HRM Report: Evaluating HRM Practices at Marks and Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Marks and Spencer (M&S). It begins with an introduction to HRM, defining its purpose and scope, particularly within the context of M&S, a multinational retailer. The report then delves into Task 1, examining the purpose and functions of HRM, including recruitment and selection, maintaining good working conditions, and orientation programs. It also explores the strengths and weaknesses of internal and external recruitment methods, as well as systematic and unsystematic selection approaches. Task 2 focuses on the benefits of HRM practices for both employers and employees, specifically highlighting training and development and reward management. Task 3 investigates the importance of employee relations in influencing HRM decision-making and examines the elements of employment legislation and their impact on HR decisions. Finally, Task 4 discusses the application of HRM practices in a work-related context. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations, supported by references.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Purpose and function of HRM ..............................................................................................1
P2 Strength and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection....................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3 Benefit of HRM practices to both employers and employees...............................................5
P4 Effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising the profit and productivity....6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Importance of employees relation in respect of influencing the HRM decision making .....7
P6 Elements of employment legislation and the impact on HRM decision making...................8
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................8
P7 Application of HRM practices in work related context ........................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management refers to the process of hiring, selecting and managing the
employees of an organisation. It plays a important role in any organisation as it involves team
spirit. HRM is also referred as HR which helps in achieving the objectives of individual as well
as organisation. To study this report, chosen concern is Marks and Spencer. It is a multinational
retailer having its headquarter in London. It was founded by Michael Marks and Thomas
Spencer in 1884. The company is differentiated in clothing, home ware and luxury food products
(Noe and et. al., 2017). This report will cover the purpose and scope of HRM along with
strength and weakness of selection and recruitment process. Apart from this it also explains the
benefit of HRM practices to employer and employees and the effectiveness of different HRM
practices. At last it describes the importance of employee relations and legislations over the
decision making of HR.
TASK 1
P1 Purpose and function of HRM
HRM refers to the process of hiring and developing of the employees in such a way that
they provide some value to the organisation. The main focus of HRM is on the smooth function
of people at the organisation by taking the best use of practice at the workplace. HRM includes
planning,recruiting of right people for the job, providing benefit and incentives, resolving of
conflicts and also communicating with the employees at every level. It is the main role of HR
department of M&S to manage the resource efficiently so that goals and objective become very
easy to achieve. In M&S, HR department plays a great role as they provide service world wide
and with the help of this department it become very easy to reach large number of customers.
The main function of HRM in context of M&S are mentioned below:
 Recruitment & Selection: It is considered as one of the main function of HR manager .
As recruitment is a process of selecting the most qualified person for a particular job
which can help the company for achieving of the objective of an organisation. The HR
manager of M&S must look after the recruitment process and must make a plan to recruit
the number of candidates.
 Mainlining of a good working condition: It is the foremost responsibility of HR
department to maintain good working condition at the workplace. It is the duty of HR
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manager of M&S motivate the employees by engaging them in decision making process
and other activities so that a good relationship can be build among employers and
employees.
 Orientation: Many organisation provides orientation which help them employees to
adjust himself at the workplace so that they can comfortably work without any issue. The
HR manager of M&S through orientation programme help the employees to know about
goals and objective of an organisation. Moreover through this programme duties and
responsibilities become very easy for the employees to understand.
Purpose of Human resource management
The main purpose of human resource department is to properly coordinate with the
people of an organisation so that goals and objectives can be easily achieved in an organisation.
Some of the purpose of HRM in context of M&S are mentioned below:
 Performance Appraisal: The human resources department work in coincidence with
every individual department of an organisation so as to evaluate the performance of the
employees. Performance appraisal is done annually in every organisation and HR
manager by looking after the performance of individual able to know about the
capabilities of an individual(Cascio, 2015).It is the foremost responsibility of HR
manager of M&S to evaluate the performance on the regular basis an give performance
appraisal as the basis for promotion, termination, retention etc. HR manager though the
performance appraisal able to motivate the employees of the company to increase the
performance and also help in retaining the employees for a long time.
 Law Compliance: The main purpose of HR manager is to check that the activities
performed are according to set legal standards. The HR manager of M&S must be aware
of all rules and regulation as failure of understanding these laws can result in lawsuit
which affect the profit of the company.
Workforce Planning: It is the process that involves identification of both current as well
as future needs of employees and exploring some of the ways to recruit and retain the individual
for a long time.
Purpose of proper workforce planning
The major purpose of workforce planning lies in getting the most suitable employee with
the right skills and experience who suits best for the job. It plays a important role in M&S too as
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through this goals and objective become very easy to achieve. Moreover it also help HR manager
of M&S to solve the conflicts that usually ariser at the workplace and also workforce planning
helps in knowing the upcoming trend that can arise in an organisation.
Steps involved in efficient workforce planning
Some of the steps involved in workforce planning are mentioned below:
 Setting of strategic planning: It is the first step toward workforce planning which
includes generating of plan to carry out the goals and deciding about the number of
employees required for the plan(Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). It is the duty of HR
manager of M&S to properly look after the objectives and formulate the strategies so that
objective become easy to achieve.
 Analysing the current workplace profile: This steps deals in looking at the current
staff. It is the duty of HR manager of M&S to identify the capabilities of staff which are
working at present in an organisation.
 Developing an action plan: After analysing of the current position in the workplace, it is
the time where HR manager of M&S develops an action plan so that employees
productivity can be improved.
 Implementing the action plan: After developing a action plan , it is the work of HR
manage to work with all the department and discus about the budget from accounts and
finance department. Here the manager of M&S is required to communicate about the plan
to other parties so that the task can be achieved smoothly.
 Monitor, Evaluate and Revise the plan: It is the last step where manager monitor the
implementation of plan and make some of the adjustment where required.
P2 Strength and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
Both recruitment and selection are considered as one of the most important function of
HR deportment as through this goals and objectives become very easy to achieve.
Recruitment: It is the process of finding the employees so that vacant position in an
organisation can be filled up. There are two type of recruitment process which are explained
below:
 Internal recruitment: It refers to the process of recruiting within the organisation itself.
Such type of recruitment is used by an organisation when employees have some of the
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capabilities that can be used to fill up the vacant position. Some of the techniques used
by M&S are transfers, promotion and re employment of the existing workforce.
Some of the strength and weakness of promotion are explained below:
Strength  Employees are already familiar with the type so it is
easy for them to operate and also it boost the morale of
an individual.
Weakness  It sometimes led to conflict between the other
employees who feel they are more capable for the
promotion.
 External recruitment: It refers to the process that recruit the employees outside an
organisation. M&S do external recruitment with the help of advertisements and online
ads.
Below are some of the strength and weakness of advertising
Strength  Employees with experience join the organisation and
bring new latest ideas.
Weakness  Using advertisement is both lengthy and expensive
process.
Selection: It defines as the process of choosing the right candidate that is most suitable to an
organisation. There are two type of selection method:
 Systematic approach: In this process there is a involvement of some of the steps through
which skills of an individual can be known (DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016).
M&S includes various test like screening test, psychometric test etc.
 Unsystematic approach: It defines as the process of knowing the skills of candidate and
comparing them according to the job vacancy. It includes interview, group discussion etc.
Below are some of the strength and weakness of interview process:
Strength Weakness
 Interviews can be set as per the needs
of company.
 Interview are interaction between the
people so there is no record of such.
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 Right candidate with right qualification
can be choose within a small span f
time.
 The selection of interview is based on
interviews personality and mood..
Purpose of recruitment and selection process
The main purpose is to appoint the person who meet the basic requirement of job vacant in the
company which can result in increasing the productivity as well as profitability of the concern.
The stages of selection process are mentioned below:
Preliminary interview: It is the process which is used to eliminate the unfit candidate to work in
an organisation.
Receiving Application: In this stag people who are potential apply for the job by sending the
application to the organisation.
Screening of Application: After receiving of application, special screening committee screened
the candidate and call for the interviews.
Employment test: This test normally checks the talent and skills of the candidates.
Employment interview: It is done to identify the set skills and abilities of a individual to work
in an organisation.
Checking preferences: The person that provide reference is also important as here the re free
can provide about the persons capabilities and experience in the previous company.
Medical examination: This exam help to know about the physical as well as mental fit state of
the candidate to the employer.
Final selection: Once the candidate is passed from all written test, interviews and medical
examination the employees is sent or emailed an appointment letter confirming about the job
selection.
TASK 2
P3 Benefit of HRM practices to both employers and employees
HRM practice are very beneficial to both employers and employees as they are helpful in
increasing both productivity and profitability of a concern. For these some of the activities are
conducted which provide benefit to both employers and employees. Some of the practices of
HRM are mentioned below which benefit both employer and employees :
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 Training and development: Training and development is a process that help in
improving the performance of individual and groups. M&S conduct training for the
employees both on the job and off the job. In on the job training employees are located on
a particular job and are taught about skills to perform the same (Mello, 2014). Off the job
training is a know-how in which employees are trained away from their working floor.
Benefit to employees: By providing training and development programme on the regular
basis company is able to increase the skills and abilities which helps in improving the
performance of individual as well as team.
Benefit to employers: Th training programmes help in increasing the performance of
employees which result in their timely completion of task and will help in overall production of
the organisation.
 Reward Management: Rewards is the benefit which is provided to the employee in the
term of money, promotion or other benefit. Marks and Spencer reward their employees
by using two methods i.e. Intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic rewards is directly related to
the performance and based on the principle that higher the rate of performance, higher
will be the reward. M&S reward their employees by Recognition and giving pride of the
work. Extrinsic reward is related to the performance of employees but also depends on
the policy of company. M&S reward their employees in the form of increased pay, bonus,
commission and promotion.
Benefit to employers: By rewards, M&S is able to retain employees for a long run which
in turn is a benefit fr employers as they dont have to appoint new individual for the work which
saves their time.
Benefit to employees: By giving rewards to the employees on the regular basis help in
motivating the worker of the company which enable them to work hard as per their potential.
 Performance Management: Performance management is a procedure of managing the
action of employees and help the organization to become successful (Jackson, Schuler
and Jiang, 2014). Marks and Spencer make use of key performance indicator and reward
and recognition programme to increase the performance of employees. Key performance
indicators is a way by which clear description of the company can be known. M&S are
conducting R&R on regular basis so that they can motivate the employees.
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Benefit to employers: By evaluating the performance on the regular basis company is
able to know the points where it is lacking and will make some of the plans that helps in
improving the performance.
Benefit to employees: By Reward and recognition by employers to employees they feel
valued and work best to their ability which increase there motivation that helps in improving the
performance of an individual.
 Flexible working hours: A flexible working hours are the one that allows the employee
to work according to himself and that differs from the company's start and stop time.
Mow a days many company aims at providing flexible working hours and are beneficial
to both employers and employees.
Benefit to employers: Employers also have a benefit of flexible working hours as this
help in boosting the morale of employee which overall will help in easy completion of task of
the company. Moreover it also reduces the absenteeism and employees turnover.
Benefit to employees: Employee can work according to the time which suits them the
most. This will help them to pay attention both towards the work as well as family. M&S by
providing the flexible hours will enhance the image of company in the minds if employees and
they will work their best in increasing the production of the company(Albrecht And et. al.,
2015).
P4 Effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising the profit and productivity
With the help of HRM practices company is able to increase the efficiency of employees which
will have a benefit upon the productivity and profitability of M&S. Below mentioned are some
of the practices that helps in raising the profit and productivity of a concern.
 Training and development programmes: It is a process through which skills and
capabilities of employees are developed which enhances their knowledge and help in
improving the performance of an individual. Through training employees are able to
know about the update in technology which will help in effective use of equipment at the
workplace (Purce, 2014).Thus both training and development programme help in
improving the performance of an individual that automatically results in increase
production and profitability of M&S.
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 Reward management: Rewards an recognition help in increasing the morale as through
the monetary and non monetary benefit employees feel valued which result in doing the
best as per their abilities. Thus will be beneficial in increasing their efficiency which will
result to the increase profit maximisation and profitability of a concern.
 Recruitment and selection: It refers to the process of selecting most capable person for
the job. By making use of internal recruitment M&S is able to encourage the confidence
of the employees. This in turn boost them toward working hard so that they can derive
the higher position. Thus it will improve the quality of work which will help in increasing
the productivity and profitability of a concern.
Thus from the above HRM practices, M&S is able to improve the organisational
performance that help in increasing the profitability and productivity of a concern.
TASK 3
P5 Importance of employees relation in respect of influencing the HRM decision making
Employee relation refers to the efforts of the company which help in managing the
relation between both employers and employees. Employees relationship is very important in
every organisation as it lead to higher productivity. Strong relation depends upon healthy and
save environment, involvement of every employees, and communication system in the
organization. The work of HR of M&S is to look whether a proper relation of employee is
maintained in the company or not. They must look after the equality factor. Relation with every
employee should be equal, there should not be any favouritism. Every personal information
shared at the time of interview should be kept private. HR department must look after the health
and safety department in the company so at the time of any emergency employees can get the
first aid facility(Kramar, 2014). If all the employees work together as a family the organisation
become a happy place to work. HR manager must look after the rewards and recognition as they
must be provided to the employees on the regular basis in order to boost up their confidence
which results in increasing both productivity and profitability of a concern. By involving each
and every individual in the decision making process will help the company to build effective
relationship between both employers and employees.
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P6 Elements of employment legislation and the impact on HRM decision making
Before formulating of any plan and strategies, company is required to follow the
legislations. As this is very important in building a strong relationship between employer and
employee. Some of the laws are stated below:
 Equal pay act, 1970:
It state that there should be no discrimination in an employment in financial terms. It is the role
of HR department of M&S to look whether every employee is paid according to his eructation or
not.
 National minimum wage rate, 1998:
This law state that minimum wage should be given to every employee. The role of HR
department is to look forward and decide about the minimum wage of every employee according
to their work and ability(Foster, 2014).
 Health & Safety law: The following law look after the health and safety of the people
in an organisation. The HR is responsible for giving best facilities to employees. With the
help of this law M&S is able to generate a good working environment which help in
increasing the productivity and profitability.
TASK 4
P7 Application of HRM practices in work related context
Job specification: It refers to a written statement which describes the duties and responsibilities
of a person that are required to perform specific profile.
Job Specification
Organization:
Job Title – HR manager
Academic Qualification – MBA
Place- UK
Necessary Criteria:
 Proper knowledge about management tools and techniques.
 Managing employees relation.
 Effective team building skills.
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 Maintaining coordination among organisational operations.
Desirable criteria:
 More than 2 year work experience
 Captivating personality.
 Effective communicator.
Curriculum Vitae:
It is commonly known as CV. It is a short description about the person's education and
previous experience Name: Residential Address: Contact Number: Email ID: Carrier objective:- To secure a challenging position in a organisation where I can
enhance my skills, learning and knowledge. Qualification:
 B.com MBA Experience: 2 years experience in Human Resource Management department as
Assistant HR manager.
 Personal Skills:
 Ability to work in team and focused towards goals.
 Self motivated and having an ability to work in the situation of intense deadline. Carry positive attitude and dedicated towards work. Declaration:
 I hear by announce that the above informations is true to my cognition and expectations.
 Name: Address:
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