Employee Relations, Employment Law, and Stakeholder Analysis at M&S

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Employee Relations
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Executive Summary
This study is a brief discussion about the importance of employee relations from the perspective
of a chosen organisation Marks & Spencer which is a widely known name in the United
Kingdom. The study justifies the value and importance of employee relation along with a brief
understanding of the fundamentals of the employment law in the UK and how these are
interrelated to the organisation. Also, the study discusses the right, duties and obligation that
both employee and employer have towards each other. Finally, the study analyses the
stakeholder’s scenario for the M&S and identifies the various negative and positive impacts that
employee relations can have on the stakeholders identified.
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
LO1..................................................................................................................................................5
P1 Explain the value and importance of employee relations in application to the specific
organisational example................................................................................................................5
P2 Explain the fundamentals of employment law that apply to the particular regulatory case...6
LO2..................................................................................................................................................7
P3 Explain the different types of rights, duties and obligations an employer and employee
have within the workplace...........................................................................................................7
P4 Determine appropriate advice relating to the powers, responsibilities and obligations of the
employment relationship for a range of given organisational example.......................................8
LO3................................................................................................................................................11
P5 Conduct and complete a stakeholder analysis for a given organisation...............................11
LO4................................................................................................................................................13
P6 Analyze the impact of both positive and negative employee relations on different
stakeholders...............................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
Reference List................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction
Employees are an integral part of any organisation. Without them, it is almost impossible for any
organisation to perform. Thus, maintaining a healthy employee relation is also a mandatory
criterion that needs to be taken care off to maintain the organisation's smooth operations. Just the
way an organisation is highly dependent on physical infrastructure, it also requires its human
resources who will be working together and utilise these physical infrastructures to the fullest to
achieve the organizational goals and objectives. This also proves that employees are the most
essential asset for any organisation. Each employee also emphasises Schumacher et al., (2016)
states that the organizational success and failure is highly proportional to the human labour. To
make this work, it is essential that the employees complement each other and thus should work
as a single unit as suggested by Men, (2015). The relationship between the employer and the
employee should be supportive towards each other. Thus, the study of employee relations is a
critical part to be taken care of. This process of taking care of the shared relationship among the
employees of an organisation is done through employee relations. This study gives a practical
insight into the various concepts of employee relations while considering a critical analysis of the
chosen organisation Marks & Spencer.
Company Overview
One of the most significant British retail organisations with a strong market presence is Marks &
Spencer. The organisation has specialisation in retailing of products like luxury products,
clothing, home décor, etc. The organisation was founded in the year 1884 and is headquartered in
London. The company was started in the partnership between Michael Marks and Thomas
Spencer. The organisation opened its first largest internal store in the year of 2007 in Dubai aster
the United Kingdom. The organisation is on top priority based on customer service as they
follow a very customer-centric approach. The company has almost around 65000 employees
worldwide among which majority of the employees works in the sales department and total
revenue of £10.7bn (Marks and Spencer, 2019).
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LO1
P1 Explain the value and importance of employee relations in application to the specific
organisational example.
Employee relation is an integral part of any organisation. Humans are not machines, thus needs a
good working environment and motivation to put forward their best potentials. The success and
the failure of the organisation are highly dependent on the effort that the human resource put in.
Thus, it is a mandatory condition that the employees share a good rapport among each other.
Countouris, (2016) says employee relations management not only improves the work culture but
also makes the workflow much smoother as there is a lot of interdependency among the various
departments in an organisation, which are again run by different human resources only. Since the
employees share most of their work time interacting with each other, be it their colleagues,
subordinates, superiors, etc., the occurrence of conflicts and misunderstandings is very high.
Hence a proper system to maintain the balance among the various employees is also significant
(Slack et al.., 2015). The employer must take care of the employees and must make sure that
they are comfortable with each other for a better and healthy work environment. Thus it is one of
the prime duties of the managers and superiors to reduce the reasons of conflicts and maintain a
highly professional and healthy working environment for the employees.
Marks & Spencer is one of the most massive retail giants in the UK, and thus the organisation
maintains a strict code for managing the employee relations within the organisation. The
organisation's employee relations are highly influenced by the conventional system of industrial
relations. The company has almost around 65000 employees worldwide among which the
majority of the employees works in the sales department. As the company initially faced many
issues on the front of the employee-employer relationship, the company took some serious
considerations from the employee relation approach. Some of the strategies that the organisation
adopted were changing the working hours, pension schemes, competitive salary packages, bonus
and employee discounts, etc. (Cotter, 2017). However, with the changing time, these approaches
are somehow failing to satisfy the employee needs globally. The management thus is again
trying to develop a competitive employee scheme to reduce employee turnover rate and develop
an employee-friendly working environment. There are many issues where an individual is not
able to take any decision alone, and Marks & Spencer is a multinational company, the
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geographical boundaries play an essential role in the decision-making process. So, the need for
advice and guidance is high to understand the varied perspectives of the employees from the
different background which requires employee involvement thus developing better employee
relationships within the organisation. Through maintaining a better employee relation, M&S
employees will also be able to share their work complications thus making the process much
more manageable. This process helps to make the organisation a much better place to work in
along with reducing the overall conflicts and fights among the employee and the employers.
P2 Explain the fundamentals of employment law that apply to the specific organisational
example.
UK employment law is very complicated. Through the employment law, the UK authorities
regulate the relationship between the employee and the employer. The main benefits that the
people of the United Kingdom get are from employment rights, which are guided under various
acts, regulations and universal laws and equity (James, 2016). Some of the fundamentals of the
employment laws that can be applied in M&S are as follows:
 Job discrimination. The title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits the employer,
i.e. Marks & Spencer from discriminating while hiring, firing or paying a person who is a
current or probable employee based on race, sex, religion, or background. There is also a
prohibition of sexual harassment under this act only.
 Overtime/minimum wage. The Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA) is the one of the
UK’s main wage law, which determines the minimum salary and also sets the overtime
payment amount for those who work for than 40 hours in a working week
 Age Discrimination. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act states that the
employer, i.e. M&S cannot discriminate in any way for the employees or applicants
above 40 years of age.
 Gender pay difference. The Equal Pay Act (EPA) bounds M&S to pay equal wages to
all its employees including female employees for the jobs, which requires comparable
skills, efforts, and responsibilities.
 Immigration. The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) takes care of the
employment prohibition of the illegal immigrants. M&S being a multinational
organisation must abide by this law strictly.
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LO2
P3 Explain the different types of rights, duties and obligations an employer and employee
have within the workplace.
The Employer and the employee need to follow certain rights and responsibilities and must
adhere to that within the workplace to avoid conflicts. There are some necessary Acts which sets
the rights of the employers and employees, namely the Age Discrimination in Employment Act,
The Equal Pay Act, Bankruptcy Act, Workplace Health and Safety Act (Marchington et al.,
2016). The guidelines should be stated very clearly so that the employees are not mistreated by
the employers. On the other hand, the work would also slowdown of the employees are not
aware of their duties.
Key Responsibilities, Duties, and Obligations of the employer towards the employee
Fair Treatment: - Though the employers have full control over the employees they definitely
cannot mistreat them. Using the power wrongly along with discrimination at work place can
cause inefficiency in work for the employees. The employers get distracted and lose their focus
on action, which often causes accidental mistakes. As per the Fair Labour Standard Act, it warns
against the poor treatment and discrimination, which can cause lower productivity of the
employees. There should be mutual respect between the employer and employees.
Safety: - As per the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards, the environment
in the workplace must be safe for the employees to work. Employers many times do not follow
the guidelines, thus resulting in paying fines or even resulting in shutting down of the business.
The Safety Guidelines takes care of the safety of the employees like wearing safety kits while
working in order to avoid any possible physical hazard.
Fair Remuneration: - According to the Fair Labour Standards Act, the employees are bound to
receive a minimum salary of $7.25 per hour and may be even higher along with overtime pay in
case the worker or employee is working for more than 40 hours a week. These 40 hours is set by
the Department of Labour. According to the law, it is illegal for the company to withhold any
pay without proper justification.
Best Interests: - The rights of employees work life balance are well in hands of the employer.
The employee must have an interest in the Business of the employer at heart. Employees should
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never reveal business secrets to any of the competitor company of the employer, and they should
never engage in acts that might put the reputation of the employer’s company at stake. The
employers must give their best and should achieve the goals or targets by legal means (Collings
et al., 2018).
Key Responsibilities, Duties and Obligations of employees towards an employer
There are specific responsibilities that the employees have towards their employer. These include
Regularity and Punctuality, having a Positive attitude, working hard towards the goal, and lastly
Teamwork.
Regularity and Punctuality: - While selecting for redundancy most of the employers look at the
general attendance and time management of their staff. It is seen that employees availing more
sick leave and latecomers are more at the risk zone than those who are punctual.
Positive Attitude: - It is seen that there are employees who are responsible for bringing down
the whole workforce, they usually complain a lot and have issues all the time, just to avoid this
lay off employees should be the positive attitude at the workplace which generally have a
positive effect towards colleague (Newton and LePine, 2018)
Work Hard: - The employees should always give their best and meet the expectations of the
employer. The employees should never miss their deadlines and work hard to achieve the target
that is given to them.
Team Work: - The employees should be each other so that the target is achieved and stand
apart.
P4 Determine appropriate advice relating to the rights, duties and obligations of the
employment relationship for a range of given organisational example.
Employment law covers all the rights and obligations with the employer and employee
relationship. Many times, it has been observed that due the complexity of the employer and
employee relationships due to various causes, the employment law involves legal issues. The
Federal and state law also governs many such matters. When there is a contract between the
employer and the employee, the contract alone dictates the rights and duties that need to be
performed by the employees. As said all employees have some fundamental rights in the
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workplace. In most regions ‘employees have the right to privacy in the workplace which says
that they will have the right to personal possessions or storage lockers which can only be
accessed by the employee.
Marks and Spencer is one of the largest fashion retailers in the United Kingdom. It very well
known the retention of its employees and is considered as one of the major organizational
challenges. Therefore, the company has highly focused on Employees Engagement. There are
four factors that the company engages its employees into namely, Opportunity and Wellbeing,
Pride in Company, Trust, and lastly Involvement.
Opportunity and Well Being: - Marks and Spencer HRM practices, which act according to the
psychological and organisational behaviour of employees, have an impact in engaging them in
the organisation. The wellbeing of an employee says that the organisation is stable with a very
safe working environment. In this type of organisation, every employee is ready to give efforts in
order to achieve the organizational goals and objectives (Rogers, 2016.).
Pride in Company: - Marks and Spencer believe in dignity in the company is a critical factor in
the engagement of employees. The employees are proud that they are working for the largest
retailer in the United Kingdom, which is also an ecological retailer. The employee always
considers the cost that is associated if they break the link with the company. In case of leaving
the company, the employees think twice since they will be losing a brand name as well as certain
other advantages.
Trust: - Creating a relationship of trust and confidence is essential for an organisation for the
engagement of its employees. The leaders of Marks and Spencer live up to the values of the
organisation. The prime objective of the Manager is to see that his team members are
comfortable in communicating with them without any hesitation. There is always a friendly
atmosphere at the workplace by which the organisation automatically gains the trust of his
employees.
Involvement: - Involvement at work by the employees is significant. The more the employee is
involved in the work, the better it is for the organisation. The cultural conditioning plays a
substantial role in influencing the perceptions of the worker and his or her choices. Marks and
Spencer have a key opinion that involvement plays a major role in enhancing employee’s
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engagement. The organisation uses such circumstances as a tool in personal development of the
employees. Thus the employee participation is considered as one of major players in the
achievement of employee engagement (Rogers, 2016.).
To obtain a better employment relationship, Marks and Spencer should permanently incorporate
the following advises relating to Rights, Duties and Obligations of employee and employer.
 Better leadership management while taking necessary global decisions
 Building better rapport between the M&S management and the employees by providing
rewards and recognition for employee motivation
 More employee engagement events to improve employee relations and develop a
healthier working environment
 M&S management should provide more flexible working hours to help the employees in
work-life balancing
 The administration should also come up with competitive salary packages, pension
schemes, and medical facilities for all its employees right from top management to
bottom of employees in the hierarchy.
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High
Interest
Low
Power
High
Power
Low
Interest
Customers
Management
Employees
Owners
Partners and Shareholders Suppliers
Media
LO3
P5 Conduct and complete a stakeholder analysis for a given organisation.
Figure 1: Stakeholder Map
(Created by the learner)
High power, highly interested people (Manage Closely): The management and owners of the
organisation must be fully engaged, and great efforts should be made to satisfy them.
High power, less interested people (Keep Satisfied): The media should be kept satisfied with
enough efforts but should not be overburdened with the shots.
Low power, highly interested people (Keep Informed): The employees, partners, and
shareholders should be adequately informed about the situation and taken care to ensure that no
significant issues are arising between them. They should be highly used to get assistance in
solving the problems.
Low power, less interested people (Monitor): The customers and suppliers have the least stake
and thus should be monitored but both overburdened with excessive communication.
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Marks & Spencer being one of the largest retailers in the British market, they have many
stakeholders who are linked with the company’s daily operations. Stakeholder analysis as
defined by Power, (2016), is the process of assessing a system or an organisation in this scenario,
to find out the potential changes that are required and are relevant for the growth of the
organisation from the stakeholder perspectives. The information that is gathered through
stakeholder analysis is further assessed and analysed to relate how these can serve the interest of
the stakeholders for a particular organisation or project. Thus, in this scenario of Marks &
Spencer, a stakeholder analysis will be consisting of weighing and balancing all the competing
demands of the organisation/firm by all the factors/elements/members who have some claim on
it to arrive at the firm’s obligations to a particular case or in general.
In the case of M&S, the senior management team plays the central organisational role. Various
studies have revealed that the autocratic style top-down management team has been removed
from the organisation and as a result of the new management team presently is facing some
serious issues as the weaker position and unaware of all current circumstances. Even though
M&S is one of the pioneers of the value for money brands, with the frequently changing market
scenario and substantial investments in advertisements, M&S is still holding its position from the
perspective of its product quality and value for money. Due to this, the company is still keeping
its share value high. The stakeholder of M&S has high divergence between aspects like growth
and short-term profits, professional management and family control, etc.
Because of this imbalance or divergence, the organisation is not able to maintain employees and
work culture leading to job losses and failed product quality. The small shareholders have fewer
powers and thus are left with the only option of selling their shares. The employee’s skills are
also limited although they have a very high interest. Although the recent strategic scenario is a
significant point of concern for the management, the situation can only be controlled if the
administration satisfies the major stakeholders like owners otherwise the job prospects are very
bleak. The major problem was that M&S floated away from their core values and thus were not
able to hold on to their fierce market competition and the also the changing market trends. As a
result, the organisation lost its valuable customers and thus faced an economic downfall. This
also somehow forced the loyal customers for a brand switch (M&S Stakeholder Transparency
study, 2019).
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