MG411: People Management Report - Contemporary Issues Analysis

This report delves into the intricacies of people management, examining contemporary challenges faced by line managers, particularly within the UK supermarket sector. It explores the essential knowledge, behaviors, and skills required for effective people management, emphasizing team building and motivational strategies. The report highlights the significance of human resource processes in supporting and underpinning management practices, particularly concerning performance management. Through case studies of companies such as Tesco, Asda, and Morrison, the report illustrates practical applications of leadership theories, training and development methodologies, and performance review systems. It offers recommendations for enhancing people management and concludes with an overview of key findings. The report also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on management practices, considering the evolving landscape of the workplace.

Introduction to People
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Contemporary issues face line management when it comes to people management..................4
Knowledge, behaviour and skills required to be an effective people manager...........................5
Human resource process support and underpin management at the time of effective
performance management...........................................................................................................8
RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................................8
CONCLSUSION..............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
People management is termed as set of practices which cover the end-to-end procedure of
talent retention, acquisition and optimization at the time of providing continued support for the
organisation & guidance for the staff members of company. In addition to this, it is a sub-set of
HRM which involve the aspects that is how people act, behave, grow & engage at work. People
management impact on the efficiency as well as performance of staff members which in turn
impact on the growth & development of company(Armstrong and Taylor, 2020). Along with
this, it is a process of guiding, directing & motivating employees with an objective to promote
and optimize workplace productivity in an effective manner.
HRM plays an important role in order to manage people as they are involved in
formulating and developing policies with an objective to motivate, retain as well as manage staff
members of the organisation. The different examples of company is used in the report such as
ASDA, Tesco and Morission. These are the supermarkets of UK and has high market presence.
The report describes contemporary issues face line management at the time of people
management. In addition to this, the skills, knowledge & behaviour required to develop an
effective people manager is elaborated. Furthermore, Human resource process support as well as
underpin management at the time of people management.
MAIN BODY
Contemporary issues face line management when it comes to people management
In every company, there are some issues arise at the time of managing people working
within the organisation. It is significant for organisation like Tesco, which is a multinational
grocer and retailer to deal with such challenges in an effective and proper manner as it affect on
productivity as well as performance of organisation (Banfield, Kay and Royles, 2018). The
different problems or issues faced by line manager at the time of people management is discuss
below in context to Tesco:
Leadership development:
It is associated with the activities which enhance knowledge, abilities and skills of leaders
of an organisation. In addition to this, it is associated with the performing & execution of
business activities by employees of Tesco. It is stated that an effective leadership roles help in
execution of activities because of which organisation attain higher growth as well as success.

There are various theories and models used by leaders of Tesco in order to deal with the issue
and to guide its staff members, which is given below:
Contingency theory: This leadership theory describe that there is no effective and
specific way to deal as well as manage the situations which occur at any point of time. In
addition to this, it is determined that external and internal factors are significant and valuable for
dealing with the problems which result out in high growth & development (Farndale, Mayrhofer
and Brewster, 2018). With reference to Tesco, its line managers uses contingency leadership
style as it assist in dealing as well as managing conflicts that is occur at any time. Furthermore, it
also assist in maintaining level of productivity and performance during managing of people in
organisation.
Training & development:
It is one of the crucial aspect which assist an organisation to improve knowledge
capabilities as well as skills of employees which influence positively on business efficiency and
profitability. The issue here that is faced by line manager is the requirement of employees is
different to take training and fulfilling such needs at one point is difficult for the line managers.
It is significant for organisation to emphasis on the requirements of training and then set the
subject and time period of training. Moreover, it is also significant for line managers of Tesco to
focus on whether the requirement is fulfilled by training or not as it help in managing people in
an appropriate manner.
The line manager of Tesco make use of experimental and cognitive learning theories as it
focus on the needs of individual learner instead of group learner. Along with this, it help Tesco
to optimally utilise the knowledge, skills as well as capabilities of staff members because of
which there is increase in performance and growth of company in the market.
Theory of reinforcement: This theory mainly focus on the suggestions and behaviour of
people individually in order to achieve positive outcome timely and effectively (Hurmelinna-
Laukkanen and Olander, 2019). This concept is associated with the reinforcement to employees
with an objective of expansion related with training programmes of organisation. It is determine
that Tesco give both financial and non-financial incentives to its employees such as insurance,
family holiday packages, salary hike, promotion, appraisals and many more. All this will help in
enhancing the performance of employees and also assist in dealing with the issues in an
appropriate manner.

Knowledge, behaviour and skills required to be an effective people manager
People in an organisation plays an important role in deciding whether organisation will
get success or a failure. It becomes important for management of a company to hire a people
manager who have good attributes and skills that prove efficient for an organisation. The skills,
behaviour and knowledge required in an effective people manager are as follows:
TEAM building:
It refers to combining the efforts of group of people towards completion of desired goal
or objectives. It is considered as an important skill as it leads to optimum utilisation of resources
and avoids the duplication of work in an organisation. In relation to Asda, the managers provides
extra incentives to employees in order to maintain the positive attitude towards organisation.
They also focus to establish friendly working environment conditions for its employees in order
to achieve the efficiency in work and to extract the maximum output from team (Khan and
Millner, 2020). The higher authorities of Asda make use of Tuckman team development theory
that include five stages, which are as follows:
Forming: This stage involves forming up of friendly relations with the team members
and realising them that they are important part of team. The team members are clear about the
roles as well as responsibilities which is needed to be perform for the completion of task on time.
Storming: In this stage, an informal discussion is been carried with the team and is
consider as the most difficult one as each member is been given chance to express their views
individually, which as a result lead to disagree of team goals and may arise conflicts. Hence, the
team leader should posses the quality of patience in order to avoid any grudges in team.
Norming: After going through the stage of Storming, the boiling environment of the
team tends to lower down and sense of cooperation as well as unity arises.
Performing: It is also known as the mature stage, Herein the members of the team is
well developed and sense of being on top arises. Along with this, production and growth tends
to increase as members in team knows their responsibilities and are well experienced to complete
it in an effective way.
Adjourning: It is considered as the last stage, here team goals and achievement are been
accomplished already, this stage is all about the wrapping up of the team with a smile of success
on the faces of members of team.

This theory helps management of Asda to carry out it's activities in efficient manner,
which helps them to maintain it's good reputation in marketplace and also assist in cost reduction
techniques that ultimately contributes to profit maximization of a business firm.
Motivation
It refers to an intangible force that boosts up the performances of employees working in
an organisation by providing them good working environment and fulfilling their basic needs
such as job security, food, water and many more (Moran, 2016). In regards to Asda, it's
management makes sure that the people in a company are provided with enough motivational
factors to plough best to their efficiency. Generally Maslow's theory of motivation is
implemented in most of organisations and is considered to be the best motivational theory in
order to motivate employees, which are as follows:
Maslow hierarchy of needs:
Figure 1Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs
(Source: Motivation Theories, 2020)
Physiological needs: It includes basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter etc. Asda,
fulfils these type of needs for it's employees by providing them enough pay or salary as well.

Safety: It refers to establishment of safe working environment and also relates to security
of once job. It's objective is to provide safe environment to it's employees so that they perform
without any fear of loosing job from the respective organisation.
Social or Belongingness needs: This need state about the sense of belongingness of an
employee towards an organisation. With regards to Asda, it gives friendly working environment
to it's employees and also explains the importance of their existence in the company.
Self-esteem needs: In this, it is been considered that appreciation to employees plays an
important part in boosting up the morale and also encourages them to give level best towards the
accomplishment of goal of company's objective (Schur, Colella and Adya, 2016). In relation to
Asda, its management takes interest in giving appreciation for good work by the employee.
Self-actualisation: It relates to providing the sense of belongingness to employee
towards an organisation, it highly aims at promoting innovative ideas and thoughts at workplace.
The above mentioned theories enables a business firm to get it's employees motivated
and to extract out their best that will ultimately contribute towards growth and development of
business entity.
Human resource process support and underpin management at the time of effective performance
management
It is stated that human resource process supports organisation to manage the performance
of employees that affect on the productivity and profitability of company. There are various
techniques used by Morrison, which is one of the largest supermarket chain of UK for effective
performance management, which are as follows:
 Performance management review: It is significant for an organisation to review and
focus on the performance of employees as it assist in making improvements which in turn
help in meeting with the targets. Along with this, it is determine that the performance
review aid in effective decision-making that leads to achievement of higher growth and
success as well. In context to Morrison, its HR manager and higher authorities make use
of performance management review system as it help in execution of activities that
improves and enhance the performance of organisation. It is analysed that with the
assistance of such method, it is easy for company to identify the level of performance and

accordingly give feedback to employees that not only help in professional development
but also assist in gaining personal growth.
 360 degree appraisal: It is analysed that HR process underpin an organisation to
effectively manage the performance in an effective manner. In 360 degree appraisal
method, the feedback is given by employees, colleagues and higher authorities which is
anonymous (Thomas, 2019). This help in raising the effectiveness of staff members as
they get to know about their weaknesses and strength from other members of
organisation which in turn impact positively on the performance of respective company.
So it is significant for company to use human resource processes as it assist in review the
performance of staff members with the help of such strategies and methods. Along with this, it
help in raising the skills, capabilities and knowledge of employees that leads to raise in
productivity as well as profitability of an respective organisation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
 It is suggested to the managers of Morrison to keep on measuring performance of staff
members and also take feedback from them regarding the activities they perform as it
assist in managing as well as maintaining the performance of organisation.
 Another recommendation to Morrison is, it should allow staff members to participate in
decision-making process as it help in bringing out their creativity and productivity
(Wilton, 2016). Along with this, it also assist in making employees feel valued as well as
important at workplace because of which they work with full potential to achieve set
objectives.
 It is suggested that development of effective and proper job description will assist
organisation to recruit right person who has the capability to perform activities and reach
company towards higher growth and success.
CONCLSUSION
From the above study, it is concluded that it is vital for a business entity to manage
people for maintaining the efficiency and performance in an appropriate manner. Along with
this, it is determine that there are many issues or problems faced by line managers at the time of
people management that is requirements of employees is different to take training, leadership
development and many more. Moreover, the different skills, knowledge as well as capabilities is

needed for being a people manager and these are conflict management, motivation, team
development, time management etc. There are various HR strategies and process that support in
enhancing the performance of employees and result out in high profitability such as 360 degree
appraisal, performance management review etc. Furthermore, it is important for an organisation
to put emphasis on the requirements of its employees as it help in easy managing of people along
with the activities.

REFERENCES
Books & Journal
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2020. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Banfield, P., Kay, R. and Royles, D., 2018. Introduction to human resource management.
Oxford University Press.
Farndale, E., Mayrhofer, W. and Brewster, C., 2018. The meaning and value of comparative
human resource management: an introduction. In Handbook of research on comparative
human resource management. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, P. and Olander, H., 2019. Introduction to managing people for
technological innovation. Int. J. Technology Management. 79(3/4). p.211.
Khan, N. and Millner, D., 2020. Introduction to People Analytics: A Practical Guide to Data-
driven HR. Kogan Page Publishers.
Moran, E.F., 2016. People and nature: An introduction to human ecological relations. John
Wiley & Sons.
Schur, L., Colella, A. and Adya, M., 2016. Introduction to special issue on people with
disabilities in the workplace.
Thomas, N. ed., 2019. Renal Nursing: Care and Management of People with Kidney Disease.
John Wiley & Sons.
Wehrmeyer, W. ed., 2017. Greening people: Human resources and environmental management.
Routledge.
Wilton, N., 2016.An introduction to human resource management. Sage.