Human Resource Management: cases of Barclays and Unilever - Essay Example

?Running Head: Human Resource Management Human Resource Management [Institute’s TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 TASK HRM APPROACH 3 1 A) Personnel Management vs. Human Resource Management 3 Role of HR Manager 4 Approaches adopted by Barclays 4 TASK 2 - RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION 5 2 A) HR Planning Process 5 2 B) Recruitment and Selection Process 6 2 C) Alternatives to the Interview available for HR Practitioner 8 Psychometric Testing 8 Group Activities 8 TASK 3 - MONITORING AND REWARDING EMPLOYEES 9 3 A) Job Evaluation 9 3 B) Measuring and Monitoring Performance of Employees 9 3 C) System of Rewarding Employees 11 3 D) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 12 TASK 4 - EMPLOYMENT EXIT PROCEDURES 13 4 A) Exit Procedure adopted by Barclays 13 4 B) Selection Criteria for use in the Redundancy Process 14 REFERENCES 16 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Selected organization (1): Barclays Selected organization (2): Unilever TASK 1 - HRM APPROACH 1 A) Personnel Management vs. Human Resource Management Personnel management refers to the set of activities about the workers that incorporated recruitment, payroll, contractual requirements and other “administrative tasks” (Riccucci, p. 102, 2011). In this respect, personnel management includes the number of actions that are to do with controlling the employees instead of resources. “Personnel management is more administrative in nature” (Riccucci, p. 76, 2011) and the personnel manager’s core job are to guarantee that the requirements of the employees are met as they relate to their immediate concerns. With the beginning of resource-focused organizations during current decade, it has turn out to be crucial to place “people first” (Riley, p. 183, 2001) and protect management goals of capitalizing on the Return on Investment. This has caused to the growth of the contemporary HRM role that is mainly related to ensure the achievement of management goals and simultaneously guaranteeing that the requirements of the resources are supported. Thus, HRM differs from personnel management not just in its wider extent but also in the manner in which its task is under explanation. HRM goes further than the administrative chores of personnel management and takes account of a wider vision of the way management would like the resources to chip in towards the achievement of the business. HRM indicates a change in focus and policy and is compatible with the requirements of the contemporary organization. HRM focuses on the planning, scrutinizing and managing aspects of resources while personnel management was mainly about arbitrating amid the administration and workforce. Role of HR Manager Keeping in view the size of the organization, the HR manager has responsibility for every function that is related to the requirements and activities of the workforce including staffing, hiring, providing guidance, organizational growth, communication, performance appraisal, training, strategy advice, income and remuneration, maintaining healthy employee relations, and exhibiting leadership skills (Briscoe et al, p. 193, 2008). Approaches adopted by Barclays Barclays Bank currently adopts the HRM approach (Mathis & Jackson, p. 173, 2011). There have been several aspects that changed HRM approach during recent years. One of the aspects that supposedly have hampered the function is that a lot of time has been assigned to organizational activities and inadequate time to “transformational” (Hendry & Pettigrew, p. 141, 2005) ones. To deal with this issue, Barclays has sought to join activities by the use of mutual service centres, to computerize through e-HR applications and to regulate strategies as well as procedures. There are several advantages of using mutual service centres Barclays Bank. This is mainly true where it has the significant mass to validate a responsibility of huge size and intricacy. Economies of scale, consistency in strategies and better control over a group are some of the easily noticed advantages. The bank functions within a lively environment where innovative and highly developed practices are regularly emerging giving rise to varying customer’s needs. Not just this, the needs on current workers resources vary to retain the provision of services, it turns out to be very important that all managers chip in to HR development in a structured approach. TASK 2 - RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION 2 A) HR Planning Process HR planning is “a process that predicts and work out the outcomes of business policy on an organization’s human resources” (Jones, p. 294, 2005). This is revealed in planning of expertise and proficiency requirements as well as the entire headcounts. Each organization requires being capable of forecasting and planning for its potential workforce needs. At Barclays Bank, HR planning involves forecasting the number of employees that will be required by the bank, and then achieving the most excellent method of acquiring them. The forecasting activities take account of sufficient number of employees, possible modifications to the work of the bank, personnel supply – this incorporates estimating the deviations in the existing employees assessed to take place in the coming years, and budgeting and funding. Barclays Bank ascertains that efficient human resource planning process is ready when (1) properly skilled individuals are accessible to be positioned in the Bank to meet forecasted work requirements; (2) structure of the bank offers prospect for suitable career growth, and is supposed to chip in towards successful and well-organized workplace practices; and (3) appropriate workers data is easily obtainable to let management know about the decision making on human resource issues (Ackrill & Hannah, p. 312, 2008). The Bank’s structure is “the way by which the work is incorporated to guarantee that the goals and actions of individual work groups and departments go well with the overall objectives” (Fisher et al, p. 193, 2005). The structure of the Bank offers possibility for the flexible employment of individuals and to encourage impartiality, job liking, enthusiasm and dedication towards objectives; as well as giving opportunity of career growth. Personnel data and analysis support Bank’s competence and efficiency by offering a solid basis for human resource planning. “Any information gathering systems in place should support manages and be responsive to their needs as well as being easily accessible in the workplace” (Routledge & Gold, p. 323, 2001). Many researchers highlight the problems of discovering apparent distinctions among personnel management and HRM. A helpful input of HRM is to direct the awareness to concerning individuals as the main asset of business and “lending the management of personnel increased importance. In this essay, the similarities and differences between personnel and HR management are analysed with regard to their theoretical approaches as well as their practical implementation” (Bratton & Gold, p. 294, 2001). 2 B) Recruitment and Selection Process The recruitment and selection policy of Barclays Bank complies with, and supports, the bank’s ‘Equal Opportunities Policy’ by (1) guaranteeing that every phase of the recruitment and selection procedure is executed in a methodical manner, supported by pre-decided standards, to reduce the possibility for personal prejudice having an effect on the decision making process; (2) guaranteeing that all decision points are completely known to support consequent supervising; (3) making the entire system as open as feasible, to make certain that all applicants know why decisions have been taken and, where they would like to find significant response; and (4) demonstrating vigorous, transparent procedures and thus offering a foundation for security in the event of challenge. Following are the guidelines for recruitment and selection process at Barclays Bank. Attracting and appointing the right persons is the most crucial function of the bank and is the responsibility to be realized by each member of staff. Merit will be the single major feature throughout selection process. They will assure a variety by targeted applicant sourcing with the assistance of staffing professionals and the “referral program” (Sparrow, p. 83, 2007). Whereas expertise and profile matching has a key part, they will appoint people who are “team players and have the right attitude most relevant to the culture of the organization” (Sparrow, p. 85, 2007), and in this process, “Attitude is as important as aptitude” (Sparrow, p. 91, 2007). They believe in offering their worker with rewarding career paths. Towards this, they will place available job internally as an ideal choice while assessing external applicants. They treat every applicant with the “utmost respect” (Ulrich & Brockbank, p. 183, 2005). They will be un-biased and open while communicating with them. They will constantly assess, categorize and promote “strategic talent pools including those at the universities, management schools, and community forums to address their long term needs” (Ulrich & Brockbank, p, 103, 2005). All recruitment activities are undertaken according to the hiring plan as consented by the senior management. For each agreed post, an appointment requisition will be needed earlier than start of any staffing activity. Recruitment expenditure will be allotted to the relevant business unit, and expenses should be planned and pre-granted by the HR Head. Barclays Bank processes all applications quickly and notifies the candidate about the position of the application. “It replies to all solicited applications in 5 working days of receiving the application” (Fraser et al, p 218, 2002). At Unilever, Human Resource department receives data regarding need of employees; the available job information is then analyzed by HRM together with the finance department “with financial feasibility of the recruitment” (Jones, p. 293, 2005). After reviewing the possibility, the decided number of job openings is advertised. “If job openings cannot be filled by existing employees, the HR department must search outside the organization. Once the recruitment process is done, Unilever go to the selection process where it starts the process by receiving the online application form filled up on internet, and after analysing the data, it chooses applications for written assessment” (Sparrow, p. 82, 2007). 2 C) Alternatives to the Interview available for HR Practitioner Psychometric Testing A number of big companies are increasingly utilizing psychometric testing in their recruitment process, and in particular, “Psychometric testing is particularly common in the recruitment process for trainee solicitors” (Noe et al, p. 92, 2009). In a recent study, 94 percent of respondents said that they consider it a valuable tool. The tests has two categories; first is ability test - used to test abilities such as critical opinion, and second is personality test - such as evaluation of a applicants’ aptitude to act well in response under stress. Ability testing is mostly helpful for entry-level posts, such as trainee legal representatives. Personality tests are helpful for senior level posts where administration responsibility may be involved. Legal recruiters are trying to find a range of abilities more than just educational aptitude. The nature of legal job needs other essential skills, for instance, the capability to work and survive well during stress (Jackson & Mathis, p. 293, 2008). Group Activities Graduate recruitment gives the potential employer the chance to evaluate personal abilities of applicants. Although, nobody can modify applicants’ individuality, they should try to be as self-assured and composed as feasible. There are some limitations of group activities. The majority of “individuals within a group unconsciously perceive the situation as competitive” (Riley, p. 193, 2001). This creates actions, which are negative and wastes the positive force of the group. There is a strong possibility that group members, instead of giving their own opinion, goes with what the majority is saying. This can be due to many reasons, including the desire to feel accepted, esteemed or appreciated. TASK 3 - MONITORING AND REWARDING EMPLOYEES 3 A) Job Evaluation Job Evaluation is a method to rank jobs based on the assigned responsibilities. The job assessment method facilitates assigning an employment to a salary level. The pay grade is linked with a pay range “that is defined by a minimum and a maximum pay rate” (Armstrong & Mitchell, p. 178, 2008). The primary set of assessments at the time of executing a job evaluation strategy find out which posts will be included by it and the aspects that will be relevant in the job evaluation method. In the subsequent step of job evaluation method, information is collected regarding each position to be evaluated. This is accomplished by a career analysis, job reports, scrutiny and arguments with employees as well as managers. In third step, each job is rated systematically in accordance with the selected job evaluation factors. In the fourth and final step, benchmark jobs are selected from all the jobs that have been under assessment. These standard careers connect the internal remuneration arrangement with the external labour market. 3 B) Measuring and Monitoring Performance of Employees For Barclays Bank to carry on making immense strides, workers’ interest is dominant and has to be considered by itself; in this regard, “Performance appraisal is to be carried out quarterly by Line Managers, in person with their subordinates” (Chris et al, p 288, 1998). Every worker is requires to set ‘SMART’ goals and join these with the Bank’s guidelines to understand plans and goals by getting along their set targets. Good performance is identified by several different methods, including but not restricted to (1) Appreciation, (2) Challenge projects, (3) Chance of growth, (4) Professional development, (5) Monetary incentive, and (6) bonus. The major goal of the performance appraisal system was to use control on the activities of the workers by means of disciplinary actions along with supervision of remunerations and promotions. The managers were likely to rate their workers on some specific characteristics ranging on a scale of substandard to excellent performance and these scores were subject to a number of inaccuracies such as “central tendency, preconceived notion, halo effect, etc” (Armstrong & Mitchell, p. 193, 2008). Performance appraisals were mainly done once a year for assessing the level of achievement of a worker and were executed on a ‘top down bases’ where the managers had a key part in evaluating the performance of a worker without seeking dynamic participation of the worker. Usually, the performance appraisals were systematized in a bureaucratic way and experienced needless interruptions in assessments. Performance appraisals were mainly focused and worked in separation without allowing any connection with the general organizational aim or targets. The results of the performance appraisal system were it caused uncertainty among the executives and the workers on any new scheme of the human resource department. Even though the performance appraisal system at Barclays Bank has a fundamental part in considering the potential of the workers, yet it is supposed to be a regular with burdensome matter that has to be carried out annually. This view, to some extent, cancels out the true spirit in the way performance appraisal should be carried out. The performance appraisal system at the Bank has some loopholes, for instance, information concerning the worker’s performance is entirely reliant on their directors. Nonetheless, the workers think that information should also be gathered from them, as “they are the ones who are responsible for performing the various tasks” (Fisher et al, p. 359, 2005). Therefore, a main inadequacy of the system is that the workers are not involved in it. The performance assessment method is thought not to present any support for the expansion of personnel. Employees are obliged to be involved in the evaluation method, that is, information ought to be taken from them. The procedure should give rise to successful results by letting the employees know how they can make their performance better. This would not benefit the Bank only, but would as well assist the workforce in their personal development (Bohlander & Snell, p. 428, 2009). 3 C) System of Rewarding Employees “Being a leading Bank Barclays presents itself to its commercial as well as individual clientele as reliant on the aptitude of its sales force. These individuals take a dynamic approach in getting the message out regarding the Bank’s services. How successfully the sales group markets the Bank, and consecutively, how flourishing it is, is directly linked to the sales compensation plan” (Bohlander & Snell, p. 391, 2009). A good compensation package facilitates Barclays Bank to focus activities in the needed outcomes, and recompenses these results with compensation associated directly to the level of success. Barclays Bank rewards the brilliant and hard working workers competitively. They frequently carry out income surveys to ascertain the remuneration package stays competitive within the market. They support constant dialogue; support standard review of workers performance and growth (Lepak & Gowan, p. 452, 2008). This gives advice to the employees with reference to how they are doing. The board connects this to both monetary and non-monetary appreciation. Besides this, the bank offers a number of inducements in the shape of bonuses to motivate the workers and encourage them to carry on with their excellent performance. 3 D) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Before thinking about how directors and workers should be compensated, it is important to think about the factors that encourage them. If compensation can chip in to their enthusiasm, the drivers for that enthusiasm have to be taken into account. A valuable source, applied by Barclays Bank, is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This theory argues that as soon as human beings have met basic requirements, they try to satisfy consecutively higher requirements that “occupy a set hierarchy” (Mathis & Jackson, p. 291, 2011). Self-Actualization Esteem Needs Social Needs Safety Needs Physiological Needs Figure 1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. (Mathis & Jackson, p. 293, 2011) The ‘hierarchy of needs’ is under representation as a pyramid with the basic requirements on the bottom. “The four lower levels are grouped together as deficiency requirements associated with physiological requirements, while the top level is termed growth needs associated with psychological requirements” (Nikoma et al, p. 183, 2010). Whereas deficiency requirements should be met, development requirements are persistently influencing conduct. The fundamental idea is that the higher requirements in this hierarchy only come under consideration when all the requirements that are in the lower part of the pyramid are largely or completely fulfilled. An understanding of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for compensation strategies provides a basic income, which meets essential requirements, can simply go so far in encouraging employees. Workers want to have a sense of independence on their work. This incorporates significant elements, for instance, the capability to influence decisions regarding their work; setting understandable, assessable and attainable objectives; and getting acknowledgment for success. Barclays give this independence to its employees to fulfil their psychological needs and to motivate them to work on their maximum potential. TASK 4 - EMPLOYMENT EXIT PROCEDURES 4 A) Exit Procedure adopted by Barclays All permanent employees should inform their manager in written that they are going to leave the service of the Bank, stating their final working day in line with their notice period - which is usually of 1 month - as mentioned in their letter of service. The line manager has to sign the resignation letter and give the worker affirmation in writing of either approval of resignation or the plan to finish the contract of service. The letter has to state the last working day in addition to any other relevant piece of information that would be relevant to the conditions of termination (Lepak & Gowan, p. 231, 2008). Line managers must update the termination details in employee’s record as soon as possible - preferably within 2 days of getting the resignation letter - to ascertain that payroll is closed within an appropriate time frame and to start the computation of ‘end of service’ advantages. The entering of leaving information by line managers starts the generation of “End of Service Benefits calculation sheets” (Byars & Rue, p. 308, 2010). These sheets will be given to the worker and the director both. If any modifications are to be made, the worker or line manager should recommend the HR directly. 4 B) Selection Criteria for use in the Redundancy Process To make necessary redundancies, the manager will have to ascertain that (1) each and every position on threat of redundancy should be divide into groups of workers as broad as feasible, but can involve just a single worker, and (2) the decisive factor to be utilized redundancy selection. “In order to apply this decisive factor, managers must guarantee that time as well as attendance data are up to date for all workers of the bank, not only those who are susceptible of redundancy. Managers must be cautious about the form of absence considered, for example, they should not take account of time taken off for paternity, maternity, anti natal, paternal, adoption leave, training, health and safety, jury service, territorial army or trade union membership duties” (Lepak & Gowan, p. 310, 2008). An individual worker is considered next to particular levels of job performance. This will require to be supported by objective confirmation that can be caused by performance assessment or appraisal plans. Allocating points for particular talents workers may have, apart from their abilities and aptitude within their standard working position, which are in addition to their essential job requirement such as first aid provider/fire fighter/wellbeing and security representation. Managers must ascertain that corrective records are up to date and disciplinary notices are recent for applying disciplinary criteria. Served admonitions should not be applied in the selection procedure.  Points assigned as a result of exceptional disciplinary admonitions should be removed from the selection score sheet or matrix.  Alternatively, allocate points for a clean record and decrease in accordance with the level of admonition. It is strongly suggested that duration of service is only utilized when other decisive measures have been worn out and there is an identical score between workers (Lepak & Gowan, p. 401, 2008) and/or the selection measure measure having a lesser weighting worth. To stay un-biased, the redundancy should as well be procedurally accurate which entails the utilization of suitable selection standard, recognition of the selection team, suitable discussion, loyalty to appropriate contractual issues and an overriding condition that the redundancy is confirmed to be real. REFERENCES Ackrill, M. and Hannah, L. 2008. Barclays: The Business of Banking, 1690-1996. Cambridge University Press. Armstrong, S. and Mitchell, B. 2008. The Essential HR Handbook: A Quick and Handy Resource for Any Manager or HR Professional. Career Press. Bohlander, G. W. and Snell, S. A. 2009. Managing Human Resources. South-Western Cengage Learning. Bratton, J and Gold, J. 2001. 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