Comprehensive Report: Working with and Leading People, HR Perspective

This report, based on a case study of the Purple Mail Company (PM Company), addresses critical aspects of working with and leading people within an HR context. It begins by detailing the documentation required for staff recruitment, including job descriptions and specifications, while also examining the legal, regulatory, and ethical considerations that influence the selection process. The report then analyzes the skills and attributes essential for effective leadership, differentiating between leadership and management styles and comparing various approaches for different situations. Furthermore, it explores strategies for motivating staff to achieve organizational objectives. The report also evaluates the benefits of team working and addresses the challenges of leading and participating in teams towards achieving specific goals, including conflict resolution. Finally, it examines factors involved in planning, monitoring, and assessing work performance, including the assessment of individual development needs and evaluating the success of the assessment process. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the HR challenges and solutions in a leadership and management context.

Working With and Leading People
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................4
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Documentation to select and recruit a new staff member..........................................................4
1.2 Impact of legal, regulatory and ethical considerations to the recruitment and selection process
.........................................................................................................................................................5
1.3 Participation in selection process...............................................................................................5
1.4 Evaluation of own contribution in the selection process...........................................................6
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Skills and attributes needed for leadership................................................................................6
2.2 Difference between leadership and management......................................................................7
2.3 Comparison of leadership styles for different situations...........................................................7
2.4 Ways to motivate staff to achieve objectives.............................................................................8
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Benefits of team working for PM organisation..........................................................................9
3.2 Working in a team as a leader and member towards specific goals, dealing with any conflict
or difficult situations........................................................................................................................9
3.3 Effectiveness of the team in achieving the goals.....................................................................10
TASK 4...............................................................................................................................................10
4.1 Factors involved in planning the monitoring and assessment of work performance...............10
4.2 Assessment of the development needs of individuals..............................................................11
4.3 Evaluation of the success of the assessment process...............................................................12
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................13
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Difference between leadership and management....................................................................7
Table 2 Comparison of leadership styles for different situations.........................................................8
Table 3Assessment plan of development needs of individuals..........................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
An organization can effectively lead by it good working and professional employees. They
give a new direction to the business by attaining the set goals and objectives (Bush and
Middlewood, 2013). The present report is based on working with and leading people. To understand
its significance within the company, Purple Mail Company case study into the consideration. As per
the given case scenario, it has determined that cited company is one of the largest courier firms in
UK. Currently, organization is facing leadership, management and administrative problems. Due to
this, from last years, company has loosened its market share as well as loyal customers. Along with
this, many of the employees at different positions have left the enterprise. The following assignment
will focus over how to develop the skills and knowledge needed for working with and leading
others, through understanding the importance of recruiting the right people for the job.
TASK 1
1.1 Documentation to select and recruit a new staff member
As per then given case study, it has determined that PM Company has faced several issues
over the time. They are poor leadership, management and administration problems which has
affected business operational activities and increase employees as well as customer retention ratio.
As the newly appointed HR manager, he has responsible for preparing the documentation towards
selection and recruitment process for hiring the new staff member for the cited company (Lev,
2013). In this context, for recruiting of new employees, documentation of job description and
specification process is as follows:
PM Company, UK
Operation Manager Job Description
Location : London, UK
Department : Operation department in PM Courier Company
Reporting: CEO of the company
Job purpose: To enhance courier delivery process in various areas of London and deal with other
related problems of department.
Primary Duties: Customer services, work as a manager, operation of point of delivery, categorizes
couriers as per the locations of London.
Other Duties: Acting as a leader to train part time employees and maintain the quality standards as
required.
Salary: $ 5500-$7500+ incentive
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Application online apply date: 24th January, 2017.
Closing date: 24th February, 2017.
(For additional information, please go through the following link: www.pmcompanyUK.com or
mail on [e-mail])
PM Company, UK
Operation Manager Specification
Qualification: Post Graduate in Operations and Graduate in Retail Operational area
Experience: Minimum 4 to 6 years working experience in operation areas from the well-known and
reputed company.
Areas of expertise: Good knowledge of basic presentations, able to sort the couriers as per the
locations and knowledge of distribution and logistics.
Other required skills: Sufficient knowledge of basic computer applications, leadership skills, able
to complete all duties etc.
1.2 Impact of legal, regulatory and ethical considerations to the recruitment and selection process
According to the given case study, it has been clear that PM Company has faced several
management and administration issues along leadership problems. To deal with these entire
loopholes, firm is planning to hire new staff members. In this context, some regulations, legal and
ethical consideration would be taking into the consideration at the time of selection and recruitment
process. The impacts of these are on hiring procedure is as follows:
Impact of Sex Discrimination act: If cited company follow that regulation during hiring new
personnel than its impact will all participants will get equal chance to prove themselves. By this,
management will able to right candidates for the right job positions (Stanleigh, 2013).
Impact of Employment Equality act: The impact of following regulation on PM Company
selection process is management give equal employment opportunities to all age groups. It will
make the hiring procedure simple and easier (Mayfield, 2014).
Impact of Race Relation act: This regulation will minimize the issue of race relation discrimination
with candidates in selection process. The impact of this cited company will avoid enlisting preferred
nationality in job description and advertisement (Hellman, 2012).
1.3 Participation in selection process
To deal with all kind of operational and management issues, PM Company has planned to
appoint some new staff members. In this case, being as an HR manager of the firm, I have
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participated in the selection process of new employees which is as follows:
Preparing selection and recruitment panel: As a HR manager of cited company, I have prepared
selection and recruitment panel to hire operation manager. The board of selection and recruitment
has included three major members: CEO, Director of company and HR manager. They have taken
the interview of candidates (Brookfield, 2010).
Short listing of applicants: As an HR manager, I have short listed of applicants who have applied
for Operation manager position. By considering all criteria, I have selected those candidates who
are actually suitable for vacant job position.
Interviews: The short listed candidates have invited by me for further interview process where
different exams and interview has held by interview panel (Anderson and Anderson, 2010).
Appointment: Selected candidates have given appointment letters by me who has satisfied with
their knowledge and skills to interview panel along with this attain maximum criteria of selection
and recruitment process of PM Company.
1.4 Evaluation of own contribution in the selection process
Being as an HR manager of PM Company, I have participated in recruitment and selection
of new employees. From the evaluation of my contribution, I have determined that prepared job
description and job specification document has as per the legal and regulatory rules. During
interview and other process, there have not discrimination made with candidates at any level. Along
with this, I have effectively shortlisted the applicants further selection procedure. At the time
appointing them, I have properly cross checked backgrounds of all candidates in an effective
manner. From the above evaluation, it has been determined that I have effectively contributed in the
selection process of new personnel.
TASK 2
2.1 Skills and attributes needed for leadership
As per the given case study, it has been clearly demonstrated that CEO of PM Company has
worked as a leader with the aim of improve entire management and other areas of business. For this,
some important and essential leadership skills will require which is as follows:
Vision: PM Company CEO should have a clear vision about his duties and responsibilities. He has
to give emphasis over bring improvement in employees performance and their productivity. He has
to adopt some strategies that can able to bring enhancement in business performance (Maxwell,
2005).
Confidence: CEO of PM Company has to develop a positive confidence along with this good
knowledge of own strengths and weaknesses. This will help in lead whole organization in the right
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direction and solve various management and administration issues.
Motivation: In order to motivate the staff members, it becomes important for CEO of cited
company to self-motivated first. For this, he has to consider unique and effective motivational
methods that can able to encourage him to work for the organization with good efforts. This will
represent a good example in front of the employees (Kilpatrick, 2013).
2.2 Difference between leadership and management
For an organization, leadership and management features become very important. Leaders
give a new direction to their followers to attain the objectives while managers use various
management techniques to keep engage the employees in the work. In the case of PM Company, it
has essential to change the management and leadership styles so that current issues can be resolved
in an effective manner. In this context, difference between leadership and management is as
follows:
Table 1 Difference between leadership and management
Subject Leadership Management
Role Able to bring changes Able to give stability in organization
Focus Leading the team Managing team members and their work
Approach Defining directions to move Plan objectives and goals for the
organization
Style Transformational (Boone, 2015) Transactional
Values Success Outcomes
Concern Performing the right thing in right
directions
Making things accurate and favourable
Actions Proactive Reactive
Risk Believe in taking the risks Believe in reducing risks
Rules Believe in breach the rules Believe in formulating the rules.
Exchange Enthusiasm for work Work for money (Rodríguez-Carvajal, de
Rivas and et.al., 2014)
Goals Long term Short term
Search for Vision Objectives
2.3 Comparison of leadership styles for different situations
As per the given case study, it has been found that PM Company previous manager was used
autocratic leadership all the time. Due to this, employees were not included in any decision making
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process. It was making several negative impacts on business and its operational activities. To
overcome the issues, some leadership styles for different situations can be adopted by cited
company which is as follows:
Table 2 Comparison of leadership styles for different situations
Leadership
style
Explanations Situations
Role theory Under this, management defines roles
for personnel as per the expectation
level and attain the better outcomes
(Adair, 2007).
It can be followed by PM Company in
order to assign the roles and
responsibility to the employees
according to their skills and
capabilities.
Contingency
theory
Here, as per the situation of workplace,
leader follows particular leadership
style.
By understand the present situation of
workplace; PM Company leaders can
follow this leadership style. This will
help in resolve various issues between
the staff and top management (Heath,
2012).
Autocratic
style
This is used by the leaders to take
important decisions in the favour of
business excluding involvement of the
employees (Nkomo and Kriek, 2011).
To take several businesses related
important decisions, such as expansion
of the business, increase market share
etc. PM Company can follow autocratic
leadership style.
Democratic
style
Under this, employees become part of
decision making process of the
organization where they gives their
suggestions and management take final
decision on the basis of it.
In the case of PM Company,
management include its employees in
several kinds of decisions such as
management of courier operations,
introduce new services etc (Goetsch
and Davis, 2014).
2.4 Ways to motivate staff to achieve objectives
To motivate the staff member, PM Company can consider some unique ways to motivate
employees to attain set objectives. In this context, few motivational strategies are as follows:
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Fair wages: By giving fair and reasonable wages to personnel as per their current performance and
capabilities, PM Company can motivate its employees in the right direction. It will assist them to
enhance their level of efforts to achieve objectives (Holmes, 2014).
Health and safety with good working environment: By giving safe and healthy working
environment to the employees, PM Company can motivate them in an effective way. For example,
by medical assurance and job security, it will become easy to create a positive working environment
at the workplace. This will inspire them to improve current performance level and able to attain
business objectives in an effective manner (O'Loughlin, 2011).
TASK 3
3.1 Benefits of team working for PM organisation
According to the given case study, it has been clear that PM Company has faced several
issues such as poor customer services, management, administration etc. These all can only be
resolved with team working. This will deliver several benefits to cited organization which are as
follows:
Efficiency growth: It is one of the most important benefits for team work that can help PM
Company to enhance profitability, productivity and efficiency of the employees as well as business.
This will increase the involvement of the staff members in various decision making process. With
the help of team working spirit, whole work will effectively manage and complete on time with
expected deliverables. It will assist in sharing of roles and responsibilities between personnel. The
overall benefit of team working for PM Company will be enhanced efficiency of workers and
organization also (Goffee and Jones, 2013).
Develop employee relation: A good team working help in developing a mutual understanding
between the team members that leads to build a good relation among them. By considering the
following benefit; PM Company will able to develop a good relation between employee and
employee as well as employer and workers (Fullan, 2014).
3.2 Working in a team as a leader and member towards specific goals, dealing with any conflict or
difficult situations
The given case scenario has demonstrated that over the time, many of the employees at
various positions have left in the company because PM Company has faced various serious issues.
In this context, it has planned by the management to hire new staffs so that business can be brought
again on track. For this, it becomes important to develop a team work between personnel. To
understand working in a team as a leader and member towards attain goals or dealing with conflicts,
Balbin theory can be taken into the consideration.
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Coordinator: This is also known with the name of leader where he is responsible for setting
of objectives and goals for the organization and employees of PM Company. It also motivates staffs
to attain develop objectives with huge efforts (Blanchard, 2010).
Shaper: The role of shaper is allocating roles and responsibilities to team members as per
their abilities and skills. He focuses over completion of the assign work within the given time
frame.
Resource investigator: This person is looking towards the opportunities for PM Company
from where various resources can be gathered to complete operational activities.
Implementer: There are the team members who implement the ideas and strategies of the
cited firm as per the defined action plan (Goleman, 2010).
Finisher: These are those team members who find the easy and simple way to finish all
assign work and effectively execute strategies.
Monitor and evaluator: These team members of PM Company monitor and evaluate the
performance of other team member by using different methods (Miller and Rollnick, 2012).
3.3 Effectiveness of the team in achieving the goals
In the case of PM Company, issues face by the organization has resolved by team work. This
concept will assist the firm to attain goals and business objectives. Effectiveness of the team in
achieving defines goals in the context of cited company is as follows:
 Team members have become a clear vision towards the action plans which has enable them
to attain objectives and goals.
 Team members have understood their roles and responsibilities to perform assign work.
 It has enabled team members to optimum utilization of existing resources by attaining the
business goals (Gwyer, 2010).
 It has increased the understanding of team me members towards each other which has
enhanced their current knowledge level.
 Team working has enhanced overall productivity and performance of the employees and
business in an effective manner (Bush and Middlewood, 2013).
TASK 4
4.1 Factors involved in planning the monitoring and assessment of work performance
By considering various factors that involved in planning the monitoring and assessment of
work performance of employees of PM Company can be done. Explanations of these elements are
as follows:
360 degree feedback: It helps the cited firm to monitor and assess the performance of employees. In
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this, peer groups give feedback for individual which allows HR manager of the company to measure
the current performance level of the employees (Lev, 2013).
Appraisal process: It is one of the effective processes of determine the work performance of
personnel. Under this, PM Company can set various appraisal criteria where it becomes easy to
monitor the performance of staffs in most effective manner.
Benchmarking: Under this, PM Company develops some benchmark for all employees. It
facilitates in monitoring and assesses work performance of workers on different key performance
indicators (Stanleigh, 2013).
4.2 Assessment of the development needs of individuals
In order to determine the development needs of individuals within the organization, PM
Company can develop a plan regarding this. The step of following action is explaining in below
table.
Table 3Assessment plan of development needs of individuals
Activities Descriptions
Determining
individual needs
and reasons of their
development needs
Under this step, needs and requirements of development of employees
determine. Along with this, the reason of the develop needs also try to
determines by HR manager of PM Company by considering various factors
such as lacking of the skills, less coordination among leader and team
members, poor performance etc (Mayfield, 2014).
Selecting learning
style and process
On the basis of determine development needs of the staff members, HR
manager of cited organization select some learning styles by which their
requirements can be meet.
Formulating and
implementing
leaning plan
In this, a plan prepares by HR manager of PM Company to meet the
development needs of individuals in an appropriate manner. A per the set
activities, whole plan execute and try to deliver require knowledge and
skills to staffs (Hellman, 2012).
Encouraging
individual for
lifelong learning
After delivering of development needs to individual, HR manager of
company encourage the employees to adopt lifelong learning concept.
Monitoring and
evaluating process
This is the final stage where performance of personnel monitors and
evaluates on the basis of deliver development needs. It will assist the
management of PM Company to determine the present knowledge and skills
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of employees by using various methods.
4.3 Evaluation of the success of the assessment process
From the evaluation of the success of the assessment process of PM Company, it has been
determined that the following process has helped the employees to enhance their performance level
as per the set criteria. It has increased the current knowledge of the staff members and upgrades
their skills as well as capabilities. Along with this, personnel have adopted the lifelong learning
concept to lean the thing from various ways (Brookfield, 2010). It has brought the changes in
behaviour of the employees and has improved coordination between team members. In addition,
assessment process has enhanced overall productivity of PM Company.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be conclude that PM Company has adopted right leadership
style as per the situation at workplace. It has assisted in lead the whole organization in the right
direction. By using unique and effective motivational strategies, management has able to enhanced
motivational level of the workers. On the other hand, there have several benefits of team working
for the cited organization. From the review of review of team working, it has determined the
effectiveness of the team in achieving the goals. Along with this, there have many factors involved
in planning the monitoring and assessment of work performance of personnel.
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