MG411 Portfolio: Exploring People Management Challenges & HR Processes

This portfolio provides an overview of people management, focusing on the challenges faced by line managers and the HR processes that support performance management. It identifies issues such as decreased performance, understaffing, poor teamwork, employee retention, and weak workplace culture. The portfolio highlights the knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary for effective people managers, including understanding organizational policies, recruitment skills, communication, decision-making, confidentiality, and ethical conduct. Furthermore, it examines key HR processes like human resource planning, recruitment, selection, onboarding, training and development, performance appraisal, performance management, and off-boarding, emphasizing their role in enhancing employee performance, engagement, and retention. The analysis underscores the importance of addressing these challenges and leveraging HR processes to create a positive and productive work environment.

Introduction to
People Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report highlights about people management, it the process which helps in managing and
maintaining the employees of organization. In this project, a brief introduction about people
management is determined including the challenges which are faced by line manager relating to
people management. It also covers the knowledge, skills and behaviour required t be effective
people manager in organisation. The report also depicts about the HR processes which underpin
the performance management.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Current issues facing line managers relating to people management.....................................4
Knowledge, skills and behaviors to be an effective people manager.....................................6
HR processes which underpin the performance management................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
Books and Journals...............................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
People management is a process of maintaining, obtaining and using a satisfied workforce in
order to run the business in effective and efficient manner. It is an activity of planning,
organising, compensating, maintaining and integrating the people of organisation so that they can
contribute to individual, societal and organisational goals. The main motive of people
management is to inspire and motivate staff in order to develop their skills and knowledge.
People management is one of the parts of human resource management which include all the
process of optimization, acquisition and retention of employees in company (Denning, 2018).
The few components of people management are understanding people that make up the
company, making best use of healthy differences, create workforce of future and establishing
effective communication. It is important for organisation to make effective people management
strategy so that employees can work productively and give their best performance in achieving
the vision and mission of brand. The project is based on introduction to people management in
which different problems that is faced by line manager is determined and also it focuses on
defining the knowledge, skills and behaviour required to be effective people manager. It covers
HR process which underpins and support management when it comes to effective performance
management.
Current issues facing line managers relating to people management
Line manager is a person who manages overall staff and also evaluates their performance,
development and contribution with workplace. There are various issues which are faced by line
manager relating to people management:
Decreased performance level is one of the issues which are faced by line manager related to
people management. When there is decrease in performance levels of employees it can influence
the profitability and growth of business. Due to COVID 19, employees are not contributing their
productive outcomes which create an impact on the performance of business. It is the
responsibility of line manager to increase the morale and motivation level of employees so that
they can contribute better output and achieve their target (Liao and Ai Lin Teo, 2018). They must
consistently review the performance of employees in order to improve their efficiency and
knowledge.

Being understaffed is also a problem which is faced by line manager currently. The
pandemic has hit the people management of company due to which they are facing understaffed.
Employees were forced to leave workplace or fired due to lack of ability to pay by organization
in crisis situation. Line manager must focus on recognizing the time to hire new staff so that they
can fulfil the responsibility of department (Mascarenhas, 2019). They must hire the staff
according to their requirement and select the right person for the desired job role.
Poor teamwork is another issue which is currently faced by line manager relating to
people management. The crisis has forced employees to work remotely due to which it become
difficult to collaborate and work collectively to achieve the goals and objective of business. Line
manager is responsible to encourage team to work collectively and focus on completing task in
effective manner. In order to re-establish teamwork, it is necessary for line manager to revisit the
purpose of project. They must encourage their team members to focus on the target by increasing
their level of motivation.
Retaining top employees is also a problem which is faced by line manager currently, in
order to gain competitive advantage over its competitors it is important for company to retain top
employees who gives their best performance in improving the profitability and performance of
business. Through retaining highly skilled employees, company can increase their brand value
and also save expenses. Line manager have to create effective strategy in order to retain their top
staff. They should focus on attracting employees by offering them incentive according to their
contribution and performance. Employee retention helps in increasing corporate performance,
leads to greater performance, improves customer experience and also enhances the productivity
of staff.
Weak workplace culture is other issue which is faced by line manager relating to people
management. It is essential for manager to hire the right candidate who has ability to contribute
their best performance as the weak workforce can influence the growth of business. Line
manager must focus on developing strong workplace culture so that everyone can interact and
build strong relation with others. In order to increase strong work culture, it is necessary to
promote strong work culture by rewarding employees who exceed expectations, organising
social activities and also plan for lunch outings. These type of activities helps in increasing
collaboration and interaction between the employees due to which they can work together in
achieving the common goals.

In order to overcome the problem which is associated with people management, line
manager must focus on implementing Human relation theory. This is one of the effective
theories which must be used by line manager as it focuses on individual needs and behaviour.
The main motive of human relation theory is to enhance the engagement level of employees and
also determine the importance of relationship between workers (Rees and French, 2016). This
theory helps in increasing the morale and motivation level of staff.
Knowledge, skills and behaviors to be an effective people manager
Knowledge required being an effective people manager
Policies and procedure of organisation:
It is one of the knowledge which is required within effective people manager. They must
have relevant information of the policies and procedures of company in which they are dealing
so that they can follow and inform to other employees. The policies and procedure mainly
include the rules and regulation which is framed by company in order to run the business in
smooth and effective manner. Through having knowledge of company’s policy, manager can
handle the queries of new employee and also make them familiar with the culture of
organization.
Recruitment and selection:
Recruitment and selection is another important knowledge which must have in people
manager. In order to become effective people manager, it is important to know how to recruit
and select the employees in organisation. They must have an ability to hire right candidate by
analyzing their performance and qualification within workplace (Lean and et. al., 2019). The
right knowledge of recruitment and selection can lead to gain better employees which helps in
increasing the profitability and growth of business.
Skills required in effective people manager
Communication skills:
It is one of the important skills which are required within effective people manager as it
helps in sharing the information correctly and clearly. Through strong communication skill,
people manager can interact and communicate their message precisely. It also helps in increasing
job satisfaction among staff and also builds better relationship between employees and manager.
Decision making and problem solving skill:

Decision making and problem solving skill is also a skill which is required in people
manager. They must know how to handle the problem and make decision effectively. The
effective people manager can identify the problem, test appropriate solution and also focuses on
analyzing the result (Cuevas, 2018). Through strong decision making skills, people manager can
make better decision and also make better use of resources.
Behaviours required in People manager
Confidentiality:
It is one of the behaviour which must be in effective people manager, they must have an
ability and capability to keep the information safe and secret. If people manager have a power to
keep information confidential they can gain trust of employees. There are several policies which
must be kept confidential by people manager such as performance measurement and
performance appraisal.
Ethical behaviour:
Ethical behaviour is also a behaviour which is required in people manager in order to
attract more and more employees towards the brand. It is the responsibility of people manager to
develop positive working environment where staff can showcase their performance and talent.
Ethical behaviour is essential for employees as company generally have staff with different
culture, background, age and religion (Jehanzeb and Mohanty, 2018).
HR processes which underpin the performance management
HR process mainly includes the strategies which can be used by manager for managing the
employee lifecycle and maintaining work experience of people. Human resource process plays
an important role for underpinning the performance management which helps in improving the
productivity, engagement and retention level of people.
Human resource planning:
Human resource planning is an initial step which is taken by HR for improving the
performance of employees. HR of organisation generally frames a plan or strategies to enhance
the overall performance and efficiency of employees so that they can give productive output in
achieving the goals and objective of business (Liu, Mei and Guo, 2020).
Recruitment:
It is other process of HR in which they identify the right talent who can contribute their
best efforts in making business more successful in market. The people manager of organization

recruits the employees on the basis of their qualification and experience. They generally recruit
the staff for improving the performance of business and gaining competitive advantage in market
(McLaren and Durepos, 2021).
Selection:
It is another process of human resource in which they hire talented employees in company.
HR selects the staff by identifying their potential skills and knowledge. Selection is also a
process which helps in managing the performance of staff. HR hires qualified employees who
can contribute their productive performance rather than selecting any unmotivated people.
On-boarding:
On-boarding is also a process of human resource in which new employees are introduces
in workplace. The HR of organization makes new hires familiar with working environment and
their colleagues. This process helps in sharing information related to company and also give
stronger employee experience. On-boarding program helps in increasing the productivity of staff
due to which they give better performance in achieving target.
Training and development:
Training and development is other process of human resource in which HR focuses on
increasing the productivity and efficiency of employees. Through organising training and
development program, HR can boost the morale of staff due to which they work effectively. It
also helps in increasing the knowledge, skills, abilities and capabilities of employees within
workplace.
Performance appraisal:
Performance appraisal is also a process of HR which underpins performance
management. The main motive of HR in performance appraisal is to evaluate and monitor the
performance of employees within workplace (Freiling, 2019). Through performance appraisal
company can increase employee engagement, clarifies the expectation, create career opportunity
and improves performance of staff.
Performance management:
It is another process of HR in which they manage and evaluate the performance of
employees so that they can achieve the goals and objective of business. Performance
management helps in increasing the performance and efficiency of employees and also it creates
positive working environment.

Off—boarding:
It is the last process of HR in which staff gets separate from company die to personal or
professional issue. The decision is based on the interest, performance and efficiency of
employees (Benschop, 2016).
CONCLUSION
It is being concluded from the above information that organisation generally faces
various problem which creates a great impact on the profitability and performance of business. It
is important for company to focus on overcoming these issues in order to run the business in
effective and smooth manner. Manager plays a vital role in improving the performance and
efficiency of business. They hire suitable candidate for the vacant job position according to their
skills and knowledge. Manager also provides training and development opportunity to employees
in order to enhance their skills, competencies and knowledge of staff. The main role which is
played by people manager is to manage and maintain the workforce in order to run the business
activities systematically and efficiently. There are various skills which are required by people
manager such as communication skills, negotiation skills, problem solving skill, decision making
skills and time management skill. People manager also require great knowledge such as
organisational policies, recruitment and selection and contract laws.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Benschop, Y., 2016. Well-trodden paths and roads less traveled: research directions for gender in
management and organization. In A Research Agenda for Management and Organization
Studies. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Cuevas, J. M., 2018. The transformation of professional selling: Implications for leading the
modern sales organization. Industrial Marketing Management. 69. pp.198-208.
Denning, S., 2018. The emergence of Agile people management. Strategy & Leadership.
Freiling, J., 2019. Leadership Concepts for Diaspora Entrepreneurship: What Does Management
and Organization Theory Offer?. In Diaspora networks in international business (pp.
323-336). Springer, Cham.
Jehanzeb, K. and Mohanty, J., 2018. Impact of employee development on job satisfaction and
organizational commitment: person–organization fit as moderator. International Journal
of Training and Development. 22(3). pp.171-191.
Lean, M and et. al., 2019. Self-management interventions for people with severe mental illness:
systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry. 214(5). pp.260-
268.
Liao, L. and Ai Lin Teo, E., 2018. Organizational change perspective on people management in
BIM implementation in building projects. Journal of management in engineering. 34(3).
p.04018008.
Liu, Z., Mei, S. and Guo, Y., 2020. Green human resource management, green organization
identity and organizational citizenship behavior for the environment: the moderating
effect of environmental values. Chinese Management Studies.
Mascarenhas, B. G., 2019. Employer branding, employee value proposition, and employee
experience: New approaches for people management in organizations. In Strategic
Employee Communication (pp. 97-103). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
McLaren, P. G. and Durepos, G., 2021. A call to practice context in management and
organization studies. Journal of Management Inquiry. 30(1). pp.74-84.
Rees, G. and French, R. eds., 2016. Leading, managing and developing people. Kogan Page
Publishers.