Human Resource Strategy of Harrods in UK

Human Resource Management Strategy of Harrods in UK

Human resource management or HRM is the most important area of management. It is the core department of an organization where recruiting, selecting, evaluating and monitoring of the human power of organization take place. The HR department is needed to choose the best-suited employees for an organization. All the hire, fire and retain process of employees is done by the HR department. Human resource management not only selects or recruit employees but also train them for their development of skills and expertise and take care of all the necessary advantages given to them to get the best outcome for the organization (Bonias, 2009). Here the research focus on the company Harrods, which is the popular world recognized brand for clothing and accessories. The brand is not only satisfying customers and clients with its offering but also working for their employees’ betterment. The research paper is extremely focused on their different HR policies and implements them for employees’ development and betterment.

History of Harrods

Harrods is a company of luxury goods and doing its business with its values and tradition.  They are the brand recognized all over the world for their attractive offerings and quality service. The company started its journey in 1849 by Charles Hanry Harrods. It is the company continuously provide their consumers with the innovative and best quality sensational product (Cambridge University, 2007).

Distinguish between personnel management and human resource management

Personnel management deals with hiring, staffing, recruitment, development and compensation of the workforce. It is also focused on the relationship of the employees with each other and their working capacity for achieving organizational objectives.

On the other hand, human resource management (HRM) focuses on the acquisition, development, maintenance, utilization, and coordination of the employees. It also tries to improve and motivate employees to give their best outcomes for the organizational benefit. It emphasizes on different activities like recruiting, training, developing, determining salary and wages, health and safety, etc.

Between Personnel management and human resource there are some major key differences given below:

• Personnel management focuses on personnel administration, employee welfare and labor relation on the short term but HRM focuses on long term improvement and motivation of the employees.
• Personal management treats the worker as tools or machines whereas HRM treats the worker as an asset of their organization.
• Personnel management deals with the workforce within the workplace and HRM deals with the employees’ improvement inside and outside of the organization to help them in the best possible way (Boxall, 2009).
• Personal management is the traditional way of management and HRM is the advanced way of personal management.
• In personal management, all the decision are taken by top-level management and in HRM policy all the decision is on the basis of employees and employers cooperation. So Personnel management is slow in decision making and HRM is comparatively fast.

Finally, it is possible to say HRM is the upgraded version of personnel management where HRM tried to come up with the solution to all the shortcomings of personal management.

The function of human resource management of Harrods

Harrods is the largest retail luxury goods brand so they focus on increasing sales for gaining maximum profits, spread the market for products with getting more popularity with their brand name and ensure expansion for the future (Rothwell, 2003).

Generally, HRM includes the following functions:

• Enterprise management
• Individual administration
• Human power management
• Industrial and Employees relations

But the function of human resource management of Harrods is designed a very unique way to ensure its maximum use within and outside the organization among employees. Their function includes:

• Recruiting and selection
• Performance analyzing
• Development, staffing, and training of the employees
• Improve communication and relation
• Health and safety issues
• Salary and benefit facilities
• Reward system etc.

Evaluate the roles and responsibilities of a line manager in a human resource department of Harrods

A line manager plays a very important role in any organization. He is the person who deals with other employees individually and personally to maintain communication and assist them in their work. Line managers help to improve the plan for the business, regulate organizational work and control all the training and development issues of the employees (Egan and Bies, 2001). As a line manager of Harrods, the role and responsibility of a line manager in HRD include various roles and responsibilities. They are:

• Communicating with employees individually
• Supervising working expense and procedure
• Analyzing work performance
• Dealing and handling customers demand
• Monitoring administrative works
• Managing technically skilled employees
• Allocating right work for the right person
• Analyzing operational cost
• Ensure day to day people management

To improve line managers’ recruitment and selection process there are three new improved and innovative processes that can be applied to make it more effective and efficient. They are:

1. Monitoring potential employees from different rooms in case of assessing their behavior and decision-making process.
2. Giving them some silly task to test their patience and motivation level.
3. Testing them on the basis of some real-life problems or situations. This process will be fruitful to know about their pressure handling and working in stressful situations. The potential employees will get to know about their roles and responsibilities from this assessment (Windolf, P., 1986).

So it is not impossible to say that the line manager plays a very crucial role and continuously trying to meet up with employee’s satisfaction as well as an organizational goal.

The impact of the UK legal and regulatory framework on human resource management of Harrods

Employee recruitment, selection, and development are the most important part of Harrods. There are various UK legal and regulatory frameworks to follow by any organization. It is remarkable that Harrods try to maintain all the legal and regulatory issues very seriously rather than other organization. They try to ensure that their recruitment and selection process is fair and everyone gets an equal chance of proving their capabilities in this organization. In the case of Harrods HRM, the impact of UK law and regulations are given below:

1. Sex Discrimination Act 1995/97: The law protects the right of the employees in case of gender and marital status. There is no discrimination is allowed in the case of males and females in Harrods.
2. Race Relations Act 1992: The law concentrate on race, color, nationality, ethnic and origin in the field of employment, education and public function as well. Harrods focuses on to choose suitable employees for a suitable position rather than these issues.
3. Equal Pay Act 1970: The act ensures equal pay for all the employees irrespective of their gender, race, nationality, religion, etc.
4. Disability Discrimination Act 1995; amended 2005: The law discourages discrimination for disability of any person in the fields of employment, education and public functions.
5. Employment Equality Act (sexual orientation, religion, and belief) 2003; Equality Act 2010: The act ensures employment equality irrespective of gender, sex, race, region, color, disability, etc. The act ordered to treat all the employees equally to ensure all the benefits and development.
6. Employment Act 2008: This act is to make provision to avoid any disruption or occurrence between employers and employees of any organization.
7. Work and Families Act 2006: This act focuses on the employee’s family and their safety. It helps the employee to ensure their professional and personal life without any disruption. It includes maternity leave, paternity leave, payment, flexible work time and other benefits.
8. Data Protection Act 1998: The act mainly ensures the safety and protection of employee’s personal data for storing, gathering, transferring and destroying in any organization or by any individual.
9. Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974: The act ensures that criminal conviction will be ignored after a rehabilitation period so that employees do not face problem is further work-life for any minor offense.

Conclusion

From the background and all over the discussion of the Harrods we get to know that Harrods is very strict with its HR policy. The company never tried to break any rules, law or regulations. They always tried to follow labor law and rights properly. They never attempted any unfair means or nepotism in their employee selection or recruiting process (Boxall, 2009). They also tried to provide all the benefits and necessary comfort to their employees. The company not only ensures their employee’s safety and security but also cared for their family. From the above discussion, we can conclude about Harrods that, it is a company’s right company to follow for its HR policy, which they are practicing properly and trying to improve every day for their employees’ betterment. If any organization wants to be successful they need to practice human resource management rules strongly.

References

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Written by

Md. Shadequr Rahaman

Email: [email protected]