Human Resource Management Practices at Merrill Lynch

Desklib provides solved assignments and past papers to help students succeed.

Human Resource Management
1

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................9
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................12
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
Reference List................................................................................................................................22
2

Introduction
A company needs many resources to perform the managerial and other activities. Therefore, the
procedure of choosing, enrolling, providing training is known as management of human resource
(Hollenbeck et al., 2017). The finalisation of compensation and incentives, motivation of the
labourers is within the scope of HRM. In this research, the human resource management of a
Merrill Lynch would be monitored, covering the different approaches that the company has
adopted analysing their weakness and strength. In addition this research would also include
compliances that the company follows in HRM. This study would also have specimen of CV, job
application, agenda of training and personal interview questions making the job role of human
resource managers more clear. Merrill Lynch is a wealth and investing management department
of the Bank of America. The headquarters of the enterprise is in New York City, US and was set
up in 1914 by Charles E. Merrill. It provides the service of management of asset and investment
to people. 15, 100 is the employee strength of the company as on 2019 (ml.com, 2019).
3

Task 1
P1. Explain the purpose and the functions of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and
resourcing an organisation.
The system designed formally to deal with people of an enterprise is known as HRM. The
purpose of human resource management of Merrill Lynch is to frame and design benefits and
compensation of the employee including the employing and staffing of the workers in designated
areas and posts (Arevshatian et al., 2016).
Hiring the appropriate people for appropriate designation
It is the responsibility and most essential purpose of HRM to hire correct people who would be
appropriate for the desired company and job. It is also the purpose of HRM to find out the
efficiency and effectiveness of selected candidate to make sure they are fit for the job
academically and personally (Arevshatian et al., 2016). The workforce planning aims at making
human resources available as and when required to the workplace. The management of human
resource of the Merrill Lynch makes it possible to have the workers who are capable enough to
fit into the job role.
Compliance of law
Another purpose of human resource management is to proper compliance of human rights act
and other obligatory laws such as employment act. HRM ensure that the workers of the company
are happy and content while delivering their job. This ensure better productivity and moreover
better results for the company (Arevshatian et al., 2016). The aim of the workforce planning of
Merrill Lynch gets fulfilled because a proper compliance of law helps the company to retain
workers and maintain the continuous supply of able work force.
Functions of Human Resource Management
Benefits and compensation – Merrill Lynch understands that the main purpose of the workers
of a company is to get properly paid for the services they are paying to the company. The
compensation and benefits of the employee of the company is divided into certain section
variable pay, fixed pay, payment of equity, accommodation, medical, and insurance (Sparrow
4

and Otaye-Ebede, 2017). The company attributes 30% of the total labour cost for benefits and
compensation. This helps in the aim of workforce planning to keep the labourers motivated and
job centred.
Development and training - The Merrill Lynch organisation has a subsystem that pressurises on
the improvisation of the knowledge and working ability of workers working in groups or
individually (Sparrow and Otaye-Ebede, 2017). The company provides training the current
employees to help them enhance their capabilities and to new workers to help them understand
their job role. The training programmes that the company renders to the workers help them to lay
down a clear basis of their concepts, thoughts and ideas. Therefore, the aim of the workforce
planning of the company to customise their workers’ thoughts to achieve their objectives and
targets is fulfilled.
Maintenance of amiable working conditions in the organisation - The HRM of Merrill Lynch
aims at maintaining and providing amiable environment of working to the workers so that they
develop a liking for the place they working. They act as podium between the employer and
workers, and establish a thorough connection between them so that they hear each other
(Sparrow and Otaye-Ebede, 2017). Moreover, the company has come up with a new concept
known as welfare of the employees to regulate satisfaction of job among their workers.
P2. Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and
selection.
Different companies adopt different strategies for recruitment and selection process and they
have different pros and cons attached to them. In the research below, the weaknesses and
strengths of the recruitment and selection process of the Merrill Lynch have been discussed.
External Recruitment
The procedure that the company applies to follow to fill the vacancy through selection of the
candidates that are external to the company (McManus et al., 2019.) Merrill Lynch adopts
methods such as employment agencies, internship, advertising and fairs relating to job.
Strength
5

 One of the important things that a company looks from external recruitment is fulfilment
of its requirement of appointing experienced and qualified candidates. The company
through advertising is able to find such candidates (Dany and Torchy, 2017).
 External recruitment helps the company to find out workers who can provide for exciting
and creative ideas for growth and expansion of companies.
Weakness
 The workers who join through external recruitment are less aware about scope of the
company and require appropriate trainings to get used to the ambience of the company
(Dany and Torchy, 2017).
 There is a chance that the workers hired through external recruitment are not appropriate
for the required position. Therefore, external recruitment holds great amount of such
risks.
Internal Recruitment
When the current or existing workplace is the source of recruitment for the company to fill in
any vacant position, it is known as internal recruitment (Abzug, 2017). There are certain
advantages of this process, they are:
Strength
 It is a simple process not as cumbersome as external recruitment as it involves less
number of paperwork.
 The employee recruited through such process already knows about the ambience of the
company properly. The company does not need much of effort and training to make him
aware of ambience of the company (Abzug, 2017). Therefore, it is a less risky process.
Weakness
 The internal recruitment process lacks multiplicity. In order to ensure growth company
may need someone with diverse and impeccable knowledge and ideas.
6

 Internal recruitment makes the environment of the company dormant. The reason is that
the workers become very lenient and comfortable and it becomes difficult for the
company to find out the inefficiencies.
Selection Process
`Merrill Lynch follows an approach of systematic nature to elect and recruit the workers in the
workforce of the company (Abzug, 2017). Generally the company posts advertisement regarding
job in the websites of the company, business journals and job boards.
Receiving Applications
The interested candidates respond to the advertisement provided in business journals and job
postings and send their applications to the company inform of resume or CV.
Strength
 It is a time saving process. The candidate just needs to send in their CV on the address
the company has provided in the advertisement.
 This process ensures correctness. There are less possible chances of mistakes in this
process (Farndale et al., 2018).
Weakness
 There is lack of personal contact in this process and this is the reason the company has
to plan further processes of selection to judge the candidate.
 The application portal is open for all and this is the reason the company receives many
unnecessary applications and requests for jobs.
Group Discussion
In order to find out the decisive merits and skills in a candidate that would help the company to
efficiently achieve the objectives, Merrill Lynch conducts the group discussion process.
Strength
7

 Allows participation of all the participants, therefore the analytical skills of all the
candidates can be judged.
 Allows the company to judge the patience of the candidates.
Weakness
 This activity takes a great deal of time.
 Assessment through this process is difficult (Farndale et al., 2018).
Personal interview
The process of mutual discussion among the candidate and the managers is known as personal
interview (Farndale et al., 2018).
Strength
 This process allows the company to evaluate the reflex skills of the candidate.
 It is the best way of communication, as it does not involve any problem such as poor
network.
Weakness
 The process incurs high costs (Farndale et al., 2018).
 It is an observation and critical process that has to be carried out by immensely trained
individuals.
8

Task 2
P3. Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation for both the
employer and employee.
The distinct HRM practices adopted by Merrill lynch have some benefit for the employer and
employee alongside of its agenda to maximise the goals of the company through minimisation of
workers’ ability.
Benefit for employee Benefit to the employer
Merrill Lynch to enhance the morale of the
employees provides proper compensation to
them. This increases their urge to deliver more.
Moreover, the employees are attracted to
continue working in the same organisation for
a longer period (Kahn, 2018). This allows the
workers to learn and enhance their working
experience. Moreover, the company also
provides non monetary benefits such as health
insurance and retirement funding.
The benefits and compensation that the
company allows to employer attracts the
employee to stay with the company for longer
period of time (Kahn, 2018). Therefore, the
monetary and non monetary benefits that the
company provides to its employees enhance
their loyalty towards the company. The
company is able to retain their employees and
there is a reduction in the labour turnover of
the company.
Table 1: advantage of benefit and compensation to employer and employee
(Source: created by learner)
Benefit for employee Benefit for the employer
Merrill Lynch trains and develops the workers
by explaining the job role and responsibilities
to them. This helps in enhancing the
efficiency of the employees (Obeidat et al.,
2019). They proactively take part in the affairs
of the business and perform their duties
diligently. This brings job satisfaction to the
workers
As there is increase in the productivity of the
workers, they give maximum efforts to
increase the profitability of the business
(Akram, 2016). This even motivates the
employer to continue devoting time and money
in the training and induction process (Zikic,
2015). This results in a continuous flow in the
manufacturing process and profitability of the
9

business.
Table 2: benefit of development and training to employer and employee
(Source: created by learner)
Benefits to the employee Benefits to the employer
Maintenance of amiable and friendly
environment in the organisation helps to
reduce stress. This reduction in stress leads to
better health condition of the employees
(Albrecht et al., 2015). Further, they are also
able to concentrate more on their productivity.
Moreover, in an amiable working environment
the workers have the authority to keep forward
their points and have straight conversations
with the employer
As the workers are in personal contact with
employer it is easier for the employer to
address employee grievances. A good
working environment provides a stress free
ambience to the workers leading to a better
health condition and a reduction in their
absenteeism (Albrecht et al., 2015). Moreover,
in such environment the loyalty of the
employee towards the company is enhanced.
Table 3: benefit of maintaining amiable working environment in the organisation
(Source: created by learner)
P4. Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational
profit and productivity. (324)
The efficiency of the distinctive HRM practices the Merrill Lynch practices are as follows:
Benefit and compensation – Good salary along benefits makes a job role attractive. Therefore,
Merrill Lynch has the policy of providing monetary and nonmonetary benefits to the employees.
They provide health insurance and medical facilities to the workers. There has been considerable
increase in the attendance, recruitment, and focus of the employees (Bokert and Hahn, 2016).
These enhancements are the results of increase in the loyalty of the workers. There is a reduction
in the labour turnover of the organisation. The experienced and learned workers are contributing
enormously in raising the productivity and profit of the organisation.
Development and training – Merrill Lynch has been taking the proper labour to enhance the
performance of its employees. The existing workers are developed through induction programme
10

to reach to a higher level and the new workers are trained to make them aware of their job
responsibilities and roles (Donate et al., 2016). Training programme has helped the workers to
increase their productivity. Moreover, after a formal training the employees need less or no
management in their work (Albrecht et al., 2015). A considerable decrease in mistakes and errors
has been observed with the introduction of training in the company (Manresa et al., 2018).
Reduction of errors and increase in productivity has lead to increase in organisational
profitability and productivity.
Maintenance of amiable working conditions in the organisation – The HRM department of
Merrill Lynch has done improvisation to maintain a healthy relation between the workers and the
employers. This has lead to development of a stress free environment in the company
(abdelqader Alsakarneh et al., 2018). The workers and the employers have a positive attitude
towards each other. Moreover, there is a personal connect between the workers and the
employers (Krishnan et al., 2018). The employees are given due respect and are appreciated for
their efforts at regular appraisal meetings conducted by the company. Therefore, the participation
and loyalty of the employers towards their job has increased.
11

Task 3
P5. Analyse the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision
making.
The labours that a company puts to maintain the association between the manager and the
workers is known as employee relation (Kim and Bae 2017). Such efforts are part of the human
resource strategy. An enterprise with impressive employee relation provides constant and fair
treatment to the workers that enhance their obligation and faithfulness towards the company and
the job. These strategies also address and settle issues and differences that arise between the
employers and employees. In order to realise the organisations goals and objectives, the human
resource department of the company constructs strategies that aims to make the most effective
utilization of the people employed in the enterprise (Johnson and Szamosi, 2018). The strategies
adopted by human resource enables the company to gain a competitive benefit in the
marketplace. Issues such as work life balance, safe working conditions and pay and benefits of
the employees are centre of employee relation.
One of the most effective strategies, to ensure good employee relation is the adoption of the
thought that the workers should be treated more than salaried workers (Dundon and Rafferty,
2018). They should be treated as shareholders or investors having interest of financial nature in
the company. Merrill Lynch has adopted certain policies to ensure good employee relation in the
company namely employee relation policies. Moreover, the company has three or more
representatives that deals in employee relation. Moreover, the company communicates with the
work force directly and addresses to their grievances effectively and professionally. The
company also provides the workers a platform for earning passive income, Therefore, employee
relations plays an immensely important role in HRM decision making. As in case of Merrill
Lynch, the human resource department can take the decision of decreasing micro supervision and
avoid favouritism. The most efficient improvement that the company should do to influence
HRM decision making is share the vision of the company with the workers so that they consider
themselves as an important part of the organisation (Sanz-Valle and Jiménez-Jiménez, 2018).
P6. Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM
decision making.
12