Managing Human Capital and Leadership

This report examines the human resource management practices of Marks & Spencer, a leading British multinational retailer. It analyzes relevant HRM models, critically discusses the organization's HR functions in relation to strategic human resource initiatives, evaluates HRM software programs, and explores the characteristics of effective leaders within the company.

Managing Human
capital and Leadership

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1..........................................................................................................................................................3
Relevant HRM models and analyze the approach of the company to the management of its human
resources ....................................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2 .........................................................................................................................................................6
Critically discuss the organization’s HR functions in relation to strategic human resource initiatives ........6
TASK 3 .......................................................................................................................................................11
Critically evaluate a number of HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT software programs and best software
for benefit for the company ......................................................................................................................11
TASK 4........................................................................................................................................................12
Discuss the characteristics of effective leaders of the organization..........................................................12
REFERNCES ................................................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is defined as that department of the organization that take
care of human resource or individuals working in the company. This provides market
competitive advantage for the company. This approach is made for maximizing employee
performance in organization and achieve the strategic goals and objectives of the company
(Alfes and et. al., 2013). Human resources includes individuals as well as group of individuals
who work in the company and department for handling the resources related to workforce.
Human resource management is used for explaining growth of an employee in the company.
This is also known as personnel and talent management. In the following report, the company
which is considered is Marks and Spencer. This is a big British multinational retailer that was
established in the year 1884. The company is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. This
company was founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. This report consists of human
resource management models, HR functions and HR software programs. This report also
contains characteristics of effective leaders by taking into consideration of various issues.
TASK 1
Relevant HRM models and analyze the approach of the company to the management of its
human resources
There are some major models of Human resource management and these help in building
a good environment for employees in the company. The models of HRM helps in providing an
analytical framework for analyzing Human resource management. For instance, the Human
resource management takes care of competence,strategic choice levels, stakeholders, situational
factors etc (Budhwar, and Debrah, eds., 2013). These models demonstrates various HRM
practices and it is a distinctive approach for selecting and training of employees. These provides
a characterization of the human relations which maintains variables and relationship. The
different HRM models followed by different organizations are The Fombrun model, The
Harvard model, the guest and the Warwick model.

The Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna Model – This is the first human resource
management model which was proposed in the year 1984. This model focuses on functions of
HRM and their inter-relatedness. The main functions of human resource management are
selection, appraisal, development and rewards. All these components help in managing human
resource of the company and help in increasing efficiency and productivity of the company
(Chelladurai, and Kerwin, 2017). The limitation of this model is that it is not complete because
it emphasizes on basically four functions of human resource management and it does not
considers contingency and environmental factors which affects functions of Human resource
management.
The Harvard model– The Harvard model is considered to be comprehensive and it
consists of basically six components that are present in the Human resource management. There
are different dimensions of HR management included in this model such as situational factors,
stakeholder’s interests, HR outcomes, long term consequences, HR policy choices and feedback
loop through. The output of these flows directly to the stakeholder and organization. The
Harvard model framework is shown below-
Stakeholder’s
interests
Situational
factors
HRM policies HRM
outcomes
Long term
consequences
Shareholders
Management
Employee groups
Government
Community
Workforce
characteristics
Management
philosophy
Business strategy
and conditions
Tasks
Technology
Labor market
Human resource
flow
Reward systems
Work systems
Employee
influence
Competence
Cost
effectiveness
Congruence
Commitment
Individual well
being
Organizational
effectiveness
Societal well
being

Unions Law and
societal values
The Guest Model– This model of HRM was given by David Guest in the year 1997.
This model is more effective than other HRM models. According to this model, there are some
strategies made by the human resource department and it’s main objective is to demand several
HRM practices and activities of the company. These HRM practices help in developing good
results in the company such as behavioral, performance associated results and financial rewards.
The guest model focuses on the logical sequence of various components like HR practices, HR
strategy, performance results, financial consequences, HR outcomes, behavioral outcomes and
HR strategy (Effectiveness of HRM practices. 2018). The financial results of the company
depends upon performance of employee. This is result of the action oriented behaviors. The
behavioral outcomes are the result of flexibility, quality and commitment of the employee and
these are impacted by HR practices. The HR practices have to be inclined with the HR strategies
for aligning these with goals and objectives of the company. The guest model is best among all
models of Human resource management.
The Warwick Model – The Warwick model of human resource management was
developed by two researchers naming Hendry and Pettigrew of University of Warwick. Due to
this reason, the model is known as Warwick model. Like other Human resource
management models, the Warwick considers following five elements-
 Outer context (macro environmental forces)
 Inner context (firm specific or micro environmental forces)
 Business strategy content
 Human resource management context
 Human resource management content
The Warwick model considers the business strategy of an organization and HR practices
of the company. This model analyses the different external and internal elements which affects

the HR activities. This also involves interactions between changes that happen in both content
and context. The main advantage of using this model is that, it helps in identifying and
classifying the environmental factors (Huselid, and Becker, 2011). These helps the company to
know exploration of Human resource management in adapting different changes in the company.
The organizations which are achieving an alignment between internal and external context will
be helped in achieving development and growth in performance.
TASK 2
Critically discuss the organization’s HR functions in relation to strategic human resource
initiatives
The human resource is defined as the field of management that deals with strategic
planning of the human resource and appropriate utilization of human resources. A good Human
resource management helps in creating opportunities to expand and grow business. The main
objective of a human resource management of any company is to regulate and ensure appropriate
and effective functioning of the HR practices and HR activities (López-Nicolás, and Meroño-
Cerdán,, 2011). This provides better achievement of goals and objectives of company and leads
to strategic human resource development. A good human resource management helps in
achieving long term goals or objectives of an organization. Therefore, it is essential for Marks &
Spencer to ensure the fulfillment of needs of employees with different strategies and planning of
the organization. Another aim of Human resource management is to motivate employees for
working hard and achieving target and goals of the organization in specified time frame. In
context of Marks and Spencer, the functions of human resource management are well defined
for better functioning and operating of the company. As Marks and Spencer deals with selling of
clothes and apparels, it is important for this company to have a good and better functioning. A
good Human resource management is important for providing an opportunity for accomplishing
the defined goals or targets of an organization. Marks & Spencer is the leading clothes and
garments retailer in United Kingdom. Therefore, it is essential that human resource management
of this organization is organized in such a way that goals or objectives of a company should be
achieved properly and effectively. There are different function of human resource management
in this company like recruitment, selection, human resource development, talent acquisition,

talent retention, etc. These functions are very important for the growth of employees as well as
strategic goals of the company. A company is defined as a place which consists of different
people working together for achieving a specific purpose. The human resource management is
involved in hiring workforce and giving them training and development for motivating these
employees and making them achieve company's objectives and defined targets. Human resource
functions are important in an organization for both employees and employers. The management
of Marks and Spencer manages organizational activities and improve employee’s performance
by implementing effective Human resource management practices. The different activities
involved in HRM functions are recruiting, training, firing, paying, employee welfare
administration, etc. (Marchington and et. al., 2016). The different functions of HRM in Marks
and Spencer are given below-
Recruitment & Selection: This is an important function of Human resource management
of an organization. This is a HRM function that involves recruiting and selecting a right
candidate for the company who can work effectively in work environment of the organization.
This department is responsible for recruiting the best candidate for working in the organization.
Another important role of human resource department in the company is to provide training and
career development sessions that will help in enhancing skills and knowledge of an employee.
An appropriate candidate is a person who possess right skills, talent, knowledge and
information. For this purpose, HR professional needs to be very competent for judging and
noticing the behavior, attitude and personality of an individual. Recruitment is defined as the
process of hiring new talents and candidates who can function in the company (Messersmith, and
et. al., 2011). This is a process of searching for a skilled candidate and motivating this individual
for working in the organization Recruitment process is started by searching individuals by giving
advertisements in the newspapers, journals and magazine. Other ways by which job
advertisements are circulated are employment websites or job portals. This involves internal and
external sources of recruitment. After recruitment, selection is the second process, when
candidate is judged on the basis of aptitude, analytical behavior, personality and attitude etc. In
context with Marks & Spencer, it is necessary to understand and evaluate strength and
weaknesses of hiring through internal or external recruitment.
Types of Recruitment in Marks and Spencer:

Internal recruitment: This is a type of recruitment in which candidate are selected from
inside the organization(Renwick, Redman, and Maguire, 2013). It is completely based on merit
cum seniority basis. In this process, there are various methods used for hiring candidates like
transfer, promotion and references etc.
Advantages:
Saving time and cost: In this, employees are hired from inside the company by the
process of promotion, transfer to the higher opportunities and references. This is a recruitment
process which requires less time and good candidates are selected by using internal recruitemnet
process.
Less risky: Internal recruitment is less risky and it saves time.
Disadvantages:
Limited excess to employees : Candidates are less in number and they lack the required
skills, knowledge and talent. Therefore, it will result in less number of skilled employee.
External recruitment: This is a recruitment process in which candidates are hires from
outside the organization. This is a time consuming recruitment method that helps companies in
selecting right people who can work in the organization and work efficiently. There are various
ways by which this recruitment is done such as pool campus, job portals, taking helps grom
recruiting companies, etc. In context with Marks & Spencer, this process of recruitment is
beneficial in selecting and hiring talented and skilled employees for the organization (Rubery,
and Urwin, 2011). The strength and weaknesses of external recruitment are discussed below-
Advantages
Wide range of candidate: In the case of external recruitment, there are various candidates
that can be selected from different sources. There is a wide range of good candidates that can be
selected through this kind of recruitment process.
Disadvantages:

Cost and time consuming: This is one of the most costly and time consuming source of
recruitment. In this, organization is required to incur huge cost in giving advertisement in
newspaper, magazine, and journals along with recruiting through third party, employment
agencies where company needs to give some percent of commission.
Orientation: This is a human resource management function in which new employees or
fresher employees are introduced to the work environment of an organization. In Marks &
Spencer, it is the responsibility of HR professional to make new employee aware about the
current and future trends and past of the company. In this function, HR should provide the clear
insight about the vision & Mission of the company, targets, products or services etc.
Training and development: This is another important function of human resource
management of a company. In case of Marks & Spencer, right employees are recruited and given
appropriate orientation. After this the employees are given various trainings like on the job
training, off the job training, skill development training, etc. These trainings help in enhancing
ability, skill and knowledge of employees (Schermerhorn and et. al., 2014). A skilled employee
is always helpful for the organization and they help in achieving the strategic goals and
objectives of the company. This phase is very challenging and critical activities of the HR
professional, where an employee needs to learn, adapt and gain the following abilities-
Knowledge: The human resource management manager must have knowledge related to
the current market trends, strategies of the company. They should also have knowledge related to
products and services of the company and customer needs and demands of company, customer
profile, acknowledgment etc.
Skills: There are some skills which are essential for a HR manager which help him to
make the employees of company skilled and better for working in the organization. These skills
includes such as communication skills, customer engagement, attitude building, personality
development, dressing sense, etc. It is the major responsibility of the HR manager of Marks and

Spencer to make sure that all the activities regarding the training and development should be
conducted at workplace for improving the skills and abilities of an individual.
Managing employee performance: It is necessary to have effective employees for
making an employee perform well and builds company’s reputation and image in market. A
good performance of employee is obtained from high level motivation, inspiration, and
confidence given by the seniors and top level executives and person. For increasing the
knowledge and abilities of employees , Marks & Spencer should provide bonuses, perks,
appreciations, certificates, adequate pay and compensation, performance based incentives etc
(Sparrow, Brewster, and Chung, 2016). This will help company to attain their long term
objectives and goals.
Providing good working conditions: It is the duty of human resource management to
provide their employees a good working environment so that they can achieve goals and
objectives in given time frame. Marks and Spencer formulates new strategies for creating a
positive environment at workplace. This helps to enhance productivity and efficiency of the
company.
Selection: It is defined as a process by which a right candidate is selected among the
applicants who have cleared the qualification criteria. It is important for Marks and Spencer to
have a good selection process so that right candidates who can work for the organization in an
effective way are selected to work in the company. A good selection process helps in selecting
the right candidate who has proper knowledge and abilities to do work. This helps the company
to increase the number of good and efficient candidates that can work in the company and
increase the profitability and efficiency of the company.

TASK 3
Critically evaluate a number of HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT software
programs and best software for benefit for the company
There are a large number of options in the market for HRM software . There are
following types of HRM software used by different companies in the world for doing HR
functions and operations effectively.
Oracle HCM Cloud : Oracle HCM cloud is a complete HRM solution which is more
strategic and utilize the work force to the best possible extend. The adaptive software allows the
organizations to develop and find the best in their work force that in turn helps in the growth and
development of the organization (Sheehan, 2014.). Though, there are some issues like integration
with the 3rd party software/platforms, high pricing, inability to translate solutions in European
languages and compatibility issues with Google chrome. Overall it is a good option worth
considering if the down sides can be ignored.
Infor CloudSuite HCM : Infor CloudSuite HCM is really as sweet as it gets. It not only
provides cloud based human capital management solutions but also adapts to organizations
evolving business strategy. This software gives HR professionals a simple solutions without the
complex processes, workflows and systems with sophisticated, yet easy to grasp technology. The
pricing is also not very steep. The only issue with this solution is the over simplified user
interface. Some details never hurt. Overall this is a viable solution when looking simple but
elegant solutions.
Workday HCM: This HCM is truly revolutionary. It is the only Human capital management
system in the world that unifies HR and Human talent management into a single system. With an
amazing user interface that is very simple yet highly elegant with embedded analytics and
manager and employee self-service, Workday makes it a cakewalk to manage a global, mobile,
and diverse human capital. But unlike many other HCM applications, it is completely cloud
based which may be an issue in regions with poor internet connectivity. Moreover, it does not
provide users the ability to use a custom cloud or to make major customization. It is a good
option for small and medium businesses but when it comes to a multinational giant like Marks
and Spencer this might not be the best option.

Kronos Workforce Ready: This HCM is a total package from recruitment, on boarding,
training and development benefits, compensation, performance management, succession
planning, time and attendance scheduling, absence management, payroll and labor analytics.
Optimized with the Google public cloud, Kronos Workforce Ready provides a flexible domain
model with an AI that always makes the work easier (Storey, 2014). It might not be the cheapest
or the fastest in the market, but it does hold up its own side of the bargain.
Dayforce HCM: This human capital management combines all major components of HP
into a cloud based system. It is designed to tackle all aspects of employee life-cycle for business
with a few hundred to thousands of employees. Ceridian provides a wide range of services to
their clients in order to provide an ultimate solution with expert solutions to manage benefits and
payrolls. The main issue with this HRM system is that it is entirely cloud based and includes no
onsite installations. Also it does not provide any support for training management and switching
between different employee charts is tiresome. Overall, it is a good human capital management
solution for smaller enterprises with smaller budgets, but falls when it comes to larger
enterprises.
Moreover, It is important for Marks and Spencer to know which software is best for
handling the HR operations. Analyzing all HRM software with their ups and downs, Oracle
HCM Cloud would be the ideal option for Marks and Spencer as it is most compatible with the
existing business module and is also adaptive and thus can accommodate the future changes in
the company’s future business module.
TASK 4
Discuss the characteristics of effective leaders of the organization
A proper Human resource management in Marks & Spencer will help in maximizing
profits and achieving goals or targets of an organization in given time. Also an effective leader is
required in Marks and Spencer for handling the functions and operations of the company
effectively. As, Marks and Spencer is a big multinational company that is operating in different
countries. Thus, it is necessary for such company to formulate and implement good HR strategies
so as to increase productivity of the organization and have strong leaders who can attain targets

and goals of the company in given time (Unger, and et. al., 2011). There are different
opportunities of effective human resource management practices in this company like
increasing employee morale, productivity, efficiency etc. In context with Marks & Spencer,
detailed and comprehensive explanation is required for the better understanding of effectiveness
of Human resource management practices. These practice enhances Innovation and high
performing employees and it is the responsibility of the human resource management to promote
healthy and innovative environment for motivating and enhancing performance of employees
and achieving organizational goals and objectives in given time. In Marks & Spencer, it would
be beneficial for an employee to increase their productivity as well as their contribution in
increasing the revenue and profits for the company. The characteristics of an effective leader in
Marks and Spencer are honesty and integrity, confident, inspiring, passionate and committed
towards work, have good decision making capabilities, accountability, creative and innovative,
delegation and empowerment. All these traits and characteristics help a leader in effectively
performing roles and responsibilities. It is important for a leader to be passionate and creative
and work hard in achieving targets of the company. Leaders have to set an example for other
followers so that they can work effectively. A leader’s communication skills and decision
making capabilities the an important qualities for success of the company. An effective leader is
able to manage the employees effectively-
Conflict solving: Conflict management is an essential role of human resource
management. It is very important for the companies to resolve issues for between employees and
employers. This helps to increase the productivity of employees and hence it contributes to
efficiency of employees. This helps in providing solutions for issues by which conflicts occur
such as improper language, poor attitude, insubordination, etc.
Training and development: - In Marks and Spencer, the human resource management
provides training and development to employees for enhancing their knowledge and abilities.
Marks and Spencer provides training to employees on the basis of their weakness. Effective
training and career development session are provided to employees for increasing the efficiency
and profitability of employees as well as organization.
Information resources: - Another role of human resource management is that it manages
the information resources of employees. It is responsibility of leaders to provide information to

employees and giving them relevant information related to employees such as benefits,
incentives, compensatory advantages, leaves, holidays, etc. It becomes easy for employees to
access personnel information. There are few advantages of effective leaders in management of
Marks and Spencer that are mentioned below-
Flexible workplace: - Flexible environment at workplace is required for making
employees feel involved and connected among the organization. There must be flexible
workplace at Marks and Spencer for creating a positive mindset of employees.
Developing better relations: - The human resource management ensures that employees
and employers are facing a good relationship between themselves. This helps to work
coordinately and creating positive environment at workplace. The managers and leaders of
Marks and Spencer have to ensure that there is a healthy relation between employees and
employers. This is necessary as if there is not good relation between employees then there are
chances of conflicts and fights at workplace.
Encouraging optimistic behavior: - The leaders must ensure that they are encouraging
and motivating employees and appraising positive environment at workplace. A positive work
culture helps in motivating workers and making them efficient to work. A positive environment
at workplace will always help employees to concentrate on work and be productive and achieve
targets of the company in specified time frame.
Retaining educated employees: - Effective leaders should recruit and select in
qualified employees. The leaders of Marks and Spencer supports flexibility and efficiency.
Organizations must gain well educated and qualified staff for enhancing efficiency and
productivity of the company. This helps organization in reducing turnover and controlling risk
in business.

REFERNCES
Books and Journals