Managing People: Leadership Development, Strategic Learning, Training and Development, Performance Management

This document discusses the importance of managing people in organizations through leadership development, strategic learning, training and development, and performance management. It includes a case study of Marks and Spencer, a leading British retailer. The document explores different HRM practices and their impact on employee engagement and overall performance. It also discusses leadership theories and the role of training and development in enhancing employee skills and knowledge. Additionally, it highlights the significance of performance management in creating a positive work environment.

Managing People
Assessment

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................................3
Leadership Development.........................................................................................................................3
Strategic Learning, Training and Development.......................................................................................6
Performance Management.......................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
HRM or Human Resource Management can be referred to as the practice which involves
managing people in order to enhance the overall performance of the organization. HRM is one of
the most important business functions within the company as without it, companies cannot
function effectively and retain the employees effectively. This can affect the overall working
atmosphere within the workplace (Bader, Schuster and Dickmann, 2019). Organization chosen
for this report is Marks and Spencer, which is a leading British retailer of clothing as well as
household products. The company was founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in the
year 1884. Effective human resource management helps organizations in attaining their goals as
well as objectives in an effective manner. not only this, it also ensures that the employees are
committed and engaged to their respective jobs. The report includes a discussion on different
areas such as leadership development, strategic learning, training and development as well as
performance management. There is also a critical evaluation of these HRM practices in the
selected organization based on theoretical frameworks.
MAIN BODY
Leadership Development
Leadership can be defined as the practice of motivating a group of people within the
organization to work collectively towards achieving common goals. This can include directing
the workers as well as team members so as to meet the company’s needs. It is an important HRM
practice that helps the managers within the organization to motivate their employees to achieve a
high level of performance. Leadership development refers to activities that improve the skills as
well as confidence of leaders. Marks and Spencer is a leading organization that conducts various
leadership development programs that provide the employees with important leadership skills as
well as attributes they are needed to be an effective leader (Barbosa and et.al., 2018). There are
different types of leadership styles that leaders within an organization can adopt, such as
democratic, autocratic, transformative as well as affiliative leadership style. The leaders at Marks
and Spencer have a democratic style of leadership, which means that they encourage their team
members to share their ideas while making decisions. Democratic leadership is also known as
participative leadership and the managers within the company give equal opportunity to all the
employees to exchange and discuss ideas freely.

Kat’s (1955) Three Skills Approach
There are different leaderships theories that have been proposed and many companies are
implementing the same in their workplace. Katz has suggested that effective leadership is based
on three skills after his field research as well as observations in the workplace. These skills are
technical, human as well as conceptual skills. Technical skill can be referred to as the knowledge
about as well as proficiency in a particular type of work (Chakraborty and Upadhyay, 2018). For
example, in Marks and Spencer, the employees have technical skills relating to the retail sector.
It can be said that technical skills play an important role within a company at the lower as well as
middle levels. Human skill is another type of skill that was suggested by Katz and can be defined
as the knowledge about and having an ability to work with them. Human skill is different from
technical skill as it involves working with people. Not only this, human skills are also referred to
as people skills and assist a leader within a company to work effectively with their subordinates
and peers. Lastly, conceptual skills can be referred to as the ability of the leaders to work with
ideas and concepts in an effective manner. Leaders in Marks and Spencer have effective
conceptual skills which means that they are able to talk comfortably about ideas that shape the
organization.
Effective leadership is all about self-awareness, self-management as well as relationship
management. Leadership development is all about leading through change and removing barriers
within the company. Marks and Spencer is concerned about developing its leaders and helping
them acquire new skills as well as enhance their knowledge about the latest trends within the
industry. Not only this, the company also conducts various leadership development programs in
order to allow the leaders to be aware of the changes that take place within the workplace.
Leadership development helps in creating skilled as well as empowered leaders as they are able
to guide and direct the employees in an effective manner (Cheung and Qi, 2017). Not only this,
they also encourage them to work more productively. As a result, they are able to lead the
employees within the company in an effective manner. Employees are able to come up with
innovative and unique ideas to address a particular situation. Marks and Spencer invests in the
overall development of its leaders to a great extent. As a result, it has been able to attract and
retain the employees to a greater extent. Therefore, it can be said that leadership development is

important because it equips the leaders with better skills and prepares them to take leadership
responsibilities in the future more effectively.
Since Marks and Spencer operates across different locations, transactional leadership is
another type of leadership that is adopted by the leaders within the workplace. The management
of the company is committed towards achieving the goals as well as objectives of the company.
Transactional leaders are someone who value order and structure in their work. Not only this,
they are self-motivated who work in well in a structured working environment. They enforce
rules, reward employees who are committed to their jobs and work productively. Effective
leaders within an organization have the ability to influence other employees within the company
(De Jong and Ataç, 2017). It is important to make sure that the leaders maintain a transparency
with their team members during the process of decision-making and making strategies.
Leadership development within Marks and Spencer is focused towards making sure that the
leaders follow ethical standards during their course at the company. It can be said that leadership
development within an organization can lead it towards improved financial performance as well
as attract potential candidates who are qualified and have relevant experience. It boosts the
overall level of employee engagement in the company and increases the overall ability of the
company to deal with gaps within the system.
Impact of Leadership Development
Effective leadership development can have a positive impact on the overall performance
as well as position of the company (de Waal and De Bono, 2020). This is because it can help in
boosting the morale of the employees and improve the overall ability of the company to deal
with any gaps that may arise in the workplace. But leadership development can also get impacted
by certain factors such as the managers or leaders within the company, different leadership
programs etc. The positive impact of effective leadership development can include improved
skills and knowledge of the leaders within the company. There is also an increase in the overall
productivity of the company as the leaders are able to understand the people within the company
emotionally (6 Big Benefits Of Leadership Training, 2021). As a result, they are able to use their
respective skills to engage the employees. With time, the experienced leaders within a company,
for instance, Marks and Spencer may retire. At this time, it is important for the company to make
sure that other employees, must be trained effectively, so that they are able to enhance their

overall skill set. Due to all these strategies, the company has been able to retain its high
performing employees all these years and also, gain a competitive advantage in the market.
Strategic Learning, Training and Development
Strategic learning is another human resource practice that is mainly focused on using
evaluations that help organizations in learning from their work quickly and adapt various
strategies to ensure that all departments within the company work effectively. Marks and
Spencer has developed various strategies to promote effective learning among the employees as
well as leaders at the workplace. Strategic learning sims to provide support to the various future
initiatives that will in-turn help in enhancing the overall knowledge as well as performance of the
company (Fisseha, 2018). There are many advantages of promoting strategic learning in the
workplace. the respective company, Marks and Spencer has been able to increase the overall
level of employee engagement in the workplace and promote positive working environment at
the workplace. There are different approaches of strategic learning that the respective company
has adopted. For example, the managers provide coaching as well as mentoring to their team
members in order to ensure that they perform their respective jobs in an efficient manner.
Similarly, Training and Development is another important human resource practice that
the respective company, Marks and Spencer is focused on providing effective training as well as
development opportunities to its employees. The main reason behind this is to make sure that the
employees are able to work productively and help the company in attaining its goals as well as
objectives. A training need can be defined as the different elements of work performance that can
be enhanced through effective training. It can be related to either current work performance or
any goals that have to be attained in the future. A company can provide different types of
training to its employees such as skills training, knowledge training as well as training relating to
the attitude at the workplace. overall development in these areas make the employees more
competent and perform in a much more enhanced manner (Hinde, 2018). The HRM department
of Marks and Spencer conducts regular training and development sessions for the existing
employees as well as the new employees within the company that cover various areas. These can
include training regarding the policies and procedures of the company, serving customers
effectively, report writing as well as towards work.

There are many organizations that now use the term “competence” in order to address the
training needs. Training needs can arise from different causes such as when a change is
implemented at the workplace, in order to achieve long-term as well as short-term goals and
objectives as well as if new operations are introduced in the company. If the employees are not
able to perform in a productive manner or meet the quality standards, there are complaints
relating to their performance and there is an increase in the overall staff turnover as well as
absenteeism at the workplace, the need for training increases. The managers at Marks and
Spencer keep evaluating the overall performance of their team as well as the team members
individually so as to identify the gaps. As a result, they report the same to the HRM department
and a training and development session is arranged accordingly (Hudson, 2017). Investing in
training and development is considered to be important because it helps in improving the overall
morale of the employees due to which the performance of the company is also improved. There
are different ways in which managers at Marks and Spencer assess the need for training and
development. For instance, they undertake job analysis, provide feedback to the employees and
also undertake performance appraisal. Survey is another technique which is adopted by the
managers in the company is surveying the staff as this helps in identifying the need for training
among the employees.
A training and development program lets in you to bolster the ones abilities that each
employee needs to improve. An improvement program brings all employees to a higher level so
they all have comparable talents and information. This helps reduce any weak hyperlinks within
the enterprise who depend heavily on others to complete primary work responsibilities. Training
affords a high possibility to amplify the know-how base of all personnel, but many employers in
the modern climate discover improvement possibilities high priced. Employees attending
education sessions additionally omit out on paintings time which can also postpone the finishing
touch of initiatives.
However, despite these potential drawbacks, schooling and improvement offers each the
person and firms as an entire with blessings that make the cost and time a profitable investment.
The blessings and fee of schooling and improvement act like a domino effect; leaders feel
equipped and may efficiently influence employee overall performance; happy and skilled people
create task delight, dedication and for that reason retention; personnel development and

engagement impacts the overall income. Most employees will have some weaknesses in their
administrative center talents (Long, 2018). A training software permits employees to strengthen
those capabilities that each employee needs to enhance. A improvement program brings all
employees to a higher stage so all of them have comparable competencies and understanding.
This facilitates reduce any weak links in the corporation who rely heavily on others to complete
basic work tasks. Providing the vital education creates an universal informed staff with personnel
who can take over for one another as wanted, paintings on teams or paintings independently
without constant help and supervision from others.
There are different learning theories that the managers at Marks and Spencer have
adopted in order to promote high performance among employees. Behavioral theories, cognitive
theories as well as constructivist theories are some examples of learning theories. All of these
theories define and explain what learning is in different ways (Malik, 2018). Behavioral theory
explains the behavior of human behavior by analyzing the consequences in the working
environment. On the other hand, cognitive theory of learning explain how internal as well as
external factors that influence the mental processes of individuals.
Advantages of effective Training and Development
There are different advantages of training and development in Marks and Spencer, for
example, the company has been able to retain its employees for a longer period of time. Not only
this, the overall level of job satisfaction has also increased. Also, the overall level of motivation
among employees has also improved. As a result, they are able to adapt themselves to any
changes within the workplace more effectively. Therefore, Marks and Spencer has gained a
competitive advantage in the industry by doing so.
Performance Management
Performance management can be defined as the process which helps managers within an
organization to assess as well as monitor the performance of the employees. The main aim of
performance management is to create a positive work environment for the employees, where
they can work productively and produce the highest quality output as expected by the company
(Młodzik, 2018). In simple words, performance can be defined as the process by which both
managers as well as employees work together in order to monitor and review the overall
performance of the employees. Marks and Spencer is very concerned about its performance in

the market and therefore, it adopts various strategies so as to manage the performance of its
employees in an effective manner. for example, the managers review the individual
performances of the employees and assess if they are meeting the expectations of the company.
Weekly meetings are conducted wherein the employees are also updated about the expectations
of the company as well as individual goals.
Methods for Planning Performance
There are different methods that can be used by an organization in order to plan the
performance of the employees within the company. Key Performance Indicators or KPIs are one
of the methods that help the managers at Marks and Spencer to set specific, relevant, attainable
as well as time-based targets. Key Performance Indicators are important for the organization
because they take into account the goals as well as objectives of the company during the process
of decision making (Pertiwi, Llewellyn and Villeneuve, 2019). They form an important part in
determining how the company will progress in order to meet its business goals and stand out
from the competitors. Not only this, by assessing the KPIs, the management of the company is
able to determine if the company is headed in the right direction or not. Balanced Scorecard is
another method which is used in order to improve the various business processes.
Performance Appraisals
Managers within Marks and Spencer appraise the employees who perform effectively
based on their individual performances. There are two types of performance appraisals in the
company such as merit-based appraisal as well as goal-based appraisals. In merit-based
appraisals, the line managers decide how well an employee has performed during the last 12
months. On the other hand, in goal-based appraisals, the managers assess if the employee has
met the objectives that were set during the last appraisal. A performance appraisal can be defined
as a discussion or interview of the employer with the employee. In a performance appraisal, the
overall capabilities as well as potential of an employee is analyzed (Schulenkorf, 2017). This
allows the managers within the company to make informed decisions. there are a number of
benefits of performance appraisals such as an improvement in the motivation of the employees,
they are more disciplined and work more productively. During the process of performance
management, the managers should respect the individual employees and thus, this helps in
creating a mutual respect between the employers as well as the employees.

Performance Management Helps to Boost Employee Engagement and Productivity.
Engaged personnel stay longer, actively contain themselves in the place of job and convey better
outcomes. Improving ranges of worker engagement is key to boosting productiveness and
maximizing ROI. Performance appraisals and assessments are just one piece of the talent control
puzzle. In order to construct an empowered and professional body of workers, businesses need to
do extra than audit employee achievements. Every employee wishes a clear know-how of
expectancies for his or her paintings (Stenvall and Virtanen, 2017). They additionally need
context, which includes an information of where they in shape into the agency and how they
make a contribution to the overall achievement of the organisation. This starts with business
enterprise and executive intention setting, which cascades into supervisor, crew, and person
purpose putting. Aligning your entire personnel with better arching business desires units’ clean
priorities and direction, which ensures people can sense possession within the enterprise via
character goals. Marks and Spencer takes the process of Performance Management in a serious
manner. Though some desires may additionally need adjusting, different instances personnel just
might not have the abilities to attain them— but. Performance appraisals had been meant to
discover gaps in employee skillsets. But it’s self-defeating to discover the gaps without
supplying any form of solution. Improved employee overall performance and engagement is a
end result of regular feedback and coaching. It’s commonplace to rent for potential and now not
experience, so offering the right training and development packages that cope with overall
performance and skill gaps is necessary.
Employees at Marks and Spencer are provided regular and quality feedback based on
their individual performance. Once skill gaps are identified, they are filled by providing effective
training to the employees. Recognition helps personnel get hold of a stability of effective to poor
feedback. A little sudden appreciation can move an extended manner. It satisfies our essential
want for reward, reinforces the right behaviors and subculture, and leverages social engagement.
Rewards and reputation can improve employee retention and engagement, which creates
ambassadors of your organization and its culture. Employees within Marks and Spencer, who
work effectively and their performance matches the desired standards, are rewarded and
recognized for their work (Torry, 2017). As a result, the employees have been able to work
productively and helped the company in achieving its goals. Performance management doesn’t
give up once a performance appraisal is delivered. Managers need to take an integrated approach

to employee studying. This approach developing development plans that support an employee’s
desires, career hobbies, and ability, in addition to the organization’s business and skills desires.
Evaluation is only powerful whilst used as a tool for achievement.
Everyone likes being told they’re doing a terrific process. Performance critiques offer an
appropriate putting to formalise and file reward. But reviews shouldn’t simply be approximately
placing targets for the approaching region. It need to additionally offer an environment for a line
manager to recognise people on their crew (Trewin, 2020). All personnel may be going thru the
identical performance review procedure. As such managers can better examine them for
advertising, revenue increases or switch inside the identical, constant manner. Not best will this
assist to ensure the proper worker is chosen for advertising; but will permit for extra
transparency and equity in your selection technique. Therefore, it can be said that performance
management is an important component that helps the company in achieving its goals as well as
objectives.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that there are different types of HRM
practices such as strategic learning, training and development as well as leadership development.
it is important for organizations to adopt appropriate strategies in order to enhance their overall
performance in the market and gain a competitive advantage over competitors. Leadership
development involves enhancing the skills of the leaders within the workplace so that they are
able to handle future situations in an effective manner. Apart from this, training and development
ensures that the employees are able to perform their respective jobs in an effective manner as
well as acquire new skills as well as knowledge about the latest trends in the industry. There are
different theoretical frameworks for each of these HRM practices that are adopted by companies
to achieve their goals as well as objectives in an effective manner.

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6 Big Benefits Of Leadership Training. 2021. [Online]. Available through:<
https://elearningindustry.com/6-big-benefits-of-leadership-training>.