HRM Practices at Marks & Spencer: Resourcing Talent and Skills Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Marks & Spencer, focusing on resourcing the organization with appropriate talent and skills to fulfill business functions. It evaluates the effectiveness of key HRM elements, including workforce planning, recruitment and selection, development and training, performance management, and reward systems. The report also examines internal and external factors influencing HRM decision-making, such as employment legislation. Strengths and weaknesses of internal and external recruitment processes are discussed, along with the benefits of various HRM practices for both the employer and employees. Employee relations, employee engagement, flexible working practices, and the company's approach to being an 'employer of choice' are also evaluated. The analysis utilizes Marks & Spencer as a case study to illustrate practical applications of HRM principles.

Managing and Leading Human Resources
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1 Explain the purpose and scope of Human Resource Management in terms of resourcing an
organisation with talent and skills appropriate to fulfil business functions.....................................3
LO2 Evaluate the effectiveness of the key elements of Human Resource Management in an
organisation......................................................................................................................................7
LO3 Analyse internal and external factors that affect Human Resource Management decision-
making, including employment legislation....................................................................................10
LO4 Apply Human Resource Management practices in a work-related context..........................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
Reference.......................................................................................................................................18
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Introduction
Human resource management is a process through which the people in an organization are
managed to maintain and develop the productivity of the organization (Cascio, 2018).
Recruitment and selection, training the employees, maintaining the relationship between the
management and the workforce, developing various policies, providing various benefits to the
employees and some others fall under the purview of human resource management. This
assignment is based on the various activities of the human resource management. The purpose,
scope and the various functions of the human resource development have been discussed here.
The example of Marks & Spencer is a company here to discuss the HRM activities of the
company. The recruitment and selection policy have been discussed. Various benefits of the
employees that are provided by the HR manager have been discussed. Keeping employee-
employer relation and the decision-making by the human resource manager have been
highlighted in this project. In the final section of this project, the recruitment processes of the HR
manager of the Marks & Spencer have been shown in detail. The reader will have a detail idea
regarding the entire human resource practice of an HR department.
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LO1 Explain the purpose and scope of Human Resource Management in terms of
resourcing an organisation with talent and skills appropriate to fulfil business functions
An assessment of the approach to workforce planning, recruitment and selection,
development and training, performance management and reward systems (P1)
Human resource management is a process to manage people in an organization. A human
resource manager in an organization manages the workforce in many ways. The main objective
of managing human resource management is to increase the productivity of and meet the goals
and objectives of the organization.
Workforce planning: The HR manager of marks & Spencer designs the workforce planning to
contribute the organizational performance of the company. The HR manager aligns the
workforce of the company with the business plan and addresses the current and future issues
related to the workforce of the company. A workforce planning on the one hand, helps the
management to enhance the culture of the company and on the other hand, the employees can
develop their own skills and competency (Glover et al., 2015).
Recruitment and selection: Recruitment and selection is one of the vital functions in Marks &
Spencer that influences the profit making and some other activities of the company. This is the
procedure through which existing employees are retained and fresh talents are hired in the
company (Sarker, 2017). There are two types of recruitment and selection processes – the
internal recruitment process and the external recruitment process respectively. Marks & Spencer
follows the both.
Development and training: The training and development programs of Marks & Spencer are
one of the core activities of the company like other big companies. The HR manager of Marks &
Spencer, through training programs, aims at developing the skills and competencies of the
employees and thus, he increases the performance and productivity of the employees. The HR
manager, through development programs creates many opportunities of the employees for their
satisfaction and growth. Development is a long-term natured strategy of the company.
Performance management: Through performance management plan, the HR manager of Marks
& Spencer helps the managers and other employees work in a planned way. The manager in each
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department, under performance management, reviews each employee’s performance and his or
her contribution to the achievement of the company’s goals. Thus, through, performance
management, the HR manager takes the feedback of all the employees and rewards them based
on their performance to motivate them. Thus, all the employees meet their goals and objectives
for the productivity of the company.
Reward system: The employees in Marks & Spencer achieve monetary and non-monetary
benefits based on their performance through the reward system. Employees in every organization
expect after joining, some rewards according to their job performance. The employees, according
to their performance, get some monetary benefits like high wages and salaries, incentives and
others. The non-monetary benefits they get in Marks & Spencer are transportation facility, health
and safety facilities, accommodation and some others (Rutledge et al., 2016).
Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
(P2)
Recruitment and selection practice: Recruitment and selection is one of the core functions of
the human resource department in any company (Rees and Smith, 2017). The HR manager of
Marks & Spencer follows the recruitment and selection policy for hiring the new talents in the
company and retaining the existing employees in the company. There are two types of
recruitment and selection policies in Marks & Spencer. They are the following:
Internal process of recruitment and selection: Through internal recruitment process, the HR
manager of Marks &. Spencer promotes the existing employees to the higher position through
increment of salary or providing other benefits. Thus, the existing employees, based on their
performance, are retained in the company (Aracena and Cristia, 2017).
Strengths of internal recruitment process:
The internal process is an easy task to follow as no advertisement, screening and interview tasks
are not involved in this. Besides, under internal process of selection it is easy to answer to many
issues of staffs. The HR manager of Marks & Spencer knows the strengths and weaknesses of
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each employee in the company and hence, it is easy for him to assess their quality of
performance, which is necessary in for promotion.
 As advertisement costs, screening cost and interview cost are not involved in the internal
process it is a cost-effective process for the HR manager of Marks & Spencer to follow.
 Employees in Marks & Spencer are retained through this process
Weaknesses of internal recruitment process:
 Talents from other company are not fetched through internal recruitment process as the
existing employees are promoted in the company. Hence, the chances of innovation are
less in internal recruitment process.
 Sometimes, conflicts may arise among the employees in Marks & Spencer due to the
reason that the employees think that partiality has taken place in promotion.
External recruitment and selection process: Through external process, the HR manager of
Marks & Spencer recruits employees from the external market through screening and interview.
In this process, many applicants are invited and the best one is selected from them (Aracena, and
Cristia, 2017).
Strengths of external recruitment process
 New talents can be hired from outside the company and thus, innovation can take place in
retail products and services of Marks & Spencer leading to the productivity and
profitability of the company.
 The most suitable candidate can be hired as candidates are chosen from among a large
number of applicants from outside the company.
 External recruitment is the best process for a fresher as they can get a chance to be
recruited in Marks & Spencer and prove them.
Weaknesses of the external recruitment process:
 The candidates from outside the company may not be skilful always and in such a case,
Marks & Spencer will suffer due to the lack of skilled employees.
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 External process is time-consuming as there are a number of steps and formalities for
advertisement, screening and interview process.
 External process is a costly process as the screening and interview are to be arranged for
large number candidates.
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LO2 Evaluate the effectiveness of the key elements of Human Resource Management in an
organisation.
Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation for both the
employer and employee (P3)
The benefits of different HRM practices within Marks & Spencer for both the employees and
employer are the following:
The HRM practices Practices Benefits of the
employer
Benefits of the
employees
Recruitment and
selection
Recruitment and
selection process is a
main task of the HR
department of Marks &
Spencer. The HR
manager of M & S
conducts both the
internal and external
recruitment. The HR
manager applies internal
recruitment for any
higher post such as a
managerial post as
internal skill is
necessary for such
recruitment. The HR
manager applies the
external process of
recruitment for a junior
post such as a clerical
post in the company.
The employer of the
company can hire new
talents from outside the
company and can utilize
them for the
productivity of the
company (Leekha
Chhabra and Sharma,
2014). Through internal
process, they can retain
the loyal employees in
the company.
The new applications
get opportunity to prove
their skills in Marks &
Spencer through
external recruitment.
The existing employees
of the company can
enhance their skills and
competencies through
the internal promotion.
Training and
development programs
Training is the second
common practice in the
The employer of Marks
& Spencer can make
The employees, through
training, can acquire
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management of Marks
& Spencer. Training and
development programs
benefit both the
employer and
employees in the
company.
their employees skilled
and knowledgeable
through training
programme. The
managers of in each
department of M & S
can gain knowledge also
during training to their
team members.
knowledge and be
skilled and thus, they
increase their
productivity in the
company. Apart from
this, the employees can
apply their skills and
knowledge in other
companies (Dhar,
2015).
Appraisal and reward
system
The performance of
employees in Marks &
Spencer is first,
appraised and then the
employees are
rewarded. Both the
management and
employees are
benefitted by these
appraisal and reward
systems.
The pioneers of Marks
& Spencer can evaluate
employees’
performance through
appraisal system and
they can motivate the
employees through
monetary and non-
monetary rewards. Both
the practices are helpful
to increase the
productivity of the
company (Cascio,
2018).
Employees can evaluate
their own performance
through the appraisal
system and identify
their areas of
improvement. They are
motivated to produce
more by the rewards
they get from their
employer.
Table 1: Different benefits of HRM
(Source: Created by the learner)
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The approach to and effectiveness of employee relations and employee engagement, and
comment on the adoption of flexible organisation and flexible working practice and
‘employer of choice’ (P4)
The internal recruitment process benefits Marks & Spencer by creating job opportunities and
providing with new talents in the organization. Thus, Marks & Spencer has hired talented
employees creating a good culture in the company. Through tainting and development programs,
the employees of Marks & Spencer have gained product technical knowledge and thus, they have
developed their respective fields like marketing, sales, operations, and others. The managers
have also been skilled through such training. Appraisal system by the HR manager of Marks &
Spencer has evaluated the skills of employees and the HR manager has rewarded them
(Bhatnagar and Verma, 2016). Through these appraisal and reward systems, they have evaluated
their performance and have been motivated to perform better.
The HR manager of Marks & Spencer has maintained a balanced relation between the
management and the workforce when conflicts have arisen in the company. They have
negotiated between both the parties and thus, have resolved the issues. The HR manager of the
company has involved the employees in company’s decision-making and made them feel that
they are the part of the organization. All the above policies have led to the growth of Marks &
Spencer in the national and global market. Its employees always favour a flexible organization
as it can reform the policies according to the changing choices of the employees. The HR
manager of Marks & Spencer has provided benefits of employees like salary increment, getting
health facilities, health insurance and such others as per their demands (Kumar and Pansari,
2015). The good working practice of Marks & Spencer signs a good culture of the company. The
company, thus, has enhanced its brand image in both the national and international market.
Marks & Spencer has been the company of choice of its employees as it has a flexible place of
employment and has provided all the facilities as per the demands of its employees.
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LO3 Analyse internal and external factors that affect Human Resource Management
decision-making, including employment legislation.
Analyse the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision
making (P5)
Employee relation is one of the major tasks in HR department. The HR manager of Marks &
Spencer maintains a balanced relation between the employees and the employer and resolves
conflicts between the two parties in the company. The importance of involving employees to
influence HRM decision making are the following:
Productivity: Marks & Spencer has involved its employees in the decision-making and thus,
makes them think that they are a part of the company (Pettigrew, 2014). Through this high
thinking, the employees of Marks & Spencer have learnt to stake in the company for the success
of the company. The employee involvement has lead to their productivity for the all over
success of the company in the international market.
Morale of the company: Involvement of the employees in decision making of the company has
enhanced the overall morale of Marks & Spencer. The involvement of employees has removed
the gaps between the management and workforce of the company. The workers can
communicate in a better way with their Supervisors. The employees have understood that their
ideas have some values in the organization and as a result, they have been more serious to
perform better.
Internal resources: Employees are the internal resources of the organization. The HR manager in
Marks & Spencer has involved the employees and thus, utilized the internal resources of the
company (Malik et al., 2015). Hiring employees from outside the company is a costly process.
Thus, the HR manager has saved the cost of the company through involving employees in
decision-making. Through this process, the employees in Marks & Spencer have understood the
policies of the company being loyal to company.
Teamwork: Teamwork is important for the growth of any type of organization. The participation
of employees has given chance each employee in Marks & Spencer to raise his or her voice and
thus, the employees have shared their knowledge and views with one another in the company.
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Thus, the sense of teamwork has improved in the mind of each employee. The HR manager has
also been able to collect the information which employee is working effectively and where the
training is necessary for further improvement (von Bonsdorff et al., 2015).
Key areas of employment legislation within which the organisation must work (P6)
Employee legislation is the other important factor that influence the decision making process in
an organization. Several legislations have been enacted some legislations to be followed by the
UK government. Marks & Spencer, being a retail organization of the UK, must abide by the
following legislations while making organizational policies. The impacts of the key legislations
on decision-making of the company are the following:
Equal Pay act, 1970: This act ensures that both the men and the women are entitled to get equal
salary for the same type of work they are assigned to (Wijewantha, 2016).
Disability discrimination Act, 1995: This act ensures that no person in the workplace would be
discriminated from the aspect of disability on any ground like physical disability and any other
disability. If any employee is discriminated by the other in workplace, then the HR manager of
Marks & Spencer should punish the wrongdoer strictly (McLean, 2015).
The National Minimum Wage Act, 1998: This has been a source from the directive from
European Union. Certain EU employee laws have been enacted by Britain. According to this
law, the minimum wage should be fixed by the pioneers of Marks & Spencer as per the cost of
living of the employees (Blackburn, 2016).
Health and Safety Act 1974: The HR manager and other pioneers of Marks & Spencer are
liable to ensure health and safety facilities in the workplace. In case of any accident of any
employees in the workplace and in case of any death and injury to an employee, he or she should
be compensated financially from an insurer (Pilbeam et al., 2016). Hence, all the employees
should be covered under an insurance policy. Apart from this, some health facilities should be
provided to the employees like facilities for drinking water, minimum cleanliness in the
workplace and some others.
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