Advantages and Disadvantages of Marks and Spencer's Performance Management

“The advantage and disadvantage of Marks and Spencer in attempting to pursue a
uniform system of performance management across its international operations”
Performance management is the process of activities that ensure the goals are met in an
effective and efficient manner. The process of performance management includes various
activities such as performance appraisals, employee reviews, and employee evaluations. In
this process, the performance of an employee is evaluated in order to maintain the uniformity
and efficiency to achieve the objective. The process of performance management is related to
the human resource of the company that is why it is considered as the Human Resource
policy of the company. The performance of each individual’s performance and the objective
are connected with the mission and goals of the organisation. It directly affects the
performance and position of an organisation (Van Dooren, Bouckaert, and Halligan, 2015).
This policy of performance management has both aspects negative as well as positive. In this
paper, the discussion is made on the topic of “performance management”. Marks & Spencer’s
has been taken into consideration in order to analyse the positive and negative impact of this
practice on it.
There are basically five components in which the Marks and Spencer focuses and these are
performance planning, on-going performance communication, data gathering, observation,
and documentation, performance appraisal meetings, and the last one is performance
diagnosis and coaching. The first component of Marks and Spencer is performance planning
which states that the steps such as discussing, identifying and planning the organisation as
well as individual goals. Performance plans are decided by the employees and the supervisors
together (Shields, et. al, 2015). It is observed that the organisation set individual goals before
maintaining organisation performance. It organises the meeting of employers and employees
in order to set the objective of an individual. This component helps to achieve the objective
of the organisation. Each and every individual put their full efforts to achieve the objective

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which is set by the company for employees. But sometimes, the individual has the capacity to
attain the objective but it put their efforts only for completing the objective which is set in the
meetings. The capacity and ability to do the more work is reduced with this method that is not
beneficial for the company (Cohen, 2017).
On-going Performance communication is the second component in which Marks and Spencer
are focusing. It is a two-way communication process between the top management and the
employees (Kearney, 2018). In this meeting, the company monitor the progress, evaluate the
performance barriers and share necessary information with each other. The people of the
company divided into two parties such as top management and bottom management in order
to identify the problems that become an obstacle for the company in attaining the objective of
the organisation. The performance of an employee is improved as the barriers will identify in
this process. The management adopts the steps to reduce those barriers which are identified in
this process. But it founded that the company face the challenges because it is difficult to
identify the barriers in the short period of time. It is a time-consuming task as well as cost,
consuming process which has a negative impact on the performance of an organisation (M &
S., 2019).
Data gathering, observation and documentation are the important steps in the performance
management of the company. Marks and Spencer collect information about the performance
of an employee through different sources (Latham, 2015). There are various means to collect
data such as observation, and analysing the performance of an employee. The company
records the data in the different forms such as diaries, logs and the various uses of
performance rating scales. The main method that the company used to determine employee
performance productivity is to develop the plan. In this plan, the company compare the
performance of an employee with its completion of the target which is set in the meeting
before starting the work. For example- the company evaluate the performance of cashier by

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reviewing the one hour target of the employee. It is beneficial for the company to gain a
competitive advantage because it improves employee performance. It is a fact that the
continuous evaluation of an individual performance enhances the efficiency of an employee
to do the work. However, the hourly basis review improves the performance of an employee
but sometimes it negatively affects the performance of an employee because some of the
employees take it as an insult to their work and speed. Enhancing performance and capability
increases productivity as compared to its competitors (Arnaboldi, Lapsley, and Steccolini,
2015).
The fourth component of performance management is performance appraisal and feedback
sessions. It is the process in which the employees and managers work together in order to
improve the performance. The company appraised the employees in 12 months in different
ways (M & S., 2019). In this system, they discuss the improvement of the performance and it
is also appreciated the employees on the basis of their past performances. The company also
appreciated the employees in different ways such as promotion, transfers and providing a
large amount of salary. Incentives are also provided by the company to its employees on the
basis of the extra hours and efforts. It is beneficial for the company because it encourages the
employees to retain for a long time. This method also inspires others who do not perform
well in their services (Performance Appraisal, 2018).
Performance diagnosis and coaching is the last component of performance management
which determines the relationship between the employee and supervisory. In this component,
the company mainly focuses on the needs and requirement of an employee in order to address
them. The manager and the employees should work together in order to reduce the barriers
from the performances. Marks and Spencer organise the training and development programs
for the employees in order to reduce the performance barriers. Coaching and mentoring
activity can take place on a regular basis. The annual performance appraisal and feedback are