Developing a Post-Pandemic Framework for Business Planning at M&S

This report investigates the creation of a post-pandemic business planning framework, focusing on Marks & Spencer (M&S) as a case study. The study aims to understand how organizations adapt their business practices to enhance employee retention in the wake of the pandemic. It examines changes within M&S related to post-pandemic planning, explores the concept of employee retention, and evaluates the contribution of post-pandemic planning in promoting employee retention. The research employs a qualitative approach, utilizing questionnaires and thematic analysis to gather and analyze data from M&S employees. Key findings indicate that a majority of employees believe the organization makes business decisions in their best interest and that prioritizing employee well-being is a crucial retention strategy. The report concludes with recommendations for M&S to effectively manage challenges and improve employee retention strategies, ensuring long-term sustainability and competitive advantage.

HOW TO CREATE A POST
PANDEMIC FRAMEWORK
FOR BUSINESS PLANNING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
P1 aim and objectives..................................................................................................................3
Aim –...........................................................................................................................................3
Objectives –.................................................................................................................................3
Research questions -....................................................................................................................3
P2 project management plan........................................................................................................4
P3.................................................................................................................................................5
P4.................................................................................................................................................7
P5.................................................................................................................................................9
P6 Recommendations................................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................19
Books and Journals....................................................................................................................19

INTRODUCTION
Business planning refers to the document which elaborates briefly about aim and objectives of
corporate reflecting over planning strategies for achieving desired goals. It layouts road map for
business from phases like financial, marketing and operational standpoints. In this present study
it would identify sustainability of business during pandemic. It will reflect over process to put
post pandemic plan by relevant initiatives. Furthermore, it would collect data by utilizing
particular methodology and make suitable conclusions for present practices being implemented
in organization. By the help of Gantt Chart and Work breakdown structure it will reflect over
categories and sub categories of various task which is to be performed and timeline highlighting
time taken for completing the activity. At the end it would cover recommendations on the basis
of findings figured out in previous stages.
MAIN BODY
P1 aim and objectives
Aim –
To investigate how organization form post pandemic framework in order to make effective
business practices aligned with enhanced employee retention. A case study on: Marks &
Spencer.
Objectives –
 To investigate changes in organization aligned with post pandemic planning
 To study concept of employee retention
 To evaluate contribution of post pandemic planning in promoting employee retention at
M&S
 To recommend appropriate strategies to M&S to deal with challenging aspects effectively
Research questions -
 What does concept of post pandemic plan signify?
 What is the concept of employee retention?
 How does post pandemic planning contributes towards employee retention?
Examples of two businesses with respect to the initiative taken to support organization during
emergencies

According to Nikitas and et.al., (2021), there are several competitive firms having vast
comparison with M&S and its effective business practices. In the context of Tesco, business
initiative is aligned with expanding into accumulation of new stores, adapting with fundamental
needs of customers. They aim to serve quality service to its customers across the world with
affordable price scheming strategy. Another competitive organization is Morrisons which seeks
to initiative for helping customers with money saving patterns over day to day fundamentals.
Also, there are strong possibilities of them all across with product specifications. Marks and
Spencers follows initiative concerned with sustainable and environmental aspects to build
sustainable future as dealing with multiple challenges. Thus, it is suggested for organization to
engage towards positive culture to enhance employee retention at workplace. Such
improvements in organization can led to better growth in industry and gaining competitive edge
in places.
P2 project management plan
Project management plan is framework which includes selection and assessment of all associated
features which is usually required to complete several tasks and activities aligned with overall
research. This plan will aid to segregate all task which is to be performed, and resources as well
as time it will take for completion. In this current research, project management plan would be
formulated by the following order:
Cost – In this phase, cost is essential factor which helps in ascertaining total amount demanded
for research completion. For performing various activities which is part of this research, it is
mandatory to have adequate amount of money to be allocated (Przybylowski, Stelmak and
Suchanek, 2021). In the present study the researcher will require in total to complete all activities
related to this research.
Scope – the scope of research cover contribution of post pandemic framework over business
practices and employees. Further, the research will exclusively based in UK.
Time – this is most fundamental aspect which helps in determining total time required to
complete the research from starting to end in systematic order. In this research 5 weeks of
duration would be required in order to complete bunch of activities and research. In the estimated
time period research will be done and it will enable to accomplish desired objectives of research.

Quality – Quality constraints are specifically utilized to identify reliability and validity for the
entire research which has been proposed. It is essential for researcher to ensure information
which has been collected is realistic and direct towards complete as well as comprehensive
quality management within research which is being undertaken.
Communication – it is one of the most crucial aspects in the plan which effectively contribute
towards successful completion of project. It is foremost to communicate with various parties
likely to be termed as respondents, stakeholders, management of corporate etc. to build the better
level of communication with them. It ensures that all outcomes of this research have accuracy
and justifications as it will be helpful for accomplishing main aim behind this research.
Risk – there are various risk factors aligned with research conducing process and this might arise
conspicuously and further required to be ascertained prior to research. Formulating correct
measures for fulfilling such risk factors in advance will assist in better approach for completing
successful research. Data accuracy which is gathered would be significant risk through which
researcher might have to deal with in current research.
Resources – the resources indicate assets which is mandatory for researcher to have having
technological and human resources assistance for making the research completion successful.
P3
WBS & Gantt chart

Gantt chart

Network diagram
On the basis of above network diagram, the critical path indicates that the project would take 90
days to complete.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses

 Team members are having advanced
knowledge & skills which is useful in
identifying the gap in planning to
develop effective business planning
framework.
 Mailed questionnaire make the data
collection easier & cheap.
 Low budget and poor skills of project
manager makes the quantitative data
analysis difficult.
 Risk of time overrun do not allow for
conducting face to face interview of
the research participants.
Opportunities Threats
 Competitor’s inability to plan
effectively makes the recommendation
of employee retention policies to
M&S easier.
 Advance analytical skills is helpful in
data analysis.
 Established firms like John Lewis &
Next plc are giving tough competition.
 The rise in the number of online tools
for business planning framework.
P4
Research methodology
In this section, the techniques and tools that would be used for collecting & analyzing data would
be discussed with reference to managing a project. Further, the discussion would indicate the
type, philosophy and approach that the researcher would adopt in this project will be discussed.
Research type: There are two types of research, quantitative and qualitative. In case of the
former, the numeric data is collected or the qualitative data is converted into numeric terms while
performing the analysis of data (Gupta and Gupta, 2022). In case of the latter, the qualitative data
is gathered and analyzed by the researcher to get insights of experience, opinions, attitudes, etc.
With regards to the identification of how business planning framework could be created in the
post pandemic period, the researcher would be going to conduct qualitative research to determine
how business planning have changed within M&S in the post pandemic scenario.

Research Philosophy: Researcher commonly used two types of philosophies while gathering
and analyzing data that is, interpretivism and positivism for qualitative and quantitative research
respectively. Interpretivism deals with non-numeric data where the subjective view based on the
observed phenomenon is analyzed while in case of positivism, factual knowledge about the
phenomenon is considered to be useful. In the present research, the interpretivism philosophy
would be used to analyze the business planning framework created by M&S in the post
pandemic time and accordingly, qualitative conclusions would be drawn.
Research approach: There are two approaches usually adopted by researcher which involves
inductive and deductive approach. The selection of approach depends on the type of research
where inductive approach is adopted for qualitative research while the deductive approach is
adopted for quantitative approach (Mishra and Alok, 2022). In this study, the researcher will
adopt inductive approach where the researcher would go from specific to general while
analyzing the data. In other words, how M&S have created framework for business planning in
the post pandemic time would be identified and evaluated by supporting it through what general
concepts and theories suggests.
Data collection: Usually two sources are referred to by the researcher to gather data that is,
primary sources and secondary sources. In this research, the data would be collected from both
of these sources and accordingly, the combination of primary and secondary data would be
presented in this research. For collecting primary data, the questionnaire has been framed and
mailed to the employees of M&S to gather information about the policies & plan in place to
support the emergency situation created by pandemic (Rumsey and et.al., 2022). For secondary
data, existing literature would be used along with evaluating how competitive organizations are
dealing with the emergencies caused by the pandemic.
Sampling: In this research, random sampling technique would be used to elect research
participants which would be comprises of employees of M&S. Accordingly, a sample of 30
employees would be created.
Data analysis: With regards to the qualitative study conducted by the researcher, the data
gathered qualitative data would be analyzed by adopting thematic analysis technique. In this, the
findings of the primary research are supported with the existing literature related to the research
issue (Acampora and et.al., 2022).

Ethical consideration: In order to comply with the ethical principles of research, the responses
of employees have been obtained after filling consent form with them. Further, no work of others
has been presented and wherever it is done, citation have been done appropriately.
Validity & reliability: To make sure that the reliable data has been gathered and presented, only
copyright protected sources have been used and accordingly inclusion of misleading data has
been avoided. Further, to ensure validity of data, only those sources have been referred which are
published after 2018.
P5
Data analysis
In this section of this project, the primary data that have been gathered through questionnaire will
be presented in the summarized form in order to draw valid conclusions. To analyze the data,
thematic analysis technique would be used where the findings of the primary research will be
supported with existing concepts and theories.
Theme: 1 – Majority of employees thought that the business decisions made by the
organization are in the best interest of them.
Do you think the organization is making business decisions in the best
interest of the employees post pandemic?
Frequency
Yes 22
No 8
Total 30

73%
27%
Do you think the organization is making
business decisions in the best interest of the
employees post pandemic?
Yes
No
Interpretation: Through the above graphical representation, it has been determined that 73% of
the M&S’s employees think that the organizational planning framework is created in the best
interest of them while 27% employees do not believe so. As per the view of Marston, Shore and
White (2020), it has been identified that employees are the most important asset of the business
without whom it is not possible for the business to attain their goals. Therefore, to ensure
sustainability of business, it is important to make decisions in favor of employees which would
definitely be helpful for the business in dealing with emergency situations like pandemic. If it is
not so, the sustainability of the business would be in danger.
Theme: 2 – Prioritization of employee’s well-being is identified as the best retention strategy
adopted by M&S post pandemic to ensure sustainability
What could be the best retention strategies that M&S management should
adopt post pandemic to ensure their sustainability?
Frequency
Re-examination of pay practices 7
Investment in employee’s career growth 6
Prioritization of employee well being 12
Support to employees in achieving work-life balance 5
Total 30

0
4
8
12 7 6
12
5
What could be the best retention strategies
that M&S management should adopt post
pandemic to ensure their sustainability?
Interpretation: Out of 30 employees, there are different strategies identified that M&S have
followed to ensure their sustainability post pandemic. 7 have said it is re-examination of pay
practices, 6 said it is investment in employee’s career growth, 12 said it is prioritization of
employee wellbeing and the remaining responded that it is greater support offered to employees
in attaining work-life balance. These findings are greatly aligned with the views of Barbarossa
(2020), who have identified that post pandemic companies are more focused towards the mental
and physical health of their employees and accordingly, are undertaking several well programs
such as reducing their stress, helping them in managing with the workload, etc. Through these
ways, the companies are ensuring that they would not lose their talented candidates to
competitors.
Theme: 3 – Majority of employees satisfied with the ways adopted by M&S in managing
business & people post pandemic
Are you satisfied with the way M&S has managed its people and
business in the time of pandemic?
Frequency
Yes 20
No 10
Total 30