Work-Based Learning Project: Evaluating Employee Motivation at M&S

This project report details a work-based learning assessment focusing on employee motivation within Marks & Spencer. The introduction highlights the importance of personal and professional development in achieving career goals, specifically for an HR Manager role. Task 1 outlines the desired career path and the necessary training, including self-study, feedback, and skill development. Task 2 identifies learning needs to address employee underperformance and poor communication. Task 3 proposes a project plan for improving employee motivation through training programs and performance evaluations. Task 4 describes the comprehensive project designed to generate solutions. Task 5 discusses the tools used to monitor project progress, and Task 6 presents a reflective report summarizing the findings and recommendations. The report emphasizes the significance of leadership, communication, and training in enhancing employee performance and organizational success.

Assessment 2: Work-
Based Learning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
State your desired future career role and explain what personal and professional training you
require for that future career role................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
Identify your personal and professional learning and development needs that would help the
organisation to minimise or eliminate the identified problems and challenges..........................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
Propose a Plan for a Work-Based Project to evaluate how employee motivation can be
improved.....................................................................................................................................5
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
Conduct a comprehensive Project designed to generate and recommend appropriate solutions
to the problems and challenges in your work place....................................................................8
TASK 5............................................................................................................................................9
Use an appropriate tool (or tools) to monitor and evaluate the progress of the Project
suggested in Task 4 above...........................................................................................................9
TASK 6..........................................................................................................................................10
Provide a Reflective Report based on your observations, experiences and recommendations
pertaining to Tasks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5...........................................................................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The personal and professional development can be referred to as the process by which the
organisation and the individual engage themselves in the learning process so that they can meet
their challenges and the set goals for future career development. This helps in understanding the
job role effectively and is focused on the skills which are needed to perform the job efficiently in
the workplace. It basically involves the time management and communication skills in order to
increase the productivity and efficiency. Work based learning is the strategy which gives real life
working experience to the people where they can apply the academic and technical skills in order
to develop the employability skills (Atkinson, 2016). The organisation chosen for this report is
Marks & Spencer, a multinational retail company dealing in home décor, food and clothing. This
report shall deal with the personal and professional training required for a future career goal and
the project plan for motivating the employees. Further it will have a reflective report.
TASK 1
State your desired future career role and explain what personal and professional training you
require for that future career role
Personal and professional training is necessary to gain the future career goal. An
individual must know the required knowledge, skill and behaviour which are necessary to prform
the job role effectively (Drysdale and et. al., 2016). The desired future career role for me is the
position of Human Resource manager in global company. The HR manager is entrusted with the
most essential role of recruiting and selecting the potential skilled staff in the organisation so that
common goals of the company is achieved. It work on to retain the skilled staff and provide
training to the workforce to bring out their efficiency for the success of the company.
In order to become an efficient HR Manager, it is very important for me to possess the
skill, knowledge and behaviour which are essential to carry on the roles and responsibilities of
the HR Manager (Espey, 2018). This role will help me in enhancing my skills which I can
acquire through personal and professional training.
In order to become efficient in my job role, I have taken this responsibility to learn on my
own at my workplace. For starting my own training, firstly the major task for me will be to
arrange the staff manual so that I can study it deeply. This will help me in gaining the knowledge
about the company and its working so that I can get myself prepared for the interview. Secondly,

I can purchase some professional books and magazines so that I can lean what skills and
knowledge I need to possess to perform my job role effectively. These books will help me in
understanding the theories and approaches which are necessary to manage the staff effectively.
Thirdly, I can take feedbacks from my seniors which will enlighten me in identifying my
strength and weakness. This identification will help me in developing the skills in which I lack
and improve my those skills which need further improvement so that I can get prepared for my
job role efficiently (Fleming and Haigh, 2017). Feedbacks from colleagues will help me in
knowing my progress so that I can manage my performance and work on the areas where
improvement is needed.
Fourthly, I can access the website of the company in order to know their requirement for
the job role of HR manager so that I can work on those required knowledge and skills. Then I
can contact the current employees of the Marks & Spencer so that I can get to know the required
skill set which are essential. Further these skills will not only help me in professional career but
will also help me in personal development which will help in my future opportunities.
Fifthly, I can work on my communication skill which is the most important skill in any
area of life whether personal or professional so that I can deliver my information effectively. By
undergoing certain training programs, I can develop other skills like problem solving attitude,
time management, ability to handle pressure and many other. All these skills will help in my
personal and professional training.
TASK 2
Identify your personal and professional learning and development needs that would help the
organisation to minimise or eliminate the identified problems and challenges.
I have got the opportunity to work as an HR manager in Marks &Spencer company
which deals in retail of home decor, food and clothing (Vetere and Stratton, 2016). During my
journey in the company as HR manager, I got to know that the company is facing problem of
underperformance of the employees and the poor communication which may result in loss of
loyal customers and increased employee turnover. The company has to work on this as soon as
possible otherwise it may face adverse consequences from it. Over the time, I have developed
new skills in me which will help the organisation in reducing or eliminating this problem which
are identified.

The two problems identified in the company is underperformance of employees and poor
communication which have resulted in degrading the quality of the products and services which
the company is offering. During my working at the Marks & Spencer, I was asked to assist the
team leader where I have to report him and provide inputs of the problem. According to me, the
company lacks in leadership skill and problem solving which have resulted in severe challenges.
The company can work on its leadership style so that the leaders can lead the staff
through effective communication which will eliminate the confusion and miscommunication
(Von Heupt, 2017). The important message shall be delivered properly and timely decisions can
be taken and improvements can be made. During the implementation of good communication
network into the organisation like automatic machine for calling, the managers of the company
felt that the workforce of the company lacks in adequate skills which must be improved in order
to increase their productivity (Succi and Canovi, 2020). For doing so, training programs were
initiated so that the employees can work on their skills and develop the required knowledge,
behaviour and skill to increase their efficiency. This helped the company in solving their first
problem of underperformance of employees and the poor communication problem was resolved
by building a good network between all the departments through automatic calling machine. This
helped the company in overcoming its challenges and prevent the loyal customers from leaving
and resulted in decreased employee turnover.
TASK 3
Propose a Plan for a Work-Based Project to evaluate how employee motivation can be improved.
Motivating the workforce is an essential task for the company as their performance is
directly related to the performance and success of the company (Hildebrand, 2018). As I have
been working in M&S as HR manager, it is my responsibility to motivate my workforce to give
productive outcome. The professional development plan can be referred to as the action plan
which helps the individual and organisation to achieve the desired career goal. It helps in
identifying the skills which are required to be developed so that there can be career enhancement
(Jabarullah and Hussain, 2019). In order to motivate the employees, it is important to identify the
lacunas which are needed to be improved by them so that the employees can work efficiently and
get motivated. The development plan is discussed below-

S no. Learning
target
Present
proficien
cy
Target
proficienc
y
Development
opportunities
Judging
criteria
Time
duration
1 Effective
communicatio
n
The
present
proficienc
y in the
organisati
on is 6
out of 10
The target
proficienc
y to
communic
ate well in
the
company
is 9 out of
10
In order to motivate
employees, an
effective
communication needs
to be develop which
will help the
employees in
delivering their issues
to the managers. It
will also help in
communicating the
targets and goals to
them properly so that
they can work
towards it.
This can be
judged by the
top level
management of
the company.
30 days
2 Team work The
present
proficienc
y is 8 out
of 10
Target is
to get it
10.
By encouraging team
work, employees will
feel motivated to
work with the
support of each other.
This will help in
increasing the
productivity of the
employees so that
they can work
efficiently.
This shall be
judged by the
leaders,
managers and
team members
who are
involved in the
teams.
30 days.
3 Positive The The target The positive working This shall be 2 months

S no. Learning
target
Present
proficien
cy
Target
proficienc
y
Development
opportunities
Judging
criteria
Time
duration
working
environment
present
proficienc
y is 6 out
of 10
proficienc
y to
communic
ate well in
the
company
is 10 out
of 10
environment can be
created by building
healthy employer
employee
relationship which
will encourage the
workforce to perform
better. Further the
managers must work
on appreciating the
efforts of the
employees so that
they feel motivated
and their morale is
increased.
judged by the
managers and
the leaders of
the
organisation
who will see
the impact of
this
development.
In order to motivate the employees, I suggest that a training and development program
must be initiated in the M&S company so that employees can acquire the required skill,
knowledge and behaviour. This project shall be based on providing training to the workforce so
that their productivity is increased. The details of the project are-
NAME OF THE PROJECT
The training and development project which aimed to enhance the skills of the employees
and also motivate them to work with efficiency.
ACTIVITIES TO BE UNDERTAKEN
The following activities are to be undertaken in the training project which includes-
 Training session to enhance the skills and knowledge required to perform the job role.
 Conducting survey in the organisation in order to know the behaviour and attitude of the
employee so that improvements can be made.

 Studying the relevant study material in order to enhance the performance.
 Training on developing required skills and knowledge.
TIME DURATION
The time required to conduct the project 'The Training and Development' is 45 days.
TASK 4
Conduct a comprehensive Project designed to generate and recommend appropriate solutions to
the problems and challenges in your work place
The project designed to overcome the challenges and problems which were faced by the
company Marks & Spencer is the ''Training and Development project''. The aim of this project is
to motivate the underperformed employees so that the company can overcome its challenges.
This project is aimed to give training to the workforce so that their productivity is increased and
performance level is enhanced. For solving the second problem of communication, the company
must work towards building a good network of communication so that the employees can freely
discuss their issues and queries.
From the above task, it is clear that the main problems faced by the company is poor
communication and the underperformance of the employees. This lacked motivation in them to
perform effectively for the company. As per my observation, these problems may impact the
overall performance of the organisation. The company's position in the market may get effected
which may result in increased employee turnover and the loss of loyal customers.
Since I have been working in the organisation for few months, I recommend the
managers of the company few solutions which may help them in resolving these problems. For
overcoming the challenge of underperformance of the employees, the managers must encourage
the feedbacks from the superior which will help in improving the work of the employees.
Regular feedbacks will also help in changing the way of carrying on the task. These can be
provided within a period of 2 or 3 weeks so that continuous improvements and appreciations can
be given to the employees and they can feel motivated.
Another solution is to actively listen to the employees regarding what problems and
issues they are facing so that quick solutions can be brought (Mumford and et. al., 2017). In case
of any underperformance, the managers must work on arranging any leader which can guide the
employees in their performance.

For the second problem of poor communication, the managers can arrange the network of
effective communication where employees and mangers of one department can communicate
effectively with the other. Another solution is to bring a policy into the organisation where
employees can participate in putting forward their opinions in the discussions and debates. This
will result in new ideas being flourished in the organisation.
The third problem is lack of motivation in the employees. In order to eliminate this
problem, I recommend that managers must work on appreciating the efforts of the staff so that
they get motivated to work even harder. Further the leaders and managers can offer benefits and
rewards to the employees so that they get encouraged and their morale is also increased. Apart
from team motivation, there must be individual motivation by the employers so that the
workforce feel valued (Moust, Bouhuijs and Schmidt, 2019). All these recommendations will
help Marks & Spencer to over the problem of motivation and bring out the productivity of the
employees.
TASK 5
Use an appropriate tool (or tools) to monitor and evaluate the progress of the Project suggested in
Task 4 above
Evaluation and monitoring is the most important component which must be used by the
companies in order to insight the progress of any project. In order to monitor the progress, the
company can use various tools and techniques which will help in evaluating the progress of the
project (Kis, 2016). These tools include survey or questionnaires. For using this tool, the
questionnaires can be distributed to all the employees of the organisation to monitor the progress
of the project and seek recommendations from them in order to make changes in the project.
After distribution, the results from it can be analysed and interpreted so that the result is
generated. This will help in taking the results as to how much employees have got motivated
from the practices which the company has involved in its working from this project.
Second tool which can be used by the company is Survey. This will help the organisation
to collect the information from the employees regarding their performance. The qualitative data
is best collected from the surveys so this tool will help M&S in knowing the progress of the
employee's performance. For evaluating the progress of effective communication, surveys can

help in monitoring its progress and what benefits the employees are getting which is resulting in
their increased productivity.
In order to evaluate and monitor the progress of employee's performance, benchmarking
is the best tool which can be used by M&S. It is a process through which the company can
compare the performance of the underperformed employees with that of other employees who
are efficient. It usually involves comparison to mark the progress which will help in further
planning (Koonce and et. al., 2019). All these tools and techniques will help the company in
monitoring the progress which will give help in overcoming the problems which the company is
facing and will lead the company in gaining the competitive edge against the existing
competitors.
TASK 6
Provide a Reflective Report based on your observations, experiences and recommendations
pertaining to Tasks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
While writing this report, I came to know regarding the challenges and the problems
which the company Marks & Spencer is facing. This has resulted in affecting the image of the
company in the market as these problems he resulted in degrading the quality of the product and
service which it is offering to its customers. In order to gain your desired career role, I
experienced that it is very important to acquire the requisite skills and knowledge which are
necessary to become an efficient HR manager. These skills and knowledge can be achieved
through studying the staff manual, undertaking training sessions, taking feedbacks from
superiors and colleagues so that the required skill set can be easily identified and the progress in
acquiring the same can be monitored. All these methods have helped in overcoming my
weakness and strengthening my skills so that I get my desired career role. While undergoing this
task, I got to know the importance of skills which are essential for performing the roles and
responsibilities of a particular job role.
While spending time in working with the Marks & Spencer company, the organisation
have faced many severe problems which includes underperformance of the employees, poor
communication and the lack of motivation in the workforce. These problems could have resulted
in lost of loyal customers and increased employee turnover. So to overcome these challenges, the
company was recommended to bring the system of feedbacks from colleagues and superiors so

that there can be performance enhancement and better communication channel is built between
subordinates and superiors. It was also recommended that managers must actively listen to their
employee's issues and concern so that quick solution is provided to them. The staff must be
encouraged to be involved in the decision making process so that they feel valued. This helped
me in gaining the knowledge regarding the problems which are faced by the companies and how
they can overcome them. I have learned that the skills and knowledge help in overc0oming these
challenges.
In order to overcome these problems, a professional development plan was made through
which company can deal with its issues and the progress can be easily monitored. It was mainly
developed to increase the motivation level of the employees. Apart from this, a project was
initiated by the company which is called “Training and Development Project” which will help
the company to train the employees so that they can perform effectively and efficiently. Under
the project several activities were focused to build positive working environment, effective
communication channel and the team work was encouraged. The activities which were arranged
by the company were training sessions, studying materials, conducting surveys and many other.
Throughout this task, I learned the importance of motivation from the perspective of employees
as well as the organisation and how this impact the running of the business.
At the end, the recommendation and solutions were given to the company in order to
effectively overcome these challenges. According to my observation, in order to evaluate and
monitor the progress of these solutions, various tools can be used by the company which includes
questionnaires where the company can collect quantitative data to analyse its progress regarding
the performance of the employee. Secondly the company was recommended to use surveys for
monitoring the progress of the project regarding the motivation level of the employees and
thirdly the company can use benchmarking for monitoring overall progress of the company in
overcoming the challenges. So this has taught me the importance of monitoring and evaluation
and what tools can help in monitoring the progress of the project.
Thus, it can be said that it was a learning experience for me in completing this report. I
have got a good experience while working with the Marks & Spencer company. I have learned a
lot throughout my working with this organisation as it has enhanced my knowledge and taught
me to deal with the problems. It has enhanced my problem solving skill and improved my
communication skill. Hence, this experience has contributed in my overall performance where I

acquired new skills and enhanced my existing skills, this experience will help me getting the
desired job role for which I have been working hard to achieve.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that in order to get the desired career role, it is
important to possess and acquire the requisite skills and knowledge which will help in gaining
the job role. In the journey of a company, there comes many hurdles and problems which every
organisation need to overcome. These can be solved by different measures and ways. The
professional development plan helps in identifying the lacunas in the company and provide
solutions of it within the set time frame so that these gaps can be filled effectively (Mazzotti and
et. al., 2018). It makes the work of managers easy to monitor and evaluate the progress so that
improvements can be made as per the requirement. At last it is concluded that the evaluation and
monitors plays an important role in enhancing the performance of the workforce as well as the
organisation.