Project: Role of Line Managers & Leaders in Employee Development

This project proposal delves into the crucial role and significance of line managers and leaders in fostering employee development, particularly within the context of Marks and Spencer. The research aims to identify strategies employed by line managers and leaders to enhance employee skills and competencies, addressing challenges they encounter in the process. The study explores the concept of employee development, its importance in organizational success, and examines how talent management practices contribute to increased productivity, improved brand awareness, and a competitive advantage. The proposal outlines research objectives, including understanding employee development, analyzing strategies used by Marks and Spencer, and examining the challenges faced by managers. It also includes a detailed timeline with activities such as literature review, methodology development, data collection, and analysis, culminating in discussion and conclusion, and incorporates ethical considerations for research involving human participants. The Gantt chart visualizes the project schedule, ensuring efficient resource allocation and timely completion of research objectives.

PROJECT PROPOSAL FORM
Student Name
ID Number
Centre Name
Tutor
Proposed Title Role and importance of line mangers and leaders in employee
development
Section One: Title, aims, objectives
Title or working title of project (in the form of a question, objective or hypothesis)
INTRODUCTION
Talent management is defined as the selection, attraction and retention of staff members that includes a
combination of human resource procedure (Pandita and Ray, 2018). Along with this, its aim is to enhance
business performance by adopting practices which make staff members more productive.
Talent management plays an important role in employee development as it works to keep current staff
members and advances them to higher level within the organisation. Along with this, it help employee to
enhance their creativity level and gain various opportunities that further leads towards employee
development (Importance of talent management, 2018). It is important for an organisation to focus on
talent management as it help in increasing productivity, improve brand awareness, improve performance
and also help a company to attain competitive advantage.
In the present study, Marks and Spencer is taken into consideration. It is a British multinational retailer
which was established in year 1884 and headquartered in England, UK. The company has around 1450
stores globally which shows it has high market presence and share as well (Bridger, 2018). The company
offer home, selling and clothing products in around 18 countries globally.
Research Question:
What is the role and importance of line mangers and leaders in employee development?
Research aim:
“To identify the role and importance of line mangers and leaders in employee development” A study on
Marks and Spencer
Research objectives (e.g what is the question you want to answer? What do you want to learn how to
do? What do you want to find out?):
 To know about the concept and importance of employee development.
 To analyse the strategies used by line managers and leaders of Marks and Spencer for employee

development.
 To examine the challenges faced by line managers and leaders of Marks and Spencer in the process
of employee development.
Section Two: Reasons for choosing this project
Reasons for choosing the project (e.g. links to other subjects you are studying, personal interest, future
plans, knowledge/skills you want to improve, why you feel the topic is important)
The main reason to choose this project is to analyse the role as well as significance of employee
development which further help an organisation to gain growth and success. In addition to this, it assist
researcher to know about strategies used by mangers for the development of employees along with the
challenges faced by them. Further, the present study will help researcher in gaining personal and
professional aspect. In relation to professional, it assist to learnt about significance of employee
development that further help in performing job and gain opportunities as well. In relation to personal, it
assist to improve and learn skills such as time management, communication, data analysis, data collection,
data interpretation and many more. All this will further allow researcher to conduct future studies in more
effective and appropriate manner.
Section Three: Precedents and sources
Use of key literature sources and precedents to support your project objectives
Concept and importance of employee development.
As per the view point of Juneja (2021) Employee development is defined as the procedure of enhancing
staff members existing skills and competencies with the objective of attaining organizational objectives. In
addition to this, employee development plays an important role as it allow company to gain higher
productivity and profitability that further allow company to attain competitive advantage at marketplace. It
is analysed that there are various advantages attained by an organisation due to employee development
such as performance improvement, effective handling of unexpected situations, development of positive
working culture, employee satisfaction and retention and so on (Importance of employee development,
2021). It is determined that if employees gain growth and development at workplace then they put full
potential to meet with the targets of company and to achieve objectives as well. All this will further lead
an organisation to gain competitive edge and sustain at marketplace for longer time frame.
Strategies used by line managers and leaders of Marks and Spencer for employee development.
As per the view of Heatley (2021), line managers are basically related to employees for the growth for

managing often organise the shift for managing sources in more effective ways. There are different
strategies which Marks and Spencer line managers are related to enable the employees and do job in an
effective way. It is effective for the growth and provide significant sources and achieve responsibility in
the growth of market. The leaders of Marks and Spencer try to do not micro manage the things and try to
give a voice to their employees (5 ways to nail being a Line Manager, 2021). All of these strategies are
related to enhancing the performance and make systematic growth in the market.
Challenges faced by line managers and leaders of Marks and Spencer in the process of employee
development
As per the view of Murphy (2021), there are different challenges which the company faced issues like forming
policy documents, being understaffed and decline poor communication process to complete working in an
communicate effectively. Another challenge which the company faced for declining pressure to perform and make a
constructive statement for managing workplace in business environment. It is one of the manage promote a strong
work culture by planning lunch for managing expectation for rewarding employees for managing exceed
expectation (The Challenges Facing Lines Managers in Performance Management Systems, 2021). It is one of the
effective working environment by applying strategies and managing line manager and leaders for the growth and
process of employees development within Marks and Spencer.
REFERENCES
Books & Journal
Pandita, D. and Ray, S., 2018. Talent management and employee engagement–a meta-analysis of their
impact on talent retention. Industrial and Commercial Training.
Bridger, E., 2018. Employee engagement: a practical introduction. Kogan Page Publishers.
Online
Importance of employee development, 2021 [Online] Available through;
https://www.managementstudyguide.com/employee-development-importance.htm
5 ways to nail being a Line Manager, 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.perkbox.com/uk/resources/blog/5-ways-to-nail-being-a-line-manager>
The Challenges Facing Lines Managers in Performance Management Systems, 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/challenges-facing-lines-managers-performance-systems-alan-murphy->
Importance of talent management, 2018 [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/the-importance-of-talent-management-and-why-companies-
should-invest-in-it>
Section Four: Activities and timescales

Activities to be carried out during the project How long this will take?
Development and analysis of ideas Mid January
Writing proposal & ethics form Start of February
Writing literature review Three weeks
Writing methodology Two weeks
Data collection and analysis Three weeks
Writing Discussion and conclusion Two weeks
Milestone one: Writing proposal & ethics form
Milestone one target date (set by tutor): 10/2/2022
Milestone two: Writing Discussion and conclusion
Milestone two target date (set by tutor): 21/04/2022
Gantt chart: It is defined as a bar chart which illustrates project schedule in a proper manner. Along with
this, it represents the starting and ending time of each and every activity associated to research. It also help
an investigator to plan work around deadlines and allocate resources effectively that leads towards
attainment of research objectives within set time frame. The Gantt chart of present study is given below:

From the above Gantt chart, it is analyzed that there are different activities included for conducting an
effective study, which are as follows:
Development and analysis of ideas: For the completion of this activity, researcher will take 2 weeks.
Writing proposal & ethics form: For completing this activity, investigator will take 2 weeks.
Writing literature review: For the completion of this activity, researcher will take 3 weeks.
Writing methodology: For completing this activity, investigator will take 2 weeks.
Data collection and analysis: For the completion of this activity, researcher will take 3 weeks.
Writing Discussion and conclusion: For completing this activity, investigator will take 2 weeks.
Comments and agreement from tutor
Comments (optional):
I confirm that the project is not work which has been or will be submitted for another qualification and is
appropriate.
Agreed by:
Tutor name: Date:

Research Ethics approval form
All students conducting research activity that involves human participants or the use of data
collected form human participants are required to gain ethical approval before commencing
their research. Please answer all relevant questions and note that your form may be returned if
incomplete.
For further support and guidance please see your respective Unit Tutor:
Before completing this form, we advise that you discuss your proposed research fully with
your unit tutor. Please complete this form in good time before your research project is due to
commence.
Section 1: Basic details:
Project title:
The role of line managers and leaders in employee development.
Student name:
Student ID number:
Programme:
College Name:
Intended research start date:
Intended research end date:
Section 2 Project summary
Please select all research methods that you plan to use as a part of your project:
 Interviews Yes No
 Questionnaires Yes No
 Observations Yes No
 Use of personal records Yes No
 Data Analysis Yes No
 Action Research Yes No
 Focus Groups Yes No
 Others (Please specify) :
Section 3: Participants
Please answer the following questions, giving full details where necessary.

Will your research involve human participants?
NO
Who are the participants? Tick all that apply:
Ages 12-16: Young people aged: 17-18 Adults:
How will participants be recruited (identified an approached)?
Through random sampling under probability sampling method
Describe the processes you will use to inform participants about what you are doing:
By e-mail
How will you obtain consent from participants? Will this be written? How will it be made
clear to participants that they may withdraw consent to participate at any time?
The consent from the participants is written form.
Studies involving questionnaires: will participants be given the option of omitting
questions that do not wish to answer?
Yes No
If no please explain why below and ensure that you cover any ethical issues arising from
this
Studies involving observation: Confirm whether participants will be asked for their
informed consent to be observed.
Yes No
Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e give them a brief
explanation of the study)?
Yes No
Will participants be given information about the findings of your study?(This could be a

brief summary of your findings in general)
Yes No
Section 4: Data Storage and Security
Confirm that all personal data will be stored and processed in compliance with the Data
Protection Act (1998)
Yes No
Who will have access to the data and personal information?
Investigator
During the research:
Where will the data be stored?
In laptop and computer
Will mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops be used
Yes No
If Yes, please provide further details:
After the research:
Where will the data be stored?
How long will the data and records be kept for and in what format?
Will data be kept for use by other researchers? Yes No
Section 5 : Ethical Issues
Are there any particular features of your proposed work, which may raise ethical concerns?
If so, please outline how you will deal with these:
It is important that you demonstrate your awareness of potential risks that may arise
because of your research. Please consider/address all issues that may apply. Ethical
concerns may include, but are not limited to the following :
 Informed consent.
 Potentially vulnerable participants.

 Sensitive topics
 Risk to participants and /or researchers
 Confidentiality/anonymity
 Disclosures/ limits to confidentiality
 Data storage and security, both during and after the research (including transfer,
sharing, encryption, protection).
 Reporting
 Dissemination and use of your findings.
Section 6: Declaration
I have read, understood and will abide by the institution’s Research and Ethics
Policy: Yes No
I have discussed the ethical issues relating to my research with my Unit Tutor:
Yes No
I confirm that to the best of my knowledge:
The above information is correct, and this is a full description of the ethical issues
that may arise in the course of my research
Name: Date:
Please submit your completed form to your supervisor and also attach to the
Research Proposal when submitting to Turnitin.