Analyzing HR Management Practices at Marks and Spencer

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Introduction to Business Studies
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Table of Contents
Case Study.......................................................................................................................................3
Report..............................................................................................................................................7
Reference List................................................................................................................................11
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Case Study
Introduction
One of the most relevant and significant functions to be performed within an enterprise is the
management of its HR activities. Various approaches are adopted and utilised all over the globe
in order to ensure the effectual management of HR among which the MBWA or the
“Management by Walking About”. This study focuses on discussing the role of HR, the
effectiveness of MBWA, and varying aspects of operations relating to MBWA in the context of
Marks and Spencer, one of the most significant operators within the UK retail market.
Discussion
Role of HR function within organisations
There are differing sorts of roles that the HR function plays within organisations (Cascio, 2015).
In the following points the few main roles of this function has been elucidated -
 Maintenance of safe work environment
 Recruitment of correct people for the correct job
 Maintenance of employee-employer relationships
 Training and development of workers
 Ensuring employee benefits
 Meeting legal responsibilities
Q1. What are some of the things managers can learn by walking around and having daily
contact with line employees that they might not be able to learn from looking at data and
reports?
The style of managing businesses through the adoption of which managers keep wandering
about, without any structured manner in the workplace and various areas of the workplace sol
that status of ongoing work, equipment and employees can be checked is known as the
“management by walking about” (Tucker and Singer, 2015). The management by walking about
is of great significance within organisational contexts and this can be understood with example
of the management in Marks and Spencer. There are a number of things, which managers fail in
understanding or have no knowledge about through considering reports and data. One of the
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primary things that managers are enabled to learn from the use of management by walking about
while having daily contact with line employees is that is that they gain an understanding of how
employees perform their daily jobs and the varying primary challenges that they have to face in
the organisational context (Robbins et al., 2013). For example, in Marks and Spencer, managers
are able to gain an idea of the way their subordinate employees work and the diverse practical
problems that they face such as problems regarding time management, problems of availability
of sufficient technical resources and customer dealing along with varying other aspects through
the means of management by walking about.
Similarly, the difficulty of the differing tasks and the level of skills needed in performing of the
simplest of tasks can be realised when managers walk around and have daily contact with the
line employees (Robbins et al., 2013). For example, within Marks and Spencer, customer
relationship management is of great relevance and a large number of employees are engaged in
customer service. The customer relations manager of the enterprise has realised the difficulty that
the customer service executives of the enterprise while dealing with customers and meeting all
their needs only when they walk around. The manager is able to realise the effectual
communication skills, persuasiveness, patience, attentiveness, time management skills, product
knowledge and customer reading skills that requires being present within them to perform their
simple task of attending customer calls and solving their issues. Therefore, in such a manner,
managers are enabled in learning things about their workplace and the employees working under
them through walking around instead of just considering reports and data.
Q2. As an employee, would you appreciate knowing your supervisor regularly spent time
with workers? How would know this affect your attitude towards the organisation?
Spending time with workers is a basic aspect of management by walking about (Razavi et al.,
2015). During the tenure of service at Marks and Spencer, supervisors were seen to be spending
time with the employees on a regular basis. As an employee, it was quite appreciated and it
would also be appreciated in the future years that supervisors regularly spend time with workers.
This is because it leads to the enhancement of relations between the supervisors and employees
along with leading to sharing of the varying problems and difficulties being encountered in
workplace with the supervisors while getting proper guidance to perform their jobs. I would be
appreciating this in my future employments as well.
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This also has an effect over the attitude of an employee towards the organisation in which they
work. As an employee, I would have a positive attitude towards the organisations in which I will
be working in the forthcoming years, as it would be easier for me to work under the regular
guidance of my supervisor and any sort of issues I would be facing can be shared with him or her
easily. It would also be making my work easier for me.
Q3. What ways can executives and other organisational leaders learn about day-to-day
business operations besides going “undercover”
According to Cumberland and Alagaraja (2016), the Undercover Bosses is a TV programme that
has taken the management by walking about to the next level and has mentioned that the top
managers of an enterprise often work beside other employees and these employees fail in
realising their co-worker is an “undercover boss”. Such a scenario has been faced in Marks and
Spencer as well. The top executives of the enterprise often work with the employees without the
employees having knowledge of what the actual position or job role of their co-worker is in the
workplace. However, managers can also gain knowledge about the daily activities performed
within a business through other ways, such as assigning tasks to line employees, setting
deadlines for them and keeping a detailed report of their daily performance, which need being
checked daily so that ideas can be developed about day-to-day business activities.
The executives can also be appointing team leaders or floor managers who would be reporting to
them regarding the daily activities or issues being faced by the employees. However, in case if
these do not work out, the managers themselves need making a conscious effort of going where
the employees are and building relations with them via casual conversations and initiation of
contacts. Executives can also have daily lunch with employees while eating with different line
employee groups so that the information they need can be attained from them.
Conclusion
Hence, from this study, one can find out that management by walking around is of great
relevance to organisational contexts, since they help managers in learning a large number of
things that cannot be learnt from considering reports and data. It helped in understanding the role
that HR plays while considering how employees consider the regular spending of time with their
supervisors. The study also assisted in the development of knowledge on how the executives of
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an organisation along with its other leaders can be learning about the daily business operations
instead of going undercover.
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Report
Introduction
In addition to the varying functions in an organisational context such as the HR and marketing,
the finance function is also of great significance within organisations. This report would be
discussing and examining the roles that the finance function plays within organisational contexts.
The financial management and reporting is also of great relevance within business enterprises.
The report would also discuss on the role that financial management and reporting plays in
organisations.
Role of finance function within organisations
There are differing ways using which the finance function can be defined. One can define
finance function to be the task relating to providing funds required within enterprises on
favourable terms, considering the objectives of an enterprise (Gitman et al., 2015). At the same
time, the finance function of an organisation is also said to be involving the accounting and legal
relationship among the organisation itself, its sources and the use of funds within it. The
significance, role and relevance of the finance function within organisations is that the business
is critical when it comes to making business decisions, starting from planning and budgeting
along with management of cash flows (Keuper and Lueg, 2015). As stated by Pitluck et al.
(2018), the finance function within organisations is also beneficial to the capital structure
management of an organisation along with controlling the costs and risks present in them.
In addition to the ones stated above, there are diverse other roles played by the finance function
within an organisation as well. Teng et al. (2016) stated the following are the six major roles that
are played by the finance function within an organisational context -
 Financial planning - The finance function facilitates organisations largely for the
execution of financial planning within its context.
 Forecasting of cash inflows and outflows - It enhances the effectiveness of the forecast
of the cash incoming into an enterprise while anticipating the cash outgoing from it.
 Fundraising - The funds raised in an organisational context no matter they are raised
from internal sources or external sources are also managed through the finance function.
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 Allocation of funds - The funds that are raised within an organisation are also allocated
within an organisation for using it in an effectual manner through the medium of the
finance function.
 Effectual use of funds - The finance function within organisation also help in the
ascertainment that funds are effectually utilised within an organisational context.
 Financial control (both budgetary and non-budgetary) - The finance function also
assists in the financial control of enterprises, which assist in the bringing about both non-
budgetary and budgetary control within them.
For example, the finance function plays an explicit role in organisations such as the Marks and
Spencer. This is because it helps the organisation in determination of its asset-management
policies, deriving its net profit allocations, estimates cash flow needs while controlling their
flows, making decisions on sources and requirements of new external finance, negotiating with
external financers while checking financial performance. The function also plays its role within
Marks and Spencer through supervising cash flows, maintenance of favourable cash balance
while keeping records.
Role of financial management and reporting within the organisation
Significant roles are played within organisational contexts with the means of financial
management and reporting within an organisation. In the points mentioned below, the role of
financial management in an organisation has been discussed -
 Estimation of the amount of capital needed in an organisation is done through
financial management (Finkler et al., 2018). For example, in organisations such as Marks
and Spencer, financial management plays the role of estimating the needs of fixed asset
purchase, the meeting of working capital needs while modernising and expanding the
business.
 Determination of capital structure is also another role of financial management. For
example, within Marks and Spencer, financial management helps in determining the
proper mix of equity capital and debts so that cost of capital is minimised and shareholder
wealth is maximised.
 Selection of sources of funding and procurement of funds is also managed through the
medium of financial management. For example, within Marks and Spencer, financial
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management helps in verifying sources from which the entity could be acquiring finance
while negotiating with financial institutions, creditors or other parties for the procurement
of the funds needed.
 Disposal of surplus or profits is also optimised with financial management. Effectual
financial management within Marks and Spencer helps the enterprise in ascertaining the
amount of profit to be retained and ploughed back while how much should be distributed
among shareholders as dividend.
In addition to the above roles, financial management in organisations also play the strategic role
of monitoring and planning while ensuring the growth, efficacy, profitability, solvency and
liquidity of the organisation.
Financial reporting is also beneficial to organisations in differing ways (Page and Spira, 2016).
The following are the common roles that financial reporting plays in organisational contexts -
 Financial reporting provides information to an organisation’s management for the
planning, benchmarking, analysis and decision-making within it.
 It provides information to the debt providers, creditors, investors and promoters for
prudent and rational decision-making regarding credit giving and investments.
 It also plays the role of providing information to the public as well as shareholders
regarding the varying factors and aspects of an enterprise (Crowther, 2018).
 It also gives information on the way in which an organisation procures and utilises its
varying resources while enhancement of social welfare through considering employees’
interests along with the interest of the government and trade unions.
All the above roles that have been mentioned in the above points are analysed to be played by
financial reporting in the context of Marks and Spencer as well. It is also seen that financial
reporting within Marks and Spencer plays the role of providing information to its diverse
stakeholders regarding the performance management of the organisation regarding how ethically
as well as diligently it is discharging its fiduciary responsibilities and duties.
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Conclusion
Therefore, the report helped in the development of an understanding on how significant finance
function is within companies. It also illustrated the role that financial management along with
financial reporting plays in an enterprise.
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Reference List
Cascio, W.F., 2015. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
Crowther, D., 2018. A Social Critique of Corporate Reporting: A Semiotic Analysis of Corporate
Financial and Environmental Reporting: A Semiotic Analysis of Corporate Financial and
Environmental Reporting. Routledge.
Cumberland, D.M. and Alagaraja, M., 2016. No place like the frontline: A qualitative study on
what participant CEOs learned from Undercover Boss. Human Resource Development
Quarterly, 27(2), pp.271-296.
Finkler, S.A., Smith, D.L. and Calabrese, T.D., 2018. Financial management for public, health,
and not-for-profit organizations. CQ Press.
Gitman, L.J., Juchau, R. and Flanagan, J., 2015. Principles of managerial finance. Pearson
Higher Education AU.
Keuper, F. and Lueg, K.E., 2015. Finance bundling and finance transformation. Springer
Gabler.
Page, M. and Spira, L.F., 2016. Special issue on “Business models, financial reporting and
corporate governance”. Journal of Management & Governance, 20(2), pp.209-211.
Pitluck, A.Z., Mattioli, F. and Souleles, D., 2018. Finance beyond function: Three causal
explanations for financialization. Economic Anthropology, 5(2), pp.157-171.
Razavi, A., Patil, P., Wigen, D. and Hosmath, A., 2015. The Effectiveness of Management By
Walking Around (MBWA).
Robbins, S., Judge, T.A., Millett, B. and Boyle, M., 2013. Organisational behaviour: Pearson
Higher Education AU.
Teng, H.W., Fuh, C.D. and Chen, C.C., 2016. On an automatic and optimal importance sampling
approach with applications in finance. Quantitative Finance, 16(8), pp.1259-1271.
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Tucker, A.L. and Singer, S.J., 2015. The effectiveness of management‐by‐walking‐around: A
randomized field study. Production and Operations Management, 24(2), pp.253-271.
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