Human Resources Management Functions of Coca-Cola - Case Study Example

Introduction The essay focuses on the human resource management principles and practices followed within the United Kingdom. It also emphasizes on the management of recruitment, retention and employment termination policies followed by an organisation. Coca-Cola is a reputed beverage company in the United Kingdom and the study would analyse the human resource management processes and functions of it. Task 1 Difference between Personnel Management and HR Management Approaches Personnel Management Human Resource Management It is more of a traditional approach of employee management. It emphasizes on employee administration, employee benefits and labour relations. Employees are considered as input for attaining the desired output. They are personnel management functions employed for job satisfaction of an individual employee. Training and development programs are given less importance. Decision making authority is the top management as per the policies of the organization. Deals with personnel manager and has routine functions. It is a modern approach of employee management and analyzing their value to the organization. Emphasizes on employee recruitment, motivation, training and retention. Believes employees as precious, significant and primary resource for attaining desired output. They are managerial functions undertaken for target achievement. More importance on development and training programs. Various factors are considered for decision making such as personnel participation, delegation of work, competitive environment. Deals with higher to lower level managers and has strategic functions. HRM Functions of Coca-Cola Recruitment and Selection: It is a process of finding and selecting the suitable candidates to fill in the job vacancies in an organization. A company must have a well defined human resource policy towards recruitment and staffing in order to select the best candidate for the organization (R.A. Noe, et.al, Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage Boston, McGraw-Hill, 2006). HR Skills Training: Job related skill development programs and education is important to be conducted on the employees to enhance and improve their knowledge and work skills. In order to execute tasks and assignments in an efficient manner, employees must achieve behavioural competencies. The training and development program helps employees to gain motivation and efficiently contribute to quality performance at a lower operational cost which leads to higher employee satisfaction and retention (M. Armstrong and S.Taylor, Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice UK: Kogan Page Publishers, 2014). Remuneration: It refers to the compensation granted to the employees in return of the amount of output given by them during work performance and target achievement. These compensations are the salaries, wages, bonuses, benefits and perquisites in terms of cash and kind given to the employees. Performance appraisal: It is the assessment of the employee’s work performance and further leads to motivation enhancement towards work. Improving Working Lives: Improvement of work culture and organizational environment leads to greater employee satisfaction where the company benefits through achieving higher productivity. Employee Relations: This HRM function leads to better employee relation with the organization and the employer. This leads to motivation and maintenance of employee morale leading to higher productivity. Problem solving and following a specific organizational code of conduct are part of employee relationship maintenance (M. Armstrong and S.Taylor, Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice UK: Kogan Page Publishers, 2014). HRM Responsibilities of Line Managers in the Organization, Coca-Cola Line managers have accountability for directly managing and supervising an employee or a team. They are answerable to the higher management authority on the employee performance and their well-being. The front line managers are also referred to as the line managers and have a supervisory role. They can also be team leaders and are appointed internally by the management, as well as they are represented as the lower layer of the management hierarchy (J. Storey, New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals) London, Routledge, 2014). The roles and responsibilities performed by the line managers of Coca-Cola are as follows: Everyday employee management. Measuring and managing operational performance and costs. Providing efficient technical assistance. Assigning work to the employees. Examining and scrutinizing work done by the employees and checking their performance quality. Dealing with customers and clients relationships. Determining performance related pay structures Ensuring employees follow the organization’s code of conduct policies. Participates in employee engagement, motivation and performance appraisal. The relation between the line managers and HR functions of the organisation are fast changing. The line managers have taken up the responsibilities of recruiting and staffing in the organisation. The HR objectives setting, planning, training of the employees has now been shifted from the HR to the responsibilities of the line managers. On the other hand, the personnel management policies and individualisation of the employment relationship and opened new opportunities, avenue for the line managers (J. Bratton, and J. Gold, Human resource management: theory and practice UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). Impact of UK Legal and Regulatory Framework on HRM Procedures of Coca-Cola There are major impacts of UK legal and regulatory framework on the HRM practices of the organization leading to equal opportunity to employment for all the employees protecting them from unfair discrimination in the organization or work place. The compensation policies are revised by fixing specific working hours and on exceeding the hours of work would lead to extra payment or overtime compensation to the employees. Sexual discrimination is prohibited subjecting to equal payment for both men and women. The employees in the UK are more dependent on trade unions and have the power to appoint them. The trade unions delegate authority and speak on behalf of the employees for feedbacks and grievance redresses. These policies protect the employees of the organization from social dumping (J. Bratton, and J. Gold, Human resource management: theory and practice UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). Task 2 Reasons for Human Resource Planning The rationales of planning for human resources in the organisation are as follows: The analysis for future availability of man power to accomplish the organisational need. In order to cope up with the macro environmental changes in the organization, the HR planning is necessary. For the recruitment of the suitable candidate for the organisation. The HR planning recognizes the expertise required in the different job levels. It helps in building up the organizational framework for employee management. Helps in setting training and development frameworks for enhancing skills and knowledge of the employees for effective and proficient work performance. For proper utilization of the man power and to cope up with uncertainties in the organization. Stages Involved in the Human Resource Planning Process and Its Importance Figure 1 and figure 2 below shows the phases of HRM procedure and the human resource planning process for Coca-Cola. The diagrams are self explanatory and deals with the various stages which leads to an effective HRM structure for Coca-Cola. Figure 1: Stages of HRM process (Source: J. Bratton, and J. Gold, Human resource management: theory and practice UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) Figure 2: Stages of HR planning process (Source: J. Bratton, and J. Gold, Human resource management: theory and practice UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) The company gives huge importance to the employee working condition; hence, employee satisfaction is their core objective. In order to have content employee base, giving the desired performance output and achieving the goals of the company, a well planned HR process is very important. Therefore, the importance of the processes is as follows: HR planning helps Coca-Cola to achieve its manpower requirement in a desired period. Helps in reducing labour cost by balancing the demand and supply of human resource. Can avoid unfavourable work situation like man power deficiency leading to production loss. The HR planning process of Coca-Cola leads to development of training and inductions programs by analyzing the skill set of the employees and future scope of improvement. It helps in succession planning for employees and managers which leads to performance appraisals and promotions. The planning process helps the company to structure the bonus, incentives, perquisites and fringe benefit plans offered to the employees leading to higher motivation. Helps to avoid resistance to change. The HR planning process helps in analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the employees thereby improving their performance through proper training. Helps Coca-Cola solve conflicts among its employees as well as enhance work coordination and team work among them. Comparison of Recruitment and Selection Processes of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Coca-Cola recruitment process emphasizes on internal recruitment process through employee referrals, job postings in company bulletins. PepsiCo emphasizes on job posting in company websites and external recruitment processes like advertisements in newspaper, job portals and on-campus recruiting from institutions (A.A. Lado and M.C. Wilson, Human Resource Systems and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Competency-Based Perspective, Academy of Management Review, vol. 19, no., 4, 1994, pp. 699–727). Coca-cola, for balancing employee hiring needs, maintains talent banks for internal recruitment and they externally hire during sudden emergency. PepsiCo on the other hand advertises job descriptions and job specifications through media advertisements, e- recruitment, executive search firms, campus recruitment and summer internships. Coca-Cola follows the process of forecasting where they have the provision of collecting resumes of the candidates for future recruitment through their company website and calls them for interview during manpower need of the company. Whereas PepsiCo estimates the company’s human resource need and then advertises their job vacancies for prior mentioned positions (A.A. Lado and M.C. Wilson, Human Resource Systems and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Competency-Based Perspective, Academy of Management Review, vol. 19, no., 4, 1994, pp. 699–727). The selection processes of Coca-Cola are through Group exercises, interviews, Psychometric tests, Presentations, Role plays/Situational Exercises. PepsiCo mainly depends on interviews, case study exercises, personality test and group discussion. Recommendation Coca-cola should give more importance to external recruitment processes as depending only on internal recruitment processes may lead to insufficient supply of candidates, obstruct the applications from diversity of candidates who can be approached through media and e-recruitment processes around the country. It may lead to biased referrals from existing employees who would only refer friends and family. Coca-Cola should resort to personality test and case study exercises for their selection process as this would help them recruit the suitable candidates for their company by analyzing their behavioural traits which would enhance the company’s productivity. The company should concentrate on present employment need rather than forecasting future manpower needs as it would save time, money and lead to better assessment of employees. Task 3 Reward Systems of Coca-Cola The reward systems of Coca-cola are divided into the intrinsic and the extrinsic rewards. Direct compensation and the indirect compensation come under the extrinsic reward system which deals with financial remuneration. Under the direct compensation comes the basis wage, bonuses, group incentives, commission, profit sharing and stock option, whereas, the indirect compensations deals with the employee purchased services and benefits. Medical benefits for children, gym, leaves, pensions, transport facilities, superannuation all come under indirect compensation. Intrinsic rewards are the non financial rewards like recognition, promotions, holiday leaves, gifts or coupons for expensive goods or employee membership in restaurants, clubs etc (G.R. Ferris, et.al., Human Resource Management: Some new directions, Journal of Management, vol. 25, 1999, pp. 385-415). These reward systems are structured and planned as per the Maslow’s theories of motivation. The extrinsic rewards satisfy the physiological, safety and social needs of the employees, whereas, the intrinsic rewards are based on the employee’s esteem and self-actualization needs. The non financial rewards instil a feeling of prestige and accomplishment among the employees, whereas, the financial rewards assures food, safety, shelter, security and social bonding within the society. Process of Job Evaluation and Other Factors Determining the Pay The four methods of job evaluations are Ranking or Job Comparison, Grading or Job Classification, Point Rating and Factor Comparison. Ranking is a method of job comparison where the job is ranked on the basis of the responsibilities and duties involved with the job. Grading is also known as the classification method where a group of different jobs with similar functions, skills and difficulties are graded on the basis of job analysis through which the compensation and the remunerations are planned. Point rating is the assignment of points on job factors like skills, training, knowledge and responsibilities based on which the pay is decided. Finally, factor comparison is the combination of two methods which are ranking and point rating (D.E. Guest, Human resource management and performance: still searching for some answers, Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 21, no., 1, 2011, pp. 3-13).Other factors determining pay are education, experience, intricacies of duties, working conditions, responsibilities and difficulty level of the job assigned to the employee. Methods Used By Coca-Cola to Monitor the Performance of Employees Graphic Rating Scales: It is the most effective method used by Coca-Cola to measure employee performance. It is a grading method used on employee’s work procedures, skills, techniques, level of production output; work processes (L. S. Kleiman, Human Resource Management: A Managerial Tool for Competitive Advantage Cincinnati, South-Western College Publishing, 2000). 360-Degree Feedback: This is another method used by the company where an overall feedback is taken from other employees about the employee whose work is being assessed (M. Malcolm, and F. Whiting, Human resource practice, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2013). Management by Objectives: In this method, the assessment is made on the basis of the alignment of the individual goal of an employee to the company’s goal. Therefore, the amount of target achieved by the employee leading to attainment of the company’s vision is assessed to evaluate the employee performance (L. S. Kleiman, Human Resource Management: A Managerial Tool for Competitive Advantage Cincinnati, South-Western College Publishing, 2000). Task 4 Reasons for Leaving the Organization The main reasons for resigning from an organization can be lack of job satisfaction and looking for job change. Other motives can be adverse effect on health, creating stress, no future advancement or no scope for growth, lack of skill development, no job security, unsatisfactory reimbursement and reward policies (G. Dessler, Human Resource Management. Englewood Cliffs NJ, Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2004). Exit Procedures Used by Coca-Cola and Cadbury The procedures for employee resignation or termination are almost same for the companies, Coca-Cola and Cadbury. The process initiates with a resignation letter where the employee mentions his intention of resigning and the date of resigning after serving a notice period. Then the exit interview takes place where the company’s CEO or supervisor holds a meeting with the employee to gather information on his experience with the organisation, any grievance redresses and feedbacks for areas of improvement for the company. The employee is provided with written reference on his contribution towards the organization and is provided with his experience letter. The properties of the organisation like laptop, mobile phone which were given to the employee for job purpose are taken back and a clearance letter is provided to him (G. Dessler, Human Resource Management. Englewood Cliffs NJ, Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2004). Impact of the Legal and Regulatory Framework on Employment Cessation Arrangements The UK government has protected employees under the unfair dismissal protection policies where an employee working for more than a year in an organisation should be provided a fair reason to terminate them from the present organisation. There are exceptions in the termination policies exceeding one year of employment in case of pregnancy of an employee or trade union membership. The reasons for employee dismissal by an organisation are inappropriate conduct by the employee such as theft, violation of company policies, underperformance, redundancy, retirement, downsizing and organisational restructuring (L. S. Kleiman, Human Resource Management: A Managerial Tool for Competitive Advantage Cincinnati, South-Western College Publishing, 2000). Conclusion The overall discussion of the study analyses the Human Resource Management functions of Coca-Cola and the responsibilities executed by its line managers in terms of HRM. It also estimates the impact of the UK legal and regulatory framework on HRM procedures of Coca-Cola and the reasons for human resource planning, its significance and stages involved in planning. The study compared the recruitment and selection procedures of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. The analysis evaluated the impact of legal and regulatory framework on employment cessation arrangements, exit procedures used by Coca-Cola and Cadbury, Methods used by Coca-Cola to monitor the employee performances, the process of job evaluation and the reward system existing in the company. Reference List Armstrong, M, and Taylor, S., Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice, UK, Kogan Page Publishers, 2014. Bratton, J. and Gold, J., Human resource management: theory and practice, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Dessler, G., Human Resource Management. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2004. Ferris, G.R., Hochwarter, W.A., Buckley, M.R., Harrell-Cook, G. and Frink, D.D., Human Resource Management: Some new directions, Journal of Management, vol. 25, 1999, pp. 385-415. Guest, D. E., Human resource management and performance: still searching for some answers, Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 21, no., 1, 2011, pp. 3-13. Kleiman, L. S., Human Resource Management: A Managerial Tool for Competitive Advantage, Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing, 2000. Lado, A.A. and Wilson,M.C., Human Resource Systems and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Competency-Based Perspective, Academy of Management Review, vol. 19, no., 4, 1994, pp. 699–727. Malcolm, M. and Whiting, F., Human resource practice, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2013. Noe, R. A., et al., Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage, Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Storey, J., New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), London: Routledge, 2014. Read More