Good Example Of Human Resource Management In The Strategic Framework Of Corporate Entities Essay

REPORT ON THE FUNCTIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND A CASE ANALYSIS OF HRM IN TESCO AND HSBC

Introduction
In the 21st Century, most firms operate with a human resource management unit as the central and essential component of its strategic structure. A human resource management unit is responsible for treating human resource as a capital base that can be harnessed and enhanced to achieve optimal results in the operation of an organisation. This provides an absolute standard or measure for the identification and the harnessing of appropriate human resources for the attainment of stated strategic goals and objectives. A relativist view is presented by some scholars who argue that human resource management is a system through which a firm obtains and retains competitive advantage by seeking the best people, employing them and motivating them to achieve results that allows the firm to capture and hold on to a large chunk of the market within which the firm operates.
The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse and review the concept of human resource management (HRM) and how it relates to the corporate sector of the UK and the world as a whole. To this end, the human resource management strategies and processes of two UK firms will be critiqued to explain the fundamental essence of HRM. This will be the HR systems of Tesco, a UK grocery shop and supermarket chain and HSBC, a popular British bank.

Human resource management is identified as a strategic business unit in most firms’ strategic planning framework and system. This is because the human resource management unit is expected to reinterpret the strategic and business goals of the firm and link it to the human resource base of the firm. Hence, the concept of strategic human resource management has come to symbolise a system through which a firm integrates its human resource unit to its overall strategy.
“Strategic human resource management involves the formulation of policies that must be integrated into the strategic business management and used to enforce an appropriate organisational culture in order to make human resource a valuable tool for achieving competitive advantage”. This means that every firm has a strategic goal in its human resource system and processes.

Strategic HR Policy of Tesco

The strategic human resource management policy of Tesco was summed up by its HR manager as a quest to gain equity by a blend of technical excellence and expertise with customer focus and integrity. This was at a time when Tesco was diversifying its operations from the core supermarket model to Tesco.com, Tesco Bank and Tesco Telecom. This means that the focus was on getting the best people with the necessary technical knowledge and experience who would also adapt to the Tesco culture of achieving the best of customer satisfaction with integrity. This was a proactive approach that sought to utilise continuous monitoring and controls to ensure that workers met both technical and cultural aspects of Tesco’s activities and processes.

Strategic HR Policy of HSBC

HSBC’s human resource strategy is steeped in the need to maintain a balanced and well rounded human resource supply for the achievement of the bank’s activities and targets. This includes the recruitment and selection of the best people in the banking industry to make it a leading bank and the achievement of major international competencies that will keep the bank as a leading global financial institution. This is also linked to the quest of HSBC to become a leading international and global financial institution of repute. It involves the desire of HSBC to achieve the best in internationalising its operations to meet the needs and demands of its foreign and diverse workforce.

Recruitment and Selection

Since the HR strategy and policy of a firm affects and is affected by the strategic goals and expectations of the organisation, every firm incorporates the HR policy and strategy in its actions. One of the most important functions in HR management is recruitment and selection.
Recruitment refers to the process through which the best and most suitable candidates for a given job slot are contacted or informed of the vacancy, whilst selection refers to the process through which the candidates who pass the initial screening processes are chosen to work in the organisation. However, some scholars view recruitment and selection from a very technical perspective and this includes the process through which candidates are targeted through the job evaluation which shows the actual requirements and duties and person specification which defines the ideal candidate for the job.
This implies that recruitment and selection mainly involves the deduction of the need to acquire a new worker and the obligations that this new employee will have to discharge. This is done through the assessment and evaluation of the facts and duties that come with the role. This is done within the context of the HR plan and the context of the organisational strategy. This will help to deduce the right kind of person and the appropriate educational level, experience level and ethical features of an ideal candidate.

Recruitment and Selection in Tesco

The recruitment and section process of Tesco is built around the need for the recruitment and retention of the best brains in retail and other related fields that have a high and strong focus in customer satisfaction. Tesco’s job analysis process involves the connection of its core strategic focus to the vacancy at hand and this culminates in the need for the observance of long-term goals, the partners who will work with the individual filling the vacancy, the reporting relationships and the elements of innovation in the activities related to the role in question. After that, the job and roles are specified and an ideal person is specified through the person specification process. The person specification includes diversity in competencies, dedication to the role, long-term orientation of potential candidates, education, training and many other desires which vary from role to role. After the candidate targeting process, the recruitment process actually begins

The recruitment process in Tesco is done through three main approaches:

Internal;
External
Contract/Other
Internally, people who have served in similar roles are chosen and shortlisted for a possible candidature. Externally, the position is advertised and promoted in the media and appropriately qualified professionals are encouraged to apply.
Once applications come through, Tesco’s HR manager, the manager and the candidate being selected and a third manager conduct an interview or review of the candidates. This includes interviews and other practices that are used to screen and select the best candidate.

Recruitment and Selection in HSBC

HSBC on the other hand focuses on internal recruitment as opposed to external recruitment. This is done by promoting and enhancing the process through which the staff members are recruited right after graduation from an appropriate undergraduate or postgraduate programme. This is mainly done through online applications which are on a rolling basis. Prospective candidates, particularly those seeking to be trained are expected to apply by sending their CVs.
The CVs are kept on a large database and they are classified in-house by the HR managers. When a slot opens, candidates who have applied are contacted directly and they are made to come for interviews and then shortlisted for an appointment or position.
In rare cases, HSBC recruits externally and this is done through the advertising of positions in the media or through word of mouth. However, the default position is to target a pool of fresh and young graduates. This is done by taking a lot of unsolicited applications and keeping them in a database. Afterwards, there is the constant evaluation of expansion goals and prospects and vacancies. When such a vacancy comes up, prospective candidates are called up.

Training and Development

After recruitment and selection, there is the need for the management of an organisation to orientate newly appointed staff members. “Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skill of an employee for doing a particular job”
Training and development revolves around the fact that the freshly employed workers need to build aptitudes and competencies in doing a particular job for a given position. Development on the other hand, refers to the “systematic development of the attitude/knowledge/skill/behaviour pattern required of an individual to perform a given task adequately”.
Training and Development allows staff members to get used to the skills and requirements that are placed on them. And they are able to achieve high results and blend within the organisational culture within this period.

Training and Development in Tesco

Tesco has an orientation with its staff members and the staff members are put on a six-month probation period. Here, the workers will have to learn and demonstrate their competency to stay in the role they have been given into the foreseeable future. For junior staff members, the period of probation is shorter.

Training and Development in HSBC

Performance Management
Performance management is about measuring the performance of the employees of an organisation and comparing it to the actual goals and objectives of the firm’s human resource unit or team. Performance management is about an effective diagnosis of the HR performance measures and standards and the application of these HR standards to the status quo by measuring exactly how the performance output of HR staff members are in a given period of time.
Performance management also includes the forecast and the assessment of the actual performance of HR staff members in relation to the predicted patterns and processes. This is done by appraising performance and trying to match it with the standards and expectations in order to identify whether targets are met or not.

Performance Management in Tesco

Tesco in the UK has an HR department that draws up the patterns and the targets for the achievement of results and performance standards at the beginning of each year. This is done within the long-term strategic plan of the HR department as well as the entire Tesco UK and Tesco International.
Each year, staff members are appraised at least twice in the year and their performance levels are noted. The aggregate performance standards are compared with the targets. If there are variances, the management of Tesco HR will move to address it. Gaps like motivational lapses and other issues are identified and implemented to eliminate slack and poor performance.

Performance Management in HSBC

Performance appraisal in HSBC on the other hand, comes with targets that are set and translated to local and decentralised units of the bank. This is mainly done by reference to the head of department who appraises with personal knowledge and also through self assessment which is done by the staff member himself or herself. The pointers are presented to management who aggregate it and identify the trends and patterns. This sets the state for an upward formulation of new trends and processes.

Conclusion

Human Resource Management is fundamentally concerned with linking the strategic goals of a firm to its human resource unit. And it includes hiring and monitoring the performance of workers as well as the control of HR needs through employment relations amongst other things.
There are different approaches used in HRM. This report has examined the elements of Tesco and HSBC. It identifies that Tesco prefers to recruit internally whilst HSBC recruits by taking in fresh graduates who act as interns. Training and development is conscious in Tesco and this is done through a 3 to 6-month probation period. On the other hand, HSBC’s training and development is done through the internship period. Finally, performance appraisal is done in a top-down approach in Tesco, whilst it is done from a bottom-up approach in HSBC.

Bibliography

Armstrong, M., 2012. Armstrong's Handbook of Strategic Human Resource Management. 2nd ed. London: Kogan Page.
Armstrong, M. & Baron, A., 2010. Managing Performance: Performance Management in Action. 2nd ed. London: CIPD Publishing.
Armstrong, M. & Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 2nd ed. London: Kogan Page.
Axson, D. A. J., 2010. Best Practices in Planning and Performance Management: Radically Rethinking 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
Baron, A., 2013. Human Capital Management: Achieving Added Value Through People. 3rd ed. London: Kogan Page.
Cardy, R. L. & Leonard, B., 2012. Performance Management: Concepts, Skills, and Exercises. Darnham, MA: Me. E. Sharp.
Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, 2015. Factsheet. [Online] Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/strategic-human-resource-management.aspx[Accessed 3 April 2015].
de Kok, J., 2013. Human resource management within small and medium-sized enterprises. 3rd ed. New York: Rozenberg Publishers.
Durai, P., 2013. Human Resource Management. 2nd ed. Delhi: Pearson Education india.
HSBC , 2014. Learning and Development. [Online] Available at: http://www.hsbc.com/careers/why-hsbc/learning-and-development[Accessed 3 April 2015].
HSBC Knowledge Center, 2014. Performance Measurement. [Online] Available at: https://www.knowledge.hsbc.co.uk/tools-and-resources/article/performance-appraisals[Accessed 3 April 2015].
HSBC Net, 2015. About Us. [Online] Available at: http://www.hsbcnet.com/gbm/careers/about-hsbc-group[Accessed 3 April 2015].
MacLachlan, R., 2009. HR 'the conscience' of Tesco, says HR director. [Online] Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2013/01/29/hr-the-conscience-of-tesco-says-hr-director-2009-11.aspx[Accessed 3 April 2015].
Madhubashini, M. K., 2013. Recruitment and Selection Process in Tesco UK. [Online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/dkdmadhubhashini/recruitment-selection-process-in-tesco[Accessed 3 April 2015].
Martocchio, J. & Liao, H., 2011. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management. 2nd ed. London: Emerald.
Our Tesco, 2014. Perofmrnance Management and Review. [Online] Available at: https://www.ourtesco.com/office-handbook/your-development/training-and-development/[Accessed 3 April 2015].
Randhawa, G., 2014. Human Resource Management. Miami, FL: Atlantic Publishing.
Secord, H., 2013. Implementing Best Practices in Human Resources Management. 2nd ed. Toronto: CCH Ltd.
Sims, H., 2012. Human Resource Planning. London: Select Knowledge.
Strayer, S., 2013. Vault Guide to Human Resources Careers. London: Vault Publishing.
Thackwray, B., 2012. The Effective Evaluation of Training and Development in Higher Education. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Wilson, J. D., 2011. Human Resource Development: Learning & Training for Individuals & Organizations. London: Kogan Page.