Analyzing HRM Practices: Workforce Planning at Marks and Spencer

This report provides a detailed analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Marks and Spencer, a British multinational retailer. It explores the purpose and functions of HRM in workforce planning and resourcing, including employee motivation and retention. The report determines the strengths and weaknesses of different recruitment and selection approaches, such as internal databases, social media, video interviews, CVs, interviews, online screening, and aptitude tests. It also examines the benefits of HRM for both employers and employees, focusing on employee relations, training, and development, and evaluates effective HRM practices for enhancing organizational profit and productivity through employee engagement and safety. Furthermore, the report discusses the importance of employee relations in influencing HRM decision-making and determines key components of employee legislation and its impact on HRM. The application of HRM in an organization like Marks and Spencer is highlighted, emphasizing its role in achieving organizational goals and enhancing overall productivity. This document is contributed by a student and available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools for students.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM for workforce planning and resourcing an organisation.3
P2 Determine strengths and weakness of different approaches of recruitment and selection5
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................7
P3 Determine the benefits of HRM for an employer and an employee.................................7
P4 Evaluate effective HRM practices for enhancing organisational profit and productivity.8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5 Importance of employee relation influencing HRM decision making..............................9
P6 Determine key components of employee legislations and its influence on HRM decision
making..................................................................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P7 Application of HRM in an organisation..........................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is an strategic approach through which a business manages
personnel of their business which will enhance their performance and organisational goals can be
achieved effectively and efficiently. Human resource management helps business to recruit and
retain talented employees through which overall productivity of a business can be enhanced
(Storey, 2016). All functions and processes of human resource management revolves around
planning, organising, controlling, coordinating and execution of plans and activities through
which organisational goals can be accomplished. Marks and Spencer is an British multinational
company who operates as a retailer in the marketplace and delivers products related to clothing,
home decor and food products under their label. The company was founded in Leeds, UK in
1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. This project is based on all activities and
operations of Human resource management that are practised by Marks and Spencer.
TASK 1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM for workforce planning and resourcing an organisation
Human resource management- Human resource management is an process of
recruiting, selecting, training and developing all employees through which an organisation can
meet targets and enhance the organisational productivity (Stewart and Brown, 2019). The human
resource management of Marks and Spencer focus on their employee's and their customer by
providing valuable products and services by which an organisation can gain competitive
advantage.
Purpose
Human resource management aims to achieve organisational goals efficiently and
effectively. The purpose of Human Resource management of an organisation in workforce
planning and resourcing are explained below:
 Motivation of employee's- The activities of human resource management helps
business in motivating their employees through which a business can enhance their
performance and organisational goals can be accomplished efficiently. Marks and
Spencer motivates and encourages their employee's by understanding their opinions and
valuing their preferences and by recognizing all employee's for their performance in the
organisation for accomplishment of all organisational goals. this helps in satisfying and
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motivating employees which ultimately leads to less employee turnover, which is a
beneficial task for process of workforce planning.
 Employee retention- The human resource practices can enhance employee retention
within an organisation by providing services and benefits to employee's. Marks and
Spencer focus on retaining their talented employee's by providing them quality services,
plans and programs which can motivate all employees and provide job satisfaction. For
this purpose, employer has planned to provide certain non-monetary benefits, like office
parties, etc. this is basically related to make to work culture comfortable for employees.
(DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016).
 Better work culture- The human resource practices can enhance quality of work life and
enhance living stands by providing appropriate wages and through maintaining healthy
working scenario in an organisation. Marks and Spencer focus on maintaining healthy
working environment by encouraging all employee's and appraising their contribution in
achievement of organisational goals.
Functions
Some of the functions of human resource management of an organisation through which
a business can perform all activities and operations effectively and efficiently are mentioned
below:
 Staffing- Staffing is an activity of an organisation which is carried out by the human
resource department through which a business attracts and recruit talents which can help
an organisation in achieving all organisational goals efficiently. Marks and Spencer
strategically plan for recruiting top talents for all organisation who can perform better and
contribute in the achievement of organisational goals.
 Performance appraisal- The performance of employees and their contribution in
achievement of organisational goals is recognised and appraised through performance
appraisal policies and strategies of human resource management. Marks and Spencer use
effective appraisal policies through which they can recognize and appraise the
performance of all employee's (Bratton and Gold, 2017).
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P2 Determine strengths and weakness of different approaches of recruitment and selection
RECRUITMENT- Recruitment is a process of attracting and hiring potential candidates
to perform a specific job role. There are mainly two approaches, external and internal which can
be bifurcated further under various heads:
Internal approach: Internal recruiting is the process of filling vacancies within a business from
its existing workforce. Following are some of the methods of internal approach:
 Database of talented employee's: Marks and Spencer keep the database of all talented
employees and candidates through which a business can hire right candidates when
company have vacant positions (Hecklau and et.al., 2016).
Strengths- This approach of recruitment help business in keeping the track of all potential
candidates through which an organisation can select right candidate on time.
Weakness- This stops the flow of new talent to come in company and it makes it bad for the
organisation, as it restricts it to pace up with dynamically changing environment.
External approach: External recruitment is the evaluation of open pool of job candidates, other
than existing staff, to check whether there are any enough talented or able to fill requirements
and perform existing employment opportunities. It is the way of looking outside of the existing
employee pool to fill job positions in a company. It has following methods:
 Social media platforms: Marks and Spencer use various social media platforms to
attract and hire talented employees who through which a business can gain competitive
advantage.
Strengths- Through this a business can attract numerous candidates and the brand image can be
build and maintained.
Weakness- It can be a time consuming approach and organisation can receive negative feedbacks
from audience.
 Video interviews: Marks and Spencer conduct interviews and hire candidates through
video conferencing method through which a business can save time and save cost. This
tool can be used by the company to establish relationship with potential employees
through face to face conversations. This is more impactful than other telephonic
conversations.
Strengths- This approach of video conferencing helps business in saving time and cost for
screening and recruiting desirable and potential candidates.
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Weakness- Due to lack of internet connectivity issues and poor quality of internet it creates a
barrier for all candidate and for business to interact properly.
SELECTION- Selection is an act of hiring and on-boarding the top talents for an organisation
through which a business can enhance the overall productivity and gain competitive advantage.
Several approaches of selection are explained below:
 CV or application forms: Marks and Spencer monitors the application form of all
talented candidates through which a business can analyse the skills and competencies of
all potential candidates (Stone and Deadrick, 2015).
Strengths- An effective CV helps to showcase the skills and competencies of all candidates
through which a business can monitor the candidate and their abilities.
Weakness- It is not a complete tool to analyse all capabilities of an individual from just a paper.
 Interview method: Marks and Spencer conducts interviews through which they test
potential and competencies of all candidates which will be helpful for all candidates in
performing the specific job role.
Strengths- This approach of selection is more flexible, interaction between all candidate and
employer can be effective tool for selecting suitable employees.
Weakness- This approach can be time consuming and is an expensive method.
 Online screening: Marks and Spencer use email's and other methods through which an
organisation can screen all talented candidates for a business.
Strengths- Through this approach, wide number of applicants can apply and is an effective mode
of communication.
Weakness- The organisation can get large number of responses which can be time consuming for
selecting potential and desirable candidate.
 Aptitude test: Marks and Spencer conduct aptitude test of all candidates through which
they can analyse the competencies, skills and knowledge of all individuals through which
a right candidate for right job can be selected (Anderson, 2015).
Strengths- It is a cost effective approach through which candidate's competencies and skills can
be analysed.
Weakness- This approach avoids soft skills of candidates and the level of anxiety can be
increased.
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TASK 2
P3 Determine the benefits of HRM for an employer and an employee
Employee relations: One of the main practices of Human resource manager is to satisfy
its employees, and this can be achieved through maintaining cordial relations with them. This
practice has various advantages to employee and employer as well. They are listed as follows:
Benefits for an Employer-
 Workplace culture- Human resource management of an organisation help a business in
maintaining an healthy and positive organisational culture through which employee's can
be satisfied from their jobs and will perform assigned roles productively. In context of
Marks and Spencer, an employer aims to resolve conflicts and maintains positive
working environment through which maximum employee satisfaction can be maintained.
Benefits to employee:
 Employee satisfaction- Human resource management aims to provide maximum
employee satisfaction from providing accurate wages and appraising employee's for their
valuable contribution in achievement of organisational goals. Marks and Spencer focuses
on their employee and aims to provide maximum satisfaction from their jobs by
motivating the employee's and recognizing their performance.
Training and development- With the help of human resource management, a business
can monitor need of training for all employees. Human resource management of an organisation
helps to train and develop skills, competencies and knowledge of employees through which they
can perform efficiently and productivity of employees can be enhanced. Marks and Spencer
focuses on providing training ton their employee's by analysing training and development needs
to perform desired job role.
Benefits for an Employer-
 Employee engagement and retention- training and development help a business in
retaining their talented employee's by encouraging them and through appraising
contribution of employee's. The management encourages employees in participating in
activities of business (Delery and Roumpi, 2017). In context of Marks and Spencers,
management aims to retain their talented employees through appraising their performance
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and by giving bonuses and appraisal for their contribution in accomplishing all
organisational goals.
Benefits to employee:
 Enhanced creativity and innovation- With the help of training and development, a
management can help employee in enhancing creativity and innovation of employee's
(Albrecht and et.al., 2015). Marks and Spencer encourages the employee's for making
innovative decisions for completing assigned jobs effectively and through creative
thinking the overall productivity of an organisation can be enhanced.
P4 Evaluate effective HRM practices for enhancing organisational profit and productivity
Human resource management is a systematic approach through which a business can plan
all activities strategically and tasks are carried out effectively through which an organisation can
earn maximum profit and enhance the overall productivity. Some of the HRM practices through
which an organisation can earn profit and enhance overall productivity are explained below:
 Employee relations- Human resource management can encourage employee for
participating in all activities that are performed by an organisation through which they
can increase the employee engagement. Marks and Spencer encourage their employee's to
participate in all activities of an organisation through which they can increase the
employee engagement and gain competitive advantage from their functions (Kianto,
Sáenz and Aramburu, 2017). Human resource management aims to provide safety and
security to their employee's through which they can retain their talented and potential
employees who will participate in accomplishing organisational goals and enhancing the
overall productivity of an organisation (Voegtlin and Greenwood, 2016). Marks and
Spencer provide safety and security compliances to their employee's through which they
can make all employees perform the assigned tasks effectively and and organisational
objective and profits can be maximised.
 Training and development- Human resource management focuses on training and
developing their employees which will help them in performing the job role effectively
and efficiently through which business can maximize profit and maintain productivity of
overall business. Marks and Spencer provide training and development to their
employee's which will enhance skills and abilities of an employee’s through which the
business can earn maximum profit and enhance productivity of all employee's and overall
8

organisation. Through strategically planning training and development programs of
business it helps an organisation in achieving organisational goals by enhancing overall
productivity of an organisation and gain profit and competitive advantage from the
operations and functions of business. Marks and Spencer strategically plans their
functions that are needed to be performed by which a business can earn profit and
enhance overall productivity of an organisations.
TASK 3
P5 Importance of employee relation influencing HRM decision making
Employee relation- Human resource management aims to maintain an healthy employee
relation through which a business can avoid conflicts, enhance productivity and provide
optimum satisfaction from their job's. A healthy employee relation helps business to interact with
each other effectively, increase employee engagement and productivity. In context of Marks and
Spencer, employee relation plays a crucial role in decision making process through which a
business can take effective decisions and gain competitive advantages. Some of the importance
of employee relation influencing decision making process of an organisation are stated below:
 Effective communication- With building an effective two-way communication it makes
easier for employer and employee to share their ideas and opinions and understand each
other preferences through which they can make an effective decision which will help
business in achieving organizational goals effectively and enhance overall productivity of
the business (Jabbour and de Sousa Jabbour, 2016). In context of Marks and Spencer,
business aims at maintaining an effective communication between superior's and
subordinates through which they can make an effective decision for the achievement of
organisational goal.
 Resolves conflicts- An effective employee relation will maintain positive organisational
culture through which business can make all employees participate in the decision
making process and take an effective decision for the achievement of organisational goals
and targets. Marks and Spencer aims to create and maintain a positive working
atmosphere through which they can discuss and share their ideas which will help in
making an effective decision for an organisation.
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 Reduction in employee turnover and absenteeism- An effective employee relation help
management in reducing employee turnover and absenteeism through enhancing
employee participation in decision making and other activities of business through which
an organisation can enhance overall productivity (Jamali, El Dirani and Harwood, 2015).
Marks and Spencer aims at providing quality services to its employees through which
they can maintain a healthy relation and retain their talented employee's within an
organisation. These talented employees help an organisation in forming a creative and
effective decision through which a business can enhance their productivity.
P6 Determine key components of employee legislations and its influence on HRM decision
making
Employee legislations- The laws, rules and regulations are created by government which
are related to employment and relationship between employer and employees. It can be related to
the rights of employee and what an employer can ask an employee to do (Shen and Benson,
2016). Such key components of employee legislations and their influence on decision making of
HRM are explained below:
 Equality Act, 2010: This act quotes that each and every employee of the company must
be treated equally without any discrimination. Marks and Spencer focuses on treating all
employees equally and fairly in an organisation through which they can enhance
engagement of employees.
 Health and Safety Act, 1974: This act of employee legislation states that organisation
must focus on the safety, health and welfare of all employees through which employees
can feel valuable within the organisation. Marks and Spencer provides plans and policies
for all employees which covers health and safety of employees.
 Employment Rights Act, 1996: This act of employee rights covers all necessary
information regarding employee contract, leaves and other factors. Marks and Spencer is
well aware about the rights of employee's and the business aims to provide these rights to
their candidates through which they encourage and motivate their employee's.
 Maternity and Paternity Leave Act, 1975: This act states that employee must get
maternity and paternity leave through which they can give time to themselves in their
lives (Collings, Scullion and Vaiman, 2015). Marks and Spencer is well aware about such
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employee legislation acts and provides maternity and paternity leaves to their employees
which will help an organisation in creating an healthy work culture.
 Employment Law, 1998: This law states that relationship between employee and
employer should be positive and healthy. Marks and Spencer focuses on maintaining an
healthy workplace culture and good employee and employer relation through which can
make effective decisions for the achievement of organisational goals (Baum, 2015).
TASK 4
P7 Application of HRM in an organisation
Job Specification- It is a document through which a business list all the roles and
responsibilities that needs to be performed by an employee for desired job role. Marks and
Spencer is looking for an talented HR Manager who will be responsible for leading all activities
and restructuring department for organisational change (Coetzee, Ferreira and Potgieter, 2015).
For required vacant job role, management of mark and Spencer have created an accurate job
specification which states all roles and responsibilities which needs to be performed by all
candidate. The job specification can be stated below:
JOB SPECIFICATION
Company: Marks ans Spencer
Job Designation: HR Manager
Purpose of Job: The job purpose of HR Manager must review the effectiveness of all functions
that needs to be performed within an organisation. HR Manager must create and maintain an
effective and healthy relationship with all employees and create positive working culture. HR
Manager must review performance employee's and enhance the productivity, efficiency of
employees and enhance overall productivity of a business.
Roles and responsibilities:
 Ability to manage all operations of business.
 Have proper knowledge about functioning of HR
 Create and maintain effective working culture
 Strategically plan all the tasks and activities
Requires skills and experience:
 MBA in HRM
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 Minimum 2 year experience in HR domain
 Good communication skills
 Effective time management
 Able to work with team
Curriculum Vitae:
Jack Timberlake
Address: High street 5th lane, London, UK
Contact no: 00868-35492
Objective: To work in an reputed organisation trough which I can enhance my career growth.
Work experience:
 Worked as an HR manager for 1 year 6 months
 Worked as an HR executive for 6 months
Educational qualification:
 Bachelor's degree in commerce
 Masters degree in human resource
Preparatory notes for interview
 To observe the skills, knowledge and competencies of interviewee and their awareness
about job roles and responsibilities
 Interact with potential candidates and check their awareness about all information stated
in their resume
JOB ADVERTISMENT
WE ARE HIRING!!
HR MANAGER (Full time)
It is an opportunity for all talented and potential candidates to join the leading retail company
Marks and Spencer. We are hiring for the role of HR Manager in our stores.
We need candidates who can invest 45 hours weekly and will get several benefits. The required
training will be provided too eligible candidate.
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Offer letter
Dear Mr Jack Timberlake,
We are glad to inform you about your selection for vacant job role as an HR Manager in our
organisation, Marks and Spencer.
Job roles and responsibilities:
 Must have strong knowledge about HRIS software
 Must be able to manage payrolls
 Must be able to asses training requirements and provide training sessions to enhance
employee performance
Offered salary: $25,000
Hours of working: 11:00AM – 7:30PM
Process of recruitment
The recruitment and selection process followed by Marks and Spencer are stated below:
 Telephonic screening: This is the initial stage of selecting a competent candidate who
will be selected for further rounds of interview.
 Versant Stage: After getting selected through screening process, organisation checks
communication and vocabulary skills of selected candidate.
 Face to face interview: This is final round of interview in which manager of an
organisation interacts with selected candidates and analyse their competencies and select
most desirable candidate.
Evaluation of recruitment process and rationalise HR practices which are followed
The recruitment process followed by Marks and Spencer help business in attracting and
hiring most competent and skilled employee who can perform assigned tasks and duties effective
and help organisation gain competitive advantage.
For improving performance of employees working in Marks and Spencer, the
organisation have opted various intrinsic and extrinsic reward management strategies through
which business can boost moral of all employees through which they can effective perform
assigned job roles and responsibilities.
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CONCLUSION
Human resource management plays an important role in the functioning of an
organisation. This help a business in planning, organising, controlling and executing plans
effective and efficiently through which business can enhance overall productivity and gain
competitive advantage. The functions of HRM help business in enhancing performance of all
employees through which a business can gain competitive advantage. There are several functions
of HRM which help a business in encouraging employee's and retaining talented employees
within company. The organisation follows various employee legislation acts through which they
focus on providing job satisfaction to their employee's.
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REFERENCES
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Stewart, G.L. and Brown, K.G., 2019. Human resource management. John Wiley & Sons.
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management. John Wiley & Sons.
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Coetzee, M., Ferreira, N. and Potgieter, I.L., 2015. Assessing employability capacities and career
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