Employability Skills: Improving Performance at Mark & Spencer

This report analyzes the application of employability skills within the context of Mark & Spencer, focusing on strategies for improving employee performance. It explores the development of responsibilities and performance objectives, the evaluation of effectiveness, and recommendations for improvement. The report delves into motivational techniques, time management strategies, and team dynamics, along with problem-solving approaches and conflict resolution within the workplace. It examines the roles of HR managers in fostering a positive work environment and implementing effective recruitment and training programs. Furthermore, it provides insights into decision-making processes, review management, and the importance of communication skills. The report concludes by evaluating tools and methods for problem-solving and developing strategies to enhance overall business impact.

EMPLOYABILITY
SKILLS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ..........................................................................................................................................1
1.1Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives...................................1
1.2 Evaluate own effectiveness against defined objectives....................................................2
1.3 Make recommendations for improvement........................................................................3
1.4 How motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance...............3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Solutions regarding work problems.................................................................................4
2.2 Various styles and manner that need to taken at different levels.....................................5
2.3 Strategies of effective time management.........................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Roles played by people in a team and their achievement towards those goals................7
3.2 Team dynamics analysis...................................................................................................8
3.3 Alternative ways for completion of task and achievement of goals.................................9
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................9
4.1 Evaluate tools and methods for developing solutions to problems..................................9
4.2 Develop an appropriate strategy for resolving a particular problem..............................10
4.3 Evaluate the potential impact on the business of implementing the strategy.................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
.......................................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Employees are the one who help the organisation in order to accomplish their objectives,
Workers needs to acquire some skills so that they can sustain their employment at the workplace
and through this they will be able to improve their growth. Some of the skills are related to the
time management, knowledge, communication and so on. By adopting these, staff members will
be able to get rewards and incentives from their manager (Wilton, 2011). An enterprise will be
able to get success in the market through their high skilled workforce. The present report is based
on Mark and Spencer which perform their operations in retail industry. They offer their services
to the customers throughout the world and their brand image is also good in the global market.
They are focusing on the core competencies of their staff members so they can sustain their
competitiveness. At present, total number of employees who are working in the industry are
approx 83, 069. In this context, report explains that how motivational techniques can help the
employees in enhancing their performance. Along with this, it explains the time management
strategies and team dynamics. Further, it explains the strategies that are used by the manager in
order to resolve all the problems at the workplace.
TASK 1
1.1Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives
The HR manager of Mark and Spenser has to perform their responsibilities at the work
place in an efficient manner so that their overall performance can be improved. In order to
develop the responsibilities, manager can use some techniques such as self evaluation and self
assessment. Being a manager of the industry, I have to focus on the relations among all the
employees so that overall performance can be improved in the market. Along with this, I have to
offer some rewards and incentives to the workers so that their motivation level can be increased.
Employee performance should be analysed from time to time so that they will be able to perform

better in future. Through this, I will be able to know about the capacity and potential of the
workforce. Further, I have to conduct training and development programs at the workplace so
that all staff members will be able to enhance their skills and knowledge.
There are some performance objectives that I have to perform in the business
organisation so that their overall performance can be improved. These objectives should be
performed by the manager so that they can fulfil the needs of their customers. Some of these
objectives are: Boost employee morale: Manager of Mark and Spencer has to motivate their employees
so that their performance can be improved. For this, a positive environment should be
created at the workplace so they feel comfortable while doing their task. Effective recruitment and selection: HR manager have to recruit a skilled candidate so
that they can help the organisation in achieving the success in the market. Along with
this, they have to trained their new members.
 Compliance: In the organisation, I have to follow all legislative laws and polices in order
to ensure the smooth functioning at the workplace.
1.2 Evaluate own effectiveness against defined objectives
The HR manager of organisation has to perform their roles and responsibilities in order to
improve the overall performance (Employability Skills. 2017). For this, manager can use some of
the approaches so that defined objectives can be accomplished. These are:
Employee satisfaction: Being a manager of Mark and Spencer, I have to provide some
rewards and incentives to my workers so their overall satisfaction level can be improved. For
this, monetary and non monetary benefits can be given to the employees.
Employee relationship: Relationship among all the workers should be strong so that
objectives can be accomplished in an efficient manner. For this, I will provide tasks to the
members in a group so that trust can be build among the group members. Through this, employee
relations can be enhanced.
Selection and recruitment process: I have to follow an appropriate procedure to select
and recruit the new candidates at the workplace so that skilled workforce can be build. For this, a
job description and job specification should be prepared with proper information.
Quality services: Being a HR manager of Mark and Spencer, I have to provide training to
the employees so that new workers will be able to know that what they have to do in the

organisation. Along with this, existing employees can update their core competencies so that
they will be able to provide quality services to the customers.
Communication skills: I have to improve my communication skills so that all staff
members will be able to understand overall goals and objectives.
1.3 Make recommendations for improvement
The assistant manager of Mark and Spencer has to improve their core competencies so
that their performance can be improved at the workplace. For this, I can use self audit so I will be
able to know about my strength and weaknesses. Strengths are the characteristics of an
individual that will help in improving their own growth. My strengths are related to the time
management, problem solving, creative, self management. Apart from this, weaknesses are the
negative point of a person that can degrade their performance. Some of the weaknesses are
related to communication and team work. Along with this, I have to build enthusiasm so that
overall growth of the company can be improved in an efficient manner.
In order to improve my own performance, I will attend some of the seminars and sessions
so that I can enhance my core competencies. Along with this, I can use some of the approaches
such as review management, engaging co workers and so on. These are:
Decision making: I have to improve my decision making technique so that overall goals
can be achieved in an efficient manner. Along with this, I have to involve all staff members into
decision making process so that their satisfaction level can be increased.
Review management: This is a technique that can be used by the manager of organisation
so that all workers will be able to know about their own performance (Robles, 2012). Through
this, they will be able to get the positive and negative reviews. On the basis of this, assistant
manager can also get to know about their current performance (8 essential employability skills.
2017).
1.4 How motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance
The HR manager can use some of the motivational techniques so that performance of the
workers can be improved in an efficient manner. Along with this, the superiors can use Herzberg
two factors theory in order to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic factors. So, on the basis of these
factors the overall performance of an enterprise can be improved. Through these, overall
productivity of an organisation will be enhanced. Some of the motivational tools are:

Positive workforce environment: It is the responsibility of manager to create a positive
environment at the workplace. If peaceful environment will be created than workers will
comfortable while their own task (de Guzman and Choi 2013). For this, manager can encourage
their staff members and give them opportunities to share their ideas with the management.
Through this, their overall satisfaction level can be increased.
Profits sharing: Organisation can share their own profits with their workers as through
this they will be able to increase their earning level. Through this, the overall motivation level of
the staff members can be enhance.
Rewards and recognition: Manager has to provide some rewards and recognition to their
workforce so that their satisfaction level can be improved. These rewards are related to monetary
benefits, employee of the month, star performer and so on (Benson, Morgan, and Filippaios,
2014). If motivation level will be enhanced then employees will be able to perform well and due
to this their performance can be improved.
Learning and development: Mark and Spencer have to provide some opportunities to
their employees so that they will be able to enhance their learning. For this, company can
conduct training sessions, workshops so that all workers will be able to enhance their core
competencies.
TASK 2
2.1 Solutions regarding work problems
In an organisation there are many problems related to employees or work. Some of the
work problems are :
 Problems related to appraisals
 Harassment and bullying
 Discrimination
 Unclear job roles
 Work load
 Not so good management training
These are the common disputes arrive at the workplace and because of these disputes,
there is a bad effect on employee's, resulting to organisation's loss (Hinchliffe and Jolly, 2011).
Mark & Spencer is also facing some of the these disputes related to work groups or individuals.

These problems should be solved so that company should not get affected in maintaining
efficiency and effectiveness. There are some of the simple steps that need to be taken to resolve
conflict, these steps can be :
Steps that need to be taken by employers
 Proper training to the managers should be given to handle disputes among employees.
 There should be an encouragement of open views and opinion of employees.
 Proper listening skills should be developed .
 Focus should be on qualities and interest and not on the personality or positions. Proper grievance handling procedure should be there.
Steps need to be taken by employees
 Rather than assuming everything, it is better to talk to people about any problem.
 Consultation with HR, managers or with the team of finance should be there to know if
there is any misunderstanding or mistake by which the problem has been caused
(Andrews and Russell, 2012).
 There should be a record of every event, problem or situation in the form of mails, letters
etc. to discuss things in meetings.
 If all the internal informal procedures have been done then follow the procedures of
formal complaints.
2.2 Various styles and manner that need to taken at different levels.
Different types of steps and styles or manners are taken to avoid conflict at different
level:
1. If there is a conflict related to workplace or job
 In such case employers should review job descriptions regularly
 Relations should be build with all the subordinates
 A process to get written report should be there that describes problems of employees and
needs and issues with management (Bridgstock, 2011)
 Proper training should be conducted to avoid conflicts, to increase communication etc.
 Proper employee engagement should be there.
 Regular employee meetings should be conducted.
2. If there is a conflict with other person

 Employees should know firstly what they do not like in them, because conflicts generally
arise when people do not like things in others what they don't see in themselves.
 Employees should manage themselves to stay calm or talk to the person they are having
conflict with.
 Do not discuss conflicts publicly.
 Have proper acknowledgement of the points where people disagree or agree.
 Appreciation should always be given to the people an employee is working with.
Several manners by which a person can avoid conflicts are they can avoid it, they can
accommodate with it, compromising to the situations can also be done, steps of collaboration can
be taken by employees, employees can compete with others rather than giving clarification or
importance to the issue (Jackson, 2014). Mark & Spencer's adopt such styles and manners to
avoid conflict or disputes among employee's so that there long term and short term goals should
not get affected by such situations.
2.3 Strategies of effective time management
Mark & Spencer's have applied several time management strategies in their organisation
to get effective results on proper time and to achieve success and growth. Strategies for the better
time management can consist of various steps like : Set goals : This is the most important step that is being taken. By setting achievable and
realistic goals employees can manage their time effectively and efficiently and can stay
motivated. Goals should be realistic, measurable, specific and attainable (Wibrow, 2011). Set priorities : A proper list has been prepared to note down all the things that are
important and should get done on priority. By setting priorities it helps people to maintain
their work and time properly. Planning : All priorities that has been set will eventually become plan. Planning is very
necessary to get things done in proper way and that to with efficiency and with time
management. Management of externals that waste time : There many external things that need to be
avoid which waste time. These can be avoided by some simple steps, like use of phone
for unnecessary things can be avoided, meetings should get done on time etc.

 Avoid multi working or multi tasking : Many people think that multitasking can save
time but it is not at all true, most of the time is wasted in multi working by switching
from one task to another.
 Delegation : Delegation simply means dividing responsibilities for a work to other
people. It generally begins with the identification of the task that needs to be done by
others and then to select appropriate person for that task (Dhiman, 2012) .
These some of the strategies for time management helps the employees to work
accordingly and achieve their goals on time, that helps organisation in maintaining their
reputation.
TASK 3
3.1 Roles played by people in a team and their achievement towards those goals
Team is the people's group with different kind of task and skills, who are working
together to achieve common goal or objective (Salmon and Young, 2011). Team consist of
different types of people or individual and each individual has a specific role to perform and take
various steps to achieve those goals.
Different roles played by individuals in a team in Mark & Spencer's are :- Role to shape things : This role is being performed by people who loves to face
challenges and try to overcome them, these people maintain positive attitude to face such
challenges and give proper shape to a team. Role of implementer : This role is being played by people who implement ideas in actual
work and get the things done. Role of finisher : This role is being played by people who take things at the last point or
finish them, they are the one who find errors or problems in the ideas and solve them
(Eggenberger, Heimerl, and Bennett, 2013) Role of coordinator : This is played by the person who are smart, confident and mature
and who coordinate things among various people with different nature.
 Role of resource investigator : This is played by the people who investigate about the
resources that are needed and their availability so that plans can be made accordingly.
To achieve these goals various steps are taken:-

 Connection of team with bigger picture : A proper planning for the achievement of
goals, analysis of their fitment in the organisation, efforts needs to be taken and various
strategies are formed. Make difference : Such goals are formed that make difference to the company, in which
contribution of every member is there.
 Process of achievement : Various steps or process is made for the achievement of goals,
so as to divide work accordingly among people and to achieve goals on time.
3.2 Team dynamics analysis
Team dynamics can be defined as the forces that are invisible and that works among
various people and groups working in a team. They can impact strongly on the behaviour or
performance of the team and can have complex effects, they are affected by the responsibilities
and roles of employees and have effect on productivity (Rosemann and vom Brocke, 2015).
Team dynamics in Mark & Spencer's have impact on working of people, benefits of
organisation, performance of individual or team, reputation of company and many others.
However they are generally ignored and neglected but they can have major impact on working of
teams. Some of the examples of problematic team dynamics are:
 Lack of trust between the administration of two companies who are working together on
a project
 Problem in the coordination of new team member with other existing members of the
team that result in the working of a team.
Team dynamics had a major impact on performance of a team because of conflicts,
demotivation, lack of trust, loss of revenue and skilled staff. If the personalities of the manager
and customers are not compatible , that will result in declining attitude of the services provided
by team (Harrison, 2011). Poor team dynamics can cause dissatisfaction of the customers that
will affect the performance of the team. It is a serious problem with the company that is affecting
the growth of an organisation. Various strategies are taken to improve the team dynamics that are
like:
 Change of structure of organisation or change in layout of office
 Workshops on team development to address work and performance of team
 workshops on personality that increase interpersonal dynamic awareness
 Programs on change of cultural things that introduce various new attitudes and behaviour.

3.3 Alternative ways for completion of task and achievement of goals
The HR manager of Mark & Spencer applied various ways to complete a task effectively
and efficiently, these include various steps like starting of a work with fresh mind, in this
employees make various objectives and goals, draw their options and start deciding from where
they have to start. After this they create a schedule or plan of how they will prioritize their work ,
the steps that they will take to start their work with available resources. After that a picture of
whole assignment have been made, blueprint has been created , resources are being gathered and
work gets started. Taking a break from work is also necessary (Love and Singh, 2011).
Employees cant work regularly and they cant work if they are sleepy. So as to complete work
accordingly and effectively, it is necessary to take breaks in between. Employees also get ideas
and opinion from others, sometimes it is possible that employees get caught up in something
very badly and are not able to discover any new idea. In such cases, help from others are of very
useful. The last step taken is to finish it strong with full creativity, energy and efficiency so as to
get better results.
Every team is made to achieve specific goals for which they are working. These goals can
be achieved by having proper outlines and steps. Every team member is conveyed with the goals
and objectives of team clearly, their work is well defined to avoid confusion, communication gap
is reduced, availability of resources are identified, proper process is drawn out and prioritization
is made finally to achieve goals.
TASK 4
4.1 Evaluate tools and methods for developing solutions to problems
The assistant manager of Mark and Spenser can use some of the tools and methods so
that overall problems can be resolved in an efficient manner. Some of the issues are related to the
employee retention, poor communication, work load, motivation, discrimination and so on
(García-Peñalvo, Colomo-Palacios and Lytras, 2012). These techniques are:
Algorithm: This is a mathematical tool that is used by an organisation so that they can
solve their problems and identify the solutions of the particular problem. Through this, an
enterprise will be able to get the correct solutions and they will be able to improve their
performance at the workplace. For example, the assistant manager of Mark and Spencer can use

standard form of algorithm. Through this, they will be able to get the correct solution for their
work based issues. Apart from this, this approach will take time to solve the problems.
Heuristics: In this approach, manager should be experienced so that through their
learning they will be able to solve their problems. It is their responsibility to identify the issue
and on the basis of that they have to collect the data so that an effective outcome can be achieved
(Kulkarni, 2013). Along with this, sometime an enterprise will not be able to solve very complex
problems and this is not time consuming.
Trial and error: Trial and error tool can be used by an organisation in order to solve their
issues that they are facing at their workplace. Manager solve a particular problem number of
times so that a correct solution can be achieved. Through this approach, Mark and Spencer will
be able to improve their performance in the market.
4.2 Develop an appropriate strategy for resolving a particular problem
The assistant manager can use an appropriate strategy in order to solve the problems in an
efficient manner. For this, they can follow a systematic plan which involve number of stages.
These stages are: Identify the problems: This is the first stage of solving a problem in an efficient manner.
Here, manager has to understand the problems that are faced by an enterprise at their
workplace. Along with this, they have to collect all facts and figures for the issues. Design the plan: When problem is being identified than now manager have to design the
plans as per the needs of the employees. Here, Mark and Spencer has to make an
appropriate plan so that they will be able to make the effective decisions and their overall
problems can be resolved. Evaluate the alternative solutions: In this step, manager has to evaluate the alternative
solutions that suit the need of the organisation (Garavan, Carbery, and Rock, 2012) .
From all the alternatives, they have to select one appropriate approach so that employee
satisfaction can be achieved. Implementation: In the third stage, manager has to implement a plan as per the
requirements of their workforce. In the above step, there are several alternatives and the
higher authority have to select an appropriate approach so that they can resolve all the
issues of their workers. Through this, the overall satisfaction and motivation level of the
workers can be improved.