Analyzing Contemporary Issues, Skills, and HR Processes in Management

This report examines the critical aspects of people management, focusing on contemporary issues faced by line management, the essential skills and knowledge required for effective people managers, and the role of HR processes in supporting performance management. It highlights challenges such as performance management, culture management, workforce planning, training and development, and legal issues. The report emphasizes the importance of skills like time management, communication, decision-making, and leadership, as well as ethical behavior, honesty, motivation, and a dynamic personality. Furthermore, it outlines a process for effective performance management, including planning, implementation, supervision, control, review, and feedback, using Marks and Spencer as an example to illustrate these concepts. The analysis concludes that a strategic and ethical approach to HR management is essential for achieving organizational success.

Introduction to people
management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
The contemporary issues face line management when it comes to people management...........4
The skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to be an effective people manager.....................6
The HR process and support management when it comes to effective performance
management................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The people management is referred to human resource management which is involved in
management of employees in the organisation (Ahmed, and Condoor, 2018). It is the major
responsibility of peoples management to handle and manage in a well defined manner for the
overall development of a company. In the recent times due to stiff competition between
companies, it is essential to focus on managing employees with keen supervision and control.
This project includes contemporary issues which are faced by human resource management of a
business in order to lead at the marketplace. The report also includes the skills and behaviour of a
HR manager in order to develop a business entity in a short span of time. In this project example
of Marks and Spencer company is taken into consideration for better development of a business
organisation. Marks and Spencer is a multinational retail company dealing in retail items and
clothing. The company was founded in the year 1884 and its headquarters are based in United
Kingdom.

MAIN BODY
The contemporary issues face line management when it comes to people management
In the development of a business entity, there are various contemporary issues that are
faced by human resource management. The different contemporary issues which are faced by
HR manager in order to manage different functions. These issues create obstacles and challenges
for the human resource management in a company (Alameda-Pineda, Ricci, and Sebe, 2019). All
the major companies in the international marketplace like Marks and Spencer considers major
factors that are contemporary. Management based issues require development of planning and
frame work in order to face them in a more precise manner. Various issues which faced by
people management in the contemporary business environment are mentioned below:
 Performance management- Management of performance is essential for the business in
order to increase the potential of employees. The performance management is also
considered as a main issue as it is hard for HR management to manage performance of all
employees. It is essential for the management to provide rewards to the employees on the
basis of their performance. Performance of employees is a major issue for the
organisation as it decides the productivity of whole company. The management of Marks
and Spencer uses high level performance management techniques in order to increase the
capability of employees.
 Culture management- Management of the culture is a major issue for the business in
order to develop effective internal environment. This helps in development of fair
working conditions for the employees in a short span of time. The culture management
requires high level efforts by management of a company and is also helpful in
management of effective working conditions in organisation. Culture management is also
a major task of people's management in order to develop systematic goals at the
marketplace.
 Workforce planning- The planning related to workforce is essential for a business entity
in order to develop a good approach at the marketplace. The workforce planning is
mainly related to formation of a team in the company for the achievement of a particular
task. In the planning related to work force there is a requirement of precise strategy and
systematic approach (Armstrong, and Taylor, 2020). In order to develop workforce

planning in a major sense, it is crucial for a business entity to take advanced support of
board of directors. The human resource management also play a key role in development
of workplace conditions in order to support workforce planning. All major companies in
the international marketplace mainly focus on development of a workforce planning for
achievement of organisational goals in a set period of time.
 Training and development- It is essential to provide effective training and development
to the employees in order to face different issues and challenges with efficiency. Training
and development are two major pillars of HRM functions in order to lead the organisation
and gain competitive advantage. HR management of Marks and Spencer develop
effective ways of training and development with the help of skilled and trained HR
professionals. This helps in development of a business entity in a more advanced manner
in a set period of time.
 Legal issues- The business should follow and implement employment legislation for
overall development of the company. In order to implement employment laws in a more
advanced manner, the HR management face various difficulties. The difficulties are
related to supervision and control in different legal operations in a well defined manner.
In the recent times, human resource management of a company is also involved in
implementation of legal policies of government (Wagner, and Lock, 2020). All the major
employment related laws like equality and employee safety laws are followed by Marks
and Spencer in order to gain effective competency edge at the marketplace.

The skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to be an effective people manager
In the era of stiff competition between companies in the international and national
marketplace, it is crucial for a business to focus on effectiveness of people manager (Banfield,
Kay, and Royles, 2018). The people manager should have different skills and knowledge in order
to manage large number of employees in the company. The different skills which should be there
in people's manager are mentioned below:
 Time management- Time management is one of the major skills of people
manager in order to manage things on time. With the help of this approach, an
organisation is able to also achieve management of daily routine functions and
tasks. Time management skills play an important role in development of
managing people in a systematic manner. So it is important for HR manager of
Marks and Spencer to focus on time management skills and their development in
order to make employees more competitive.
 Communication- Communication skills are majorly important for a person in
order to establish effective communication between two or more employees.
These skills are helpful in increasing coordination between employees for the
completion of a task in a set period of time. In the corporate world, HR manager
should have great communication skills for overall development of a business
entity in a specified time period.
 Decision making- The HR manager should also have the quality to make quick
and accurate decisions. Concept of decision making helps the HR manager to
develop good decision making which is suitable for the whole company
(Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, and Olander, 2019). In order to develop and make quick
decisions it is important for HR manager to take consent and advice of different
employees who are present in the organisation. Most of the international
companies at the marketplace focus on hiring skilled and trained HR managers
who are good in decision making.
 Leadership- In order to focus on management of teams and group of people in a
company, leadership plays a crucial role (Sparrow, and Cooper, 2017). The act of
leadership is important for the company in order to manage a specific team with
major responsibility. Leadership practices include various styles of leadership

which are important for development of the business entity. In the leadership
related aspects, many organisations focus on democratic style of leadership. The
democratic style of leadership is helpful in decision making as it involves
decisions of the subordinate employees.
The knowledge and behaviour of people manager are mentioned below:
 Ethics- The ethics are important part of behaviour which makes a HR manager
humble and calm. This leads to develop management of employees in a more
advanced manner which is good for the company. HR manager of Marks and
Spencer is also actively involved in development of various functions that are
ethical and leads to develop sustainable growth of the company.
 Knowledge of honesty and moral values- The honesty in business practices is
compulsory for the HR manager (Kamphuis, 2020). The moral values and their
understanding leads to develop an organisation with keen supervision and focus.
In order to be more ethical a company should also develop focused strategy for
better management of HR functions.
 Motivation- The HR manager should be self motivated and must also have the
quality to motivate others. It is essential for a HR manager to develop self
motivation in order to develop competitive advantage in career related life.
Motivation can be developed with the help of various theories like content and
process theories which are important for personality development. Motivation
standards are important for development of personality of a HR in order to
achieve short and long term goals of the organisation.
 Dynamic personality- This is the major demand of a company to develop HR
personality in a well defined manner. The practice of development of dynamic
personality helps a person to focus on different skills which are effective in
impressing others (Khan, and Millner, 2020). In the current scenario, Marks and
Spencer is focusing on hiring talented people in human resource management
who have dynamic personality.

The HR process and support management when it comes to effective performance management
Management of performance is very much essential for a business organisation in order
to lead the marketplace with major competitive advantage. It is also majorly important for the
Marks and Spencer to focus on development of various employees goals and policies which are
important for performance management (Pettinger, 2020). The development of a company is
dependent on performance of employees. This is key responsibility of HR management to focus
on development of a major process in order to develop performance of each and every employee.
The process related to management of effective performance of employees at Marks and Spencer
is mentioned below:
 Develop a plan- It is the primary stage in development of performance based on different
goals and objectives. The planning is also essential for a business entity in order to
manage performance in an effective manner. Plan is also related to develop focus on key
areas of employees which are weak including development of a strategy. This is also
major responsibility of a business to support HR planning by facilitating the decision
making.
 Implementation- This is the secondary stage in planning process which deal with
implementation of HR planning. It is also key role of a company like Marks and Spencer
to develop focus on implementation of the whole HR process in order to gain competency
edge (Roels, and Staats, 2021). The implementation should be done with the support of
top level management of a company in order to get desired results.
 Supervision and control- The supervision and control are two major pillars of
implementing a HR strategy for business development. In the corporate world,
supervision and control are also considered as two major pillars that are essential for
development of performance of employees.
 Review and feedback- It is majorly important for a company to review different plans
and policies which are related to management of performance of employees. The regular
feedback from employees helps a company to modify its business plans related to
performance management (Schaltegger, Burritt, and Petersen, 2017). Most of the
companies like Marks and Spencer takes into consideration feedback from employees in
order to take their suggestions related to performance management.

CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it can be concluded that it is essential for a company to focus
on different operations that are performed by HR management in order to gain desired success at
the marketplace. This project concludes importance of contemporary management practices in
order to develop different HR functions and activities. The above analysis concludes that it
should be ethical duty of human resource management to focus on development of strategy in
order to achieve desired success at the marketplace. This report also concludes the importance of
top level management and strategic management in order to support human resource based
operations and functions.

REFERENCES
Ahmed, S.M., and Condoor, S.S., 2018. Skill Development in Freshmen by Adopting Project
Based Learning-" Introduction to Engineering" Course. Journal of Engineering Education
Transformations.
Alameda-Pineda, X., Ricci, E. and Sebe, N., 2019. Multimodal behavior analysis in the wild: An
introduction. In Multimodal behavior analysis in the wild (pp. 1-8). Academic Press.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2020. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice.
Banfield, P., Kay, R. and Royles, D., 2018. Introduction to human resource management. Oxford
University Press.
Books and Journals
Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, P. and Olander, H., 2019. Introduction to managing people for
technological innovation. Int. J. Technology Management, 79(3/4), p.211.
Kamphuis, J.W., 2020. Introduction to coastal engineering and management (Vol. 48). World
Scientific.
Khan, N. and Millner, D., 2020. Introduction to People Analytics: A Practical Guide to Data-
driven HR. Kogan Page Publishers.
Pettinger, R., 2020. Introduction to management. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Roels, G. and Staats, B.R., 2021. Introduction to the Manufacturing & Service Operations
Management Special Issue on People-Centric Operations. Manufacturing & Service Operations
Management, 23(4), pp.758-760.
Schaltegger, S., Burritt, R. and Petersen, H., 2017. An introduction to corporate environmental
management: Striving for sustainability. Routledge.
Sparrow, P. and Cooper, C.L., 2017. Introduction: the future research agenda for HRM. In A
Research Agenda for Human Resource Management. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Wagner, R. and Lock, D., 2020. Introduction to programme management. In Gower handbook of
programme management (pp. 3-17). Routledge.