Unit 22: Managing Human Resources Pearson BTEC Level 5 HND Diploma
Business

TASK 1

Human Resource Management

HRM came to popularity over the last decades as the top managerial approach aimed at re-organizing the employment relationship to ensure that the employee’s efforts are effectively focused in achieving superior individual and organizational performance in the market. Currently, many companies are now putting more attention to make strong bond between the HR practices, employees and organizational performance (Noe, 2013). The main purpose of this paper is to discuss about HRM in ABC Company as their tool in managing human resources such as labor.

Human Resource Management involves activities that include management, motivation, management and also maintenance of workers in an organization. Various segmentations in an organization are somehow related to the HRM (Martin, 2013). For instance, the selections process, recruitment candidates, improving the performance, maintaining safety, and rewarding employees are determined by the HRM of an organization. In addition, the HRM is concerned with the methods of human resource practices such as performance assessment on different bases. Finally, human resource ensures that positive outcomes for the organization as a result of healthy human resource practices.

LO 1.1 Explain Guest’s model of HRM

A HR model established by David Guest (1997) and it is known as a superior model that is related to HR models. According to this type of model, the HR manager lay down some strategies that require particular practices in order to receive a better outcome of organizational operations (Martin, 2013). The model has six components as follows;

HR Strategies

HR Practices

HR Results

Behavioral output

Performance outcome

Financial consequences

ABC bank can apply different strategies that have enabled the company to realize suitable growth, reduce the environmental impact in their operation and increase revenue generation. The relationship between ABC Bank and the Guest’s model and the HR policies of ABC Bankis as stated below.

• HR policies established by ABC Bank are associated with the organization’s core objectives and structures.
• Discrimination free working environment, equal rights and maintaining child labor policies, controlled supply chain working management and long term commitment.
• Staffs are responsible of their duties at a standard level and their working performance aims at structural values and objectives.
• The staffs are motivated and satisfied with their work.
• Involvement of the employee, focus on customers that results to increased profit realization and wide market share.

LO1.2 Compare the differences between Storey’s definitions of HRM, Personnel and IR practices

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

HRM contributes in the every organization level. This is the process of training, recruiting and improving the human resources. It is the duty of ABC Company to select appropriate and skilled candidates in order to enhance the cultural value of the company for it to change the environmental situation. For the line managers and staffs of the ABC Company can implement the following useful approaches.

Creating desire: it is crucial for the line manager to acknowledge the need for HR responsibility and activity. HR department should support the line managers in order to create a desired HR approaches effectively and practically.

Providing support: the line manager requires support from the HR professionals for them to effectively implement the HR activities.

Competence development: in order to have effective HR activities, training facilities can be carried out in order to improve their HR competencies and skills.

Developing capacity: there are different short terms based and operational duties that the line manger performs. The capacity of HR activity should be enhanced together with their operational responsibilities.

Reward remuneration: employees depend on the organization they are working in through the payments rewarded for their inputs. Poor payment means poor life for the workers. Therefore, the manager should improve the rewarding system such as pensions, healthcare among other financial activities that can improve the life of its workers. By doing so, the organization motivates their workers who in returns work more perfectly thus improving the quality of the services delivered to the customers (Mishael, 2012).

The major responsibility of the HR through the line managers and employees is to build a strong HR concept, policies, procedures, rules and responsibilities.

TASK 2

LO 2.1 Explain how a model of flexibility might be applied in practice

Core workforce: Guest also refer core workforce as high commitment workforce. The workforce is a quality performer, highly proficient, and enjoys job security (Dwivedi, 2010). Flexibility functional form can be used to select the best strategy for core workforce.

Atkinson’s core and peripheral workforce model: the type of model shows that the stability between the core workforce and peripheral changes due to unstructured peripheral workers that is used among the managers. Therefore, the manager should maintain a suitable core-periphery strategy for workers to ensure that they face disproportionate selection of workers (Condrey, 2005).

Peripheral workforce: the workforce from peripheral area is concerned with regular and numerical activities of a firm. They enable in completion of various tasks that are assist the organization.

Peripheral workforce: Peripheral workforce involves the different workforce within the regular and the numerical activities of a firm (Dwivedi, 2010). Although, they are important components of a firm, they do not mean to be very vital for an organization.

Workplace flexibility refers to how swiftly the staffs can adapt to changes and fluctuations that   may occur in the demand and supply curve of the labor market.  The kind of flexibility that Atkinson defined is considered as the most appropriate approach that can be used by companies such as ABC.

• External flexibility: it refers to the adaptation of the labor entry from the external labor source. It includes activities such as temporary workers acquisition, relaxing the employee security legislation to enable the organization in firing permanent employees if necessary.
• Functional flexibility: it assists in the movement of the works from one function to another within the organization. Functional flexibility also deals with outsourcing and training activities.
• Financial flexibility: this type of flexibility involves the variant in the level of wages among the workers but not collectively fixed. The flexibility can be achieved through assessment-based or performance payment.
• Temporal flexibility: the flexibility deals with the adaptation of the flexible time, working shifts, flexible schedule and overtime for the present workers.
• Locational flexibility: this is another kind of flexibility pattern that can be obtained by the activities of workers outside the usual working place.

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

By analyzing both the employer and the employee point of view, we can find out that there are few normally applied flexibility practices in different organizations.

• Part-time: the staffs can spend less time working for less than 30-35 hours a week.
• Zero hour contact: it is a kind of arrangement between the employers and the employees where time dedicated for carrying out a given task is not specified. Employer can decide to offer a certain task and other hand; the employee can accept the job or choose not to have the job. Payments are usually issued according to the working hours.
• Home-working: some of the firms can decide to higher types of workers who perform their tasks from their homes.
• Tele-working: Workers under this category do not need to attend their working place, but perform their duties outside their home and deliver it through telecommunication.
• Compressed hours: here the employees can work on extended hours daily in order to attain their targeted total weekly hours. The workers can freely enjoy a day off per week.
• Job sharing: in this category, two workers share a job that can be done by a single individual, but the payments are usually minimized.

LO 2.4 Discuss the impact that changes in the labor market have had on flexible working practices.

In the current world, there have been the economic, social and environmental changes in the labor market. In order to attain organizational objectives, the top managements should ensure that the organization is in a position to hire appropriate staffs with necessary competencies and skills required for a particular role. Due to the witnessed changes in the labor market’s supply and demand curve, it is important to adapt working environmental flexibilities (Mishael, 2012).

Demography has also contributed in the changes in the demand and supply of labor market for long. Dropping of the birthrates has also resulted to decreased labor supply in the market. In addition, the increased longevity of the people has increased the number of old individuals who still work even after their retirement. The women’s increase in the labor market has also changed the proportion of gender and workplace policies (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). The above factors are altering the flexibility patterns that are mostly suitable. Diversified personnel and the demographic changes require different organizations to introduce variety of flexibility strategies in order to achieve strategic objectives.

TASK 3

LO 3.1 Explain the forms of discrimination that can take place in the workplace.

Workers may face different categories of discriminations in their organizations. The discrimination can occurs as a result of individual background, age, characteristics, race and gender that hinder equal opportunity at work. When an organization practices discrimination of workers, it can easily cause constrained human development process, violation of rights and humiliation (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). As a result, the workers can easily lose their motivation and standards. In addition, organizations can also fail to achieve its HRM goals and organizational objectives. Some of the discriminations that face different organizations include;

• Gender discrimination

Some of the organization practice gender discrimination through negligence of woman in the workplace as compared to the male counterparts who may be given better opportunity and dignity. Woman may lack motivation to join corporate world and share same opportunities as men. Therefore, firms should ensure that there are equal rights in recognition, promotion and responsibility to both male and female workers because as any other being, they require the feelings of pride and motivation (Condrey, 2005).

• Age discrimination

Some workers can face discrimination in the opportunity of promotion, authority, and transfer because of their differences in age (Dwivedi, 2010). It is important for HR managers to give equal opportunity in rewarding, transferring and promoting the staffs based on their performance and achievements.

• Discrimination of background

An organization can face this type of discrimination by having personnel from varied family and institutional background experiences leading to discriminated behavior, attitudes and treatments from the managers. Here, individuals from certain educational or family legacy tend to receive more benefits and attentions than other staffs working in the same organization. Managers from such organizations should ensure that all workers are treated equally depending on their expertise and skills and neglect background factors (Mishael, 2012).

• Religious discriminations

In job life, works faces discrimination of varied religious experience. For example, people from the minority religious group tend to face various problems in order to cope up with corporate structures, policy, culture and behavior (Sims, 2007). Corporate policies should comply with the religious differences and also provide them with equal facilities.

• Discrimination of disability

Most of the organizations tend to underestimate many disabled people and also neglect them in their process of recruitment because of the assumptions that the individuals possess less skills and abilities. Such organizations forget that some of these individuals can perform given task and work with excellence. Therefore, organizations should not undermine people with disability, instead; their performance should be equally assessed during the selection process (Dwivedi, 2010).

LO 3.2 Discus the practical implications of equal opportunities legislation for an organization.

The firms can develop equal opportunity rule by treating their staffs equally and minimizing discrimination in their operation. The right of employee is secured in the HR and other sectors of operations and managements that include the job structure, recruitment, transfer, reward and financial benefits after retirement (Mishael, 2012). Discrimination can be categorized into two types that include direct and indirect discrimination.

Direct: this type of discrimination involves individuals who are less favorable than other employees who come from desired background.

Indirect: in indirect discrimination, all the employees receive equal rights and rules, but the rules may be difficult to comply with because of particular restrictions and culture.

For the firms and organizations to practice equality in all sectors of firm’s structures and activities, they should adhere to the following factors;

• They must provide equal promotional and payment opportunities.
• Comply with the working legislation act.
• Adapt facilities for staffs that do not represent a certain character.
• Enhance communication between those employees who own favorable individualities and those without.
• Shun from any unlawful acts or behaviors that may reveal harassment. Quarrel

LO 3.3 Compare the approaches to managing equal opportunities and managing diversity.

Diversity management is an important model that calls for the development of equal opportunity attitude. Equal opportunity is meant to handle the different types of discriminations. Diversified workforce would benefit a firm because of the different ideas that are crucial to the development of an organization.

TASK 4

LO 4.1 Compare different methods of performance management

Organizations should enhance performance of its staffs for them attain the required modification through performance assessment. There are different types of assessment techniques that can be applied by different organizations for evaluation their performance. Some of these techniques that can be useful in valuing quantity and quality performance include;

MBO: In these techniques, the grading is based on the attainment of structural goal through performance. The performance standard is predetermined and actual performance is matched to locate new policies and other modifications.

Psychological assessment: the technique is applied to measure the potentialities and knowing the future performances. Psychological assessment is performed through an emotional test, profundity conversational aspects among other in-depth assessments. The evaluation can help in judging the emotional and motivational aspects and individualities that affect their work and output (Waldrop, 2008).

Assessment Centers: the managers put together the assessment centers in order to join in work associated exercise and the trainers measure the performance. Through drills like virtual work scenario, the communiqué aptitude, group mission, leadership excellence, tolerance range, planning proficiency among other drills are assessed. This type of technique is more trustworthy as well as effective to evaluate the future performance and requirements of an organization than other evolutional methods (Waldrop, 2008).

360 degree feedback: through this technique, assessment is determined from team members, supervisors, and customers. The technique is very useful since it can enable the evaluator to perform multiple evaluations. The technique can also provide greater self-development and appropriate response.

LO 4.2 Assess the approaches to the practice of managing employee welfare in a selected organization.

An effective working management involves the different activities carried out in an organization that simplifies employee’s life and also makes the lives valuable. The top management should always provide assistance, safety, inspiration, medical facilities and cultural events to ensure that the labor force is maintained throughout their lives. The organizations should maintain the workers welfare to give a healthy working atmosphere where workers can easily perform their task without interference thus providing better output. The organization receives a higher chance of developing job desirability for more effective employment. The company also avoids its functions with the trade and labor unions. In addition, the organization can establish an effective labor force and labor turnover. Finally, the organization can face a batter employee relationship that supports co-operation of different activities within the organization (Randhawa, 2007).

Therefore, it important for the organization to regularly assess the employee welfare applied in order to analyze the financial paybacks and expenses. The welfare managers should assess specific principles of welfare management (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). For example, he should determine whether the actions taken are sufficient for satisfying the actual desires of the workforce. More so, the financing methods must be well-structured and balance the cost of the welfares. In addition, facilities and benefits must be established such that they comply with the personal heterogeneity. The strategy to customize the facilities is also referred to as Cafeteria approach. Finally, the top management should carry out a periodical evaluation that explains the achievement of the accomplishments based on criticism.

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

Every organization must follow healthy and safety standards as outlined in the health and safety rule. This can help an organization to prevent different harms, violence, accidents and other safety matters that can occur in its daily operations. The managers, supervisors and personnel within the organization must ensure that safety guidelines and regulations are followed and properly implemented within the organization. The work force might fail to work if there is a poor working circumstance because the firm fails to attract the potential and talented staffs that create a competitive disadvantage (Bohlander & Snell, 2010). Therefore, raising a brand image and value of an organization to the labor market, the organization must achieve a suitable workforce and increase efficiency. The organization must also monitor and adhere to the health and safety principles.

The Health and safety at work act that was introduced in UK in 1974, it specifies that the health and welfare should be the responsibility of the workers, managers, and those investors who manages the working structure (Condrey, 2005).

LO 4.4 Evaluate the impact of one topical issue on human resources practices.

The topical issues in the HR can occur in the process of effective recruitment process, training, improvement of productivity and mitigating discriminations in an organization (Mishael, 2012). There are important topical issues that are found in an organization that includes;

Resolution of conflicts

Improving productivity

Maintaining workforce diversity

Mitigation of discriminations

Safety at workplace

Effective recruitment process

Arranging training programs

Changes in the above issues that are directly related to HR can happen at any given time. Therefore, it is required the employer to be prepared in reforming and improving the HR activities. The role of the human resource manager is very important in driving alterations in the HR policies and approaches (Martin, 2013).

Reference

Bohlander, G. W., & Snell, S. (2010). Managing human resources. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Condrey, S. E. (2005). Handbook of Human Resources Management in Government. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Dwivedi, R. S. (2010). Textbook of human resource management. New Delhi: Vikas Pub. House Pvt. Ltd.

Herder, J.E (2009). Issues of Fit in Strategic Human Resource Management: Implication for research. Human Resource Management Review, 8: 289-309.

Martin, L. (2013). Similarities and Differences in Human Resource Management in the Europe Union. Thunderbird International Business Review, 45: 728- 758.

Mishael, C.R. (2012). Strategy and Human Resources. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Noe, R. A. (2013). Fundamentals of human resource management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Randhawa, G. (2007). Human resource management. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.

Sims, R. R. (2007). Human resource management: Contemporary issues, challenges, and opportunities. Charlotte, N.C: Information Age Pub.

Waldrop, S. A. (2008). The everything human resource management book: Attract and keep the people who will drive your company’s success. Avon, Mass: Adams Media.