Analysis of HRM Strategies and Practices at Marks and Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Marks & Spencer (M&S), a multinational retail company. It examines how M&S creates value through its HR strategies, emphasizing strategic HRM concepts and providing examples of how the company fosters employee motivation, talent retention, and acquisition. The report analyzes the impact of regional and national cultures on HRM practices within the UK and other international locations, highlighting the importance of adapting recruitment, selection, and training programs to diverse cultural contexts. It then explores the Standard Causal Model of HRM used by M&S and discusses the organizational levers employed to enhance performance. The report compares M&S's approach to HRM with traditional personnel management using Storey's 27 points of difference, assessing the balance between the two approaches in Asian and African countries. It also considers the significance of local culture in hiring and firing decisions, and the implications of international HRM changes on local business systems, along with corporate examples. Finally, the report concludes with recommendations for employers to improve organizational performance through effective HRM practices.

Human Resource
Management

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
A) Examine how value was created by the firm by using HR strategies. Use of concepts of
strategic HRM should be evident...........................................................................................2
B) Analyse the impact of regional and national culture on the practice of HRM in the
chosen country........................................................................................................................3
C) Use appropriate organisation’s model of employment and state the organisational levers
used by the firm to create value..............................................................................................3
D) Using Storey’s 27 points of difference between HRM and Personnel Management as a
benchmark, state what is being practised by the firm in the Asian / African Country- HRM
policies or Personnel Management or both?..........................................................................5
E) When it comes to hiring and firing do you consider the importance and significance of
local culture and HRM practice needs to be undertaken in general and the practices need to
carry out HRM in transnational/international-subsidiary.......................................................6
F) Examine the differences in terms of employment laws when international HRM changes
local business systems............................................................................................................7
G) Use corporate examples of firms using good HR practices and literature to justify your
stand 7
H) Based on the discussion and debate what suggestions / recommendations would you
make to employers regarding HRM practices to ensure that the organisational performance is
high? 8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management works as a department in an organisation as it is a group
of people who perform various activities related to human or employees in an organisation.
Those activities include recruitment, selection, inducting employees, orientation,
implementation of training and development, performance appraisal of employees, finalising
about the salary or compensation, employees motivation, maintaining relationship with
employees and their trade unions, ensuring safety of employees, measure of health and
welfare etc. In simple words it can be said that the Human Resource management makes and
applies various strategies at workplace to improve the standard of work of each and every
individual in a very effective way. It is a continuous process which involve procurement,
maintenance and development of human resource which plays an important role in
achieving the organisational, social and individual objectives. This report is stating various
values that is created by using HR strategies, impact of regional and national culture on
HRM practice, organisation's model used for employment, difference between HRM and
personnel management, importance and significance of local culture and HRM practice
need, difference in between employment law as per international HRM changes local
business system and recommendation about HRM practices to ensure high organisation
performance in M&S organisation. It is a multinational retail company dealing in cloths,
food products and home products having headquarter in London, England, U.K. and
established in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer.
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MAIN BODY
A) Examine how value was created by the firm by using HR strategies. Use of concepts of
strategic HRM should be evident.
For gaining positive and maximum possible changes, managers or employees of human
resource department motivate all the employees of organisation (Assefa 2017). For the purpose
of increasing confidence between employees, they make sure the maintenance of better and
strong culture. First and foremost work of HR is to increase the values within the workplace and
for completing this task, they arrange various training and development sessions. Several ways
by which the HR of Marks and Spencer created more values are given below:
People and performance: For getting work of higher quality Human Resource Management of
Marks & Spence manages and control the activities of employees. It plays an important role in
promoting financial performance for ensuring the long term success of organisation by the talent
of individual. Also they work for increasing the level of motivation in employees. In every
organisation, HR takes all the decisions related to the employees and situations so that they can
provide satisfactory products or services to their customers. HR department of Marks and Spence
arrange special training and development program for their employees to improve the work
performance at workplace which also gives the compensation and promotion benefits to
employees.
Providing various rewards: It is well known that the employees get motivate from appreciation
and rewards for fulfilling their personal needs. HR department of Marks and Spence follows
initial standard by adding values of employees by appreciation and rewards on the basis of their
performance. This act of company effects their employees a lot and they gives their best
performance to the organisation.
Talent retention and acquisition: For achieving all the objectives and goals of an organisation, it
is necessary to have well skilled, educational, experienced, attributive, trained employees for
performing the task oriented process. HR of Marks & Spence hire right person with right skills at
right place so that they perform well in all activities which is related to the organisational goals
and targets.
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B) Analyse the impact of regional and national culture on the practice of HRM in the chosen
country.
Providing security and safety to the employees, prominent hiring, effective team work,
training, performance appraisal, easy accessibility of information are some factors on which
practices of Human Resource Management are depend. It is necessary to understand the culture
in effective and efficient way to know about the ability of satisfying the customers. It increase
the efficiency of complete organisation and sometimes, it creates confusions among employees
having less effective communication (Costache and et. al. 2017). Below mentioned is the impact
of regional and national culture on the practice of HRM in UK:
 It is important for Marks & Spence to hire the employees of all culture because they are
working in various countries having different culture. So they had adopted a recruitment
policy under which they appoint the manager who can understand foreign culture &
behaviour, geo-centrism under which anybody can apply for the job from anywhere in the
world.
 HR department of Marks & Spence adopts different selection policies in different
nations. By performing this task, they want to know about all cultures and attribute but it
is not an easy task to understand various languages, food habits, living style and dressing
habits etc. They follows extensive selection process in Asian companies while short
selection process is being followed in US companies. It is a huge challenge for HR to
know about the essential skills, culture and religion in any candidate.
 HR department of Marks and Spence designed their training and development, induction
programs in such a way so that they can easily be understandable by any fresher. In Asian
countries people can easily understand the policies while they are communicated in the
close interaction and in US people interact by keeping 6 inch distance. So it seems that
providing training to the people of different cultures, religion, languages, norms is very
difficult task.
C) Use appropriate organisation’s model of employment and state the organisational levers
used by the firm to create value.
Employment model can be defined as a social program of the business which focus on the
creation of employment opportunities and job training to its target population. It also comes
under the HR practices. The Standard Causal Model, The 8-box model by Paul Boselie, The HR
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Value chain, The HR Value chain advance, The Harvard Framework for HR are the various
models of Employment model (De Oliveira and et. al., 2019) . Standard Casual Model of HRM
is being used by the HR of Marks and Spence which is explained below:
The Standard Causal Model of HRM: It can be said that this model states a chain process which
starts with the making of HR strategy and it end with the Various HR process and improving
financial performance of organisation. This model was extracted from a number of models which
were similar to this and published in 90’s and early 2000’s.
HR of Marks and Spence use this model by aligning all the strategies and initiative in an
appropriate manner accompanying standardised performance will achieved by making stabilized
moderation. For adopting affective changes, their HR has developed various strategies along
with their alternatives. It comprise a number of procedures such as training, appraisal, hiring and
compensation which result in better quality, strong engagement and encourage commitment. It
plays an important role in M&S organisation by improvement in both internal and external
performances include productiveness and profitability by taking in mind about the financial
advancement for instance profit share and margin, financial turnover and return on investment
(Zheng and et. al., 2017). HR of Marks & Spence makes various number of strategies so that at
the end, productivity can result in the beneficiary outcome. In simple words this model of HRM
states the formulation of HR strategies and the impact of that strategies on productivity and
financial results of the organisation. For this purpose, Marks & Spence has appointed good
people as HR to take these decisions.
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D) Using Storey’s 27 points of difference between HRM and Personnel Management as a
benchmark, state what is being practised by the firm in the Asian / African Country- HRM
policies or Personnel Management or both?
In the Context of Marks & Spence company, HRM is the first and primarily factor of
success as it helps the organisation in identifying the needs and requirements of business on daily
basis. And where the Personnel Management specially considers administrative actions that is
used to maintain records of all transactions like salaries, wages and other extra benefits of
employees (de Wet 2019). For making an effective presence in market, HRM policies are being
developed in the organisation, also it maintain a stable working standard of employees. Marks &
Spence makes a perfect balance in personal management and HRM as in state of benchmark
which is explained below as:
Basis Personnel Management Human Resource
Management
Contract Under Personnel development,
a contract is developed which
provide the complete
explanation about the working
standard and nuances which is
going to be followed for
particular period of time in
Marks & Spence.
Human Resource Department
always work to maintain the
clarity and standard of work in
M&S organisation. For the
same, they make various
strategies for completing the
task in effective and efficient
way.
Rules It is used to conceive for
controlling the importance of
rules. It states that every task
should be clearly
communicated to all the
employees of Marks & Spence
(Yoo and et. al., 2019).
HR department of Marks &
Spence are taking outlook on
all the consequences which are
being following in the
organisation to make the
balanced level of patience.
Management Tasks This management always keep
an eye on the task moderately
and they try their best to
HRM of Marks & Spence take
care of all the tasks because
they are totally depend on the
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implement all the necessary
strategies to attain higher and
good productivity.
potential and skills of
employees and which task is
to be assigned to whom is also
decided by them.
E) When it comes to hiring and firing do you consider the importance and significance of
local culture and HRM practice needs to be undertaken in general and the practices need to
carry out HRM in transnational/international-subsidiary.
HRM plays an important role in every organisation in order to give better performance in an
effective time period. Marks and Spence make use of HRM for knowing about the performance
in the market and for solving any issues by which notable execution in convince on continuous
mode (Jensen, R.S., 2017). This act of organisation not only focuses on the local workforce, it
also make continuous target on the global acceptance. For developing the sustainability with in
the working surroundings, they relate it to hiring and firing policy. In which new recruitment is
done and exit of prior employees working in the organisation. It can be said that this will give
result in the growth and development and long term success of organisation. Appointing local
person of an individual culture for specific place is significant and important which is explained
below:
 Any local candidate is much familiar with their culture, so it is easy for them to solve
any problem which is going to give result in higher productivity and decreasing the
financial losses.
It is easy for the local employee to understand about the fluency of language. HR of Marks
& Spence appointed various employees of local culture according to the location of store which
help the organisation in the reduction of communication barriers (Muniz and et. al., 2020)It is
necessary for the organisation to understand the languages of various countries, religions in
which they are working, local employees help the organisation for the same.
 It is also analysed that hiring a local person as an employee result in the reduction of cost
of business. Local person is not going to demand for the relocation, cultural and
language training which is provided by the company to their employees who are not so
familiar with the culture and religion. As candidate is well known about culture and
language of the area and also they are not required to left their native place for work.
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F) Examine the differences in terms of employment laws when international HRM changes
local business systems
It is said that the Human Resource Management is completely depend on the internal
factors of an organisation but if the organisation is working on a huge level or globally it is based
on both internal and external factors (Lee and et. al., 2018). The effective involvement of
personnel management states the concern of local and national culture. Local Business System is
being change by International HRM in the terms of employees and management which are in
different nations like host, parent and third country. Below mentioned are the differences in
terms of employment laws when international HRM changes local business system:
 Parent Country Nationals (PCN): This country is also known as expatriate as it is the
origin or basis of business where the business got developed. Marks and Spence follow
Standard labour law of country which is applicable on the employees who are working in
the organisation from 4-5 years that a risk of “de facto”.
 Host Country National (HCN): Marks and Spence include those employees under this
category which worked in foreign subsidiary business.
 Third Country National (TCN): Marks and Spence put those employees under this
category who are working in different country or in the headquarter of organisation.
The Company Marks and Spence and its management of Human Resource has followed all
the global employment or labour laws that are relative to government initiative. For the purpose
of terminating the complications without facing any problem M&S tied their employees with the
employment contract (Moutinho and et. al., 2018). In UK, Marks and Spence have to manages
various laws like Employment right Act 1996, National Minimum Wage 1998 which are made to
protect the employees in different ways which can be their wages, family leaves, unfair dismissal
etc. In Asia, they also have to follow some laws which are different from the laws of UK like
Factories Act 1948, Mines Act 1952, Contract labour Act 1970 and many more. HRM of Marks
and Spence take care of the employees right, for the same they have to follow various laws
which are different in nation to nation.
G) Use corporate examples of firms using good HR practices and literature to justify your
stand
It is well known that the Human Resource department handle, manage or control the
various works of a business organisation so that all the tasks can be completed perfectly and
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correctly. Employees of any organisation are the only factor which help the organisation to gain
better competitive advantages systematically because they are said a biggest asset of an
organisation. For continuously achieving the organisational goals and targets, it is necessary to
attract and retain the employees towards the business and for this purpose HR of organisation
have to motivate the employees either it can be in monetary terms or in non monetary terms to
complete the vision, mission and objectives on time (London and et. al., 2019). Also the
relationship between the employees is also managed by the HR department by making different
strategies and policies in respect of maximising productivity.
In the context of M&S, HR develops all the strategies and policies on the basis of various
situations. They are working hard to manage and control the risk by making appropriate
decisions. For making more comfort zone for all employees, they are making various
supplementary alternatives for both UK and Asian countries.
H) Based on the discussion and debate what suggestions / recommendations would you make
to employers regarding HRM practices to ensure that the organisational performance is
high?
HRM practices implies the development of policies and strategies related to the individual
behaviour, performance and attitude in sustained manner. Also the performance of complete
organisation can be improved by the collective efforts of individuals so that they can achieve
higher position in the market. Below mentioned are some suggestions for employer of Marks and
Spence regarding HRM practices which ensure that the organisational performance is high:
 For making the organisation more profitable in the market, HR manages and control the
higher performance because it brings consistent and coherent which gives the advantage of
more profit. Also the skills of employees can be developed by better commitment and
motivation which result in the effective work done by the employees with in the particular
time period. Also flexibility is attained by the practices to provide better alternatives.
For the purpose of increasing employee capital, employer develop efficiency of working
prospect and involve substantial investment. Basically, it is used by an employer to increase the
ability of employees which may result in development of opportunities on a specific workplace
(Masri 2017). Also it is the responsibility of HR department to make decisions for protecting the
employees and their interest as well. Because of these features, Marks and Spence has ability to
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accept any type of change without any problem which leads to the more profit and success of
organisation in future.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is analysed that the Human Resource department plays a primarily
function while taking any decision in the organisation. They work for making new strategies and
policies and then the development of those strategies which are made by HR related to any
specific or general situation or condition. It also works for the recruitment of employees,
induction programs, motivating employees so that they can work well for the organisation. Also
their main task is to attain their employees towards the organisation, it will help in the reduction
of cost of company, also it is beneficial for better performance of employees to make
organisation more profitable and improve the productive performance of business. Along with
this, HR department is responsible in taking care about to handle the various culture and religion
of different customers of many countries. They have to manage the internal as well as external
factors for the better performance of employees and organisation.
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