Question.

1
a) Explain Guests model of hard-soft, loose-tight dimensions of HRM.
b) Review the difference Storeys definitions of HRM and Personnel and IR
practices.
c) Analyse HRM from a strategic perspective and its implication for the role of the
line manager and employees.
There are many dimensions of HRM. Hard and soft, and Loose and Tight dimensions of
Guests model can be seen. This model was developed by Guest. He states that individual
performance can reach its zenith if HR practices are integrated. Guests (1987)
In the Soft dimension of HRM, he said that there should be focus on development of
employees, both skill and knowledge. Employees are trusted and in turn they are expected to
have very high level of motivation that results in motivated, adaptable, and committed staff.
Guest also suggested that such workforce is key competitive edge for the Organization. The
goals of HRM are integration, Employee commitment, flexibility and quality.
The hard dimension of Guest model of HRM suggests that employee is a factor of production
and should be taken as a consumable commodity that should be used when it is useable and
should be abandoned when they become obsolete or unusable. The employees or staff is
taken as commodity on which demand and supply factor of external markets are applicable.
Guest also concluded that there is significant difference between Human resource
management and Personnel management. These are stated below in a table:
Time and planning
Psychological contract
Control system
Employee relation
perspective
Preferred structure/systems
Evaluation criteria

Personnel management
Short-term: reactive ad hoc
marginal
Compliance

HRM
Long-term: proactive
strategic integrated
Commitment

External controls
Internal controls
Pluralist: collective, low-trust Unitarist: individual, hightrust
Bureaucratic: centralised,
V
formal defined roles
Cost minimisation
Maximum utilisation

Source: Abbreviated from guest (1987)

The application for Guests model on Thomas cook clearly shows in case that they empowers
and values its staff. they practices Soft dimension. There is clearly Human Resource
Management in Thomas cook and Personnel Management is taken as obsolete thing. This is
especially manifested on the staff training Thomas cook undertakes like STARS which helps
an employee to progress further in career and ODMP which trains manager for further
challenge this help manager to gain a deeper understanding of the wider business and utilise
them for the benefits of the business. these are long term strategy which is surely an

implementation of HRM. This also shows that Thomas cook believes in individualism and
not collectiveness.
Storey was another theorist who provided the definition of HRM and differentiated between
HRM and Personnel Management. He characterized HRM as an amalgam of description,
prescription, and logical deduction.
John Bratton and Jeffery Gold (2003) defined strategic Human Resource Management as A
strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasizes that leveraging
peoples capabilities is critical to achieving competitive advantage.
This definition clearly favors the approach of Tesco clearly considers that business depends
upon two group of people. These are employees and customers. Diversity and equality are the
main proponents of HRM policy of Tesco. Staff is developed both intellectually and capacity
building. This can be achieved through a set of integrated employment policies, programs and
practices. The strategic perspectives are four in total. HRM is judged through these
perspectives. These can be taken as scientific perspective, Practical perspective, Political
Perspective and controlling perspective.
The scientific perspective is based on Henry Fayols functions of management that are
Planning, Directing, organising and controlling. Management needs to attend these issues
before it can realize organizational goals. Manager should be qualified enough as they should
know the appropriate body of knowledge, skills and competencies. This perspective describes
such managers as successful managers.
Political perspective is about the following of rules and regulations. The managers should
take into consideration and cope with unwritten laws in the organisation that means managers
have to follow the rules of the organisation to achieve the desired goal. This means that rules
are for everybody.
Practice perspective is contingency planning and ability of the managers to deal with
unexpected situations. These unexpected situations can deal with staff or customers. In both
situations the manager must be convergent enough to deal with the problem.
Control perspective describes how managers and employees influence and control each
others action and activities. Staff is paid for their work at Tesco this is called economical
relation with the organisation. There some common laws in the organisation to run the
company successfully that are the legal relation of the company.
Question-2
(a) Review and explain a model of flexibility and show how this might be applied in
practice. Show how the case company might identify and apply this model to
solve their workforce issues.
(b) Describe the need for flexibility and types of flexibility which may be developed
by an organisation and give examples of how they can be implemented.

(c) Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of flexible working practices from
both employee and employer perspective.
At Tesco staff is considered as unique and diverse. Staffs are appreciated at Tesco and they
are supported through flexibility in working practices. These flexible practices at Tesco are
following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Working Hours are Flexible

Health related Benefits are Free
The Gyms are free to be part of.
Salaries are competitive
There is discount policy for staff
The company gives share to staff.

Further staff is valued and trusted and respected. They are provided realistic goals and
interesting and enjoyable working situation. This motivates employees and team
development and working is present at Tesco. This results in better and excellent Customer
service. Employees work with more and more motivation and determination.
The flexibility at organizational working is very necessary and essential in developing an
effective and growing Company. This flexibility of Human Resource Management results in
staff involvement with management in deciding the way and means in which the staff will
work. So that organizational objectives can be fulfilled.
There is no change in flexibilitys basic idea. There is considerable difference between types
of flexibility. Through flexibility, the objectives of Tesco and staff are achieved. This can be
done through changing timing, place and nature of job. The flexibility is important and
beneficial for both organization and staff. Thats why we need and model of flexibility to
solve all outstanding issues. There are many practices of human resource management that
shows flexibility and are used by Tesco. The practices that take into consideration timing of
working are:
1.

2.
3.

4.
5.

Flexibility in hours of work: The timing of starting and finishing the job
can be seen and changed accordingly. There are no changes in total
number of hours an employee works. These hours can also be worked in
long shifts in lesser days
Work Part Time: This is working less hours then originally full time hours
that are standard.
Variable employment in the Year: There are changes in hours of work
taken in the whole year or in the month. This is depended upon the
demands of the work.
Part year employment: The leave of the staff can go long periods of time.
Holidays: There are many types of leaves. These can be with or without
pay.

There are many practices of flexibility that concerns place and environment of the work.
These are:

1.
2.

Working while at home: This can be called as working through telephone. This is
very flexible working as this can be done any time and from any place.
Working from remote Places: In this type of flexibility, the staffs work at the place
of customers office or home.

There are many practices that concern the nature of the job. Tesco has:
1.
2.

3.

Jobs are shared: In this type of flexibility, job is shared between two or more staff
members. The time of working may be different.
The retirement is phased: In this type of flexibility, the retired employees are hired
again to take advantage of their knowledge at workplace and to train existing
strength. These employees only work in the peak times in the year and are part
time workers.
Hours and annualized: This presents the flexibility in number of hours in year or
week.

Types of flexibility at Tesco:

There are different types of flexibility. These are:
1.

2.

3.
4.

Flexibility that is based on numbers and external to organization: This relates

to Recruitment procedure. This professes changes in input and intake processes.
The job market that is external to organization is the base of this intake. Staff is
employed on the basis of contract and fixed term.
Flexibility that is based on numbers and internal to organization: There are
many other names of this flexibility too. It contains to working hours in
accordance with the staff availability.
Flexibility based on functions: Staff in Tesco is given different functions and
sent to different departments to learn all the jobs.
Flexibility in wages and salaries: Different staff members are provided different
types of salary and wage packages. There are some jobs or tasks that have very
little supply in the market so they get more pay for their demand.

Advantages for Tesco of Flexibility in Working Hours:

Here under are some benefits or advantages of the flexibility in working hours:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Staff can cater the needs of themselves and their families. The life
becomes an easy task to live.
The time to reach their place of work from home is reduced and in this
way cost of fuel is reduced too.
The stress caused by commuting time is also checked.
Staffs works according to their availability rather than organizational
directions.
The overload of work is reduced so that employee does no panic.
Employees work only when they want to work and love to work. In this
way, they can achieve more than in ordinary times.

7.

The parents with young children can work when they think do not hurt
childcare.

Question.3.
a) Describe the forms of discrimination that take place.
b) Review how the legislative framework and any proposed changes relating to
discrimination in the workplace can be applied by an organisation. How has the
above case company designed their recruitment policy to apply relevant law to avoid
discrimination?
c) Compare and contrast equal opportunities managing diversity.
Discrimination is a question of todays business. This includes such activities that are directed
to protect specific groups within an organization. This is why that every organization follows
equal opportunity policy. There are many examples that show that discrimination is not based
on level of management. Both higher to lower and lower to higher level, both shows
symptoms of discrimination. Racial discrimination is an example in this end.
According to Morrison, J. (2006) Discrimination relates to status of human being when his
self is neglected by organization or by society. (Morrison, J. 2006)
Discrimination can take many forms. These forms are based on gender, age, colour of the
employees. United Kingdom prohibited all kinds of discrimination through acts of parliament
in 1995 and 1998.
Here under are some types of discrimination. These are:
1. Religious Views: Nobody can be discriminated on the basis of religion or religious
views.
2. Gender or Sex: In past this was a major problem. Now the people cannot be
discriminated on the basis of their sex or sexual orientation.
3. Disable Employees: This is complex term but any discrimination against disable staff
members or applicants is avoided and prohibited in the Disability Discrimination Act
2005.
4. Age: Ag is another discrimination that was going on in the past. Now it is prohbitedd
according to Age Discrimination Act 2006.
Today, organizations and governments are working in the direction to eliminate
discrimination especially from work. The governments are making new law and legislating in
to regulate the processes at workplace. Examples of these laws or legislations are
Employment Equality Act 1998, Equal Status 2000, and Equality Act 2004
This is compulsory for all the organizations to act in accordance with these legislations and
eliminate discrimination from within the organization. The managers must know all the
implications of these legislations. So these laws must be applied correctly and with due
diligence. There are following implications of these laws:

Law should be known and complied with.

Equal opportunity policy should be adopted
Take advice from Professionals
There should be complete vigilance for any discrimination at workplace
Possible accommodations are considered.
Positive action measures are considered.

Tesco employs people from all the nationalities and backgrounds. No discrimination can be
seen in the workplace of Tesco. This is due to very stringent and applied Equal Opportunity
Policy. There is a complete process that the company follows in recruiting people. This
process starts with online application. CVs are accepted first. Then these CVs are judged as
per qualifications required. After this screening process, applicants are short listed. These
shortlisted applicants are then called for interviews. The successful applicants in the
interviews are then put on assessment under an assessment centre. Offer letter is last stage
that comes after assessment centre.
The Tesco follows a complete and comprehensive Equal opportunity policy. This policy
eliminates all manifestations of discriminations of discrimination.
Question.4.
a) Explain performance management in practice. Using examples describe how
organisation organise and manage performance appraisal activity and communicate
these finding to the relevant human resources manager.
b) Critically evaluate different human resource practice in the workplace. Use critical
reflection to the above justify whether human resource practice are followed at
Tesco or indeed any other company of your choice.
c) Evaluate the impact of globalisation on issues such as human resources planning.
Performance Management is considered as a process. In this process, the benchmarks for staff
performance are set, and then employee performance is judged against the bench marks. This
is also process to increase the capabilities and performances of the employee are under taken.
Documentation of these efforts are made.
Every employee has the right to be provided the information on what their performance is.
Tesco performs following function under the purview of performance management:

The benchmark for performance must be clarified.

The steps are taken to develop and identify the areas through which the performance
of employee can be increased.
The performance of employees is stored in written form and can be retrieved when
needed.
The rewards are given on the achieving performance goals.

Performance Management has many things or activities under its purview. One of them is
performance appraisal. This is a method through which employee performance is evaluated

and judged. There are set standards against which the performance is judged. The report of
performance appraisal is also provided to employees too.
Tesco presents performance of its employees according to two ways. These are:
1. Informal Appraisal: These types of Appraisals are ongoing and are not stored for
future use.
2. Systematic Appraisal: This appraisal is necessary and done regularly.
There are two reasons that why Tesco use the activity of performance appraisal. These can be
divided into administrative and developmental uses.
Performance appraisal gives rise to the policy of carrot and stick. Rewards and benefits are
provided on excellent performance. Punishments are imposed on dismal performance through
disciplinary action. The example of dismal performance and its repercussions can be clearly
seen from the example of British Gas in which downsizing was done recently. Performance
appraisal is also used to identify the areas of development. The strengths and weaknesses are
judged and modifications are made at policy level.
Tesco has a very vibrant and developmental HR department. This department plays a very
important role in developing and implementing overall strategy of the Organization. Tesco
uses a highly trusted model of Human Resources. This increases the commitment level of
employees. Training and development is basic to HR policy. Tesco enhances the capabilities
of its employees through training and they are transformed into a strength rather than
weakness.
Tesco is role model for all the other organizations. HR polices of Tesco are the best which is
clear from this case study. The evidence to this conclusion is backed by the performance of
organization and increasing profits of Tesco. Tesco has the greatest market share and it is
increasing day by day. The competitors can only perform well if they review the HR policy of
Tesco.
Tesco has an expansionary policy. So the globalization is the policy the company is
professing. Tesco of today is present in almost all the regions of the world and it is increasing
its presence. Tesco is one of those organizations that believes in itself. This is why that it is
successful in its task of globalization despite of the fact that it started its expansionary
program well behind other big names of the world. The success of Tesco is based on its
policy that expansion is only possible if this can be translates into Human resources.
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