This document discusses various aspects of human resource management including different perspectives on HRM, developing flexibility in the workplace, equal opportunities, and approaches to HR practices. It provides details on Guest's model of HRM and how Unilever implements strategies aligned with this model. Types of flexibility for organizations are described, including external numerical, temporal, functional, and financial flexibility. The impacts of equal opportunities legislation and managing diversity versus equal opportunities are also summarized. Different methods of performance management and evaluating employee welfare are compared. Finally, the implications of health and safety legislation and how topical issues influence HR practices are outlined.

1. An
Assignment on
Managing Human Resource
Submitted by:
Name:
Id:
Submitted to:
Date of Submission:
i

2. Table of content:
Contents
page
Executive Summary:
iii
Task- 1Different perspective of Human resource management
1.1 Guest’s model of HRM:
4
1.2 Difference between Story’s definition on HRM, personnel and industrial relations:
5
1.3 Developing a strategic approach to HRM and impact of line managers and 5
employees:
Task- 2Developing flexibility within workplace
2.1 Flexibility model in practice:
6
2.2 Types of flexibility for organizations:
6
2.3 Flexible working practices from employer and employee perspective:
7
2.4 Impact of changes in labor market on flexible working practice:
8
Task- 3Impact of equal opportunities in workplace
3.1 Discrimination in workplace:
8
3.2 Implication of equal opportunity legislation for organization:
9
3.3 Differences between managing equal opportunity and diversity:
10
Task- 4Approaches to human resource practices
4.1 Comparing methods of performance management:
11
4.2 Evaluation of employee welfare management:
11
4.3 Implication of health and safety legislation on HR:
12
4.4 Impact of topical issue on HR practices:
13
References:
14
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3. Executive Summary:
Human resource management involves the activities of employers which includes
management, motivation, development and maintenance of personnel. HRM is the most
crucial part of an organization because every sector of an organization has to emphasize on
HRM activity for their recruitment and personnel management. It includes some basic
activities like recruitment process and structure, selection criteria, performance improvement,
rewarding and safety maintenance. Employers provide flexibility on various aspects of work
environment to the employees, maintain safety issues, minimize discrimination, and provide
benefit for motivation and to build employee commitment. To increase the attractiveness of
the firm to the labor market, employers practice HR activities inside the firm to recruit and
retain skilled and proficient workers. In a successful HR policy workers are provided with
equal opportunities irrespective of their gender, age or any other variances. Changes and
demography in labor market have forced the HR managers to reshape the HR policies and
approaches from time to time.
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4. Task- 1
Different perspective of Human resource management
1.1 Guest’s model of HRM:
David Guest (1997) developed a human resource model which is considered as a superior
model compared to other models.The model states that the HR managers can begin with
different strategies which requires certain practices and results in certain outcomes. Model
includes six sequential components-
- HR strategies.
- HR practices.
- HR outcomes.
- Behavioral outcomes.
- Performance result.
- Financial consequences.
Unilever is one of the largest multinational companies of consumer goods producers. Their
mission is to gain a sustainable growth, double their profit and halve their environmental
impact. The implication of Guest’s model in the HR strategy of Unilever is given belowUnilever set HR strategies complying with the firm’s core policy and mission.
Organized and settled workers in the supply chain, gender-friendly working environment,
employee commitment, equal rights, and compliance with the child labor policy.
As a result employees are motivated, more action-oriented and satisfied in the workplace.
Employee performance upgraded and performance conforms to the core business value and
objectives.
Employee engagement, relation and customer orientation resulted in positive financial
outcome with increased profit, customer share and market share.
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5. 1.2 Difference between Story’s definition on HRM, personnel and industrial
relations:
HRM
Personnel management
It’s
Definition: It is concerned with Definition:
the development and application administrative
of human resources including which
Industrial relations
an Definition: Relationship and
function interaction
focuses
between
the
on management, employee and
staffs, top management, customer, maintaining efficiency in the government.
suppliers and ensures superiority, personnel job.
motivation and commitment to
achieve organizational goal.
Unilever
performs
health
& Unilever provides training, It covers all broad areas of
hygiene programs for customers, experience, guideline and HRM, labor-union relation
consult with suppliers and experts maintain
for
efficient
and
employee and employee relation.
sustainable performance records for the
supply-chain relationship.
development of personnel.
1.3 Developing a strategic approach to HRM and impact of line managers
and employees:
Human resource management is a complete set of selecting, recruiting, training and
developing the human assets at different organizational level. To cope up with the changing
environment HR managers of Unilever focuses on selecting and developing perfect and
talented candidates to ensure performance that will value the corporate culture and diversity.
The HR line managers possess huge responsibilities in performing HR activities in the
changing internal and external environment. The following strategy can be very helpful for
the line managers and employees of Unilevera. Create desire: The HR department need to create a desire and feeling of importance
of HR activities for line managers. For the effective and practical attempt to
implement HR practices in work floor, they need to have the desire of practicing HR
activities.
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6. b. Develop capacity:Line managers have to bear short term and other responsibilities
which hinder their HR capacity. Their HR capacity needs to be emphasized with their
operational tasks for the successful implementation.
c. Develop competency:More training programs can be arranged to develop their HR
skills and competencies which will motivate them in performing HR activity.
d. Provide support:Support from the HR professionals of HR department is necessary
and can be very helpful for the line managers in implementing the HR responsibility.
e. HR responsibility:The more and clear HR responsibilities, policies, necessities and
rules will assist the line managers and staffs to understand the HR context.
Task- 2
Developing flexibility within workplace
2.1 Flexibility model in practice:
Atkinson’s core and peripheral workforce model: This flexibility model shows that
balance between the core and peripheral workforce changes due to the uses of peripheral
workforce among managers. The employers with appropriate core-periphery workforce
strategy don’t use peripheral workers disproportionately.
Core workforce: Workers of this segment are highly skilled, permanent and receives high
job security. This part of the organization can be described by functional form of flexibility.
(Atkinson, 1984; Wood, 1989; Hakim, 1987). Core workers are also known as high
commitment management by Guest (1987).
Peripheral workforce: Workforce from this section of an organization is related with the
numerical development flexibility of an organization. These workers are involved with
important but not essential tasks (e.g. daily transaction).
2.2 Types of flexibility for organizations:
Flexibility in workplace means how quickly the workforce can adjust to changes and
fluctuations in demand and supply of labor market. Atkinson defined the most appropriate
flexibility pattern in workplace. According to Atkinson four strategies can be used for
bringing equilibrium flexibility in workforce of Unilever.
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7. a. External numerical flexibility: It means the adjustment of labor inflow from the
external market. It consists the activities like hiring temporary workers, fixed-term
based contract, Relaxation of Employment security legislations to fire permanent
workers as organizational need.
b. Temporal flexibility: Temporal flexibility includes adjustment of working schedule,
working shifts, flexi time, overtime of currently working employees.
c. Functional flexibility:It includes the shifting of workers from one activity to other
activities and responsibilities within the organization. It deals with the training of
workers and outsourcing of activities.
d. Financial flexibility:This flexibility means more variation in wage level from
individual to individual but not fixed collectively. Financial flexibility can be attained
by evaluation based payment, performance based payment.
Locational flexibility: This is another type of flexibility which can be achieved by
working of employees outside of usual workplace.
2.3 Flexible working practices from employer and employee perspective:
From both the employer and employee viewpoint there are some flexibility practices that are
commonly used in workplace.
- Part-time: Workers work fewer hours than full-time workers usually 30-35 hours per week.
- Teleworking: The workers don’t attend to the working place and perform his/her work
from home or somewhere outside through mobile telecommunication.
- Zero hour contract: This is an on-call arrangement between employers and employees
where no working time is specified. Employee can accept work or not when a work is
available and vice-versa employer can offer work or not and payment is made based on hours
worked.
- Job sharing: In this type of flexibility two workers share a task on shared or part time
basis. Per employee compensation is reduced through job sharing.
- Compressed hours:Allows employees to work total fixed weekly hours in less than 5 days
to enjoy a full day off every week.
- Staggered hours: A flexibility working system where employees don’t arrive or leave the
working place at the same time but create a large overlapping period.
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8. 2.4 Impact of changes in labor market on flexible working practice:
For economic, social and environmental factors and changes labor market is changing
frequently. To achieve organizational strategic goal, a firm need to confirm that they hire
employees with matching skills, competency for appropriate position. Due to the changes in
supply and demand curve in labor market, workplace flexibility needs to be adjusted.
Demography in labor market: Demographic trend has been shaping the labor market
components supply and demand over a long period of time. Falling birthrates decreases the
new labor supply in the market. Lengthening life expectation increases the older worker
supply working after retirement. Increase in women participation in workplace has changed
the gender ratio and workplace environment and policies. Such demographic changes are
changing the flexibility approaches in workplace. Diverse workforce and their changing
demographic condition needs different flexibility approaches for achieving strategic goal.
Task- 3
Impact of equal opportunities in workplace
3.1 Discrimination in workplace:
Discrimination in operation and occupation can be of different forms in work environment.
According to ILO (International Labor Organization) discriminations occurs because of
individual characteristics, race, gender, age, background which hinder equal opportunities in
workplace. If organization faces discrimination at workplace, skill and competency
development is restricted, workers are humiliated, demotivated, their performance drops and
in turn organization fails to reach its strategic goal and HRM objective.
- Discrimination of age:Employees of different age range are discriminated in their
opportunities, promotion and responsibilities. Organization must need to provide a window of
equal opportunity of promotion, reward, responsibility to the employees from seniors to
juniors in their respective position.
- Discrimination of gender: Organization faces discrimination of gender as women are
neglected in the workplace and male counterparts get more opportunities, dignity and
superiority. This situation demotivates the women in participating in social and economic
development. Organization need to provide equal right and opportunity to women as they can
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9. participate more in workplaces and motivate them through promotion, reward and
responsibility equal to their male counterpart.
- Discrimination of religion:Employees from different religious background face
discrimination in their job environment. For example, as Bangladesh is a Muslim majority
country, Hindu religious people might find it difficult to match with organizational culture,
behavior and firm itself might discriminate them as they are from the minority group.
Corporate cultures, behavior and policies should restrict the religious point of view to provide
them with flexibility and equal responsibility.
- Discrimination of background: People come from different family and educational
backgrounds. Most of the cases managers discriminate personnel according to their family
and educational history and achievements. And for this people from specific educational
background and family legacy get more benefits in workplace than others. People should be
equally treated according to their talent and skills not by their background.
- Discrimination of disability:Disable persons often treated as those with less capabilities
and skills and thus they are neglected in the selection and recruitment process. But people
with any sort of disabilities can capably perform specific essential functions. Their
disabilities should not be a concern during the recruitment and they must be equally evaluated
for the job requirement.
3.2 Implication of equal opportunity legislation for organization:
To treat the personnel equally and minimize the range of discrimination in the workplace,
organizations develop and follow equal opportunity legislations. Staff’s right is protected in
all parts of HR and operational activities including recruitment, job condition, reward,
promotion, benefits, transfer and benefits after the job termination. Discrimination in
workplace can be direct or indirect types.
Direct: Discriminated individuals are treated less favorably than other employees with
favorable background, characteristics.
Indirect: All the employees are given equal benefits and practices but which might be very
difficult or impossible to comply with for some individuals with specific characteristics.
9

10. To bring and foster equality in workplace in all aspect of organizational structures a firm
need to comply with equal opportunities for all employees-
Eliminate harassment or any kind of unlawful acts.
-
Adjusted opportunities to facilitate those who don’t have certain characteristics.
-
Help in building good relation between the people who possess favorable
characteristics and persons who don’t.
-
Equal salary, promotional opportunities.
-
Abide by the legislation act in workplace.
3.3 Differences between managing equal opportunity and diversity:
Managing diversity is a paradigm which is a development of equal opportunity approach.
Equal opportunity is provided to manage the discriminations. An organization is benefitted
with the diversified workforce but they need to put extra effort to manage those diversity.
Aspects
Managing equal opportunity
Managing diversity
Driver factors
External
Internal
Mainly concerned with
Process
Outcome
Approach structure
Operational
Strategic
Situation is considered as
A problem to be solved
Assets or beneficial
Focuses on
Group discrimination
Individual differences
Knowledge base
Narrower
Wider
Suggested effort
Assimilation
Mainstream adaptation
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11. Task- 4
Approaches to human resource practices.
4.1 Comparing methods of performance management:
A firm needs to manage the performance of its employees to make necessary adjustments
through performance evaluation. Different types of appraisal methods are used for the
assessment of performance. The methods of appraisal that can be used in evaluating quality
and quantity of performance are given below:
MBO: Performance is ranked based on the achievement of organizational objective
through performance. Performance standard is set and actual performance is
compared with it to set new strategies and other adjustments.
Psychological appraisal:This method is used to assess the potentialities and
knowledge for future performances. Psychological appraisal is applied by
psychological test, knowledge depth interview and other in-depth evaluations. This
appraisal is used to assess the motivational and emotional factors and characteristics
which might affect their performance and output.
Assessment centers:Managers join in assessment centers to partake in job associated
exercise which are then assessed by trainers. Through exercises like simulated work
scenario, group task, decision making tasks, the communication ability, planning
capability, group leadership quality, creativity, vulnerability, tolerance level etc. are
judged. This method is more reliable and valid to assess the future scenario of
performance and necessities than the other assessment techniques.
360 degree feedback:In this method evaluation is driven from the supervisors,
customers, team-members and own-self. This method is very helpful to get multiple
assessment, more self-development and appropriate feedback.
4.2 Evaluation of employee welfare management:
Employee welfare management includes activities that facilitates worker life and make their
lives worth living for. Managers need to provide services, benefits, motivation, security,
medical facilities and cultural programs to retain the workforce for a long period. The
motives of organization behind the employee welfare are as follows:
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12. To provide healthy work environment.
To achieve stable labor force and cut labor turnover.
To increase job attraction for more effective recruitment.
To gain more productivity and positive employee relation and this aids co-operation.
To defend against trade unions and labor unions.
Employee welfare practiced should be evaluated time to time to calculate the financial
benefits and costs. Welfare managers need to evaluate certain criteria of welfare
managementDetermining if the activities satisfy the actual needs of employees.
Services and benefits should be adjusted complying with the individual heterogeneity.
This customization of services is also known as cafeteria approach.
The cost of benefits should be rational and feasible and the financing system should
be well-established.
Periodical assessment will justify the success of the activities based on the feedback.
4.3 Implication of health and safety legislation on HR:
Health and safety law regulates the health and safety standard to be maintained in the
workplace. It aims to avert injuries, accidents at workplace, violence and other workplace
safety issues. This is a responsibility of managers, supervisors and employees to successfully
abide by safety rules and regulations. Workers might refuse to work if the working condition
is unsafe. Company might lose its attractiveness to skilled and proficient employees and falls
into competitive disadvantage. So, to increase image of the firm to the potential labor market,
attain sustainable employees and increase productivity a firm must follow and abide by the
health and safety regulations.
Health and Safety at work act (1974) defines fundamental principles of workplace safety,
health and welfare issue and the duties of the managers, employees and those stakeholders
who have control in the work premise.
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13. 4.4 Impact of topical issue on HR practices:
The topical issues in HR arise while employers attempt to increase productivity, recruit
employees effectively, arrange training and prevent discriminations. Some major topical
issues in HR areEstablishing productivity.
Effective recruitment.
Training facilities.
Reduce discrimination in workplace.
Conflict resolution.
Maintaining safety.
Providing benefits and maintaining diversity.
Changes and variations in those HR issues can take place any time which force the employers
to reshape and improve their HR practices. Individual heterogeneity is a major driver of
changes in HR practices to match up with the diversified workforce.
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14. References:
Atkinson, J. (1987) Working Conditions in Small and Medium Size Enterprises, report to the
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions,
Brighton: University of Sussex Institute of Manpower Studies.
Barney, J B (1991) Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage, Journal of
Management, 17 (1), pp 99–120
Becker, B E, Huselid, M A and Ulrich, D (2001) The HR Score Card: Linking people,
strategy, and performance, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
Beer, M et al (1984) Managing Human Assets, The Free Press, New York
Boxall, P F (1996) the strategic HRM debate and the resource-based view of the from,
Human Resource Management Journal, 6 (3), pp. 59–75
Cordova, E. (1986) `From Full-time Wage Employment to Atypical Employment: a Major
Shift in the Evolution of Labor Relations’, International Labor Review, 125, 6,641-65
Fowler, A (1987) when chief executives discover HRM, Personnel Management, January, p 3
Guest, D E (1987) Human resource management and industrial relations, Journal of
Management Studies, 24 (5), pp. 503–21
Story,
D.J. and Johnson,
S. (1987) Are
Small
Firms
the
Answer
to
Unemployment? London: Employment Institute.
Ulrich, Dave (1996). Human Resource Champions.The next agenda for adding value and
delivering results. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.
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