Impact of Covid-19 on Talent Management in Merrie England Coffee Shop

This research examines the impact of Covid-19 on talent management in Merrie England Coffee Shop and explores ways to overcome the crisis and manage talent effectively. It discusses the challenges faced by employees, the efforts made by management to tackle the crisis, the relationship between talent management and employee performance, the role of leadership style, and ways to improve talent management in the coffee shop. The research concludes with recommendations for the coffee shop to overcome the crisis and manage talent in the post-pandemic era.

Research Project on Pearson-set theme
of Talent Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Chapter 4 Finding and analysis....................................................................................................3
Chapter 5 Conclusion and recommendations..............................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Talent management is a process that involves identifying, attracting, developing and
retaining high quality employees who can effectively contribute in achieving organisational
objectives. The element that differentiates it from general HR processes is that talent
management involve strategic approach of organisation. In recent times Covid-19 pandemic has
affected every industry and sector but hospitality sector is one of the worst affected sectors. This
research will involve understanding talent management and assessing impact of Covid-19 on
talent management along with identifying ways to overcome crisis and manage talent in Merrie
England Coffee Shop LTD.
Chapter 4 Finding and analysis
Interview questions
Q-1 What is impact on covid 19 on talent management on employees?
Q-2 How management is able to tackle this crisis?
Q-3 How TM is related to employee performance?
Q-4 Do you think that adopting of leadership style will be useful in minimising impact on TM?
Q-5 What are ways through which TM can be improved in Merrie England Coffee Shop ?
Theme 1- What is impact on covid 19 on talent management on employees?
By undertaking interview it is found that out of 5 employees 3 said that coivd 19 has
highly impacted on their performance. They said that they are not able to work in effective
way. also, team working is not been practiced by them due to which goals and objectives are
not attained on time. besides that, they said that talent management is also highly impacted due
to covid 19. It is evaluated that there is lack of skills possess by them as they are not getting
training and development in regular time period.

Besides that, only 1 employee said that due to covid 19 there is need to advance skills
in talent management. But they do not possess advance skills of working in such harsh times.
Thus, due to that their efficiency is decreased. The complex tasks are not been completed in
effective way and this has hindered their ability to do work. In addition, 1 staff said that HR is
not able to perform effective TM practices. This is because of new way of working in company.
Therefore, it has also decreased morale of them. they have to work individually and this is
taking more time to complete task.
Theme 2 - How management is able to tackle this crisis?
From the interview it is analysed that out of 5 staff 2 said that company management is
trying to tackle problem of talent management by taking some actions. They said that HR is
hiring talented staff who possess high and advance skills. This will help in doing complex task
easily and reducing burden on them. in addition, new staff is giving new ideas and suggestions to
work in creative way.
Furthermore, 2 staff said that by giving training and development in new ways Merrie
England Coffee Shop management is tackle this issue. They said that training is given through
video conferencing and individually. Now, more videos sessions are conducted to show to work.
This has resulted in making it difficult for them to learn as the concept is new. Therefore, they
are taking time to get train. Moreover, 1 staff said that there is effective monitoring of staff done
in it. The HR manager are observing performance and working of each staff. Thus, they are able
to find out who is feeling sick or not capable of doing task. Therefore, TM practices are then
followed accordingly. So, Merrie England Coffee Shop management is not effectively able to
tackle this issue but are making efforts to do so.
Theme 3 How TM is related to employee performance?
Here, after taking interview of 5 employees it is found that all 5 said that TM is related to
enhancing staff skills, increasing productivity and increasing competency. This is because TM
consists of several practices that are involved in improving employee performance. So, for that
they are given training and weak areas are improved. Moreover, their skills and capabilities

increases which directly impact on their efficiency in positive way. With reward management
practice staff are given rewards on basis of their performance. This leads to motivating them and
they are able to put more efforts in attaining goals and objectives.
Besides that, TM also hires new and talented staff which brings in new knowledge. This
is then shared by others in doing tasks. So, they are able to learn and gain new knowledge as
well. thus, when training is given to them their skills and abilities increases. This allows in
working in team and in effective way. this results in enhancing their performance. Hence, it is
found that TM enable staff to become competent in their relevant field. Employees become more
efficient in doing tasks and attaining goals and objectives. Along with it, staff efficiency is
increased it leads to enhances overall organisation productivity. Hence, TM is directly related to
employee performance.
Theme 4 Do you think that adopting of leadership style will be useful in minimising impact
on TM?
From interview conducted it is stated that out of 5 staff, only 2 said that adopting of
leadership style will minimise negative impact of covid 19 on TM. In this they said that Merrie
England Coffee Shop leader must adopt participative leadership style. It will be highly effective.
It is because here leader will be able to engage with employees and work with them. besides
that, decisions can be taken by listening to staff suggestions and opinions. However, some others
theories can be applied in as well which will help in changing overall situation of company and
TM. But 2 said that leadership style will not be useful in minimising impact on TM. It is
because here leader will only focus on improving employee performance. So, there require other
measures and action need to be taken along with some other TM practices such as reward ,
hiring, promotion, etc. with that it will be easy to make TM effective.
At last 1 employee said that Merrie England Coffee Shop should make new laws and
guidelines of working. They should not focus on TM rather than on maintaining employee
progress so that their performance is maintained. Along with that, company need to focus on
health and safety of staff and try to maintain positive culture as well. So, staff knows that
leadership style will enable in providing direction and training as well to employees. There are

several style which can be followed according to situation. Thus, leader will gain insight on staff
capability and on basis of that skills is improved.
Theme 5 What are ways through which TM can be improved in Merrie England Coffee
Shop ?
By interpreting the interview taken it is found that 3 staff said that TM can be improved
by providing flexibility. This means that shift timings can be initiated so that there is less staff
which comes but they perform all tasks in alternate days. this new way of working can be
adopted in Merrie England Coffee Shop. it will maintain their efficiency as well as health and
safety.
Besides that, 2 said leadership can initiated by which TM can be improved. It will help
in working with leader in effective way and taking decision with them. furthermore, 1 said that
all roles program can be implemented in which T&D, reward management, PM, etc. are
included. This all will be useful in maintaining progress of employee and maintain productivity
as well. The management of Merrie England Coffee Shop adjust role of staff and assign more
responsibilities. They can provide flexible working to them. moreover, focus can be on capability
building in which staff is capable of doing varied tasks. Employee skill will automatically
enhance. They will become compatible to do all tasks in effective way and achieve goals easily.
Alongside, flexibility will allow them to focus on different areas and learn from it.
By above analysis it is found that covid 19 has affected on almost all practices of TM in
coffee shop. It has resulted in affected on staff performance as well. Besides that, new ways of
providing training is implemented. The staff is not able to gain skills and knowledge in effective
way. hence, they are not able to do not work in effective way and goals are not completed on
time. Furthermore, staff motivation is affected to a great extent. This is because as their
competency is not developed in it. There is no proper training given to them and they are
assigned new roles. The overall system and process of TM is affected. It has been found that HR
plays significant role in TM. They form and execute policies that helps in training and internal
promotions of employees so that appropriate development plans can be develop in order to
manage talent within the workplace. Human resource manager compiles the data that assist in

informing talent management. The main foundation of managing talent within the organisation is
hiring right people which is the main responsibility of HRM. Also, team working is not been
practiced by them due to which goals and objectives are not attained on time. besides that, they
said that talent management is also highly impacted due to covid 19. It is evaluated that there is
lack of skills possess by them as they are not getting training and development in regular time
period. They said that training is given through video conferencing and individually. Now, more
videos sessions are conducted to show to work. This has resulted in making it difficult for them
to learn as the concept is new. Merrie England Coffee Shop need to focus on health and safety
of staff and try to maintain positive culture as well. So, staff knows that leadership style will
enable in providing direction and training as well to employees
Findings
Research was carried out with aim of identifying and analysing impact of Covid-19 on
talent management in an organisation. Outcome of the research outlined that Covid-19 like all
other sectors and areas of function have had significant impact of the talent management (Claus,
2019). Research involved different practices to meet these objectives and outlined that it is very
important for strategic organisation to practice talent management as it involves long-term
consideration regarding employees of organisation. Practicing talent management enables
organisations to recruit, hire, develop and retain best candidates available in job. In relation with
an organisation it was both positive as well as negative. This means that impact of Covid-19
organisation has to lose some of employees as some of them were laid off because of financial
impact that Covid-19 has made on the organisation and some of employees resigned because of
their inability to be present at organisation. Positive impact that organisation experienced was
that because of Covid-19 many of other firms have laid off employees and because of this reason
there was effective and attractive pool of qualified and competent candidates who were ready to
join organisation. Moreover, impact of Covid-19 crisis is also visible on motivation of the
employees as they are dealing with several types of anxieties and along with this fear of
spreading diseases also cause stress in employees. Specifically, while working at an organisation
like coffee shop employee has to be more careful as this can be considered as a public place
(Baum and et.al., 2020). Additionally, requirement of following new guidelines while working
also cause difficulty for employees.

But there are different ways in which organisations can overcome the crisis of Covid-19
as well as talent management. This involves identifying right kind of talent or employees who
are resilient and inspired. Additionally, working on developing morale of employees can also
make effective contribution in improving performance of employees. It is also important that
organisation undertake training and development session, to ensure that employees are able to
work with changing processes. Research also outlined that open communication and supporting
employees by senior management can also help in overcoming crisis and manage talent in
Covid-19.
Research objectives were to understand talent management, its benefits, role of HR in
talent management (Pandita and Ray, 2018). Further research objectives also involved analyzing
impact of Covid-19 on talent management and different ways company can employ to overcome
crisis and talent management within organisation. Because of Covid-19 organisations have faced
several difficulties and their talent management have also been affected because of this.
Organisations lay of employees and this way they had to lose employees and talent that they
have worked on developing. This also affected talent management practices as after Covid-19
crisis several things changed and because of this organisations as well as employees faced
several difficulties and their motivation also negatively affected. However, practicing right ways
can help in overcoming this crisis and manage talent. Research outlined that new focus of
organisation in talent management should be based on post-pandemic growth of organisation.
Hospitality industry and coffee shop might take little longer in getting at their normal growth
again but with help of right talent within organisation they can reduce this time and facilitate
post-pandemic growth of the organisation. Organisations also need to have strong focus on
motivation and morale of the employees and ensure that they are getting adequate support to
work in changed situations (LoGiudice, Liebhaber and Schöder, 2020). Because post pandemic
work processes have changed and it is important that employees are having right knowledge of
them and also have equipment and resources to perform. These are certain practices and ways
with help of which organisations will be able to overcome crisis and manage talent.

Chapter 5 Conclusion and recommendations
To makes the research successful on topic on impact of COVID-19 on talent management
in an organization. Researcher has use primary research methods to collect the information
(Caligiuri and et.al., 2020). Another research method that can be used by researcher is Secondary
research methods which is also a one of the most effective research method to make the research
successfully. Both the methods can be used together to create result better and more accurate for
researcher, and they can make the research successful. Primary data is gathered by different
people taken as respondents to participate in questionnaires, surveys to analyse their views which
can be considered as views of the whole population. This type of data is the first-hand data which
is collected in raw form. The secondary data is collected by going through research papers,
books and journals published by well-known authors in order to identify their views regarding
topic of research secondary methods will provide better accuracy and it will save time of
researcher. Similarly, researcher of this study has used Interpretivism research philosophy, but
they can also use Positivism Physiology that states that the genuine knowledge of anything and it
is exclusively derived from the experiences of natural phenomena and their prospective and
relationships. This can be usefully in the future research to collect information in better. There
are two approaches of the research that is inductive and another is deductive (Seetharaman.,
2020). To make this research successfully investigator used inductive methods, but they can also
use deductive methods in this methods research use theories given by other authors and then
collecting and analysing data to test those hypothesis. Inductive and deductive
approaches to research can be employed together for a more complete understanding of the topic
that a researcher is studying. Another changes can be done by scholar is in research is sampling.
There are two methods of the sampling and research has used probability methods, but they can
also use non probability methods to make their research successful and more informative Non-
probability sampling is a sampling method in which not all members of the population have an
equal chance of participating in study, unlike probability sampling. Each member of population
has a known chance of being selected.
The researcher can be more accurate and better in the future if researcher uses proper
method for their research and collect information with more detail. Some of the data research
methods and methodologies tools selection can also improve their research. Research should
concentrate on data collection and sampling methods because sampling participants around 55

can provide better result to researcher because it will reduce the bigness, and they can also
increase time within the research project.
This research was mainly based on talent management and in order to undertake research
both primary as well as secondary research was applied and after application of these research
methods it can be said that research was highly effectively and helped me in understanding
concepts and practices effectively. This is because primary research helped me in understanding
and gathering detailed information and data ad secondary research enables me to develop basic
understanding of the concepts along with understanding right ways in which I should undertake
primary research. Secondary research helped me in primary research and also made it easier to
carry out complete research within time and effectively. By applying these researches get
advantages of both primary as well as secondary research together. These advantages involve
detailed knowledge and accurate information through primary research. Secondary research was
useful in saving time and efforts. This way research was easier, completed on time as well as
effective and accurate. The objectives regarding this hospitality research project and after
completion of the research project it can be said that research helped me in effectively achieving
objectives of the research. Objectives were partially achieved by application of secondary
research and partially by primary research. This is because concerned with talent management
adequate research has been made earlier but regarding Covid-19 research is limited and this is
why primary research was undertaken for analysing its impact and possible solutions for
overcoming the crisis and managing talent in hospitality industry.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baum, T and et.al., 2020. COVID-19’s impact on the hospitality workforce–new crisis or
amplification of the norm?. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management.
Caligiuri, P. and et.al., 2020. International HRM insights for navigating the COVID-19
pandemic: Implications for future research and practice. Journal of International Business
Studies. p.1.
Claus, L., 2019. HR disruption—Time already to reinvent talent management. BRQ Business
Research Quarterly. 22(3). pp.207-215.
LoGiudice, S.H., Liebhaber, A. and Schöder, H., 2020. OVERCOMING THE COVID-19
CRISIS AND PLANING FOR THE FUTURE.
Pandita, D. and Ray, S., 2018. Talent management and employee engagement–a meta-analysis of
their impact on talent retention. Industrial and Commercial Training.
Seetharaman, P., 2020. Business models shifts: Impact of Covid-19. International Journal of
Information Management.54. p.102173.
Valtierra, K.M. and Siegel, L.N., 2020. Qualitative self-coding as reflection: empowering teacher
candidates with the tools of the researcher. Reflective Practice. 21(3). pp.415-428.