Research Report: COVID-19's Impact on Employee Training at M&S

This report investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employee training and development within Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins with an abstract, followed by an introduction that outlines the background of M&S, the problem of disrupted training programs due to the pandemic, and the research aims and objectives. A literature review explores the benefits of training and development on employee performance, the specific impact of COVID-19 on M&S's training programs, and potential redesign strategies. The research methodology details the research philosophy, approach, data collection methods (including questionnaires), and ethical considerations. The report also includes a time plan and concludes with key findings and recommendations for M&S to effectively adapt its training and development programs under lockdown conditions. The report aims to evaluate how COVID-19 has affected employee training, providing insights into redesigning programs for enhanced employee performance and organizational growth. The report utilizes both primary and secondary data sources, ensuring data reliability and quality.

Research
Methodologies
TOPIC: To evaluate impact of COVID-19 on
employees training and development. “A case study of
Marks & Spencer”
1

ABSTRACT
Organisations and employees are needed to go hand in hand in the path of progress and
development. Various dynamics and changes bought by business environment requires
organ9isations to keep pace with these developments to ensure its growth and remain in
mainstream, securing competency and growth and prosperity. Since employees are most
important resource of organisations who are sitting at various positions and departments in
organisations are the one who are responsible of not only undertaking various tasks but also
making desirable plans of executing any change. Thus, their upliftment or enhancement in
performance ensures development of organisation. Therefore, every organisation does
development of employees through an important function of Human Resource management,
Training and development. Training and development is a set of activities that are useful in
imparting desired skills and knowledge in employees to inculcate and adapt necessary
developments, first by bringing developments in performance of employees. With addition to
that, this meta-analysis is being developed by extracting data from primary as well as
secondary data sources. This helped in presentation of this report ensuring its better quality
and also analysed reliability of data which is being used in this report.

Table of content
ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................3
Background.........................................................................................................................................4
Review of problem.............................................................................................................................4
Aim.....................................................................................................................................................5
2. LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................................7
Benefits of training and development on employee's performance..................................................7
Impact of COVID-19 on training and development programs introduced by managers and leaders
of M&S company................................................................................................................................7
Ways by which Marks & Spencer could effectively redesign its training and development program
under the COVID lock down conditions..............................................................................................8
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.............................................................................................10
Research Philosophy.........................................................................................................................10
Research approach...........................................................................................................................10
Data Collection.................................................................................................................................11
Data Sampling...................................................................................................................................11
Questionnaire design........................................................................................................................11
Ethical Consideration........................................................................................................................12
TIME PLAN............................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................15
3

.INTRODUCTION
Training and development play significant role in the business organisation as it is the
subsystem which focuses on the improvement of the performance of the employees (Ahmad
and et. al., 2017). Training is defining as the educational process in which main focus is on
improving the skills and abilities of employees and gaining more knowledge. Furthermore,
training and developing is the primary function of the human resource department within the
organisation as they are responsible for managing the employees of the organisation (Beagle,
2015). Training and development program is design according to the needs and requirements
of the organisation in order to achieve its desire goals and objectives. According to current
situation of employees the training program is design so that they would able to enhance their
skills and abilities.
Background
Marks & Spencer has made its brand name in marketplace by providing quality goods
and services to its customers across the globe (Bandura and Lyons, 2015). It is the British
multinational retail company established in year 1884 by Michael Marks & Thomas Spencer.
The company is dealing in wide range of products such as clothing, home products and food
products. It has expanded its business in international market as its products and services are
preferred by customers. As company is operating at global level so need to focus on its
strategies and its implementation in effective and efficient manner (Hurtle, 2015). Marks &
Spencer is having large employee force and its management is difficult hence HR department
need to take corrective measures so that it would able to manage its employees and help in the
accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives. As with light to the fact that, every
business enterprise irrespective of its working scope i.e. small scale or large scale, has been
impacted by coronavirus in their various operational activities. M&S is chosen for conducting
this research paper, as respective company has wide market presence including 1038 stores in
UK and 481 around the world and operates its operational activities in various regions of in
international market. Therefore, this company will depict great deal of information and suits
best for covering aims and objectives of this research paper.
Review of problem
`This research paper will be based on analysing impact of coronavirus on training and
development programs organised by respective company. COVID-19 have disrupted many
sort of operations of Marks and Spencer. In fact, no other business was also spared from this
effect of pandemic. Considering Training and Development, it is one the major and prominent
task in an organisation as it is helpful for raising efficiencies of employees in a manner that
leads to their own development along with helping organisation to achieve more compatibility
in market. But even Training and development activities were halted, even when they are not
operation of organisation but a function of human resource department. Major reason for this
disruption can be attributed to the fact of restricted and curbed freedom of movement of
people. Marks and Spencer is a large scale organisation an it hires employees all around the
globe.
For training and development functions they were helpless because of curb on movement.
Also to support programmes under Training and development large scale gatherings were
required which were also prohibited. However these are sort of examples, whereas there were
many difficulties before Marks and Spencer to carry out training and development of
employees. This situation came as a big hit for organisation because the world after pandemic

is completely new and requires new techniques and approaches for which employees are
needed to be trained. But, what Marks and Spencer now have is a staff of inefficient people
which have not enough skills as required by modern times. Therefore, management
department of chosen firm has to face various difficulties or challenges for organising various
training and development programs to respective employee working in an organisational
structure. As by following various WHO as well as social distancing guidelines, company
have to incur huge cost, which ultimately adds up to production activity of the firm and
increases prices of products and services being delivered by company in its various regions of
markets.
Aim
To examine impact of COVID-19 on labour employees training and development
programs in Marks& Spencer.
Research objective:
 To evaluate the benefits of training and development on employee performance.
 To examine impact of COVID-19 on employees training and development within
Marks & Spencer.
 To recommend ways by which Marks & Spencer could effectively redesign its
training and development programmes under the COVID lock down conditions for
enhancing performances of labour employee working in the company
Research questions:
 What are the benefits of training and development on employee performance?
 What type of impact of COVID-19 on employees training and development within
Marks & Spencer?
 How does the Marks & Spencer could effectively redesign its training and
development programmes under the COVID lock down conditions?
Gantt chart
it is a useful tool which makes the graphical representation of the activities which is to
be performed against the time. This chart represent the project into a visual presentation
where a task is broken and then displayed against the time on a chart so that it can become
easy for understanding and then interpreting it. In context to this research project, the Gantt
chart is given below-
5

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is a summary which is conducted after analyzing the information
provided by various sources on particular topic (Bell and et.al. 2017). It is one of the effective
secondary research method which helps in providing accurate information on the topic.
Moreover by considering the viewpoints of different sources one able to understand the
concepts in effective manner.
Benefits of training and development on employee's performance
According to Simplilearn (Benefits of Employee Training and Development. 2020),
employees are the most important asset in the organization and management need to focus on
its training and development in order to accomplish the objectives. Organizing training
program will be beneficial for both employees and organization as employees would able to
learn precise skills and enhance their knowledge to improve performance. On the other hand
organization would able to increase its productivity and able to meet its design targets.
Employee retention-
Retaining skilled and capable employees is one of the most difficult task faced by the
management of the company. Providing training to new employees involves high expenses
hence HR department need to focus on retaining employees. By providing effective training
to employees with the motive to enhance their skills and abilities has positive impact on
employees and help in enhancing productivity of company (Bhattacharyya, 2015).
Engagement of employees-
The management of the company must focus on increasing the engagement of employees so
that they would able to put forward their viewpoints and difficulties (Hurtle, 2015). By
conducting regular training programs the main focus is on establishing communication as it
helps in re-evaluation of skills and abilities of employees so that differences can be identified
and accordingly corrective measures can be taken.
Training future leaders-
The HR department is responsible to provide effective training to its employees with the
motive to focus on the growth and development of the future leadership which will help the
business organization for growth and change (Cur ado, Henriquez and Ribeiro, 2015).
Impact of COVID-19 on training and development programs introduced by
managers and leaders of M&S company
7

According to Helen Webb (impact of COVID-19 on employees training and
development. 2020), due to covid-19 pandemic things are becoming difficult for companies as
management need to operate from home only. In context of Marks & Spencer company is
operating at global level due to which it has become difficult to operate from home.
Furthermore, employees are facing problem in operating remotely or working from home.
The employees are not able to concentrate on their work effectively due to lot of noise at
home (Cur ado and et. al., 2015). The management of Marks & Spencer is facing problem in
providing training to its employees as they are not able to provide them on the job training. In
online training employees are not able to understand things properly due to which it has
negative impact on the performance of employees. As employees are not able to perform up
to their abilities due to which company is facing downfall in its profit and sales volume
(Gegenfurtner and et.al., 2016). The management and employees need to communicate
through video conferencing where changes of miscommunication and errors are high due to
problem of internet connectivity. The HR department of Marks & Spencer is providing
training to its employees through online platform where employees are not able to concentrate
effective and efficiently. Management and employees need to shift to the digital channels and
they are not familiar with the concept hence it is time consuming process where they have to
spend more time on operating various digital platforms. The training and development
department of Marks & Spencer is conducting online training programs and it is providing
benefits to the company in different ways. It is one of the cost effective method and is flexible
as it can fit the personal timetable of employees.
Ways by which Marks & Spencer could effectively redesign its training and
development program under the COVID lock down conditions

According to Stuart Lachlan (Marks & Spencer could effectively redesign its training
and development program. 2020), training and development involves high cost and due to
Covid-19 pandemic , Marks & Spencer is not able to provide on the job training to its
employees. The management has adopted online training approach with the motive to help
employees to improve their skills and abilities. Although it is difficult to provide online
training as it is a new concept which require time to understand and learn this concept. With
the help of online classes the trainers will able to establish effective communication with the
employees and also help them in dealing with complex situation. This method has helped the
employees in enhancing their skills and abilities so that they would able to improve their
performance and help in increasing the productivity of company (Gruicic and Benton, 2015).
Therefore, it can be said that various initiatives are being taken into consideration by
management department of the chosen firm i.e. M&S. It also includes usage of various
theories such as transformation theory. This theory is used by concerned departments of the
business firm by evaluating respective dynamic business environment of the business firm. It
is to be assumed by managers and leaders of the firm that no particular strategy can fit at its
best to effective working of the operational firm. The theory suggests that, various plans and
strategies of an organization should be modified as per changes in trend and operational
environment of the workforce. As per this, the mark and Spencer use to adopt the new
technology based program which help to provide the advance technology to their employee in
order to provide best training and development for enhancement of skill and knowledge.
Therefore, by analysing the above information, it can be said that, as it is well known
that organising training and development programs in company is already an expensive task
for management department of the business firm. With outbreak of coronavirus, managers of
the firm has to separate more financial resources considering increased formalities of social
distancing and keeping environment well and sanitized. However, as it comes under one of
the most important activity for the business firm, managers of the firm by redesigning its
training and development centres and formulating flexible plans as well as strategies,
concerned firm is somehow able to counter with such difficulties and is able to deliver quality
of products and services without increase in its prices.
9

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
For carrying research projects, researcher of a report has to use various research
methodologies for ensuring better quality of meta-analysis. There are various research
methodologies available to be performed by research of a research, this includes primary and
secondary. Research methodology which highlights on specific points with specific
techniques. It is a systematic approach through which the objective of the research can be
accomplished. Research methodology is a process which identifies, gather, operate and
analyze the data which is required to conduct a research and it also evaluates the overall
reliability and accuracy of the data (Bibi, Ahmad and Majid, 2018).
Research Philosophy
Research philosophy is a brief of all the tasks and activities which needed to be
executed. For conducting an effective research, it is necessary to have a reliable and accurate
research philosophy which help in the achievement of the research objective (Numonjonov,
2020). In this research paper, positivist research philosophy, as by research and experimenting
on various material facts of a research paper helps in developing better quality of a research.
Research approach
Research approach is an approach to collect necessary data which is required to fulfil
the purpose of the research (Park, Kang and Kim, 2018). The two most common methods of
research used by researchers to collect the data are: deductive approach and inductive
approach.
Quantitative Research- Quantitative research is a technique of collection of numerical
data. This technique of research is based on deductive technique of data collection through
which numerical data can be gathered. Through this technique of research, the relationship
between two or more variables can be observed and analysed. The information in this
methodology is collected from potential customers which is gathered by online surveys,
questionnaires and sampling method (Ganesh and Indradevi, 2015).
Qualitative Research- Qualitative research is based on the information that has been
collected through primary data. Through this technique, non-numerical data is gathered and
analysed. This information that has been collected by this methodology is more reliable and
accurate. The several techniques of collecting data for qualitative research are case study
method, narrative method, grounded theory method, historical method and other (Sandstorm
and et.al. 2016).

Data Collection
Data collection is a technique of gathering, selecting and analysing the data which is
required for the research (Hoyer and et.al. 2017). There are two types of data- primary and
secondary data. The collection of the data can be done through various techniques, such as
interview method, observation method, case study, surveys, questionnaires, journals and
publications.
Primary data- It is one of the basic technique of data collection, these are the data
which has never been collected and is original (Ibrahim, Boerhannoeddin and Bakare, 2017).
The various techniques of collecting primary data can be done through survey method,
observation method, questionnaire, interviews and other methods. The primary data is
considered as more reliable and accurate whereas, it is also an expensive method of data
collection.
Secondary data- The other technique of data collection is done through collecting the
secondary data. It is the data which has already been collected (Krieger and Cavanagh, 2018).
The research based on secondary data is considered as unreliable and it lacks accuracy, as the
data used in the research has already been collected. The techniques of collecting the
secondary data are journals, publications, newspapers, letters, biographies and other
techniques (Clarke and Higgs, 2016).
Data Sampling
It is one of the significant method which help the researcher in carrying the operations
and task in the effective and efficient manner. It help the researcher where with the use of
sample they would able to find appropriate and accurate results. Data sampling is the method
in which a number of respondents are selected from population as the sample and their
viewpoints and suggestions are taken by the researcher in order to meet the objective of the
research. It is one of the effective technique which helps in collecting the correct information
so that appropriate steps can be taken in order to improve the situation. In order to conduct
this research a sample of 30 respondents are taken and their suggestions and feedback are
considered and accordingly corrective measures are taken (Gegenfurtner, Zita and Eibner,
2020).
Questionnaire design
This report is conducted by collecting primary data sourcing by developing the
questionnaire. In questionnaire a set of questions are designed according to the problem faced
11

by the company so that proper strategies can be formulated for improving the performance of
the business (Van Hoek and et.al. 2020).
Ethical Consideration
In the process of research it is important for the researchers to carry the research
operations in ethical manner. This will lead to proper functioning of the research practices and
the effective results are accomplished on time. Moreover the researcher should carry the work
by maintaining the balance between ethics and morals. For collecting the information or data
related to the research topic it is important to have the permission of the other party
(Kodwani, 2017).

TIME PLAN
13
week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week 7 week 8 week 9 week 10 week 11 week 12 week 13 week 14
selection of topic
colection data
planning proper layout
literature review
development of research plan
research techniques
data analysis
Interpretation of findings
Conclusion
check plagiarism
Final submission

CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that training and development of
employee's is the most essential technique for the development of employee's and it also
increases overall productivity of the organization. Through training and development, the
knowledge, skills and competencies of the employees can be enhanced which will improve
the performance of the employee and will result in job satisfaction also. The training is
provided through several techniques such as on-the job, off-the job method and other
techniques through which the performance of the employees can be enhanced. An effective
training session is very important as the employees are trained to perform the assigned tasks
and duties effectively and efficiently. Therefore, after evaluating this research paper,
providing training and development programs to respective staffs working in chosen
organisation plays an important role in extracting professionalism of work being produced in
the business firm.

REFERENCES
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15

Ibrahim, R., Boerhannoeddin, A. and Bakare, K. K., 2017. The effect of soft skills and
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