p1.

1
The Guests Model aim to differentiate personnel management from human
resource management and therefore states that human resource
management is commitment based rather than compliance based as
practiced by personnel management. By this, he sees human resource
management as going beyond recruitment and training of employees to
recognising employees as assets to the organisation that need to be
strategically managed in an organisation to gain their commitment to achieve
organisational goals. This approach focuses on the individual needs rather
than the collective workforce. At Harrods, this model is adopted by the HRM
department developing the strategy that increased employee engagement and
trust. To achieve this, the HRM at Harrods has the responsibility in scouting
for the best talent to attract at Harrods, develop the employees through
learning suitable training to enable them perform their roles to the best of their
ability. They also changed the organisational structure by breaking down the
high hierarchy with too many layers and putting more responsibilities in the
hands of employees. They also encouraged personal leadership by changing
the leadership style where employees are encouraged to make decisions as
the vision of the organisation is shared. There was also improved
communication using different approaches like; Internal employee magazine
Your Harrods, Morning Briefing, Intranet, Quarterly employee forum, Other
.forms of employee voice

p1.2
Storey defines HRM as a strategic and coherent approach to the
management of an organisation`s most valued assets-the people
working there who individually and collectively contribute to the
achievement of its objectives. Storey also distinguished between
hard and soft forms of HRM; HARD HRM: It emphasises the need to
manage people in ways that will obtain added value from them and
thus achieve competitive advantage. Thus it concentrates on
quantitative, measurable criteria, control and performance
management. SOFT HRM: The soft model of HRM is based upon
human relations school and is identified by Storey as involving
`treating employees as valued assets, a source of competitive
advantage through their commitment, adaptability and high quality.
The need to gain commitment of employees, the interests of

management and employees should coincide, integration and team

.work. Source: Website, John Storey, Human Resource Management
Storey sees Personnel management as management of the
workforce or employees to comply with rules as required by the
owners of business. Its mostly concerned with recruitment, pay roll
and employment laws. He therefore sees PM as being bureaucratic,
based on rules and procedures and seen as a separate function from
general management. Storey came up with 27 key points to
differentiate between PM/IR and HRM. Some of these have been
seen in the table below. Source
www.whatishumanresource.com

Professor John Storey: Model of HRM Dimensions Personnel and IR

HRM Beliefs and assumptions
Contract Careful delineation of written contracts Aim to go
. beyond contract.. 1
Rules Importance of devising clear rules/mutually 'Can-do' .2
.'outlook; Impatience with 'rule
.Guide to management action Procedures Business-need'. 3
.Behavior referent Norms/custom and practice Values/mission . 4
. Managerial task vis-a-vis labour Monitoring Nurturing . 5
. Nature of relations Pluralist Unitarist . 6
. Conflict Institutionalized De-emphasized Strategic aspects . 7
. Key relations Labour management Customer . 8
. Initiatives Piecemeal Integrated . 9
. Corporate plan Marginal Central . 10
. Speed of decision Slow Fast Line management . 11
. Management role Transactional Transformational leadership . 12
Key managers Personnel/ IR specialists General/business/line .13
. managers
. Communication Indirect Direct . 14
Standardization High (e.g. 'parity' an issue) Low (e.g. 'parity' not . 15
. seen as relevant)

. Prized management skills Negotiation Facilitation Key levers . 16

. Selection

Separate, marginal task Integrated, key task . 17

Pay Job evaluation (fixed grades) Performance-related From the . 18

above, we can see that the strategic aspects of Storeys model
shows HRM central to corporate planning in the organisation, the
third component, line management, gives HRM specialists a
transformational leadership role in the organisation. These are
aspects that personnel management and IR do not achieve within
.an organisation
As we reflect at HRM practices at Harrods, we can the model of
Storey implemented as they have come to recognise the key
psychological needs of human beings and therefore strategically
engaged their employees in meeting these needs from non-financial
rewards as they provide opportunities for employees promotion, for
them to be involved in decision making, contribute to a team and to
do a variety of tasks that all contribute to Harrods achieving its
objectives and also with the learning and development in Harrods
HRM, the employees are nurtured to bring out the best in them and
.not monitored as in PM
Contrary to Harrods practice of HRM, Matalans HR does more of PM
practices. The focus of this department in Matalan is: recruitment
of employees, providing consultative support to Store Managers on
a range of policies and procedures and on specific situations such as
disciplinary issues. Source: Matalan website: Head Office and
Positions. We can see from the here that even though it is called HR
in Matalan, but in operation it is personnel management as they are
mainly concerned with the employees complying to policies and
procedures in carrying out duties and dealing with disciplinary
issues and the employees are not involved in decision making or
.fully engaged for their development and career progression

p1.3
There are numerous implications for both employees and line
managers at Harrods when developing strategic HRM approaches.
Line managers have to integrate such approaches with overall
organisational culture, leadership style, business policies and goals
especially in terms of production. Thus, HRM aspects such as
hierarchy in senior management and changing the leadership style
and rotation of jobs and department can present various
implications since line managers have to avoid devising approaches

that will conflict with business operations thereby negatively

affecting the values and brands Harrods is known for. For the
employees, the implication range from job security, fluctuation of
remuneration and bonuses which will now be based on performance
and contribution to the success of the team and not on position
.held, and terms of possible dismissal when not leaving the brands

p2.1
Flexibility in the workplace has become a key thing, most especially
in the 21st Century. It is all about employees and an employer
making changes to when, where and how a person will work to
better meet individual and business needs. This means there are
different models of flexibility that can be applied in the workplace
like part-time working, job-sharing, flexitime, compressed hours,
working from home, mobile working/teleworking etc. For a model
like mobile working, this is a system whereby an employer makes
provision for an employee to work all or part of their working week
at location remote from the employers workplace. This can be
applied in practice by agreeing with the employee to work on a
location where they will be involved in merchandising for the
organisation. This means reaching customers that are far away from
the employers workplace with the products of the organisation. In
relation to Harrods, in recognition of those intrinsic needs of
humans, the HRM has developed strategy that offers a range of
many different flexible job opportunities to meet the needs of
employees for maximum engagement and to the benefit of the
Harrods. The mobile working model is available in Harrods as mobile
working at Airports; the arrangement is based on the advantages
provided by broadband technology so employees can have access
to internet and intranet to work at Airport at a reduced cost to the
employee but still completing the contracted working hours. This
also has benefit for Harrods as it reduces cost for the organisation
and improve the quality of life of the employee so they can give
their best to Harrods. Although separate from the Knightsbridge
address, Harrods warrants that its airport employees are very much
a part of the Harrods business, which is why communication is
premium priority, benefits are equal and as ambassadors to our
customers returning home, standards are the same as those of the
.flagship store. Source: Harrods website Career Options 13/01/14

p2.2

There are various flexibility types that Harrods can devise and
implement based on the strategy that have been adopted to fully
engage the employees for higher efficiency and productivity . Parttime working model can be developed to offer opportunity for
working mothers with issues of child care but still wants to pursue a
career to be part of the team. At present as stated in Harrods
website in their HRM section, they recruit temporary workers during
winter and summer sales period. Also at Harrods, job sharing can be
developed as they already have in system a similar model, job
rotation which enables employees to develop new skills as they
work with others. At Harrods flexitime model can be developed
which offers opportunities to employees like graduates and
undergraduates recruited by Harrods work at a time they are not in
school. Also Term-time working model will benefit students
employees in Harrods so they can take paid leave during term time.
As discussed above, job-sharing model is already in operation. It
may be difficult for Harrods to develop working from home because
.of the nature its business as retail organisation

p2.3
Employers usually apply flexible working practices for various
benefits and purposes for the employees and employers. I am of the
view that flexible working practices are in line with equality and
diversity legislation and human rights acts to ensure fair working
practices that will accommodate the needs of individuals and still
.enable organisations like Harrods to achieve their objectives
For instance, term-time working arrangement will be beneficial to
students who as permanent staff give their best to the organisation
during the holidays and takes unpaid leave during the school terms.
With this arrangement, the organisation is not losing any money. On
the under hand the employee takes unpaid leave during holiday
even as a permanent staff. The Harrods benefits from this as they
use other staff to cover the shift and saves the salary that could
.have been to the employee should he be on duty
Also working from remote location or from home benefits both the
employee and employer as cost on transport, equipment, office
space, office administrational expenditures, and expenditures
regarding physical monitoring of personnel are reduced. The
employee still completes the working hours in the contract at the
convenience of his home and meets the objectives of the
organisation. In addition, use of part-time and temporary

employment within Harrods not only benefit employees who wants

to work at their convenient time because of issues like child care or
study but it also benefits Harrods as they avoid spending on factors
such as health covers, pensions and retirement packages that the
employees should have benefited from should they be in full time
.employment
p2.4
it is obvious that there have been changes in the global market and
these changes across the labour market have affected flexible
working practices at Harrods in various aspects. The changes are as
a result of factors like rapid evolving technology, increase in
undergraduate and post graduates recruitment, demographic
change/migration, etc. In some ways it is beneficial to organisations
like Harrods. For instance at Harrods, it is currently exhibiting a
trend that supports acquisition of best multiple talents in contrast to
prior specialisation trends. For instance, the implementation of
flexibility practices that determine where and when personnel work
is becoming increasingly affordable and easier for bot employees
and Harrods as Harrods spends less on staff and still them to
complete quality jobs as in their contract that contributes to Harrods
still remaining the top retail in the world. Also the migration and
demographic has impacted Harrods as they now have an increasing
group of individuals from different background and culture that are
willing to take on full time employment and part-time jobs after
completing shifts in their main jobs. In overall, such changes have
made procedures and approaches concerning implementation of
such practices easier and more convenient, leading to increased
lessening of traditional business expenditures and also boosting the
rich cultural diversity that Harrods believes in, as it is put in their
website Embracing the diversity of modern Britain today,
.Harrods 14/01/14