The Impact of COVID-19 on Training and Development at Marks & Spencer

This report examines the impact of COVID-19 on employee training and development at Marks & Spencer, a British multinational retail company. The study investigates how the pandemic disrupted traditional training methods, particularly focusing on the challenges of remote work and online learning. It explores the benefits of training and development on employee performance, the specific impacts of COVID-19 on M&S's training programs, and how the company could effectively redesign its training initiatives under lockdown conditions. The research employs a literature review and discusses research methodologies, including quantitative and qualitative approaches, to analyze the effects of the pandemic on the company's human resource strategies and employee skill enhancement. The report highlights the need for adaptation and innovation in employee training to maintain productivity and organizational goals during and after the pandemic.

Research
Methodologies

Table of content
Abstract............................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................................................6
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................9
Data analysis and interpretations...................................................................................................12
Presentation of results and data with the help of suitable tools and techniques........................12
Findings..........................................................................................................................................16
Reflection.......................................................................................................................................17
Alternative......................................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

Abstract
Organisations and employees are needed to go hand in hand in the path of progress and
development. Various dynamics and changes bought by business environment requires
organ9isations to keep pace with these developments to ensure its growth and remain in
mainstream, securing competency and growth and prosperity. Since employees are most
important resource of organisations who are sitting at various positions and departments in
organisations are the one who are responsible of not only undertaking various tasks but also
making desirable plans of executing any change. Thus, their upliftment or enhancement in
performance ensures development of organisation. Therefore, every organisation does
development of employees through an important function of Human Resource management,
Training and development. Training and development is a set of activities that are useful in
imparting desired skills and knowledge in employees to inculcate and adapt necessary
developments, first by bringing developments in performance of employees.

TOPIC: To evaluate the impact of COVID-19 which reduce the working of
employees training and development. “A case study of Marks & Spencer”.
INTRODUCTION
Training and development play significant role in the business organisation as it is the
subsystem which focuses on the improvement of the performance of the employees (Ahmad,
Bibi and Majid, 2017). Training is defining as the educational process in which main focus is on
improving the skills and abilities of employees and gaining more knowledge. Furthermore,
training and developing is the primary function of the human resource department within the
organisation as they are responsible for managing the employees of the organisation (Beagle,
2015). Training and development program is design according to the needs and requirements of
the organisation in order to achieve its desire goals and objectives. According to current situation
of employees the training program is design so that they would able to enhance their skills and
abilities.
Background
Marks & Spencer has made its brand name in marketplace by providing quality goods
and services to its customers across the globe (Bandura and Lyons, 2015). It is the British
multinational retail company established in year 1884 by Michael Marks & Thomas Spencer.
The company is dealing in wide range of products such as clothing, home products and food
products. It has expanded its business in international market as its products and services are
preferred by customers. As company is operating at global level so need to focus on its strategies
and its implementation in effective and efficient manner (Hurtle, 2015). Marks & Spencer is
having large employee force and its management is difficult hence HR department need to take
corrective measures so that it would able to manage its employees and help in the
accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives.
Review of problem
COVID-19 have disrupted many sort of operations of Marks and Spencer. In fact, no
other business was also spared from this effect of pandemic. Considering Training and
Development, it is one the major and prominent task in an organisation as it is helpful for raising
efficiencies of employees in a manner that leads to their own development along with helping
organisation to achieve more compatibility in market. But even Training and development

activities were halted, even when they are not operation of organisation but a function of human
resource department. Major reason for this disruption can be attributed to the fact of restricted
and curbed freedom of movement of people. Marks and Spencer is a large scale organisation an
it hires employees all around the globe. For training and development functions they were
helpless because of curb on movement. Also to support programmes under Training and
development large scale gatherings were required which were also prohibited. However these are
sort of examples, whereas there were many difficulties before Marks and Spencer to carry out
training and development of employees. This situation came as a big hit for organisation because
the world after pandemic is completely new and requires new techniques and approaches for
which employees are needed to be trained. But, what Marks and Spencer now have is a staff of
inefficient people which have not enough skills as required by modern times.
Aim
To examine the impact of COVID-19 on labour employees training and development
in Marks& Spencer.
Research objective
 To determine the benefits of training and development on employee performance.
 To examine impact of COVID-19 on employees training and development within Marks
& Spencer.
 How Marks & Spencer could effectively redesign its training and development
programmes under the COVID lock down conditions for enhancing performances of
labour employee working in the company
Research questions
 Determine benefits of training and development on employee performance?
 Examine impact of COVID-19 on employees training and development within Marks &
Spencer?
 How Marks & Spencer could effectively redesign its training and development
programmes under the COVID lock down conditions?

LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is a summary which is conducted after analyzing the information
provided by various sources on particular topic (Bell and et.al. 2017). It is one of the effective
secondary research method which helps in providing accurate information on the topic.
Moreover by considering the viewpoints of different sources one able to understand the concepts
in effective manner.
Benefits of training and development on employee's performance
According to Simplilearn (Benefits of Employee Training and Development. 2020),
employees are the most important asset in the organization and management need to focus on its
training and development in order to accomplish the objectives. Organizing training program will
be beneficial for both employees and organization as employees would able to learn precise
skills and enhance their knowledge to improve performance. On the other hand organization
would able to increase its productivity and able to meet its design targets.
 Employee retention- Retaining skilled and capable employees is one of the most difficult
task faced by the management of the company. Providing training to new employees
involves high expenses hence HR department need to focus on retaining employees. By
providing effective training to employees with the motive to enhance their skills and
abilities has positive impact on employees and help in enhancing productivity of
company (Bhattacharyya, 2015).
 Engagement of employees- The management of the company must focus on increasing
the engagement of employees so that they would able to put forward their viewpoints and
difficulties (Hurtle, 2015). By conducting regular training programs the main focus is on
establishing communication as it helps in re-evaluation of skills and abilities of
employees so that differences can be identified and accordingly corrective measures can
be taken.
 Training future leaders- The HR department is responsible to provide effective training to
its employees with the motive to focus on the growth and development of the future
leadership which will help the business organization for growth and change (Cur ado,
Henriquez and Ribeiro, 2015).

Impact of COVID-19 on training and development programs introduced by managers and
leaders of M&S company
According to Helen Webb (impact of COVID-19 on employees training and development.
2020), due to covid-19 pandemic things are becoming difficult for companies as management
need to operate from home only. In context of Marks & Spencer company is operating at global
level due to which it has become difficult to operate from home. Furthermore, employees are
facing problem in operating remotely or working from home. The employees are not able to
concentrate on their work effectively due to lot of noise at home (Cur ado, Henriquez and
Ribeiro, 2015). The management of Marks & Spencer is facing problem in providing training to
its employees as they are not able to provide them on the job training. In online training
employees are not able to understand things properly due to which it has negative impact on the
performance of employees. As employees are not able to perform up to their abilities due to
which company is facing downfall in its profit and sales volume (Gegenfurtner and et.al ., 2016).
The management and employees need to communicate through video conferencing where
changes of miscommunication and errors are high due to problem of internet connectivity. The
HR department of Marks & Spencer is providing training to its employees through online
platform where employees are not able to concentrate effective and efficiently. Management and
employees need to shift to the digital channels and they are not familiar with the concept hence it
is time consuming process where they have to spend more time on operating various digital
platforms. The training and development department of Marks & Spencer is conducting online
training programs and it is providing benefits to the company in different ways. It is one of the
cost effective method and is flexible as it can fit the personal timetable of employees.

How Marks & Spencer could effectively redesign its training and development program
under the COVID lock down conditions.
According to Stuart Lachlan (Marks & Spencer could effectively redesign its training
and development program. 2020), training and development involves high cost and due to
Covid-19 pandemic , Marks & Spencer is not able to provide on the job training to its
employees. The management has adopted online training approach with the motive to help
employees to improve their skills and abilities. Although it is difficult to provide online training
as it is a new concept which require time to understand and learn this concept. With the help of
online classes the trainers will able to establish effective communication with the employees and
also help them in dealing with complex situation. This method has helped the employees in
enhancing their skills and abilities so that they would able to improve their performance and help
in increasing the productivity of company (Gruicic and Benton, 2015). Therefore, it can be said
that various initiatives are being taken into consideration by management department of the
chosen firm i.e. M&S. It also includes usage of various theories such as transformation theory.
This theory is used by concerned departments of the business firm by evaluating respective
dynamic business environment of the business firm. It is to be assumed by managers and leaders
of the firm that no particular strategy can fit at its best to effective working of the operational
firm. The theory suggests that, various plans and strategies of an organization should be modified
as per changes in trend and operational environment of the workforce.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology which highlights on specific points with specific techniques. It is
a systematic approach through which the objective of the research can be accomplished.
Research methodology is a process which identifies, gather, operate and analyze the data which
is required to conduct a research and it also evaluates the overall reliability and accuracy of the
data (Bibi, Ahmad and Majid, 2018).
Type of investigation:
Research is a systematic process of collecting, analysing and observing data which is
required. There are several techniques through which data can be collected (Rahman and et.al.
2015). The two most common techniques of research are- quantitative research and qualitative
research.
Quantitative Research- Quantitative research is a technique of collection of numerical
data. This technique of research is based on deductive technique of data collection through which
numerical data can be gathered. Through this technique of research, the relationship between two
or more variables can be observed and analysed. The information in this methodology is
collected from potential customers which is gathered by online surveys, questionnaires and
sampling method (Ganesh and Indradevi, 2015).
Qualitative Research- Qualitative research is based on the information that has been
collected through primary data. Through this technique, non-numerical data is gathered and
analysed. This information that has been collected by this methodology is more reliable and
accurate. The several techniques of collecting data for qualitative research are case study method,
narrative method, grounded theory method, historical method and other (Sandstorm and et.al.
2016).
Research Philosophy
Research philosophy is a brief of all the tasks and activities which needed to be executed.
For conducting an effective research, it is necessary to have a reliable and accurate research
philosophy which help in the achievement of the research objective (Numonjonov, 2020).
Data Collection
Data collection is a technique of gathering, selecting and analysing the data which is
required for the research (Hoyer and et.al. 2017). There are two types of data- primary and
secondary data. The collection of the data can be done through various techniques, such as

interview method, observation method, case study, surveys, questionnaires, journals and
publications.
Primary data- It is one of the basic technique of data collection, these are the data which
has never been collected and is original (Ibrahim, Boerhannoeddin and Bakare, 2017). The
various techniques of collecting primary data can be done through survey method, observation
method, questionnaire, interviews and other methods. The primary data is considered as more
reliable and accurate whereas, it is also an expensive method of data collection.
Secondary data- The other technique of data collection is done through collecting the
secondary data. It is the data which has already been collected (Krieger and Cavanagh, 2018).
The research based on secondary data is considered as unreliable and it lacks accuracy, as the
data used in the research has already been collected. The techniques of collecting the secondary
data are journals, publications, newspapers, letters, biographies and other techniques (Clarke and
Higgs, 2016).
Research approach
Research approach is an approach to collect necessary data which is required to fulfil the
purpose of the research (Park, Kang and Kim, 2018). The two most common methods of research
used by researchers to collect the data are: deductive approach and inductive approach.
Data Sampling
It is one of the significant method which help the researcher in carrying the operations
and task in the effective and efficient manner. It help the researcher where with the use of sample
they would able to find appropriate and accurate results. Data sampling is the method in which a
number of respondents are selected from population as the sample and their viewpoints and
suggestions are taken by the researcher in order to meet the objective of the research. It is one of
the effective technique which helps in collecting the correct information so that appropriate steps
can be taken in order to improve the situation. In order to conduct this research a sample of 30
respondents are taken and their suggestions and feedback are considered and accordingly
corrective measures are taken (Gegenfurtner, Zita and Eibner, 2020).

Questionnaire design
This report is conducted by collecting primary data sourcing by developing the
questionnaire. In questionnaire a set of questions are designed according to the problem faced by
the company so that proper strategies can be formulated for improving the performance of the
business (Van Hoek and et.al. 2020).
Ethical Consideration
In the process of research it is important for the researchers to carry the research
operations in ethical manner. This will lead to proper functioning of the research practices and
the effective results are accomplished on time. Moreover the researcher should carry the work by
maintaining the balance between ethics and morals. For collecting the information or data related
to the research topic it is important to have the permission of the other party (Kodwani, 2017).

Data analysis and interpretations
Data analysis is the process in which the collected data or information is been studied and
effective evaluation is done in order to identify the problem and to take corrective measures
accordingly (Larsen, 2017). Presentation of results and data with the help of suitable tools and
techniques.
Theme1. Information about COVID-19 pandemic.
Q1. Do you have any knowledge about the global pandemic, COVID-
19?
Frequency
• Yes 25
• No 5
Theme2. Impact of covid-19 on retail industry.
Q2) How COVID-19 has influenced the retail
industry?
Frequency
 Unable to pay wages to employee's 15
 Deprivation in earnings and profits 5
 Disturbed functioning of management 6
 Demand fluctuations 4
Theme3. Training policy of company due covid-19.
Q3) Due to COVID-19, the training policies of the company created an
impact on their employee's in which manner?
Frequency
• Positively 16
• Negatively 14
Theme4. Type of training method.
Q4) What type of training methods are
adopted by the organization during the
pandemic?
Frequency
Lectures 10

Conferences 5
Audio-visual training 8
All of the above 7
Theme5
Covid-19 impact on retention of employees.
Q5) Does COVID-19 created an impact on the retention of employee's? Frequency
• Yes 25
• No 5
Theme6. Strategic adopted by company to retain employees.
Q6) What strategies should be adopted by
the organization for employee retention in
the times of COVID-19?
Frequency
 By motivating employee's 20
 Promoting safety of employee's 5
 By rewarding and recognition 3
 All of the above 2
Q7) Recommend the measures that can be taken for the training and development of
employee's during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Answer- By organizing training program on online platform Marks and Spencer would able to
focus on the skills and abilities of employees with the motive to increase its productivity.

Time plan
week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week 7 week 8 week 9 week 10 week 11 week 12 week 13 week 14
selection of topic
colection data
planning proper layout
literature review
development of research plan
research techniques
data analysis
Interpretation of findings
Conclusion
check plagiarism
Final submission

Conclusion
From the above report, it has been concluded that training and development of
employee's is the most essential technique for the development of employee's and it also
increases overall productivity of the organization. Through training and development, the
knowledge, skills and competencies of the employees can be enhanced which will improve the
performance of the employee and will result in job satisfaction also. The training is provided
through several techniques such as on-the job, off-the job method and other techniques through
which the performance of the employees can be enhanced. An effective training session is very
important as the employees are trained to perform the assigned tasks and duties effectively and
efficiently.
Reflection
While preparing this report, I learned and enhanced my skills, knowledge and
competencies. By the training sessions which were provided, I found it valuable to enhance my
performance and gain competitive advantage from it. I enhanced my communication, ability to
work with team and time management skills. I improved my time management skills through
effective planning and through maintaining planners. I worked on improving my communication
skills through interacting with people and by understanding their opinions.
Alternative
This report is based on questionnaire method and if in future we get the opportunity to
conduct the research they we consider interview method for data collection.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Ahmad, A., Bibi, P. and Majid, A.H.A., 2017. The impact of training & development and
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public tertiary institutions: The buffering role of co-worker support. Journal of
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Beagle, S., 2015. Technical education and vocational training for sustainable
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Bell, B. S and ET. al., 2017. 100 years of training and development research: What we know and
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Gegenfurtner, A., Zitt, A. and Eibner, C., 2020. Evaluating webinar‐based training: a mixed
methods study of trainee reactions toward digital web conferencing. International
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Appendix
Questions Frequency
Q1) Do you have any knowledge about the global pandemic, COVID-
19?
a) Yes 25
b) No 5
Q2) How COVID-19 has influenced the retail industry?
a) Unable to pay wages to employee's 15
b) Deprivation in earnings and profits 5
c) Disturbed functioning of management 6
d) Demand fluctuations 4
Q3) Due to COVID-19, the training policies of the company created an
impact on their employee's in which manner?
a) Positively 16
b) Negatively 14
Q4) What type of training methods are adopted by the organization
during the pandemic?
a) Lectures 10
b) Conferences 5
c) Audio-visual training 8
d) All of the above 7
Q5) Does COVID-19 created an impact on the retention of employee's?
a)Yes 25
b) No 5
Q6) What strategies should be adopted by the organization for
employee retention in the times of COVID-19?
a) By motivating employee's 20
b) Promoting safety of employee's 5
c) By rewarding and recognition 3
d) All of the above 2