International Human Resource Management : Marks and Spencer

International Human
Resource Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................................9
REFERNCES ...............................................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
In every single business organization, human resource department plays a crucial role
when it comes to managers workforce. There are many companies that are performing operations
at international market faces a range of issues related to employees. Factors like culture,
technology, interest, motivation, wages and more impacts the most on a company and fluctuates
the employee turnover ratio. Firm which has been chosen under this assignment i.e. Marks and
Spencer. It was found in the year of 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. A major
British multinational retailer headquartered in Westminster, London that specialises in selling
clothing, home products and luxury food products. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and
is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Organisation is having around 81,000 employees that are
performing well in all over the world. Report will cover the issues and various international
human resource model to resolve the issues (Bader, Schuster and Dickmann, 2015).
MAIN BODY
International human resource management is related to managing all activities and
practices of human resource management at an international level for achieving goals and
objectives of company at a large scale. HR managers of companies which operates at
international level has to face a lot of problems. These problems sometimes act as barriers in
their way to success. Marks & Spencer is an UK based multinational retailer, which is providing
their services in many countries. In case of this company, Human resource managers has to deal
with problems related to training and development, cultural diversity, employee benefits and
compensation, compliance with international laws and tax liabilities etc.
At international level HR managers of Marks & Spencer needs to comply with the laws
and regulations of foreign country. As, non compliance with regional laws can create complexity
in conducting business operations. Different nation has different laws related to industry,
employee protection and wages, company has to understand these and adopt them for effectively
running their business at an international level (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016). Some
countries have more protective laws and some have less protective regulations for employees.
International laws act as a major problem for human resource personnel because these are
directly related to recruitment, promotion and management of organisational activities.
The staffing challenges for international assignments are broader in scope than those for
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domestic staffing. There are different approaches to the management of International human
resources. These are as follows: Ethnocentric – this is been considered as one of the stage where
attitude of HR managers day is related to home country. Along with this, it can be said that
management style, knowledge, evaluation criteria, and managers are superior to anything the
host country might have to offer. Another International human resource management policy
which could be followed by Marks and Spencer is, polycentric where there is a conscious belief
that only host country managers can ever really understand the culture and behaviour of the host
country market; therefore, foreign subsidiary should be managed by local people (Brewster, C.
and et. al., 2016). Away with this, Geocentric can also be taken as a policy based on the
assumption that the best manager or other employee for any specific position anywhere on the
globe may be found in any of the countries in which the organization operates. These three sets
of multinational values translate into three broad international staffing policies or sources for
staffing international operations. First, the company can send people from its home country.
These employees are often referred as expatriates. Second, it can hire host-country nationals,
natives of the host country, to do the managing. Third, it can hire third-country nationals, natives
of a country other than the home country or the host country. These sources of overseas workers
have different advantages.
HR activities and practices at an international level is very much expensive as compare to
managing activities at local level, which also a problem for HR personnel. In context to Marks
and Spencer, human resource occurs so many expenses which are related to staffing new
employees, traveling costs related to relocating local staff to another nation, understanding
different regulations and laws, providing training on use of new technology etc. All these creates
a lot of cost to company at international level. For Marks & Spencer, distance is also a major
issue in international human resource management, because creating and providing the same
atmosphere of culture, training and policies in each country is a very difficult task.
Culture of an organization act as intangible atmosphere which creates shared values and
norms of company (Deresky, 2017). HR managers of Marks & Spencer have primary or basic
duty to create a positive and effective cultural environment for employees, so that they work
together in an efficient manner. But, at international level culture creates issues because HR
professionals recruit employees from different cultural background and diversity. It creates
difficulty to bring them together as they have different cultural perspective. For this Marks and
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Spencer needs to adapt different style of working, new ways and ideas of communication to
know various social and cultural aspects. HR managers also face issues in establishing the core
values and norms of their business like innovation and elite services etc.
At international level, ecoBrewster, C., Vernon, G., Sparrow, P. and Houldsworth, E.,
2016. International human resource management. Kogan Page Publishers.nomic factors of every
nation are different as all the countries do not follow same economic system. In case of capitalist
system of economy, main focus of companies are towards development of policies which
promotes productivity and efficiency. In socialist system focus is towards welfare of employees.
So, economic system of nation also act as major issue for human resource managers while
developing and implementing HR practices and policies (Sekiguchi, Froese and Iguchi, 2016).
In current time, most of organizations faces a range of issues but one of the most common
and never ending problem related to staff. Companies whether performing at international level
or at domestic, employee turnover ratio stays at an uncertain level. HR manager of a business
organisation contains many responsibilities and these are recruitment and selection, training and
development, human resource planning, assessing performance of employees, payment and
reward systems and initiatives to align employee developments to corporate strategies. Workers
can be considered as as an asset of an organisation which can make or break a company. An
effective HR department can easily control the overall performance level of workforce for the
organisation. A little responsibility could lead company like Marks and Spencer to go through
immense problem which cannot be resolved easily. In the same way, Marks and Spencer has also
face the same issue where employee turnover ratio was high. This took place because
organisation has not been really very helpful to its employees which made staff feel demotivated
towards their work. Since the company is performing at international level it has many stores in
all over the world which required critical and well performance based HR department. As Marks
and Spencer is performing in more than 60 countries which has different cultures and here it can
be said that cultural differences is one of the most crucial factor for HR department of this
company because they have to manage Their employees depending on their cultural believes that
follows. What’s an example where special team of a different nation has started working with
the local United kingdom’s stores employees and this raised conflicts among them because of
the working style they have been following with each other (Kumar, B.N. and Steinmann, H.
eds., 2015). It is the responsibility of HR manager to keep on looking into this kind of light
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problems so that company would not face any kind of issues regarding to both profitability and
productivity. Training is one of a crucial thing which can be considered as a problem solving
technique through which an HR manager of Marks and Spencer can help both special team and
local employees to work with each other. Brexit has also been any issue for Marks and Spencer
where which most of stores are in United Kingdom where employees from other countries like
European Union started leaving their jobs and again it is the official duty of HR manager to
focus on the interest and finding out the reasons why employee started leaving their jobs. It is
the responsibility over here of an HR manager to develop strategies based on the requirements
of employees so that they could develop faith on organisations policies.
Due to Brexit many of employees of Marks and Spencer started thinking that organisation
might ask them to leave the job because UK was about to evict European Union and a great
percentage of employees work from many European countries for M&S (Chmiel, Fraccaroli and
Sverke eds., 2017). Along with it can also be said that, cultural differences among staff members
was considered as another main issue which impacted upon performance level of employees and
of company at the same time. Just like this, there are many other reasons as well which can be
considered as issue like because of Brexit, employees has as a free hand and test because United
Kingdom has became an open market many organisation came across to perform and give offers
to people that was looking for abetter opportunity. This also raised the employee turnover ratio
of Marks and Spencer. It was pretty much required for HR manager to do not just develop the
good policies for staff but to offer them with great compensation incentives which were badly
needed at that time. Company has also used many motivational techniques for theories in order
to keep up the work of staff so that organisations performance may not decrease.
M&S has designed an appropriate reward strategy for employees taking up an
international position, and this included many factors such as: A knowledge of the laws,
customs, environment, and employment practices of the foreign countries. Familiarity with
currency relationships and the effect of inflation on compensation. An understanding of the
allowances appropriate to particular countries, etc. Which help them in in improving the loyalty
of employees towards the company. Here, the main method of drawing up a compensation
package is known as the ‘balance sheet’ approach. This approach is, according to Reynolds:
system which was being developed to equalise the purchasing power of employees at
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comparable position levels living overseas and in the home country, and to provide incentives to
offset qualitative differences between assignment locations’.
There are many legal laws are best for United kingdom’s employees so that they can get
benefit while working in the home country all while performing the task at a different nation for
a particular time frame (Tarique, Briscoe, and Schuler, 2015). Marks and Spencer has kept its
focus on the same and built up compensatory policy for its employees so that to keep up their
interest among their jobs. This has helped them in motivating employees towards the company
and kept them loyal for a longer period of time. If it is talked about training and development for
recruitment and selection process, HR manager of Marks and Spencer has also showed lack of
performance among these two areas as well because there was a time when company has
recruited many unethical and underperformed employees just because of the high pressure and
high competition given by other organisations this has impacted negatively of overall
performance level of Marks and Spencer. In order to reduce the high turnover ratio of employees
Marks and Spencer has already used a number of strategies and these are having right people at
correct time, offering Employees with competitive pay and other benefits, showing them their
career path for their security feature and something is also referred them flexible working hours
so that employees can easily work effectively and efficiently (Yahiaoui, 2015).
If it is talked about hiring right people at correct time, then it can easily be said that
recruiting a qualified person is not only enough for Marks and Spencer but candidate is fitting
the job, adopting the culture and carrying a good behaviour is also pretty much required. With
the help of this only accompany like Marks and Spencer can become a leader at international
level. If it is critically analyse then and the strategy which has been followed by Marks and
Spencer is somehow correct because it is essential to analyse the attitude of of the candidate
which is going to work ok in the company in near future if he she is not fitting the culture then it
is may be possible that the candidate might leave soon. On the other hand, People want to be
compensated well. They need to cover standard expenses like housing, utilities, and food. And
most people want enough money for extras, too. If M&S don’t pay its employees well, they’ll
find a business that will. Statement which has been given as somehow write because in a person
can live without a good money because of modern living standards comma if the individual is
not going to get paid well enough then he she might leave the job right away which can again
increase the high turnover ratio of employees. In any case, it is recommended for Marks and
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Spencer to keep focusing on different factors like encouragement and recognition. These are the
two factors which main the helps in appreciating staff for their work that they have done. It is
basically recommended that to keep on motivating staff if it is must needed for a company like
marks and Spencer’s manager to develop important policies like recognition and compensation
so that liquid filled right and happy that their working in a company which values them and there
work.
The goal here is to create an encouraging, positive work environment. When employees
feel respected, acknowledged, desired, and motivated, they are more likely to stay. Best of all,
this method to decrease employee turnover is free. Marks and Spencer’s HR department would
not even require to do anything they just have to use correct thing at right time. Along with this,
it can also be said that it is most essential nowadays for companies like Marks and Spencer to
show Their employees with the correct path from where they came from and where they will go
in the future. With the help of this, Marks and Spencer can easily develop its image much more
positive in front of its employees (Reiche eds., 2016). Another approach, which can be
recommended two Marks and Spencer and that is flexible hours however it is not possible to
offer every single employee with the same but once it gets regular an employee when is start
performing well because he she can work performed whenever it is possible for them from their
own busy life. Flexible work schedules let employees adjust their work time and location.
Employees can create a work-life balance for themselves. Marks and Spencer’s workers can
pursue things beyond work, go to appointments, and take care of their families. Flexible work
schedules might not be possible for all businesses. However, if it is critically analyse then and
this type of approach is somewhat right it and wrong as well because flexible working hours
main lead an employee to become more lazy rather than becoming an active one keeping a
schedule fixed can help an organisation like Marks and Spencer to putting impact on its own
performance and productivity Level. Since, Marks and Spencer is performing at international
level cultural diversity model used in order to resolve all the cultural and environmental
diversity related issues because these are the major two factors which impacts upon
performance level of a company like Marks and Spencer while working at global level. Based on
a philosopher named as Hofstede (1980) there is a who use difference between to employees if
they belongs to do other nations of follows a different culture. There were.4 key dimensions
were identified and these are: Individualism versus Collectivism – i.e. where there is
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individualism people will stay more concerned about their families and first priorities and if it is
talked about collectivism then the candidates former employees of Marks and Spencer for any
other individual give their Prime loyalty towards the production given to them and we will also
find out the protection for a wider group area all group of people. Power distance – i.e. the extent
to which different cultures accept different distributions of power within the society; people with
high power society will directly accept the white difference of power which is not at all going to
be shared with anyone but to be ruled over the bottom ones. On the other hand, if it is talked
about Low Power distance employees of Marks and Spencer will see the power needs to be we
shared equally without leaving any sort of GAP among top up or bottom ranked staff members.
Uncertainty Avoidance – i.e. the extent to which a society is tolerant of uncertainty and which
therefore feels less need to avoid it (Low Avoidance) or feels threatened by it (High Avoidance).
Last but not the least dimension Which is Masculinity versus Femininity, where accompany e
is going to have the tendency related to muscularity or the employees of the organisation must
has as a concern related to you there on relationship with managers families board of directors
and other welfares which is feminity. Thus, you can easily we say that an organisation has to
perform level and keep its focus on staff while performing at international level MP Panna ki
modification among policies, technology and other related staff related situations in order to
perform well at market place (Sekiguchi, Froese and Iguchi, 2016).
CONCLUSION
With the help of above mention report, it has been concluded that HR department plays a
crucial role for every single business organisation weather it is to recruit correct people right on
time or to train them as per the requirements. An effective HR department could lead an
organisation to face a number of issues like losses decrease in Goodwill and so on. Many
theories and service can help HR manager to develop motivation among staff so that they can
keep on working with the company for a longer period of time.
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REFERNCES
Books & Journals:
Bader, B., Schuster, T. and Dickmann, M., 2015. Special issue of International Journal of Human
Resource Management: Danger and risBader, B., Schuster, T. and Dickmann, M.,
2015Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016Brewster, C. and et. al.,
2016Deresky, H., 2017.Sekiguchi, T., Froese, F.J. and Iguchi, C., 2016Chmiel, N.,
Fraccaroli, F. and Sverke, M. eds., 2017Yahiaoui, D., 2015Reiche eds., 2016Sekiguchi,
T., Froese, F.J. and Iguchi, C., 2016Tarique, I., Briscoe, D.R. and Schuler, R.S.,
2015Kumar, B.N. and Steinmann, H. eds., 2015k as challenges for HRM: how to
manage people in hostile environments.
Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016. Globalizing human resource management.
Routledge.
Brewster, C. and et. al., 2016. International human resource management. Kogan Page
Publishers.
Deresky, H., 2017. International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson
Education India.
Sekiguchi, T., Froese, F.J. and Iguchi, C., 2016. International human resource management of
Japanese multinational corporations: Challenges and future directions. Asian Business &
Management. 15(2). pp.83-109.
Chmiel, N., Fraccaroli, F. and Sverke, M. eds., 2017. An introduction to work and organizational
psychology: An international perspective. John Wiley & Sons.
Yahiaoui, D., 2015. Hybridization: striking a balance between adoption and adaptation of human
resource management practices in French multinational corporations and their Tunisian
subsidiaries. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 26(13).
pp.1665-1693.
Reiche eds., 2016. Readings and cases in international human resource management. Taylor &
Francis.
Sekiguchi, T., Froese, F.J. and Iguchi, C., 2016. International human resource management of
Japanese multinational corporations: Challenges and future directions. Asian Business &
Management. 15(2). pp.83-109.
Tarique, I., Briscoe, D.R. and Schuler, R.S., 2015. International human resource management:
Policies and practices for multinational enterprises. Routledge.
Kumar, B.N. and Steinmann, H. eds., 2015. Ethics in international management (Vol. 84). Walter
de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
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