Human Resource Management Report: Microsoft HRM Practices

This report provides a detailed analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Microsoft. It begins with an introduction to the role and purpose of HR functions, including planning, controlling, training and development, recruitment and selection, performance management, and reward management. The report then evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of Microsoft's current selection methods, including assessment and interview tests, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. The core of the report delves into the benefits and effectiveness of various HRM practices, such as learning and development programs, flexible working arrangements, performance management systems, and internship programs. It also explores the significance of employee engagement within Microsoft and the influence of UK employment legislation on HR decision-making. Finally, the report includes a person specification for a receptionist role and concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for improving HRM strategies at Microsoft. The report references various HRM models and theories, such as the best fit approach, hard and soft HRM, and Maslow's theory of motivation, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1Role and purpose of HR functions.....................................................................................1
P2Strength and Weakness of the current selection method....................................................2
LO2..................................................................................................................................................3
P3. Benefits of different HRM practices................................................................................3
P4. Effectiveness of different HRM practices........................................................................5
LO3..................................................................................................................................................6
P5 Employee engagement and its importance in Microsoft...................................................6
P6 Influence of the key elements of UK employment legislation on decision making of HR9
LO4................................................................................................................................................11
P7. Person specification for Receptionist.............................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
HRM helps the company to gain competitive advantage and improve or maximize the
performance of the employee (Noe. and et.al., 2017). This project reveals the purpose of the HR
function a the strength and weakness of the current selection method used by the company and
evaluate the selection process which can be use to make improvement in selection process.
This also includes the creation of Job Specification for the specific role and discuss
about the advantage and disadvantage of current method of advertising job in the company and it
would be recommended for the advertisement of the job vacancy. Report will lay emphasis on
Microsoft as an organization. It is an American multinational organization which has been
headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Company is being engaged in manufacturing license,
support and sell computer software. The CEO of Microsoft is Satya Nadella. Company was
founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates. Report will highlight the function and purpose for further
growth. It will also explain strength and weakness of current selection method. (Bratton and
Gold, 2017)
LO1
P1. Role and purpose of HR functions
Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic approach to the effective
management of a people in a company(Human resource management,2019).
Managerial function
Planning: It is the major function of HR as this department is responsible to making
clear plan for the development of business. This function can help Chocola Fantastica in
planning about human resources which can increase the operational efficiency of
organization.
Controlling: HR has to control over the people so that they can work better in the
firm. It is also one of the major function in human resource department of Chocola
Fantastica. It can help company in controlling the activities of each department working in
organization.
Operative function
Training and development: Training and development is the indispensable function of
the HR management. where its main purpose to improve the current and future performance
of the employee by increasing the ability and skill of the employee in Chocola Fantastica by
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providing proper training to the employee in the particular subject. The role of training and
development is to improve the quality of product. It is important for the Chocaola Fantastica
as by providing the training that increase the ability and skill and they work with full
efficiency towards their work. Purpose is to help the organization come out from the current
problem of staff turnover
Advisory function
Recruiting and selection: Recruiting is the process of screening, captivating, selecting the
potential and qualified candidates based on the objective of the particular job. The main
purpose of this function is to attract the qualified candidates for the Chocola Fantastica
organization. Recruitment and selection is very important to the organization because it
reduce the cost of mistake and improve the quality of the product. The role is to helps the
organisation to overcome from the staff turnover as it select the qualified and skill employees
which reduce the staff turnover of the organisation as the company facing.
Performance management: Performance management is also one of the major function of
the HR function as its responsibility of the Human resource management to monitor over the
employees performance. The main purpose of this function is it keep an eye on the staff
members of Chocola Fantastica whether they performing well or not, if in case they are not
performing well according to the standard performance then they are providing the training
to improve their performance on the basis of standard performance and improve the product
quality. It is also very important function for the organisation as it monitor all the activity and
performance of the workers so that if any issue is their relating to the performance it can be
rectify and the role of company to retain the employees.
Reward Management: Reward is also one of the HR function which can support the
organization in reducing the problem of employee turnover. The purpose of reward
management is to motivate the employees to perform better which also solves the problem of
low quality of products which is arising Employee not think over the turn off from the
company. That helps in raising the productivity of the Chocola Fantastica.
Best fit approach: this model pays attention on effective coordination or alignment between
company strategy and HR strategies. HR has to ensure that company’s goal is fulfilled without
compromising employees needs.
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Best practice approach focus on gaining competitive advantage to firm. It always
implement such practices that are beneficial for business unit.
Hard and soft HRM
Hard HRM states that employees must be treated like resources of the firm. It gives little
empowerment to employees Whereas soft HRM treats employees well and employees are
empowered in the firm.
Performance appraisal- Company also make use of performance appraisal. Its purpose is to
measure employees performance. This will help Chocola fantastica in reducing the problem of
employee turnover.
Job analysis and design- The purpose is to prepare the job role according to the skills and
qualification of employees. This will help Chocola fantastica in achieving their objectives.
Employee Welfare- This function takes care of numerous services, benefits and facilities
provided to an employee for their well-being. It can reduce employee turnover in Chocola
fantastica.
P2. Strength and Weakness of the current selection method
Selection is the process where it differentiate between candidates in order to identify and
hire those who greater likelihood of success in job. Where as recruitment refers to identifying
and encourage employee to apply for job. Company has to do job analyses before hiring any
person, it has to prepare their job description and requirement in person in term of person
specification. This would be better in selecting the most appropriate person in the firm.
Two test are using by the Chocola fantastica company for hiring the new candidates are:
Assessment test: This systematic way of testing the job candidates ability to perform the
specific task & how it react to the range of different situation. By conducting the test in English
and Maths and candidate can be selected on the basis of marks scoring more than 50%.
Advantage-
Cheap to acquire: It is an cheaper way that the Chocola Fantastica is using for hiring
the new candidates. This method which is followed by company is very cost effective. It help
firm in saving cost.
Accurate and appropriate: This test is accurate and appropriate for the Chocola as by
using this correct candidates of high skill can be selected (Nankervis and et.al., 2016).
Disadvantage-
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Make candidate nervous: It make the candidate nervous as compare to other multi
choice question where candidate just have to select one.
Method become fake: This method can be fake because sometime question may be
leaked in the Chocola Fantastica company.
Interview Test- It is an consistent of conversation between a job applicant and a representative of
an employer which decide whether the candidate should hire or not.
Advantage:
Sufficient information- Sufficient information can be collected, because interviewer
can ask any question while taking interview.
Time saving- It saves Chocola Fantastica company time to select the best candidate
within a very short time communication.
Easy correction of speech- Any mistake or misunderstanding can be rectify easily by
physically presence of both interviewer and interviewee as both are seating front of each
other while taking the interview.(Hecklau and et.al.,2016)
Disadvantage:
- they can be very time-consuming: setting up, interviewing, transcribing, analysing,
feedback, reporting.
-they can be costly. Chocola Fantastica had to put up a lot of expenditure and amount
on this process. It can increase the expenses of firm. Its operational cost can get
reduced because of it.
-different interviewers may understand and transcribe interviews in different ways.
( Shen and Benson, 2016
Chocola Fantastica must make use of interview as the method of selection so that the
problem which is being arising in company be solved. This can help firm in growing and also
selecting the best candidates for their organization.
LO2
P3. Benefits of different HRM practices
Learning training and development
This program is designed for top performing graduates across broad range of roles.
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Benefits to organisation- By providing training program to workers company improves their
moral and confidence . Which will benefit the Microsoft as motivated workers will work more
effectively which enhance profitability of business. The program provides real world experience
and focused training. Thus, employees are benefited from accelerated professional development
which helps the employees to build long term career at Microsoft(Brewster, 2017)
Flexible working arrangements
The programs is designed for all the employees in Microsoft. The program benefit the
Microsoft as training improves employee performance and working skills. As skilled worker will
work smartly and will solve every problem on his own which saves time also and help in
increasing the productivity of the Microsoft
Flexible working . Atkinson model of flexibility states that there are three types if
flexibility such as functional, financial and numerical that must be given to the employees.
Functional flexibility includes providing timely payment to them and providing them working
time flexibility. Numerical flexibility includes hiring temporary workers or giving flexibility to
work part time. Financial flexibility includes giving extra pay for extra work. Microsoft provides
functional flexibility to workers and give them option to work part time.
Performance management
Microsoft also provides its students with performance management , the worker has
ability to work in small, focused and stable teams of highly motivated and talented developer.
The program improves the working skills of the employees. As skilled employees have more
chances of getting promotions in future. Microsoft uses 360 method to measure performance of
all workers.
Microsoft summer internship program
The program is designed to encourage the interest of students in computer science, computer
engineering and technical discipline.
Benefits to organisation
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The internship program with hands on training and real experience and monitoring
opportunities increase the brand recognition of Microsoft. By providing internship. As it is easier
for Microsoft to hire the employees at the time of permanent recruitment.
Benefits to employees
It is helpful for employees as employees on internship gains experience with various tools
and programming language in the field of software developments. The workers are benefited as
they are trained with programming language they can work beneficently with advance
techniques(Berman and et.al., 2019)
Reward management
Maslow theory states that if needs of each person is met then firms can motivate its
workers. HR manager of the firm has to give recognition and incentives to all its staff in order to
encourage them and make them able to retain in business for longer duration.
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P4. Effectiveness of different HRM practices focus on profit and productivity
Flexible working arrangements
Microsoft provides flexible working arrangements to their employees which has helped
them in retaining employees. As job vacancies are circulated to the current employees and their
friend and family unit Noticeboards are used in the Microsoft to keep the employees up-to-date
regarding what is actively going on (Sparrow and Otaye-Ebede, 2017) . It helps in attracting new
people and retaining current people in the firm.
Performance management
Performance management has an effectiveness that it enhances the way employees
perform in an organization. It creates interest in employees regarding important information that
creates the positive effect on the employees work performance. It inspire the staffs by putting
their achievements on board and which motivates them effectively achieve the target and
employees of Microsoft feels valued and appreciated for that. It is helpful in retaining staff and
motivating hem because they get appraisal for their god efforts which makes them positive
towards the brand.
Work events or activity photos reminds employees about their great opportunities which
were experienced by them over the years and it also provides the promotional opportunities for
the staffs(Banfield, Kay and Royles, 2018)
Reward and appraisal system
Microsoft makes use of reward and appraisal system so that they can motivate employees to
work better. This can help them in building goodwill in the market and also attracting more
consumers. It also creates the communication possibilities for employees in the Microsoft
regarding various conferences and social activities that enhances the staffs for interacting with
one another and that results to building strong relationships among all the employees and
managers
Noticeboards helps in receiving feedback like any suggestions given by employees for further
projects and discussions can be done in respect to current projects as well as idea of other worker
and the feedback given on the board that can reflect on the employee's work.
It also helps the Microsoft to advertise regarding the vacant jobs that helps in internal
recruitment of employees and those individuals apply for job that are already well-known to the
directors which results to easy recruitment process.
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Advertising from noticeboards is cheaper ass compared to the external advertising.
The message which is given on the notice board is not spread clearly across the
organisation because all the details cannot be included on the notice board
It is very slow process but people can forget the notice very easily. (Noe. and et.al., 2017)
Through noticeboard advertising the talent from outside cannot be taken that will result to
limited employees
LO3
P5. Employee engagement and its importance in Microsoft.
Employment engagement is a fundamental concept in the effort to understand and describe both
qualitatively and quantitatively, the nature of the relationship between an organisation and its
employees. The employee engagement strategies have been proven to reduce the staff turnover,
improving productivity and efficiency, retain customers and make more profits. Engaged
employees are happier both in jobs and in their personal lives. For Microsoft to perform well it is
essential that the employees has a warm and healthy relations among themselves. The worker
must be comfortable with each other so that they can enjoy their work (Sparrow and Otaye-
Ebede, 2017)
Importance of employee engagement in Microsoft
Openness: It develops openness among all people because all the employees can
interact with other easily. Employee engagement reduces staff turnover. The organisation
becomes happy place to work if employees work together as a family. This also impacts the
recruitment decisions of Microsoft HR as it saves the time for new recruitment because the
happier employees work in the organisation for a longer period of time. Healthy relation with
the fellow workers would ease the work load and in turn increases the productivity of the
Microsoft.
Willingness to cooperate: Employee engagement helps in improving productivity and
efficiency of Microsoft, as when all the employees have good relation between each other.
They will work effectively, the cooperation between the workers will lead the organisation to
more success (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2018)
Psychological contract: Healthy employee relation among workers discourages fights
and conflicts between the individuals. This impacts the Microsoft as there is happy
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environment the worker will work more happily and thus, results in overall productivity of
the Microsoft.
Employee relation creates a sense of team work among staffs in Microsoft. Healthy
employee relation has a close connection with improving productivity and reducing
employee turnover. So it assist the HR in taking productive decisions about the Microsoft
company.
Approaches of engaging workers and impact on improving communication at workplace. The
Approaches of engaging workers are as follows.
Open communication
The approach which is used by company is open communication. This approach connects and
engage people across the organisation. This approach focus on building transparency, creating
stronger communities by sharing best practices and give ideas to drive initiatives.
Yammer approach helps in improving engagement in the Microsoft as all the employees are
engaged they will have better communication between them. It builds the culture of transparency
in Microsoft as the working is transparent. People will trust more on the organisation. Thus
transparency will build good communication among the employees (Noe. and et.al., 2017)
Microsoft teams
This approach is the approach of teamwork. In this the communication is done through threaded
and president chat and keep everyone in the knowledge. This approach provides customised apps
at the workplace by providing all the services at one place. It includes easy access to share point,
one note, PowerBI and many more.
This approach improves the communication as by using apps people can easily communicate
easily. As people in team will work in groups and hence, will assist in improving the
communication in Microsoft.
Flexible working is the way of working that suits or helps the employee needs. The flexible
arrangements provided by Microsoft are part time job facility, work remotely and employees can
flex their working schedules.
Part time jobs
Microsoft offers part time jobs. In this the worker works for a couple of hours for the company.
Salary given to part time employers is less as they are not working for full day.
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Benefits to employee- Part time jobs opens new door for the employee as worker in free time can
utilise time well. This reduces the stress level of the employee which benefit them to focus more
on the work (Berman and et.al., 2019) .
Benefits to organisation- One of the most benefit of part time employee is that the employee are
recruited at low cost. Microsoft can appoint other candidates at the vacant time. Thus will help in
managing the work load. In part time job the company pays the hourly rate to the employee for
which they are working for and not for the whole day. Thus, this helps in saving Microsoft
money (Nankervis and et.al., 2016)
Remote working facility
Microsoft offer remote working facility as work from home. In this the employers are allowed to
work from their home on the working hours. When the employee is not able to come to the work
but willing to do work in that case this arrangement applicable.
Benefits to organisation- Microsoft is benefited by this method as higher productivity is
generated as ability of doing the work is uninterrupted. Happier the staff which results in
motivation and better work commitment. This method reduces the absenteeism of employees at
work place, which impacts the overall productivity of the Microsoft.
Benefits to employees- It reduces the stress level of the employee. This helps the worker in
maintaining work life balance. This is the better way to improve work life balance for the
employees. Working from home makes the employee happier. As happier employees retain in
the organisation for a longer time ( Shen and Benson, 2016)
Microsoft performs various practices to motivates its employees, which are as follows-
Strong reward performance
Microsoft rewards the employees who perform well in job. This can be in the term of additional
pay, benefits or more opportunities for promotions. Managers are also rewarded by the company
by such benefit which assist in boosting their performance. Managers get recognition, additional
travel allowances that motivates them (Hecklau and et.al.,2016)
Involving employees in decision making
Microsoft engages employees in the decision making, this will not only motivate the employees,
this will also identify the potential talent which could help him to grow. Microsoft try to make
feel the employees that they can give their suggestions and present their ideas which may help in
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