Comprehensive Analysis of HRM Practices at Marks & Spencer Company

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins with an overview of the company, highlighting its global presence and specialization in retail. The report then delves into the purpose and functions of HRM, emphasizing its role in workforce planning, recruitment, selection, and training & development. It explores different approaches to recruitment, including internal (promotion, transfer) and external (advertisements, campus recruitment) methods, along with the strengths and weaknesses of each. The report also examines various selection approaches, such as preliminary screening and selection tests. Furthermore, it explains the benefits of HRM practices for both employees and the employer, focusing on effective team building, training & development, recruitment & selection, workforce planning, and rewards & incentives. The report also highlights the effectiveness of HRM practices by emphasizing security, selecting the right candidates, and building effective teams to increase profitability and productivity. Finally, the report touches upon the importance of employee relations and the key elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM decision-making.

Human Resource

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Overview of the chosen Organization..........................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM, Applicable to workforce planning......................................1
P2 Strengths and Weaknesses of Different Approaches to Recruitment & Selection.................2
LO2..................................................................................................................................................4
P3 Explain the benefits of HRM practices within the Marks & Spencer (M&S) Company.......4
P4 HRM practices effectiveness .................................................................................................5
LO3..................................................................................................................................................6
P5 Importance of employee relation............................................................................................6
P6 Determine the key element of employment legislation and impact on the human resource
management decision making......................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Overview of the chosen Organization
Marks & Spencer Group PLC is a multinational company which was founded by Micheal
Marks and Thomas Spencer in year 1884. It is considered to be one of the big name in Retail
Industry. Its headquarters is in London, United Kingdom (UK). This company has specialization
in selling high quality clothes, food products and home products. It provides its products at
worldwide with opening around 1460+ stores at global market. It has given employment to
around 80,780+ employees (Drucker, 2017).
Present report will highlight the purpose and functions of HRM. It will discuss the
strengths and weaknesses of the recruitment and selection approaches. It will tell about the
various HRM practices and their benefits. It will evaluate the practices in terms of profitability
and productivity of organization. This report will analysis the importance of employee
relationship. It will highlight the key elements of employment legislation and its impact on the
decision making of HRM.
LO1
P1 Purpose and functions of HRM, Applicable to workforce planning
Human Resource Management referes to the branch of management which basically
deals with the employees and human working in the organization. It deals with the management
of human capital and resources of the organization in order to achieve the competitive
advantages over its competitors. It is an important department as well as function of
organization.
MISSION STATEMENT
Company's mission statement is to provide the best quality to the community of the
world.
PURPOSE
There are various purpose of HRM in Marks and Spenser (M&S) company which are as
follows -
The main purpose behind the HRM is to manage the human capital and resources in
proper way so that organization can attain its goals and objectives with the help of human efforts.
For the optimum utilization of human capital and resources available to the company, it is
important.
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To deal with the issues of employees regarding any organizational aspects, HRM is
significant.
To maintain an ethical environment in the organization, HRM plays an important role
(Noe and et.al., 2017).
FUNCTIONS
Functions of Human Resource Management of M&S Company are as follows -
Workforce Planning
Workforce planning refers to the continuous planning of human resource in the
organization. It is done to ensure about the current and future needs of human capital for the
organization.
It is an important function for the M&S company's human resources as it plays an
important role in demand and supply of human resource in the organization and mitigate the gap
between demand and supply. It prevents organization from over or less human resource and
capital availability as both situations are harmful for the company.
Recruitment & Selection
Recruitment refers to the process of notify and inviting the pool of candidates about the
available job vacancies in the organization. Selection refers to the process of selecting suitable
and potential candidates according to the requirements of company out of pool of candidates
(Cascio, 2015).
It is an important function in the context of M&S company as both these functions help
organization to get best and suitable candidates for their organization and mitigates the human
resource gap available in the organization.
Training & Development
Training refers to the process of providing selected employees an opportunity for the
acquiring skills, knowledge and capabilities to perform tasks and gain knowledge regarding the
background and working environment of the organization. Development refers to the
combination of training, organization and career development efforts in order to improve the
efficiency of human resources.
P2 Strengths and Weaknesses of Different Approaches to Recruitment & Selection
There are various appraoches to recruitment and selection which is being used by Marks
& Spencer (M&S) Company.
2

APPROACHES TO RECRUITMENT
There are various approaches which is being used by Company for the recruitment of
employees. These approaches are as follows -
Internal Approaches to Recruitment
There are various internal approaches through which company recruit the employees
(Bratton and Gold, 2017). These approaches are as follows -
Promotion – It refers to the advancement in job position for the employees. It is a major
approach being used for the internal recruitment.
In case any employee die or leave the organization, M&S company hires the employees
who are working on just below the position. Company gives him a responsibility to handle that
job position with increment in salary, roles and responsibility.
Strengths : It helps company to prevent from waste their time, money and efforts in finding
another suitable candidates.
Weaknesses : Due to promotion, it may cause resentment among other employees. Also, it stops
new ideas coming into the organization by doing recruitment of internal employees.
For example – an employee who is junior accountant are promoted to the senior
accountant post. Thus, company doesn't need to provide knowledge and training regarding their
accounting standards and policy. There are various junior accountants which will now become
jealous of that particular accountant who get promotion.
Transfer – It refers to the process of sending employees either into another department or
another branch of company with same position.
In case, purchasing department of M&S needs IT employees for the handling of mobile
application being used by the department for their work. In this condition, HR department of the
company can transfer an employee from IT department to purchasing department of company.
Strengths : It helps company to reduce the surplus workforce through the shifting of employees
to the department or branch where workforce is low (DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016).
Weaknesses : A new enterprise cannot use internal approaches of recruitment.
External Approaches to Recruitment
There are various external approaches through which company recruit the suitable
candidates. These approaches are as follows -
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Advertisements – M&S company can use this approach. In this approach company will advertise
the details of job vacancies and required candidates skills, experiences & qualification etc. in the
newspapers, business magazines and professional journals etc.
Strengths : It gives company a wide range of candidates for the required job positions.
Weaknesses : it also can bring unsuitable candidates into organisation which can waste the time
of human resource department as they have to go to whole process of recruitment and selection.
Semi Qualified CA Articles/ Accounts Trainees, Asstt. Accountants, knowing Taxes, TDS, ST,
ROC, CMA Online, GST, Tally, XL, ERP for M&S Company at London, ND-17. #
9999999999 Email: info@dotcom
Campus Recruitment - M&S company can use this approach. In this approach, HR department
of the company go to the colleges, universities and institutes campus for the recruitment of fresh
suitable candidates for the company. In today's time, it becomes quite popular among various
companies (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016).
For example Company can go to famous London universities and management colleges
to hire freshers who want to work in company.
Strengths : It helps company to provide an opportunity to bring new ideas into the organisation
which is beneficial for the firm.
Weaknesses : If selected candidates are not suitable for the organisation or if they are not doing
their work properly, this lead negative impact on the name of colleges, institutes or universities.
APPROACHES TO SELECTION
There are various approaches which is being used by M&S company. This approaches
help company to select only those recruited candidates which is best and suitable for the
organization. These approaches to selection are as follows -
Preliminary Screening – It is also known as Initial screening. In this process, HRM of M&S
Company will do screening of all the applications which is sent by pools of candidates.
For example – company notify for the job availability in the organisation, suitable
candidates send their resumes to the company and company will check the resumes and
according take the decisions whether to further call to candidates or not.
Strengths : Due to preliminary screening, company removes the application of unqualified or
unsuitable candidates which is not good for company.
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Weaknesses : It is a time consuming approach and the screening is done on the basis of so many
criteria rather than one particular criteria (Morgeson, Brannick and Levine, 2019).
Selection Tests – It is also known as Employment test. This approach is being used by company
to know about the knowledge of employees regarding industry and work. There are some
important tests used for the selection of recruited employees such as – Intelligence tests,
personality tests, trade tests and interest tests etc.
Strengths : it helps company to acquired suitable and knowlegdeable employees.
Weaknesses : Marks obtained by employees doesn't reflect the creativity skills and ability to
work.
LO2
P3 Explain the benefits of HRM practices within the Marks & Spencer (M&S) Company
The benefits of following HRM practices adopted by M&S are as follows -
HRM PRACTICES BENEFITS TO
EMPLOYEES
BENEFITS TO
EMPLOYER
Effective Team Building Due to effective team,
Employees gain good working
environment in the company
as effective teams means
employees of the team are
understandable and aligned.
Due to effective team,
employer is able to complete
the tasks on time with the help
of team. This lead employer to
gain recognition.
Training and Development It helps employees to acquired
skills and knowledge which is
helpful in his task completion.
It helps employer to prevent
from waste his time on looking
at the performance of
employees.
Recruitment and Selection It helps employees to get the
job at the company by
matching with the
requirements of the company.
It helps employers to get the
suitable employees.
Work Force Planning It helps employees to develop
their skills so that skill gap can
It helps employer to prevent
from such situations like high
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be mitigate. numbers of employees or low
numbers of employees in the
organisation.
Rewards and Incentives It helps employees to motivate
for the better performance
which improve their efficiency
and profitability.
It helps employer to gain loyal
employees as well as to
maintain a good relationship
with them (Noe and et.al.,
2017).
P4 HRM practices effectiveness
There are seven best practices that will help in increasing profit and productivity are as
follows:
Security to employees:- This is the first practise that is being followed in Marks and Spencer. It
provides safety and security to the employee that will help them in doing work effectively and
efficiently. If the employees feel safe and secure in the company it will help in increasing
profitability and they are completing their work on time that will lead to increase productivity of
Marks and Spencer.
Selecting right candidate:- This is another important practise for Marks and Spencer to select
candidate that fits with the position in the company. If right person is being selected for right
position then it will help in increasing growth for employees as well as for the company ( Ahlvik,
Smale and Sumelius, 2016). Hiring right people will know its job responsibilities clearly and it
will perform better that will increase productivity of Marks and Spencer.
Effective Team building:- It is also an important practice of building effective team in the
company. Team work helps in achieving goal of the company. In Marks and Spencer effective
team is formed that will help in enhancing growth for future and increasing profit for it. If team
members are participating effectively then it will help in increasing productivity of Marks and
Spencer.
Rewards and Incentives:- Employee performance will be evaluating after a regular interval of
time by taking feedback from other employees of Marks and Spencer. If employee performance
is good then it will be giving rewards and that will also help in increasing profit of the company.
If employees are performing good then it will also lead to increase productivity.
6

Training and development:- Providing proper training to employees will help in growth of
them and as well for Marks and Spencer too. If employees are having skills according to the
company's need then they will work effectively to achieve goal of the company. This will also
help in achieving productivity. If employees are trained properly it will lead to give best in their
work and that will increase profitability.
Equality among employees:- This is another practise that will build confidence and sense of
belonging in Marks and Spencer (Zhang and et. al., 2015) They will be treated equally
otherwise conflict may occur and that will reduce growth of the company. If all employees will
work together and happy then it will increase profitability of the company.
Sharing information:- It is important HRM practices of sharing information to each and every
employee in the company (Ružić, 2015). If employees are involving in the activities of Marks
and Spencer they will also take initiative in doing work effectively.
LO3
P5 Employee relation helps in retaining employees
Employee relation helps in retaining employees in the Marks and Spencer. As if good
employee will leave the company then it will influence the decision making of it as different
people is having different ideas that will help in growth of employees. If employees is having
good relation then it will increase retention rate. There are fewer chances of conflict between the
employees as they have good bonding between them that helps in increasing their productivity. If
employee relation is effective then it helps in increasing motivation of employees that will lead
to effective decision making(Garavan and et. al., 2016). It will help in doing work that is shared
among the employees. This will lead to increase productivity for future.
If employees are happy then the working environment is also good and that will lead to
increase profit in the Marks and Spencer. If employee relation is healthy then it will reduce
absenteeism in Marks and Spencer as employees are coming daily at the workplace and are
serious regarding their work. It will also help in creating trust between the employees and they
are comfortable in sharing their problems with each other. This will also enhance in making
decision for the company as different employees is having different thoughts that will lead to
take better decision for future course of action. If there is good employee relation then it will
help in facilitating easy interaction with people and build healthy relation with each other.
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Employee relation helps in achieving goal of Marks and Spencer as this will help in
enhancing growth as well as productivity of employees. If employees are familiar with each
other it will lead in increasing motivation of them and it will help in building employee relation
for future course of action. They are more focused towards the future goals of company and that
will increase profitability and productivity. It will also helpful when an employee is absent then
other employee will help in managing its work that will create sense of belonging among them
and it will be benefit for Marks and Spencer (Richards and Sang, 2019). Employee engagement
activities will enhance this relation between employees and growth for future as well. If they are
sharing mutual understanding then it will be beneficial for their future to manage things in the
company.
P6 Determine the key factor of employment government law and affect on the human resource
management decision making
Employment Government law is important part of organisation that develop by the
government. In this way, many organizations are used the legislation to maintain their business
operations and functions in proper manner. The employee law always ensures that it identify
that those who can control and they offered the job (Turskis, and et.al., 2019). This type of
legislation has followed by both employee and employer. In this way, it has created a strong
relationship between them.
In Marks and Spencer, Employment legislation is constantly involving in the business
that impact on the enterprise and public concerns. Human resource managers can protect and
secure the Marks and Spencer against the discrimination which require to understand the law and
putting some policies or procedures into minimize the discrimination. HR Manager can work
with the higher authority to address the individual issues and disciplines. The government is a
responsible for enforcing and interpreting the legislation against the discrimination at workplace.
There are common employment legislation that govern the organization relationship with
employees.
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Health and Safety Act 1974
According to health and safety at work act 1974, It has provided the information,
supervision and training regarding health or safety to their employee at workplace. It is expected
to protect the employee after they return to work and become more vulnerable to risk of
disability, illness or injury etc. This legislation is providing the better quality of services an equal
right to their employee (Sarason, Yuthas and Nguyen, 2018). In Marks and Spencer, Human
resource manager improve the decision making because they can provide the equal right to
employee in case if the people will be injured at workplace. It is important for organization to
give the better treatment. In this way, this legislation will impact on the judgement making of
business.
Health and safety compliances are based on the technical that require to offer the safety
to the employee so that Human resource is playing important role to establish link between the
employees and management. It also ensure the staff member concerns about the health.
Employment Discrimination of 1960
This type of legislation is based on the religion, sex , national origin and colour etc. It
makes the illegal for the Marks and Spencer to discriminate and protect the employees as per the
conditions and terms or give the privileges of employee in the organization etc. this law was
passed by government because there are many ways to increase the discrimination between the
employees (Sarason, Yuthas and Nguyen, 2018). Many private sector is not to be considered the
employment discrimination because the most constitutes do not expressly give the respective the
power of government in the form of civil rights. This type of laws are always impact on the
decision of HRM because they are improving their decision to understand the opinion of every
employee in the organization.
Equal Pay Law of 1993
According to Equal pay law of 1963, it has amended to surpassed by the equality in
2010, the sexual discrimination enforce and despite the gender equality in the organization. This
type of situation is directly imposed the working conditions of business. In Marks and Spencer,
Human resource manager are deciding to provide equal pay according to the ability and
efficiency. It will help the business to increase the productivity and profitability because all
employees are coordinated with other members to build a strong relationship (Solomon, 2019).
It is directly impacts on the decision of human resource because they are taking important
9

decision on the behalf of business development. In this way, they always maintained and
controlled the equal right of employee in the organization.
P7. Prepare various required job documents
Interview Questions :
Q1 Why do you need this Job ?
Q2 Did you ever worked on any accounting platforms ?
Q3 What you mean by Accountancy and why it is important for the organization ?
Q4 What are the recent amendment in accounting standards and policy ?
Job Description
Person Specification
Title of the job Junior Accountant
Date: 15/06/2019
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Qualification required Essential Desirable Met
MBA in Finance
M.Com in Accountancy
Semi Qualified CA
Articles
CA
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Need of Experience
0 to 5 years in the same
field
Yes
Personal characteristics
& conduct
Communication Skills
Policy Making Skills
Knowledge Regarding
Accounting standards and
Accounting policy
Yes
Yes
Yes
Roles and
Responsibilities
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Prepare Accounts
Doing Internal Audit
Assist senior accountant
in Policy revise
Yes
Yes
Yes
Job Offer Letter
MARKS AND SPENCER
Offer: Junior Accountant
Ref: M&S/ CD 870954276521/ United Kingdom
Date: 4/06/2019
Mr. Johnson
C-3 Keshav Nagar, Malda Street,
United Kingdom
Tel: [phone]
Dear Johnson
Sub: Letter of offer
Thank you for exploring opportunities with Marks and Spencer. You have successfully cleared
all the rounds of selection process and we are pleased to make you an offer.
This offer is suitable for your profile and based on performance in the selection process. You
have been selected for the position of Junior Accountant. Your gross salary including all
benefits will be £4000 per annum. As per the terms and condition set out by the company. The
gross salary that is mentioned in it is inclusive of the variable allowance that will be effective
12

upon successful completion of the Training programme.
Kindly confirm your acceptance of this offer online through' Accept offer letter'. If it is not
accepted within 5 days it will be assumed that you will not interested in this job and the offer
will be withdrawn.
Marks and Spencer
M&S/ CD 870954276521
CONCLUSION
As per discussion, it concluded that HRM is a terms which describe the formal system
that devised for the management of employee within the company, it describe the specific
responsibilities to manage the different activities such as staffing, benefits and designing the
work, recruitment and training etc. It summarised that the actual purpose of Human resource
management within the organization and also describe strength or weakness through the
selection and recruitment approach in the HR functions. Moreover, it is evaluating the Human
resource practices and their specific benefits which support the enterprise growth or
development. It is also determined the importance of relationship between worker in the
organization to handle the business aspects in growth and development therefore, it is highlights
the key factor of employment rules and regulations that affects the decision making of Human
resource management.
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REFERENCES
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Routledge.
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Drucker, P.F., 2017. The Theory of the Business (Harvard Business Review Classics). Harvard
Business Press.
Garavan, T and et. al., 2016. The antecedents of leadership development practices in SMEs: The
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Noe, R.A., and et.al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
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Richards, J. and Sang, K., 2019. Socially ir responsible human resource management?
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