors shape HR strategies. The report concludes with a summary of key HRM applications and their significance in fostering a productive and engaged workforce.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM, and their applicability to the workforce planning and
resourcing an organisation...........................................................................................................3
P2 Strengths and Weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection..................5
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................7
P3 Benefits of the HRM practices within an organisation for employer and the employee........7
P4 Evaluating the effectiveness of the HRM practices in raising the organisational profit and
productivity..................................................................................................................................9
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................10
P 5 Impact of the employee relation on the HR decisions.........................................................10
P 6 Impact of the employee legislation on the HR decision-making........................................11
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................13
P 7 applications of HRM practices............................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCE.................................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management can be considered as the function in an organization which
helps the organization by mainly focuses on the workforce planning through recruitment and
section, providing the clear guidelines to the manpower by providing the effective training and
development program to them. This functions of the human resource management also concerns
about the employees of the company by hiring, compensation, safety, benefits etc. This report of
the human resource management is based on the Merrill Lynch company based in London UK.
This company works under the financial service industry and provide the investment banking
services.
This report is going to explain the scope, purpose, nature and functions of the human
resource management in context of the workforce planning. Strength and weakness of the
different recruitment and selection method will be defined under this report. Furthermore,
benefits of the different HRM practice will be analysed for both employees and employers.
Evaluation of the different HRM practices will be done that can help to increase the profit and
productivity of the organisation. The report will give an understanding about importance of
employee relations and their how they affect HR decisions.
LO 1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM, and their applicability to the workforce planning and
resourcing an organisation.
Human resource management is considered to be the internal part of the management
which deals with the human resources available in the organisation. The objective behind
maintaining the human resource management is to maintain better relation with the humans
working in their organisation by developing, applying and evaluating the procedures, policies
and programs related to the humans for optimizing their contribution to achieve the
organizational goals and objectives. This will help Merrill Lynch to have an effective and
efficient workforce that will help the company to achieve its objectives and goals. Human
resource management takes considerable steps for having the best effective teams and plan for
the tasks which can be nest achieved by them.
Purposes of HRM
Purpose of Human resource management is concerned with managing number of employee

needs. From legal to financial matters, human resource department is concerned with
maximising efficiency of organisation.
Staffing Needs
HRM has the responsibility of appointing employees. HRM of Merrill Lynch announces position
s for duties and jobs. It determines the skills and knowledge that will be required for performing
given responsibility with efficiency. By identifying staffing needs it will be able to recruit
appropriate employees for the roles.
Performance appraisal
Another purposes of HRM is to monitor performance of employees, identifying performance is
important for employees as that will enable HR department to raise their pays and rewards.
Performance appraisal help Merrill Lynch to retain employees and also to attract new employees.
Functions of HRM
Generally, the management deals with the activities of motivating, hiring and to maintain
the workforce within the organisation. There are two types of functions of Human resource
management.
 Managerial
 Operative
Managerial Function
Planning – At planning stage the Merrill Lynch determines how many employees and
the number of professional will be required for accomplishing the organisational objectives. It
helps the management to gather information about the current and the future needs of the
company and recruitment staff accordingly (Gerpott, 2015).
Organizing – in this management identifies the core areas of the employees and then
allots task according to their skills and knowledge which will help the company to achieve target
objectives with accuracy as it will be serving in its area.

Directing – In this function the employees at every level are motivated to maximise their
efforts towards the achievement of the targeted objectives. Managers boost the maximum
potentialities within an employee to increase their efficiency.
Controlling – this is an important function of the management as it deals with having
control over the activities. This helps the organisation to know whether they are performing
towards the defined objectives or not and the management will have to take controlling actions.
Operative functions
Recruitment – this is an important function as it deals with hiring candidate for the
organisation who can perform the assigned roles and responsibilities effectively so that the
company can achieve its goals and objectives Management will have to recruit based on the
qualification and the skills they are having to perform the required job.
Training and Development- The job of the HR is not restricted to recruiting but also to
train the employees existing in the organisation. HRM of Merrill Lynch conduct programs to
train the employees for enhancing the skill and knowledge.
Maintaining effective work environment – another function of HRM is to maintain a
healthy work environment in the company to which help the company to motivate the employees
and increase their efficiency. With this management can operate more effectively and can direct
the employees towards the desired objectives of the company. Maintaining a healthy
environment will produce good relations between the management and the employees and they
will not hesitate to keep their views in favour of the company (Rousseau and Olivas‐Luján,
2015).
Hard and Soft model for workforce planning and resourcing
There are number of ways of approaching the HR management. Two of the broad
approaches are Hard and Soft.
Hard
In this approach, employees are treated just like other business resources like machine or
building. The HR manager has high focus on the corporate business plans like the resource
requirement, sources and their costing to the company. In this approach, focus on identifying the

needs of business and recruiting the staff who are strong and can help in achieving the
objectives. This process leads to short term employee retention. There is only communication
from top to bottom.
Soft
In this approach, employees are treated as important resource of the business that help the
company to gain competitive advantage in the market. Managers take care of the individual
needs and plan their roles accordingly. This approach is more successful in workforce planning
as the employees are involved when allocating the tasks, and they are allocated as per their
specific fields of interests and expertise. The approach leads to long term planning for the
workforce. In this approach there is strong two-way flow of communication (Girard and Girard,
2015).
P2 Strengths and Weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection
There are different approaches to selection
Personalised Recruitment Method – The company in this process use face to face way of
recruiting the employees. The company generally find about their backgrounds and work life.
The managers want to be very sure about the person they are recruiting for the organisation
whether an individual is fit for the role and the job.
Strength
This helps them to develop a relationship which will benefit both the company and the
organisation.
Weaknesses
Some managers are not able to identify the key skill of the candidate
Systematic recruitment method – This is the approach where the personal bias is reduced to
the minimum in the selection process. This approach requires a series of procedures which are to
be followed by the organisation for selecting the best candidates. The company following this
approach gives more satisfied candidate as they are selected on the basis of the tests performed
by them. There are 12 procedures followed in the normal recruitment process for selecting the
best out of all the candidates. Merrill Lynch is following this approach for selecting the best
candidates who helps the organisation to achieve its goals and objectives (Adekola and Sergi,
2016).

Strength
The candidates do not face any discrimination in the selection process. It provides the
company with more appropriate candidates.
Weakness
The drawback of this approach is that the company have to bear high costs for the
selection and it is also time consuming and lengthy process.
Peacock and Magpie Approach
This approach is also used by some of the organisation. In this approach the companies
take active task test for identifying the key skills and capabilities to handle any situation or high
to react on the given task. This approach is generally used for hiring the trained and experienced
employees who want the shift for higher promotions.
Strength
The benefit is that the company can get the best experienced candidate that can give the
company new heights.
Weakness Weakness of this approach is that company does not get the candidates when
in need.
Approaches of the Recruitment
There are two approaches of the recruitment which is the internal and the external
recruitment.
Internal Recruitment
Internal recruitment is the approach used for filling the vacancies in company by
employing the people who are existing within the premises of the business. The mangers of the
Merrill Lynch use this approach for recruiting the existing workforce over more suitable job that
are available in the company.
Techniques of internal Recruitment
Promotion
Promotion is a technique of internal recruitment and deals with promoting employees
who are doing their work with accuracy and efficiency . It helps them to perform even better.
Transfers
Transfers is also a technique of internal recruitment where employees are transferred to
more higher positions or to areas of their preference. When employees are given areas of their

preference they tend to increase their yielding capacity.
Strength
It helps the company to recruit the employees to more appropriate task and they do not
have hire candidates from outside.
Weakness
The employees may face discrimination in the recruitment and the promotion process.
External Recruitment
External recruitment means hiring employees from the outside the organisation. The
approach will help the mangers of Lynch to recruit candidates which have more skills and
knowledge. This approach helps the company to have mores new and innovative ideas that can
benefit the company in its growth.
Techniques of External Recruitment
Campus placement
Campus placement refers to a techniques in which companies visit institutes for directly
hiring of employees from universities. With help of this company can select students who do
not come for job interviews.
Contract Labour
In this technique labours are hired on contract. Companies give contract to contractor for
labour requirement and these contractors arrange for required labour for performing as result of
this companies do not have to research for labour.
Strength
This bring new creative and innovative ideas to the organisation thus adding their
knowledge and skills in the achievement of the organisational goals.
Weakness
The new candidates may take time in adjusting with the current environment and it cost high
to the company.
LO 2
P3 Benefits of the HRM practices within an organisation for employer and the employee
Human Resource Management deals with managing the human capital of the company.
There are several human resource practices that help the company in attracting and retaining the
employees of the company.

Flexible Working options
This is an important practice which is to be performed by the managers of the Merrill
Lynch. Flexible working options deals with working arrangements related to the location, time
and working patterns. With the rising trend of the flexible working options the Merrill Lynch is
able to retain the employees having the different thoughts about how and where they work.
Flexible working conditions is helping the company to attract more of the talented employees, in
improving the efficiency and giving more job satisfaction to the employees and loyalty to the
employers. Flexible working options helps in reducing the absenteeism and the employees’
turnover. The organisations having this practice are more adaptable to the changing conditions.
company can make out maximum benefit by monitoring, evaluating and embedding the flexible
working conditions which will the company to achieve its objectives in an efficient and effective
manner (Cascio, 2015).
Benefits to the Merrill Lynch
The company will be getting the work done within time frame even when the employees
take the work to be done according to their preference like work from home. The employees will
develop trust towards the organisation. This will help the company to reduce its costs and time as
the employees would be working as per their comfort. The company can increase the staff hours
of the employees if they avail the flexible working options. The company will get more time to
enhance the performance of the employees by training the staff. It will help company to reach its
targeted objectives. When the employees work as per their condition they prove to be more
efficient and provide the company with new ideas of working in different environment and
circumstances.
Benefits to Employees
With the flexible conditions employees can begin their work at their suitable times and
finish that within the limits. This help the employees to work more efficiently. Employee will
work for the same number of hours which will help them to get the full pay for the work done.
The employees would be complete their working hours as per options. The employee can
complete bits working hours even in less than 5 days. With the flexible working hours’ employee
can also focus on enhancing their skills and knowledge. The employees can even focus on other
works for enhancing their skills

Skills monitoring and Training
This is an important practice of HR as it deals with monitoring key skill of employees and
providing specific training to enhance the skills of employees in tat particular field. It is
important technique as it company will arrange for training and skill development programs for
company.
Benefits to company
It is beneficial for company as it will be identifying the skill of employees at which they are
good. With specialisation they will perform their task with much efficiency enabling company to
achieve its objectives.
Benefits to Employees
Monitoring is training not only benefits company but also employees. Developing skill by
training will enhance individual personality of employees and motivate them to perform better.
This will realise them that their work is recognised.
P4 Evaluating the effectiveness of the HRM practices in raising the organisational profit and
productivity.
HRM plays a vital role in enhancing the performance of the employees which will be
ultimately increasing the profits and productivity of Merrill Lynch. Practice used by the HR for
enhancing the productivity and increasing the profits of the company.
Training and Development
Training and development process are performed for improving the performance of the
employees. It can be also defined as the educational process that will help in sharpening the
skills, concepts and to increase the efficiency of the employees. New methods are always
required to be explained to the employees through proper trainings. Training and developments
programs may focus on improving the skills and experience of the individual or the teams which
will increase the productivity of the company thereby increasing the profits of the Lynch.
Organisations have to identify the needs of employees and the change in them over period of
time. The training of the employees always results in the increased productivity and increased
profits. Developing refers to preparing the staff for the change which comes in form of new job
responsibilities and requirements. Training and Development is necessary for meeting the

challenges created in the market for helping the organisation to increase its productivity and the
profits of the company. It directly impacts on the efficiency of the employees for increasing the
profits and the productivity of the company (Morgeson, Brannick and Levine, 2019)
Payment and Reward Management
Rewarding and paying employees is an effective tool that have benefited both the
employer and the employee. Thorough the reward the employees have increased their morale
and efficiency level which help the company to improve the productivity and the profits.
Rewards can be in the form of pays, incentives, appreciation and the promotions. Rewarding
gives the employees a sense of recognition that enhances the performance which increasing the
productivity and that will help the company to increase its profits. Rewarding is proved to be the
most effective and successful tool for motivating the employees increasing the productivity of
the company. When the performance of the employees it will lead to increased productivity and
increased productivity help it to attain higher profits.
LO 3
P 5 Importance of the employee relation on the HR decisions
Relation of the employee and employers play the vital role in any organization. As every
individual in the organization share the relationship in the organization with his or her
colleagues. This relationship can be warm or can be bad. As in the Merrill Lynch company, this
relationship also plays the important role and also affect the HR decision of the company
(Berman and et.al., 2019). This relationship in the company can be between the co-workers,
between the superiors and employees, between the two members of the organization. If they
share the healthy relationship at work place, then they can deliver their full potential.
 Good employee relation at the Merrill lynch, help the company to create the healthy and
positive work environment, where each and every employee can work effectively with
their full potentials. This healthy relation gives the strength to the HR of the company to
make their policies (Stewart and Brown, 2019). For example, if there are healthy relation
between the employees in Merrill Lynch, they will give their best with co-ordination of
peers, then this give strength to the HR, as they will create the policies to give
appreciation to recognize the best performance of their employees. Good relations will

make HR to consider their issues and they will take their decisions accordingly keeping
in mind their needs.
 If employees of an organization do not behave as according to the norms of the company,
it creates the negative environment and also do not share the health relation with their
colleagues, then this situation affect the other colleagues and their performance as well.
This distinction also affects the decision of the HR. for example, if employees of Merrill
Lynch create negative environment and not behave positively with their colleagues the
HR of the company have to take strict decision to terminate them from the company.
 However, the relationship between the employees and their superior is good, but if
superiors of the company will show favouritism then this will create the conflict situation
in the company and HR managers have to take decisions in the direction resolve this
conflict (Lee and et.al., 2019). For example, if superiors of the Merrill Lynch, will show
favouritism with their colleagues, this will create conflict within the organization, so in
order to resolve this, HR managers of Merrill Lynch will have to make decision to
change the structure to maintain the equality at workplace.
 As good and healthy relationship in the organization help to increase the productivity of
employees and organization, whereas bad and negative relationship among the employees
affect the productivity and performance of the employees. In this HR management take
decision to provide them training and development to improve their performance. For
example, if there is negative relation among the employees which affect the performance
of the employees and decrease the productivity. In this case, HR managers of Merrill
Lynch, provide the effective training and development program which will help to
enhance their skill and also influence them to maintain healthy relation at workplace.
Strategies to improve the employee relation
In the direction to improve the employee relation in Merrill Lynch company HR
managers can apply different tactics, such as:
They can conduct many group tasks and activity for the employees. In which each
employee equally contributes in the task to achieve the target. In this kind of the task employees
do not have any choice except to trust their peers and they will help each other (Peccei and Van
De Voorde, 2019). This will help to increase the trust and make healthy relation between