Unit 3 Guests Model of HRM Assignment

Unit 3 Guests Model of HRM Assignment

Introduction

In guests model of HRM assignment, the aim will be to look into a number of theories as well as practices of the modern day HRM. This will also be done through identifying the impacts of various HRM related issues and legislations. A number of theoretical perspectives for HRM will be used as the basis for these discussions. The study will also assess a number of recent changes that has been happening in global  labour market , the demands by the employees for an effective work-life balance as well as working practices which are more flexible than the current equivalents.

For the sake of this research, these discussions are needed to be carried out through the example of a company. The company that will be used for the purpose of the same is Sainsbury. Sainsbury is one of the leaders in the retailing industry of the UK and the company has been selected in view of the fact that as a part of the retail industry, the HRM practices of the company has been under a lot of scrutiny in the recent times. Also in view of the fact that this industry has gone through various challenges in terms of HRM practices recently, the discussion regarding this company will be effective and fruitful.  

Task 1

1.1. Explain Guest’s model of HRM as applied to the organisation of your choice

The strategic HRM model proposed by Guest (1987) emphasizes on the development of motivational factors for the employees of the modern day organizations. As opined by him, these factors are expected to enhance the commitment from the employees of the organizations. This is significantly different than the preceding ideas of the organizational performance management. The previous traditional processes had more emphasis on the strict rules and guidelines for the employees for enhancing the productivity of them as well as the overall organization (Dessler, 2012).

Apart from the motivational factors, the model proposed by Guest also stresses on maintaining employee commitment through strategic organizational management for the goal seeking and attainment by the entity. Guest model also suggests that the companies need to make sure that the individual needs of the employees are being met with sincerity along with the overall requirements of the entire group of employees for the company. This helps the company to develop and maintain committed and loyal base of employees in addition to considering the human resources as an important organizational asset. This model is fundamentally different than the personnel management that is used in various organizations in view of the fact it identifies the practices of integrated strategic HRM as the main driver of enhanced productivity and performance for the individual employees of the organization as well as the entire entity.

All of these are achieved by the 6 dimensions of analysis which have been given by this model:

• Human resource management strategy,
• Human resource management practices,
• Human resource management outcomes,
• Behaviour outcomes,
• Performance outcomes and
• Financial outcomes.

In the context of Sainsbury it can be said that the company has been able to follow the learning from this model for the strategic HRM. The company makes sure that the workers are sufficiently motivated as well as empowered within the company in terms of their  decision making  and professional growth. The company selects the workers only if it feels that the incumbents are well aligned to the organizational goals. In spite of the larger size of this company, the culture is open and the structure is flatter. Employees get opportunities to be involved in the decision making in term of the performance goals and processes to be followed. The training and development efforts for the employees are also intense (Keenoy, T., 1990, pp 370).

1.2. Compare the differences between Storey’s definitions of HRM, personnel and IR practices

Storey’s definition of the HRM and PMIR can be used for evaluating the differences between these two concepts. The most important difference which exists between these two theoretical applications is the strategic natures and influences which the HRM practices have as compared to the PMIR practices. As per Storey, the HRM practices are the combination of description, prescription and logical deduction (Sims, 2006). The comparison between two aforementioned concepts is given in the following table with respect to the company that is being looked into. For the comparison the other company that will be chosen is Harrods as the company is in the same industry and hence the comparison will be relevant.    

1.3 Assess the implications for line managers and employees of developing a strategic approach to HRM

As a result of developing the strategic HRM approach within Sainsbury, there are various positive impacts which have been received by the line managers and the employees of the company. These benefits can be mostly identified in terms of career growth, job satisfaction, and work life balance in addition to management of professional issues. The high degree of employee empowerment ensures that the attrition within the system is less and the well trained employees stay within the organization for a longer period of time, which in turn increases the chance of their professional growth. Employees get opportunities for being part of the decision making related to their daily operational works as well as target setting. The training and development activities done for the employees are of high quality and through this their  personal and professional development  get enhanced leading to get better career opportunities (Keenoy, T., 1990, pp 370). All of these lead to better employee engagement, employee motivation, employee empowerment etc. (Adebayo., 2011, pp 80). In such system line managers are expected to empower employees for decision making, mentoring them and identify and nurture the better workers. 

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Task 2

2.1 Explain how a model of flexibility might be applied

Model of flexibility within an organization helps the employees of the company having better work life balance and thus enhancing their job satisfaction and productivity. As far as the company under discussion is concerned, the same is part of the retail industry. Due to the specific nature of work within this industry, it is necessary that the employees are given their share of free times and space. Hence the development of a flexible work structure is of utmost importance for Sainsbury.

The company needs to divide its workforce into two groups with similar as well as specific skill sets. This will help the company in managing the shift timing or the hours of work on a weekly basis. Through changing the HRM guidelines for serving the purpose of flexibility, the workers can be given the option for choosing the total hours of work which they want to do in a week and the remuneration can be variable basis the same. The employees can also be given the opportunity of completing the weekly working hours in 4 days instead of 5 days. The employees can also be given the option of 2 days of 12 hours of shift and 1 day of following leave. There should also be structured pay and overtime allowances for the specific roles within the company.

Following processes need to be implemented for a model of flexibility (Fuqua, 1993):

• Designing clear guidelines and processes for implementation within Sainsbury.
• Awareness development for the workers regarding flexible provisions.
• Aligning culture of Sainsbury towards flexible working.
• Implementing mechanisms for monitoring of the flexible working arrangement.

2.2 Discuss the types of flexibility which may be developed

As can be identified, some of the factors which can be utilized for developing a model of flexibility are as following:

• Hours of work (eg. changes to start and finish times)
• Patterns of work (eg. split shifts or job sharing)
• Locations of work (eg. working from home).

However in view of the fact this model will be developed for a customer facing Retail Company, the factors which can be tweaked are hours and pattern of work. For Sainsbury the types of flexibility are as following:

• Reduced hours for working: Depending on the efforts needed for any specific job profile, the working hours can be truncated for workers in those profiles for maintaining the work efficiency as wel as productivity.

• Compact working week: The employees can also be given the opportunity of completing the weekly working hours in 4 days instead of 5 days. The employees can also be given the option of 2 days of 12 hours of shift and 1 day of following leave.
• Flexitime: Through this the workers will be given the opportunity to select their hours of working within specified limits for the day.

2.3 Assess the use of flexible working practices from both the employee and the employer perspective

A practice of flexible working can help Sainsbury as well as its employees equally. The most important benefit which Sainsbury will draw from this is higher satisfaction of the employees. In view of the fact the companies in the retail industry are suffering from a high employee turnover, the flexible working can be used by the company as a very effective tool for retention of the highly trained and skilled workers. Also the company will be able to keep the talented base of female employees who tend to leave jobs due to personal commitments. Also in view of the fact that such culture and arrangements help in motivating the employees through increasing their satisfaction, Sainsbury will get a boost from the increased productivity for the staffs.

On the other hand, the employees are also benefited through better work life balance and higher job satisfaction. Workers become happy and satisfied as a result of the flexible working conditions. The alignment of the employees with the organizational objectives also increases. Due to more amount of free time employees can invest time for their self development as well. This also increases the opportunity of growth int heir personal and professional lives.

2.4 Discuss the impact that changes in the labour market have had on flexible working practices

The recent changes in the labour market have increased the requirement as well as opportunity of flexible working practices within all the industries including the retail industry. In view of the fact Sainsbury is part of the retail industry; the same are also applicable for the company. With increased requirement of skilled and motivated employees, as part of the forces from the labour market, the companies are getting forced more and more for providing the option of flexible working to its employees in view of the fact this is a tool for driving motivation and satisfaction for the workers. This ultimately helps in achieving the organisational goals (Davidson, 2006).

Practices for flexible working needs to be implemented in Sainsbury as a result of the labour market changes which bring in the following effects within the organization:

• Higher focus on the opinion of the employees regarding their retirement plans without any chance of dispute.
• Implementation of flexible arrangements for retirement through which the willing employees can continue to work for part time with partial remuneration.
• At least 6 months of notice period previous to the termination of the employee contracts.

Task 3

3.1 Explain the forms of discrimination that can take place in the workplace using examples of recent discrimination cases which has made the news

Through identifying the examples of various recent workplace discrimination cases, some of the forms of the same that are mostly seen are as following:

• Discrimination basis
• age of the workers
• disability of the workers
• gender of the workers
• race of the workers
• religious views/religion of the workers
• sexual orientation of the workers

There have been various recent examples of workplace discrimination as well as harassment which can be identified from the newspaper and online media. During the earlier part of this year, there was a case in which an employee of Starbucks won a case for discrimination against dyslexia. This is a classic example of discrimination against the disability of the workers. There is also a case if US where a female worker in police force was discriminated basis her gender. In the year 2015, a group of African-American and Hispanic employees working at Virginia franchises of McDonald’s, claimed that the franchisor as well as the franchisee were committing acts of discrimination basis race and gender at the restaurants. It was confirmed that these people were harassed as well as wrongfully terminated from their jobs. Apart from this, there are also overwhelming number of recent evidences of discrimination basis sexual orientation of the employees. This is also important for Sainsbury for the reason that due to the increasing size of the company, the workforce diversity for the company is also increasing. In view of the fact that the workforce of Sainsbury consists of workers who belong to different race, gender and religion, there remains a chance of discriminations based on the demographic characteristics. In such scenario the employees fail to get opportunity or remuneration or face some harassment as a result of the discrimination.

3.2 Discuss the practical implications of equal opportunities legislation for an organization

For Sainsbury, the equal opportunities legislation helps in ensuring that various discriminations that may happen within workplaces are discouraged and prohibited strictly. These also aim to define the retributions which can be handed out once any worker within the organization is convicted of carrying out such discriminatory activities. Hence it can be said that the equal opportunities legislation as part of the HRM practices has a lot of practical implications. The HRM department of Sainsbury needs to follow the various directives and guidelines which have been mandated as the part of this equal opportunities legislation. The HRM strategies and operations need to follow the guidelines in the European nations in view of the fact that the company has its presence all across the continent and hence needs to comply with this legislation. This can lead to little to significant modifications which are needed to be brought in for the existing policies  human resource  of Sainsbury for being compliant with the legislation. It is also important that the company designs strict guidelines for internal and external stakeholders to make sure that any case of workplace discrimination can be stopped as the same may lead to a lot of challenges for the company leading to loss of business license in any of the nations.

3.3 Compare the approaches to managing equal opportunities and managing diversity

For the management of equal opportunities as well as diversity some of the steps which are taken by the company under discussion are as following:

• Interpreting the legislative framework
• Developing as well as promulgating suitable policies for promoting equality of opportunity
• Monitoring implementations
• Developing effectiveness.

One of the most widely used methods of carrying out the same is suitable policies for promoting equality. Policy implementation has been used within a workplace by various companies. One other way for ensuring the outcome is enhancing the awareness for the same. Also the companies like Sainsbury follow a strict psychological aptitude test during the recruitment for ensuring that the company never hires somebody who may carry out some discriminatory activities in the future. Amongst these various well developed approaches for managing equal opportunities and diversity, in the opinion of this author, the most important one is awareness development of the workers in view of the fact that it helps the internal employees to know regarding the issue of discrimination and stand against the same. This also helps in building the organizational culture and behavior that discourages any violation of equal opportunities legislation. Also the workers need to know that violating these guidelines can lead to employee termination or franchisor contract.

Task 4

4.1 Select an organisation you work or have worked for, identify and compare the performance management methods used

For various organizations including Sainsbury there are a mix of methods of performance management which are used. In Sainsbury these methods can be classified into 2 categories depending on the frequency at which these are carried out. One type of performance management is continuous assessment as well as improvement. The other type of performance management methods are the ones which are done once in a year at the end of the same. These are often carried out for deciding the rewards and recognition which are needed to be given to the employees.

The processes which are done continually for performance management is usually carried out by the employee himself or herself with the help of his or her line managers on a daily or weekly basis. This continuous performance management processes are done through various mechanisms for tracking the performance, particularly basis the nu8mber targets. The tools which are used for the same include management information systems, various performance dashboards etc. This is supplemented by frequent feedback sessions as well as discussions with the line manager. This is helpful for any modification in the performance strategy.The yearly measurement processes include assessment on the basis of balanced scorecard, assessment on the basis of peers as well as the senior managers and leaders etc.

Although both of these are fairly important in the entire system, it can be said that for the role in which the author has worked, the continuous assessment and feedback process as part of the perforamcne management is more important.

4.2 Assess the approaches used to managing employee welfare in your organization

Sainsbury has various employee welfare and benefits programs meant for its various levels of employees. Apart from the normal factors including life risk covers,  health care  and childcare benefits for the eligible employees of the company, it has been trying to implement some innovative employee welfare schemes. The company has been able to pilot an initiative for workplace wellness for increasing activity levels and reduce sick days among employees.

The company is committed for providing an inclusive workplace where people have the opportunity to succeed in a safe, healthy, respectful environment. We help people balance family and work commitments, investing in training and development across the business. Employees are also offered discounted gym memberships. Employees working in specific shifts also get overtime pays and shift allowances as well as free transportation.  These are very effectible in terms of satisfying the employees for their work life as well as enhanced development of their personal and professional life.

4.3 Discuss the implications of health and safety legislation on human resources practices

There are various government mandated health and safety legislations which are needed to be followed by the companies which are working within those countries.  The HRM department of Sainsbury needs to follow the various directives and guidelines which have been mandated as the part of this health and safety legislation. The HRM strategies and operations need to follow the guidelines in the European nations for health and safety legislation in view of the fact that the company has its presence all across the continent and hence needs to comply with this legislation. This can lead to little to significant modifications which are needed to be brought in for the existing policies human resource of Sainsbury for being compliant with the legislation. It is also important that the company designs operational processes and other mechanisms to ensure that health and safety legislations are followed without fail. The issues for occupational health and safety standards also call for Sainsbury to define its safety criteria at the workplace. This increases various mechanisms for preventing accidents within the workplace, fatal or non-fatal injuries for the employees and diseases.  

4.4 Evaluate the impact of another topical issue on human resources practices

One of the very important issues related to human resources practices is the retention of the employees.

In view of the fact the companies in the retail industry are suffering from a high employee turnover, Sainsbury needs to implement tools and strategies for retention of the highly trained and skilled workers. Also the company needs to aim to keep the talented base of female employees who tend to leave jobs due to personal commitments. This needs to start from satisfying, empowering as well as motivating the employees which also boost the productivity for the staffs as well as the entire organization. The communication from the senior management to the mid and lower level of employees is also very important for which effective communication needs to be used which is also important for conflict management within Sainsbury. Effective communication also reduces problems coming from workplace diversities.  

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Conclusion

In this assignment, a detailed discussion has been carried out for a number of theories as well as current practices for the modern day HRM as well as the factors which affect them. This has also been done through identifying the impacts of various HRM related issues and legislations. A number of theoretical perspectives for HRM have been used as the basis for these discussions. The study has also assessed a number of recent changes that has been happening in global labour markets, the demands by the employees for an effective work-life balance as well as working practices which are more flexible than the current equivalents.

The report has also looked into factors like model of flexibility and the types of flexibility along with the use of the same. The report also discusses various types of work place discrimination etc. For the sake of this research, these discussions were carried out through the example of Sainsbury which is one of the leaders in the retailing industry of the UK and the company has been selected in view of the fact that as a part of the retail industry, the HRM practices of the company has been under a lot of scrutiny in the recent times. Also in view of the fact that this industry has gone through various challenges in terms of HRM practices recently, the discussion regarding this company have been effective and fruitful. 

References

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Ronald R. Sims, 2006. Human Resource Management: Contemporary Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities (PB). 2ndEdition. Information Age Publishing
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