Strategic Talent Management in Business: Marks & Spencer Report

This report examines the talent management strategies employed by Marks & Spencer. The introduction highlights the importance of talent management in achieving company goals, focusing on initiatives and innovations. The project management plan outlines the timeline, resources, and costs involved in the research. The research section delves into the innovative methods used by Marks & Spencer, such as employing and building talent, converting business objectives into employee goals, and their impact on employee and business performance. It also identifies challenges faced, including high investment and employee non-cooperation. The research methodology details the deductive approach, positivism philosophy, survey strategy, and quantitative research choice. Findings, based on a survey of 30 respondents, reveal insights into the effectiveness of these strategies. The report concludes with recommendations based on the research findings. The report uses frequency distribution analysis and MS-Excel to present the data in a tabular and graphical format. The report also contains a Gantt chart and WBS structure to present the project plan.

MANAGING A
SUCESSFUL BUSINESS
PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENT
SECTION 1- INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................3
SECTION 2- PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN.........................................................................4
SECTION 3- RESEARCH..............................................................................................................6
What are the innovative methods and new initiatives adopted by Marks & Spencer to work for achieving strategic
approaches to talent management?.........................................................................................6
What is the impact of innovative methods and initiative for strategic approaches to talent management? 6
What are the issues that are faced by Marks & Spencer while formation of strategic approaches to talent management?
................................................................................................................................................6
SECTION 4- FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.............................................................8
SECTION 5- EVALUATION.......................................................................................................14
SECTION 6- CONCLUSION........................................................................................................16
APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................18

SECTION 1- INTRODUCTION
Employees are the most important resource of each and every company. So companies make talent management
strategies so that they can right employee for performing their work. It becomes necessary for firms to satisfy employees
so that they could work for the company and its main motive that achieving goals (Sivathanu and Pillai, 2019). In the
present project aim is to collect data about the new initiatives and innovation for achieving strategic approaches to talent
management. For this the chosen organization is Marks & Spencer that deals in clothing, food products, fashion
accessories and many more.
Research Aim: “To investigate about the initiatives taken by companies for the attainment of successful strategic
approaches to talent management.” A study on Marks & Spencer
Research Objectives:
 To determine the innovative methods and new initiatives adopted by Marks & Spencer to work for achieving
strategic approaches to talent management
 To highlight the impact of innovative methods and initiatives for strategic talent management on employees and
business performance within Marks & Spencer
 To identify issues that are faced by Marks & Spencer while formation of strategic approaches to talent
management
Research Questions:
 What are the innovative methods and new initiatives adopted by Marks & Spencer to work for achieving strategic
approaches to talent management?
 What is the impact of innovative methods and initiative for strategic approaches to talent management?
 What are the issues that are faced by Marks & Spencer while formation of strategic approaches to talent
management?

SECTION 2- PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN
Project management plan is basically a formal document that clearly shows how project or research needs to be taken out
systematically. This plan outlines the timeline, deliverables, goals budget, scope of projects and it is necessary to keep
continuous track on a project.
Time
Time is one of the significant components that assist project manager towards completion of every task and activity of the
research in the decided time duration. In respect of completing project 5 months will be needed by project manager
(Roberts, 2019).
Resources
Project manager has used multiple resources for the collection of secondary information related to strategic approach to
talent management. The sources include magazines, articles, publications etc. Transportation and internet are the other
resources that are required for completing project.
Quality
In the current project quantitative data is gathered that gives great quality information to reach the level of accurate
results. Numerical data is more accurate and relevant towards the requirement of present project (McAlister, 2016).
Cost
In respect of completing all steps in the current project, researcher has formed budget for doing expense. The requirement
of funds is £300 so that every activity could be taken out efficiently and effectively (Devi and Reddy, 2019).
Gantt chart
It is the chart that gives pictorial description of the activities needed to perform and with the appropriate time period. In
this there are two bars that are in one activities are shown and in another end date and start date are mentioned (Kumar,
2017).

WBS Structure
Work breakdown structure is the type of tool that facilitates in converting large activities into small activities so that
project manager could give attention to every activity. This way researcher can complete each activity at right time
without any hurdle.

SECTION 3- RESEARCH
SECONDARY INFORMATION
What are the innovative methods and new initiatives adopted by Marks & Spencer to work for achieving strategic
approaches to talent management?
According to Ntaopane and Vermeulen (2019), strategies of talent management is defined as magical ingredient because
it assists in managing talent of organization current as well as potential. The different types of innovative methods and
initiatives adopted by Marks and Spencer to work for achieving strategic approach to talent management are:
Employing and building talent
It is defined as a process of addressing the particular aspirations and requirements of talented employees. Marks
and Spencer make sure that these aspirations are balance with the long-term and short-term objectives of company.
Company makes sure that talent is placed for right responsibility to fill the gaps. And make sure that every individual is
growing with the development of the organization.
Converting goals of business into employee goals
Marks & Spencer develops employees in order to achieve business goals. The company makes sure that objectives of
business are mapping with the aspiration of individuals working in the workplace. This assists in taking employee as well
as growth of the organization together. Employees are guided at every step that there goal is interconnected with the
company’s goal so it is necessary to achieve goals so that company could achieve its objective (Bhatia and Baruah, 2020).
What is the impact of innovative methods and initiative for strategic approaches to talent management?
According to (Sivathanu and Pillai, 2019), there is positive impact of innovative methods and initiatives for strategic
talent management on the performance of employees as well as performance of business within Marks & Spencer because
these methods assist in attracting the best talent. As the strategies create opportunity of attracting employees who are
skilled for the vacant job position. Employees get motivated as company satisfies their needs and requirements that make
them to stay in the same firm and do their activities. Performance of business also increases because these strategies assist
in having employees that are engaged motivated and skilled. These employees always work at right direction so that each
goal of the company gets achieved within the shorter period of time.
The strategic talent management’s innovative methods make employees to stay honest and loyal towards their customers
and clients. This attracts clients towards company and they rapidly visit which ultimately increases the profitability and
revenue level.
What are the issues that are faced by Marks & Spencer while formation of strategic approaches to talent management?
According to Sparrow (2018), managers of Marks & Spencer face many problems while coming up with these new
initiatives of strategic approaches to talent management. Some of them are:

High investment
Marks and Spencer has to invest large amount of funds that create problem for the organization because employees are
always attracted towards financial benefits. For this they have to set a large amount of budget that ultimately decreases
their profit margin.
Non-cooperation of employees
New initiatives were introduced by Marks & Spencer for employees but these people sometimes create problem by
demanding large amount of salaries, compensation and promotion which create barriers. This non-cooperation from
employees forces managers to take decision by their own without fulfilling the demands of every employee. This
ultimately takes a lot of time period that could be used by managers for doing some other productive work (Mujtaba and
Mubarik, 2021).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research approach: The two types of approaches that are available are deductive and inductive approach. Investigator
has selected deductive approach because it has set of actions that help in measuring numerical information in the current
project (Howard, 2019).
Research philosophy: Philosophy is divided into two major kinds that are positivism and interpretivism philosophy.
Positivism philosophy is chosen as it evaluates statistical data that gathered through primary sources (Baskakova and
Malafeev, 2017).
Research strategy: Research had different research choices like action research, survey case study etc. By looking the
requirement of present project survey has been selected because it allows collecting primary data from appropriate
sources.
Research choice: Qualitative and quantitative are two choices, researcher chose to depend upon quantitative research
choice because it allows gathering entire numerical information related to the topic (Nonhoff, 2019).
Data collection: Primary as well as secondary data collection is chosen by researcher in the current project. For the
collection of primary data researcher has selecting questionnaire so that participants could give information (Relvas and
Ramos, 2021). Secondary data is taken out for answering questions of the project from sources like books, journals,
articles, newspapers etc.
Sampling: Probability and non-probability are two kinds of sampling. Probability sampling is chosen by investigator to
gather information from selecting samples randomly (White, 2019). 30 respondents were selected from Marks & Spencer
as they hold great piece of information regarding the topic.

SECTION 4- FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
It is the section in which project manager has interpreted that primary information collected from chosen participants.
The manager has used frequency distribution analysis techniques for analysing statistical in systematic manner. MS-Excel
is also considered because it has assisted in showcasing data in tabular and graph format.
Frequency Distribution Table
Q1) Do you have any knowledge regarding companies form strategic
approaches to talent management?
Frequency
a) Yes 27
b) No 3
Q2) What are the innovative methods and new initiatives adopted by Marks
& Spencer to work for achieving strategic approaches to talent
management?
Frequency
a) Employing and building talent 6
b) Converting objectives of business into goals of talent 8
c) Leading culture 7
d) Retention of talent 9
Q3) What is the impact of innovative methods and initiatives for strategic
talent management on employees and business performance within Marks
& Spencer?
Frequency
a) Positive 16
b) Negative 8
c) Neutral 6
Q4) What are the benefits of such innovative methods of talent
management on Marks & Spencer?
Frequency
a) Decrease in number of employees leaving 8
b) More motivated and focused employees 6
c) Higher productivity 9
d) Great profits 7
Q5) According to your knowledge what are the problems faced by
managers of Marks & Spencer while formation of strategic approaches to
talent management?
Frequency
a) Large amount of investment 12
b) Non-cooperation of employees 9

c) Lack of time 9
Question 1: Any knowledge regarding companies form strategic approaches to talent management
Q1) Do you have any knowledge regarding companies form strategic
approaches to talent management?
Frequency
a) Yes 27
b) No 3
Interpretation: With the above given table it is being interpreted that there are total 30 respondents. 27 respondents
answered yes that they do have knowledge that companies use and form strategic approaches to talent management and
the rest 3 respondents answered no that they did not focus on about the strategies that companies are forming and using.
Question 2: Innovative methods and new initiatives adopted by Marks & Spencer to work for achieving strategic
approaches to talent management
Q2) What are the innovative methods and new initiatives adopted by Marks
& Spencer to work for achieving strategic approaches to talent
management?
Frequency
a) Employing and building talent 6
b) Converting objectives of business into goals of talent 8
c) Leading culture 7
d) Retention of talent 9

Interpretation: From the shown table it is understood that 6 participants have said that employing and building talent is
the new initiative adopted by Marks & Spencer to work for achieving strategic approaches to talent management because
this develops employees, 8 respondents have answered those converting business objectives into talent goals, the other 7
respondents have said that leading culture so that healthier environment could be formed and the left 9 participants
answered that retention of talent.
Question 3: Impact of innovative methods and initiatives for strategic talent management on employees and business
performance within Marks & Spencer
Q3) What is the impact of innovative methods and initiatives for strategic
talent management on employees and business performance within Marks
& Spencer?
Frequency
a) Positive 16
b) Negative 8
c) Neutral 6

Interpretation: By the shown information it is being understood that 16 respondents believes that there is positive impact
initiative because it allows in retaining large number of workforce in the organization and the other 8 respondents
answered that there is negative impact because it consumes time. The remaining 6 respondents have answered that there is
neutral effect as it did not create any big change to the company.
Question 4: Benefits of such innovative methods of talent management on Marks & Spencer
Q4) What are the benefits of such innovative methods of talent
management on Marks & Spencer?
Frequency
a) Decrease in number of employees leaving 8
b) More motivated and focused employees 6
c) Higher productivity 9
d) Great profits 7

Interpretation: As per the given information it is analyzed that 8 participants have said that decrease in employee
turnover is one of the benefits, 6 respondents answered that focused and motivated employees, 9 participants have
answered that productivity increased and the remaining 7 respondents have said that great profits is one of the financial
benefits.
Question 5: Problems faced by managers of Marks & Spencer while formation of strategic approaches to talent
management
Q5) According to your knowledge what are the problems faced by
managers of Marks & Spencer while formation of strategic approaches to
talent management?
Frequency
a) Large amount of investment 12
b) Non-cooperation of employees 9
c) Lack of time 9
Interpretation: By the above shown data it is interpreted that 12 participants say that large amount of investment is
needed that creates need of amount, 9 respondents say that employees do not cooperate as they feel that company is
providing low benefits and perks. And the remaining 9 participants said that there is lack of time because consumers
indulge in another important work.
RECOMMENDATIONS
From the above mentioned information there are different methods that are recommended to Labour and Wait Ltd
so that they could plan, implement and execute various strategic approaches to talent management.

Positive working environment: Labour and Wait Ltd should provide positive working environment to every employee
so that they work without getting stressed related to their work. This would also help in creating healthier environment in
workplace where employees co-operate with each other.
Policy and procedure of promotion and other benefits: The organization should make policies and procedures of
providing promotions and another benefit to every employee time to time because this motivates employees to stay in the
company. Employees become more aware about their work and work hard to achieve goals so that they could get
promotion.
Barriers for Labour and Wait Ltd
There are also some that could be faced by company during the time of successful implementation of strategic
approaches to talent management like the company would need large amount of investment because giving extra benefits
to require funds. The barrier could be global pandemic that COVID-19, it has made companies to cut down salaries of
employees which could create negative impact on employees.

SECTION 5- EVALUATION
It is the section in which project manager has evaluated own performance as well methodologies used to evaluate
information.
Performance
Review
What was the project supposed to accomplish?
Yes, project is completed as all the questions and objectives have answered on
“To investigate about the initiatives taken by companies for the attainment of successful strategic approaches to
talent management.” A study on Marks & Spencer
• Did the project succeed in its aims?
Yes because every question of the project is answered in systematic and proper manner.
How do you know? Specifically, please outline any evaluation and assessment undertaken.
I know this because different types of methodologies have been used to fulfill every
objective.
• What things do you think worked well and why? Evaluate all aspects of the project (e.g.
initial inception, project activities and project outcomes) from a range of perspectives.
Multiple things have been worked well and appropriate as per my view because I had framed a
project management plan that is a formal document so that it could guide me about the right step I
need to perform. Through this plan I had sufficient resources at right time for successfully
performing every activity.
The next thing is collecting primary information directly from the respondents. It has helped me in
getting right information regarding my topic of the project. I have successfully used instrument like
questionnaire to collect right type of data.
I was also received access to secondary sources such as articles, newspapers and books in a very
short duration of time.
Formation of Gantt chart has also helped in conducting every activity before deadline.
• What problems emerged during the project and how were they tackled?
Issues in communicating with respondents about the topic of the study because at that time I
did not have knowledge regarding their culture and language. This problem I had tackled by
taking online classes and webinars to improve my language skills and different cultures.
Another issue was inefficient in managing time and I solved this issue by breaking down large

activities into smaller tasks. These small tasks were easier for me to achieve.
• Was there timely identification of issues and resolution during the project process?
Yes I have determined problems as well as their resolutions at right time.
• What did you learn from undertaking the project?
I had learnt about the research methodologies as they are very important for the completion of project.
• How would you rate your performance as project manager?
I will rate myself 8 out of 10 because I have really worked hard as project manager to gather
appropriate and relevant data. I have resolved problems by own at the starting of project.
• What strengths and weaknesses of your performance did you identify?
My strengths are:
Skill to solve problems, issues with right and appropriate solutions.
The second strength is I am hard working as well as smart worker.
My weaknesses are:
Unable to manage time
Low confidence
Lower knowledge about different backgrounds and cultures
• How will this inform and support your continuous professional development?
It would assist in my professional development because I would have great knowledge regarding
formation of strategic approaches.

SECTION 6- CONCLUSION
From the above provided entire data it is summarized that strategies of talent management play an important role
in attracting employees and increasing their towards job role. For collecting information researcher had selected
respondents who said that companies make multiple strategies for effective talent management. Primary and secondary
data has helped a lot in the project because all the objectives have achieved in successful manner.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baskakova, I. V. and Malafeev, N. S., 2017. The Concept of Infrastructure: Definition, Classification and Methodology
for Empirical Evaluation. Izvestia Uralskogo Gosudarstvennogo Ekonomiceskogo Universiteta. 70(3).
Bhatia, R. and Baruah, P., 2020. Exclusive talent management and its consequences: a review of literature. Asian Journal
of Business Ethics. 9(2). pp.193-209.
Devi, T.R. and Reddy, V.S., 2019. Work breakdown structure of the project. Int J Eng Res Appl. 2(2). pp.683-686.
Gantt, H., 2020. Gantt chart.
Howard, G. S., 2019. The present and future of methodology and statistics in psychology. The Humanistic
Psychologist. 47(1). p.26.
Kumar, P.P., 2017. Effective use of Gantt chart for managing large scale projects. Cost engineering. 47(7). p.14.
McAlister, D.T., 2016. The project management plan: Improving team process and performance. Marketing Education
Review. 16(1). pp.97-103.
Mujtaba, M. and Mubarik, M. S., 2021. Talent management and organizational sustainability: role of sustainable
behaviour. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.
Nonhoff, M., 2019. Hegemony analysis: Theory, methodology and research practice. In Discourse, culture and
organization (pp. 63-104). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Ntaopane, M. and Vermeulen, L., 2019. Integrated talent management in local government: theories and philosophies to
guide implementation practices. Journal of Public Administration. 54(3). pp.378-400.
Relvas, C. and Ramos, A., 2021. New methodology for product development process using structured tools. Proceedings
of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture. 235(3). pp.378-393.
Roberts, P., 2019. Effective project management: Identify and manage risks plan and budget keep projects under control.
Kogan Page Publishers.
Sivathanu, B. and Pillai, R., 2019. Leveraging Technology for Talent Management: Foresight for Organizational
Performance. International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development (IJSKD). 11(2). pp.16-30.
Sparrow, P and et. al., 2018. Introduction: Macro talent management in emerging and emergent markets: Foundations for
a developing field. In Macro Talent Management in Emerging and Emergent Markets (pp. 1-21). Routledge.
White, S. J., 2019. Conversation analysis: an introduction to methodology, data collection, and analysis. In Handbook of
research methods in health social sciences (pp. 471-490). Springer, Springer Nature.

APPENDICES
QUESTIONNAIRE
Q1) Do you have any knowledge regarding companies form strategic approaches to talent
management?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) What are the innovative methods and new initiatives adopted by Marks & Spencer to work
for achieving strategic approaches to talent management?
a) Employing and building talent
b) Converting objectives of business into goals of talent
c) Leading culture
d) Retention of talent
Q3) What is the impact of innovative methods and initiatives for strategic talent management on
employees and business performance within Marks & Spencer?
a) Positive
b) Negative
c) Neutral
Q4) What are the benefits of such innovative methods of talent management on Marks &
Spencer?
a) Decrease in number of employees leaving
b) More motivated and focused employees
c) Higher productivity
d) Great profits
Q5) According to your knowledge what are the problems faced by managers of Marks &
Spencer while formation of strategic approaches to talent management?
a) Large amount of investment
b) Non-cooperation of employees
c) Lack of time

Project Logbook
Project
Logbook
Name:
Project title:
“To investigate about the initiatives taken by companies for the attainment of successful strategic approaches to
talent management.” A study on Marks & Spencer
Date:
Update on weekly research/tasks achieved
Points to consider: What have you completed?
Did you fulfil task requirements?
yes
Are you on track and within deadlines set?
Yes
Did you need to make any changes to your project management plan?
No
Any risks and/or issues identified?
Points to consider: Did you identify risks/issues with a lack of skills required for undertaking
research/tasks?
Yes I faced problem as I was not comfortable in interacting with people.
Did you identify any additional risks/issues that have an impact on the project management plan?
No
Problems encountered
Points to consider:
What barriers did you face?
Lower confidence
Problem in communicating
New ideas and change of project direction

Interview and observation as instrument to gather data.
What have I learnt about myself this week?
I am good in resolving every type of problem.

Points to consider: How did I feel when I had to deal with tasks/problems?
I worked without getting stressed and frustrated.
Did I find it useful to complete the tasks?
Yes I found very useful.
How well have I performed?
I had performed great.
What did I contribute?
Data regarding strategies related to talent management.
What can I improve on next week?
Skill of time management.
How might this learning apply in the future?
I would use this learning in my professional job or career.
Tasks planned for next week
Points to consider: Which tasks are priority?
Project management plan
Interpretation of gathered information
Have you set aside sufficient time for completion?
I had kept sufficient time duration to complete every activity.
Project plan status to date (on, ahead, behind)
Supervisor comments to address