HRM: Workforce Planning, Recruitment & Practices at Mark & Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Mark & Spencer, focusing on workforce planning, recruitment and selection approaches, HRM practices, and employee relations. It examines the purpose and functions of HRM in workforce planning, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of internal and external recruitment methods. The report also explores the benefits and effectiveness of various HRM practices, such as training and performance management, for both employers and employees. Furthermore, it analyzes the importance of employee relations and the impact of employment legislation on HRM decision-making. The report concludes with a practical application of HRM practices in a work-related context, including job specification design, CV tailoring, interview documentation, and job offer creation.

Human Resource Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
LO1.............................................................................................................................................................5
P1. Explain the purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce planning and resourcing an
organization.............................................................................................................................................5
P2. Explain the strengths and weakness of different approaches to recruitment and selection................6
M1. Identify and explain the HR functions to fulfil the business objectives...........................................8
M2. Evaluate the strengths and weakness approaches used in the recruitment and selection..................9
D1 critically evaluate the strengths and weakness of the recruitment and selection..............................10
LO2...........................................................................................................................................................11
P3 Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation for both the employer and
employee...............................................................................................................................................11
P4 Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational profit and
productivity...........................................................................................................................................12
M3. Explore different methods used in HRM practices.........................................................................13
D2. Evaluate the HRM practices and their application..........................................................................14
LO3...........................................................................................................................................................15
P5 Analyse the importance of employee relations with respect to influencing HRM decision- making.
..............................................................................................................................................................15
P6 Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM decision-
making..................................................................................................................................................16
M4. Identify the key aspects of employee relations management and employment legislation.............17
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D3: Critically evaluate employee relations and the application of HRM practices that inform and
influence decision-making in an organisational context........................................................................18
LO4...........................................................................................................................................................19
P7 Illustrate the application of HRM practices in a work-related context, using specific examples......19
1. The design of a job specification for one of a number of given positions in the organisation.......19
2. A CV for each student, tailored to apply for one of the positions advertised by another team......20
3. Documentation of preparatory notes for interviews, interview notes based on selection criteria and
a justified decision of the candidate selected.....................................................................................22
4. A job offer to the selected candidate.............................................................................................23
Name- Robert Anderson...................................................................................................................24
5. An evaluation of the process and the rationale for conducting appropriate HR practices..............26
M5. Provide a rationale for the application of specific HRM................................................................27
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................28
References.................................................................................................................................................29
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Introduction
This report includes the management of human resources. In every organization the one of the
best processes is leadership. In many organizations, this leadership function is used. This
function is mainly used in the employee’s management. In this report, the example of
organization Mark and Spencer is taken. The success of any company depends on their
employees. So, it is important to know about the recruitment of the employees and the training
given to the employees. The human resource management is responsible for the appointment of
the employees and their training. By the employees only, any company becomes a well-
organized company. This report includes the functions and the scope of the human resources
management. In this report, there is a study about the elements and objectives of human resource
management. The report includes the key elements of the management. The report also includes
the internal and external factors of the human resources management. There is a discussion about
the organization Mark and Spencer's which is related to the human resources management.
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About Mark & Spencer
Mark & Spencer is well known as a public limited association which deals with retail and
franchise operations as well. The association was founded in the year of 1884 in Leeds, the UK
by Sir Michael Marks Thomas Spencer. The headquarters of Mark & Spencer is in London,
United Kingdom. This association includes the various services related to clothing, food shops,
home and etc. at international level. This company has an attractive slogan which attracts lot of
customers towards this business, that is- ‘Don’t ask the price, it’s a penny.’ Bill Adderley is the
billionaire founder of the chain of home ware Dunelm. The main mission of this association is to
create an inspirational quality which can get access to all. The vision, expertise, and experience
are greatly helping the Mark & Spencer to regain its qualities of leadership by meeting the
flexible needs of the consumers & improving the competitiveness of the business as well.
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LO1
P1. Explain the purpose and functions of HRM applicable to workforce planning and
resourcing an organization.
The HRM gets used in the employment in the process of recruitment of employees and staff
activities in the organization. The main purpose of human resource management is basically in
the three areas of organization which are staffing, employee benefits and training & development
of employees. In the human resource management, the function is to hire the employees and
select them for a job and give them a proper training and development so that they can easily do
a work in the organization. The hiring and the development of people are done in the concept of
human resources management. Human resource planning is the function of the needs related to
human resources of the company. In this planning, there is a need for employees are well
qualified to acquire the particular goals of the organization. (Mukhayloc, et. al., 2014).
The management of human resources work is to maintain the employees and fulfil the vacancies
of the organization. All the safety of the employees is under the HR management. There are
activities which are included in the human resource management. Mainly three functions are
used by the human resources management which is selecting and appoint the employees, human
resource planning and the training given to the employees. These functions are described below
in detail:
 The first function of human resource management is to hire the employees. After hiring, the
selection process is going to start and then the recruiter selected for the jobs.
 The second function is the HR planning. In this function, the identifying of energy which is used
to complete the work is done. (Mukhayloc, et. al., 2014).
 The third function is of training and development which is used to give the training to the
recruiters which are selected for the jobs. This is the main function because in this process the
employee’s skills are developed.
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P2. Explain the strengths and weakness of different approaches to recruitment and
selection.
There are two approaches to recruitment which are internal and external. Internal recruitment is
the way of business in which vacancy is fulfilling with the workforce which exists in the
business. External recruitment is the approach in which vacancy is fulfilling from outside of the
business. The HRM process is about to enhance the skills of the employees. The
Strengths of the internal recruitment of HRM
 It is much easier process
 It is cost effective
 In this process, the ideas of candidates are already known.
 The employee is already adjusted in the workplace.
The weakness of internal Recruitment process is:
 Inefficiencies: This is one of the weaknesses of the recruitment process in which recruiters
gives a time in search and different tools of recruitment which do not give better candidates.
 Narrow Ideas: Organizations which use an internal approach to recruitment can miss the
opportunities of new candidates and their new ideas. Only previous narrow ideas are going
because of internal recruitment.
 Time and Expense: The external recruitment approach takes a lot of time in the process of
recruiting the candidates and the expenses are also more in this process because of marketing and
advertisement for hiring the external candidates.
Strength of external recruitment:
 New ideas acquire in the business.
 Unlimited candidates
 Company get different types of skills and ideas.
 Current team cannot cause resentments.
Weakness of external recruitment:
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 It is more expensive
 This process is longer as compared to other.
 It is difficult to take the person who has no experience.
 The candidate fits in the workplace is not known.
Strength of Selection:
 The selection process chooses the best candidate for the work.
 The candidates chosen in this process have better ability.
 It is quite simple from other process.
 This process is cost effective
Weakness of selection:
 The process of selection is termed to be a negative process was the candidates are rejected.
 The confusion is create in this process
 The selection process is quite effective
 It takes time as per other processes.
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M1. Identify and explain the HR functions to fulfil the business objectives.
Human resources perform many functions in the organization. They are processing on the role of
recruitment and selecting top employees as per their skills. The different function of HRM in
achieving the goals of the business are-
 Training and Development: The HRM is responsible for the training given to the employees
and their development during the training. This is the main function to accomplish the different
goals of the business. The function of human resources in training consist various training needs
and manuals (Camphell and Stanley, 2015).
 Project management: The function of management of a project is also the role of HRM. The
project management helps the company to be organized in a manner and performing the goals of
the company.
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M2. Evaluate the strengths and weakness approaches used in the recruitment and selection.
According to the Cascio (2018), there are so many pros and cons of the recruitment and selection
the external approach of recruitment is used in showing the strength and weakness of recruitment
and selection. There are two approaches of recruitment method one is internal and other is
external recruitment. In the external recruitment, the process is global and vacancies are filled by
the external of the organization. The advantages of external recruitment approach are:
Advantages of recruitment are:
 This process is effective in cost.
 Process the speed of the fulfil vacancies.
 There is a reach globally and have many applications
 Fulfilling the vacancies which are not known to internally.
 Supports in the workplace (Fjelstad, et. al., 2012).
Disadvantages of the Recruitment:
 There are large numbers of applications which are not required by the company.
 The website which is badly designed will damage the brand of a company.
 Occurring of discrimination when the candidates have no knowledge of computer.
 The unusable applicants also used the recruitment process in the bulk.
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D1 critically evaluate the strengths and weakness of the recruitment and selection.
According to Cascio (2018), recruitment & selection is one of the main methods of the human
resource department. The recruitment function is to fulfil the employment needs of an
organization. The recruitment has various strengths and weakness. The selection process is used
after the recruitment process. Both have many advantages as well as disadvantages. The
advantage of the recruitment and selection is to increase the employment opportunities for the
people, it processes in a global manner and it reaches to every person.
On the contrary recruitment and selection which are the functions of human resource
management has different strengths and weakness. The recruitment process has many
disadvantages like the many applications occur which are not of any use. The number of
candidates comes to the organization which has little knowledge. The wastage of time is
occurred due to this process.
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LO2
P3 Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation for both the
employer and employee.
It has been observed that the best HR practices greatly help the business to reach on top.
Including some of the important HR practices leads to the betterment of the association by
reducing the various kind of negativity from the business. Some of those best HR practices
which get used in the business of Mark & Spencer are discussed below-
 Training & Development-According to Ortega, et. al., (2017), conducting the classes of
training & development greatly helps in improving the performance of the employees in a
different manner. The training makes an employee much more knowledgeable about the related
task or duty which he or she is going to perform in future references. It also helps the employer
in meeting the needs and requirements of the business (Ortega, et. al., 2017).
 Performance Management- According to Chelladurai, et. al., (2017), this practice of human
resource department greatly focuses on meeting the standards and objectives of the Mark &
Spencer. Maintaining the performance sheet helps the employer to get the knowledge that where
the employees are lacking behind in meeting the business needs. As same the employees become
more efficient in improving on the required areas. All these practices greatly help in meeting the
objectives of the business (Chelladurai, et. al., 2017).
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