Comprehensive HRM Report: Unilever Plc Practices and Strategies

This report provides a detailed analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Unilever Plc. It begins with an introduction to HRM, emphasizing its crucial role in organizational success, and then delves into the specific HRM functions relevant to resourcing and workforce planning. The report examines the purpose and functions of HRM, including training and development, compensation and benefits, performance appraisal, and planning. It then evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of various recruitment and selection approaches, distinguishing between internal and external recruitment methods, and discusses the importance of job analysis and job descriptions. The report also explores the advantages of different HRM practices, such as learning, training, development, and reward management, and assesses their effectiveness in increasing organizational profit and development. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of employee relations and employment legislation in influencing HRM decision-making, and explores the application of HRM practices in a work-related context. The report concludes with a critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches and methods used in HRM practices, providing insights into how Unilever Plc manages its human resources to achieve its organizational goals.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Purpose and Functions of HRM applicable to resourcing and workforce planning.........1
P2 Weaknesses and Strengths of various approaches to recruitment and selection...............4
M1: Assess the functions of HRM and can provide talent and skills.....................................5
M2: Evaluate the strength and weakness of various method.................................................5
D1: Critical evaluation of strength and weakness of different approaches............................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Advantages of various HRM practices in an organisation................................................6
P4 Effectiveness of various HRM practices in context of increasing organisational profit and
development...........................................................................................................................8
M3: Explore the various methods used in HRM practices.....................................................8
D2: Critical evaluate HRM practice and application within an organisation.........................8
P5 Importance of employee relations in order to influencing HRM decision-making..........9
P6 Elements of employment legislation and affect upon HRM decision-making.................9
M4: Evaluate the key aspect of employee relations management and legislation...............11
D3: Evaluate employee relation and application of HRM practices....................................11
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................11
P7 Application of HRM practices in work-related context..................................................11
M5: Provide rational for application of particular HRM practice........................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management (HRM) is the most important part of any organisation. It
monitors different activities of an organisation such as regulation of employees according to task
assigned by management (Alarcon, 2011). It also deals with various processes of recruitment
and selection, conducting training and development as well as giving different types of appraisals
according to performance of employees working in organisation. The main objective of
organisation is to enhance productivity of organisation in an effective manner. In an
organisation, human resource department plays a significant role to accomplish different type of
task in stipulated time period. Unilever Plc is organisation which provides various goods to its
loyal customers. It also sells fresh food products, personal care products, refreshment, segments.
The personal care segment concerned with those products which are related to skincare and hair
care, deodorant and oral care products. In present era this projects it is concerned with
advantages of different HRM practices which define various functions and functions of Human
resource management.
TASK 1
P1 Purpose and Functions of HRM applicable to resourcing and workforce planning
HRM of Unilever Plc deals with regulation of human resources within organisation in
order to accomplish different types of operations. Human resource department is concerned with
hiring new employees for organisation, selection processes, salary given to employee and
allocation of different resource in order to accomplish different task. These activities help to
attain goals and objectives of organisation (.Bamberger, Biron and Meshoulam, 2014). In order
to develop skills and development of employee. There are various scope and nature of HRM is
describe below:
Nature
 It is a regular process of organisation.
 It deals with various activities which concerned on to conduct training session,
performance appraisal, regulation of ma power and many other activities.
 It controls internal factor of organisation.
Scopes
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 Conduct training session to employee working in organisation.
 Help to motivate employees
 Deals with recruitment and selection of employee.
There are five function of human resource management is mentioned below:
Training and development- it is responsibility of HR manager to increase skills and
development of employee manager should conduct training session. It helps to bring
effectiveness in performing work processes of organisation. Unilever Plc implements new and
innovative methods of training to existing employee as well as new employee of organisation.
Compensation and benefits: HR manager put its effort in attaining goals and objectives of
organisation. By implementing different methods of benefits and compensation to employee
helps to accomplish different task of organisation. There are various benefits given to employee
working in organisation.
 Flexible duty hour
 paternal and maternal leave
 extension of vacation
Performance appraisal- The HR manager evaluates performance of employee at
different levels. This process helps to select the best alternative in order to perform best
alternative (Cavusgil, and et. al., 2014).
Planning- It plays an essential role to fix target and objectives of organisation. Before
implementing various different function, HR manager should prepare effective plan.
There are various functions which are concerned with HRM are given below:
 Hiring and recruitment of employee.
 Prepare effective plan for Unilever Plc.
 Behave like consultant.
 Motivation of employees
 Maintain effective communication to different employees.
Best fit approaches vs. best practice
Best practices Best fit
It is related with different policies by which
HR manager gives reward to employees
It helps HRM to maintain a proper structure to
implement various strategies in effective
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manner in company.
This practice is concerned on to motivate
employees.
It aids to compete different rivals present in
organisation.
Soft and Hard models of HRM
Hard skill- This is related with various activities which are performed by various
employees working in organisation. It determines various procedure of organisation. The main
aim of management to recruit new employees, workforce and regulate all employee as per needs
of Unilever Plc (Decker, Riley, and Siemer, 2012). In hard skills, it consists of:
 Fluent typing speed
 Certificate or degree
 Various computer programming
Soft skills- Unilever Plc termed its employees as the valuable resource of organisation.
The main objective of these skills is to increase motivation of employee.
Workforce Planning
Types of labour market
Types Types of labour power market
Independent primary Subordinate primary
Core Employee control, technical
and professional salaried and
members of line employee.
The employee concerned with
union by competing with
different union of labour.
Periphery Craft Secondary
Employee possesses good
skills; they are unionised
through craft union.
This related with those staff
who have low capabilities of
security of job.
An internal labour market is the unit which provide various labour and their cost which
is maintained by rules and policies of government. The vacant post is filled internally by giving
promotion to existing employee in company.
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P2 Weaknesses and Strengths of various approaches to recruitment and selection
Recruitment is process to recruit huge number of applicant to fill vacant post in Unilever
Plc. Recruitment can be done in two ways: externally and internally. It is very essential process
of company. By this, HR manager selects right individuals for vacant post. In this process, it
includes various steps such as screening, choosing of applicant, hiring and then inducting newly
recruited employee to organisation (Disch, 2016). Recruitment includes various processes which
are mentioned below:
Job analysis: It is related with details about job and requirement. The HR manager
implements its research about job necessity performance level and different work processes.
Job description: It is written summary about specific job, and description about the
various roles and responsibility which is performed by employee in organisation.
Personal specification: In this information about skills, qualification, knowledge and
experience of individuals which is needed to accomplish the objective of job.
Recruitment can be done internally and externally and also their strength and weakness:
Internal recruitment and selection:
HR manager of Unilever Plc selects employee within the company. It is less time
consuming and low cost methods of recruitment. HR manager should not need to hire employee
from outside of organisation. Organisation give promotion to employee in order to fill the vacant
post, by giving transfer from one department to another department and by references of family
of friends in order to fill the vacant post in company. Internal recruitment has some strengths and
weaknesses which are mentioned below (Ellison, and Boyd, 2013).
Strengths:
 It is less time consuming and cost effective.
 HR manager already aware about the skills and capabilities of employees.
 helps to motivate employee
Weaknesses
 Rise of conflict among employees.
 No new employee is being included in organisation.
External recruitment and selection
This method of recruitment and selection deals with selection of applicant from
outside of organisation. It can be done organisation college campus placement drive, from
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consultancy agency, pool campus and publishing recruitment notices in newspaper. There are
some strength and weakness of external recruitment ad selection (Fulton, and et. al., 2011).
Strengths
 It provides opportunity to new applicant.
 It aids to implement new and innovative idea.
Weakness
 It is very time consuming processes
 Necessity to conduct training to new employee
Selection is procedure to select best alternative for specific job. There are some elements
on which HR manager make selection of applicant like skills of applicant, capabilities and
knowledge of employee.
After make selection of employee HR manager organise induction programme for new
employee. It includes various steps which are mentioned below:
On- boarding- It is process to integrate new employee. Manager introduces these new
applicant to existing employee.
Induction – In this step new applicant are get aware about their roles and responsibilities
and also about their goals and objective. It can be conducted within a week or in short duration
of day. There are different issues which impact the induction programmes and socialisation of
employee (Glendon, Clarke and McKenna, 2016).
 Lots of cost involve in it
 Ability of employees
 Affect goals and objectives.
M1: Assess the functions of HRM and can provide talent and skills
The role of HR manager would require to conduct effective training session that can help
in proper development planning to their employees which increase overall skills and ability those
are possess by them. They can have motivated by providing rewards, incentives and other bonus
to them.
M2: Evaluate the strength and weakness of various method
The HR department always uses recruitment and selection methods in order to select right
candidate at the right job. But at the right point of time it can create diversification between
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present employees and new candidates. The benefit of these two approaches is that they can
generate better results with the fresh talent while, weakness to these methods create biases
among each other.
D1: Critical evaluation of strength and weakness of different approaches
As per the mentioned case study, it has been seen that company need to used recruitment
and selection method for the purpose of analysing performance and overall growth of the
company. like for example, in case the recruitment process the manger select person from their
family member then it can create negative impacts on other employees. The other staff’s member
would get affected from this types of decision making.
TASK 2
P3 Advantages of various HRM practices in an organisation
Different HRM practices of Unilever Plc are given as follows:
Learning, training and development- Every employee have different skills in company.
It is responsibilities of manager to implement different methods of training and development to
develop skills and knowledge of employee.
Difference between training and development
Training Development
It’s concerned on to enhance specific skills. It aids in control different activities of
employee.
It is short time processes It is long time process
It aims to enhance performance of employee It aids to develop skills of employee to face
challenges in future.
It is essential for manager to determine the necessity training to employee. The HR
manager implements two types of training which are mentioned below:
On the job training- This training implement inside the organisation to employee. It is
less time consuming and less time consuming (Keep, 2014). There are some methods like job
rotation, coaching internship and many other methods.
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Off the job training – This training methods implemented outside of organisation. Unilever Plc
appoints an expert for employees. It is very time consuming and expensive. It includes case
studies, seminars, and conferences and many other methods.
Reward management: It is most effective way to motivate employee. There are two
types of reward system:
Intrinsic reward- It is an abstract reward system which is based on sense of
achievements, recognition and satisfaction.
Extrinsic reward – It is tactile and it is given according to capability of employees. It
can be given in the form of monetary and trophy.
Flexible working hour: The concept of HR practices defines that an organisation needs
to maintain flexibly duty hour that an employee should work 8-9 working hour in organisation.
So that they could not feel stress and demotivated. Organisation needs to give short interval time
for refreshment. These practices aid to increase productivity of Unilever Plc. It benefit
employees as well.
Link among motivational theory and reward
Motivation plays an important role in influencing behaviour of employee by other
employee. It aids to enhance the working capabilities of employee. There are different types of
motivational theories which are which are used by HR manager in order to motivate employees
of organisation. There are two type of theory which is consider by HR manager like The
Maslow theory implemented in order to establish good relationship with employee and integrate
towards works. Secondly Hertzberg theory determine concerned with two different point like
motivation and hygienic factor. These two factors aids to enhance the performance of employee.
Sot that employees are liable to achieve appraisal (Kerlinger, and et. al., 2013).
Performance and reward:
It is based on the working performance of employee in Unilever plc. HR
manager should monitor performance of employee and give reward to employee. There are some
ways to evaluate the performance of employees;
 Qualitative work
 Punctuality
 Behaviour and attitude
 Observation of habit of employee
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 360 degree views
Types of payment and reward system
Payment and reward is given by HR manager of Unilever Plc as per performance
of employee. Organisation should implement effective reward and payment system which are
based on performance done by employee. There various types reward system such as monetary,
non-monetary, intrinsic and extrinsic and may others.
P4 Effectiveness of various HRM practices in context of increasing organisational profit and
development
Profit is the primary motive of every organisation which is required to be supported by
human resources through performing allotted roles and responsibility in an effective and efficient
manner. The main objective of Unilever plc is to increase their overall earning by providing
quality products and services to them. To adopt this growth, they need to make use of reliable
HRM practices such as learning and development plans, reward system training system and so
son. These are one of the primary tools which will be lead to increase the overall growth and
profitability of Unilever plc. In case, HR manager’s emphases on refining the performance of
employees, then it will be right to make positive impact on an organisation. HRM practices
comprises of flexible working options and other kinds of payments as well as reward system
which use to motivate staff members in best manner so as to attain their own profession areas as
well as organisational objectives.
M3: Explore the various methods used in HRM practices
In every organisation, the HR manager uses various types of HRM practices in order to
arrange their operation effectively. It will assist them in attaining better results and aims in the
allotted time period. It can be based on either technology and on job training as well as
organising Personal development planning. This will motivate them to perform their job in
effective manner.
D2: Critical evaluate HRM practice and application within an organisation
HRM practices will lead to the effective training and development plan which required to
be provided to employees with the aim of increasing overall skills and ability of an organisation.
Like for example, in case a company cannot be using on the job training plan the employees do
not determine how to utilise resources properly to overcome wastage.
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P5 Importance of employee relations in order to influencing HRM decision-making
In order to expand and growth of business, HR manager of Unilever Plc should make
effort to establish strong relationship between employee and management of organisation. It
helps to enhance productivity of organisation. It is very important for HR manager to manage
different work activities in effective manner. It helps to reduce the conflicts between the
employee while performing various functions of organisation. It is essential for HR manager in
order to maintain healthy environment in order to accomplish different work activities in
stipulated time period. Organisation need to put their efforts in order to give healthy environment
to employee so that they can work in effective manner. It helps to increase the morale of
employee. It also helps to minimise the conflicts which are arises between employee.
Establishing good communication helps to create a sense of coordination in order to accomplish
the task in stipulated time period (Nabrzyski, Schopf, and Weglarz, 2012). There are various
ways to establish relation between different employee.
Better communication: This method used by HR manager in order to build healthy
relationship among different employee. It is responsibility of HR manager to implement effective
communication channel in order to determine the various issues of employee which is resolve by
HR manager. It is positively impact the environment of organisation.
Share vision: It is very important for HR Manager to share different plan which are
implemented for proper execution of different projects. It gives proper path to work in systematic
manner.
Employee engagement activities: In order to maintain effective relationship manager of
Unilever Plc should perform different activities, games and programmes which helps to motivate
employee in order to attain goals and objectives of organisation.
P6 Elements of employment legislation and affect upon HRM decision-making
There are various types of employment legislation which is concerned about the various
types of rules and regulation which are imposed by the government. Government imposed these
rules in order to protect the right of employees working in organisation. These rules ad regulation
impact organisation to take various decision making by the HR manager of Unilever Plc. There
are various types of employment laws helps to establish healthy relationships between employees
and organisation (Oechsler, 2011).
Purpose of employment laws
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