HR Strategy Analysis: Challenges and Solutions for Marks and Spencer

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the human resource strategy employed by Marks and Spencer. It begins by outlining the company's business model, emphasizing its focus on quality products and a healthy work environment. The essay then delves into the challenges faced by the HR department, including trade union issues, the need for innovation, communication gaps within a diverse workforce, legislative compliance problems, and communication issues with outsourced employees. To address these challenges, the essay proposes several strategic solutions. These include applying Herzberg's two-factor theory to improve wage structures and communication, implementing Maslow's hierarchy of needs to bridge goal orientation gaps, and utilizing Skinner's reinforcement theory to enhance legislative compliance and training programs. The essay aims to provide insights into effective HR management and offer practical solutions for improving organizational performance.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY
Human Resource Strategy
Nam of the University:
Name of the Student:
Author Note:

1Human Resource Strategy
The increasing competition in the market and the changing global market and
environment, have profound impacts upon the human resource departments of any
organization. Therefore, it is indeed important that proper strategies should be included
within the organizational structures to approach and redress the human resource department.
According to the industrialists, it is equally important to put equal effort and make equal
investment in the department of human resource, to gain a competitive advantage in the
market. The following essay will therefore discuss about the issues and challenge related to
the human resource department of the company Marks and Spencer, and further relative and
appropriate solutions or strategies will also be made.
Marks and Spencer is one of the major retailer business house of UK. With its’
headquarter in Westminster, the country has its retail chains almost all across the world,
selling clothes, food, home decors and financial services. The company has a well strategized
business plan, with the aim to deliver quality products, in affordable prices. The company
also maintains a good human resource management structure. The human resource
department of the company does not encourage any kind of discrimination and ensures that
the healthy, flexible and harassment free organizational environment. The human resource
department also ensures equal treatment to all the employees of the company. The
organization also provides appropriate training programs to all the employees of the
organization to ensure a clear understanding of the organizational conducts, and to better the
quality of the products. However irrespective of a clear and appropriate human resource
structure the organization is faced with certain challenges in the human management process
and system.
The existing human resource management structure of the organization aims to
maximize the output of the organization and increase the customer base of the same. The
human resource department of the organization also aims to improve the performance of the

2Human Resource Strategy
employees and also initiate a strategic structure to lustrate the organizational goals and
organizational strategies through rigorous training and development of the employees. The
organizational ensures about the organizational rules and policies within the organization.
The organization focuses sufficiently upon the legislative structure of the organization, and
focuses on the safety and the security of the employs. The organization also includes proper
risk management plans to assess and manage the risk situation within the organizational
structure. The organization has also implemented different structure and different resource
management teams with different sets of responsibilities, to account these areas. Therefore it
can be stated that the organization invests equally upon the business management and
strategies and the human management and strategies. However, there are certain areas where
the company can and should focus more.
Firstly, , the organization is also facing a trade union problem, as they have presently
changed an organizational structure, whereby, the existing structures are now outdated and a
new set of organizational policies and rules have been included in the system. This has
affected the wage management system of the organization. The current wage of the
employees, are marginally above the ‘living wage’ that is practiced within the country and
with the changed incentive structure, the overtime count of the employees has become out of
control and this is affecting the gross earning of the organization (Diaz et al., 2015). The set
working hours and the work measurement have completely distorted, and the human resource
team, who is primarily responsible for thee conducts have seen to be taken no initiatives to
deal with this circumstance.
Secondly, the organization must focus more into the processes of innovation.
Innovation is indispensable in the modern organizations. With the changing environment and
market orientation. The demand of the customers have also changed, and the pattern of
conducting businesses have also changed. Therefore the system of innovation is the key to

3Human Resource Strategy
thrive in this changing market situation. The organization Marks and Spencer include the
system of innovation into the business processes, however, the process of innovation is
restricted to the business processes only. The organization involves investments and efforts in
initiating a system of innovation in the business processes, however it does not include any
system of innovation into the human resource management system. However, there are many
organizations, who include a system of innovation into the human resource management
system. As practiced by other organizations it is viewed that involving an innovation system
into the resource management system, helps the organization to thrive in business (Nachman
et al., 2018). It is believed that, innovation is a people centered processes and varies from a
person to person, therefore the innovation system must be included in the human resource
management process, as the system as the resource management system is essentially the
most people centered process and the since it manages the human resource within the system,
therefore, it is likely that the system has certain ideas related to the inclusion of the
innovation process within the system. Also, as it is the human resource department that,
manages the business processes, business outputs and the business initiatives, therefore the
system of innovation has been included in the business processes by many of the
organizations (Das. 2013).
Thirdly, the organization includes diversity within its system, the system of diversity
is projected on to the business outputs and the products of the organization. Also, diversity is
included in the human resource management of the organization as well. As the organization
focuses on to involving the in house labors within the organization, therefore, there is
diversified situation among the employees of the organization. The organization includes and
respects the diversification in the employee management system of the organization. Also,
the organization also includes people with disabilities. The organization also respects the
gender diversification. However, there is a communication gap among the employees

4Human Resource Strategy
themselves, which often causes hindrances in the business conducts for the organization. This
is especially true in case of the employees from diversified countries and societies (Jones and
Comfort. 2018). It is often seen that they lack a proper communication system among
themselves, which causes a lack of team consensus and employee involvement within the
teams conducts and business conducts. This affects the business processes and goal
achievements of the organization.
Fourthly, the human resource department is responsible for the training and
recruitment, balancing of the work, and deal with the industrial relation and the legal
regulations, governing within the country. Therefore, there are certain discrepancies in
maintaining the rules and regulations that are governing within the country. It has often seen
that the company has failed to account to the legislative structure of the government of the
country, which has affected the positioning of the company in the market as well as the
business conducts of the same (Murray et al. 2013). Therefore, these are the prime areas
where the human resource department of the company needs redressal, through the inclusion
of proper human resource strategies.
Fifthly, the Marks and Spencer has a global a customer base with its retail chains in
many organizations and many states. Therefore, the organization hugely focusses on
including or hiring in house labors for their retail chains. However, there is a communication
gap with these in house labors, included by the organization. In most of the cases it is seen
that the labors are hired by the other organizations, or rather they are outsourced by other
organizations, dealing within that particular country or state. It is often seen, that as the
employees are outsourced, and therefore there are no direct communication process between
these hired candidates and the managerial department of the organization itself, the
candidates arte hired, briefed and trained by the company that had outsourced. Therefore,
there is a major communication gap with the employees at the initial level (Ho et al. 2015).

5Human Resource Strategy
Also, the training that the hired candidates are provided with are often incomplete in their
orientation or are inappropriate. As there is a lack of direct communication, therefore there is
a lack of understanding of the organizational goals by the newly hired candidates, therefore
they are more focused with actualizing their personal goals, which results in a discrepancy in
the actualization of the organizational as well as personal goals.
Therefore, the human resource management team must take immediate actions and
initiatives to deal with these situations. Therefore the strategies that can be taken by the
organization are, firstly, the resource team must include the two factor theory of Herzberg,
and propose the motivating and hygiene factors into the system. The company can thus
address the pay structure and improve the organizational policies. The two factor theory will
help the resource tea to include the organizational policies in a systematic factor, which will
help them to address the issues related to the wage structure, the shift timings of the
organization, and thus will help them to reduce the impact of the union and can further
dissolve the union with time (Bamberger, Biron and Meshoulam. 2014). This is much
important, as it is affecting the organizational structure and the organizational conducts.
Secondly, the two factor theory will also allow the organization to improve the
communication factors within the teams. As mentioned before, the work force diversity is
affecting the actualizing the organizational goals. Therefore, an improved communication
system within the team is much important, and the principles of the two factor theory will
help the resource management department to address the issues related to the communication
system within the team (Marler and Fisher. 2013). Understanding the diversity of the work
force and respecting the same will help the members of the team to work better and grow a
team consensus that will help them to thrive.

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Thirdly, the organization must also include the theory Maslow, related to the
hierarchy of needs. This particular theory will help the resource management team to bridge
the goal orientation gap between the main branch of the organization and the sister chains
that are spread across the world. The hierarchy of needs theory will help the organization to
address and uphold the need for goal actualization and therefore, will help the organization to
initiate proper and strategized training processes within the organizational system (Armstrong
and Taylor. 2014). This will bridge the communication gap among the retail chains and the
principles of the theory will help the organization to include proper training strategies that
will help the organization to train its employees, hired through the outsourcing agency, and
make them understand about the organizational goals and how the actualization process of
the organizational goals will help the employees to fulfil their personal goals as well.
Maslow’s theory will also help the organization to initiate a system of innovation within the
resource management team (Al Ariss, Cascio and Paauwe. 2014). This will help the resource
management to bring in changes within the organization and in the business conducts of the
organization in a different way.
Fourthly, the resource management team must include Skinner’s reinforcement theory
to redress the legislative structure of the organization. Skinner’s reinforcement theory
includes certain steps that can help the organization to redress its legislative structure. Since
the organization is facing many issues related to accounting to the rules and laws of the
government while conducting the business and strategizing the market policies, therefore, the
principles and the detailed steps will help the organization to include new legislative structure
into the organization and the thus accounting to the governmental rules and policies (Xu and
Meyer. 2013). Skinner’s theory of reinforcement can also be put into use to address the
communication system within the organization and into the training and development
patterns practiced by the organization, as the theory will enable the human resource

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management department to include a step by step change process within the organization.
While including the changed wage and pay structure, the organization did not involve any
systematic pattern and the change was initiated overnight, which had created a restrictive
nature within the work force. Therefore, the skinner’s reinforcement theory will help the
organization to succumb this situation and initiate the change management in a systematic
and strategized pattern within the organizational set up.
Marks and Spencer is a global brand with good market positioning and a loyal client
base, however, the trivial management attributes can impact upon the brand image of the
organization. Therefore, proper human resource strategies must be included in the business
conducts to avoid a certain situation.

8Human Resource Strategy
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