LSC UoS BA Business: HRM Report on Marks & Spencer (2022)

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins with an introduction to HRM, setting the context for the report's focus on M&S's recruitment policies, including its internal and external job posting strategies, job descriptions, candidate selection processes (CV screening, interviews, feedback), and selection procedures. The report then delves into M&S's employee motivation strategies, such as providing immediate feedback, flexible scheduling, encouraging breaks, rewarding accomplishments, offering incentives, and providing career development opportunities. Furthermore, it identifies challenges in recruitment, selection, and motivation, including employee turnover, difficulties in tracking team productivity, and the impact of toxic team members. The report concludes with recommended improvements to address these challenges, offering justifications for each suggestion, and provides a general conclusion summarizing the key findings and recommendations. The report includes a detailed table of contents and a list of references.

Human Resource
Management

Abstract
Human Resource management is the framework that enhances the human working in the
organization through following different procedures. The work starts from hiring employee and end
in retaining them. This report is being made in the context of Marks & Spencer company and its
Human Resource Management. It covers the company's recruitment policies and stages, Evaluate
the selection procedure of the Marks & Spencer, ways Marks & Spencer motivates their employees
in the organization, some identifiable challenges which is associated with recruitment and
motivation process of the Marks & Spencer and its justification.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................3
2. Discussion and Analysis...................................................................................................................4
2.1 Company’s Existing Recruitment Strategy..................................................................................4
2.2 Company’s Selection Procedures..................................................................................................5
2.3 Company’s Existing motivation.....................................................................................................7
2.4 Challenges Identified Within the Recruitment, Selection and Motivation Strategies...............8

2.5 Recommended Improvements and Justifications.........................................................................9
3. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................10
4. References.................................................................................................................................................12
1. Introduction
Human resource management is the procedure which comprises all the activities related to
the human power in the organization. All the planning and process related to the employees are
includes in this procedure. The work of the human resource management starts from the employing
people in an organization and ends in developing strategies to retain them in the organization. The
tasks that human resource department of an organization do are recruiting, hiring, deploying and
managing the workforce of the company. In respect to run and organization and achieve
organizational goals it is very crucial to have a department that manages the human resource of the

business. Without effective human resource management company wouldn't maintain healthy
working environment and cultures with is very important for higher productivity. This report is
being made in the context Marks & Spencer which is a clothing brand in the UK. They have
started their functioning in 1884. Now they have multiple stores all over the world with online
facilities (Agarwal, 2021). The aim of this report is to highlight the Purpose and background of the
company with its recruitment policies. It also explains the selection process and the ways through
which employees get motivated. Further it evaluates the challenges in the recruitment process with
the recommendations to solve it.
2. Discussion and Analysis
2.1 Company’s Existing Recruitment Strategy
Recruitment policies are the procedures which is applied by the human resource
management for hiring good talent which having specific qualities and skills. The recruitment
policies are built to get the talent which is appropriate for the company recruitment (Altamura,
Purandare and Ingawale, 2022). These policies have two aspects the selection of the relevant
employees and their induction process. The criteria of the success of the organization are highly
depends on the recruitment policies of the Marks & Spencer. For effective recruitment policies
Marks & Spencer have to complete following things, which are discussed below:
 Marks & Spencer have to make sure that their recruitment policies are fair and unbiased.
 There is need to define responsibilities related to the stakeholders during the hiring process.
 Provide clear job descriptions and provide the information related to the particular
requirements to get the right talent in the organization.
 Provide the guidelines for the approval of the applicant from one stage to another.
 Establish right terms and conditions for the employment and provide an induction program
for the new candidate.
There are some stages that is involved in the recruitment process of the Marks & Spencer which
are mention below:
 Posting job internally- Before hiring candidate from the outside Marks &Spencer post the
jobs internally in the organization as the employee of the organization mostly send these
vacancies to their network to hire right talent.
 Writing job descriptions- If the company is unable to find the right talent inside the
company then they find the candidate outside the organization (Ametova, 2020). The hiring
process start with the full descriptions of the job as each brief describes the role effectively.

 Selecting potential candidates- Marks &Spencer then implement the process of employee
selection. This process changes from organization and its working. It involves the CV
screening, phone screening, a written test and assignment and the final interview.
 Giving interview feedback- This is the important stage in the in the whole hiring process,
which comprises the performance feedback of all the applicant who appeared in the
interview. The outcome of the process whether it is positive or negative the manager inform
the candidate their result (Ansari, Farrukh and Raza, 2021). The main aim of developing the
feedback is to encouraging, respectful and keep the input job oriented. This is very impact
process of the Marks & Spencer.
2.2 Company’s Selection Procedures
Selection process is the procedure which includes the shortlisting of the relevant candidates
with all the needed skills and qualifications which suits the requirement of the Marks & Spencer.
Different industries have different process of selection and it also department on which department
of the company requires employees (Aprianto, 2022). The selection process of Marks & Spencer is
discussed below:
 Job design- The first step reviews the work and the decision making about the
accomplishment of the needed work. The result of this step is how the work targets can be
achieved effectively.
 Position descriptions- It is the formal document which describes the job. The descriptions
of the related job updated by Marks & Spencer as per the requirement and reviewed by the
company in every year (Barry and Wilkinson, 2022). This step comprises the guidance for
the people for selecting the relevant candidate.
 Forming a selection committee- This step involves the committee which is divers based on
the perspectives regarding the specific position requirements. Marks & Spencer involves
their stakeholders as the selection committee.
 Recruitment- having quality in the recruitment generates the outcome with quality pool
applicant (Van Esch, Black and Ferolie, 2019). The main purpose of any recruitment
process is to select high-quality candidate. This comprises specific information.
 Initial screening of the candidates- The initial screening in the Marks & Spencer of their
candidates are based on the documentation which is submitted by the applicants for the
decision making.

 Phone and video calls and the other pre-interview options- These are the sources through
which Marks & Spencer can generate the information about the candidate (BR and Aithal,
2022). This method helps in managing the cost and build the communication process with
the applicant.
 In person interviews- This step includes and ensure committee which tales the interview
fact to face and makes sure that all the interested parties are available at the interview
process in the company.
 Recommendation for hire- This the stage where the establish committee chosen a candidate
for the hiring process and make sure that all the approvals and the final details are fulfilled
according to the requirement.
 Offers and notices to the candidates- This is the process where negotiation takes place
starting with the expected salary aspects and other terms and conditions of the company
(Chaudhary, 2020). In respect to present effectively in front of the candidate Marks &
Spencer have completed all the homework on the basis of their requirements and abilities.
 Documentation and record keeping- This the important stage in the selection process
where company evaluates the record and complete all the necessary document process of the
candidate.
 On-boarding and prepare plan for the new management- Marks & Spencer assign one
person in the organization for the arrangement of the new hiring. This is the process where
the committee established for the new hiring process as per the new vacancies in the
organization.
2.3 Company’s Existing motivation
It is evaluating that the company is having 75,000 employees working in the across the UK.
Marks & Spencer have huge force and managing those are quite difficult tasks for the organization.
For reaching at such position it is important for the marks & Spencer to retain their employees for
maintaining the balance in the working procedure (Conejo, Gasparini and da Silva Hounsell, 2019).
Some of the motivation processes are discussed below:
 Provide immediate feedback- This the basic strategy applied by the Marks & Spencer for
bringing transparency in the work. Giving the employees feedback about their working

made them clear what they want to do and where they are lacking. Positive feedback results
in more positivity and connects individual with the company.
 Promote flexible scheduling- flexibility provided by the organization decrease the pressure
of work among the employees as they can work in accordance to their suitability. Modern
technology implemented by the Marks & Spencer allows them to experiment with the
flexible scheduling for the employees (Gigauri, 2020). This motivates the employees of the
company to work more productively.
 Encourages breaks and the physical activity in the organization- giving shorter and
regular breaks to the employees boost their productivity and gives them relaxation.
Employees are encouraged by the Marks & Spencer’s to perform well (Turker, 2018). The
company have provided the breaks between the working hours of 15- 20 minutes so, the
employees are gone less distracted in the work.
 Reward and the accomplishments- This the factors that impact and motivated the
employees most as everyone want to get appreciated for the work they have done. Marks &
Spencer set the targets as if the targets are fulfilled by the employees then they get good
rewards and accomplishments for the work (Karytsas, 2022). These are connected with the
company's overall missions and the goals. These accomplished can be bonus, promotions
and the raises.
 Creative incentives- It is well known and evaluated that employees respond well in the
context of tangible bonuses. It is applicable on both the team performance and on the
individual performance. Incentives includes both the financial and non-financial incentives.
This impact the performance and of the workforce and motivates them to give their best in
the company (Ki, 2021). Marks & Spencer implemented this approach which is giving
positive outcome.
 Provide career and educational development opportunities- Employees are more focused
in the working if there is a scope career development. Through the promotions and the skills
development companies are retaining their employees (Kuhn, Shen and Zhang, 2020).
Employees of the Marks & Spencer are very happy with the career development policies of
the organization as it is the well-known brand having good image in the market.
 Encouraging employee’s performance and the creativity- Marks & Spencer have a great
workforce which is giving greater output but if there is something lacking in the employee’s
skills then company have applied effective training program (Kulkarni and Yadav, 2022).
These training program motivates the employees to gain more knowledge and perform as
per the expectations.

2.4 Challenges Identified Within the Recruitment, Selection and Motivation Strategies
It is well known that the process of recruitment and motivation are very important for the
effective development of Marks & Spencer. But the implementation of these procedures has some
challenges which organization have to face. Some of the challenges faced by Marks & Spencer are
discussed below:
 Employee turnover- Recruitment is the long process which comprises various stages in it
and its requires efforts of the lots of people. But when employees leave the organization the
whole efforts made by the several people gone to waste (Līce and Sloka, 2022). Employee
turnover act as the big barriers in the effective running of the organization.
 Tracking team productivity- It is the common challenge in all the motivation program as
people working in the team and the achievement of the teams considers as the achievement
of the whole team but in team there are people who contribute less or more (Stewart and
Brown, 2019). This gives benefits to all the members on the same level and the
identification of the more contributed member in the team became a challenge.
 Toxic team members- Marks & Spencer faces one more challenge in the terms of
motivation of the employee which is toxic team members. Having ineffective team
members in the team impacts negatively on the employees also it generates the negative
working environment in the organization of Marks & Spencer.
 lack of trust- Having lack of trust in the employees results in effective working procedures
which as an outcome generates lack of clarity in the work and the policies became
inefficient (Mackey and Efron, 2020). There are some case in the Marks &Spencer where
due to lack of trust employees enters into the conflict with one another.
 Feeling undervalued and insecure- Employees are the asset of every company and making
them feel valued generates positive results. In the process of motivation some employees
get achievements which impacts on other employees negatively as they did get such honor.
This results in fights and grudges among the employees.
 Comparison- The motivation process implements the comparison among the employees. As
company start comparing work of employees from one to another which as results motivates
one employee and demotivate another employee (Mackey and Efron, 2020). It brings the
fear of success among the employees as comparison and measuring the work of colleagues
promotes unproductive thinking process.
 lack of clarity- When an employee doesn't get enough guidance and they didn't know what
they have to do next, they became demotivated quickly. Human being are not the systems
they need proper guidance in the work (Nawaz, 2019). In the motivation process in the

Marks & Spencer’s there are certain aspects in the development program which is not clear
to the employees and this result in non- productive output.
2.5 Recommended Improvements and Justifications
In the process of motivation and the recruitment human resource management faces various
challenges which hampers the growth of the organization as well as employees of the company.
Having these challenges in the company act as the big challenges and in respect to rectify the
negative impact of these challenges there are various solution which Marks & Spencer implement in
the organization, some of the effective solutions are discussed below:
 Setting small and measurable goals- Marks & Spencer have to set small targets which can
be achieved in less time and are measurable. As a result, the task dine by the team can be
measurable and then it easy to measure which members contributed how much in the tasks
and duties (Odilovna, 2020). Setting the gals which are achievable boost the motivation and
helps in keeping team on the right track. Stay positive- Implementing positive working environment changes the working approaches
of the employees and it works as the great motivation factor. Happy minds generate
efficient working. Marks & Spencer have to find ways to injects the environment which
brings positive experiences (Rathor and Agrawal, 2020). A basic interaction can create good
working environment. Take regular breaks- High pressure of work brings the problem in the productivity. Marks
& Spencer should provide the regular breaks to make then employee stay focused. Sitting
up all day hampers the productive and makes the employee irritated and frustrated. Breaks
give them relaxation and motivates them to resume their work more effectively. Be transparent- Every working relationship is built on the trust which employees and
management build on each other. Having transparency is the best approach to motivate the
employee and creates the atmosphere of trust and conflict free. Transparency also helpful in
making sure that each and every person got the same information. It brings clarity in the
working process. Provide clarity- Clarity is not same as the transparency because having clarity implements
better understanding of the goals and objectives of the Marks & Spencer. Without having
clarity of the work an employee isn't feel motivated as all. The company have to make sure
that they give everyone a concise and clear mission (Rodney, Valaskova and Durana, 2019).
Confusion and unaware entities cannot get motivated with the processes.

 Not compare employees with one another- This the very effective solution which Marks &
Spencer can implement for the productive generation of the work. Having no comparison with
each other results in no conflicts and no grudges among the employees (Safitri, 2022). Every
worker has their ability to perform certain tasks comparison can be proven wrong for the
organization and for the employees because it brings sense of insecurity.
Justification- An employee working in the Marks & Spencer having full clarity in the work and
getting proper guidance work with full confidence because all the things are clear and transparent to
that person. It builds the strong foundation of trust and understanding.
3. Conclusion
From the above report it is concluded that human resource management is the important
aspect of the organization which is necessary to establish effective working environment in the
Marks & Spencer company. Human resource management established the processes from the
hiring of the candidates to retraining them in the organization. This report is being made to covers
the various working of human resource management in Marks & Spencer. This report evaluates the
recruitment policies and stages that are Posting job internally, writing job descriptions, selecting
potential candidates and Giving interview feedback. Then it covers the selection procedure of the
Marks & Spencer such as Job design, Position descriptions, forming a selection committee,
Recruitment, Initial screening of the candidates, Phone and video calls and the other pre-interview
options, in person interviews, Recommendation for hire, Documentation and record keeping and
On-boarding and prepare plan for the new management. Adding to that it elaborates the
motivation techniques used by Marks & Spencer that are Provide immediate feedback, promote
flexible scheduling, encourages breaks and the physical activity in the organization, Reward and
the accomplishments, Creative incentives and Provide career and educational development
opportunities. Further it covers challenges in the motivation and recruitment process with its
solutions.

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