HRM Strategies and Employee Relations at Marks & Spencer

This report provides an overview of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Marks & Spencer, a multinational retailer based in the UK. It explores the purpose and functions of HRM, including job design, recruitment, training, and performance management. The report discusses the effectiveness of internal and external recruitment strategies, the impact of employee relations and legislation on HRM decision-making, and various HRM practices such as training and development, working hour flexibility, and reward management. It critically analyzes how these practices contribute to employee satisfaction, engagement, and ultimately, the company's profitability, emphasizing the importance of aligning HRM strategies with organizational goals and adapting to dynamic business environments. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
P1- Purpose and functions of HRM ............................................................................................3
M1- Functions of HRM ..............................................................................................................4
P2- Recruitment and Selection ....................................................................................................4
M2- Strengths and Weakness of selection approaches ...............................................................5
D1- Critical analysis of different approaches .............................................................................5
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
P3- Different HRMAM practices ................................................................................................6
P4- HRM practice increasing profitability...................................................................................7
M4 Different methods in HRM practices-...................................................................................7
D2- Critical analysis of HRM practices ......................................................................................7
LO3..................................................................................................................................................7
P5- Impact of employee relation on HRM decision-making.......................................................7
P6- Impact of employee legislation on decision-making of HRM..............................................9
M4- Key aspects of employee relationship................................................................................10
LO4................................................................................................................................................10
P7- Implementation of HRM practices......................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management refers to art of managing employees of company to achieve
and thrive for better performance. It is strategic approach to efficient management of employees
such that it helps business to gain competitive advantage and winning in marketplace
(Ahammad, Glaister, Gomes, 2020). Marks and Spencer is multinational retailer based out of
UK that specialises in selling home, clothing and food products mostly under its own label. The
company is listed in London stock exchange which was being founded in year 1884 by Michael
Marks and Thomos Spencer which has around 1000 stores in UK Currently. Present report will
brief on purpose and scope of Human resource management , effectiveness of key elements of
HRM in an organisation, various internal and external factors that affect Human resource
management decision-making, with inclusion of employment legislation and will help in
assessing how human resource management in applied in a work-related context.
MAIN BODY
LO1
P1- Purpose and functions of HRM
HRM refers to process of recruiting, selecting, inducting people, imparting training and
development with compliance to various laws and regulations to achieve goals of company.
Purpose of HRM is to manage the numerous needs of employees of company, where its
main purpose is with the coordination of organisations employees to achieve common desired
business objectives. Its main purpose lies in maintaining satisfaction of employees. Its purpose
is to provide training to employees which can helps its employees to perform task in Marks and
Spencer more prominently and effectively (Siam, Alhaderi, 2019.).
Some primary functions of HRM at Marks and Spencer includes job design and job
analysis which includes process of designing duties, operations and responsibilities of job. It
includes describing job requirements which includes experiences, skill and qualification to hire
right employee at be part of workforce planning, it includes hiring and selection where
recruitment is primary functions of HRM which aims to take and retain qualified employees to
achieve goals and target of company (Keegan, 2018). It includes training and development which
ensures development of candidate in right direction and on which overall success of company

depends and includes function such as employee performance management, compensation/
rewarding employee’s and various others.
Best fit approach refers to the contingency approach which states that HR strategies
depends upon the situations which picks upon the most effective policies and procedure that
matches up with the situation whereas Best practice is universal approach that states company
adopts to certain activities which are universally being supported in achieving goals of company
regardless of situations which are dynamic in nature (Pudil, 2018).
Workforce planing refers to the process of analysing current workforce, determining
future needs of workforce, by identifying gap between present and future and finding solution to
reach common goals.
Hard model of HRM refers to traditional approach which includes approaches such as
Lower wages, little to no empowerment of employees, following old fashioned style of
leadership and others whereas soft model of is modern approach that features employees as
important resource which accounts to employees empowerment and well being.
M1- Functions of HRM
Various other function of HRM in Marks and Spencer includes managerial relations which
includes acting as agent to maintain relationship between employer and employee's of company
which determines how the work is to be done in given period and how to mobilise workforce to
achieve goals of Marks and Spencer (Ahammad, 2017).
P2- Recruitment and Selection
Recruitment refers to process of identifying, interviewing, selecting, attracting, on
boarding and hiring employees. In layman language it is process of identifying and staffing
people at Workplace. Selection refers to short-listing candidates from pool of applicants who
possess necessary skills and qualification that supports filling up vacancies in Marks and
Spencer. There are two approaches to recruitment – Internal and External recruitment
Internal recruitment is filling up vacancies from within existing employees of company
which can be by shifting of promoting role of existing employees. External recruitment refers to
looking outside from pool of candidates who possess relevant skills and qualification to fill up
vacancies in an organisation. It refers to recruitment of individual who have applied from outside
for the job vacancy in the company (Rozario, Venkatraman, Abbas, 2019).
Strengths and Weaknesses of internal recruitment

It helps company in saving lot of effort which can be in terms of being cost effective and
reducing time as it is hiring of existing employees which also increases employees engagement
by promoting them to new position which leads to there motivation and satisfaction at workplace
It results in conflicts in company as hiring amongst existing employees leads to hard and
jealous feelings amongst colleagues which will decrease there part of contribution by
inappropriate means. It also leads to vacancy of old position as it promotes employees for new
role which leads to critical thinking on planning for that position which is now vacated (Slavić,
Bjekić, Berber, 2017).
Strengths and Weaknesses of External recruitment
It leads with company with huge pool of candidates, which helps Marks and Spencer to
find right person for right job with right qualifications , which helps company to undertake
business operations with fresh thought which leads to effective decision making (Kanagavalli,
Seethalakshmi, Sowdamini,2019)
The process is time-consuming and costly as it requires posting about job vacancy on
various social media platforms and various other ways of recruitments such as Advertisements,
hoardings and others. It can also lead to demotivation in current employees as they may feel
sense of not getting promoted(Ahmed, Ahmed, 2019)
M2- Strengths and Weakness of selection approaches
It includes approaches such as Interview where its strength is it helps in biding
relationship between employer and employee which helps in getting know both parties each
other and its weakness is it is not a complete process as there are other process for getting an
individual selected for the job role.
D1- Critical analysis of different approaches
It is required on part of company to consider each approach appropriately, if not then it
may lead to filling up of vacancy with candidates who are not capable of performing task which
lead to loss of business operation as a result will include huge cost to hire new employees which
will be costly and time consuming.

LO2
P3- Different HRM practices
There are various HRM practices which are being defined as systems, practices and others that
influences the behaviour of employee to perform challenging task. It includes practices such as
Training and development
It refers to educational activities in Marks and Spencer which is created to enhance skills and
knowledge of employees by providing instruction, informations on how to perform task
efficiently and productively. It can be through on the job training which leads to employees
providing real time experience of how Morrisons business operates. This practices of HRM helps
company in way to achieve desired goals with proactivity as its lays down means on how to
perform task for company(Taamneh, Alsaad, Elrehail, 2018)
Benefit to employer and employee's
It helps employee to boost up there morale as they develop sense of understanding that
company is focusing on there personal development which leads to there dedication,
commitment and focus to achieve common desired goals. It helps employer to retain its
employees and reduce its turnover and ensures that task is being committed with efficiency and
with laid standard and guidelines (Cristiani, Peiró, 2019).
Working hour flexibility
It refers to the schedule which allows employees to start and finish there workday
according to how they want it does and when they want it do. In simple words it can be
understood flexible hours altered by employees to facilitate there convenience of working and
achieve desired goals and target (Delery, Gupta, 2016).
Benefits to employer and employees
It helps employer of Marks and Spencer to attract and recruit highly talented individuals
where they are more convenient to flexible working hours which helps them to derive higher
level of productivity which in turn helps in building relationship as they can work when they
desire or wish to do. It helps employees to be more focused towards there work which in turn
will help in low absenteeism and sense of long term planning with the company where they can
derive there satisfaction level by working in fun loving and flexible environment and not in
culture that is driven up by lot of pressure.

P4- HRM practice increasing profitability
Reward management-It refers to practice of HRM in Marks and Spencer to reward and
compensate employees on the basis of there contribution and performance to achieve the
common desired goals of company. It is aimed to reward employees fairly, equitably and
consistently in regards with morale and values of company .
It helps in increasing profitability of company as it leads to increasing employees'
production as rewards and compensations are considered to be most valuable source of
motivation employees to perform there task with dedication and commitment. It helps in making
sense for employees as they feel if they work hard their efforts will be valued and rewarded
which in turn helps companies to increase and boosting up sales as a result boost up there
profitability (Diaz-Fernandez, Bornay-Barrachina, Lopez-Cabrales, 2017).
M4 Different methods in HRM practices-
Providing security to employees-
This practice deals with providing security by employer to its employees where
employers enables its employees to provide for their families and for themselves an essence of
security which leads employees attracted to serve an organisation. Employment security helps
and benefit organisation because it helps in retaining employees and not accounting to there
turnover which increases as they are being highly satisfied with the company which derives there
efficient and effective performance which contributes towards achievement of goals(Liu, Meyer,
2020).
D2- Critical analysis of HRM practices
Company need to accounts to its HRM practices and closely monitor and implement the
same as if company fails to do this it may be under threat where talented employees will be
recruited and retained by its competitors which will lead to loss of market share and hard time
for company to regain the position where it can dominate marketplace by providing its products
and services.
LO3
P5- Impact of employee relation on HRM decision-making
Employees are an important asset for organizations like Marks & Spencer because they
are responsible for performing organizational activities due to which it is the responsibility of

HRM to maintain an efficient relationship with employees. Through this efficient and effective
relationship HRM at Marks & Spencer can make sure that they are able to increase the
engagement of organizational employees which will increase their engagement in organizational
activities (Meijerink, Bondarouk and Lepak, 2016). This will ensure that employees are
motivated towards achieving their organizational target which will increase the working
capabilities of employees. Following are relationships which HRM has to consider in its
decision-making.
Employee empowerment, employees are responsible for running organizational
operations due to which they are able to understand the effectiveness of organizational structure
this empowers them to closely monitor the weakness of developed organizational structure by
HRM. Therefore HRM has to consider feedbacks provided by employee for increasing the
effectiveness of developed structure, through this feedback improvisation HRM will increase the
engagement of employee in improving organizational performance (Meijerink, Bos-Nehles and
de Leede, 2018). Thus resulting in improvement in performance of Marks & Spencer on the
ground level, which increase the goal achieving capabilities of organization. Employee
empowerment is not only limited to providing feedbacks but it also enables employees to
implement organizational changes are per their requirement due to which their they easily
achieve their organizational targets.
Employee motivation, HRM is responsible for considering employee motivation in its
decision-making because if employees are not motivated for achieving their organizational
targets then in that case their working efficiency will reduce which is directly proportional to
company's performance (Zamanan and et.al, 2020). Thus HRM has to consider employee
motivation theories for efficient implementation of employee motivation which will increase the
chances of goals achievement for organization and its employees. For achieving this HRM has to
change the organizational working procedure as per employee requirements in which employees
are motivated by showcasing some rewards or additional benefits. In this decision-making HRM
has to make sure that a balanced performance is maintained by which employees are motivated
and at the same time it is not affective the goal achieving capabilities of Marks & Spencer.
Employee loyalty, HRM has to make sure that the developed organizational structure
enables employees to showcase their skills and talents by which employee can also contribute
their efforts for improving organizational working capabilities (Chang and Chin, 2018). This is

important for organizations like Marks & Spencer because by this HRM can identify the special
skills of employee apart from their professional skills. Through this activity company can
motivate employees to learn new skills or take training for improving their performance. This
will increase employee's loyalty towards organization because they are assured that company is
taking care of their personal and professional development.
P6- Impact of employee legislation on decision-making of HRM
Organizations like Marks & Spencer are responsible for following the rules and
regulation developed by the governments regarding employees empowerment. Through these
laws governments make sure that company's are not harassing its employees and HRM has to
make sure that through efficient organizational structure they are able to follow this employee
legislation laws because if these laws are violated then organization has to face penalties.
Following are the different employee legislation laws which affect the HRM decision-making.
Medical leaves -
In this act of employee legislation employees are empowered to take medical leave if
they are unable to work due to their health issues, thus HRM cannot eliminate them for company
or deduct their salary on this basis (Bos-Nehles and Meijerink, 2018). This beneficial for
employee as their employee rights are being fulfilled by organization but on the other hand it
makes negative impact on company's economic growth because it has to pay salary to employee
without their work. This will affect the exchange of money with working capabilities, resulting
negative impact on company's economic growth.
Working hours-
HRM at Marks & Spencer has to make sure that they are able to develop a organizational
working procedure in which employee have to work only for a limited time segment in the
organization. By this allocation of working hours employees can efficiently focus on their
personal and professional life which will improve their working capabilities and creativity which
will be beneficial for the organization. Since Marks & Spencer is multinational retailer therefore
by increasing customer contact time company can increase its sales due to which HRM has to
implement creative options like shift working. By this HRM can make sure the employee
legislation laws are being fulfilled and company is having large customer contact time as well.
Minimum wages-

According to this act HRM has to develop base salary structure to make sure that
employees are getting a base salary by which governments make sure that employees are able to
fulfil their requirements which will improve their personal lifestyle (Hameed and et.al, 2020).
But with that it increase company's expenditures and at the same time it will make a negative
impact on employee's motivation because they are assured that they are getting a base salary
which reduced the chance that they will put more efforts for surpassing their limits his will limit
company's goal achieving capabilities.
Health & Safety-
HRM has to make sure that employees are working in a safe a secured environment
because if Marks & Spencer is not able to provide them a safe environment then their working
capabilities will be reduced because they are in a continuous throat of getting hurt. Therefore it is
responsibility of HRM to develop a safe and hygienic work place where employees can
concentrate their efforts on achieving their targets (Shen, Dumont and Deng, 2018).
Discrimination-
It is the role of HRM to develop a organizational environment in which employees don't
feel discrimination from other employees. This is important because if employees feel
discrimination then their loyalty towards organization will decrease and at the same time it may
lead to departmental conflicts. Thus in order to maintain a workflow among departments then
HRM has to take strict actions regarding the misbehaving employees by which Marks & Spencer
will get discrimination free environment.
M4- Key aspects of employee relationship
Employee relationship with HRM is very important factors HRM decision-making
because employees are responsible for implementing the organizational structure developed by
HRM and therefore if they are not able to understand the requirement they will not be able to
contribute their efforts in goal achieving of organization. Thus HRM has to take feedbacks and
suggestions from employees regarding their expectations for the developed organizational
structures.
LO4
P7- Implementation of HRM practices
Requirement for a particular position
Job Description:

Department: Human Resource Management
Job Purpose: To manage organizational operations and develop organizational structure
Academics:
1. Schooling with minimum marks of 75%.
2. Graduation with 74% or grade B.
3. Work field experience of 5 years.
4. Ability to on advanced excel on a Linux operating system.
5. Manage large amount of data on MySQL.
Main Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Monitor departmental working and evaluate their performance with requirements.
2. Solve departmental conflicts and develop effective teams.
3. Recruit new candidates for improving organizational working.
4. Resource company with advanced products by which organizational and goal achieving
capabilities can be enhanced.
5. Ability to understand changing market trends.
6. Improve departmental communication.
Hours of work: 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM
Interview questions-
1. Why do you want to join our company?
2. Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
3. What are your expectations from the organization regarding your role?
4. What are your point of view regarding solving an organizational issue?
5. Describe your professional experience?
Personal specification-
Tony Brown,
Mob. No: 123456789
Email: [e-mail]

Objectives
To work in an MNC where I can showcase my skills for contributing in improving company's
goal achieving capabilities, such that we can uplift our professional development.
Education Qualification:
1. Primary qualification with an aggregate of 87%
2. Secondary education with aggregate of 76%
Professional skills:
1. Effective communication skills.
2. Professional in advance excel, MySQL and Linux.
3. Work experience of 5 years in a multinational retail store.
4. Professional in implementation of management theories in real life scenarios.
Hobbies:
1. Playing outdoor games like football, swimming and badminton.
2. Researching new topics for improving my problem solving skills.
3. Learning new languages so I can break communication barrier.
CONCLUSION
From the above analysis it can be concluded that organization is a group of individual
who have gathered together for achieving a common goal and for which money is exchanged
with skills and abilities. It is the role of HRM to develop a efficient organizational structure by
which employees and company can collaborate their efforts by which organizational goals can be
achieved. It is the responsibility of HRM to perform several activities within organization like
resourcing organization such that its goal achieving capabilities can be increase and with that it
also has to make sure that company is able to achieve its target. For achieving this HRM has to
monitor organizational activities and evaluate it with its expected position by which it can
increase the chances of goal achievement.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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social exchange perspective. The International Journal of Human Resource
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