Unit 21 Human Resource management Assignment Harrods

Unit 21 Human Resource management Assignment Harrods

Introduction

When referring of Human Resources, there is a slight difference between HR and Personnel Management. This slight difference is about their specific roles. Managers at Harrods have different roles and responsibilities, in order to enforce Harrods’ brand values within the organisation. For a large organisation for example Harrods, needs to follow laws, regulations to make sure that they perceive a positive image to their target market.

The staff at Harrods plan for Human Resources and this is so that they can make sure that they work toward their aims and objectives. Also, Harrods have an extensive selection process  to recruit employees having  a vision that match the vision of the organization  and a understanding of the brand values of Harrods.

Task 1

P1.1 Distinction between HRM and PM at Harrods

Personnel Management is about recruiting employees at Harrods, dealing with training new staff and managing payroll payment, when they carry out the work, which is expected of them, providing incentives to employees, who meet or exceed their targets, assessing the performance of employees, to determine how they could improve and possibly work towards promotion and dealing with disputes if staff are not satisfied, with anything, whilst at work. This shows that Personnel Management consistently communicate with employees, throughout their time at Harrods (businessdictionary.com, 2013). On the other hand, in a small retail organisation the  decision making  will be quicker as there are fewer levels to go through on the hierarchy.

Small organisation practices personnel management to make sure that personnel management practices and policies are geared to the objectives of the organisation.

On the other hand, Human Resource Harrods Management focuses more on the organisation and business activities, rather than the employees who work within Harrods. They deal with managing the workforce as opposed to working with them. Human Resource Management also allows work to be carried out effectively and efficiently, this is done, in order to allow employees to be motivated, so that they can work productively. Examples of Human Resource Management at Harrods are employee relations, development and performance (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2008).

There are clear differences between HRM and PM. HRM is concerned with activities, which relate to the workforce of Harrods, however this does not necessarily include employees, but activities, which may influence how they work at Harrods. Conversely, Personnel Management is about being responsible for the performance of employees and making sure that they are trained to an appropriate level, which will allow employees to deal with customers to the level that Harrods would like, they also set targets for employees and deal with issues employees might have (CIPD, 2014).

Conclusion: In conclusion, HRM deals with business related issues, staff training, and motivation. On the other hand, PM is concerned with employee related issues such performance evaluation, decision making, and all decisions are taken by one person, a higher level employee known personal manager.

P1.2 Function of the HRM at Harrods

The functions of HRM include recruitment and selection, appraisal, training and development, public relations, performance measurement, resourcing employees and rewarding and motivating employees. Recruitment and selection within Harrods is about finding appropriate candidates, who will perform to the standard, which Harrods expect their employees to perform. Also, they have an extensive selection process, which consists of 8 different stages. In order to get an in depth understanding of the candidates, who are being screened, this allows Harrods’ to comprehend, suitability of candidate (Harrodscareers.com, 2014).

Functions of HRM:

• Recruitment and Selection: The accomplishment of recruiter and livelihood experts for the most part is measured by the quantity of positions they fill and the time it takes to fill those positions.
• Appraisal: HR department is responsible for employee performance review, performance evaluation, discussion about the development.
• Training and development: This is one of the vital role of HR department that after successfully finishing recruitment and selection process, employees should be provided with necessary training to make them fit for the position.
• Public Relation: Another vital task of HR department is to maintain  employee relationship  with the management team and stakeholder outside the organisation.
• Performance Measurement: This is the process where managers and employees make a plan to set objectives for their work.
• Resourcing employees: This a part of the Human Resource Management addresses one of the centre areas of human asset recruitment and selection These ranges of representative resourcing are broadly secured in basic scholarly writing and prescriptive ('how to') books for individuals included in contracting or being procured.
• Rewarding and Motivating employees: Rewarding employees can motivate them to perform better for the organisation. So in terms of performance of employees gets better day by day.

Appraisals are important within Harrods, this is to allow employers to evaluate employees’ performances and to set them goals in order to progress their careers and develop as individuals.     

Training and development is a key part of Human Resource Management at Harrods. In order to train and develop employees, Harrods follow three steps. The first step is the recruitment process and this is about attracting new employees who are suitable for the job, which Harrods have on offer. The second step is performance and this allows employees to carry out tasks with maximum input and this is done by giving them the necessary training they need as well as keeping them informed on any relevant information, which may be useful to them regarding Harrods. The third and last step is development and this allows employees to build a career at Harrods and they are given the opportunity to progress, by having the ability to be promoted based on their work ethic (businesscasestudies.co.uk, 2013).

Public relations within Harrods is important as it has a significant impact on the way customers view, the business. Performance measurement is accumulating and analysing data, which is associated with Harrods and employees, to measure performance against targets, this allows Harrods to check how successful they are and whether or not they’ve met they targets. Resourcing employees is about finding the right staffs for the role at Harrods, also the right number of staff need to be selected for the role, to make sure that customer demand is being met successfully. It is important to reward and motivate the employees at Harrods. This is, because if employees are constantly doing repetitive jobs, then they’ll easily get bored, therefore they need to be rewarded, by being praised and motivated by various techniques (businesscasestudies.co.uk, 2014).

Recruitment is important at Harrods in order to find the right staff in order to deliver a service for their customers. Employees then get appraised in order to understand if they are on the right track. Training and development allows employees to improve on their skills after appraisal, if they need to improve. Public relations, is about Harrods public image to their customers and they rely on their employees to put this message across through the service they deliver. Performance measurement allows Harrods to monitor their performance, in order to check if their operations are running as they should be, if not, certain decisions may need to be made, in order to improve performance. Resourcing employees is about finding suitable candidates for specific job roles to meet targets. Rewarding and motivating employees allows them to improve on their work and perform better for Harrods.

Conclusion: In conclusion, I have found out that recruitment and selection is crucial to Harrods, because without it there wouldn’t be anyone to run and control Harrods’ business activities. Appraisals are also important as they help employees to understand, their targets and how to achieve them. Training and development allows employees to work to the standard, which Harrods expect of their employees and Harrods also give them the opportunity to develop and progress within their career. Public relations at a Harrods is about perceiving a positive image to their customers, also this allows Harrods to display their prestigious image and target high end customers. Performance measurement is about improving employees and Harrods, to measure against targets and find out, if they are successful and if not, they may need to change their strategies. Employees also need to be rewarded and motivated as this can help to improve the way they work and become more efficient.

P1.3 Responsibilities and Role of the Line Manager at Harrods

Line manager of organization plays critical role in monitoring, analyzing and offering the guideline for managing the operations more effective and professional manners.

Following are the major role and responsibilities of line manager of Harrods:

• Performance appraisal: The line manager of Harrods analyzes the performance of staff members and provides the feedback to the individual to encourage the performance. This is important role of line manager to monitor the contribution and effectiveness of staff to meet the organizational objectives.
• Remuneration decision: According to observation, it is been identified that line manager of Harrods make the decisions for determining the pay as per the performance of the staff members. Line manager of Harrods ensure that each of the staff member get the optimum salary according to the skills and responsibilities at work place.  In order to maintain the equal opportunities the line manager supervises the work ethics to avoid the unfair practices.
• Discipline approach: At work place, it is important for line manager to maintain the discipline according to culture and policies of hotel organization. The line manager of Harrods offering the essential knowledge and information to staff members for managing their behaviour, communication approach and follow up of procedure to establish discipline approach that influence the brand image of hospitality organization and encourage visitors.     
• Conclusion: In conclusion, line managers carry out an operational role, where they are encouraged to share and evaluate ideas and their suitability, then they can implement those ideas once approved. However, HR line managers, need to go through many different managers and levels of hierarchy in order to finalise a decision, once they have an idea or issue, which needs to be resolved.

P1.4 Impact of legal and regulatory framework on Harrods’ HRM

In order to maintain the ethical and positive image, it is necessary for hotel organization to follow and apply the legal and regulatory framework that protect the rights of employee and keep them motivated by avoiding the unfair practices.

Following are the key legal and regulatory framework for HRM practices at hospitality organization:

• Discrimination Act: According to law and legal framework of UK the organization need to implement the HRM process according to Discrimination Act in which management cannot discriminate the candidates due to age, gender, religion or race.
• Equal pay Act: This act of HRM practices ensure that staff members of organization get the equal pay as per the degree of work. According to this legal framework, it is the responsibility of HR manager to offer equal wages to the staff at same position which helps to develop positive and supportive working environment as well as avoid the conflicts.
• Privacy Act: In order to protect the information and personal details of staff, higher authority of industry has proposed the Privacy Act. According to this legal framework, HR manager or department cannot share the personal information of employees. This law has positive impact on the information sharing of staff and support to create ethical image.       
• Conclusion: In conclusion, despite the positive or negative impact, the framework of Harrods HRM has large impact on the overall performance of the organization. So the framework should be considered based on overall impact.

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Task 2

P2.1 Reasons for HR planning at Harrods.

It is said that, "a right planning is half of done". Human resource planning alludes the procedure and method and determination the needs of an organisation human resource. Planning is something organisation must have. Without appropriate planning no action can be performed splendidly for greatest cases. Since human resource administration is a basic variable for association so significance of getting ready for human resource is exceptionally essential. Human Resource planning is linking needs of an organisation to its strategic plan, to ensure that operations are running, as they should be. (Business Dictionary, 2015).HRM should help employee to grow in the organization. The HRM does foster three important aim such as allow staffs to work, allow employee to use the best ability and expand knowledge, help to push up the career ladder at Harrods (Cipd.co.uk, 2014).

HRM planning is the key to success of a business. Harrods is no different. Every goal is achieved through employee. Good employees are key to the success of the organisation. Employee communicate every important aspect and with information to different stakeholder of the business. Stakeholder such as customer, investor need to be satisfied and employee ensure this through effective communication. This will improve the brand image of Harrods (Harrodscareers.com, 2014). HRM planning is important as it will make sure there are enough employees present, objectives of the organisation are sufficient and maintain a competitive advantage. (Business Dictionary, 2015).

There are some important explanations behind Harrods' human resource planning. Some of those motivations to be talked about at this point. Firstly, Harrods dependably attempt to make the connecting between organisation system to  human resource management . Harrods additionally requirements for making plan for evaluating current flow of HR, deciding the interest for work, foreseeing the future work supply, discovering or looking the required employees, coordinating the interest and supply for work. Human asset management helps Harrods to deal with its human asset adequately and productively.

Conclusion: In conclusion, HRM of Harrods should plan in such a way that communication of different stakeholders becomes very effective.

P2.2 Planning HR requirement at Harrods

The human resource planning process involves the different stages by which organization plan the HR needs and fill the position by selecting the skilled candidates.  

The main objectives of using following stages for human resources planning are to meet the organizational goals more professional manners:

• Assessing organizational objectives: The department has to assess the human capital requirement in the organization in different department like marketing, finance, sales etc and then move to further stage. This step thus facilitates Harrods to identify the manpower requirement.
• Inventory of present human resource: Through this process management identifies the present employee availability in the organization like employees in finance department, sales department, cook, waiters etc. After analyzing the internal capacity then management recruits the candidates.
• Forecasting Demand and supply of human resource: HR department of Harrods classify the different positions according to the job profile and identify the source to fulfil those requirements. The department matches the job description and job specification of the particular work, and profile of the candidate should be suitable for it (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2008).
• Gap analysis: The HR manager identify the needs and requirements of new staff members for each department and communicate to the top management to develop the plan for recruiting new candidates.
• Action plan: At this stage, the HR manager develops and implements the action plan to achieve HRM objectives. According to the plan the surplus employee may be fired or offered with voluntary retirement and in case of deficit management hires the candidates from various sources.
• Mentoring, feedback and control: This is last stage of HR planning in which manager and supervisors of departments monitor the approach of individual at workplace and collect the feedback regarding the facilities as well as control the approach. This kind of process helps to manage the HRM activities and maintain the flow of operation and practices.   
• Conclusion: In conclusion, involving different stage of the organization, HRM requirement is planned at Harrods.    

P2.3 Comparison of selection and recruitment process (Harrods  and John Lewis, M&S or Sainsbury etc)

The HR management of each organization follows the proposed approach for managing the human resources activities but they have also consider the own policies that have significant impact on the practices of HRM. Harrods management is following the international standard for HRM practices that helping to appoint the skilled and qualified candidates. From the foundation of Harrods, it has been realized that Harrods take after a reasonable and non-segregation for recruitment and choice procedure. Corporate administrations are completely trailed by it. Next to that it attempts to choose the dynamic, brilliant, open individuals. Harrods' enlistment and determination procedure begins with promotion and closures with handy or demo session. The huge contrasts are seen in the middle of Harrods and three others specified above in enlistment and choice procedure as far as inside choice, contracting individuals for conclusive determination process and so forth.

On the other hand M&S is following the traditional approach for managing the HRM practices for selection and recruitment of the new staff members. According to observation, it is been identified that, HR manager of M&S is analyzing the needs of the staff at different locations and positions within organization and developing the job description to communicate through print and online media for creating the awareness. After collecting the applications of candidates HR commit shortlist the quality candidates and ask them to come for written test. On the basis of results of written test, HR team call for final interview of candidates. After completing the process the HR manager provide the training regarding the work and explain the role and responsibilities. Hence, it can be considered that both organizations are following different approaches for selection and recruitment.       

Conclusion: In conclusion, Harrods follows a very rigid recruitment process.

P2.4 Evaluation of the effectiveness of the above company’s selection process

For the proper management of selection and recruitment process the organizations are following the different approaches and procedure.  According to analysis, it is been identified that Harrods hotel is following the flexible HRM process which has positive impact on the HRM practices of organization to appoint the capable candidates.  In the current scenario, online test and interview process is more effective than the traditional approach as it gives the opportunity to all candidates from different region to apply for the job. Moreover, this approach is cost and time effective as it is more convenient for HR and candidates to share information and complete the interview tasks through video conferencing.    

Apart from that, M&S is following the traditional approach for implementing the HRM practices. Organization is collecting the applications of candidates through mail and e-mails and the HR commit is shortlist the quality candidates and ask them to come for written test. On the basis of results of written test, HR team call for final interview of candidates. After completing the process the HR manager provide the training regarding the work and explain the role and responsibilities. This kind of approach is consuming lot of time and funds to maintain the standard in the process. Moreover, the candidates are also not satisfied with the efforts of the organization for selection and recruitment.  

Conclusion: Overall, the selection and recruitment process at Harrods is more effective than those of Marks and Spencer as it goes through more stages and tests the skills of the employees thoroughly.

Task 3

P3.1 Link between motivation theory and its reward based Harrods

Motivation: Motivation is actually the longing to do things. It's the contrast between awakening before day break to pound the asphalt and lazing around the house throughout the day. Motivation is the process of encouraging someone to perform better on certain task.

Motivation is behaving in a specific manner, in order to achieve something. Most popular motivation theory is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that suggests five layers of needs. The first one is physiological needs such as food, water and shelter. If employee does not have access to this basics the will not be able to work effectively and efficiently.  In spite of that, reward is financial benefits that offered by the Harrods management to the high performing staff members or employee who have achieved their targets in given time limits. This kind of approach also motivates the staff members and encourage for better performance. Moreover it is been observed that Harrods hotel management is using the both kind of approaches for encouraging the staff members according to conditions and process that could make the difference in the motivation and meeting the satisfaction level of employees.

Reward system means the specific procedure, rules and standard which are related with the support of benefits and compensation to them. Reward systems are specific rules and regulations in place in order to compensate employees and provide them with benefits. (Business Dictionary, 2015). There’s a link between reward and motivation, this is because if employees at Harrods are motivated at work, they’ll offer customers a good service and this will lead to them getting praised and rewarded.

The second one is safety needs. At Harrods if employee does not feel secure this will negatively affect the work and environment. The employee is always concerned about losing job or health safety they will not work with full concentration. The third one is social needs, the needs of love, friends, and family support. If employees at Harrods are allowed to form team or have some place to gather informally, this will have a positive impact. All employees will be efficient at work.

Conclusion: In conclusion, Harrods must understand the level of needs of its employee. A successful fulfilment of employee need is the key to success of a business.

P3.2 Job evaluation and pay determining factors at Harrods

Job evaluation is making sure that certain factors need to be met with regards to personal and work requirements. (Business Dictionary, 2015). A candidate should process the required job skill. Job evaluation determines a suitable candidate who full fills the required skill and requirement. Job evaluation involve the analytical and non-analytical both kind of approaches and process which includes the point rating, comparison, job classification and ranking methods. The process of investigating and analyzing the job is essential for gaining the in-depth knowledge about the requirements of candidates to complete the tasks as well maintain the effectiveness of operations to meet the satisfaction level of customers.

Pay determination is important task for HR department of the Harrods hotel to maintain the ethical and equal process that influences the performance of employees.

Following are the key factors that need to be considering while determining the pay:

• Skills and experience: Harrods decide the pay according to the skill of the candidate. If employee perform well for the work allotted to him then management pay higher amount to increase the efficiency of the employee.
• Profitability of the organization: Sometimes business do not get profits as much to pay the high salary to the employee this factor is also responsible to determine the wages of the employee.
• Employee performance: The first and foremost factor to determine the pay is the performance of the employee if employee continuously improves the performance then management increases the salary as per the performance.

Other Factors Influencing Pay:

• Legal considerations
• Union membership
• Company policy
• Competitive strategy
• Equity

There are also other factors, which influence pay such as minimum wage, tax and national insurance. Many employees may also be part of a union, which protects their rights as workers and deals with work related issues on behalf of employees. There may be company policies in place, such as overtime, which may specifically state how much an employee will be paid, for the extra work they do. Harrods may also have a competitive strategy to set wages competitively against competitors.

Conclusion: In conclusion, Pay at Harrods depends on various factors such as job evaluation, performance, skill etc.  However, job type and performance are the basic factors.

P3.3 Effectiveness of reward

Reward is for completion of specific activity or task (BusinessDictionary.com, 2014). There are different rewards at Harrods. Effective reward systems are systems, which reward people and push employees to work harder. The effectiveness of these rewards depends on different factor. This effectiveness largely depends on how and when they are used. For example, an employee has worked harder but is not paid as per his hard working. This will discourage the employee and the employee will be dissatisfied and Harrods prevent this from occurring. On the other hand, if the employees are paid for their hard work, they will fell that company care for them, and the employee will work harder. This is called positive reinforcement.

Reward system of organization is helping for keeping the staff members motivated and develop the competitive working environment in which employee of hotel are increasing the level of contribution as well as  marketing planning  to achieve the goals and objectives more professional manner.

Conclusion: In conclusion, reward is very effective tools to motivate the employee. A very effective reward system will boost the productive at Harrods.

P3.4 Methods of monitoring performance at Harrods

Harrods follows different strategies to monitor employee performance. Staff appraisal is one of the methods used by Harrods to monitor the staff performance. The staff appraisal process is the process where employee is informed about their performance and is helped. This will help employee to do well in the near future. Appraisal also help employee understand their weakness and strength. The responsibility of appraisal is bestowed with human resource department.  They make sure that appraisal take place in time. This appraisal will help the human resource department to train and recruit staff (cipd.co.uk/, 2014).

Following are the key methods of monitoring the performance:

360 degree review: For evaluating and monitoring the performance of staff members, Harrods hotel is using the 360 degree review method in which HR manager of organization is collecting the feedback from the peers, senior staff members and customers of individual staff members that helping to analyze the behaviour and effectiveness of individual staff at workplace. This type of performance reviewing method is helpful for HR to gain the in-depth information about the individual staff and offer them training accordingly.

Task 4

P4.1 Reasons of cessation of Employment

Cessation refers to dismissal from employment. Employees may need to adapt this. Unhappy employee may create distortion in the workplace. This unhappy employee will make other employee unhappy. So it is necessary that the employee creating distortion is taken care of and cession is the ultimate solution of this problem. Sometime unsatisfied employee wants to leave the job. In this situation employment cessation is necessary (Businesscasestudies.co.uk, 2014). Common reasons for cessation of employment may be due to the following

• Retirement
• Terminal illness
• Dismissal
• Resignation

With particular regards to dismissal the key reasons for cessation of employees could be due to;

• Low performance: The contribution of employee is low and not meeting the benchmarking standard of the organization which may lead to the cession. Every organization retains and motivates the productive staff members who have significant contribution in process of achieving goals.
• Behaviour and Attitude: Management expects from employees to maintain the working environment and discipline. The employee should behave well with the customers, vendors, subordinates etc.    
• Conclusion: In conclusion, employee may feel that it is necessary to cease an employee from the job. Harrods can believe that some employees are not behaving professionally.  That is the employees are treated unfairly or the employee are not motivated. This kind of employee can damage Harrods’ assets because of their feelings of deprived.  These dissatisfied employees behave badly with the customer. As a result Harrods business and brand image are affected negatively. So cession is the necessary solution.

P4.2 Exit procedures at Harrods and comparison

Employment exit procedure is managing employees’ cession of employment. This is applicable to all who are dismissed, made redundant or have chosen to voluntarily resign (MBA brief, 2014). The exit procedures of Harrods is compared to restaurant named Chicken Masters

Exit Procedures at Harrods:

• Employee who wants to resign from the Harrods is required to handover the resignation letter to the personnel manager.
• Then personnel manager informs to the human resource department.
• Then employee has to submit all the equipments and utilities given by the organization.
• Management conducts the interview in which employee is questioned about the reason for leaving the job and try convince him for not leaving the job.

Exit Procedures at Chicken Masters:

• In chicken master, an employee informs his manager about his will to terminate the job either verbally or though a letter or mail.
• The manager holds discussion with the employee about the reasons for leaving the job and tries to convince him about continuing the job. In case manager fails to convince the employee, final settlement like clearing dues, providing experience letter etc is provided  and employee is relived from the job.

P4.3 Impact of the legal and regulatory framework on employment cessation

The legal and regulatory framework of UK has an impact on the policies related to employee cessation at Harrods.  The framework does not allow the organisation to fire an employee without a valid reason. Harrods serves prior notice to the employee for employment cessation. The organisation gives a valid and a fair reason for the employment cessation and provides all legal documents to the employee like experience letter, salary certificates etc. Following presents some of the key rules, which govern employment cessation.

1. There must be a valid reason for cessation of employment.
2. There should not be any discrimination like gender, religion, age etc for termination of job.
3. Employment act 2010 enforces organisation to provide equal opportunities to its employees
4. The management needs to give prior notice as per Employment Right Act 1996 (Section 86).
5. In case of unfair cessation employee can go to court and file a legal law suite

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Conclusion

In conclusion, Harrods have practical HR strategies to separately identify the roles and responsibilities of different employees. They also use various analyse techniques to help them to work more efficiently and also to improve performance of the employees and organisation.

References

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/personnel-management.html, 2013
Torrington, D., Hall, L. and Taylor, S. (2008). Human resource management. 1st ed. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
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Torrington, D., Hall, L. and Taylor, S. (2008). Human resource management. 1st ed. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.