Human Resources: Values and Contributions to Organisational Success

This report evaluates the importance of organisational design theory in the context of organisational structure and analyses different approaches and techniques used for attracting, maintaining, developing and rewarding human resources to create a skilled and dedicated workforce. It also covers emerging HR developments and their impact on talent acquisition and retention. The case study of Marks & Spencer is included.

Unit 36 – Human
Resources – Values
and Contributions to
Organisational
Success

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
PART 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
P1 Evaluate the importance of organisational design theory in the context of organisational
structure.......................................................................................................................................3
P2 Analyse the different approaches and techniques used for attracting, maintaining,
developing and rewarding human resources to create a skilled and dedicated workforce.........6
P3 Conduct research and use contemporary knowledge to support evidence for emerging HR
developments...............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
A good organizational structure facilitates effective communication across the company
and helps in increasing the productivity of employees and ensures innovation in the organization.
An effective organizational structure helps in sustainable performance of the business. It creates
a positive and healthy environment where employees develop interest towards the work that
helps in increasing productivity and thereby provides competitive advantage to the company in
terms of smooth functioning (Muczyński, Zwirowicz-Rutkowska and da Costa, 2022). The
following report will cover the role of organisational structure of Marks & Spencer in ensuring
its sustainable performance. It is a UK based multinational public limited company in retail
industry headquartered in London, England. It has the product line of clothing, home and food
products. It serves worldwide with more than 1400 locations. The report will cover the
importance of organizational structure in sustainable performance. It will also cover the
approaches and techniques used to maintain the dedicated workforce. Further, the report will also
cover the analysis of emerging HR developments.
PART 1
P1 Evaluate the importance of organisational design theory in the context of organisational
structure
An organizational structure states about the way of allocation or delegation of activities
to the levels in the hierarchy of organization to achieve the overall objective of the organization.
An organizational design theory provides a framework for structuring of company for
operational conduct of activities in an effective manner (Bish, Becker and Irmer, 2022). The
following points describe the importance of organizational design theory in context with Marks
and Spencer :
 Dealing with contingencies : A contingency is an event that may occur without being
expected and management should plan properly to meet those contingencies and should
be able face the uncertain circumstances. The structure of the organization facilitates in
controlling multiple factors of the environment in an efficient manner. So, the talent
manager of Marks and Spencer is advised to structure the organization in such manner to
maintain control over the environment viz. skilled employees, permanent customers,
government contracts etc.

 Competitive advantage : To face the competition, companies develop different business
strategies to overcome the competitors by offering better products or services.
Organizational structure has an important role in implementation of strategies so as to get
competitive advantage. So, Marks & Spencer should design its structure to outperform
the big competitors like Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury etc.
 Diversity in workforce : In a multinational organization, employees have different
cultures, i.e. they are diversified in term of gender caste, place of origin etc. so, structure
should be designed in such a manner to allow the diversified workforce in a collaborative
manner to utilise the full potential of workforce (Leuffen, Rittberger and
Schimmelfennig, 2022). As M & S is a multinational organization, it must ensure
collaboration in its diversified workforce an thereby in organizational design.
 Innovation and Efficiency : The increased competition forces the businesses to bring
innovation by supplying quality products with cost effective methods. They need to bring
innovation to ensure efficiency in producing products and services. Organizational
structure plays a crucial role in innovation and research as it requires a combined
contribution of all the employees.
There are some theories as well that the talent manager of Marks and Spencer can follow. These
are :
 Classical organizational theory : According to this organizational theory, efficiency of
the organization tends to improve according to the efficiency of human resources. It
considers the organization as a Machine and the employees as components of that
machine. It mainly considers division of labour, departmentalization, coordination and
organizational structure to support collaborate and smooth functioning of business
activities.
 Neo Classical organizational theory : It is a detailed version of classical theory. It
involves behavioural science in the management process. It considers organization as a
social system and considers that the performance of organization is impacted majorly by
the activities and functions of human resources. It mainly focuses on human beings and
thus classified as Behavioural theory (Degner, MacDonald and Lubin, 2022).
 Modern organizational theory : This theory includes various management development
approaches. It focuses on interactions among the individuals across the organization and

put emphasis on developing the connectivity network throughout the organization. It uses
statistical methods to evaluate the performance of organization and to maximise the
potential of its workforce to increase their productivity.
Marks & Spencer follows classical organizational theory that puts emphasis on coordination and
collaboration and adopts the strategy of continuous improvement in the business. To enhance its
decision making process, it involves its employees in this by following classical organizational
theory and participative leadership style.
The organization can follow different organizational structures as below :
 Functional : It is the most common structure. It is also called bureaucratic organizational
structure. According to this, the workforce is divided according to their specialization. It
consists of the departments like Finance, HR, marketing and operational etc. that
categorise the organization as following functional organizational structure.
 Divisional : It is followed in the large organizations with multiple business units. The
company that has wide range of product line follows this structure to make the divisions
function on their own. Organizations use this structure on the basis of their large product
line and size of their business (Şanliöz, Sağbaş and Sürücü, 2022).
 Flat : This structure focuses on providing more autonomy to the employees by including
them in decision making process. The company that wants effective and quick
implementation of strategies follows this structure as this concentrates on making the
chain of command or hierarchy less complex with low levels between management and
employees.
 Matrix : It is the lest used method due to its complexity. It matrixes the workforce
throughout different supervisors, departments and divisions. For example, an employee
may have to report to two managers in the company following this structure.
Marks & Spencer follows a flat organizational structure that has limited levels of management
between administrative level and employees. This organizational structure is followed to inspire
the employees to take part in decision making process. Organizational structure contributes to
sustainable performance by providing understanding to the employees about all the levels in the
company (Maulana, Rohman and Prabowo, 2022). When the employees have understanding that
who should they report to, and what is their tasks and responsibilities, their productivity
increases. Now, Marks and Spencer is enjoying smooth functioning due to its changed structure

by providing more autonomy to the employees and it is providing advantage to the company in
terms of sustainable performance across all its locations worldwide. It put emphasis on providing
more responsibility and accountability on the part of employees to undertake big projects.
P2 Analyse the different approaches and techniques used for attracting, maintaining, developing
and rewarding human resources to create a skilled and dedicated workforce
Organizations need to hire skilful and talented employees to ensure increased
productivity in the business. It must strive to conduct effective recruitment programmes to hire
expert employees who will ensure smooth functioning of the organization. In context with Marks
& Spencer, it can use the below mentioned techniques and approaches for attracting, developing
and retaining a dedicated workforce :
Techniques
 Training and Development : Organizations should conduct training and development
programmes in the company to develop the skills of its employees. A trained workforce
is more able to increase productivity of the business and thereby provides competitive
advantage to the company. For example, M & S can conduct training for its Finance
employees and IT employees by hiring CAs or Software engineers respectively.
 Reward and Recognition programmes : To motivate the employees to contribute more
to the objectives of business, organizations must employ different rewards and
recognition programmes to develop their interests towards work. It facilitates increased
value of employees as well as organization and facilitate their contributions to the
achievement of overall objective of the company (Alqahtani and et. al., 2022). So, M & S
must use this technique to motivate its employees to contribute more.
 Offering competitive benefits or perks : When organizations will be offering more
financial or monetary benefits based on the performance of its workforce, it will make
employees more committed to the goals of organization and it will also attract external
individuals to get hired in the company by knowing its policies about monetary benefits
and perks as compared to that of its competitors for example Tesco, Morrisons, Asda etc.
in case of M & S.
 Performance Appraisals : To maintain the employees, companies must constantly
monitor their performance by different techniques of performance appraisal such as Key
Performance indicators (KPIs), 360 degree feedback, Reward and recognition

programmes etc. In context with M & S, it must conduct performance appraisal
programmes to develop a dedicated workforce and retain it for a long-term.
Approaches
 Integrated system approach : This system facilitates in developing commitments and
competencies from the part of employees. It helps in creating positive and healthy culture
in the organization to provide competitive advantage to the business. The integrated
human resource development approach is mostly followed by modern enterprises.
 Integrated framework approach : This approach provides three paths to the human
resource manager that contribute to the sustainable performance of business. These are-
Building the capabilities of organization, Ensuring employee satisfaction and ensuring
shareholder and customer satisfaction.
 Human capital appraisal approach : This approach considers five stages for the
management and development of human capital. These are – clarification , Evaluation,
Design, Implementation and Monitoring stages. These stages help in effective
development of human resources and helps the organization in getting competitive
advantage.
M & S ensures honest communication with its employees and get their feedbacks on frequent
basis to ensure their retention and effective management. It strives to build healthy and safe
working conditions to develop interests of the employees towards the work. It also organises
various reward and benefits arrangements to motivate its employees (Liu, Yang and Chen, 2022)
. Prior to restructuring, it followed all the ideas to reduce the impact of restructuring on the
workforce by meeting all contractual and legal formalities.
P3 Conduct research and use contemporary knowledge to support evidence for emerging HR
developments
Human resource development is the combined use of training, organization and
development of career by improving employees efficiency as well as organizational
effectiveness. The HRD builds the crucial competencies in the organization to create and
perform current and prospective jobs by planning the learning activities. The following are the
emerging HR trends and development that HR of M & S can also adapt with :

 AI in Recruitment : Organizations are using artificial Intelligence in recruitment and
management process. It is helpful in recruiting the Finance and IT employees. It will
facilitate the HR manager in dealing with the large number of talent acquisitions.
 Quick Candidate screening : Talent acquisition managers face issues in screening the
applicants and applications in a quick manner. For a single recruit, it takes almost 23
hours in screening and selection of candidates. AI will support scanning of wide range of
applications on the basis of their job descriptions, qualifications and eligibilities
(Anunciya and Sivaprakasam, 2022).
 Transforming HR by data analytics : The data analytics can be used in attracting and
retaining the skilful ad talented employees. The HR trends of Data analytics include
systematic research for the detection of trends in absenteeism, employee turnover rate,
leaves occupancy , performance appraisals etc.
 On the Job training : It is imperative for the organizations to provide on the job training
to the employees by using different technologies like gamification, geofencing and other
virtual methods of training to ensure effective mentorship for developed skills and
improved performance.
 Feedback tools to improve engagement : The emerging HR trends make the companies
to use various techniques and tools for employee engagement in collecting feedbacks
such as a tool for performance appraisal like 360 degree feedback (Rabah-Rabbou and et.
al., 2022). In context with M & S, it will help its talent manager in understanding the
concerns of the workforce for taking corrective measures by implementing appropriate
strategies to retain the potential employees in the organization.
M & S must adapt with the above emerging HR trends to ensure talent acquisition and to ensure
their development , retention and management of its human resources with the use of technology,
techniques and tools.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it has been concluded that to ensure sustainable performance
of the organization, companies must adopt effective organizational structure to achieve employee
satisfaction and ensure increased productivity. Organizations must follow the organizational
design theory to support its structuring for making internal processes strong in order to get
competitive advantage. As in the above case, M & S follows flat organizational structure to

include employees in decision making process that bring innovation in the organization and
provide competitive advantage to the company. Companies must use effective techniques and
approaches to develop and retain its talented employees like rewards and recognition
programmes, integrated framework approach etc. Companies must adapt with the emerging HR
trends to ensure talent acquisition.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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reduction by active vector optimization approach using direct torque control–based model
predictive torque control for matrix converter–fed permanent magnet synchronous
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