Unit 22 Human Resource Planning Assignment

Unit 22 Human Resource Planning Assignment

Introduction:

The Unit 22 Human Resource Planning Assignment studies about the process of human resource management in the organisation. The concepts related to recruitment, selection, legal framework and cessation of the employment have been discussed with the case studies for better understanding of the topic.

Description has been initiated with the understanding of the difference between Human resource and Personnel management follows with the discussion of Human Resource planning and motivational theories. Further, it also focuses on some of the legal and regulatory framework that has its impact on the Human resource practices and this unit ends with the study of cessation and its types in the organisation.

Task 1:                                                       

1.1. Differentiate between personnel management and human resource management

Human resource management and personnel management are based on the same concept. HRM is the modern aspect of the personnel management that emerged as the development of the personnel management in 1970 and has been accepted in 1989. As it has been discussed that human resource management is the broader and modern aspect of personnel management, they are similar with some of the differences. Personnel management focuses on the employee welfare while HRM integrates the organisational goals with the individual goals in order to benefit both the parties simultaneously. Human resource department is not limited to the administration functions but contributes in overall development of the people associated with the organisation. (Abele and Suess, 2015)

These functions have been discussed with the example of the two much known organizations of UK. This is for in-depth understanding of the difference between these two management processes.

1.2. Assess the function of the human resource management in contributing to organisational purposes

Human resource management is the foundation of any organisation as the employees are the necessity of the organisation to perform its functions. An organisation has been formed by integrating many functional departments and this integration requires the management of the human resources working for that department. Another important purpose of organisation is the information flow; this purpose is also managed by the human resource departments by setting the links between the line mangers and the head of the departments. As the employees are the necessity of the organisation, so managing them is also an essential function to be conducted in order to make them work in an effective way. (Bhattacharyya, 2009)

Sainsbury is one of the organisations that own a great human resource department with specialized practices. Study of the organization’s HRM provides an in-depth knowledge of the contribution of human resource management in organizational purposes.

• HRM of Sainsbury: Sainsbury is one of the leading supermarkets in UK focuses on framing the HR policies that result in development of the employees as well as enhance the sales and improves the level of customer service. This is because the main organisational purpose of the organisation is to serve its customers with great and improved services.
• Recruitment and selection at Sainsbury: Proper job analysis activities have been conducted to identify the present and the future human resource requirements of the organisation. They believe in recruiting and selecting the candidates with appropriate qualifications avoiding the turnover of the employees. The selection process of the organization starts with the short listing of CV’s and ends with selection of the candidate after matching the criteria of the job vacancy by interview. (J-sainsbury.co.uk, 2016)
• Training and development: The main aim of the organisation to train the employees is to develop their skills in order to serve the customers effectively. Induction training has been given to the employees. This facilitates the new employees to know about the organisational structure and culture. Other trainings have also been given to the employees according to the requirement during their employment period.
• Motivational approaches: Different approaches have been used to motivate employees to work efficiently. Using the motivational approaches allow the employees and the employers to have a better understanding of each other’s needs which in turn provides benefits to both the parties. (Hoch and Dulebohn, 2013)

1.3. Evaluate the role and responsibilities of line managers in human resource management.

Every organisational function involves the integration of the functioning of many departments. These departments have handle by specific heads. These heads are known as line managers of the organisation. These reporting managers have all the responsibilities of the employees and the functions of their specific department. In today’s era, line managers are not only responsible for the functioning of their department’s performance but also play a very important role in some of the HR functions.

HR functions of line managers

Training: Provision of training is the basic function of human resource department but it is not possible to provide trainings to the employees before analyzing its need. The training need analysis process requires their involvement of the line manager of the particular department as he is the on who knows about the performance the employees working under him.
Motivation: Motivation is the basic requirement of the employees that drives them to perform in an effective way. It is not only the function of HR department to motivate the employees but line mangers have to play their part by identifying the issues with the employees who are underperforming j their department and needs to motivate them with the rewards that can create a positive impact on their performance.
Performance management: It is the most important function that needs to be conducted to record the performance of the employees in order to manage it. The performance of the employees needs to manage by drafting proper records of their performance. The line managers of the departments perform these record-keeping functions. (Luthra, 2015)

• Duty of line managers in Sainsbury:As far as Sainsbury is considered, line managers used to initiate the problems related to the employees and the HR team conducts the further processing. This suggests that the line managers in Sainsbury are somehow involved in the HR role.

1.4. Analyse the impact of the legal and regulatory framework on human resource management.

HRM is the function that is highly influenced by legal and regulatory framework in UK. Many Acts have been passed by UK government to regulate the HRM activities of the organisations. This function of the organizations needs to be regulated by the government because it is related to the rights of the employees. These Acts have great impact on the HR policies formed by any of the organisations in UK. These Acts include, Sex Discrimination Act (1975), Minimum Wages Act (2016), Employment Act (1996) etc. according to National Minimum Wages Act, the employees need to be paid with a certain minimum amount as the wages. All the industries are involved under this Act and if they do not provide the minimum wages to the employees than, legal action can be taken against those organisations who are doing so. Managing the performance of the employees is also a regulatory and legal issue in UK. Performance appraisal has been practiced by around 80% companies in UK. Some of the organisations conduct the process annually while few of them do it quarterly or half-yearly. One of the most important Acts that needs to be considered while framing the HR polices is the Equality Act (2016). This Act has been formed to safeguard the equality rights of the employees. Under this Act, every employer has to maintain the equality among the employees at the same level. There should be no discrimination with regard to sex, pay, race, colour, etc. there are many other Acts that have also been considered as the legal framework to form HR policies: (Mankin, 2009)

• Equal Pay Act
•  Sex Discrimination Act
•  Race Relations Act
•  Disability Discrimination Act
•  Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
•  Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
•  Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006

Task 2:

2.1 Analyse the reasons for human resource planning in organizations.

Organisation is formed by various functions that are interlinked together to perform towards a particular goal. Planning needs to be done in order to link these functions in orderly manner. Human resource is the one that needs a very careful planning, as Human resources are the foundation of the organisation. Human resource planning refers to map out the difference between the present human resource and required human resource in terms of quantity, performance and training. Planning is not about recruiting new employees, it is about maintaining the right number of people at the right place and at the right time. There can be many reasons for Human resource planning. Some of the reasons have been discussed below:

• Recruitment: Planning should be done in order to identify the requirement of the employees in the organisation. It also helps in determining the methods that has been used to recruit employees in the department. (Rudolph, 2016)
• Rightsizing:Planning in HR functions is not only about recruiting and training people. It is about maintaining the resources available to the organisation. Rightsizing is the process of either decreasing or increasing of the number of employees according to the organisational needs. Human resource planning helps in identifying the appropriate need of employees for the organisational purposes.
• Training: Human resource planning also considered training need analysis as the sub process. It determines the need of training to the employees in the organisation.
• Turnover: Turnover refers to employees leaving the company per year. If the rate of turnover is high, company needs to identify the reasons of high turnover and has to take steps accordingly. This results in planning about the strategies to retain the talent in the organisation. This strategy formulation can be possible only after proper planning. (Sekhri, 2010)

As far as the scenario of the task is considered. It has been observed that there is inefficient recruitment process in the organisation that results in high staff turnover. Human resource planning in this section needs to be done for changing the recruitment process as well as for identifying the reasons behind the high turnover rate. The reasons being the turnover rate supports the formation of the new recruitment process.

2.2 Outline the stages involved in planning human resource requirements.

Human resource planning determines the gap between the present and the future requirement of the human resources of the organisation. This gap needs to be filled by the HR team in order to attain the organisational goals. There are various steps that need to be followed in order to conduct the process of human resource planning to identify the requirements. These steps involved:

1. Assessing human resource: Assessment refers to analysing the internal and external factors that affect the human resources of the organisation. These factors need to analyse by using PEST or SWOT analysis. Assessment of the surrounding or the environment determines the present situation of the Human resources in the organisation. (Werner and DeSimone, 2006)
2. Demand forecasting: It the process of forecasting the demand of the employees by utilizing the results of the assessment of the present situation. The present situation assessment results in providing the requirements of the number of employees in the organisation to attain the organisational goals, these requirement gaps help in forecasting the demands of the employees.
3. Supply demands: This stage refers to the forecasting of the availability of the human resources in the future. The future availability and the requirement are compared to come up with the strategies that help in reaching the equilibrium position. Equilibrium can be reached either by recruiting people or by terminating the jobs.
4. Matching the demand and supply: This the most critical stage as it refers to matching if the demand of the employees with the future availability of the employees. The gap between the demand and the supply needs to be filled in order to right size the organisation. Matching of demands and supply let the HR team know about the shortage of excess staff members. (Gilbert, De Winne and Sels, 2011)
5. Action plan: It is the last stage that refers to the implementation of the plan. The implementation of the plan can be negative or positive process according to the requirement of the organisation. If there is excess of employees with the regard to the organisational requirement that Hr plans are made in order to terminate the employees and if there is shortage of the people according to the requirement than the strategies or the plan is made accordingly to recruit more and more and people.

2.3 Compare the recruitment and selection process in two organizations.

For comparing the recruitment and selection process, the first organisation that has been taken into consideration is the organisation given in the task scenario.

The process is very simple. It involves the following steps:

1. Telephonic interview: Some of the questions have been asked to the candidate.
   • What are your life’s goals,
   • What is your main motivation in applying for this role,
   • If you were to be anything in life what would it be,
   • Tell me about your last four jobs (they needed four jobs to apply).
   • Applicants are then asked to complete a psychometric assessment and an aptitude test.
2. Face to face interview: After completion of telephonic interview and assessment test, the shortlisted candidates undergo face-to-face interview. (Abele and Suess, 2015)

Recruitment and selection in M&S

M&S also follows the ordinary process of recruitment and selection that involves interviews, training, appraisal, promotion etc. the main aspect of recruitment and selection process of M&S is the equal opportunity policy in all the processes. This company belies in providing equal opportunities to the every candidate pr employees without discrimination in terms of caste, colour, race etc. they also prefers to provide a free environment to their employees so that they can perform effectively. The working culture of M&S is free from discrimination, harassment, unethical practices etc.

The recruitment process of M&S includes internal as well as external recruitment. Internal recruitment refers to recruiting people from inside the company and external recruitment is about recruiting the candidates from outside world. (Ivory Research - IvoryResearch.com, 2015)
Selection process of the company includes screening, tests, and interviews. The process differs from designation to designation but the basic overall framework has been discussed in this.

2.4 Evaluate the effectiveness of the recruitment and selection techniques in two organisations.

Recruitment and selection is the most basic an important process of Human Resource department as it is related to the selection of the appropriate employees that contributes in attaining the organisational goals. It is very critical process, as has great impact on the organisational performance. As far as the company in the scenario is considered, the recruitment and selection process of this company is not at all appropriate. This is because it results in high turnover rate that depicts the inefficiency of the recruitment process. The HR team is unable to find the good and right candidates for the vacancy suggests that there may be inefficient team that has been working as Hr in the organisation as Finance manager is working as an HR manger in the organisation. (Balakrishnan and Srividhya, 2007)

If the effectiveness of recruitment and selection M&S is considered, it has been observed that HR team of M&S provide a free and great environment for the people to work. They focuses on recruiting right people for the right vacancy and don not think of the short term goals. The employees at M&S are so happy and work efficiently as they felt motivated by the organisation in the forms of rewards and appreciation. (Ivory Research - IvoryResearch.com, 2015)

Task 3:

3.1 Assess the link between motivational theory and reward.                    

An individual needs to be motivated in order to perform. This motivation is very important for the employees to work for the organisation. Motivation is the driving force that influence or stimulate employees to work. This stimulation can be generated by different factors according to the individual’s personality. It is not possible to motivate everyone with the same factor at every level. The needs of the individual changes and their preferences according to their personality and phase of life. Therefore, there are many motivational theories that have been introduced by many theorists. These motivational theories describe the basis on which motivation has been provided to the skills of employees. Different organisational opt for different theories of motivation at different point of time. Some of the motivational theories used by the organisations are Maslow Hierarchical needs theory, ERG theory of motivation, Two-factor theory by Herzberg etc. these theories have been linked with some of the motivational factors. The most common motivational factors that have been included in all the theories are the rewards. The rewards can be in monetary as well as non-monetary terms. It depends on the choice of an individual that what stimulates him to work. (Bhattacharyya, 2009)

Two of the theories that have been used by Virgin Media are Maslow theory and Human relation theory. This theory focuses on the fact that employees get stimulated to perform better, when they get attention and recognition. Therefore, the reward that has been associated with this theory is the recognition. Virgin Media has come up with many programs such as NPS championship, VOCE, SHOUT etc that aims to provide recognition to the employees who perform better than others do. (Hoch and Dulebohn, 2013)

Virgin Media also used Maslow theory that focuses on the fulfilment f different needs of the employees at different levels. An employee survey has been conducted in order to identify the training needs and working environment. This helps the employee and the organisation to form a bond between them and hence enhances the performance of the employees. 

3.2 Evaluate the process of job evaluation and other factors determining pay.

Every designation in the organisation has its own value, one of the factors that determine the value of the job is the pay. The pay of the job can be identified with the responsibilities and the roles associated with the job. Job evaluation is conducted to determine the roles and responsibilities associated with the job and the relative worth of the job with regard to the other jobs in the organisation. It helps in determining the pay of the job. Under this process, the first step that needs to be conducted is of job analysis. This step refers to analysis of the information related to the job. Next step is the job rating. It is the step that deals with rating the activities that are associated with the job in order to determine the pay ratio.

There are many other factors that help in determining the pay scale of the job and its relative worth in the organisation. Some of the factors have been discussed below:

1. Job structure: The job in the organisation has been classified according to some levels. These levels are according to the designation as well as according to the pay scale. The jobs at top management level have higher pay scale than the jobs at executive level.
2. Compensation polices: Other than the basic salaries, employees also get some of the compensation according to the responsibilities they are fulfilling. This compensation adds with their salary and determines the overall pay.
3. Reward system: This method is used by Virgin Media to determine the pay of the people. Rewards in monetary terms have been considered as the pay for the employee. ASPIRE is the bonus scheme that has been introduced in the company to provide bonus to the employees with respect to their performances. (Luthra, 2015)

3.3 Assess the effectiveness of reward systems in different contexts.

Introduction of reward system in an organisation always proves to be very effective in any aspects. As far as Virgin Media is considered, it has been using various motivational theories according to the situations just to motivate employees by giving those rewards in one or the other forms. This determines that rewards motivate the employees to perform. In this organisation, performance of the employees determines the extent of the reward they get. The rewards have been provided in various forms in this organisation. Some of the forms are monetary forms, training, recognition, feeling of belongingness etc. there are many program that have been introduced by Virgin Media to reward the employees in order to enhance their performance and develop them at individual level. (Mankin, 2009)

Company introduces apprenticeship program to provide trainings to the trainees. The trainees who complete their trainings with zeal and dedication have been provided with the recognition at an event. This motivates them to continue working with Virgin media as the employees. Net promoter score has been given to the employees out of 10. The employees with high scores have been rewarded with monetary benefits. This in turn creates competition between the employees and drives them to perform better for better scores. Rewards not only motivates people but also retain them in the organisation with such polices. Yearly survey practice by Virgin Media is not providing any reward to the employees but provide them with the feeling of belongingness. This feeling in the employee associates them with the organisation and hence they do not think of leaving the organisation in any terms. The company also focuses on career growth of the organisation. This is also form of reward as this enhances the employee’s skills and knowledge about their career. 

Overall, it can be concluded that the reward system of Virgin Media is very effective not only in providing rewards but providing the sense of belongingness to the employees as well as drives them to associate with the company for longer time.

3.4 Examine the methods organisations use to monitor employee performance.

Monitoring employee performance results in determining the effects of the performance of the employees on overall organisation. The performance of the employees has been monitored in order to know about the gap between the actual and the required performance. Many methods can be used to monitor the performance of the employees in the organisation types. Monitoring can become easy if all the records of the employee performance have been maintained in records. Some of the methods that can help the management to monitor the performance of the employees are:

1. Feedback: Feedback is method that involves the response of the head of the departments for the performance of the employees working under them
2. Observation: Management can check the performance of the employees by observing them during their working hours.
3. Performance records: Records had been checked on regular basis to keep a watch on the graph of the performance of the employee.
4. Rating: Rating should be given to the employees after the completion of the project according the work results and their behaviour on work.
5. Meetings: Meetings should be conducted in order to analyse the issues that has been faced by the employees.

As far as Virgin Media is considered, it uses various methods to monitor the performance of the employees. It is a company that focuses on task as well as people. Therefore, it is even more difficult to manage the task completion and the employee behaviour simultaneously. Below are some of the techniques that help the company to monitor the employee performance:

• Net promoter score:It is the rating method that has been used to rate the employees by giving them scores out of 10.
• Recruitment for apprenticeship: Candidates have been selected for the trainings according to their willingness and behaviour for the work.
• Behaviour of employee: The company believes that the employee performance can be judged by observing his behaviour during the working hours. 

Task 4:

4.1 Identify the reasons for cessation of employment with an organisation.

 The main resaons that have been identifies for termination of Faisal would be poor performance and violation of the company laws.

Violation of the law: Faisal was terminated because he was found spending most of his working hours in watching pornography and buzy emailing his wife. He also found designing his own restaurants by using some of the company’s equipments. All these practices of Faisal are against the rules of the company. Breaching of the company rules by Faisal, results in his termination by the employer. 
Poor performance: Faisal gets the job based on the 15 years of experience he has in the hotel business. Unfortunately, he was not performing according the expectations of the owner. The owner of the company also tries to guide him on the points he was lacking but there were no sign of improvement seen. He was not doing his job properly and this makes the owner to terminate Faisal from the company.

Cessation is the termination of the job. Cessation of the job can be practices by the employee or the employer. It is not mandatory that only employer have the power to cease the job. Cessation of the job has many reasons behind this. (Noe, 2007) These reasons can be:

• Voluntary: voluntary cessation is the process of termination of the employment from the employee’s side. There can be personal or professional reasons behind the voluntary termination of the employees. Some of the reasons can be:

1. Dissatisfaction
2. Better job opportunity
3. Health or medical issues
4. Poor working culture

• Involuntary cessation: this argues about the cessation of the job according the will of the employer without considering the views of the employee. (Rudolph, 2016) There can be many reasons of termination of the job by the employer:

1. Poor performance
2. Violation of company rules
3. Criminal case against employee
4. Breaching of company contract
5. Rightsizing of the company
6. Bankruptcy of the company

4.2 Describe the employment exit procedures used by two organisations.

Exit procedures refer to the methods that have been used by the organisation to terminate the job of the employees. The termination can be from any of the side. Some of them have been discussed below:

1. Resignation: This practice of exiting the organisation is from the employee’s side. Employee resign from the job according to his will for any of the reason like better opportunity or nay other problem he is facing in personal or professional life. This process allows the employee to provide the organisation with the prior notice of termination of the job. The duration of the notice is different according to the company contract.
2. Retirement: This process of termination is related to the age of the employee. Every job has an age limit. The employee has to leave the job after reaching that age. Employees also have the facility to take early retirement if they do not feel to work more due to some of the health issues at older age. (Sekhri, 2010)
3. Redundancy:Redundancy is the process of termination of the job of an employee because of the declining requirement of the company. Downsizing or rightsizing of the company can be the most common reason behind these types of termination. There are several other reasons like mergers of the company or company getting flat structure.
4. Dismissal: Dismissal is the method that has been used by the employer to fire an employee due to any of the reasons such as poor performance, theft, breaching of contract, unethical practices etc.

In the above case, dismissal is the exit procedure that has been used to terminate the job of Faisal. M&S and TESCO are some of the companies in UK that follows all the above-discussed methods as the exit procedures. (Werner and DeSimone, 2006)

4.3 Consider the impact of the legal and regulatory framework on employment cessation arrangements.

Legal and regulatory framework of the country has its impact on the process and functioning of the organisations. This framework safeguards the right of the employee as well as the employer. Therefore, company needs to frame theory policies considering these laws and regulations by the government. Cessation process is also restricted with some of the legal regulations. The legal contract between the company and the employee is the proof of agreement of both parties on all the conditions in the contract. Breaching to which, employees or employer may have legal case against them. Some of the major regulations have been discussed below:

1. Tribunals
2. Dues of pay
3. Notice period

• Tribunals: Tribunals are the employment courts that resolve the problems between the employee and the employer. Both the parties can file the case against each other if they are facing any issue that comes under legal considerations.
• Dues of pay: It is the amount of money that is due between the employee and the employer. That amount should be cleared at the last day of the employment.
• Notice period: It is mandatory for the employee as well as the employer to serve the notice period before termination of the job. The duration of the notice period should be according to the contract. (Hoch and Dulebohn, 2013)

In the above scenario, Bob has been charged with the case of discrimination and race by Faisal. This case has been filed under tribunal court. Now, it is the duty of tribunal court to resolve the case. ACAS code of practice is the advisory committee that provide advices to the employees or employee in terms of legal issues of employment. Bob should take the help f ACAS in order to

deal with the case.

Conclusion:

Human resources forms the foundation of the organisation, their management is very critical. Planning needs to be done at different stages to manage the employees and their performances. Recruitment and selection is the first process that needs to conduct properly. It is also very important to motivate the employees by providing them with the rewards, so that they can perform better. Employment cessation is one of the practices that have several legal and regulatory impacts. Cessation is about the termination of the job that requires many exit procedures according to the reason behind the cessation.

Reference