Role of Information Technology in Workforce Management: A Case Study of Marks & Spencer

This report evaluates the role and impact of information and communication technology on the management of workforces in organizations, with a focus on Marks & Spencer. It also discusses the company's policies on talent acquisition, learning and development, and change management in the context of Covid-19.

Case study
Contemporary
Management issues

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK...............................................................................................................................................3
Using relevant theories and models, critically evaluate the role and impact of information and
communication technology on the management of workforces in organisations..................3
Evaluation of existing policies in context with talent acquisition , learning and development
and change management process to compete with Covid19 effectively................................4
Discuss the role of leaders of Marks & Spencer in terms of implementing the new initiatives
................................................................................................................................................5
Recommendation to Marks & Spencer regarding new initiatives to survive in New Normal6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Every business organization has to face some negative impact of external environment
factors and Covid19 is a major issue among them. Businesses had to suffer a lot in terms of
profitability , workforce management and customers' behaviour due to the pandemic. Many
businesses are able to cope up and compete with the pandemic by using digital transformation
and technology advancement. But still they need to bring more efficiency to the process to be
back to the new normal position (Maupong, Lebogang and Tabona, 2022). The following report
will discuss about the measures taken by Marks & Spencer to face the impact of Covid19. It is a
multinational public limited company in retail sector headquartered in UK and dealing in
clothing , home and food products. The report will cover the role of information technology on
its workforce management and its policies of talent acquisition and learning & development. It
will also cover the role of leaders in implementing the new initiatives and change management
process.
TASK
Using relevant theories and models, critically evaluate the role and impact of information and
communication technology on the management of workforces in organisations
When the automation is adopted in routine operations, it helps in bringing efficiency in
the organization and productivity in the work of employees. As use of technology provides the
opportunity to employees to work from home, it facilitates more productivity. To face the
covid19 pandemic, many companies adopted computerized systems to manage the workforce at
different locations. For avoiding physical interaction due to covid19, businesses enhanced the
use of email communication, conducted virtual meetings to discuss the operations of company.
The workforce management of Marks & Spencer had following technological impact :
 Marks & Spencer has introduced a new workforce management software to transform the
work scheduling. It has introduced an automated scheduling system that provides
convenience to its managers to execute weekly based solution. It will facilitate the staff
and members to focus on customer service for increasing efficiency in the business.
 Businesses should use the technology in providing training and development to the
workforce. As Marks & Spencer is a multinational organization, it has a very large
workforce across its stores in different countries. So, technology adoption will facilitate

in inter networking of its branches in providing training to the employees at a single
platform using technology (Lan and et. al., 2022).
 Marks & Spencer uses Email communication and electronic mailing lists to
communicate with trainers as well as trainees for virtual interaction. It supports the
communication in the entire organization across international stores and supports the
management of workforce.
 M & S opted for JDA workforce management and JDA gold partner, REPL, that
supports its workforce in swapping of shifts , reviewing the schedule and making any
modifications if required. It facilitates in better workforce management.
 The HR department of Marks & Spencer has adopted digital transformation in the
organization for managing workforce as well as customers. It has contributed vary much
in corona pandemic as well in interacting with workforce at different locations for their
training and skills development.
Evaluation of existing policies in context with talent acquisition , learning and development and
change management process to compete with Covid19 effectively
The HR department of every organization needs to bring change management process in
the business for digital transformation and learning & development. It should ensure talent
acquisition or recruitment in the organization for facilitating efficiency in the organizational
operations. Organizations must make efforts to be back to the normal position to give response to
covid19 by hiring skilful workforce through digital transformation. As regards Marks & Spencer,
its policies regarding talent acquisition are explained below:
 Due to covid19, M & S had to cut 950 jobs. It had to face revenue losses during the
pandemic due to which it had to disengage the employees. However, it has started a
recruitment policy to find more than 850 technology specialists after observing a surge in
online shopping due to the pandemic (Rother, 2022).
 It is hiring software engineers to bring digital transformation in the organization with
automation processes. To be able to compete with the impact of covid19, it is developing
technological initiatives for providing training to the workforce.
 In the covid19 pandemic, it has conducted virtual training programmes for its workforce
to bring efficiency and productivity in the business so as to increase the revenues to cope
up with the pandemic.

Learning and Development
The human resource management of Marks & Spencer is having the technological
advantage in developing inter networking across all its stores by providing online training to its
workforce. The HR activities such as hiring, learning and development, training and recruitment
and even discontinuance or disengagement are all facilitated by technological process . The
review process is organized by JDA workforce management. It has also introduced automated
scheduling system to support human resource manager for managing the workforce.
Change Management Process
Marks & Spencer is reshaping the management team to proceed in its transformational
programme. Its CEO states that the Covid pandemic has caused the retail business to go towards
the digital world. It has introduced digital transformation and automation processes in the
business. It has cut 950 jobs and 10% of its shop-floor workforce. As part of change management
process, its main focus was on improving workforce engagement by effective use of digital
technology (Kohtamäki, 2022). In the pandemic, its process included rewards to committing
employees for their high contribution in the pandemic. It reduced printing or posting relating to
brochures. It is following the digital driven strategies to manage the workforce.
Discuss the role of leaders of Marks & Spencer in terms of implementing the new initiatives
In every business organization, leaders play a very essential role for the implementation of
policies or new initiatives to cope up with the environment and digitalised world. Leaders
provide the directions as well as motivation to the employees to increase their productivity level.
They can observe the tasks of employees in real-time. The human resource department of Marks
& Spencer can evaluate the workforce management by bringing digital transformation in the
organisation. In implementing the technology initiatives, the CEO of M & S has appointed
software engineers to cope up with the digitalised world in corona pandemic (Qian and et. al.,
2022). After observing the change in the demands of customers due to the pandemic and noticing
the surge in online sales, its leaders took steps to enhance the technological process by way of
digital marketing.
The leaders of Marks & Spencer have taken the new initiatives for automation processes
in the organization for the management of its workforce. The company is making the optimum
use technology after the pandemic to be back to the new normal position by increasing the sales
revenues through providing online shopping facility to the customers. Its leaders have also taken

the steps to conduct virtual training sessions for its employees at different locations in the
international marketing (Ullah, Mirza and Hameed, 2022). It has developed internetworking of
the employees to provide learning and development to all employees at a single platform. It has
its own website by which it provides regular updates and notifications to all its stakeholders. As
the leaders have a crucial role in motivating the employees, Marks & Spencer’s leaders use
various tools for motivating the employees to increase their productivity. In a nutshell, the
leaders or CEO of Marks & Spencer have taken suitable measures to respond to or compete with
the pandemic effectively by implementing new technological initiatives for workforce
management and efficiency in the multinational organization.
Recommendation to Marks & Spencer regarding new initiatives to survive in New Normal
After the Covid19 pandemic, every organization is making efforts and finding ways to be
back to the new and normal position. Companies are making optimum utilisation of technology
by adopting automation, artificial intelligence, E-commerce, digital marketing etc. to make the
employees engaged and the customers switched to the organization to compete effectively with
the pandemic. In context with Marks & Spencer, it has introduced various information and
communication technologies in the organization such as JDA workforce management, automated
scheduling for workforce and other email communication etc. It has strong technological base to
respond effectively to the current situation and be back at the New Normal (Dar, Ahmad and
Rahman, 2022). However, it is recommended to Marks & Spencer to stop disengagement of
employees due to pandemic impact and try to create employee well-being in the organization to
create positive and healthy working environment.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it has been concluded that information and communication
technology has a great role in bringing efficiency in the operations of organization and in
developing customer base as well. Companies should have technological advantage in managing
the workforce by introducing digital transformation in the business. The human resource
management of the company should ensure to bring change in management process and learning
& development by using technological tools, it should acquire and recruit talented employees in
the organization to increase the productivity of business. The leaders of an organization have a

key role in implementing the policies relating to new initiatives as in the current case where the
company is taking new initiatives to respond to the impact of covid19 by digital transformation.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Kohtamäki, V., 2022. Autonomy-driven segmentation for competition among Finnish
universities: leaders’ perceptions. Studies in higher education, 47(1). pp.67-79.
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exploratory study of accountable care organizations. Manufacturing & Service
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Maupong, T., Lebogang, V. and Tabona, O., 2022. Effects of Botswana Cultural Values on
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Impact on Global Security (pp. 100-109). IGI Global.
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Rother, S., 2022. The ‘gold standard’for labour export? The role of civil society in shaping
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