MG411 Reflective Portfolio: People Management Challenges, Skills & HR

This portfolio provides a comprehensive overview of people management, addressing key issues faced by line managers, essential skills and behaviors for effective management, and HR processes that underpin performance management. It discusses challenges such as communication, performance problems, employee retention, and technology adaptation. The portfolio highlights the importance of interpersonal skills, organization, motivation, problem-solving, and decision-making for managers. Furthermore, it examines HR processes like general appraisal, 360-degree appraisal, project evaluation review, and sales performance appraisal, emphasizing their role in performance management. This resource is available on Desklib, a platform offering a range of study tools and solved assignments for students.

Introduction to people
management

Executive Summary
The following report is based on the topic of people and management with its clear
description. To explain the topic clearly, the report file is divided in certain different topics. It
first gives the definition and meaning of the term people management. From the main three
headings, the first one is about the certain issues that were faced by the writer as a line manager
related to people in its working organisation. Then there are some knowledge, skills and
behaviour that he feels are needed to be an effective manager. It finally consists some HR
processes which underpin the performance management.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
Current issues which are faced by the line managers relating to people of an organisation :.....3
The knowledge, skills and behaviour that are needed to be an effective manager ;...................4
HR processes which underpin the performance management :..................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES:...............................................................................................................................8
Books and Journals:....................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
People management is a collections of practices that encompasses the end to end process
of hiring, training, providing with necessities or wants and retaining the talented people with the
company to avoid any interruptions and maintain a smooth working system in an organisation.
The employees and other related people of an organisation play a major role on the operations
that lead to growth and loss of it. The functional area of a business that is responsible for
managing the related people is known as Human resource (HR). Following report is based on the
detailed explanation of the topic people management trough breaking the topic into three parts. It
first includes the issue that are being faced the managers relating to people management
(Agarwal et. al., 2021). It then provide with some knowledge, skills and behaviour that are
needed to be an effective manager. At last, HR processes which underpin the performance
management are included. The file is based on my self experience / reflection.
TASK
Current issues which are faced by the line managers relating to people of an organisation :
There can be different ways in which a manager faces issues of different types related to
the people management. These issues can not be specifically counted and are of many different
types that are not even identified yet due to dynamic business environment and changing of
people perspectives and needs. The recent pandemic in the world, stated as Covid 19 has given a
drastic impact on the business with many changes in people management too through changing
the needs of people. Some of the issues that are currently faced by me as a line manager in
context of people management are as follows :
 Communicating with employees effectively – This factor tells about the
communication related distance of a manager with its employees. This is one of the
biggest challenges that has been faced by me. Me as a managers of a company need to
develop a good relationship with my employees and other related people to understand
the changes that are needed for further growth of the company. Through this, the goals of
a firm are not clearly specified and becomes unclear and misunderstood to the workforce
(Aungsuroch, Gunawan and Fisher, 2022) . The lack of this factor has proven to be one
of the biggest reason behind the stress of employees. This directly means that the bad
communication does not only negatively effects the workings of a company but also lead

to giving stress to the employees on a major basis and I have even felt it with in the
employees that work under me.
 Confronting performance problems – These are related to the problems that I felt are
needed to be confronted to managers but are not practised due to many reasons such as –
maintaining goodwill and bad relations. These are the basics of identifying and solving
problems. Being a manager, I need to develop a healthy relationship and listen to the
problems of employees without scolding and judging them. These are connected with the
roots of problems. Efficient confrontation leads to identifying the problems that were not
visible before and this can allow me to find the solutions to solve them and help in
growth process of the company (Biron et. al., 2021).
 Employee retention or letting them go – This tells about the function of employees to
being stick with a particular company without resigning or leaving it due to any reason.
The employee retention causes a loss for a company due to two reasons – finding
employee that can fit in the needed position and expenditures incurred in hiring of
employees. This can be said as the hardest part of my or mostly every manager's job as
people get attached to each other and making or letting an employee go from the job is
not an easy task. To overcome this, the company in which I work need to provide needed
training programs and a good working environment as this will help in increasing the
loyalty of employees with me and the company.
 Technology adaptation – The technology keeps on changing with the time to carry on
with the developing world. The advancements of technology related products are a must
factor. I felt that these help in making the process efficient, effective, easy and also
provides the customer with more value (Brewster and Cerdin, 2018). But adapting
towards these technological advancements come with new process of getting the work
done. This makes it hard for the workers to cope up with the complex process of new
machineries which directly have a negative impact on their productivity. To avoid this
issue, I think the firm should provide the workforce with clear training methods
whenever it implements the use of new machineries or other innovatory products.

The knowledge, skills and behaviour that are needed to be an effective manager ;
These are very important elements in the process of effective management as these help
in identifying a systematic way to reorder actions and attitudes of the people exhibited in the
organisation. These provide with an expertise way that helps analysing and achieving the
organisational goals. The knowledge and skills of organisational behaviour makes an effective
utilisation of Human resource through managing its employees by motivation and inspiring them
that leads to the increased productivity (Brewster and Cerdin, 2018). I always try to analyse and
work on these to improve my efficiency. This can also help me in providing the employees with
a better satisfaction through understanding the analysis of human behaviour. Several knowledge,
skills and behaviours are defined in the following ways that can help me and other managers in
building the efficiency in an organisation :
 Inter personality – management is mainly a matter of handling people. I must be
successful in building integral relationships with the employees that can help me in
earning more respect and making the related people follow the provided instructions
loyally given by me. This includes knowing the team members professionally and
personally too. To achieve this, I must practice some social connection building activities
such as playing games, providing team building trainings and respecting their personal
lives (Garcia-Zamor, 2019). These activities must be practised by me while still
maintaining some professional boundaries to maintain the respect.
 Organisation and delegation – A manager has to manage its certain responsibilities and
actives in a excellent to achieve further growth, avoiding misconceptions and
overloading. The different activities of me and any manager are – attend meetings,
oversee the work of employees, analyse new methods and techniques for growth and
even doing the work of employees during peak times or less availability of workers. In
the process of doing these I must consider the number of related things that can have an
impact on the organisation.
 Motivation – To achieve the numbers of goals that lead to growth of a company, its
workforce must be motivated and feel responsibility towards work. Without motivation,
it becomes hard to make people or employee to put their full efforts and perform tasks
with their best productivity (Khan and Millner, 2020). This is a big concern and
responsibility of HR department of a company. But being a manager, i should practice it

in the best way to his extend and motivation from me contains another power that cannot
be provided by the HR department. This activity must be practised by me regularly as this
is a temporary feeling. For motivating the employees, I can provide the workforce with
training programs or can also consider the factors included in Maslow's hierarchical
theory.
 Problem solving and decision making – Problems are a part of daily scheduled of me or
a business man. The spotting and solving process of these problems must be efficient.
Being a manager I should regularly analyse the working environment of the business
entity as some problems are not clearly visible but have huge impact. My decisions
should be framed according to these problems and by identifying the best methods from
the market. Creative thinking is the ability that can provide me with innovative solutions
(McMurray and Pullen, 2020). I must develop this skill or can get from the firms in the
market that provide related services.
HR processes which underpin the performance management :
In designing and applying of different people or human related functions, the Human
Resource (HR) department is responsible mostly. It acts as a mediator or middle levelled people
between the employers or leaders and workforce of an organisation. It work in listening to the
problems of the employees and solving them or providing them to me depending on the level of
the problem and solution that comes in my way. Other than solving the problem it can also help
me in finding the methods that can help in motivating the workforce to improve their
productivity. The most important function of the HR is to manage the performance of employees,
this term is called performance management (Olander and Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, 2019). This
process is included of several different process – identifying, measuring and developing the
performance of the employees. This is widely used by managers including me and HR associates
to monitor and improve the work performance of the workers. This can also be said as a strategic
management tool. The following points consist of the process and responsibilities of HR
department that I think must be concluded in performance management in detail :
 General appraisal – This is the basic type that is practised commonly in organisations.
In this, the communication between the manager and workforce is done on a continuous

basis regarding their performance. The discussion involves the goals, aims, performance
review of customers and investors of the company.
 360 degree appraisal – This is basically the review of the employee performance of the
previous or any past year (Sutton, 2018). The feedback or review is collectively given by
the co workers, subordinates and employers. This type help the organisation in gaining
valuable insights about the functioning, leadership and culture of the firm. The survey
also assures that the company is up to date and evolving with the changing trends of the
industry.
 Project evaluation review – The review is done after completion of each project based
on the output and quality of work in the project of different employees separately. On the
basis of the results, the next project is assigned to the particular employee. This is
considered as the best of analysing the performance (Pemberton et. al., 2021) .
 Sales performance appraisal – In this type of performance management, a specific
target of sales is given to a employee for completing within duration of a month or a year
or even a week. At the end of the financial duration provided, the results are analysed
through which the determination of the ability of the employee on basis of completion or
failure of the target is done. The next targets are provided accordingly, in case of
completion it mostly increase and in case of failure these many decrease. The setting of
realistic targets are considered in this system.
Recommendation :
I recommend that the firm in which I work must consider the use of performance management as
it can help it to analyses the ability of workers separately and which can directly help the
company to improve its productivity. From the further process of the performance management,
the HR department of my related company should use 360 degree appraisal type. This will help
in increasing the transparency in the different departments of the company. And the staff
members including me will get clear insights of each other and the targets provided.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that, people management is a vast topic that
is divided into different points to get a clear understanding. The people management in reference
to business organisations include the hiring, analysing target, providing wants, understanding

them and finally retention. There are man y different issues faced by the line managers of a
company currently in context of the people management. These include – communication gap,
technological advancements, employee retention and many more. The knowledge, skills and
organisational behaviour have a huge impact in making of a effective managers. At last, there are
may responsibilities of HR department in managing the performance of the company's
employees.
REFERENCES:
Books and Journals:
Agarwal, R. et. al., 2021. People Management Practices that Underpin Lean Management
Outcomes. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management. 22(2). pp.75-94.
Aungsuroch, Y., Gunawan, J. and Fisher, M.L., 2022. Introduction: The Evolution of Human
Resource Management. In Redesigning the Nursing and Human Resource
Partnership (pp. 1-13). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.
Biron, M. et. al., 2021. Structuring for innovative responses to human resource challenges: A
skunk works approach. Human Resource Management Review. 31(2). p.100768.
Brewster, C. and Cerdin, J.L., 2018. The management of people in mission-driven organizations.
In HRM in Mission Driven Organizations (pp. 1-13). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Garcia-Zamor, J.C., 2019. An Introduction to Participative Planning and Management. In Public
Participation in Development Planning and Management (pp. 3-11). Routledge.
Khan, N. and Millner, D., 2020. Introduction to People Analytics: A Practical Guide to Data-
driven HR. Kogan Page Publishers.
McMurray, R. and Pullen, A., 2020. Introduction: Rethinking culture, organization and
management. In Rethinking Culture, Organization and Management (pp. 1-6).
Routledge.
Olander, H. and Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, P., 2019. Introduction to managing people for
technological innovation.
Pemberton, J.S. et. al., 2021. DYNAMIC: Dynamic glucose management strategies delivered
through a structured education program improves time in range in a socioeconomically
deprived cohort of children and young people with type 1 diabetes with a history of
hypoglycemia. Pediatric Diabetes. 22(2). pp.249-260.
Sutton, A., 2018. People, management and organizations. Bloomsbury Publishing.