Talent Management Strategies for Employee Retention at M&S

This case study evaluates the impact of talent management strategies on attracting and retaining employees at Marks & Spencer. It assesses the concept of talent management, analyzes the impact of various strategies, and recommends improvements. Data was collected using qualitative research methods, including primary data from employee interviews and secondary data from existing research. The findings indicate that while Marks & Spencer has talent management initiatives, there are areas for improvement, such as regular performance appraisals, aligning orientation processes, and enhancing internal communication. The study recommends fostering a culture of internal decision-making, conducting exit interviews, and proactively recruiting to enhance talent management effectiveness. Desklib provides access to this case study and other solved assignments for students.

6- MANAGING
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Talent management is the process of attracting, selecting and retention of employees. It
involves having combination of human resource activities across the employee life cycle. Talent
management is a strategic process which involves attaining right talent for the company and
helping them grow with their capabilities which aligns with the goals and objectives of the
company. Marks and Spencer group is a major British company which runs on multinational
level. The company specialises in the areas of fashion retail company and the product range
includes clothing, home products and along with food products. It is important for the company
such as Marks and Spencer to involve talent management strategies to retain and attract the best
talents for the company. The data will be collected with the help of specific methodology from
which relevant conclusion will be drawn which are applicable for Marks and Spencer. Lastly,
recommendations will be provided based o the findings from the business project.
MAIN BODY
Aims and objectives
Aim:
"To evaluate the impact of talent management strategies in attracting and retaining
employees within the organization. A case study on Marks and Spencer."
Objectives:
 To evaluate the concept of talent management.
 To analyse the impact of different talent management strategies.
 To recommend different talent management strategies to attract and retain people.
Rationale:
Marks and Spencer is known to be one of the leading companies in the fashion retail
industry. It is important for the company to have talent management to identify and recruit the
people who will drive the company to success. This strategic process helps in looking for the
people who understand the demands of company and its workforce. It helps in making
employees feel engaged and motivated which allows them to work forward in the direction of
business goals of company. This helps in increasing customer satisfaction and business
performance of the company.

Project planning
Project planning is the process which involves the process of evaluation and selection of
all important steps which are involved and associated with the research. The planning of the
project will help in segregating different tasks which are to be performed along with the
resources required. Cost helps in determining the total amount which is required to complete the
research. The current research will require the amount of £600 to complete all the activities
related to it. The scope of this research is to cover the impact of talent management and its
strategies on attracting and retaining best talents for the organisation. Moreover, this research is
based in UK only. The total time required to complete this research is around 3 weeks or 20
days. The accuracy of the data which is collected for the research might be the most significant
risk in this current research. The resources required for this research is human resource as well as
technological resources.
Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart

Research methodology
Research type: The research can be conducted in two types, qualitative research and
quantitative research. Qualitative research is expressed in words and is used to understand the
concepts and real life experiences. Quantitative research deals with numbers and graphs and is
mainly used to test and confirm the theories and assumptions generated. Qualitative type has
been used in this research as it helps in gathering in depth insights about the topic.
Research philosophy: There are two types of research philosophy which is used in the
research names as positivism and interpretivism. Positivism helps in analysing the numerical
data and concluding theoretical facts and figures. In this research, interpretivism has been used as

it is very helpful in drawing the conclusion from the primary data gathered from the qualitative
research.
Data collection: Data in this research has been collected from both primary as well as
secondary data. Primary data helps in gathering the data based on the real life experiences. It
requires direct participation in the data gathering process and it does not depend on already
existing data. Primary data provides first- hand information. Secondary data is based on the
already existing research materials. It is time efficient and data is easy to access.
Sampling: Sample fir the research is collected by using either probability sampling or
non probability sampling. In the probability sampling, the respondents for the research are
selected on random basis having no fixed criteria while in the non- probability sampling, they are
selected based on a fixed criterion. In this research, 20 respondents are selected randomly from
the population of employees working in Marks and Spencer.
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Whysall Owtram, and Brittain, (2019) talent management helps in
providing opportunities for better recruitment as it will attract qualified talent to apply for the job
within the organization. This process helps in workforce planning, sourcing and tracking the
analytics of the recruitment process. Pandita, and Ray, (2018) conflicted that talent management
leads to increase costs as there are many resources, time and financial costs involved to operate
talent management. Moreover, it leads to workplace conflict as in the process of keeping the
employees motivated makes the company focus on long term goals which can present challenges
within the organization. On the other hand,. Gallardo-Gallardo, Thunnissen and Scullion, (2020)
stated that talent management increases diversity and provides the company with strategic
advantages which are a priority for the talented candidates. Employee satisfaction will increase
the reputation of the company and diverse workforce will increase the employee learning and
sense of creativity. Narayanan, Rajithakumar, and Menon, (2019) agreed and said that it helps
the company in offering better on- boarding experience which makes a huge impact on the
employees. This makes it easy for the employees to match the with the company's culture and its
desired goals.

Data analysis
Theme 1: Marks and Spencer including talent management initiatives.
Yes 12
No 8
Total 20
Interpretation: From the above graphical representation, it can be analysed that majority of the
employees working in Marks and Spencer believes that the company follows some initiatives
with respect to the talent management. While on the other hand, there are some employees who
thinks that there are initiatives from the side of company which contributes to the talent
management. It is good that a lot of employees can identify the talent management initiatives
used by the company which makes them feel valued.
Theme 2: Talent management initiatives as a top priority for Marks and Spencer.
Agree 5
Strongly agree 6
Disagree 5

Strongly disagree 4
Total 20
Interpretation: The company has talent management within the organization for its employees
and also to attract talent to work for the company. Some employees strongly agree with the fact
that Marks and Spencer considers the talent management activities as being top priorities for the
organization while on the other hand, there are some who exhibits a strong disagree feeling for
the same. The company believes that employees are the backbone and main key behind making
the business this successful and so it becomes top priority for the company to introduce talent
management initiatives for them.
Theme 3: Areas to improve within talent management.
Interpretation: According to the employees of the company, it can be analysed that the
company must have a quarterly formal performance appraisal on regular basis. This will keep the
employees motivated in attaining the appraisal goals which will lead to good productivity and
efficiency of work within the company. Moreover, the company must align its orientation
process for the new hire along with the initiatives used for talent management. This will make
the new staff to stay committed for the company and will make them feel valued.

Theme 4: Organisation aligning with employees regarding the desired mission and goals.
Yes 13
No 7
Total 20
Interpretation: The mission and goals of Marks and Spencer is to provide high customer
satisfaction and rise the sales done by the business. It is important that the company
communicates these goals to its employees so that they can work in the same direction. From the
above table it can be seen that maximum of the employees are in favour that the company is
working with the employees equally to lead the mission while some of them do feel the same
thing. This is because company is lacking in some points regarding its talent management
approach.
Theme 5: Policies to encourage the career growth of employees.
Disagree 10
Agree 10
Total 20

Interpretation: Every organization has set some policies and practices which are to be followed
within the organization. Similarly, Marks and Spencer have some policy regarding hiring and
attracting talent and retaining the best working employees of the company. It can be interpreted
that there are equal number of employees who think that there are policies which motivate and
encourage the professional growth of the employees and half of them disagree with the same.
Theme 6: Rewards for the top performing employees by the organization.
Interpretation: From the responses it can be interpreted that workers of the company feel that
reward system within the company is a good way to encourage the employees to do better and
efficient. They will feel that the good work done by them is appreciated by the company and will
tend to continue doing the same.
Theme 7: Change in budget of the company for recruitment and employees.
Increase 11
Decrease 3
Not change 6
Total 20

Interpretation: According to the graphical representation, it can be interpreted that the budget
of the company for the process of recruitment and fulfilling the requirements of employees must
be increased while a good amount of employees feel that it must remain the same. It can be seen
that investing more in such activities will help the company find the best fit along with good
retaining of the already working employees.
Theme 8: Recommendations for talent management strategies.
Interpretation: The company is well with the employee and creates and organisation culture
where the employees are comfortable to work and use their capabilities to good work. However,
some of the employees believes that company must identify the gaps present in the current
employee and their competency levels. Moreover, It must make the employees feel empowered
to make decisions which impact their work.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The strategy chosen by the human resource management of Marks and Spencer helps the
company to attract and retain talents. However, there are some lacking points where the company
can do better. Organizational culture plays an important role in the success of talent
management. The company must develop an organizational culture which encourages internal
decision-making process where the staff is allowed to make decisions and enhance the internal
structure which will allow to ensure the clarity in terms of roles and responsibilities. The

company must conduct exit interviews which will help them identify the reasons behind
employees leaving and the things which must be improved within the company. These interviews
will work as feedbacks which can be constructively for improvement. The strategy of providing
the employees with regular performance appraisals will help in encouraging them to work better
and efficient. The company must have a proactive approach towards recruiting the employees
which will help them have a better attempt at it when compared to its competitors. It is further
recommended that Marks and Spencer must enhance the internal communication which provides
a two-way transparent communication which will connect employees to the management. This
will help the company in successfully implementing any changes within the organization.
REFLECTION
After doing this research I have learnt several things especially I have build research
skills. Earlier I used to scare and I feel that doing research is very tough and complex. But after
doing this research I came to know about how research is done. I have also develop decision-
making and problem solving skills. While doing this research there are many problems arises but
with the help of right decisions I have solved every problem which came in my way. I have done
research on talent management, so I had conversation with various parties and it has improved
my communication skills. It has also built confidence or boosts my confidence level. While
conducting the research there were several issues which I faced which made it hard to meet the
deadline. I researched every aspect every closely which led to this delay for the completion of
tasks involved in the research.
However, I learnt how to implement and plan the whole project and make complete use
of smart work. The completion of this research project helped me determine different activities
which are to be performed at the same time keeping everything in an organized way. I identified
that my research and analytical skills are very well- developed while analysing the data which I
collected from the respondents. I easily interpreted and analysed this data very quickly and
correctly. I was able to clearly segregate between various tasks and have managed to conduct a
good research even with limitations of time and money. This whole process was very insightful
for me where I got to learn new things about myself and the way I work. Lastly, I was able to
identify the importance of talent management for any organization in order to its employees
satisfied while attracting new talents.