Task 1

i)

The Human Resource Management or personnel function of ASDA covers a variety of activities. The term 'Human
Resource Management' has largely replaced the old-fashioned word 'personnel', which was used in the past.

The types of work covered in the Human resource function might include the following:

·A Policy-making role - This is important because the Human resourcesdepartment need to be making big policies thatcover
the place of work and the importance of thepeople in ASDA.

·A Welfare role - The welfare role concerned with taking care ofpeople in the work place including their needs.

·A Supporting role - This role is concerned with helping department managers appoint and train new workers.

·A Bargaining and negotiating role - They are concerned with acting as a "go-between" different groups and interests
(e.g. between Trade Union and management.

·An Administrative role - The administrative role are concerned with the payment of wages, the supervision and carrying
out health and safety laws.

·An educational and development role - Concerned with helping in the education and development of the workforce
(e.g. training employees for higher positions)

Task 2
i)

In this task I will explain how ASDA has used internal staffing information, including:

·Labour Turnover - (stability index and wastage rates)

·Sickness and Accident rates
·Age, Skills and training
·Succession

And external labour market information, such as:

·Employment trends
·Skills shortages
·Competition from employers
·Availability of labour (internal and external to the business)
Labour Turnover

The effectiveness with which ASDA runs its Human Resources policies can be measured by the level of employee
satisfaction, and this is where stability indexes and wastage rates are so important. If employees are content with their work,
they are most likely to turn up for work. Levels of stress and stress-related absenteeism increase when there is a poor
Human relations atmosphere.

Sickness and accident rates

ASDA keeps a record of the following:

·Notified absences. When employees are going to be absent from work (e.g. to attend a funeral, a hospital appointment, a
wedding, etc...)

·Absences due to sickness. Employees will need to produce a Doctors note so that they are entitled to sickness benefits,
etc...)

·Unauthorised absences. When employees simply do not turn up for work, without telling anyone.
As a result of these records, ASDA can record absences as a percentage of the hours/days, etc..., that could possibly have
been worked. Absence records can be kept for individual employees, and for the workforce as a whole.

Such a detailed statistical enables ASDA to keep an eye on where problems lie - with an individual, with a particular section
of workers or with ASDA as a whole. Comparisons can then be made with other workers and with past records (for the
individual employee), with other teams/sections (for team/section) in ASDA and with comparable organisations (e.g. Tesco,
J Sainsbury or Safeway). Breaking down the statistics further highlights whether the problem lies with sickness or with
unauthorised absence. And by keeping these records for a number of years, it is possible to established trends.

Absences should be measured as a percentage of total time, for example, if an employee is due to work for 40 hours in the
week but turns up for work for 32 hours only, then his or her absences level is:

Accident rate are calculated by recording the number of accidents at work. ASDA have a Health and Safety committee with
the responsibility to:

·Investigate and report on accidents or incidents.

·Examine national Health and Safety reports and statistics.

·Review Health and Safety audit reports.

·Draw up works rule and instructions on safe working practices.

·Oversee Health and Safety training.

·Promote and advise on relevant publicity campaigns.

·Maintain links with external Health and Safety bodies.

·Recommend updates to the company safety policy.

·Consider and advise on impending legislation.

Part of the Health and Safety committee's responsibilities will be to ensure accurate records are kept of accidents at work.

The reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations 1985 (RIDDOR). RIDDOR set out that injuries
resulting from accidents at work where an employee is incapacitated for three or more days must be reported to the
authorities within seven days. Injuries involving fatalities must be notified immediately by the most practical means (e.g. by
phone). Listed diseases must also be notified.

ASDA will, keep statistics on both minor accidents at work (i.e. ones however minor that involve some form of first aid)
and accidents that have to be reported to the authorities under RIDDOR. ASDA will want to keep internal statistics to make
sure that undesirable trends do not occur. In the course of time ASDA will want to see accident levels falling.

Accident rates can be calculated simply as the number of accidents per year within a chosen unit (team, firm, industry,
etc...). In calculating accident rates in ASDA, the most accurate method is to calculate the statistics according to each
employee working in the industry or per hour worked by employees in the industry. This is because some industries employ
far more people than others and because the numbers employed change over time.
Age, skills and training

ASDA will have a range of employees who have worked for different lengths of time and who have different levels of skills
and training. The Human Resource planner will seek to have a balance of new people entering ASDA in order to cover
those who are leaving. The Human Resource Planner will also want to make sure that skill levels are raising within ASDA,
and that training programmes are devised to make sure people have the skills to meet ASDA's job's requirements. If all
ASDA's skilled employees are just about to retire, ASDA will have to spend a lot of money on training to build up a new
pool of expertise.
Succession

Succession is the way in which one person follows another person into a particular job or role within ASDA. ASDA need to
make sure it is grooming people to take on the responsibility required. If ASDA do not do this, it will suddenly find itself
with a vacuum where it has not developed the people to move into the appropriate position of responsibility, and ASDA will
be missing the right people in key position to hold ASDA together.

Local employment trends

Local unemployment levels give an indication of the general availability of labour and suggest whether it will be easy or
difficult to recruit. It is also important to find out more about which organisations in an area have been laying off workers.
Often, when a major employer closes down or discards labour, this provides an opportunity for other local company, which
may be able to employ the workers who have been made redundant. These employees might have the right sorts of
occupational skills or transferable skills that could be applied to similar work.

A study of local employment trends will give an idea of whether demand for certain types of work is rising or falling.
Where demand increases this will lead to shortages (and also to rising wages).

Local Skills Shortages

Within any area at any one time, there will be jobs that are going into decline because the skills required for those jobs are
becoming redundant. At the same time, new skills and capabilities will be emerging, and demand for these will be rising
faster than supply. As a result, skills shortages will arise and these will cause considerable frustration for local employers
(e.g. ASDA). The wages of people in the skill shortages area will be rising, and there will be competition to recruit and to
retain these scarce employees.

Where a local shortage occurs, ASDA will often seek to advertise and recruit in other areas - in other regions and from other
countries. This is why, for example, there are many doctors from overseas working in both private practice and for the
National Health Service in the UK.

ASDA need to be aware of local skills shortages so they can develop their own training programmes to make sure there are
enough people coming through with the skills required. They will also work together with other local employers in the same
industry to support local school, college and university courses that train people in the skills required for these specific
industries.

Competition for employees

ASDA will be interested to know whether its competitors are expanding and, therefore, increasing the demand for labour, or
whether local redundancies mean labour is more readily available.

Competition expandCompetitors contract

Demand for labour in the locality increasesDemand for labour in the locality falls
Supply of labour contractsSupply of labour expands
Leading to rising wages ratesLeading to falling wage rates
Increased difficulty in recruiting the right sort of employeesEasier to recruit the right sort of employees

Availability of Labour (internal and external to ASDA)

The amount of labour in a particular are, depends on the number of people available for work. The state of the local labour
market is as significant as what is happening nationally or regionally. ASDA need to know about the supply of labour in the
locations where they are operating (ASDA have many stores in the UK, e.g. Kingston, Roehampton, Walton, etc...) the need
to know about the current and future supply trends. A report published in December 1999 showed that there is a gross
simplification to think of the UK simply in terms of the north-south divided. The report showed that a more accurate picture
is of a relevantly south and a relevantly less prosperous north with pockets of prosperity. In the jobs market the gaps
between regional unemployment rates in 2000 were lower than they had been in the past 20 years, but the southeast had far
lower unemployment (3.7) than the northeast (10.1%). The southeast also had the highest proportion of its working-age
population in employment, the lowest proportion of the UK workforce with no qualifications and the lowest proportion
claiming benefits.

Task 2
ii)

Labour Market trends relate to the ongoing human resources planning of ASDA by lowering their employee wastage
rate/stability index rate (although ASDA already have a very low employee wastage rate, I am aware of this because I am an
employee at ASDA in Kingston, and in my 18 months of service, there has been roughly 10 permanent people who have left
in 18 months.

ASDA do not have to worry about the competition for labour as mach as a "hands on" business (e.g. plumbers) because the
only skill useful to ASDA is in the warehouse were a forklift license is the difference between 2 people with almost
identical study and work experience, this is because the forklift test is external, which is initially universal. All other
training is done through "on the job" training (i.e. till training, reports, using a telxon gun and printer, etc...). the competition
for plumbers though employers is very aggressive because of the fact many more potential employees are staying on for
further and/or higher education, they are not doing the NVQ's or apprenticeships.

The education and training opportunities available to ASDA employees will affect both, the numbers of people coming into
the labour market and their overall skill level. In Britain over recent years, their has been an increasing number of young
people participating in both further and higher education. Young people also appreciate the need for higher skills to compete
in the job market.

Task 3
i)
Bibliography

Book name/PersonAuthors/Company, position

Heinemann AVECE Advanced BusinessDave Needham and Rob Dransfield
Vocational A level BusinessRG Bywaters, JE Evans-Pritchard, LF Gilman, AJ Glaser, EZ Mayer
Leslie WilsonAsda, Personnel Managers

Task 4
i)

The policy-making role covers the labour turnover in which they both share the same goal 2employee satisfaction", and by
using the wastage rate formula in which we can see:

13.3% of ASDA's permanent employees have left. This is bad because of the money ASDA have to spend on new
employees for recruiting, introduction and training.

A welfare role is concerned people who need to take a length of time to do with exam leave, maternity and paternity, these
are unpaid leave.

The supporting role will help managers appoint and train new staff they also play a part in Succession, Employment trends,
competition from employers and the availability of labour (internal and external).

The supporting role in which play a part in succession (this is to guide a new employee so they can take over a senior
member of staff). So when ASDA hire a new college they try to set them a mentor to train from, so if that senior member is
leaving the store or retiring ASDA are assured that there will be little or no differences with the new employee. If the new
employee does not do this ASDA will find itself with a vacuum where ASDA have not developed the the employee to move
into the appropriate position, and ASDA will be missing the right employee in key positions to hold them together.

ASDA's supporting role helps local employment trends by looking at the local unemployment levels to give an indication of
the general availability of labour and it suggests whether it will be easy or difficult to recruit. ASDA will also look for major
companies making their employees redundant, which is where ASDA can hire those employees with transferable skills or
occupational skills.

ASDA have many competition from employers (or competition for employees) this is when employers find an outstanding
individual and try to lure them into the their own company, in which they will try to bribe them to go there (e.g. offer a very
high salary or offer a house and company car), this is all to lure them so the employee will give the business the same
success as the company that, that employee worked for before. The company will then have a larger income whilst the
employee who brought it to them will still get the same as before unless they offer the employee a bonus on their hard work.

Assignment 4.2

Task 1
i)

I am going to identify the key features of recruitment documents, which include:

·An application form

·An application letter
·And a CV

Application Form

Many application forms follow a similar pattern and identify key points of interest about this applicant. This enables the
interview panel to ask the same questions of all candidates. It is then easier to match the answers for all short listed
candidates against a defined person specification and allows the candidates to see that a fair interview has been conducted.

Application Letter

If there are 2 people who are almost identical in terms of qualifications, appearance and ability but one of them gets more
interviews than the other, the difference is usually in the quality of each letter of application.

An application letter should have a clear structure, with a beginning, middle and an ending it should state:

·Your reason for applying for the job

·The contribution you can make to the organisation
·How you have developed your capabilities through training and education
·The skills and knowledge you have acquired that would help you to do the job well
The application letter needs to be interesting - you are trying to sell yourself. It should contain enough you will receive an
interview.

If the letter is affective enough you will receive an interview.

CV

A CV is a summery of your career to date. There are 3 stages you should follow when setting out your CV:

·Assembling all the facts about yourself

·Draft the CV

·Editing the CV

At the initial stage you are trying to get together as much relevant facts as possible about your career to date. It does not
matter if you put to many to start with - make a list of all your educational, work-based and leisure achievements, as well as
training activities and courses you have been on. Make brief notes about each of these as well as about projects and
assignments you have been involved in.

A CV should be divided into suitable, headings, and subheadings.

The key part of the CV is the career history, so the sections that go before should not be too long, for example when dealing
with training, list only the most relevant training course and then, if necessary some of the others under 'other information'.

(Editing the CV)

You may need to alter your CV slightly for each job application so that it concentrates as closely as possible on the
requirements of a particular job. Look at the details of the job and ask yourself weather your CV suggests you have the
requirements for the post. Imagine yourself in the employer's shoes: what qualities you think the organisation is looking for?

Task 1
ii)

The application form has to be filled in because the company has to know about personal details of the person who is
applying for the job, this is because if the company do not know the persons abilities they cannot hire them for the job, e.g.
a checkout operator cannot be hired as a markdown specialist. Employers also need to know about any disabilities and "next
of kin" so that if someone has a regular medication to take they will be allowed to take it or if it is something serious and
they have not taken their medication and are rushed to hospital their next of kin has to be contacted.

The application letter is a form of a CV with a few differences, a application letter should tell the employer about the
persons abilities, what they are doing at the moment, how well their doing and their interest, this allows the employer to see
how well the applicants grammar is as well because if the applicant has to fill in a lot of forms and write a lot of letters then
grammar is very important to the employers.
The CV is a quick guide to what the employer to an applicants abilities and skills, what I mean by a quick guide to the
applicants abilities fort instance if they wanted to know about what school qualifications they have (i.e. GCSE, A-levels,
etc...). if the employer wants to see any of the applicant's previous job placements it would be easier to see in the CV.

Task 2
i)

Here I will explain about the key aspects of training and development:

·Induction Training
·Mentoring
·Coaching
·Apprenticeships
·In-House training
·External Training

Induction Training

Induction is the process of introducing new employees to their place of work, job, new surroundings and the people they
will be working with. Induction also provides information to help new employees start work and generally 'fit in'.

As well as following naturally from recruitment and selection, induction should also consider the initial training and
development anyone needs either on joining ASDA or on taking a new function within it. As well as dealing with the initial
knowledge and skills needed to do the job, in the case of a new organisation, it should also deal with the structure, culture
and activities of the organisation.

In large companies (i.e. ASDA), induction training will involve the new employee working in a number of departments for
a short period of time to get an overall feel for ASDA before starting in a specific department. This enables the inductee to
build up contacts and to obtain a good general overview of ASDA.

Typically, induction will involve a talk from a senior member of ASDA, getting to know other new recruits, a corporate
video and, often some activities to break the ice for the new recruit. An important part of induction training will involve an
introduction to ASDA's regulations and health and safety requirements, etc. The new recruit will usually be given an
induction pack that introduces him or her to ASDA.

Mentoring

Mentoring involves a trainee being 'paired' with a more experienced employee. The trainee carries out the job but uses the
'mentor' to discuss problems that may occur and how best to solve them.

Coaching

Coaching involves providing individuals with personal coaches in the workplace. The person who is going to take on the
coaching role will need first to develop coaching skills and will also need to have the time slots for the coaching to take
place. The coach and the individual being coached will need to identify development opportunities they can work on
together - ways of tackling jobs, ways of improving performance, etc. the coach will provide continuous feedback on
performance and how this is progressing.

Of course coaching does not just benefit person being coached; it also aids the coach's own personal development. It is
particularly important in a coaching system that:

·The coach wants to coach the person and has the necessary coaching skills.

·The person being coached wants to be coached and has the necessary listening and learning skills.

·Sufficient time is given to the coaching process

·ASDA places sufficient value on the coaching process.

Some of the best sports people in this country have improved their skills and abilities by working closely with a coach they
respect.

Apprenticeships

One of the great strengths of the British industrial system was the existence of a range of apprenticeship schemes, many of
which no longer exist. With the apprenticeship scheme, the apprenticeship learnt by working for a more skilled craftsperson.
The learnt on the job by learning from their 'master' or 'master craftsman'. The apprenticeship had to work for a number of
years to master their trades.

Apprenticeships were once widespread in skilled work and, when the apprentices had learnt their trades, they were able to
set-up on their own and so bring in higher wages, employing apprentices of their own. During the early years of the
apprenticeship wages may be quite low, and then rise as the apprenticeship became more skilled.

The main reasons for the decline of apprenticeships are as follows:

·Replacing skilled labour with skilled machines (factory automation).

·The change from an industrial to a postindustrial society with the development of service industries and, more recently,
with the widespread deskilling of many jobs through the use of information and communications technologies.

·The lack of investment in this country since the Second World War.
In recent years, the government has developed a Modern Apprenticeship scheme that enables young people to combine
learning on the job with college-based courses. These schemes are subsidised by the government, which gives employers a
greater incentive to take on apprenticeships.

In-house training and external training

In-house training is where ASDA has its own training department. External training is where employees are sent on external
courses, or are trained in other ways, away from ASDA. In-house training can take place on the job or off the job within the
company, but external training always takes place off the job.

On-the-job training

On-the-job training (OJT) takes place when employees are trained while they are carrying out an activity, often at their
place of work.

Off-the-job training

Off-the-job training, as its name suggests, takes place away from the job. This can be either internally within ASDA or
externally using outside trainer. Many large companies will engage in a great deal of internal off-the-job training.

Task 2
ii)

ASDA have always relied on the performance of the human resource. However, in the twenty-first centaury this is truer than
ever before because the economy is built on intelligence and complex information and communications technology systems.
The result of these developments is that most modern employees have to interface directly with customers (they all have an
internal customer), and decisions need to be taken by employees at every level within ASDA, rather than waiting to be told
what to do.

Performance reviews (including appraisals)

In ASDA you want everyone to be pulling in the same direction. ASDA will therefore set out a mission statement
identifying the overarching aims of ASDA. This will be a brief statement. Coupled with this, ASDA will create a values
statement.

Given the mission and values the organisation can create objectives at every level within the company - right down to
personal objectives for individual members of ASDA. It is through these objectives that the success of ASDA can be
monitored and evaluated, as well as measuring the performance of individual members of ASDA.

A well-developed performance management system will include the following:

·A statement outlining ASDA's values.

·A statement of ASDA's objectives.

·Individual objectives, which are linked to ASDA's objectives.

·Regular performance reviews throughout the year.

·Performance-related pay.

·Training and counselling.

With such a system in place it becomes possible to establish for a period of time the key result areas that an individual
achieves can be judged against expected standards; a reward system can then be tailored to the way in which the individual
enables ASDA to achieve its results.

Performance appraisal is a process of evaluating performance systematically and of providing feedback on which
performance adjustments can be made. Performance appraisal works on the basis of the following equation:

Desired performance - Actual performance

= Need for action

The major purposes of performance appraisals are to:

·Define the specific job criteria against which performance will be measured.

·Measure past job performance accurately.

·Justify the rewards given to individuals and/or groups, thereby discriminating between high and low performance.

·Define the experience that an individual employee will need for his/her ongoing development. These development
experiences should improve job performance and prepare the employee for future responsibilities.

Most people associate appraisals with a top-down appraisal by a supervisor or lone manager in ASDA. However, in the
modern word of empowered organisations and team working there are all sorts of variants.

Self-evaluation

Self-evaluation is an important part of performance management. Self-evaluation is very important in the work context.
ASDA encourage their employees to establish meaningful goals and then to evaluate his or her own performance against the
required standards.
Employees who are given more assignments to do are also often encouraged to evaluate their own performance in carrying
out these assignments to the required standard. The benefits of using this approach are as follows:

·The employees take more responsibility for their own work and for monitoring their own performance in this area. This is
clearly motivational.

·The employees may have a greater understanding of their own work area and their job rather than an external appraiser may
have. This is increasingly the case where employees are working in highly creative, individual situations, developing
interpersonal relations that are not always easy to scrutinise and measure.

·Self-evaluation is cost effective. It avoids the wasteful expense (including time) of having external evaluators.

·Self-evaluation enables individuals to develop a much clearer picture of exactly what it is they are doing - which make
work definition much better.

Peer evaluation

Without peer evaluation there would be a danger some students do all the work while others sit back and take the rewards. It
is therefore possible to devise forms for students to evaluate each other's inputs. This approach is usually effective because
students, as a rule, do not like working with other students who do not pull their weight.

The same sort of approach can be applied to the work situation, where employees are part of a co-operative team or a
quality circle. Peer group evaluation makes it possible to check on how much team members are contributing to the product
of the teamwork, and to the process of the teamwork.

Peer evaluation can be very effective in that it creates a collaborative approach at work. People don't feel they are being
judged from above. It can lead to a process of critical friendship whereby individuals will help each other to improve
performance.

Although, peer evaluation can often result in low levels of criticism so that performance is judged in too favourable light.
Also, peer evaluation can create an approach whereby those who working the peer evaluation system build up a defensive
position against ASDA - to justify their own decisions and performance rather than viewing things from ASDA side.

Target setting for individuals and groups

Performance management is a term that is used to describe the process in which employees participate with their superiors
in setting their own performance targets. These targets are directly aligned with the stated goals of the teams, units or
departments they work for and hence, with ASDA's targets.

There are three broad approaches to staff appraisals, based on personal attributes, skills or performance. They are not
necessarily mutually exclusive. Schemes may contain elements of each. ASDA may use different schemes for different
groups of employees.

Personal attributes

The designers of the scheme identify the personal attributes that affect job performance. These are used as the basis for
appraisals. Some examples are:

·Reliability

·Judgement

·Application

·Initiative

·Adaptability
·Disposition

There are several criticisms of this approach. For example, the attributes are open to wide interpretation by the many
managers undertaking appraisals in different parts of ASDA. The system is also not consistent and, therefore, potentially
unjust.

Skills

Appraisals focuses on the employees proficiency in the skills relevant to the particular job. Depending on the job, these
might include technical competence, communications skills and the interpersonal skills needed to deal with customers. The
person doing the appraisals, usually the manager, observes the employee over a period of time and records his or her
judgement of the employees competence. The standard cold be ASDA's own or it could be the performance standard of a
relevant National Vocational Qualification.

Measuring individual and group output/productivity

Often within ASDA there is a considerable amount of dissatisfaction about the way different individuals or groups rewarded
in the system, which may seem to defy logic. Many appraisal schemes include behaviour scales because it is felt that
behaviour rather than personality should be appraised and rewarded.

Behaviour scales describe a range of behaviours that contribute, to a greater or lesser degree, to the successful achievement
of the cluster of task that make up a job. Supervisors carrying out an appraisal are asked to indicate which statements on the
specially designed form most accurately describe a subordinate's behaviour. A detailed version of this is the behaviour. A
detailed version of this is the Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS). Statements about work behaviour are used to
create scales, which must then be tested to confirm their relevance and accuracy.

Today, ASDA use a competency-based approach to measuring performance. Competency is defined as 'an underlying
characteristic of an individual which is related to effective or superior performance in a job'.

Job evaluation is the process of assessing in ASDA the value of one job in relation to another, without regard to the ability
or personality of the individuals currently holding the position. It results in a pay range for each job. An individual's
personal worth within the fixed range for that job.

Merit rating is a system whereby the individual employee is awarded increments or bonuses based on a systematic appraisal
of his/her developed skill level and performance. Merit rating operates within a job-evaluated pay structure. Job rating
determines the position of the individual within the band.

Assignment 4.3

Task 1
i)

For this part of the assignment I have decide to explore training and development in depth.

In 1999, stock prices for the hi-tech sector of the economy increased by a large margin. A major reason for this was the
recognition by investors that a key route to competitiveness is through information and communication technology
companies, in particular, the new 'knowledge workers are at a premium', using their brain power and intelligence to add
value to the product. In a 'knowledge economy' training and development take on a greater importance than ever before. The
company that trains and develops its people is best placed to add value to products and thus gain competitive advantage.
What is true for the individual business is also true for national economies, and this is one reason why recent Governments
have placed and development, particularly on information and communication.
In post-industrial Britain, service industries now account for the majority of employment opportunities, and the current
strength of the British economy rests upon flexible working practises employed within services and knowledge-based
industries (e.g. hospitals, media and technology). For example, computer software, music, etc... are sectors of creativity,
which, in 1999, accounted for some £50 billion of economic activity and more than a million jobs.

While it is obvious that training is essential to competitive success, it is an area that UK-based companies have not always
given high priority to. One reason for this is that ASDA consider it cheaper to hire already skilled workers than to pay the
cost of training their own and possibly seeing these employees being poached by other companies.

Another problem is that many UK companies have failed to understand the relationship between training their employees
and the return this gives to their profits. The relationship is not one that can be measured easily. However, in the twenty-first
century's new knowledge-based economy, more and more employers are waking up to the importance of training and
development, supported by a strong Government emphasis on becoming competitive through training.

Training needs to be closely related to the business environment. This is particularly true in ASDA where the pace of
change is very high. In commerce (buying and selling), for example, there has been a revolution in the development of e-
commerce. As a result, ASDA have had to make a great leap forward to ensure large numbers of people are able to work
effectively with new internet-based technologies.

At the same time, there are a number of people in this country who have almost dropped off the bottom of the employability
scale in terms of lacking the skills required for the modern economy. Government-funded training schemes have therefore
been developed, particularly to enable young people (and others) to develop their information communications technology
skills.

Traditionally, many people have either been trained in or have become adept in specific job-related skills. This operative
may have become a fast, productivity knitting machine operator, but this skill is valued only within the hosiery industry.
When an entire industry is in decline, or new technology outdates present skills, the operative's employability will be much
diminished.

As individuals are expected to become increasingly flexible in their working patterns, there is a greater need for them to
develop generic skills that are transferable, and valuable, to a variety of employers.

Generic skills that are highly regarded today are the key skills of communication, problem solving, team working, ICT skills
and improving one's own learning and performance. A further range of generic skills employers' value includes: reasoning
skills, work process management skills and personal values and attitudes.

Task 1
ii)

In the last decade of the twentieth century, ASDA started dealing with the people who were their employees. Instead of
seeking to get the best out of people just for the sake of the business - i.e. to help it achieve its objectives - the new emphasis
termed 'human resources management' (HRM) was that people would only work for their best for ASDA if ASDA gave
priority to identifying and seeking to meet the personal needs and objectives of its employees.

A second important change in people management in the 1990s was recognition in many business organisations that 'people
work' was not just the responsibility of the 'personnel' department. It is the responsibility of all the managers in ASDA -
supported by HRM specialists. Increasingly, responsibility for recruitment, selection, appraisals and training in ASDA is
carried out by managers who work on an ongoing basis with employees rather than by a specialist in a centralised HRM
function.

A third key change in people management was that HRM was given a great deal more status in ASDA. Instead of being
something carried on at lower levels of ASDA, HRM is now recognised as a key 'strategic' area of ASD (i.e. one that needs
to be given a high priority in organisational planning involving senior management).
ASDA have moved away from 'personnel management' to the new 'human resource management'. According to Krulis-
Randa, a writer on people management, the new HRM has many characteristics:

·A reduction in hierarchy and the blurring of the distinction between management and non-management. The use of quality
circles, where employees are part of a team and responsible for their own self-management and regulation. For example,
employees in a quality circle in a 'Jaguar' car factory may set their own production targets.

·Responsibilities for people management are developed to line managers. Personnel professionals support and facilitate.
Line managers are responsible for the appraisals of staff and staff development, personnel professionals may offer support
through appraisal training for staff and staff managers.

·Planning of Human Resources is part of overall corporate planning. The mission statements of ASDA today include
references to the place of human resources.

·Employees are viewed as individuals with the potential for development, in line with the needs of ASDA. ASDA have an
appraisal system, which focus on the continuing professional development of staff.

·Management and non-management are committed to common goals, and have an interest in the success of ASDA. The
increased emphasis on teams in ASDA means that more people are involved in identifying goals and should therefore be
more committed to them.

Task 2

The objectives of managements, the ways in which enterprises are managed to achieve these objectives and the human
resource management (hereinafter referred to as "HRM") and industrial relations (hereinafter referred to as "IR") initiatives
in this regard, are affected by pressures, many of which are exerted by globalisation. Changes in IR practices (rather than in
institutions and systems) such as increased collective bargaining at enterprise level, flexibility in relation to forms of
employment as well as in relation to working time and job functions have occurred as a result of such factors as heightened
competition, rapid changes in products and processes and the increasing importance of skills, quality and productivity.
These factors have also had an impact on HRM policies and practices. In managing change, the key elements include
employee involvement in effecting change, greater customer orientation, and ensuring that the skills of employees are
appropriate to the production of goods and the provision of services acceptable to the global market. As such, managing
people in a way so as to motivate them to be productive is one important objective of HRM. The implications and
consequences of globalisation include the following:

·Countries are more economically interdependent than before, particularly in view of foreign direct investment interlocking
economies, as well as increased free trade. The inability of economies to be 'self-sufficient' or 'self-reliant' or 'self-contained'
has been accompanied by a breakdown of investment and trade barriers.

·Governments are increasingly less able to control the flow of capital, information and technology across borders.
·There has been de-regulation of financial and other markets, and the integration of markets for goods, services and capital
such as the European Community.

·It has led to the de-nationalization of enterprises and the creation of global companies and global webs.

·Production of goods and services acceptable to the global market, and the convergence, to a great extent, of customer tastes
across borders determined by quality.

·The need to achieve competitiveness and to remain competitive in respect of attracting investment, goods and services.
This means, inter alia, the necessity for high quality skills at all levels to attract high value-added activities, as distinct from
cheap labour low value-added ones, and improvements in productivity.

Enterprises driven by market pressures need to include in their goals improved quality and productivity, greater flexibility,
continuous innovation, and the ability to change to respond rapidly to market needs and demands. Effective HRM is vital
for the attainment of these goals. Improved quality and productivity linked to motivation can be achieved through training,
employee involvement and extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. The growing interest in pay systems geared to performance and
skills reflects one aspect of the increasing significance of HRM in realizing management goals and a gradual shift from
collectivism to the individualisation of pay. In such pay systems a critical attraction is the possibility of achieving these
goals without increasing labour costs but at the same time increasing earnings. Realizing management goals and managing
change need employee involvement, commitment and training, employee participation, cooperation and teamwork - all
important HRM initiatives and activities. The dominant position towards which HRM is moving points to a

"Change in power relations and highlights the supremacy of management. The management prerogative is rediscovered but
in place of command and control the emphasis is on commitment and control as quality, flexibility and competence replaces
quantity, task and dumb obedience. To put it another way: the managerial agenda is increasingly focused on innovation,
quality and cost reduction. Human resource management makes more demands on employees, work is intensified.... there is
less room for managerial slack and for indulgency patterns".

From a purely HRM perspective, one writer has identified the following six factors as accounting for the increasing interest
in and resort to HRM practices:

a)Improving the management of people or utilizing human resources better as a means of achieving competitive advantage.

b)The numerous examples of excellence in HRM have created an interest in such models.

c)The traditional role of personnel managers has failed to exploit the potential benefits of effective management of people;
neither did personnel management form a central part of management activity.

d)In some countries the decline of trade union influence has opened the way for managements to focus on more individual
issues rather than on collectivist ones.
e)The emergence of better educated workforces with higher individual expectations, changes in technology and the need for
more flexible jobs have, in turn, created the need to incorporate HRM into central management policy.
f)Many important aspects of HRM such as commitment and motivation emanate from the area of organizational behaviour,
and place emphasis on management strategy. This has provided an opportunity to link HRM with organizational behaviour
and management strategy.