Human resource management - Essay Example

Introduction Human Resource planning (HR planning) has several definitions. Some of the definitions may be with the inclusion of ‘the process as well as activities that are taken up so as to anticipate the demands of labour an organisation has, internal supply of labour, and determine the employment gaps as well as the action to fill the gaps; the process of systematically setting up policies that relate to the acquisition, utilisation, and the disposition of personnel so as to reach the needs of the organisation; or the process of getting to know the HR needs an organisation has and the subsequent process of making sure that the organisation has the right number of employees at any point in time. ( 2009, p4)These definitions are in the process of determining the importance HR planning has on any given organisation. HR planning is going to be looked at in several subheadings that befit the study as follows: 2.1 Importance of Human Resource (HR) Planning For the purposes of the study, one can use one definition. This definition is given by Vijayaragavan and Singh and it goes; ‘HR planning is that process of making an organisational plan for the needs in future as far as personnel is concerned, their preferred skills, employees’ recruitment and the development of that personnel.’ (Vijayaragavan and Singh, 2011) HR planning is essential in organizations for two major reasons; alignment & change. Due to the impact globalisation, any company seeking to expand beyond the boundaries of a given nation has to come up with ways on how to remain competitive globally. An entity has to change its corporate culture and strategy. Restructuring of business operations has relations to competencies and behaviours of the personnel the organisation possesses. Therefore, to motivate and give support to the organisational behaviour that is required the HR practices and policies have to be changed. This is only possible through HR planning. The HR Management is also needed in the process of strategically aligning an organisation. To this, there are two types of alignment; Vertical alignment- this is evident where the system of HR Management can fit with the entire elements of the organization. That is, strategy, culture, and technology among others. Horizontal alignment- this is in existence where the HR Management practices and HR policies are in consistence with each other. Thus, there is coherence on the messages concerning how employees should carry themselves at work. (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2011 pp112,113) 2.2 Stages in HR Planning Requirements As an organisation grows, there arises a need to bring in new employees. This is because of the anticipated future growth. Here HR planning is needed for the accomplishment of this purpose. It is vital to note that HR planning happens in several steps. There are four major stages in HR planning and these are as follows: Preparation of a forecast- At this stage, there is the anticipation of the number of employees that are needed in the future. This step usually favors the firms which have been in business for a while since they can reasonably forecast their future needs based on their past trends as far as Human Resources are concerned. HR Inventory Development- This step is usually an easy task for numerous businesses. This involves the determination of the number of employees that the company needs in future, taking in to account the employees already working in the organization. A Job Analysis Development- This is considered as the hardest step in HR planning process. This is hard especially because it involves a process of deciding what is to be done and by which employee even though the employees are yet to be hired. A Comprehensive Plan Preparation- This is the most time consuming of the steps, but the most vital. This is, fundamentally the step of determining how to successfully bring in the new employees in the organization. (morebusiness.com, 2006) 2.3 Recruitment and Selection Process in two organisations (Comparison) For the purposes of this part of employee recruitment and selection process, two organisations, which have business operations in the UK, are going to be looked at. These are Sainsbury’s and Tesco, which operate super market operations in the UK. Sainsbury’s plc HR planning identifies staffing needs Identify a vacancy Draw up the person specification and job description Advertise this post both externally and internally shortlist candidates by way of application letters, application forms and CVs plan and at the same time run the procedures of selection applying test interviews if there is not candidate befitting position, re-advertise (coursework.info, 2004) Note that since October 2004, the recruitment process in Sainsbury’s was done online. (personneltoday.com, 2005) Tesco plc HR planning department identifies a vacancy Vacancies are advertised on the website of Tesco or other media screening of the CVs of the applicants Successful candidates are invited for interviewing successful candidates attend the centre of assessment successful candidates are invited to attend second interviews an offer letter is sent to successful candidates (thetimes100.co.uk, 2011) 4.1 Reasons for Employment Cessation An employment cessation occurs in a scenario where an employer dismisses one or more employees who have been active. (uk.practicallaw.com, 2011) There are various reasons for cessation of employment. Termination and Cessation are matters that relate to the HR department of any given organisation. Usually, there are several grounds that can lead to an employment termination or cessation and these may include; Resignation- This refers to the process of voluntarily giving up a job. Thus, resignation is that formal pronouncement of one’s office. A resignation must be done with an intent of pronouncing one’s office and it must as well be followed by the act of pronouncing that office. Failure of qualification- In organisations which employ a probationary process while recruiting, an employee may fail the set trials to qualify for a permanent basis of employment. Failure of qualification refers to such. During the probation an employee, who is bound by that probation, is observed for a stated period of time so as to make a determination whether that employee may be taken up for the employment on a permanent basis in line with his/her qualifications. Contract expiration- This is that scenario where an employment is for a defined period. Upon expiration of that defined period of employment and after the completion, by an employee, of what he/she was hired for, then there is termination of employment. Also, this may happen where a given project is over, (that is, for which the contracting of the employee was done). Termination due to Just cause- Just causes that can lead to termination of employment may include such causes as fraud, habitual or gross neglect by that employee in question, and crime commission among others. Such causes may be those that relate to a willful disobedience or misconduct by an employee, which leads to law braking as far as the orders of an employer are concerned or other authorised employer’s representatives. Authorised cause termination- This is where an employee’s services may no longer be required due to a retrenchment, redundancy and installation of labour-saving devices. In this case, there has to be a written notice by the employer to the employees for at least once. In the case of labour-saving devices installation or redundancy, the notice should be done a month prior to the date intended. Such an employee whose employment has been terminated is entitled to a pay for separation, which is equivalent to a month’s pay or just a month’s pay per year of service, whichever is bigger. In the case of retrenchment, the pay for separation shall be equal to a month’s salary or just a half month’s pay per year of service, whichever is bigger. Violation of an employer’s code of conduct- There may also be a termination emanating from a company’s code of conduct violation by an employee. Here, a due process has to be followed while terminating employees. Two aspects are seen under this process and these include; the procedural and the substantive. The procedural process requires; a notice written to the employee concerned stating termination grounds, a hearing while the concerned employee presents evidence and a written notice served to the employee with regards to termination and it should state termination grounds. The substantive process refers to the termination with the grounds of termination stated. (pinoy-business.com, 2011) 4.2 Cessation Procedures in two organisations (Comparison) The companies aforementioned under section 2.3 of this study are going to be reconsidered while handling the procedures followed by companies in the process of cessation and termination of employment. Tesco plc Tesco Holdings in UK follow the termination procedures of the Employment Rights Act of 1996 and the Employment Act of 2002. This is not to say that Tesco has not been in the limelight due to Termination court cases like Tesco (Holdings) v Hill of 1977. (oup.com, 2011) Sainsbury’s plc Also Sainsbury’s plc follows the termination procedures of the Employment Rights Act of 1996 and the Employment Act of 2002. A case about termination of employment, at hand, with regards to Sainsbury’s is J Sainsbury plc v. Hitt of 2002. (beep.com, 2011) 4.3 Rules and Regulations of Employment Cessation Termination of employment is contained in the Employment Rights Act of 1996. Majorly, the rights of an employer and those of an employee are mentioned in Section 86 as far as a notice is concerned. An employer, in case he/she is to terminate an employment contract of an employee and that employee has been in a continuous employment for a month or more with that employer, the employer MUST give a notice of not less than a week (if period of employment is below two years), a notice of not less than one week (if less than twelve years’ employment) and notice of not less than three months (if twelve years and above employment). Section 87 states the equivalent rights of an employee and these are expounded in sections 88 to 91. That is, in line with the period of notice. Sections 92 and 93 of the same Act are also concerned with termination of employment. Section 88 refers to employments with normal hours of working. In a situation where an employee is required by the contract to have normal hours of working in an employment at the point in time he/she the notice is issued; the employee is not capable of working due to illness or injury, the employee is in readiness and is willing to work but does not get work from the employer, she does not show up or partially shows up for work due to childbirth or pregnancy or any other absenteeism in line with the employment terms, then, the employer is to pay the employee for that portion of normal hours of working. Section 89 talks about an employment without normal hours of working, as specified by the employment contract at the point in time the notice is served. Then, an employer is supposed to pay a week’s worth salary to the affected employee. This is among other specifications put across by this section. Section 90 states the guidelines of the benefit of short-term incapacity as well as the benefit associated with industrial injury. Section 91 is about a supplementary, which is the case where an employer may not be under obligation under sections 88&89 to make payments with regards to the period that the employee is away from work and where the leave from work was requested for by the employee. Section 92 talks, in detail, about the requirement for a written statement with regards to dismissal and the reasons associated with that dismissal. Section 93 is about the complaints that an employer can present to a tribunal set up for employment reasons. (legislation.gov.uk, 2011) Conclusion While concluding this study, it is of great essence to mention the main fields under Human Resource. These fields are; HR (Human Resource) and HRM (Human Resource Management). These fields came to replace the expression, ‘personnel management’ and it is a description of those processes an organisation involves in while managing persons in that organisation. (Armstrong, 2006 p3) The study is about a field related to HR, known as HR planning. As mentioned earlier in the study, it is defined as, ‘HR planning is that process of making an organisational plan for the needs in future as far as personnel is concerned, their preferred skills, employees’ recruitment and the development of that personnel.’ This topic has been tackled under several sub-headings. These sub-headings are; Importance of Human Resource (HR) Planning, Stages in HR Planning Requirements, Recruitment and Selection Process in two organisations (Comparison), Reasons for Employment Cessation, Cessation Procedures in two organisations (Comparison) and Rules and Regulations of Employment Cessation. This is while trying to tackle the issue of HR planning, which is the main aim of this study. Reference list: Armstrong, Michael. (2006). A handbook of human resource management practice. Edition 10, illustrated. Kogan Page Publishers. p3. beep.com. (2011). The range of reasonable responses – is Hitt the end of the story? Accessed 25 November 2011 http://darrensylvester.beep.com/files/iclrarticle-rangeofreasonableresponses.pdf coursework.info. (2004). Recruitment and selection for Sainsbury's. Accessed 25 November 2011 http://www.coursework.info/GCSE/Business_Studies/People_in_Business/Recruitment_a ndselection_for_Sainsbury_L65294.html Jackson, Susan E., Schuler, Randall and Werner, S. Steve. (2011). Managing Human Resources. Edition 11. Cengage Learning. pp112, 113. legislation.gov.uk. (2011). Termination Of Employment. Accessed 25 November 2011 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/IX morebusiness.com. (2006). Human Resource Planning Steps in Your Business Plan. Accessed 25 November 2011 http://www.morebusiness.com/running_your_business/businessbits/ah_hrbusplan.brc Nankervis, Alan, Compton, Robert and Morrissey, Bill. (2009). Effective Recruitement and Selection Practices, 5th ed. CCH Australia Limited. p4. oup.com. (2011). Unfair Dismissal. Accessed 25 November http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199565542/smith10e_ch07.pdf personneltoday.com. (2005). Sainsbury's goes online to cut recruitment bill by ?4m a year. Accessed 25 November 2011 http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2005/11/30/32763/sainsburys-goes-online-to- cut-recruitment-bill-by-4m-a.html pinoy-business.com. (2011). HR Series: Cessation of Employment. Accessed 25 November 2011 http://pinoy-business.com/hr-labor-and-office/110 thetimes100.co.uk. (2011). Recruitment and Selection at Tesco. Accessed 25 November 2011 http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/downloads/tesco/tesco_13_full.pdf uk.practicallaw.com. (2011). Employment-cessation event. Accessed 25 November 2011 http://uk.practicallaw.com/4-502-1665?source=relatedcontent Vijayaragavan, K and Singh. Y.P. (2011). Managing human resources within extension. Retrieved 25 November 2011 http://www.fao.org/docrep/W5830E/w5830e0g.htm Read More