Application Of Human Resource Management Assessment Answer

Key Topics

• Task 1: Application of Human Resource Management concepts
• Task 2: Retention and development
• Task 3: Performance management
• Task 4: Human Resource Management practices - Literature review
• References

Task 1: Application of Human Resource Management concepts
The role of human resources can be defined in many different ways. Your task is to select a business of your choice, preferably the company you currently work for or a company you have previously worked for. If you do not have previous work experience, select a company that has information readily available on its website or where you
may have access to interview an employee.

Provide the following information:
? A brief description of the company – what they do and the size of the
company in terms of employees
? A brief description of the type of employees with reference to Atkinson’s
flexible firm model.
? Does it have a dedicated HR Department? If not, explain where the
responsibilities for HR functions are situated in the company.
? What sort of approach to HR can you observe about the company?
? Consider the strategic human resource management model proposed by
Nankervis et al (2014) – are there any roles that are not undertaken by the
human resource team in your chosen company? For example, they may
outsource some of the HR functions.
? At each of the different levels (strategic, operational and functional) describe
the HR functions that are performed.

Task 2: Retention and development
Choose an industry you recently worked in (or are planning to work)
Option 1
Research the most common reasons that people stay in their jobs, i.e, what are the 'retention levels'? Be sure to use accurate, reliable sources.
Option 2
If your chosen industry is hospitality or another industry that suffers from high staff ‘wastage’ you may discuss the issues that relate to the high wastage. Your response should demonstrate depth of research and high level of understanding of the issues relating to retention.
Write a one-page response on either option 1 or 2 – be sure to incorporate theory/key learning concepts into your response.
Task 3: Performance management
Develop a performance management plan for a chosen position within an organisation.
Include;
? a copy of the job description and a brief overview of the company
? a detailed description of the most suitable type of performance review method
? a justification as to ‘why’ the chosen review method is the most suitable
? a table demonstrating you have identified some of the pros and cons of your chosen performance review method relevant to the specific position you have chosen. A
copy and paste from another source is not acceptable.
Task 4: Human Resource Management practices - Literature review
Read the two journal articles provided and write a 600 word literature review to include in your portfolio.

Task 1: Application of Human Resource Management concepts

A brief description of the company:
The company that has been chosen for this analysis is McDonald’s Australia that is one of the leading retail fast food restaurant chains in the country. The company was established in Yagoona in the year 1971. The present headquarters of the company is in Sydney and Andrew Gregory is the current CEO of the company in its Australian market. The fast food chain serves some of the most famous delicacies such as burgers, sandwiches, desserts and various other items of snacks and meals to a wide range of customers across the country. The company is reputed for offering high quality of products and prompt services to the customers (McDonald's Australia , 2018).
A brief description of the type of employees with reference to Atkinson’s flexible firm model:
The ‘Flexible Firm’ concept has been proposed by John Atkinson in the year 1985. It states that the modern organizations need to be flexible with their strategies and approaches in order to cope up with the changing demands of the market. The model necessitates that all the organizations need to have flexible staffing policies such that the organization can integrate a flexible system of functioning into the administrative and functional operations of the company. This model discusses about two categories of workers such as follows:
• Core Workers- They are the primary workers consisting of full-time employees who can be given flexible working conditions depending on the industry situation.
• Peripheral Workers- These are the secondary workers such as the part-time employees or the contractual workers.
Analyzing the employee functions within McDonald’s Australia, it can be stated that the Atkinson Model of Flexible Firm can be applied here (Mohinudeen, 2010).
HR Department & its responsibilities:
The company has an HR Department and there are several HR personnel involved in the various functions of human resource such as recruitment and selection, training and development, rewards and recognitions, performance management, career development and a host of other functions.
HR Approach in the company:
The company follows the Polycentric approach of staffing where the parent company has its own nationals at top managerial positions whereas the international offices across different countries have the host country nationals working in different managerial positions. The executives and staffs are also selected from the local workforce (What is human resource, 2015).
Application of Strategic HRM Model by Nankervis et al (2014):
The Strategic HRM Model proposed by Nankervis et al (2014), states the transformation of the HRM functions over the years. Modern HRM has become much more demanding and as such there has been significant use of modern technologies in the domain of Information and Communications Technologies such as the concept of virtual teams that has revolutionized the ways in which the HR activities are conducted. Applying this model on the HR policy of McDonald’s Australia it was observed that all the HR functions are undertaken by the in-house HR department and there is no outsourcing of the HR functions (Nankervis, Compton, Baird, & Coffey, 2011).
HR functions at different levels:
The business strategies are undertaken at mainly two levels such as the Operational Level that is for the operations of the business activities of the entire organization and the Functional Level Strategy that deals with strategic decisions specific to each department of the company. At McDonald’s, the HR personnel diligently and ethically undertakes all the functions some of those are for the entire organization such as ethical and fair work policies. They also have some specific functions depending on each department.
Diagrammatic representation of HR roles & responsibilities:

Task 2: Retention and development

Option 2: Retention issues in the Hospitality Industry
The hospitality sector in Australia suffers from retention issues as a result of high turnover of the employees employed in this sector. The report says that the majority of the employees do not even work for 1 year and they tend to leaver service after 8 months on average (Woods, 2016). The most obvious reason for high turnover in this sector is the young generation of workers majority of who are students and they work in shifts in the restaurant businesses. Hence, they have the tendency to leave their jobs for pursuing further education. The other reason is the lack of proper rewards and recognition in this sector. McDonald’s Australia endeavors to implement employee-friendly policies to achieve higher retention.

Task 3: Performance management

Performance Management Plan:
Job description and a brief overview of the company:
The following is the job description for a Crew Team Member at McDonald’s Australia:
A Crew Team Member has to work in the kitchen generally but if required can also be made to work at the front restaurant and collect orders from customers. They also function at the Drive Thru. In a nutshell, the duties of this position are as follows:
• To greet customers wearing a smile on the face
• Collecting the menu orders accurately
• Cooking the exclusive food items of the brand
• Partnering with peers and Managers for achieving the shift targets
• Maintaining cleanliness of the restaurant
• Taking care that all the items are stocked properly (WORK NEAR YOU, 2018).
Description of the most suitable type of performance review method:
The performance review method that is followed for the position of Crew Team Member at McDonald’s is the 360 Degree Feedback System. This is one of the most effective, scientific and trusted methods of performance management that collects feedbacks from different persons such as the manager, peers, subordinates, customers and even key stakeholders (Human Resources Management, 2017). This method is also implemented in case of some other job positions also. 
Justification of suitability of the chosen review method:
The 360 Degree Feedback System considers feedbacks from various directions and therefore eliminates the chances for any bias. It is considered to be the most popular among the many other performance management systems. Hence, it has been chosen for the given job description in the company.
Table identifying pros and cons of chosen performance review method:

Task 4: Human Resource Management practices - Literature review

According to Stone and Deadrick (2015), the business environment is changing at a higher pace. The globalization of the organizations has been one of the reasons that have made the changes to be inevitable for the organizations. The changes in the field of business have given rise to some challenges and opportunities for the organizations in the current situation. The HR strategies and practices have to be reconfigured as per the demands in the different industrial sectors. One of the most important challenges to the processes and practices of HR is changes in the economy from manufacturing to service or knowledge economy. It has been seen that modern business scenario makes the manufacturing economy less important as compared to that of the service or technology economy. This has made the HR practices to include the resources of information technology in their policies. The rise in globalization has also compelled the HR practices to include some additional functions like training of expatriates or formulation of global HR strategies to cope up with the demands in the international business scenarios. The growth in the domestic diversity is also another challenge for the HRM. Shift in the population composition is found to have impacted the HR practices and policies to great extent. Enhanced age and generational diversity is found to exist in the current scenario. The ethnic diversity is also found to have been expanded. In the last few decades the emerging use of technology could be found in the business environment where it is necessary for the HR strategies to take into account the technological resources in the HR practices and activities to make them more resourceful and useful. It is true that because of these factors the HR practices of the organizations are vulnerable to certain challenges but it is also very true that these factors have provided ample opportunities for the future (Deadrick & Stone, 2015).
According to (2015), the technology has been observed to have affected the future of human resource management. The recent studies have failed to reveal whether the modern and new information technology systems have been able to provide benefits in true sense regarding the HR functions of attracting employees and motivating them and also in retaining them in the organizations. This article discussed about the reasons behind this is the limitation of technology. The information technology which is ruling the world now has some challenges and limitations. The single way communication system, impersonal and passive nature of the communication system, limitations to interpersonal interactions and creating artificial distance between the organization and the employees are some of the prominent limitations of the modern technology. These limitations have been seen to have affected the HR practices and activities also. From the research it has been seen that e-recruiting has been beneficial for some organizations as it is cost and time effective. But there is doubt regarding accomplishment of the goals of attracting candidates by the ways of e-recruiting. Similarly it has been seen that in many organizations the use of e-selection system is getting popular but it is still not known rightly whether this system is able to ensure best suited talents for the organization or not. It is also true to say that e-learning has increased the learning avenues for the employees in the organizations. But it cannot be denied that the effectiveness of learning depends on the opportunities of the employees in learning. The trainees have to be provided with ample resources for effective learning. E-learning needs effective use of information technology. Overall effectiveness of eHR practices depends on the knowledge of using the resources of technology effectively and the support of the managers in engaging the eHR practices in the task management and building and sharing of knowledge (Stone, Deadrick, Lukaszewski, & Johnson, 2015).

References

Deadrick, D. L., & Stone, D. L. (2015). Challenges and opportunities affecting the future of human resource management. Human Resource Management Review 25 (2015) , 139–145.
Human Resources Management. (2017). Performance Appraisal Methods. Retrieved from wordpress: https://corehr.wordpress.com/performance-management/performance-appraisal-methods/
Impraise. (2018). Advantages And Disadvantages Of 360-Degree Feedback. Retrieved from blog.impraise: https://blog.impraise.com/360-feedback/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-360-degree-feedback-performance-review
McDonald's Australia . (2018). Macca’s® Story. Retrieved from mcdonalds.com.au: https://mcdonalds.com.au/about-maccas/maccas-story
Mohinudeen, R. (2010). Flexible-Firm Model. Retrieved from tutebox: https://www.tutebox.com/630/business/hrm/flexible-firm-model/
Nankervis, A., Compton, R., Baird, M., & Coffey, J. (2011). Human resource management : strategy and practice;7th Edition. 
Stone, D. L., Deadrick, D. L., Lukaszewski, K. M., & Johnson, R. (2015). The influence of technology on the future of human. Human Resource Management Review , 216–231.
What is human resource. (2015). International Recruitment -Ethnocentric approach- Polycentric approach- Regiocentric approach- Geocentric approach. Retrieved from whatishumanresource: http://www.whatishumanresource.com/international-recruitment
Woods, S. (2016). Staff Retention in Hospitality: Why half your new hires could leave in less than a . Retrieved from deputy: https://www.deputy.com/blog/staff-retention-in-hospitality-why-half-your-new-hires-could-leave-in-less-than-a-year
WORK NEAR YOU. (2018). McDonald's Crew Member Job Description. Retrieved from worknearyou: http://worknearyou.net/mcdonalds-job-descriptions/