Understanding the Role of Human Resource Management in Organizational Success

Assignment One: The Role and Scope of Human Resource Management in terms of resourcing an organization with talent and skills appropriate to fulfil business objectives

Byars and Rue (2006) define human resource management as a system of processes, strategies and activities geared to successfully manage employees within all organizational levels fir the conception of intended deliverables. Corporate Employees constitute the most fundamental asset and human resource whose goals should be aligned towards maximum productivity. The level of employees’ productivity is embedded on the levels of their skills satisfaction and motivation in the workplace. To conceive a highly motivated, effective and highly-performance employees team; the organization ought to apply its human resource management input in a broad spectrum of areas such as recruitment and selection, job analysis and design, employee motivation, definition of management system ethics, and employees’ benefits distribution. This report intends to exemplify the intrigues of HRM practices , including HRM dissertation help, and dig into the purpose and scope of Human Resource Management concerning resourcing an organization with skills and talents.

Roles of HRM in Workforce Planning and Organizational Resourcing

Workforce planning refers to the practice of analysing existing workforce, establishing future workforce demands, establishing discrepancies between available workforce and the future needs and enacting viable solutions so as the firm is able to accomplish its goals, mission, and strategic plan. Workforce planning is a series of phases and an iterative process which orient an organization into a desirable direction with intent to achieve set deliverables with a help of a human resource management professional (Lievens, and Chapman, 2010).

Global economics, population, technology and fluctuating social attitudes are drastically reorienting how organizations’ resources are planned and resourced. Human resource Management plays a pivotal role in making meaningful the partnership between management and human resources departments. In the realm of Sainsbury’s supply chain, a need for the right employees, with relevant skills, roles and costs is a priority in pursuits to elevate revenue through increased sales (Storey, 2007). Workforce planning intends to align dynamic organization needs and people strategy, and ought not to be complicated but flexible to pave the way for changes suitable to the firm.

Human Resource Management provides a unique position to offer competitive intelligence which may be instrumental in workforce planning. In-depth details on advanced incentive plans applied by Sainsbury’s competitors, and a general landscape of particular resource requirements are some of the insights a comprehensive HRM can provide, which in turn will spearhead the firm to a position ready to harness the potentials of the firm (Guchait, and Cho, 2010).

Additionally, HRM role is to suggest to the management team how to control and manage employees as a business’s basic resource. This orientation encompasses hiring and recruiting employees with relevant skills geared to meet the present and future goals. Besides, HRM provides insights on how to efficiently coordinate employee benefits, and suggest eminent employee training and development logistics. In this way, HR expert play consultancy roles of offering technical advice to managers on a broad spectrum of issues linked to employees and how they can contribute to the organization in meeting its targets.

HRM professionals equally work in collaboration with the managers to develop employees’ skills. Through advice, they can inform firm managers how to assign duties to various employees, hence assisting firms adapt to prevailing business atmosphere. In a flexible organizational setup, employees are shifted around different business departments based on their preferences and firm priorities.

Human Resource Management demands strategic planning in attending to dynamics involving employer needs and also to align with the changes within the market. When planning for corporate workforce, HRM assist the manager in assessing how best the changes in markets structure, customer consumption preferences and attitudes can be accommodated in production of goods and services. As the world evolves, so do the needs of consumers concerning health, lifestyles and changes in tastes and preferences. HRM professionals help to tap these dynamics during planning for the workforce.

Employee resourcing constitutes one of the crucial elements of human resourcing management which focuses on employee selection and recruitment. According to Boxall, and Purcell (2011), employees are the most precious resource to any organization, and a well-managed human resource is the key driver of success. The most fundamental role of HRM is to acquire employees’ services, develop employees’ skills, motivate them and help them remain focused and committed as per the corporate objectives.

Human Resource Management helps Sainsbury’s managers to establish employees’ reputation, and align them towards increasing their competencies. Through recruitment and selection of employees, HRM is able to deduce existing competencies and behavioural constraints of employees and benchmark them against the organization’s culture and objectives. The role of the HRM in this context is crucial in determining whether the exhibited traits and characteristics can quench the needs of the firm (Jiang et al., 2012).

During employees’ selection, HRM professional helps to assess the applicants’ performance as per the company’s requirement and legislation. Recruitment on the other hand involves the identification of sources of manpower, and inspiring such sources in job scenario. Recruitment will intend to increase application number for increasing selection ratios.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Various Recruitment and Selection Methodologies

Human resource planning is the first phase of human resource management whereby

organizational goals and objectives are focused upon in the present and likely future needs. The phase is followed by the process of recruitment and selection. Recruitment and selection are intended to induce into the organization competent staff with abilities to which the company needs. The initial phase to meet human resource existing gap is to announce it through applicable methods (Armstrong, and Taylor 2014).

There are various approaches to recruitment and section of employees, which are also effective but yet again characterized by traces of limitations. Recruitment can be done internally or externally. Some of the typical recruitment methods employed by Sainsbury’s Chain include placing advertisement online and in local newspapers, use of government job centres, internal announcement publications, personal referrals, executive recruitment agencies, social media platforms and enlisting employments (Zibarras, and Woods, 2010).

Online and Print job application is the most common recruitment method whereby job advertisements are posted on national, local or online publications. The advertisements are strategically disseminated to reach candidates the company is seeking. The adverts provide crucial information related to job description, job title, and location and application instructions. Online and print job advertisements capture the audience in a large geographical reach and can be used to serve many people at a go (Wright, and McMahan, 2011). However, many people may miss the adverts especially those who are not prone to online readings.

Personal recommendations and internal bulletins are also fundamental methods an organization use to recruit human resources. The approach is commonly used on the eve of an organization to pose an incentive for job seekers to apply and seek referrals from employees. This consequently results into selection of the best qualified candidates. Referred employees and existing ones are connected with those already working in the company (Sutherland, and Wocke, 2011). This approach saves the firm extra costs that would otherwise be incurred in recruitment. However, referral may be made based not on competency but personal relationship with existing employees leading to selection of unprofessional candidate.

Employment and recruitment agencies are also used as a recruitment approach. An employment agency saves the firm the efforts and time incurred in screening resumes and assessing qualifications therein, or in checking out on references. The recruiters in turn receive a fee for the services rendered, which may be expensive thus making the approach ineffective.

Government job centres provide advertising services as a component of employment development efforts for job seekers. The government possesses job seeking and training divisions which collaborates with businesses in need of staff. State department constitute both online and print avenues where job vacancies are posted for free. This approach may take long to accrue required personnel into the business enterprise (Mitchell, Obeidat, and Bray, 2013).

Lastly, social and new media platforms are effective avenues to recruit employees from global orientations. Social networking sites are harnessed to post job descriptions, requirements, location and qualifications. On the prospects of selection, approaches including use of behavioural questions, administration of skills tests, personality tests, and panel interviews are employed. Employers develop behavioural based interrogations to enable them understand how their candidates think and their decision making capacities. Behavioural based questions arouse instant thinking and provide honest responses which were not initially crafted before submission of the resume (Lin, 2011).

Skill tests are suitable in job opportunities requiring particular skills. Marketing and communication for instance in the realm of Sainsbury’s firm are testable. Skill test offer a quick evaluation of the average capacities of the prospect in carrying out various functions required. Personality tests are also effective in determining candidate personality in relation to achieving a specific task (Noe et al., 2017). Alongside personality tests, panel interview with recruited candidates can be used to select the most suited candidates. After the interviews, the panel gets to objectively converse to draw out the best suited candidate for the job at hand. Panel interview might be tedious and time consuming but yet effective in making sure the selected candidate is best suited for the job.

References

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2011. Strategy and human resource management. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Byars, L.L., Rue, (2006). Human Resource Management, edition 8th. New York: McGraw Hill.

Guchait, P. and Cho, S., 2010. The impact of human resource management practices on intention to leave of employees in the service industry in India: the mediating role of organizational commitment. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(8), pp.1228-1247.

Jiang, K., Lepak, D.P., Hu, J. and Baer, J.C., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of management Journal, 55(6), pp.1264-1294.

Lievens, F. and Chapman, D., 2010. Recruitment and selection. The SAGE handbook of human resource management, pp.135-154.

Lin, L.H., 2011. Electronic human resource management and organizational innovation: the roles of information technology and virtual organizational structure. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22(02), pp.235-257.

Mitchell, R., Obeidat, S. and Bray, M., 2013. The effect of strategic human resource management on organizational performance: the mediating role of high‐performance human resource practices. Human Resource Management, 52(6), pp.899-921.

Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Storey, J., 2007. Human resource management: A critical text. Cengage Learning EMEA.

Sutherland, M. and Wocke, A., 2011. The symptoms of and consequences to selection errors in recruitment decisions. South African Journal of Business Management, 42(4), pp.23-32.

Tan, C.L. and Nasurdin, A.M., 2011. Human resource management practices and organizational innovation: assessing the mediating role of knowledge management effectiveness. Electronic journal of knowledge management, 9(2), p.155.

Wright, P.M. and McMahan, G.C., 2011. Exploring human capital: putting ‘human’ back into strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(2), pp.93-104.

Zibarras, L.D. and Woods, S.A., 2010. A survey of UK selection practices across different organization sizes and industry sectors. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(2), pp.499-511.

Principles of Effective Human Resource Management

Human resource management principles constitute the various foundations embedding sound human resource management practices. Human Resource Management is motivated by various business principles especially the “Ten C” family of HRM principles proposed by Alan Price (comprehensiveness, communication, credibility, cost effectiveness, coherence, creativity, commitment, change, competence and control). The four elements namely; commitment, congruence, cost-effectiveness and competence (Berman et al., 2019) demonstrate the effect of human resource strategic management on employees, society and firms.

Commitment

Job security inspires employees to show commitment to their job duties. This pursuit is achieved by ensuring staffing standards are consistent with business requirements and employees’ retention is guaranteed. The company gets to arouse commitment to employees and invest into their success through the provision of training opportunities, goal setting, and performance evaluation and appraisal. Besides, the surrounding community benefits from the firm’s commitment to offer employments which boosts the immediate economy.

Competence

Effective and successful business ventures depend on competent employees w\with mastery if skills on performance and expectations. Human Resource Management ensues workforce efficiency through undergoing training the employees on relevant requirements which can be used to meet the dynamic consumer. Competent staff consequently leads into the inculcation of safe working environment which also spread into production of quality goods and services (Stahl et al., 2012).

Cost effectiveness

Human Resource department budgets in many cases are inadequate to serve every HR process in the domains of training, recruitment and employees relations. Human resource is not revenue generating but yet held accountable for high standards of returns in its processes. Human resource managers are expected officiate over high quality service to employees, and good working environments which and translate such logistics into excellence.

Congruence

Congruence encompasses the alignment between the entire goals of the business venture for easy achievability. This principle is centred on the performances of an individual employee and the organization in achieving intended deliverables. Achievable workforce management objectives ought to be congruent and compatible with business aims.

Benefits of HRM Practices to Sainsbury’s Stakeholders

Like any other organization, Sainsbury’s work towards the realization of a set goals by enacting various strategies and implementing them with the help of a HR department. In the broader context of organizational strategy lies a different process whose efficiency is anchored on the design of these processes. The major HR practices in Sainsbury include (Cascio, 2015);

Efficient designing of above practices alongside other elements is dependent on the extent of correspondence of each element with another. Each element is therefore dependent on the other whereby planning is the initial phase which involves forecasting among other aspects such as evaluation, layoff and promotion. In planning is where recruitment, selection, hiring, and training of employees are formulated for the realization of business goals.

Employee remuneration and employee benefits refer to the process of deciding on the concepts of salaries, incentives, wages and allowances for employees. Based on the premise that money is a key motivator, the process is therefore crucial in triggering intrinsic motivation from the employees by the management. As a matter of fact, performing employees’ tend to eye on increased salaries, and bonuses (Noe et al., 2017).

Performance management is geared to assist the firm in training, rewarding and motivating employees. Besides, the process also aims at meeting organizational goals with maximum efficiency. The phase not only caters for the wellbeing of internal employees but also external customers and any other proponent of the business entity to make them gratified and satisfied with the produce.

Employee relations encompass the elements of retention in working environments. Employee retention is inspired by various factors including whether the employees are satisfied in their current jobs. Employee relations constitutes other logistics including labour law and relations, employee health and safety, characteristics of working environment, conflicts in workplaces, and employee wellness. These factors do affect employee retention and therefore also survival of human resource strategies and processes.

Elements of Employment Legislation and the Impact it has on HRM Decision-making

Employers are continually in need of employment contracts which cater for their interests and those of their business ventures, while at the same time making sure the existing environment supports the needs of employees. When a state of isocracy is attained between employers and employees concerning their needs, there are chances of the business venture succeeding. Contractual agreements cultivate the relationships therein between employers and employees (Harzing, and Pinnington, 2010). There are various elements of employment legislation including position definition, contract agreement length, performance expectations and requirement, compensation and calculation methodology, premiums and benefits, and severance and termination (Lengnick-Hall, Beck, and Lengnick-Hall, 2011).

Defining position offers prospective employees a vivid understanding of job demands, including the position name, and fundamental roles. This contractual agreement also articulates the venue and hours of employment. In the definition of this framework, a clear and concise language should be used to spell out no doubts.

Length of agreement should constitute comfortable elements between the employee and employers; and thus should stipulate authentic terms of employment and conditions applicable to an employee to reduce, extend, or terminate the contract provision (Parrish, 2010).

Performance requirements and expectations provides for necessary skill upgrade and training required during the contract period. This may encompass production targets intended to be discovered and revenue enhancement required (Foster, 2014). On the other hand, compensation and calculation methodology defines the aspects of compensation. During salary negotiation, a specific wage is agreed with the methods of payment, for the purpose of future conveniences in payment terms. Aspects of commission, overtime, how termination impacts payment amongst other aspects are also clarified to avoid future clashes.

Benefits and premiums legislations define benefit package as an employee. It integrates aspects touching on personal health, vision, dental or any other insurance. In this regard, percentages of benefits premium which employees pay are stipulated. Other elements of vacations, holiday, profit sharing and stock options are also agreed on. Termination language is also another tenet to agree on. Termination and severance term exemplify what happens on the eve an employee is let go with or without cause (Drucker, 2012).

Application of Human Resource Management practices in a work-related context

An updated job description offers a suitable foundation for recruitment process and defines the person specification of prospective employees. Person specification inspires an employer to profile the most suitable candidate for the job. The skills, knowledge and experience integrated are relevant to excellent tackling of the job. Having job description and person specification in recruitment process is therefore a crucial pillar in ensuring the selection of right candidates to resume work duties (Larson, and Gray, 2017). Person specification is one of the eminent documents in recruitment and selection phases. It enables HRM professional to define the type of person required and therefore inspires the writing of a job advert. Besides, it equally facilitates comparisons between various applicants against one another to unravel the most qualifies.

Job description is crucial in that it provides clear description of the job for the right applicants to apply. Having the most talented individuals to perform organizational tasks is a solid foundation in having the most competent employees, which in turn maximizes on competitive advantage if the organization in the market. Besides, job description helps in sorting out job positions for the most impeccable candidates to take charge. A vivid job description thus ought to emphasize on the sort of responsibilities successful candidates will handle. Moreover, a clear job description is necessary in helping the job applicant prepare for the interview, and in the preparation of a resume, which largely rely on the job description and requirement.

Job description equally is a vital legal document which stipulates the terms and conditions between an employer and employees for future references. The content therein including salary, responsibilities, compensation, and job position form a basis of future argument upon any bridge of such terms. Job description is therefore a very important process which should be done professionally to maintain the upright posture and position of the firm as it provide a distinct differentiation of roles and responsibilities carried out by various employees.

Conclusion

Amidst the competitive environment characterizing business world, the application of suitable Human Resource Management practices will help an organization ascend into the topmost pedestal of market share and control. Sainsbury’s as one of the largest market retailer shops as exemplifies in the above submissions can do better in the realm of increasing revenue through increased sales. Workforce planning and resourcing are fundamental functions which if managed can spearhead Sainsbury’s stores into elevated levels. The processes are the core drivers of how and which resources if well-coordinated would result into high returns. Recruitment and selection methodologies are also pertinent in the success of a business, the two processes are interconnected and therefore successful selection is anchored on recruitment.

Continue your exploration of Understanding the Management of Employees’ Performance with our related content.

References

Berman, E.M., Bowman, J.S., West, J.P. and Van Wart, M.R., 2019. Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. CQ Press.

Cascio, W.F., 2015. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.

Drucker, P., 2012. Managing for results. Routledge.

Foster, E.C., 2014. Human resource management. In Software Engineering (pp. 253-269). Apress, Berkeley, CA.

Harzing, A.W. and Pinnington, A. eds., 2010. International human resource management. Sage.

Larson, E.W. and Gray, C.F., 2017. Project management: The managerial process. McGraw-Hill Education.

Lengnick-Hall, C.A., Beck, T.E. and Lengnick-Hall, M.L., 2011. Developing a capacity for organizational resilience through strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 21(3), pp.243-255.

Mello, J.A., 2014. Strategic human resource management. Nelson Education.

Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Parrish, B.D., 2010. Sustainability-driven entrepreneurship: Principles of organization design. Journal of Business Venturing, 25(5), pp.510-523.

Stahl, G., Björkman, I., Farndale, E., Morris, S.S., Paauwe, J., Stiles, P., Trevor, J. and Wright, P., 2012. Six principles of effective global talent management. Sloan Management Review, 53(2), pp.25-42.