Human Resource Management Practices at Sainsbury's

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

Human Resource Management
1

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
LO1............................................................................................................................................4
LO2............................................................................................................................................8
LO3..........................................................................................................................................11
LO4..........................................................................................................................................16
Reference List..........................................................................................................................24
2

Introduction
The department in an organisation that deals with selecting new employees among potential
candidates handle the hiring process, keep the workforce motivated is known as Human
Resource Management. When the employees face any issues regarding training, developing
or administration related problems; the human resource management has to find a solution.
By making sure that the employees have job satisfaction, human resource management
ensures that they are giving their fullest to the organisation’s activities. HR department
focuses on the strength of the employees to make sure that processes are running smoothly.
The chosen organisation for this project is Sainsbury. In the report, the duties of Sainsbury’s
Human Resource team will be analyzed in details as well as negative and positive sides of
recruiting will be evaluated here. In addition to these, the report will also have a detailed
analysing of the basic factors of the chosen organisation’s human resource managing. This
study will analyze the practices of the HR department, and the practices affect employment.
3

LO1
Explain the purpose and scope of Human Resource Management in terms of resourcing
an organisation with talent and skills appropriate to fulfil business objectives
Introduction
The apprehensive duties of the human resource management team of Sainsbury, UK will be
elucidated in this section of the analysis. In the first category, a general idea of the chosen
organisation will be given that will include their decision-making process, the strong point
and the weak point of the team, the resourcing inside Sainsbury, UK and how human
resource management team influence the employees of the organisation.
An introduction and overview of the organisation
Founded by John James Sainsbury in 1869, Sainsbury, UK is known as one of the giant
retail groups of United Kingdom. With the possession of 16.9% shares in the retail industry,
this organisation is the second largest chain of the supermarket. At present, almost one
eighty-two thousand people are employed in the company (Antreas, 2017). Apart from
establishing shops like Sainsbury's Cafe, fuel, this organisation has traded into online
distribution sites to sell its products.
P1 Explain the purpose and the functions of HRM, applicable to workforce planning
and resourcing an organisation.
Sainsbury, UK is managing the workers without facing any issues due to an efficient HRM
and its strategy. This department has distributed the responsibilities and duties among the
staffs strategically to fulfil the objectives of this entity. In order to an organisation to run
smoothly, the human resource management team must perform several activities inside the
organisation. A list of the duties they perform is given below.
 Recruitment and Selection
As suggested by Brewster et al. (2015), the most important duty of the HRM team is
in selecting and hiring an efficient workforce. By selection HRM team of Sainsbury,
UK finds out an eligible applicant who can perform various duties for the organisation
and hire them.
 Employee Benefits
4

In order to keep the employee motivated the HR department of this organisation
always appreciates the hard work of the workers. To keep the workers motivated
human resource management has taken strategies like a hike in salary, promotion etc.
(Tian et al., 2016). Training and Development
According to Cohen (2017), for an organisation to fulfil their objectives, all the
workers must be trained correctly to perform their duties skillfully. Sainbury, UK’s
HRM team conducts many training sessions to provide the employees with required
training that is needed to improve their skill sets and performance. Compliance and Terminations
Another duty the HRM team has to perform is maintaining a healthy work
atmosphere. They must ensure any of the workers are not facing any issues in the
workplace. HRM team makes sure the employees are following regulations set by the
government and management body. HR team ensures the employees can talk freely
about any inconvenience they are facing. If any employee of the organisation does not
bind by these regulations, the HRM team has the power of terminating them
(Meijerink et al., 2016).
Assess how the functions of HRM provide talent and skills to fulfil the business
objectives.
To evaluate how capable the HRM team is and if they can help Sainbury, UK to develop and
achieve its objectives, these following features play a major role.
Best Fit versus Best Practice models of HRM
The affiliation of the human resource team and their contribution to achieving the
organisational objectives is the opposite of Best Fit and Best Practice methods. According to
Nankervis et al. (2016), the Best Fit method is where the human resource policies of the
organisation align with their strategy as well as objectives. As per Best Practice method, hrm
department should come up with strategies that can have a positive influence on the
employees and organisation.
While the HRM team of Sainsbury, the UK can apply the Best Fit method, they can offer the
workers all the needed guidance and training to develop their skills. On the other hand, Best
Practice method motivates so that they can help the organisation to reach its goal.
5

Soft and Hard HRM
For creating a strong bond with the business corporation planning so that Sainsbury, UK can
reach its organisational objectives, Hard HRM method is practiced. On the other hand, Soft
HRM method refers to going forward towards the goal of achieving business objectives by
fulfilling the requirements of employees. Using dominating leadership and Hard HRM
method, there will be little to no changes in the number of employees and unemployment will
be less. The organisational goal will be accomplished via long organisational structures. As
opposed to this method, the Soft HRM method prefers democratic control. It helps the staff
members to perform their jobs proficiently. By keeping the focal point on the long-term
planning of employees, this method moves forward to achieve organisational goal.
Role of HRM in workforce planning
For the betterment of workforce planning, several stakeholders are concerned; among them,
HRM is very important. They create a strategy by which an organisation’s entire
representatives can do their part to achieve the business target. With good leadership and
motivation, the HRM team can improve the workforce.
P2 Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and
selection.
The mostly followed employment method of Sainsbury, UK is job-related websites.
Strengths Weakness
 Recruiting via this process save the
company’s time and money and the
HRM can select from a huge number
of people.
 With apprenticeships, the HRM can
grow the skill sets of employees and
make them loyal to the organisation.
 The details the candidates provide on
these sites are not always genuine, so
the HRM needs to judge the
authenticity. Technical errors in the
server can make the process slow.
 This process is time-taking, as this
system is only for those who can
attend classroom learning.
Table 1: Strengths and weakness of the Recruitment process of Sainsbury, UK
(Source: Created by the learner)
6

The HRM of Sainsbury, UK conducts skill test to select candidates.
Strength Weakness
 By testing the candidates, the HR
team can know if the candidates have
the ability to do the required job.
 Panel interview helps to check the
ability of communicating, dedication
and willpower.
 This method is costly; thus; it won’t
be helpful in the time of financial
crisis.
 In the process of a panel interview,
not all the candidates can be tested in
a similar way, so it takes more time.
Table 2: Strengths and weakness of the Selection process of Sainsbury, UK
(Source: Created by the learner)
Conclusion
It can be identified from the above analysis that Sainsbury, UK’s HRM has multiple duties
that help the organisation to reach organisational objectives.
7

LO2
Evaluate the effectiveness of the key elements of Human Resource Management in an
organisation
P3 Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation for both the
employer and employee.
Employee Benefits
 Training and development practices
This HR practice is focused on the organisation’s employees’ benefits. When the employees
attend the training sessions, they get to know about many organisational fundaments that are
required to be the company’s stakeholder. Training sessions enrich the knowledge of the
employees that helps them to improve their skill sets in order to develop their career inside
the company.
 Job and workplace Design
The human resource management team is in charge of deciding the job requirements the
employees need to follow. The HRM team of Sainsbury, UK has a system of appreciating
works of efficient workers so that the workers can realise their contributions to fulfil
organisational goals. In this way, employees stay motivated and loyal to the organisation.
Employer Benefits
 Training and development practices
Intending to grow the productivity of the employees and develop their skills, HRM of
Sainsbury, UK conducts various training programme. This also allows the employers to know
about the quality of the employees that is helpful to allocate them with jobs they are efficient
to perform. The HR department plan training classes after surveying the requirements of the
employees so that by polishing their skills, the employees can contribute in achieving
organisational goals.
 Job and workplace Design
Well-Planned job design and a healthy environment of the workplace, the HRM can
understand the comfort-zone of each employee in the place of work. The practices of
8

rewarding employees for their work-efficiency help the employers to recognise the
workforce’s strength. Knowing the strength is helpful to motivate the employees to work
with more efficiency (Eaves et al., 2016).
P4 Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising
organisational profit and productivity.
The mentioned practices of HRM team are successfully raising the profits and productivity of
Sainsbury, UK. Here, the success of HRM practices has been evaluated.
 Flexibility
The HRM department of Sainsbury, UK have successfully maintained flexibility in the
workplace by following the mentioned practices. Hence, to amplify the efficiency of the
employees, the adopted HRM strategies are helpful in order to increase the organisation’s
productivity. To maintain the flexible work-atmosphere the Handy model of flexibility is
used by the HR team.
Figure 1: Leaf (Handy) model of flexibility
(Source: Culture and Organisations, 2019)
This leaf structure portrays the practices done by HRM to maintain flexibility, fringes in the
contract and base workers. It is the job of the HR management team to ensure there is a
9

flexible environment in the workplace, which is helping the employees to grow by motivating
and inspiring them.
 Organisational Performance and reward systems
The productivity depends on an organization’s workers’ efficiency (Song et al., 2017). The
organisational productivity of Sainsbury, UK has been increased due to the strategies adopted
by the company’s HR. The rewarding system strategy taken by the HR department proved to
affect positively on the employees as well as the employers and total organisations. This
system has successfully satisfied the employees. As a result, it can be concluded correct
decisions taken by the HRM uplifts revenue and efficiency (Kaufman, 2015).
Explore the different methods used in HRM practices, providing specific examples to
support evaluation within an organisational context
To analyse workers’ performances and to boost them, this method, this method has proved to
be effective for Sainsbury, UK. By providing training classes to the employees who want to
polish their skill sets are helpful to distribute the responsibilities. The HR team analyses the
efficiencies of the workers during the training programme to assess what responsibilities will
be suited for whom (Jaques, 2017).
Recruitment methods
In the processes of recruiting, the HR management evaluates the skill of the candidates. The
skills are analysed depending on candidates’ qualifications and experiences they have gained
by far (Berman et al., 2019). As the organisation’s improvement is depended on the workers’
this process is very vital responsibility of HRM.
Retention methods
For the recruitment of new employees, and to coach them, this method plays a significant
part. This process ensures the work efficiency of the employees is constant and organisational
productivity is not being hindered (Noe et al., 2017).
Conclusion
From this evaluation, it can be known that the strategies of the HRM team play a significant
part to increase the eligibility of the company.
10

11

LO3
Analyse internal and external factors that affect Human Resource Management
decision-making, including employment legislation
Introduction
The main focus of the Human Resource Management is to maintain good relations with the
employees between the employees and the company. It tries to follow all employment laws
by going over all of its elements. This report will explain the employee relations respective of
the planning process. It will also elaborate the various factors of employment law and the
impact it has on HRM planning.
P5 Analyse the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM
decision- making.
Good employee relation is crucial for every company to accomplish their aims and objectives
in business. This is the key to success for every company. Employee relationship constitutes
the functions of the HRM, which consists of maintaining relationships with the employees
either directly or by an agreement. Trade unions are also considered in the HRM function.
One of the aims of HRM is to avoid workplace conflicts at various levels. This depends on
the way employees react to their participation in the business operations. Thus, good relations
with the employees result in better employee productivity. Every employee expects just
treatment from the company. Thus, Sainsbury has to treat their employees in a fair and just
manner. This can be achieved effectively by assigning the employees with crucial tasks that
places great responsibility on their shoulders. Good relationship with the employees results in
greater collaboration between employees and other departments, which is an advantage for
both the company and their employees. Employees can share information between
themselves to reduce time spent in completing a task. Most of the companies that conduct
business operations maintain good employee relations by implementing effective employee
relation strategies (Karanges et al., 2015).
Maintaining a good system of communication with the employees helps in updating the
organisation’s strategy planning process and company policies. The employees can work
more effectively if they are provided with updated information regarding their tasks. Their
sense of responsibility will also increase if they are appreciated for doing their job well.
12