Managing Human Capital and Entrepreneurship Assignment (GC01825)
Table of Contents
Task A.
1.0 Introduction.
2.0 Literature Review.
2.1 The term “human resources” in SME and start-up business.
2.2 Challenges of human resource (HR) in SME and start-up business.
2.3 Objectives of HRM in small and start-up businesses.
2.4 Building human resource (HR) strategies for SME and start-up business.
2.5 Five key human resources (HR) strategies for SME and start-up business.
1) Improve staff satisfaction.
2) Construct fair and equitable compensation strategies.
3) Design effective training and development program.
4) Implementing legal employment practices.
5) Picking reactive or proactive HRM.
3.0 Conclusion.
Task 2.
(Business Plan for Peace Essentials)
1.0 Introduction.
2.0 Nature of the business.
2.1 Company background, structure and nature.
2.3 Suppliers information, agreement and legal consideration.
2.4 Mission and vision.
2.5 Goals and objectives.
3.0 Situation Analysis.
3.1 Findings from SWOT analysis.
3.2 Potential customers.
3.2 Geographical areas.
3.4 Competitors.
4.0 Marketing Strategy.
4.1 Pricing policies and strategies.
- 2 Recommended pricing policies for Peace Essentials for the next 24 months.
4.2 Marketing plans.
5.0 Operational and Human Resources Strategy.
5.1 Operation strategies.
5.2 Manpower needs in Peace Essentials.
5.3 HR planning for Peace Essentials.
5.4 Recruitment and selection strategies.
5.5 Staff motivational strategies.
6.0 Finance.
6.1 Sources of finance for Peace Essentials 2016.
6.2 Estimated Cash flows for Peace Essentials- 2016.
6.3 Forecasted Income Statement for Peace Essentials- 2016.
6.4 Estimated Balance sheets for Peace Essentials-2016.
7.0 Concussion.
Task A
1.0 Introduction
Entrepreneurship refers to the process that explores opportunities for future goods as well as services through evaluation, discovery and exploitation (Shane and Venkataramn, 2014). In another word, entrepreneurship is the process where individuals, as well as firms, turn their knowledge and understanding into opportunities in creating new products and services. On the other hand, human resource management (HRM) refers to the system of organizational policies and operational activities for managing workforces to gain an improved organizational performance (Torrington et al., 2015). In other ways, human resource management does not focus on creating competitive advantages for entrepreneurs, rather it focuses on the organizational capabilities of entrepreneurs to create competitive advantages (Wright and Snell, 2014). This, means human resource practices lead to entrepreneurs’ performances to support and create workforce-based ability and capability which support to gain competitive advantages (Briton and Gold, 2013).
This paper sheds light on a number of factors related to human resource management in small and medium enterprises (SME) and start-up businesses. First, this paper defines the terms “human resource management” and “entrepreneur”. Then, the challenges faced by entrepreneurs related to HRM activities are outlined. Next, this paper focuses on how HR strategies can be build up for entrepreneurs. Following this, this paper discusses a number of HR strategies for entrepreneurs which improve the operational activities and performance of entrepreneurs and start-up businesses.
The chosen organization in this paper is “Peace Essentials“, which is a small and medium enterprise (SME) based in Shadwell, East-London, UK. The key products of Peace Essentials are Islamic clothing, fragrance and perfume jewelry, Islamic books, etc. The key target customers are women aged from 15 to 55. Additionally, it targets men and children offering some collections and products to them, but most of its products are for women. This paper examines how Peace Essentials develop and implement its human resources strategies (Peace Essential, 2016).
2.0 Literature Review
2.1 The term “human resources” in SME and start-up business
Human Resource Management refers to the internal function in a firm which focuses on the maximization of employee performance to gain the business organizational goals and objectives (Mullins, 2014). Human Resources in an organization is managed by the human resource department that primarily emphasizes managing people in organizations to keep them in line with organizational systems as well as policies (Britton and Gold, 2013). Human resource management differs from business to business, where it may make huge differences in small and medium-size entrepreneurs and start-up businesses. This is because human resource management makes sure of the right people at the right times for the right positions in small and start-up businesses to meet consumer expectations and run organizational operations smoothly and efficiently (Argote, 2014). Additionally, human resource management assesses and analyzes the impact of both external and internal changes related to the business environment. Further, human resource management explores the importance of new sets of skills as well as experiences for maximizing the business operation in the new marketplaces (Torrington et al., 2015). In a word, entrepreneurial human resource (HR) strategies are best defined as the human resource practices which improve the likelihood of new understanding and knowledge to develop new products or services.
2.2 Challenges of human resource (HR) in SME and start-up business
The small and medium enterprise and start-up business including Peach Essentials faces particular challenges in managing their human resources for taking their business performance to new heights (Argote, 2014). A study conducted by Society for Human Resource Management discloses that entrepreneurs face a number of challenges which are: a) about 60% of entrepreneurs think rewarding and retaining their employees are major issues; b) more than 50% of entrepreneurs believe developing future leadership is quite difficult; c) above one-third of entrepreneurs think creating a diverse cultural workplace and friendly environment are helpful to attract talent people (Koch and McGrath, 2016).
However, entrepreneurs can take the initiatives to overcome the challenges faced in their human resource management. For retaining and rewarding the talent and experienced staff, entrepreneurs including Peace Essentials can provide work flexibility and monitor performance. Entrepreneurs including Peace Essentials can create easygoing and work-friendly environment with an open culture and can have one-to-one communication and interaction to sort out workplace issues (Mullins, 2014). Finally, although start-up entrepreneurs including Peace Essentials are not able to compete with large companies like Tesco and Sainsbury’s, they must ensure competitive wages/salaries and offers as much inventive as possible, which may include flexible hours, profit sharing (Leana and Van, 2013)………………….