Human Resource Management and Strategic Advantage Analysis

This report delves into the critical role of Human Resource Management (HRM) in driving organizational success. It examines the effectiveness of HRM policies and practices, emphasizing their contribution to achieving a competitive advantage. The report uses Microsoft as a case study, analyzing how their HRM strategies in areas like recruitment, retention, learning and development, and rewards and recognition have contributed to their market dominance. Furthermore, the report explores the influence of both internal (organizational) and external environmental factors, such as political and technological advancements, on HRM practices within the United Kingdom over the last 25 years. It provides a comprehensive analysis of how these factors shape HRM policies and practices, including relevant legislation and their impact on the employment relationship. The report concludes by highlighting the dynamic nature of HRM and its continuous adaptation to changing business environments, emphasizing the importance of strategic alignment for sustained organizational success.

RUNNING HEAD: Human Resource Management 0
Human Resource Management
(Student Name)
12/12/2018

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Introduction
Human Resource Management plays a vital role in the management of the company.
Department of HR involves in the management decision as well as practices in the workforce,
which directly influenced the people or human resource (Bratton and Gold, 2017). It could be
considered as the main aspect of evolving individuals to get the best out of them and refining
their work for better performance at the workplace (Bailey et. al., 2018). The main role of
human resource management is to design, implement, as well as maintain the strategies to
manage the employees for proper business performance which also cover the policy of
development. The HR also involves evaluating the people those who are operating in the
company or business (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016).
Moreover, Human Resource Management is a sequence of actions that is one of the essential
aspects of any existing companies. It has clear intentions that are to be trained by other staffs
in order to get an expected set of goals for the organization. HRM is a mean of motivating the
employees, working in an organization, response to the grievances, training, the process of
recruitment and selection (Albrecht et. al., 2015). In the recent scenario, the HR department
greatly influenced the management of the organization by implementing various strategies.
They are the main key of success in an organization such as HR of Microsoft play a vital role
in their organization, their work starts from the process of recruitment to the management of
the whole organization that made the company more effective and able to compete in a
competitive market (Brewster, 2017).
In the following part, there will be a detailed discussion on the effectiveness of the HR policy
which helps the company to grow in a competitive market as well as the factors which greatly
influenced the practiced of HR within the workplace

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The effectiveness of HR policies and Practices
HRM policies are the rules and regulations or procedures which helps an organization to
achieve its goals effectively. HRM policies are designed in such a manner that maximum
utilization of the resource is there in order to have a competitive advantage. As most of the
population are aware that business or companies do work in a dynamic environment which
requires constant monitoring and support by which companies are ready for the changes
which are going to happen in near future (Paille et. al., 2014). It analyse the needs and
requirement of the future and molds its policies accordingly. Flexibility is one of the key
parameters which are required in this dynamic surroundings, it helps the business to have first
mover advantage. HRM is one of the critical segments of an organization and its policies and
procedures decide the success of an organization. If HRM policies are flexible enough then
companies are able to do the planning and control can be done effectively which gives the
organizations added advantage from the competition and by moving early changes in to the
system helps the companies to capture the market without any hustle and if there is proper
palling companies can utilize the resources effectively (Pfeffer, 2014).
Microsoft
Microsoft is one of the global giants in the software industry across overseas. It has expertise
in development, manufacturing, Licenses and holds a huge range of products and services
majorly focusing on computers. It is based out of USA and its headquarters are in the USA
only. In Microsoft, Mission and visions are aligned in such a manner that it helps and guide
all its employees and businesses associated with it to utilize their full capabilities in achieving
better results (Ulrich and Dulebohn, 2015). The Prime reason for taking up this company is
due to skills, capabilities, knowledge, and expertise in their field that companies goals are

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achieved without hustle. Therefore, to justify effective HRM policy and process can help
companies in delivering strategies effectively and have the added competitive advantage. In
this report, we would be seeing how human resource policies help Microsoft in achieving
effectively (Raza and Tariq, 2016).
To understand this concept, there is need to understand that businesses do work in a dynamic
environment which involves many factors associated to it i.e. innovation, competition,
technological advancement and so on which plays a vital role in the success of the
organization. At times, companies have to amend its policies and procedure just to cater the
need of the hour. From Microsoft viewpoint, the knowledge of the employees should be
increased at any cost as they are the major reasons for the success of the company in addition
to it if the company is required to hire new resources it should do so that overall business
could be benefited out of it (Mullins, Brandes and Dharwadkar, 2016). Most of the
individuals are aware that the resources of the companies are limited hence to utilize them
properly makes the responsibilities of HRM more complicated. In most of the organization
people aspect is considered as one of the biggest asset for the companies and same thing is
being taken by the Microsoft in different manner from the competition as they hire the best
resource available into their company and that is the main reason that they are able to deliver
the best products in the market throughout so many years. The Microsoft believes that its five
business segments provide the best potential to cater to the needs of its customers/ clients.
Therefore it can be referred to as the company’s strategies are based on mission and vision to
achieve the desired results (Kampkotter and Sliwka, 2016).
There are few policies which help the organization to take or manage strategies effectively:
 Recruitment

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Recruitment is one of the vital aspects of HRM which helps the organization in achieving
their results effectively. Recruiting right man for right job at right time is curtail as Human
resource needs to work according to the need of the hour and to recruit a best suitable
candidate for the profile is a crucial decision which Human resource has to take. Microsoft
has the strong selection procedure which ensures that best of the best candidate is selected for
any profile so that business can utilize it effectively and results can be derived out of him in
short period of time. A bad decision could impact a lot of monitory and non-monitory.
Microsoft takes an application from the websites and in papers, scrutinizing the applications
in details and analyzing them properly to move it to next level so that best candidates are only
passed into next rounds, then there are several evolution tests which company does. If the
candidate has passed the certain test at good grades then only he/she would be selected
(Green, 2017).
 Retention
It is one of the important aspects of the human resource policy which most of the companies
does not value much but Microsoft ensures that whatever the resources they have hired are
retained within the company itself as hiring involves cost, time and efforts from all the
available resources. In 2007, Microsoft was awarded as one of the best companies to work
with. As per the facts available that only 5% is the workforce turnover. This shows that how
much Microsoft has put its efforts in retaining and long terms plans for the employees. This
also reflects that employees are motivated enough that they want to work in the same
organization from years to years. Microsoft has given freedom to its employees to explore
themselves and to design their bays in their own manner and they can have subsidized food
within the office campus. There are many policies which allow there to have the opinion or
they can voice out their opinions. The company gives the equal right to everyone and it

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allows the sense of ownership to the employees so that they can associate themselves to the
organization goals, mission, and vision (Ulrich, 2015).
 Learning and development
It is one of the biggest aspects for human resource and companies to have as it gives the
growth and opportunities for the employees to enhance their skills set and knowledge while
they are working. They can up skill themselves according to the business requirements and
can help the organization to achieve its goals more effectively and they can contribute to a
great extent. Microsoft ensures that is employees have the best of the knowledge with them
while working as it gives enormous opportunities for the business to grow at a faster pace
even if the cost is involved as cost could be recovered if the resources are utilized in an
efficient manner. Learning and development requires the training need identification method
which ensure or identifies that what is the current requirement and what can be of the future
and training plans and programs are designed in such a manner that it caters all the needs and
requirements so that companies can utilize their existing resources first and still more skill set
is required then they can go for new hiring which is not possible for the companies every
time.
 Rewards and recognition
It is one of the most important factors that Human resource needs to cater to all the
employees are working to get their salaries and incentives but every time monitory befits are
not enough to cater the need of the employees they have to ensure that all the deserving
employees who are putting their best efforts and contributing their best outputs in achieving
the goals and mission of the organization are recognized and awarded at some forum or in a
non-monitory manner. It is one of the biggest motivators for an employee, it not only boost
up the confidence of the employee but also enhance the performance of the employee and

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other employees also feel motivated enough to work towards the goals effectively so that they
could be next receiving the awards and recognition. All the criteria’s are shared in advance to
its employees so that they can work on it and can achieve it (Moeller, Harvey and Maley,
2017).
Factor Influencing HR Practices
The mission and goal of the company are complements by the success of human resource
strategies. The factors that are influencing the activities of HR are not statics. The company
needs to continuously monitor the internal and external environmental factors to maximize
recruitment and retention as well as to minimize the issues of the employees (Stone and
Deadrick, 2015). The HR need to adjust their strategy according to the factors affecting the
business. There are certain internal and external factors which affect the policies and
activities of HR such as:
External Environmental Factors
External environmental factors play a vital role in the success of the business. They cover
positive as well as negative impact on the corporate. Ignoring the environment of external
factors can have to devastate the effect on a company. There are certain external
environmental factors are:
Political Environment
The legal, as well as administrative environment, provides a framework within which the
company needs to operate. In some countries, the legal and political environment is very
strict as well as has a great impact on all aspect of the business. The policies or HR depends
on the policies or regulations of the country that gives rise to it. Therefore, the influence of
the political factor greatly affects the activities of the HR department. The HR department

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needs to operate according to the laws of the country within which their company does their
business (Kuratko, Hornsby and Hayton, 2015).
For example:
Retirement Age increased by the Government of UK
The government of UK increases the period of retirement of the male workforce from the
range between 65-70 years. It will divest the company of hiring the young folk; however, the
HR manager prepared a backup plan after such announcement such as retirement voluntarily
as well as a programme of early retirement for their employees. This strategy helps most of
the companies to minimize the negative effect on the organization (Tillsley and Taylor,
2017).
Economic Environment
The changes in economic are mainly occurred due to with the influence of economic
conditions upon the affluence of a big organization in regional, national, as well as
international market. This factor influenced the activities of the HR at a greater level.
Sometimes, the economy of the country is optimistic, sometimes a book or plenty,
unemployment is low. At the other time the economy dips and high. The HR manager needs
to adjust according to the alternative peaking as well as dipping of the economy. They need
to prepare themselves for these internally in the situation of evitable. The HR department
needs to keep focusing on this economic pressure as well as seek a possible solution to
minimize the negative impact and they have to seize the advantage when they occur
(Marchington et. al., 2016).
For example:

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Virgin Airline Union and British Airways Union
According to the report of BBC news, the Human Resource manager of Virgin Airline has
put a sturdy argument which is depressed for the rational in the reduction of hours of their
staffs and cutting the job due to the slump in the economy. They have promised to back with
the new jobs as soon as the situation will get improve (BBC News, 2001). In contrast, in the
instance of British Airlines, the argument was not that much sturdy as well as was not
satisfactory for their employees that have steered to a series of strikes done by their
employees. This growth has cost in the form of loss of millions of pounds of British Airway
(BBC News, 2011).
Internal Factors
Level of growth
The internal factors that majorly affect the human resource are current rate of the company
and projected growth. The extensive growth, as well as rapid expansion of the company,
depends on the recruitment and staffing process of human resource department. Most of the
stagnant companies may place a great focus on retention of employees and improving the
culture of the company as well as a workplace environment. The downsizing of the
companies may also have to take some regrettable decision to lose some of their staff which
often on HR to relay (Koryak et. al.,2015).
For example:
The use of Assessment centers by Easy Jet
It was stated in the case study of Easy Jet, that in the year 2002, the major airline, EasyJet
mainly focuses on the recruitment stage to providing a right place to the right people

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especially pilots. It is also said that it is one of the most costly resources of the company in
term of the remuneration, career development, as well as training. It was presented in the year
1999, as well as how now been expended to the staffing of the cabin crew as well as
employees of the call center. In the practice of human resource, the recruitment and selection
play a vital role due to the reason that it is one of the effective ways of selecting those
individuals who are appropriate and skilled as well as also able to contribute in the
profitability of the organization, in growing which tips to competitive advantage contrary to
the rivals. Therefore, the HR manager greatly affected the process as well as the level of
growth of the company (Smith and Rees, 2017).
Use of Technology
The internal factors that mainly affected the human resource planning are the willingness of
the HR department as well as the management of the company to use technology to aid in
certain key resource function. The organization makes greater use of certain tools in their
work such as online benefits management, where the staff can able to changes the benefit
plans on their own. The department of human resource spends their more time focusing on
the areas like recruitment or training as well as the development of the employee (Mukherjee,
Bhattacharyya and Bera, 2014).
For example:
Impact of technology on TESCO
Tesco is one of the leading companies in the UK. The technology has greatly influenced the
development of many products of Tesco. The innovative technology benefits the customer as
well as an organization. The business has taken an initiative by launching Efficient Consumer

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Response (ECR). The company also use other devices in the organization such as Wireless
Device, Self-check-out machine
The adoption of Electronic shelf labeling, electronic scanner have effectively developed the
productivity of delivery and carrying undertakings in Tesco. Other than due to the
advancement of technology, in the process of recruitment, the candidate can apply for a job
through filling an online form which makes easy for the HR of Tesco to not deal with the
paper resumes or personal calls in the recruitment process. With email, text, and messaging
app, it would be easy for the HR of Tesco to get in touch with the rest of the company.
Therefore, the practice, as well as the regulation of HR, will do according to the advancement
of technology (Geetha, 2017).
Conclusion
From the above context, it can be concluded that human resource management is the key to
the success of any business. They manage the whole organization in an effective manner. The
HR department plays a different role according to the requirement of the company. They help
the company in finding an effective human resource which may help the company to succeed
in the competitive market. The best example of effective HR practice is in the leading
company Microsoft. The effective HR practices in the company help Microsoft to lead in
such a competitive market. The retention ratio of the company is quite high in a comparison
to other companies due to the satisfaction among the employees of the company. The
application of the effective HR strategies in Microsoft, help the organization to grow in an
effective manner. Moreover, the practices of the HR are highly influenced by the internal and
external factors. The change in the law or any regulation force the HR to change their
regulation accordingly, other than that the advancement in the technology enhances the

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performance as well as activities of HR in an effective manner which help the company to get
succeed in a competitive market such as Tesco as well as other companies.