Strategic HRM: Practices, Benefits & Effectiveness at Starbucks

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within Starbucks, focusing on their purpose, functions, benefits, and effectiveness. It begins by outlining the core functions of HRM, including managerial, operative, and advisory roles, and details the workforce planning process. The report then evaluates different recruitment and selection approaches used by Starbucks, such as external and internal recruitment, assessment centers, and direct interviews, highlighting their respective advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, it examines the benefits of various HRM practices for both Starbucks as an employer and its employees, emphasizing improvements in employee turnover, performance management, and training programs. The effectiveness of these practices in raising organizational profit and productivity is also assessed. The report further investigates the importance of employee relations and the impact of employment legislation on HRM decision-making within Starbucks, concluding with an illustration of the application of HRM practices in a work-related context, supported by a rationale for their specific use. This assignment solution is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide range of study tools and solved assignments for students.

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
LO 1..................................................................................................................................................4
P1 PURPOSE AND FUNCTION OF HRM........................................................................................4
HRM FUNCTIONS.....................................................................................................................4
WORKFORCE PLANNING..........................................................................................................6
M1 FUNCTIONS OF HRM IN STARBUCKS.....................................................................................7
P2 & M2 EXPLAIN AND EVALUATE DIFFERENT APPROACHES OF RECRUITMENT AND
SELECTION....................................................................................................................................9
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................12
P3 THE BENEFITS OF DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES IN STARBUCKS FOR BOTH THE EMPLOYER
AND EMPLOYEE.........................................................................................................................12
M3 THE DIFFERENT METHODS USED IN HRM PRACTICES IN STARBUCKS................................14
P4 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES IN TERMS OF RAISING
ORGANISATIONAL PROFIT AND PRODUCTIVITY OF STARBUCKS..............................................16
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................17
P5 THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS IN INFLUENCING HRM DECISION-MAKING IN
STARBUCKS................................................................................................................................17
P6 THE KEY ELEMENTS OF EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION AND ITS IMPACT ON HRM DECISION-
MAKING OF THE STARBUCKS.....................................................................................................19
M4 EVALUATION OF THE KEY ASPECTS OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS MANAGEMENT AND
EMPLOYEE LEGISLATION THAT AFFECT HRM DECISION –MAKING IN STARBUCKS..................20
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TASK 4............................................................................................................................................22
P7 ILLUSTRATION OF THE APPLICATION OF HRM PRACTICES IN A WORK RELATED CONTEXT
OF STARBUCKS...........................................................................................................................22
M5 A RATIONALE FOR THE APPLICATION OF SPECIFIC HRM PRACTICES IN A WORK RELATED
CONTEXT OF STARBUCKS...........................................................................................................24
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................25
REFERENCE.....................................................................................................................................26
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INTRODUCTION
Every organization consists of employee and employer that work together to achieve the
organizational goals and objectives. The process that keeps running the organization involves
several tasks that have to be performed. For each task, the workforce is required with a specific
set of skills and experience. Analysing the workforce-related need of the organization and
fulfilling it by recruiting potential candidates are the basic function of the HRM department.
Apart from this, maintaining relations with the employee and understanding their
requirements and needs are some other functions of the department.
The following assignment explains the purpose and functions of the HRM department along
with the merits and demerits of different recruitment and selection method used by Starbucks.
Additionally, the benefits and effectiveness of the HRM practices in Starbucks are also explained
in detail. Later on, how the employee relations and employee legislation influence and impact
the HRM decision-making is analysed and identified. Lastly, the application of HRM practices in
the workplace of the organization is illustrated.
For the given assignment, the chosen company is Starbucks; it is an American based
coffeehouse chain founded in Seattle in the year 1971. Currently, it operates in more than
16698 locations worldwide. It CEO is Kevin Johnson, and employ about 238,000 workers
worldwide (Starbucks, 2018). According to Britannica, it is the largest coffeehouse chain in the
world. Company define its mission as to encourage and cherish the human spirit. The company
is known for quality services (Bondarenko, 2015).
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TASK 1
P1 PURPOSE AND FUNCTION OF HRM
The major purpose of HRM department in an organization like Starbucks is to increase the
productivity of the organization by increasing the effectiveness of its employees. HRM
department is responsible for three essential tasks, which are, recruiting new staffs, training
and developing their skills and maintaining a positive work environment (Bratton, and Gold,
2017). HRM functions can be categorized into three sections that are:
HRM FUNCTIONS
Figure 1: HRM Functions
MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS
 Initially, the required workforce is determined based on the tasks; skillset and
experience required to perform specific tasks is determined.
 Specific work is assigned for each task in Starbucks, employees are trained to organize
their work accordingly (Banfield, et al., 2018)
 Employees are directed and motivated in order to increase their performance level
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HRM FUNCTIONS
Advisory
Functions
Operative
Functions
Managerial
Functions

Figure 2: Managerial Functions
 Quality and performance of the employees are monitored and increased if required, by
assigning tasks and performing quality improvement activity (Marchington, et al., 2016)
OPERATIVE FUNCTIONS
This includes determining the skills for specific jobs, recruiting potential candidates and training
them to adjust to the work environment. Additionally, they also monitor the performance of
the employees and perform several activities to increase their performance and prepare them
to handle more responsibilities (Arora, and Gupta, 2016). They also monitor salary, incentives,
and other benefits given to the employees of Starbucks.
ADVISORY FUNCTIONS
HRM department deals directly with the employees and conducts personal analysis to
understand their requirement and needs; this gives significant knowledge and experience
regarding employee relations to the HR manager. Therefore, they play a part while forming
company policies (Brewster, et al., 2016).
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Planning
Organizing
Directing
Controlling

WORKFORCE PLANNING
Figure 3: Workforce Planning
It consists of several steps aligned in a manner to ensure increased productivity of the team and
organization. Initially, organizational goals and objectives are determined, and then an analysis
is done by a different department to determine the turnover causes. Gaps are filled in the next
stage by planning the action plan and are implemented by conducting personality and skill
development activities. After implementation of the plan, its outcome is observed and matched
with the set limit based on which changes are made in the action plan (Cascio, 2018).
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Strategic
Directions
Workforce
Analysis
developing
Action Plan
Implementing
Action Plan
Monitoring,
Evaluating,
Revising

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M1 FUNCTIONS OF HRM IN STARBUCKS
The HRM department of Starbucks is responsible for performing several functions that help the
organization to reach their goals. Its function starts with recruiting the potential candidates
based on the tasks that have to be performed. As per HRM department of Starbucks, their
recruitment is divided into two sections i.e. retail and support centre. The selection involves
selecting the most appropriate recruited candidate that is able to perform the designated tasks.
This involves understanding the mindset of the candidates regarding their views and thinking
about coffee. Once the candidate is selected, HRM department conducts several development
programs that help the employees in adjusting to the organizational culture (Lussier, and
Hendon, 2017). These programs include training, this program trains the new staffs to recognize
coffee, and the communication methods used within the department of Starbucks. Within 80
working hours the staffs are required to master the knowledge about coffee, which includes
determining different types of coffee and describe its taste, additionally, Starbuck's importance
and position are the market is also explained to the staffs. Additional programs managed by its
HRM department includes Core 1& 2, retail manager programme, district manager training,
Starbucks experience etc.
Quality check is an important policy of Starbucks, which is also applied to the staffs their
performances are measured by the HRM department through which they provide incentives to
the staffs. Each partner of Starbucks has to earn star skills that determine their performance
level. Based on the performance of the staffs, their pay scale includes bonuses, saving the plan,
free pound of coffee, insurance etc. Moreover, since the company is largely spread across the
globe, staffs of a different culture are recruited for performing the tasks. Maintain relations
with them and forming essential policies require the involvement of the HRM department
(Brewster, et al., 2018).
From recruitment to selection and training, all the functions performed by the department is
dedicated to increase the performance level of staffs and make them capable of handling
though and unwanted situations. Information regarding coffee provided in training helps the
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staffs to offer better services to customers. By improving educating the staffs, HRM department
increases the service quality of the company that helps them in achieving the organizational
goal (Surbhi, 2015).
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P2 & M2 EXPLAIN AND EVALUATE DIFFERENT APPROACHES OF
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
Every organization requires the different set of workers to perform specific tasks, recruiting
correct employee for the correct job is managed by the HRM department. Recruitment is a
process where job analysis and sourcing and interviewing the candidates. The HRM department
of Starbucks uses several recruitment methods. That is listed below:
EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT
In this method, for the positions of Baristas and district manager, they are allowed to send their
qualification and experience details to the organization. In this method, the candidates are
recruited from outside the organization; this proved them diversity, which is essential for the
company like Starbucks as it operates in multiple countries. The company has set different
qualification standards for the candidates that are chosen from this method, for instance, the
baristas must be graduate, must be experienced in the hospitality and tourism sector, and are
comfortable to work in weekend and holidays and have good communication skills (DeVaro,
2016).
Starbucks accepts walk-in interviews, and online application form on their website for recruiting
the candidates; recently they have also initiated a process where they publically post
recruitment opportunities on their Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. However, it is a
time-consuming process and expensive, additionally, it demotivates the existing employees as
their chances of promotion decreases (Jamil, and Naeem, 2013).
INTERNAL RECRUITMENT
In this method, the organization fills the gap of the employee through its own workforce;
employees are generally promoted based on their improved skills, experience, or qualification.
This method includes less paperwork and the employees selected are also aware of the
organizational culture, thus the time consumed in training is reduced. Additionally, it also
improves the involvement of the promoted employee, as they feel more connected to the
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organization. However, choosing the employee from the organization reduces the diversity in
the team (DeVaro, and Morita, 2013). As managers recruited from outside the organization are
filled with ideas, it limits the options of the company. Starbucks promotes this method in the
retail section, as the baristas improve their skills, they are moved up in the vertical chain (Fox,
2015).
Once recruitment is done and necessary training is provided to the employees, and then comes
the selection process. In this process the correct person is chosen from the pool of applicants;
Starbuck's selection process includes following methods:
ASSESSMENT CENTER
In retail and support section, candidates are provided with an opportunity to work with the
staffs and learn about the job. Additionally, in the 1st two weeks, the candidates are required to
attend special training conducted by the HRM department on coffee; this training provides brief
information regarding different types of coffee, their taste and how to explain and differentiate
tastes. This is essential to provide the best experience to the customers. in retail section,
candidates are trained based on the job they have applied for. This helps in choosing the right
candidate, however, this method is comparatively time and energy consuming. Staffs have to
constantly monitor the work of the candidates and periodically guide them (Townley, 2014).
DIRECT INTERVIEW
Starbucks also offer to convince the employees of walk-in interviews in which the applicant has
to fill an application form rather than submitting resume and CV. For retail section, the store
manager conducts the interview, where they ask similar questions for the candidates to
determine their mindset and personality. Whereas, in support section panel of managers
conduct interviews to determine the skills, capabilities and mindset of the candidates. This
method of interview, provide the opportunity to select diverse staffs, also it is effective if a
targeted skill is required for the post. However, it holds some drawbacks such as, it is time-
consuming and costly to set up an interview, also this method can be biased and lack of
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