Acacia Learning Intermediate HRM Assessment Business Issues and the Contexts of HR (5CHR)

Question
AC 1.1 Candidates should assess a range of factors that can have an impact on an organisation’s business and its HR function. You would expect them to include reference to government policy, the prevailing economy and market conditions, demographic, social and technological trends, globalisation and also to internal factors such as stakeholders, financial health, communications etc. Candidates should summarise the impact these factors can have on the organisation and its HR function

AC 2.1 Candidates should analyse some of the forces which shape the HR agenda. You would expect them to make reference to different models of the HR function, HR strategies, insights and solutions to support business performance and stakeholder expectations.

AC 2.2 Candidates should give examples of different tools that can be used to analyse the business environment. They should compare at least two different tools e.g. SWOT, PESTLE, Porter’s 5 Forces.

AC 2.3, 2.4 Candidates should summarise the key stages in strategy formulation. With reference to models from the literature. They can choose any model provided it addresses the key stages from goal setting to evaluation and review. They should give examples of the contribution of HR linked to each of the stages. They should include the role of HR in promoting business ethics and accountability.

AC 3.1 Candidates should give examples of how business performance can be evaluated and may structure these examples under ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ indicators. You would expect them to include different types of metrics and how these can be used, in particular HR metrics.

AC 3.2 Candidates should give an analysis of different examples of sources of business and contextual data e.g. internal information within the organisation including HR metrics such as HR costs, responsiveness, issue management, recruitment, productivity etc and also industry information e.g. trends in HR, competitive information, government information.

Solution/Answer
Introduction
In the contemporary business environment, it is characterized by a consistent change with the players prompted to invest in strategies to enable them to survive in the dynamic market environment. In this case, Amin et al. (2014) argued that traditionally the roles of the HR were primarily administrative working as a process-oriented segment of the executive management. Nevertheless, today, the shift in responsibility has been altered, and the focus on the HR is now a strategic element in the organization competitive advantage. To this end, the roles of HR is always under a transition since the business world is equally under a consistent change entities discovering new issues of importance. This is with an increased emphasis on the employee engagement, with organizations making recognitions on the importance of enhancing team communication. Hence, this report will essentially focus on the changing nature of HRM. Particularly, the focus will be on understanding on the fundamental contemporary business issues and main external factors impacting different entities and their effects on HR. Additionally, this study will concentrate on understanding the extent in which organizational and HR strategies and practices are shaped and developed through taking into account in the business environment.
Assessment Criteria 2.1
Key Forces Shaping HR Agenda
The key forces shaping HR agenda establish the extent in which an organization works effectively in achieving their set goals and objectives in a coordinated fashion. As shown in figure 1 below, the forces are internal factors, external factors further classified into strategic indicators, choices and options evaluation. This section will focus on models of HR function, HR strategies, insights and solutions to support business performance, business ethics, and accountability.

Figure 1: Key Forces Shaping HR
Source: Summarised by the Study
Models of the HR Function
HR operational efficiency despite no longer being a critical and instrumental driver of change, it is consistently fundamental in most of the organization operations. As noted by Armstrong and Taylor (2014) the existence of a link between the strategy, organization structure, and HR structure becomes increasingly evident when a recognition of the extent in which entities are changing and no longer dominated by big multinational corporations. This more so because the primary functions of the HR are planning an entity goals, job analysis, recruitment, employee’s selection, orientation to organization, training, and development, performance appraisals, compensation activities and career planning. However, as noted by Bamberger et al. (2014), the major role of HR function is the management of labor relations, record keeping, employee research among other functions.
The most significant HR function model is the Ulrich model which demonstrates the best practice in the organization of human resources services. According to Buller and McEvoy (2012), this is a model developed by David Ulrich………………………..Please click the paypal icon below to receive this assessment in full for only $15