Analysis of Organisational Learning and Development at Marks & Spencer

This report examines organisational learning and development within Marks & Spencer, a UK-based multinational retailer. It explores the concept of organisational learning, emphasizing the importance of knowledge transfer and creation for employee development and competitive advantage. The report analyzes M&S's current learning environment, highlighting a training gap related to digital marketing skills. It discusses the application of human resource metrics in assessing learning and development effectiveness, and the impact of emerging technologies. The report identifies specific training gaps and proposes strategies to overcome them, such as micro-learning, adoption of digital media, and virtual world immersion, to enhance employee skills and improve overall organizational performance. The report concludes by emphasizing the crucial role of technology and continuous learning in addressing training gaps and fostering organizational success.

ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT AND
LEARNING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Introduction of the organisation..................................................................................................1
Understanding of organisational learning and development along with its applications............1
Human resource metrics and its application for organisational development and learning........2
Analyse learning environment of an organisation by emphasising on emerging technologies. .2
Training gap within organisation................................................................................................3
Strategies to overcome training gap ...........................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Organisational learning is referred to the procedure of retaining, transferring and creation
of knowledge within an organisation so that workforce development can take place in a proper
manner (Baume and Popovic, 2016). Appropriate learning within organisation benefits the
employees in learning new skills so that competitive advantage over rival companies can take
place. This assignment is based on Marks and Spencer which is a UK based multinational retailer
headquartered in London and dealing in cloths, food items and home products. This report will
include strategies for learning so that learning and training gap among employees can be
overcome within organisation
MAIN BODY
Introduction of the organisation
Marks & Spencer is a multinational organisation which operates in retail sector and offer
home items, food products and clothing to their customers. Main office of company is situated in
Westminster, London and it is operating globally in a successful manner. Within UK, company
has good marketing tactics which helps in gaining the attention of customers in a proper manner.
But as company is operating worldwide, it is not possible for the employees of company to
perform door to door marketing, cold callings, distribution of free samples etc. Hence, manager
in M&S is needed to adopt new ways of marketing so that maximum number of customers can
be covered under marketing tactics of company. In this context, digital marketing is the best
alternative but employees of company do not have sufficient knowledge and understanding about
this method. This hinders the effectiveness of company in promoting and advertising their
products in global manner (Geppert, 2017). This situation creates a learning and training gap
within organisation which can reduce the efficiency of company in a considerable manner.
Understanding of organisational learning and development along with its applications
Organisational learning is defined as the bridge between innovation and working.
Continuous learning environment helps an organisation in incorporating those strategies and
tactics which differentiate it from other competitors. Organisational development is a technique
in which changes are carried out within a company in a systematic manner. M&S is going to do
organisational development by training its employees to perform digital marketing. By learning
about digital marketing and its varied concepts, employees of M&S will be able promote,
1

advertise and resolving the queries of customers at global level by using official website or
application of M&S. This will help the company in passing all important information about their
services or products in few minutes. Marketing via hoardings, radio or other traditional mediums
are very costly. This organisation learning and development of digital marketing will helps in
replacing traditional methods so that saved expenses can be invested in training and development
of employees.
Human resource metrics and its application for organisational development and learning
Human resource metrics is a technique to perform different measurements which helps in
identifying value that is provided by HR department of an organisation. This metrics helps in
measuring the efficiency of of both HR department and employees in M&S. In case of big
organisation like M&S, essential HR metrics are talent acquisition, learning and development,
performance management and organisational effectiveness. In context with our scenario in which
manager of M&S is focusing on reducing learning and training gap, HR metrics will be
evaluated on basis of learning and development (Green and Hopwood, 2016).
 HR metrics helps in identifying and determining if employee percentage of M&S is
aligned with business trajectory or not.
 With the help of HR metrics, Training participation rate of workers for developmental
activities is calculated. Results of this framework helps in determining if the training
given to employees is right or not.
Analyse learning environment of an organisation by emphasising on emerging technologies
Learning environment is defined as a physical setting in which employees of a company
are acknowledged with new ideas and concepts to perform their work so that their working
efficiency or capability can be maximised. Rather than having face to face conversations with
customers, interacting with them over social media or via mobile applications will helps in
attending queries of maximum number of people in minimum time. Even if face to face
interaction is best way to retain customer for longer time, but in global context this method is not
beneficial and limits the customer base of company. Also, learning about Automation,
Augmented reality and AI will help the employees in reducing their manual work so that they
can properly resolve the issues of customers and modify their working pattern according to
feedbacks of customers (Hoffmann, 2017). This will help the company in improving their
productivity so that high revenues and profits can be earned against rivals. Inappropriate
2

knowledge of digitalisation can results in dissatisfaction among customers due to which market
reputation of company will be reduced.
Training gap within organisation
In today's time, people are heavily relying on technology due to which more than 90% of
global population uses internet or digital platforms on everyday basis. Knowledge about digital
concepts and emerging technologies will help the employees to perform complex and time
consuming tasks within blink of an eye. Employees in M&S are facing a learning gap i.e. less
knowledge of digital marketing. This is reducing the efficiency of company and employees.
Because of this learning gap, on going training programs of company became ineffective. This
has created a training gap among workforce due to which M&S is not able to gain optimised
results (Tam and Gray, 2016).
Current condition Ideal condition
 Little knowledge of using social media
and website of company for business
purpose or interaction with customers.
 Efficient in using social media,
website of company and their mobile
application to deal with the issues and
queries of global customers in
systematic manner.
 Relying on manual methods to assure
efficiency which is a time and cost
consuming task.
 Knowledge of using Automation and
Artificial intelligence to perform time
consuming and complex task within
minutes.
 Employees focus on retaining their
existing customers rather than
expanding their customer base on mass
level by using digital marketing.
 More emphasis on digital marketing
rather than using traditional way of
marketing and promotion as they are
not cost and time efficient.
Strategies to overcome training gap
Before a decade, traditional methods of marketing were used like advertising via TV,
radio, distribution of samples, newspaper promotion, hoarding etc. In this context workforce of
marketing department was given to improve their vocal skills, communication skills and
3

confidence while talking with customers so that they can convince customer about their products
and service. But now, these training practices are replaced with knowledge of operating social
media and other internet platforms, digital marketing, Automation etc. Above are mentioned the
current and ideal condition of employees in M&S. Current condition of M&S is good as they are
able to fulfil their sale targets and profits. But to became market leader, company is needed to
consider global customers as a single unit and needs to interact with them on regular basis. To
learn about digital marketing and other technological concepts, manager in M&S is required to
fill training gap. Some of the strategies to fill this training gap are stated below:
 Venture into micro-learning: e-learning trends are increasing now a days. Due to the
hectic schedule at workplace, managers of company are not able to give training to
employees on regular basis. Here, online sessions will be given to employees of M&S
about use digital media and mobile application. It will assists the workforce of company
to promote services and products of M&S at global level in limited time (Tirelli and Goh,
2015).
 Adoption and integration of digital media: Manager in M&S is recommended to adopt
digital media as their basic form of communication at workplace. This will help the
employees in learning “how to use digital platform to interact for business purpose”. This
will benefits the employees of M&S to learn new technologies like AI, machine language
and Automation so that their manual work reduces.
 Virtual world immersion: This is the best way to fill training gap in M&S. In this
strategy, by using virtual and augmented reality, employees will be given some
situations. They have to respond as if they are interacting with customer over social
media. This will help them in learning about digital marketing so that learning gap in
organisation can be fulfilled properly (New technologies in employee training, 2019).
CONCLUSION
From above mentioned report, it can be summarised that technology is playing an
important role in the business function of an organisation. Gaps in organisational learning and
developments can results in gap of training due to which working capability of employees
suffers. To overcome such situation, business organisations can adopt new ways to train their
employees such as micro-learning, adoption of digital media or virtual world immigration. This
will help the employees to learn modern concepts so that training gap can be reduced.
4

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baume, D. and Popovic, C. eds., 2016. Advancing practice in academic development. Routledge.
Geppert, M., 2017. Beyond the Learning Organisation: Paths of Organisational Learning in the
East German Context: Paths of Organisational Learning in the East German Context.
Routledge.
Green, B. and Hopwood, N., 2016. Body in Professional Practice, Learning and Education.
Springer International Pu.
Hoffmann, E., 2017. User integration in sustainable product development: Organisational
learning through boundary-spanning processes. Routledge.
Tam, S. and Gray, D. E., 2016. Organisational learning and the organisational life cycle: The
differential aspects of an integrated relationship in SMEs. European Journal of Training
and Development. 40(1). pp.2-20.
Tirelli, A. and Goh, S. C., 2015. The relationship between trust, learning capability, affective
organisational commitment and turnover intentions. International Journal of Human
Resources Development and Management. 15(1). pp.54-68.
Online
New technologies in employee training. 2019. [Online]. Available
through:<https://gethppy.com/talent-management/new-technologies-employee-training>
5