Leading and Managing Change: Brexit's Impact on Marks and Spencer

This report examines the impact of Brexit on the UK's economic climate and its effects on Marks and Spencer. It explores whether the company should adopt a planned or unplanned approach to change, considering factors like global GDP, financial conditions, and employment. The report delves into how HR management can support both planned and unplanned change strategies, focusing on internal and external factors, including changes in products, technological innovations, and demographic shifts. It also addresses the main challenges faced by the HR department, advising on strategic approaches to handle change and potential resistance, providing insights into how Marks and Spencer can navigate the uncertain business environment and sustain its market position.

Leading and Managing
Change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Changes within the current economic climate, and whether they need to take a planned or
unplanned approach to change going forward........................................................................3
HR management can support the planned/unplanned change approach, considering both
business strategy and external factors impacting on the business..........................................6
Main challenges for the Human Resource Department. Advise HR management of the
strategic approaches available to them in handling this shift, taking special consideration for
any possible resistance to change...........................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The term, Brexit where withdrawal of United Kingdom took place from European Union
(EU). Basically, the referendum was made on June 2016, where approximately 51.9% of the
people voted against United Kingdom (Leave European Union). This not only impacted upon
day to day life of citizens of United Kingdom but, on the companies as well that are performing
operations in this nation. Including this, business organisations also took number of actions so
that they could sustain within the uncertain business environment of United Kingdom (Archibald
and Archibald, 2016).
Company that has been taken into consideration is Marks and Spencer, which was
specifically dealing with various issues in the mid term, where the whole process of eviction was
going on. Report is going to be enclosed with current economic climate of United Kingdom.
Including this, assessment is also going to be enclosed with HR management of Marks and
Spencer where it can support the planned or the unplanned change approach. Lastly, main
challenges for the HR Department will also be elaborated, where management of strategic
approaches will avail different factors that would help in handling shift, taking special
consideration for any possible resistance to change.
MAIN BODY
Changes within the current economic climate, and whether they need to take a planned or
unplanned approach to change going forward
Brexit in present time, is said to be one of the crucial subject which every single
individual is looking forward to study, as it has impacted upon overall performance level of the
different local and international companies. Basically, on March 2017, United Kingdom (UK)
got evicted from EU where, initial process was started and that is currently due to conclude with
the United Kingdom withdrawing no later than 31 January, 2020. This brought ample number of
changes among overall working process of business companies and raised various confusions as
well in relation to what decisions are required to be made, so that they could sustain within the
market for a longer period of time (Tirmizi and Vogelsang, 2016).
Including this, Marks and Spencer, which is a major British multinational retailer with
headquarters in Westminster, London that specialises in selling high quality clothing, home
products and food products. Just, when the referendum came in front, Marks and Spencer has

also started dealing with various employee related issues like expatriate has had built the fear of
loosing job, less growth within the company and other types of risks. This is where, Marks and
Spencer has thought of going through the current economic conditions of United Kingdom, so
that right decisions could effectively be made in a short span.
Based on the information, that came in front it has been analysed that global GDP growth
has slowed markedly, partly because of escalating trade protectionism. On the other hand, there
are number of central banks that mainly reduced the overall policy rates. Including this, it is said
that not only of United Kingdom but international conditions of finance also disentangled, which
impacted negatively over different business organisations like Marks and Spencer. Therefore, it
cannot be said that whether the company should take a planned or unplanned approach to change
going forward at workplace. But in some areas like, Sterling has specifically appreciated
approximately 4% since August as the risk of a no-deal Brexit has fallen. This made chances for
Marks and Spencer to consider different plans to specifically execute their made decisions for
heavy profit and so on (McCrea, 2015).
It is also said that, United Kingdom's GDP growth has been volatile so far this year, but
because of this it cannot clearly be said that the organisation i.e. Marks and Spencer will
effectively sustain within the market for not. Due to these reasons, it made workforce of M&S to
think of their job that they should keep on working within the company or not. Due to this, HR
Department of this firm has had to think over number of temporary and permanent internal and
external factors so that underlying growth could easily get improvised. Here, Marks and Spencer
could effectively make appropriate modifications among business. This reflects the impact of
Brexit-related uncertainties and weaker global growth. Based on the analysis, it is also said that
employment growth of United Kingdom has weakened recently and the basic reason that came in
front was Brexit where it slowed down the demand growth and raised number of margins of
spare capacity to open up. CPI inflation has been close to target in recent months, although lower
energy prices and water bills are likely to cause it to fall over the next few quarters. Some of
these factors within the current economic climate of United Kingdom are presented underneath:

(Sources: Current economic conditions, 2020)
Global developments and financial conditions: Considering the above mentioned graph,
where lighter diamonds has specifically showed the overall companies employees' projections at
time of August 2019 (Inflation Report). Including this, it is also said that darker diamonds also
mainly shows current staff projections. Here, it can easily be analysed that specific bands
consists with uncertainties. Including this, it is also said that GDP along with the unemployment
projections is moreover relying over official data to August. On the other hand, if it is talked
about CPI inflation figure, then it mainly stays an out turn. Therefore, for a company like Marks
and Spencer, it will be required by it's HR department to come up with unique policies for their
employees so that they could sustain and develop no fear of loosing jobs and so on.
Demand and output: UK development has been unpredictable this year, to a great extent
due to Brexit-related elements. Gross domestic product expanded by 0.6% in first quarter, with
Illustration 1: Current economic conditions

movement supported by stock building in the UK and somewhere else in the EU in front of the
first March Brexit cut-off time. Gross Domestic Product at that point fell by 0.2% in second
quarter as number of business organisations like Marks and Spencer, TESCO, ASDA and more
incompletely ran down those stocks. The fall likewise mirrored a sharp decrease in vehicle
generation, as certain production lines were closed down in April as a feature of Brexit-related
alternate courses of action. This was the principal quarterly fall in GDP since 2012. Gross
domestic product development seems to have come back to a positive area within the third
quarter. In light of authentic information to August, development is relied upon to have been
approximately to 0.4% (Scott, 2018).
Therefore, considering the above information it is pretty much clear that it is not easy for
Marks and Spencer to make decisions on whether going for the planned or unplanned approach
to change going forward due to Brexit. But, moreover it can be said that for a business company
like Marks and Spencer it will be really very easy to sustain within the market through adopting
the unplanned approach, because Marks and Spencer is not only performing within United
Kingdom but in other Asian, African and other countries as well. But, to gain profits and
enhance productivity within the uncertain market of United Kingdom, it will be beneficial to
carry unplanned approach to meet the changes and requirements of consumers, because through
this company will become able to take decisions as per the situation. With the help of this, Marks
and Spencer will directly become able to sustain within the market for a longer period of time.
HR management can support the planned/unplanned change approach, considering both business
strategy and external factors impacting on the business
Every single business organisation consists of different departments like R&D, Human
Resource, Finance, Sales and more, which performs number of functions that aid firms in
delivering products and services to customers as per the requirements. Here, if it is talked about
Human Resource Department of Marks and Spencer, then it consists of various roles and
responsibilities among both stable and uncertain business environment so that, workforce could
easily perform effectively at national and international level. Basically, Brexit has brought high
risks for Marks and Spencer, where productivity started slowing down. The main reason that
came in front was that workforce of this firm (most of the expatriate), started fearing of loosing
their job and others got also influenced because of the same (Drummond and Hodgson, 2016).
This has raised number of problems for HR Department of M&S in relation to business strategies

that has been developed by them. Specifically, planned change approach is divided among two
sections and these are: external and internal.
Planned internal/external Change Approach:
Planned internal change mainly holds strategic moves Marks and Spencer to implement
number of objectives in relation to bringing change within the business itself or the way in which
other business firms are doing its operations. Some of internal changes that HR Department of
Marks and Spencer can support due to Brexit are given underneath:
Changes in the Services or the Products (Planned internal change): Marks and
Spencer's HR department usually takes decisions in order to bring the planned internal change,
because Brexit is carrying uncertainties, which impacted upon inflation rate. Due to this,
fluctuations among clothing industry was identified. Here, if HR management of M&S decides
to use an approach where it may diversify it’s range of business through delivering training to
employees or a need is felt by the management for delivering the modified products to
customers, as this will lead firm in reviving the business by adding new service or product lines
(business strategy). Here, trained employees will be much more confident as they are changing
themselves as per the requirements of uncertain business environment that took place in UK due
to Brexit (Visinescu, Jones and Sidorova, 2017).
Technological Innovation (Planned external change): Another support that HR
Department can effectively deliver to Marks and Spencer is directly linked with rapid
technological changes. Basically, technology is carrying a rapid changing nature and due to
Brexit, companies within the clothing industry has brought ample number of changes within the
technology to sustain within the market for a longer period of time. Here, utilising an approach
where offering training to employees with what additional updates company has made in relation
to technology or confronting them with them that what appropriate changes that company can
made for their own development has altered the ways in which people handle their jobs. This
could be understood with a good example, within clothing sector, there is a large part of the
design and manufacturing process that are already taken place, which also directly depends over
Information Technology (IT).
Unplanned Internal/External Change approach:
Unplanned internal along with the external change could be considered or takes place due
to ample number of reasons. Basically, these are presented in a spontaneous way but are

introduced in an unplanned manner in response to either a change in the demographic
composition of an organization or due to performance gaps. Then again, there are two significant
components like economic uncertainties along with the changes that are directly linked with
government regulations (Power, 2015). These majorly plays crucial role for Marks and Spencer
to bring change: Some of these internal and external factors linked with the unplanned change
approach are presented underneath:
Change in the Demographic Composition: Due to increasing numbers of women
workforce that are being recruited by Marks and Spencer and other business firms, along with
older employees joining private sector jobs after completing the job period is said to be
something, which has impacted upon companies. This is where, if it is talked about Marks and
Spencer, then HR department of this organisation has made various policies like retirement
policy and so on, which can be considered as the business strategy adopted by business
organisation. This change has majorly brought number of plus points for Marks and Spencer
even at different sections as well, because this has raised number elements like motivation
among existing and new staff and reduced the high employee turnover ratio (Bagozzi, Sekerka
and Sguera, 2018).
Governmental Regulation: This can also be considered as another factor, that is directly
linking with the unplanned approach, where alterations among governmental regulations carries
high influence over nature of business of Marks and Spencer. This could be understood with a
good example, where due to economic globalization along with liberalization and because of
Brexit, UK's government has enforced changes in the regulations in the form of de-licensing,
currency conversion, etc. Here, HR Department could effectively bring changes among existing
policies of Marks and Spencer to deliver the best to employees so that fear of loosing job could
effectively be reduced to minimal which took place due to Brexit.
Main challenges for the Human Resource Department. Advise HR management of the strategic
approaches available to them in handling this shift, taking special consideration for any
possible resistance to change.
Due to Brexit, there were ample number of challenges that came in front for HR
Department of business organisations. Basically, an uncertain situation mainly brings high risks
for workforce within a business organisation, because it is may be possible that company like
Marks and Spencer would require to make alterations within the specified time frame to sustain

within the market of United Kingdom (Ngan and et. al., 2016). In present context, some of
challenges that took place due to HR department are mentioned underneath:
Impact on Talent: Because of Brexit, it is said that there is a huge impact that took place
for United Kingdom’s talent pool. This affected overall workforce planning along with the HR
Manager's policies as well. Including this, since workers were already leaving their jobs from
Marks and Spencer, which also raised negative impact of the company within the society. This
affected upon overall plans for attracting and retaining the talent for Marks and Spencer and it
made hard for the company to succeed in the face of increased competition for a smaller
selection of talent (Greasley, 2017).
Attraction of talent: Due to Brexit, United Kingdom was also become less-attractive
destination because, as it will no longer offer easy access to talented people from throughout the
EU. This raised number of questions not only on Marks and Spencer but over other business
organisations as well and this where, certainly United Kingdom experienced huge decline within
the number of EU citizens coming here to work (expatriate), considering the numbers are already
decreasing, and HR will really need to support a resourcing plan that covers strategies for coping
with this (Forgang, 2015).
Impact on Employee Legislation: Another challenge that came in front and that took
place due to Brexit is that HR management of Marks and Spencer had to keep on bringing
changes within the policies of company in relation to workforce, training programs and more.
This is where, it become much more important for firm to keep on bringing modifications within
the policies due to legal changes that United Kingdom's parliament made as it had to start from
zero, because they were following rules and regulations of EU. Here, it is said that the decisions
that HR department of Marks and Spencer had to bring number of changes but this was most
stressful and onerous aspects of managing company’s people, and it is possible that Brexit will
add to this issue in near future as well.
In order to reduce the impact of all the new changes that Marks and Spencer was facing,
it become vital for company to consider the unplanned change approach, as this can also be
considered as one of the crucial and effective approach followed by Marks and Spencer in
specified time frame (Henningsen and Henningsen, 2015). Including this, there are number of
theories that can be adopted by HR department of Marks and Spencer to bring appropriate

changes within the business organisation to support existing and new workforce so that they can
stay motivated towards their job and fear less of loosing it due to Brexit.
Bruce Tuckman's 1965 Team-Development Model:
Tuckman's model explains that as the team develops maturity and ability, relationships
establish, and the leader changes leadership style. Considering this approach, Marks and
Spencer's HR manager could effectively deliver appropriate benefits to it's staff members and
reduce the negative impacts of change (Pearson, 2017). It consists of four different stages and
these are: Forming – This is where, decisions are being taken by HR department of Marks and
Spencer in order to train the staff, bring modifications among existing plans and so on. Storming – At this stage, workforce of M&S basically starts addressing tasks through
getting suggestions from each other, so that right amount of modifications could
effectively be built within the company (Tuckman: Forming, Storming, Norming,
Performing mode, 2019). Norming - This specific stage is particularly tends to be a move towards harmonious
working practices with teams agreeing on the rules and values by which they operate with
Marks and Spencer.
 Performing – Under this, stage the execution takes place where Marks and Spencer could
effectively build number of modifications within the workplace in a short span and
reduce the impact of different factors like Brexit and so on (Jorgensen, Trotter and Hill,
2016).
CONCLUSION
With the help of above mentioned report, it is being concluded that change is an
important part for every single business organisation in order to grow within the uncertain
business environment. On the other hand, it is also said that both planned and unplanned change
approaches are required to be adopted by business organisations when they already performed
the situational analysis. Through this, high range of benefits can easily be gained by the
company. It is also summarised that, for a company when it comes to expand business it is
needed to analyse the current economic conditions, as this would lead firm to hit targets in a
short span.

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