Communication Skills Training Program for Marks & Spencer Employees

This report focuses on a communication skills training program developed for employees at Marks and Spencer, addressing communication barriers arising from cultural diversity. The report provides an overview of the organization, highlighting the importance of the training program in building customer rapport and brand image. It identifies the participants, who are employees from diverse backgrounds, and explains how they and the organization would benefit from the program. The report outlines a detailed hybrid training plan, incorporating elements of quality, skills, and professional training, along with program objectives, schedule, activities, and delivery methods. It also covers resources, potential barriers like management support and finance, and concludes with a discussion on the program's impact. The report emphasizes the need for effective communication to overcome language barriers, foster a diverse workforce, and maintain business sustainability.

Running head: TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
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1TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Executive summary
This report is concerned with the communications skills training program for the employees
working in Marks and Spenser. The main issue here is that the employees face communication
barriers with the customers due to their diverse cultural background. The company wants to build
a strong brand image and aim to build personal rapport with the customers. Therefore, an
appropriate training and development program has been created to meet the objectives of
communication skills for the employees.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Organisation.....................................................................................................................................4
A brief description of the organization........................................................................................4
Importance of the training and/or development need that has been identified................................5
Participants......................................................................................................................................7
Identification of the participants..................................................................................................7
Explanation of the cohort of who need to participate in the program.........................................7
How would the participants (and the organisation) benefit from the program............................7
Program Plan...................................................................................................................................9
A detailed plan based on your choice of learning theories..........................................................9
Program objectives (no more than four objectives) and the learning theories..........................10
Schedule and planned activities.................................................................................................10
Method of delivery....................................................................................................................12
Instructions for the trainer.........................................................................................................13
Feedback and evaluation...........................................................................................................14
Resources Required.......................................................................................................................16
List of hand outs, notes and/or powerpoints or other material for trainees...............................16

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Technologies required...............................................................................................................16
My thoughts on the cost.............................................................................................................17
Possible Barriers............................................................................................................................17
Management support.................................................................................................................17
Perception and participation......................................................................................................17
Finance.......................................................................................................................................18
Conflicting priorities..................................................................................................................18
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
References and bibliography.........................................................................................................19

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Introduction
The aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of communication barrier that emerged in the
light of the culturally diverse employees in Marks and Spenser. The paper explores the aspects of
description about the organization, importance of the training, participants of the training,
training plan, resources of the program, the rational of hybrid training method for the program
and the barriers that may emerge.
Organisation
A brief description of the organization
Marks and Spenser is considered to be one of the most prestigious multinational retailers
of British origin. Among the British multinational retailers, Marks and Spenser have occupied
one of the most dominant positions in the field of retail. The headquarter of the company is
situated in Westminster, London. It has been listed on the London Stock Exchange and is also a
constituent of the FTSE 100 Index (Marksandspencer.com, 2018). The forte of the company lies
in selling trendy and elegant apparel, perfume and bath products, luxury home products and
high-end food products. Apart from this, the brand is associated with various ethical and
environmental friendly practices that was incorporated as part of the Look Beyond the Brand
campaign. Presently, the company has more than 979 stores across UK.

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Importance of the training and/or development need that has been identified
The term training refers to the planned effort by an organization to promote learning of
the competencies . Competencies are broadly understood as knowledge, behavior or skills (it
refers to the attitudes in certain approaches) that are considered as critical for securing and
accomplishing successful job performance. The objective of training for the employees is to
enable them to master the knowledge, attitudes and skills that are to be emphasized in the
training programs and for application in the day-to-day activities. The development refers to the
knowledge, behaviors that are pertinent to the performance in the future compared to the present
context. Marks And Spenser has emphasized on the factor of communication of the employees.
This includes both inside and outside communication for the workplace professionals. However,
presently there is a lurking challenge to communication due to the presence of cross-cultural
barriers. People who belong to different geographical backgrounds and have different attitude
towards life are posed with immense challenges in terms of sharing the views and ideologies
with one another as a result of communication barrier. In the socio-cultural context of Australia it
has been noted that there are different kinds of people who belong to diverse cultural
backgrounds and possess variegated attitudes with regard to the organization. In case of Marks
and Spenser (M&S) it has been found that the organization is based on competency level and
skills that are kept at the foreground whilst hiring employees with diverse cultural backgrounds
and worldview. According to Sawitri & Muis (2014), the highlight of effective communication
lies in its ability to maintain a good rapport among the employees within the organization. It has
been found that people who belong to different geographical backgrounds may not be flexible in
sharing the information regarding the business due to the constraint in language. In other words,
language creates impediments in effectively communicating with the customer. Due to this, it is

6TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
the customers who have to face the major problems during the time of information regarding the
products, billing or any other issues related to the purchase of the product.
The language barrier makes it difficult for the customers to accrue their products within
the specific time. As a corollary to this, Marks and Spenser have to face the challenge in securing
the success. In this context, the human resource managers have to take a robust initiative in
creating a training and implementation program based on the hybrid method. The training
assessment need or communication skills was developed with the objective of enhancing the
professional skills of the employees (van den Akker, Branch, Gustafson, Nieveen & Plomp,
2012). This would make the employees feel comfortable in exchanging their views and
ideologies regarding their specific business goal. In this way, the business employers and the
business employees would achieve their desired outcomes rendering equal priority and response.
The imperative of a needs assessment is to enable the organization in the expansion of their
business beyond the global boundaries. It has been identified that the service providers of Marks
and Spenser need to provide multi-lingual flexibility for attracting people who belong to
different background or cultural origins (Brewster, 2017). Effective training is premised on the
ability of the employees to be flexible in dealing with people of cross-cultural origin. It was
found that the employees need to maintain their enthusiasm or else they would lose interest
towards the organization. An effective communication method would enable the employees to
rise beyond the monotonous workflow and be part of an environment where the employers and
the employees would be equally satisfied. It has been established by the scholars that the
business sustainability of an organization is contingent on the flow of communication that is to
be adopted in the workplace. A brand would be dependent on the business sustainability image
and the reputation of the brand.

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Participants
Identification of the participants
The participants in this case would be employees who belong to different backgrounds
and face linguistic barriers in communicating with the participants. The employees would
receive guidance from the professional trainer would get the opportunity in improving their skills
and competencies. This would enable the customers to receive systematic response from the
service providers that ultimately left a positive impact in the achievement of success.
Explanation of the cohort of who need to participate in the program
The cohorts belong to diverse cultural, social and linguistic background. They have migrated
from different countries and also belong to the indigenous population . This diversity in their
backgrounds
How would the participants (and the organisation) benefit from the program
The training and development program would deploy the hybrid training method (the
details of which would be elaborated in the next section). Communication skills training is
strived at eliminating the communication barriers faced by the employees through interpersonal
communication skills training. This would ensure that the communication barrier that took place
between two persons belonging to different cultures could be overcome or removed. The
employees through guidance and help from the professional trainers would be able to improve
their skills and competencies (Eggenberger, Heimerl & Bennett, 2013). The interpersonal
communication skills training would enable the employees to communicate in a coherent and

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cogent manner. It will instill confidence among the employees in speaking to the superiors or
with the customers who belong to diverse cultural affiliations and enables them in getting out
most of the dealings. This would develop a better rapport with the customers and make them feel
valued. This would be particularly important considering that the business would involve a large
number of customers that is quite evident in the case of Marks and Spenser.
Another goal of the training program would be to enhance the empathic side of the
employees and would instill in them patience that would be useful during the interaction with the
customers. Another feature of the training program would be to maintain a diverse workforce. In
a situation when people from different races are working together may accidentally offend each
other or the customer. In case the promotion, employee review and termination policies are not
clear to the minority and ethnically diverse employees they will feel offended as well as
discriminated (Buabeng-Andoh, 2012). Therefore, effective communication in the workplace
would encourage the employees to treat each other and the customers with respect. Another
feature of the effective interpersonal communication training would be helpful in overcoming
conflicting and difficult situations.

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Program Plan
A detailed plan based on your choice of learning theories
Given the nature of the problem of conflictual interpersonal communication between the
employees and customers of diverse cultural backgrounds, the approach would be to develop a
hybrid training method for the implementation of effective interpersonal communication plan
(Buabeng-Andoh, 2012). Training methods can be of different types namely technical or
technology training, quality training, skills training, sift skills training, professional training,
safety training, managerial training amongst others. For enhancing the interpersonal
communication skills and eliminating the communication barriers faced by the employees as
well as the customers (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). The rationale behind the adoption of the hybrid
training method would be to incorporate different training programs subsumed into a singular
training program that would benefit all the employees. In other words, hybrid training program
draws the best characteristics of different training program and create a state-of-the-art training
program (Bratton & Gold, 2017). In this case, the hybrid training method would draw from the
quality training that would sensitize the employees about the different means in the prevention,
detection and the elimination of the non-quality items. Secondly the hybrid training method
would draw from the skills training that is concerned making the employees efficient in the
performance of the job. This can be applied in enabling the employees to be trained in the
assessment of the needs of the customers and in offering the customers appropriate information
before purchasing of a material. The hybrid training would also draw from the professional
training that would embolden the employees to remain updated about their profession and grasp
the nuances of communication that are important for the employees to succeed in their field
(Curtis et al, 2017).

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Program objectives (no more than four objectives) and the learning theories
The program objectives of the hybrid-training program for strengthening inter-personal
communication skills are as follows:
1. To instill a sense of confidence among the employees from diverse ethnic, linguistic and
cultural background to deal with the customers
2. Building and maintenance of effective personal rapport among the employees
3. To reduce and avoid situations that would lead to conflict
4. To keep the employees motivated so that they are able to demonstrate their best
performance and take the brand to its zenith
5. To ensure that the employees and the customers are equally satisfied and would not have
to stay with the monotonous workflow
6. To maintain the sustainability of the organization
7. To ensconce the brand image and reputation of Marks and Spenser
Schedule and planned activities
Training framework Plan
Communication skills training Elimination of the communication
barriers due to diverse cultural
backgrounds of the employees
Delivery mode Vestibule
Budget (per person) Lunch- $15 AUD

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Notebook and stationeries- $25
AUD
Delivery style Power points, digital collaboration,
new technologies, face-to-face small
group interaction
Audience employees from diverse cultural
backgrounds
Goals and learning objectives 1. To instill a sense of
confidence among the
employees from diverse
ethnic, linguistic and
cultural background to
deal with the customers
2. Building and maintenance
of effective personal
rapport among the
employees
3. To reduce and avoid
situations that would lead
to conflict
4. To keep the employees
motivated so that they are
able to demonstrate their
best performance and take