Human Resource Management Trends and Problems Faced by Organisation

This report covers the latest trends and problems faced by Human Resource Management in pandemic, with a focus on Marks and Spencer. It discusses workforce planning, ethical practices in recruitment and selection, and recommendations for solving issues such as virtual onboarding, mental health and well-being, and managing remote work.

Human Resource Management

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Current HRM Trends and Problems faced by Organisation............................................................4
HRM Trends................................................................................................................................4
Problems which is faced by Human resource management........................................................5
Workforce Planning.........................................................................................................................6
Ethical Practices used in Recruitment and Selection Process..........................................................7
Recommendation HRM take to Solve the Problem.........................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report covers the aspects and practices of Human Resource Management which
includes the problems which is faced by Organisation at the time of pandemic. It also includes
the solution of the problems in order to run the business in effective and smooth way during
coronavirus.

INTRODUCTION
The Project is based on Human resource management in which the latest trends and
problems are being discussed including the plan through which they can focus on Workforce
planning. The report also covers the consideration that can be used by HRM team to ensure
ethical practices in recruitment and selection process by including the problems and solution of
the issues which affects the HRM team (Bayraktar and et. al., 2018). Organisation which is
chosen for accomplishing this project is Marks and Spencer, it is a retail brand that mainly
provides home, food and clothes to its customer at their own label. The Company was founded in
Leeds, United Kingdom in 1884. The stores of Marks and Spencer is available Worldwide
having outlet in 1463 locations. Due to pandemic, Human resource team of Marks and Spencer
is focusing more on selling products and services via online mechanism in order to sustain in
market and improve the business profitability.
Current HRM Trends and Problems faced by Organisation
There are various changes made by Human resource team in pandemic in order to run the
business activities of Marks and Spencer in effective and efficient manner. They also faces a lot
of challenges while running the functioning of business in pandemic.
HRM Trends
The latest trend which is implemented by human resource management in COVID 19 is
as follows:
Remote Working:
The Coronavirus pandemic has made employees to switch to remote working in order to
be safe and continue the business activities of Marks and Spencer. Human resource department
of Marks and Spencer has created a proper strategies to make their workers perform duties from
their Home via using online mechanism (Sembiring, Rahayu and Sembiring, 2021). Remote
working gives various advantages to employees such as flexible working hours, cost of
commuting and saving time. In 2021, remote working model will stay and remain constant due
to spreading of disease. Due to remote working the focus on performance management is also
changes, the working hours of staff is calculated on the basis of total quality and productivity of
work.
Online Training and Upskilling:

Online training and upskilling is also a trend which is implemented by Human resource
management of Marks and Spencer. The Company provide online training facility to their
employees in order to improve their skills and knowledge. Human resource management is
taking an initiate to connect with their workers and provide virtual learning experience to them
so that they can boost their morale and motivation level (Lertxundi, Barrutia and Landeta, 2019).
Through online training and development opportunities company can improve the efficiency and
performance of staff which results in profitable gains. It also helps in building happiness and
satisfying team that focuses on customer profitability and retention.
Cloud Based HR system:
Due to COVID 19, Marks and Spencer has invested a lot of money in HR Technology by
focusing on cloud based HR system that can be easily accessible from anywhere at anytime with
privacy of data. While working remotely HR system can help in remaining connected and
updated with workers and human resource team can also track employees schedules. The Cloud
system also helps in implementing the right performance assessment and compensation system.
Problems which is faced by Human resource management
Virtual Onboarding:
Virtual Onboarding is one of the problem which is faced by human resource team of
Marks and Spencer. They were attracting and hiring expertise talents by using digital methods so
that they can hire top talents in Organisation. The human resource department of Marks and
Spencer gives complete digital experience to candidate (Philip and Arrowsmith, 2020). It is very
difficult to hire the person through online mechanism as organisation cannot get the exact
information of candidate. The human capital theory includes knowledge, skills and experience
of employee. By implementing human capital theory while Onboarding the staff, Marks and
Spencer have to seek for productive human capital who can contribute their best efforts in
accomplishing the task. The theory helps in depicting that employees can increase the
productivity and performance by greater education and effective training. But it also have
drawbacks as it provide insight information of the process through which training of employees
are translated into wages.
Mental Health and Well-being:
It is another problem which is faced by human resource department as employees are
getting demotivated while working from home due to anxiety, stress and other mental health

issues which creates an impact on their performance. Marks and Spencer is taking an initiate by
organising wellness program and providing various other benefits to staff so that they can
overcome their health problems. Marks and Spencer must implement Dynamic capabilities
theory in order to focus on ability to integrate, build and reconfigure the competencies of
Organisation (Chinmulgund and Tapas, 2020). The Benefits of Dynamic Capabilities is that the
firm can come up with innovative ideas in order to improve the mental health and well being of
employees. The disadvantage of Dynamic capabilities is that it doesn't allow firm to satisfy all
the needs of staff.
Managing Remote Work:
Managing remote working is also a problem which is faced by human resource team in
COVID 19. The HR of Marks and Spencer is building a strategies to overcome the challenges as
it affects the performance of employees. It is a difficult task to manage remote working in
effective and efficient way. Marks and Spencer is focusing more on its online food delivery
services which they have started in pandemic ion order to generate income and run the business
effectively. The Company can apply AMO Model in order to illustrate how employees can be
motivated while working remotely (Wu, and et. al., 2016). It is important for Human resource
manager to motivate their workers so that they can perform well by reducing the stress and
anxiety. AMO Model includes three elements they are ability, motivation and opportunity. By
implementing this model, Marks and Spencer can generate an interest among employees so that
they can work with their best potential and accomplish the task on proper time.
Workforce Planning
Workforce planning is a concept of planning, analysing and forecasting the supply and
demand of workforce. Through workforce planning, Marks and Spencer can prepare for the
fulfilling the future needs of employees. It is a process through which company can find and
keep enough employees having right skills, knowledge and values to provide high quality work.
Workforce planning is an effective way for identifying the competencies needed in employees in
present as well as in future. The human resource manager of Marks and Spencer focuses on
planning work loads and finding the right people in right job role. Through effective workforce
planning company can identify and respond to changing workforce needs, improving
productivity and quality output of employees and identify the strategies by focusing on people
development. Workforce planning reduces the absenteeism and increases the administrative

efficiency due to which the performance level of Marks and Spencer get enhanced. For
workforce planning, human resource department is responsible as they have to focus on
increasing the productivity of employees so that they can give their best output in achieving the
business goals and objectives (Skinner, Warrillow and Denehy, 2015). The tools which is used
in Workforce planning are strategic workforce planning map, 9 box grid, HR dash boarding,
compensation and benefits analysis and Scenario Planning. Workforce Planning is all about
aligning the objectives and competitive goals of Marks and Spencer.
Human relation Theory
It is one of the effective theory for workforce planning which is designed to improve the
performance and productivity of employees by maintaining healthy relation movement between
employer and workers. Through implementing this theory in Workforce planning company can
focus on building strong relation between employees. It is necessary for the firm to fulfil the
future staff needs through workforce planning but it will be possible if employees have good
bond between them which helps in reducing the retention rate and turnover rate of workers.
Ethical Practices used in Recruitment and Selection Process
The Consideration that can be taken by Human resource management team of Marks and
Spencer to ensure ethical practices used in recruitment and selection process are :
Eliminate Bias by using tool:
It is one of the consideration that can be used by human resource team of Marks and
Spencer in order to ensure ethical practices. The Company can use AI technology in order to
eliminate bias and improve the efficiency level of recruiter. Through AI technology, Marks and
Spencer can reduce the time for screening the candidate and eliminate the bias while selecting
the suitable applicant (Sheehan and et. al., 2016). The Organisation can also Chatbots in order
boost engagement with new applicants. Due to COVID 19, company is focusing on new
generation of hiring tools by using AI and automating screening.
Selecting Staff according to Job specification:
The human resource manager of Marks and Spencer must select the staff according to the
Job specification. It is important for manager to design job description that attracts more and
more applicants and they can also select the candidate according to the job specification. The
human resource manager must write a list of essential including the criteria to score application

in interview process. They must also prepare for interview question that can help in identifying
the skills and experiences of individuals.
Design Selection Process:
It is also an ethical practices which can be used by human resource manager of Marks
and Spencer while recruiting and selecting the candidate. It is necessary for human resource
manager to design selection process so that they can easily identify the suitable candidate
according to their expectation (Jehanzeb and et. al., 2017). The Manager must design tests and
practical assessment for candidate so that they can identify the competencies and skills of
Candidate.
Recommendation HRM take to Solve the Problem
Virtual Onboarding is one of the problem which is faced by Human resource manager of
Marks and Spencer during pandemic. The Problem can be solved by using better online tactics
through which manager can interact with candidate face to face and take interview effectively.
Human resource manager have to explain the culture and code of conduct of Marks and Spencer
while conducting Onboarding Process. Through Virtual Onboarding there is a coordination gap
between manager and candidate so it is important to check the connectivity while taking
interview or conducting Onboarding process.
Mental Health and Well being is another issue which is faced by human resource
manager in COVID 19. The problem can be solved by reducing the stress and anxiety level of
employees so that they can give their productive outcomes in achieving the goals and objectives
of Company. Mental Health can be reduced by encouraging staff to participate in cultural
activities in order to get distracted form the negative working environment. The Human resource
manager must focus on organising the fun activities in order to boost the morale and motivation
level of employees.
Managing remote working is another problem that is faced by Human resource
department of Marks and Spencer. The Manager can solve the problem by keeping track of staff
performance and having open discussion with employees so that they can communicate and
share their viewpoint. For managing the remote working it is important to communicate with
scattered team so that manager can know the problems and issues which is faced by employees.

CONCLUSION
From the above information it is being concluded that human resource department plays
an important role in Organisation as they manage the life cycle of the staff. In pandemic, Human
resource department had faced many issues and problems such as they have to change the
policies and structure of working, focuses on remote working and hiring candidate through
online medium. The Human resource department is focusing on reducing the challenges and
problems which they faced in coronavirus.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bayraktar, C. A and et. al., 2018. Exploring the relationship between high-involvement human
resource practices and affective commitment within non-Western service
context. International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion. 9(3). pp.283-302.
Chinmulgund, A. and Tapas, P., 2020. Business sustainability and the role of hr in an
organisation. Indian Journal of Ecology. 47(spl). pp.31-41.
Jehanzeb, K and et. al., 2017. Exploring the impact of training and career development on
employee retention: the moderating effect of person-organisation fit. Journal for Global
Business Advancement, 10(5). pp.483-505.
Lertxundi, A., Barrutia, J. and Landeta, J., 2019. Relationship between innovation, HRM and
work organisation. An exploratory study in innovative companies. International
Journal of Human Resources Development and Management. 19(2). pp.183-207.
Philip, K. and Arrowsmith, J., 2020. The limits to employee involvement? Employee
participation without HRM in a small not-for-profit organisation. Personnel Review.
Sembiring, M. G., Rahayu, G. and Sembiring, R. H., 2021. The role of organisational
performance in moderating human resource management and outstanding outcomes in
open distance learning context. International Journal of Mobile Learning and
Organisation. 15(2). pp.212-231.
Sheehan, C and et. al., 2016. Strategic implications of HR role management in a dynamic
environment. Personnel Review.
Skinner, E., Warrillow, S. and Denehy, L., 2015. Organisation and resource management in the
intensive care unit: A critical review. International Journal of Therapy and
Rehabilitation. 22(4). pp.187-196.
Wu, C. H and et. al., 2016. When employees are ostracised, the whole organisation suffers. LSE
Business Review.