Strategic Human Resources Management: Workforce Planning at M&S

This report delves into strategic workforce planning, focusing on its aim and purpose within organizations like Marks and Spencer. It highlights parameters influencing HR functions, including globalization, workforce diversity, and changing skill requirements. The report also examines strategic and operational considerations, emphasizing company culture and financial resources. Furthermore, it explores theories related to the growth and development of HRM, such as organizational life cycle theory, transaction cost theory, and general systems theory. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of HRM strategy in achieving organizational goals and improving firm performance in a competitive market.

Strategic workforce planning

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Aim and purpose of strategic workforce.....................................................................................3
Parameters influencing HR functions.........................................................................................3
Strategic and operational considerations.....................................................................................5
Theories related to the growth and development of HRM..........................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Strategic workforce planning is related to ensuring that right person is offered with the
best suitable job and at the right moment. There are not many people nor few. This planning
within HR helps in identifying the talent that is associated with the future goals and objectives of
the company while establishing a strategy (Guenole, and Feinzig, 2019). This ensures that the
company is working with right set of people, talent and even technology that help in attaining
success. Marks and Spencer is a British brand that is based in London, England. The products
from the company are specialised from fashion retail and home products line.
MAIN BODY
Aim and purpose of strategic workforce
Strategic workforce planning of Marks and Spencer is developed to design a process
within an organisation that will help in meeting the future hiring demands. It helps to ensure that
the organisation is working with resources that are essential for its operations and to meet the
goals. The aim of this strategic workforce planning is to have constant evaluation of the workers
and prevent from having sudden shifts within the business and other processes of the company.
The scope of strategic planning includes having a matching duration of the workforce plan while
gaining the information regarding the current and future workforce required. It aims to cover the
entire workforce and highlight on the critical missions, key employees and other factors. This
strategy helps in hiring right people that are available to get a certain amount of work done.
Strategic workforce planning is designed to fulfil the purpose within organisation to proactively
anticipate the current as well as future hiring needs and requirements.
Parameters influencing HR functions
Human resource department is the primary and most important source of department
working within the company. It is necessary that this department is prepared to deal with the
effects present from the changing business world (Doumic, and et.al., 2017). There are several
factors changing due to the changing trends regarding the skills requirements and involvement
of employees.
Globalisation: the rise of multinational companies has placed new requirement of working with
the mix of employees in terms of their knowledge, skills and cultural adaptability. Due to
globalisation, employees are supposed to work with the knowledge and language as well as

culture from its host country. It is important that the HRM of the company must be develop
strategies and mechanism that will help in building a good multinational working culture within
the company. It must train the management to be more flexible within its working practices.
Workforce diversity: This modern workforce consists of all genders, different values,
personality and characteristics. This diversity is linked with the strategic direction of the
company where the employees can flourish and gain benefits from having various creativity
within the organisation.
Changing skill requirements: Skilled labour is an important concern for beating the
competitiveness, quality of products while managing diverse workforce in effective manner.
Having deficiencies in skill will put major loss for the organisation in producing poor work.
HRM have to offer more education and higher levels of language from the current state. It must
conduct suitable training and program to let the skills grown within the company.
The objectives of the functions of human resources is a set of human resources strategies
that are influenced with various factors on both internal and external level. The external factors
within HRM of Marks and Spencer includes government regulations, where the laws and
regulations regarding workplace will require HRM to perform hiring following the same. Any
misstep can lead to sanctions against the company and even lead to lawsuits in some cases.
Another external factor includes available labour pool that is the main function of HRM to have
adequate staffing levels within their workforce planning. This is affected by the unemployment
rates, number of qualified employees having the specified skills. This can be difficult to identify
and attract the most suitable candidate.
Internal factors includes the level of growth. Company is experience rapid and projected
growth and expansion that requires HRM to focus on recruitment as well as staffing activities. It
must greater focus on putting efforts for employees retention along with improving the culture of
company. Technology is yet an internal factor influencing the functions of HRM. The
department must be willing to make the use of technology within its functions. In the case of
Marks and Spencer, HRM must make greater use of tools such as offering online benefits and
thus, giving more time for the employees to make changes while having more time towards
recruitment and training the employees.

Strategic and operational considerations
In order to gain success, an organisation has to develop and execute a strategic plan that
is defined by a set of guidelines and performing particular set of actions within the company. The
considerations includes the culture of company. Strategic plan is established by leaders of the
company while having a buy- in from the workforce in the process of executing this plan. The
culture of the company is build in a way that gives a clear vision to the leaders as well as drives
the principles of company (Turan, and et.al., 2022). Company culture always aims to provide
high quality products within the market. Another considerations for strategic and operational
plan is the financial resources. Organisation will have a hard time when executing the strategic
plan without financial resources.
Theories related to the growth and development of HRM
Organizational life cycle theory-
this is the HR theory. As per this theory organization is living being so that is why it has
lifecycle. As human being born just like that only company also born, grow, develop and mature
(Aust, Matthews and Muller-Camen, 2020). The declining stage in the company also comes and
finally it dies. At every stage of life cycle company affected from the external as well as the
internal environment. Example marks and Spenser been at the born stage, development stage
and now they are at the maturity stage.
Transaction cost theory-
this theory is the HRM theory and comes under corporate governance (Budhwar and et.al.,
2019). As per this theory, business costs will increase when they will employ someone else to
run business activities. Business structure plays vital role in controlling transactions or costs.
Marks and Spenser are using this theory for the purpose of controlling costs of the business.
General systems theory-
this is one of the popular theory and is applied in HRM. Basically systems is made from various
parts which can be made natural or human made. Systems is influenced by the environment
which can be time bounded. If changes made in one system can influence the other systems as
well (Lopez-Cabrales and Valle-Cabrera, 2020). Growth is dependent on the basis that how
systems are properly engaged with one another.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that HRM strategy framework that help the
organization in making plan related to hiring the employees as well as make help the company in
achieving the organizational goals in limited frame of time. The study has also summarized
about the external and internal factor such marketing and cooperate strategy that contributes inn
improving the performance of the firm in the competitive market. Lastly, the report has thrown
light on the various theories of HRM relating to the growth and development.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aust, I., Matthews, B. and Muller-Camen, M., 2020. Common Good HRM: A paradigm shift in
Sustainable HRM?. Human Resource Management Review. 30(3). p.100705.
Budhwar, P. and et.al., 2019. The state of HRM in the Middle East: Challenges and future
research agenda. Asia Pacific Journal of Management. 36(4). pp.905-933.
Doumic, and et.al., 2017. Toward an integrated workforce planning framework using structured
equations. European Journal of Operational Research, 262(1), pp.217-230.
Guenole, N. and Feinzig, S., 2019. Strategic workforce planning in dynamic business
environments. Human Resource Planning Society Language, 42(9).
Lopez-Cabrales, A. and Valle-Cabrera, R., 2020. Sustainable HRM strategies and employment
relationships as drivers of the triple bottom line. Human resource management
review. 30(3). p.100689.
Turan, and et.al., 2022. A joint problem of strategic workforce planning and fleet renewal: With
an application in defense. European Journal of Operational Research, 296(2), pp.615-634.