Strategic Human Resource Management at Marks & Spencer

This article explores the relationship between business strategy and HR strategy at Marks & Spencer. It discusses the HR practices of performance management and rewards, and provides insights on how to design/re-design a performance management system. The article also highlights the theoretical basis and models of strategic human resource management.

Strategic
Management
Human Resources

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Relationship among Business and HR Strategy.....................................................................1
Vertical & horizontal integration of Marks & Spencer..........................................................3
Theoretical basis and models of SHRM.................................................................................3
HR practices of Performance Management as well as Reward..............................................5
Design/re-design a performance management system...........................................................7
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................8
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
Different Perspectives of Employment relations....................................................................8
Roles of the actors in improving Employment Relationship..................................................9
Changing nature of employment relations...........................................................................10
Mechanisms of employee voice & employee participation................................................10
Conclusion............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Strategic human resource management refers to a practice of attracting, rewarding,
developing as well as retaining staff members for the benefit of individual and organisation in an
effective manner. SHRM adopt all the talents & opportunities within the HR department so that
they will be able to develop other department stronger and capable. With the help of strategic
human resource management, it has been said that managers are responsible for developing the
workers competent so that they will be able to attain their goals and objectives in an effective
manner (Keupp, Palmié and Gassmann, 2012). In order to increase the better understanding on
the topic of strategic human resource management, Marks & Spencer is chosen as the base
organisation. It is a British multinational retailer deals in high quality home and food products
along with clothing products.
TASK 1
Business strategy define as the basis with the help of which their business activities and
functions of organisation will be fulfilled in an effective manner. There is an strong relationship
with Human Resource strategy due to which business strategy will not be implemented in an
effective manner.
Relationship among Business and HR Strategy
It is said that human resource managers plays very essential role in the overall growth of
the organisation. With the help of effective HR team within a workplace, effective decisions will
be taken by the managers so that goals as well as objectives of the company will be achieved.
Along with this, various strategies need to be developed by them so that behavioural
characteristics of the staff members will be improved in a positive manner. It is one of the most
important department within an organisation which have their command over the staff members
and conduct business functions for the overall development and welfare of the society and
employees both. In this context, chosen organisation is Marks & Spencer which is a well known
recognised organisation which have strong brand image and goodwill at the marketplace.
Furthermore, it is required by the management team to have strong HR management team who
can select, hire and recruit highly skilled and potential candidates (Kavanagh and Johnson,
2017).
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Strategic Human Resource Management define as an essential course of action with the
aim of improving the performance of employees by proving them training sessions, rewards,
recognitions, compensation & other lucrative advantages on a continuous basis. Therefore, it has
been said that it is one of the most essential as well as significant approach used by the
management team of the company in order to develop employees. This as a result, assist them in
order to enhance their performance as well as efficiency for doing the business activities in an
appropriate way (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2012). Hence, SHRM is generally linked with
development of human resource as well as business strategy.
Business strategy refers to an action plan course which is conducted with the aim of
accomplishing pre defined goals and tasks in an effective manner. Furthermore, it is said that
large scale business organisation like Marks & Spencer perform their business functions at the
market place for longer duration, if they have highly skilled and capable workforce. This will
assist in devising different strategies which can help human resource to perform their task in an
effective manner. Along with this, with the assistance of effective HR strategy, employees will
be able to perform their task in an effective manner.
Therefore, it has been said that there is a great link between business strategy and HR as
both are advised by the management team of company for a common goals which is attainment
of organisational goals and objectives in an effective manner. There are some key factors which
made a discussion about relationship among both strategies:-
Implement effective policies: The higher authority of Marks & Spencer, develop
strategies which is them communicate to the HR department of the company. Reason behind this
is that it highly focuses on implementing effective strategies and policies which assist in
attaining goals and objectives in an effective manner (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). This as a result,
assist in earning more revenue at the marketplace and helps in setting a linkage between business
strategy and HR.
Management & control: With the help of implementing effective business strategy
within the workplace, Human Resource department positively control and manage the overall
process as well as activities of Marks & Spencer in an appropriate manner.
Human Resource strategy within Business strategy: It has been analysed that HR
strategy develops very crucial and essential part of a business strategy. Hence, in order to gain
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positive results within given time frame, it is necessary to executed both the strategy within the
workplace in an effective manner.
HR Strategy & Business productivity: Each and every business organisation have their
main motive which is to maximise their overall profits at the marketplace in order to remain
successful at the marketplace with the assistance of appropriate business strategy. For this,
capable and skilled human resource is required. With the help of effective training and
development sessions, management team of Marks & Spencer will be able to attain their goals
and objectives (Decramer, Smolders and Vanderstraeten, 2013). This as a result, sets a positive
relation among both strategies.
Vertical & horizontal integration of Marks & Spencer
It has been said that horizontal integration refers to the merger and acquisition of two
company performing their business functions in similar sector. With the assistance of this,
chosen organisation will be able to increase their market positioning along with attaining
competitive advantages over the competitor organisation. For example, If management team of
Marks & Spencer conduct any kind of merger with the same industry then it will be known as
horizontal integration.
On the other hand, it is said that in context of vertical integration, two companies merger
will be conducted between two organisation deals in different sector. The main aim behind such
type of merger is to made business expansion of different types of business activities. This as a
result helps in increasing overall sales as well as market share of the company at the competitive
marketplace.
Theoretical basis and models of SHRM
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The term SHRM is defined as the coursework which is strategic in nature and this is carried
forward by the HR team in order to perform effective working in an organisation. This result in
attaining effective outcomes between policies of organisation and Corporate strategy in order to
develop effective in the working of the employees. This factor can be achieved by selecting and
recruiting the potential candidates according to their desired skill and capability, there should be
performance appraisal conducted in order to motivate employees and rewards should be given in
order to retain them for long time durations (Meyer, Neck and Meeks, 2017). The HR plays a
vital role at business organisation by gaining knowledge about the customer derive factors from
the overall working of the employees. Furthermore, will the main objective of giving rewards to
the employee’s performance measurement objectives are carried out in order to recognize the
skill and talent of their potential employees so that overall performance and productivity can be
enhanced. In order to achieve this strategic HRM are using different tools such as balanced score
cards thus gaining success. The model of SHRM is also commonly used by the organisations in
order to effectively conduct all business activities thus gaining all business goals and objective in
rightful manner. Thus result in develop good linkage between business strategy and HR.
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Figure 1: Model of Strategic Human Resource Management
(Source: 13 Models of Strategic Human Resource Management, 2019)
.
The model which is evaluated below of SHRM aims at maintaining healthy
employer employee relationship at work place. There are various elements used in the model
such as staffing, compensation, training and development. The Information system used by HR is
aimed at knowing the difference between the actual performance and desired level of
performance of the employees (Jenkins and Williamson, 2015). This is valuable factor for HR
department in order to know about those employees who need training and development for
enhancing their business performance. There is knowledge gained about the selection of the
employees in order to carry out effective staffing. With the help of various key factors, the
SHRM model is effectively applicable at Marks & Spencer in order to carry out all the activities
in an effective manner.
HR practices of Performance Management as well as Reward
There are various types of HR practices needed to be adopted by the human resource
manager of each and every organisation in order to enhance the overall performance as well as
level of satisfaction among employee’s. It has been said that HR practices plays very essential
role within the workplace and assist in developing positive working condition for the staff
members. This as a result help them in order to retain their capable staff members for a longer
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period of time. In the present context of Marks and Spencer, there are ample number of HRM
practices need to be followed by the HR manager in an effective manner. Some of the most
essential practices includes training and development, performance appraisal and rewards. With
the help of these practices managers will be able to increase satisfaction level among staff
members working within the workplace.
Performance appraisal: It is considered as one of the most essential and motivating
practices used by HR manager of the company so that they can provide values to the work done
done by staff members (Karadag, 2015). In this factor, managers generally provide promotion
and recognition to their potential and capable staff members. Along with this, various financial
and non financial benefits will be given to the employees. In reference to Marks & Spencer, this
practice help in maintaining the employees loyal and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of
employees in a positive manner.
Performance recognition: It is a type of practice used by HR manager of the company
where recognition will be given to the staff members according to their performance within the
workplace. In this context, managers of Marks & Spencer firstly identify the best and most
deserving employee within the organisation which highly assist in attaining goals and objectives
of the company in an effective manner.
Reward: It is another essential practice adopted by HR manager of the company with the
help of which staff members feel self-motivated. It has been said that, managers provide rewards
and benefits to their potential employees according to their performance. This as a result,
motivates other staff members in order to enhance their overall performance and help in attaining
organisational goals and objectives in an effective manner (Chen, Delmas and Lieberman, 2015).
These rewards are generally of two types such as financial as well as non-financial.
Financial reward package
Compensation: This factor is evaluated as the monetary benefits which are offered to the
employees in turn of the work which are performed by them thus enhancing business
performance. This includes bonus, salary, wages and various other elements which are offered to
the employees on continuous basis.
Incentives: This is offered to the employees when they have achieved their desired
targets in the given time durations.
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Non-Financial rewards
Work life balance: The HR department of the company ensure an effective working
environment to all their workers in order to maintain a balance between their professional and
personal working environment in a positive manner.
From the above business practices, it has been evaluated that all the employees in an
organisation plays a very important role in order to develop positive environment and maintain
healthy relationship. It also results in development of healthy relationship between managers and
workers. The major benefit which is given to employees is that it helps in enhancing working
productivity along with providing them cash benefits. For the business owners it helps in
achieving business objectives quickly (Peppard and Ward 2016). This in turn results in
improving overall working productivity at Marks & Spencer
Design/re-design a performance management system
The PMS is evaluated as the most effective and systematic approach in order to evaluate
and measure the working performance of the employees. This can be referred as the system
which is used by company in order to align all their valuable resources in order to achieve all set
business goals and objectives by covering the vision and mission statement. The redesigning of
the Performance management system is a much complicated task and this cannot be carried out
without the formulation of the strategies. The formulated strategy consists of the system which is
designed by the business organisation. The factor which are included in re designing are
examined below as:
Keep it simple: In order to carry out changes in management system it is essential to
encourage all the employees in order to involve themselves in the new designed process (Slack,
and Brandon-Jones, 2018). The management team which is working at the top level should
ensure to consider the opinion of all the employees in order to redesign the management system
at work place.
Define purpose: The management team is having the responsibility in order to tell the
reason behind the formulation of the new systems related to working performance. This is clearly
communicated to all the employees in order to gain their support and build strong relationship.
360 Degree Feedback: The managing team of Marks & Spencer ensured to collect 360-
degree form of feedback from the employees in order to know about their opinion, views and
perception.
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Introduction of upward feedbacks: The feedback is taken from both the managers and
employees of the organisation as their opinion plays an important factor in order to k now about
the effective designing of systems.
Stipulating goals: Here, manager motivates the staff to emphasize upon goals in order to
timely achieve them by delivering their best performance.
Conclusion
From the above analysis it has been concluded that SHRM strategy are the best in order
to achieve effective results at work place. The best form of practices are rewards and incentives
as it helps in motivating employees in order to achieve their target by working in a healthy
business environment. The SHRM model is applied in order to develop positive working
environment.
TASK 2
Employment relations play a very important role in growth and success of a business
organisation. This task is illustrated by various theoretical perspectives which are related to
employee relations. Also, this is related to changing behaviour of employees.
Different Perspectives of Employment relations
Employment relationship can be refereed to a relationship which is being shared between
employer and employee in the company. If there is effective and strong relationship them it is
beneficial for a entity and help the organisation in achievement of objectives in a limited time
frame. Further, It also helps in boosting the existing level of performance of employees. There
are basically three perspectives of employment relationship which are Marxist, Unitary and
Pluralist. These are discussed below:
Unitary: This is a perspective which is related to working efforts of employees and
managers in attaining of common objective. Employees share their views and problems so that
effective solutions can be developed. This perspective has basically two implications first is
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emergence of various views of employee and employer. Second it has various emergence of
trade unions so in which various rights of employee are violated in Marks & Spencer.
Pluralist: In Marks & Spencer has various functional departments toward a common
objective. Communication is a tool which must be used to find solutions for their problems.
There are two groups which pertain to trade unions, top management teams and overall
management team of company (Pawlak, 2017). Management team is responsible for controlling
of various business activities and building effective teams so that communication can be carried
on. Trade union is representative of whole staff workforce. Collective bargaining and disputes
have to be dealt in this approach.
Marxist: In this approach organisation is aiming to maintaining effective relations from
view point of society. It is also regarded as a radical perspective. This is providing assistance in
evaluating various socio economic dimensions to acknowledge any social dispute or class
relationship so as to make various social alterations in a chronological development.
Roles of the actors in improving Employment Relationship
There are mainly three parties who are contributing in maintaining overall good
relationships between the employees and management:
Employer: They are person who are mainly responsible for accomplishment of objectives
and goals in the company. They possess a responsibility to maintain a healthy environment to
motivate their workers so that they deliver adequate level of performance. There must be timely
provision of rewards, bonus, compensation and incentives. Which helps in maintaining better
employment relationships.
Employees: They are those on which overall success of the organisation is dependent. To
make relations better with employees, management, employees have to give maximum outputs
and for those have to use their full potential level. This includes performing act ivies which are
allotted to them. This is related to building of good employment relationships.
Government: There are many legislations and laws which are made by government to
ensure maintaining healthy relationship between employee and employer. Some of the acts are
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Minimum Wages Act, Safety act, Workers discrimination act. Formulation of laws helps in
development of employment relations in Marks and Spencer.
Changing nature of employment relations
The business environment is in which various corporations are working which is very
dynamic and is completely changing. Workforce of the company has various problems related to
execution of business process. When there are diverse cultural backgrounds then it is suer that a
individual may face difficulties in having communication and collaboration with each other. In
past there have been certain issues which have arise because of equipments and machinery this
lead to various problems such as communication becoming ineffective and management of
personnel in the company. Employment relations also get affected because of modifications in
performance appraisal, extraction of workforce, compensation system ad changes taking place in
working atmosphere of company.
Mechanisms of employee voice & employee participation
It can be seen that organisation are dependent on active involvement in operation's of
company. Companies in the present era are focussing on engagement of workforce in their
business operation's and decision making to empower their employees. In Marks and Spencer
there are various sessions which are brainstorming to take ideas and views with regards to
various matters of employees (Noe and et. al., 2017). Feedback is also taken from employees
which helps in understanding what has been the satisfaction level of employees in company. This
will lead to increase in employee participation and help them in maintain healthy relationship
among them. This will also lead to increase in their level of performance and overall
achievement of objectives of company.
Conclusion
From the above discussed points it can be said that to attain success it is necessary to
build up effective relations between employees in all organisation. This will be very helpful in
understanding behavioural characteristics of employees and help organisation in making various
strategies. This is helpful in alignment of various characteristics of their overall workforce in
attainment of goals of the company.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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systematic review and paths for future research. International Journal of Management
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Kavanagh, M. J. and Johnson, R. D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics,
applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.
Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D. and Hoskisson, R. E., 2012. Strategic management cases:
competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning.
Goetsch, D. L. and Davis, S. B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Decramer, A., Smolders, C. and Vanderstraeten, A., 2013. Employee performance management
culture and system features in higher education: relationship with employee
performance management satisfaction. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management. 24(2). pp.352-371.
Meyer, G. D., Neck, H. M. and Meeks, M. D., 2017. The entrepreneurship‐strategic
management interface. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, pp.17-44.
Jenkins, W. and Williamson, D., 2015. Strategic management and business analysis. Routledge.
Karadag, H., 2015. Financial management challenges in small and medium-sized enterprises: A
strategic management approach. EMAJ: Emerging Markets Journal, 5(1), pp.26-40.
Chen, C. M., Delmas, M. A. and Lieberman, M. B., 2015. Production frontier methodologies and
efficiency as a performance measure in strategic management research. Strategic
Management Journal, 36(1), pp.19-36.
Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a
digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A., 2018. Operations and process management: principles and
practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK.
Pawlak, J.A., 2017. Establishing employment relations with local government employees in the
City Hall of Warsaw(Doctoral dissertation, Wydział Administracji i Nauk
Społecznych).
Noe and et. al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Online
13 Models of Strategic Human Resource Management. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<http://bankofinfo.com/13-models-of-strategic-human-resource-management/>.
Redesigning Your Performance Management Process for Success. 2019. Available
Through:<https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/redesigning-
performance-management-process-success/>.
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