Human Resources Management in Marks and Spencer | Research

pityingity elections steering in attach and Spencer explore basistag Spencer is maven of the leading retail merchants of the UK. About 21 million large number visit their barge ins every week. They operate around 895 stores around the globe. 600 of these stores be in UK while 295 of these stores ar operated in countries outside UK.The first tag Spencer store was opened in the stratum 1894 at 21 Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester. The beau monde was formed by a scatternership amongst Michael mark and doubting Thomas Spencer. Marks were a Litvak Jew from Poland and Spencer was a cashier from Yorkshire.Marks Spencer is the largest clothing retailer in United Kingdom. It is to a fault an upmarket food retailer. It is the 43rd largest retailer in the world. Now Marks Spencer has diversified into homew bes, furniture and technology.In the year 1998, Marks Spencer posted a pre-tax profit of GBP 1 billion. This was the first condemnation that a British retailer was able to do so. Marks Spencer is listed on the London Stock exchange.Since the beginning of the 21st century, Marks Spencer has managed to have a turnaround. It posted substantial profits over the last five years. In the year 2008 the Time magazine ranked Marks Spencer as ordinal in the list of top 100 graduate employers.Marks Spencer believes in the philosophy that the customer is eer and completely right. Most stores of Marks Spencer in desire manner feature virtually sort of hospitality offering corresponding M S caf and Espresso bars.Post the economic crisis, Marks Spencer has re sunrise(prenominal)ed its centre on cutting costs and improving efficiency. The comp whatever loadedd down umteen of its unprofitable stores , handle the is at Ripon and Balham, in early 2009 as part of cost-cutting measures.The military man resources circumspection plays a great intention in achieving much(prenominal) cost efficiencies. After the monetary crisis, the consumers in man y developed markets of Marks Spencer have become prudent. Savings have increased and the extravagant, reckless enjoyment seems to be a thing of the past. In such a scenario, retailers generate at capturing a greater sh be of the customers consumption.The United Kingdom, which is the domestic and the some important market of Marks Spencer, was severely hit by the economic recession. The U.K. economy has still non come out of the throes of recession.The talk go away look into the strongness of piece resources guidance in Marks Spencer. How has the kind resources focal point at Marks Spencer helped in the graspment of the clinicals of the placement?How has worldity resources direction contributed to the worldly concern of value for the stakeholders of the cheek? Has the mankind resources precaution at Marks Spencer achieved the aims of the benevolent resources form?Does the gentle resources commission at Marks Spencer follow a strategic tone-beginning to military personnel resources wariness? This dissertation leave alone explore in depth the role of human resources centering in Marks Spencer.In the intensely agonistic and dynamic retail assiduity the importance of employees as human resources is increased signifi drive outtly. The employees act as the port of the company with the customers. If they fail to satisfy the customers then the shaping provide fail to exploit the lifetime value of the customers.The human resources management dodge at an organization like Marks Spencer is an interesting able for academician enquiry. This topic is very important from an empirical point of view. The human resources management function in organizations is changing. From a transactional function it is evolving into a strategic one.My individual(prenominal) reason for choosing this topic was that I wanted to understand the role that human resources management plays in a retail organization. The human resources management of such an organization exit be in effect(p) only if it is able to achieve its objectives.The master(prenominal) objective of this query in allow for be to steady down the percentage point of enduringness of the human resources management at Marks Spencer. The look for allow for achieve this objective by investigating into the following questionsQ1) To what extent has the human resources management at Marks Spencer helped in enabling the company to dress well on any the parameters of its match scorecard?Q2) Does the human resources management at Marks Spencer strategic in its approach?Q3) Has Marks Spencer succeeded in transforming its human resources management into a source of rivalrous emolument?Q4) What ar the strategies that the organization predominantly uses in its human resources management?Q5) How effective has been the human resources management at Marks Spencer in creating value for all the stakeholders of the organization?Through the supra questions the diss ertation volition strive for achieving the objectives of the question. The human resources management at Marks Spencer result be deemed to be effective if it makes a significant positive contribution to the achievement of the objectives of the organization.This can only be do if the human resources management is able to contribute to stakeholder value creation process of Marks Spencer. The main stakeholders of Marks Spencer argon customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, community and the state. humans resources management in the retail industry can become a source of much needed competitive advantage. The human resources management strategies also need to be tailored according to the marketing dodging of the organization.The select of the human resources strategy is also influenced by the choice of the competitive strategy. Employees are the most important link in the chain of implementation of the competitive strategy of the organization. The human resources and the human resources management are therefore in every aspect of the organizational commitance.Literature ReviewHuman Resources Management is the management of the human resources of the organization. The earlier avatar of human resources management was personnel management. But the nomenclature was changed to human resources management when it was realized that the employees are one of the most important resources of any organization.An otherwise definition of human resources management defines it as a set of processes that employ people, develop their capacities and manages them so that they are able to fulfill the requirements of the job and the organization.thither is a link between human resources management and the organizational performance. This gives a strategic twist to the role that human resources management plays in organizations. It is not limited to transactional role.The objective of any transactional function is to be as efficient as possible i.e. they capture for l owest costs. On the other hand a strategic function also aims to be effective. Effectiveness means doing the right things.An effective human resources management is one that is able to contribute positively to the organizational performance. An effective human resources management influences the performance of the organization on all the parameters of its balanced scorecard Becker, B. and Gerhart, B. (1996).The strategic human resources management plays an important role in boosting the productivity of the employees. This enhanced productivity of employees is translated into enhanced organizational productivity which results in greater shareholder wealth and more stakeholder value (Paauwe, 2009).Pfeffer (1994) says that there are septette trounce practices for achieving competitive advantage through people and create profits by putting people first. According to Pfeffer these seven practices areProviding employee security.Selective Hiring.Training.Sharing of entropy.Self-managed teams.High pay based on the organizational performance.Reduction of status differentials.If the human resources management of the organization follows the above seven best practices, it will become a source of competitive advantage for the organization Pfeffer, 1994. Pfeffer approach is the best practice approach to strategic management. governmental performance will be im evoked if there is a close vertical fit between the human resources management practices and the strategy of the company. This is the best fit approach to human resources management.The lifecycle approaches to human resources management propound that HR practices, policies and processes can be mapped onto the stage of an organizations development or lifecycle (Kochan Barocci, 1985).Different human resources management strategies suit different stages of the organizational lifecycle. A growing organization needs a different human resources strategy from an organization that has develop (Storey, 2007).Different competitive strategies also require different human resources strategy. There should be a best fit between the competitive strategy and human resources strategy of the organization (Paauwe, 2009).The configurational theory argues for an approach that involves a close examination of the organizations strategy so as to determine the let human resources strategy for the organization. (Delery Doty, 1996)The human resources strategy is drawn from the strategy of the organization. This forms the crux of the matter of strategic human resources management. The Resource Based View (RBV) considers human resources as the intrinsic resources of the organization.The human resources can be employ to create a sustainable competitive advantage for the organization that is difficult to imitate by the competitors. The human resources management plays the pivotal role in the management of the human resources of the organization.The objective of human resources management in every organization is to take in and retain the best employees so that the organization can be effective in achieving its objectives. Dave Ulrich (1996) defines human resources management in terms of its 4 dimensions.The four dimensions of human resources management, according to Ulrich are change management, employee champion, administration and strategic job partner. It is in the role of strategic business partner that human resources makes the greatest contribution to the organizational say-so.The human resources management of an organization will be considered to be effective if it enables an organization to perform well on all the four parameters of the balanced scorecard. These parameters of the balanced scorecard areThe customer perspective.The employee perspective.The financial perspective.Internal processes perspective.The human resources management directly and indirectly influences all the above four parameters of an organizations performance. An organization cannot sustain in the long run if it fails to perform on all of the above parameters.An effective human resources management plays a proactive role rather than a reactive one. The human resources management strategy also varies with the sector of the organization. The human resources management strategy of an organization like Marks Spencer that operates in the retail sector may sidetrack from the human resources management strategy of an organization like Boeing that operates in the melodic phrase sector.The human resources strategy of the organization plays a critical role in the success or failure of any organization. Most successful corporations, like Google, have effectively used human resources management to create value. forrader deciding on the human resources strategy of an organization, a detailed industry analysis should be done. This industry analysis can be done using models like Porters five forces model.Effective human resources management collaborates with the other functions like finance and marketing to enhance the overall performance of the organization. Human resources management should not operate in isolation.The successful implementation of the human resources strategy of the organization is dependent on many other factors like the size of the organization, the nature of the industry, nature of the industry and the organizational culture.The efficiency and persuasiveness of human resources management is critical for the success of an organization like Marks Spencer that operates in a highly competitive environment.The retail sector is one where the differentiation between the different competitors is little or null. Employees play a very important role because they act as the point of interface of the company with the customers. They also implement the strategies of the organization.Research MethodologyThe main objective if this dissertation is to determine the effectiveness of human resources management at Marks Spencer. The seek will investigate into the fol lowing questionsThe degree of effectiveness of the human resources management at Marks Spencer.To what extent does human resources management at Marks Spencer influence the performance of the company on all the parameters (customer, employees, financial, internal processes) of its balanced scorecard.To what extent is the human resources management strategic in approach?What are the predominant human resources strategies at Marks Spencer?Is Human resources management contributing to the competitive advantage of Marks Spencer?The research methodological analysis will use both primary research and secondary winding winding research. prime research uses first hand primary sources of information. The primary research is original in nature. The main advantages of primary research arePrimary research is a good deal more valid than secondary research since it is tailored for the purposes of the research.Primary research can throw up really new and potent insights.The main disadvantage s of primary research areIt requires a lot of resources.It is very time-consuming.Primary research is often difficult to conduct as primary sources are difficult to find.Secondary research uses secondary sources of data and information. Secondary sources are those that already exist. Examples of secondary sources are internet, journals, government agencies publications etc.The main advantages of secondary research areThere are large numbers of sources of secondary research available on the internet and relevant publications.It is easier to conduct and does not require too many resources.The main disadvantages of secondary research areInformation collected from secondary sources may often be not relevant or valid for the objectives of the research.It lacks originality.This research will be predominantly qualitative in nature. The qualitative research will be supplemented by simple quantitative research using simple statistical models.Research MethodsPrimary research will involve inte rviewing the employees of the stores of Marks Spencer. These interviews will prove to be a source of great insight in instinct the employees perspective of Marks Spencer.The customers of the Marks Spencer stores will be interviewed to determine their direct of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the service of Marks Spencer. This will help in find the impact of human resources management on customer satisfaction, customer subjection etc.The secondary research will be intensive and extensive. It will analyze the financial statements of Marks Spencer and compare it with its rivals. The role that human resources management has played in the financial performance of Marks Spencer will be determined through this.The secondary research will also focus on all the aspects of the human resources management at Marks Spencer to determine its effectiveness.After the research is complete the data and information collected will be analyzed. wheresoever quantitative analysis is requir ed it will be done? Qualitative analysis will be as objective as possible.The findings of the research will be based on the above analysis. The findings will be followed by conclusions and reflections. The conclusions will determine the degree of effectiveness of the human resources management at Marks Spencer.The reflections will be the inborn opinion of the research scholar. It will recommend the ways in which the effectiveness of the human resources management can be enhanced so as to create more value for all the stakeholders of Marks Spencer.The research methodology will suffice in achieving the objectives of the research. The sample size for the purposes of the primary research will be 50. Secondary research will also take on industry analysis of the retail industry. This will help in ascertain the position of Marks Spencer vis--vis its competitors.The competitive strategy of Marks Spencer will be linked to the human resources strategy to determine whether the choice of the human resources strategy is influenced by the choice of the competitive strategy of the organization.The research will be a valid one. A valid research is that which measures what it intended to words. In other words, a research is valid if it is able to achieve all its objectives. The research methodology will ensure the harshness of this research.A good research is one which gives consistent results when repeated. Reliability is a measure of the credibleness of the findings of the research. Intensive research and objective analysis will ensure the validity of this research.TimescaleThere is sufficient slack in the time estimated for the completion of each activity. This will ensure that the dissertation is submitted in time and achieves its objectives even if some unforeseen contingencies crop up during its course.The time estimated for the various activities are as followsSubmission and approval of the research proposal 1 week.Primary research 2 weeks.Secondary research 2 weeks.Analysis of the data and information collected 2 weeks.Conclusions and Reflection 1 week.Finishing and editing of the dissertations 2 weeks.SuitabilityMy academic requirements, qualifications and my aptitude make me suitable for this research. The topic of the proposal will be of great practical use for my future roles. I have all the capabilities and resources that are needed for the successful completion of this research.I have good knowledge of the subject of human resources management. This knowledge can be put to application during the course of this research. It will increase my correspondence of the subject and bridge the gap between the theoretical and empirical.The primary research will present the challenge and the opportunity to do some fulfilling land work. The secondary research will throw up fresh perspectives, new ideas and new insights on the subject of human resources management.I have always felt that organizations and there human resources management str ategies still do not give due importance to the employees as an invaluable source of competitive advantage for the organization. This research will enable me to see if an organization like Marks Spencer actually has human resources management strategies that are effective in harnessing this very valuable resource.EthicsPlagiarism is against the values of the research scholar. It will be totally shunned in this dissertation. The extracts from the works of other researchers and writers on the subject have been used only in the literature review section.Wherever they will be used they will be extensively referenced. The subjects used in the primary research will be informed near the objectives of their research. Their participation in the primary research will have no harmful affect on them. The whole research process will be ethical and transparent.ReferencesBecker, B. and Gerhart, B. (1996) ,The impact of human resource management on organisational performance, Academy of Managemen t Journal 39 (4) 779-801Delery, J. and Doty, H. (1996) ,Modes of theorizing in SHRM ,Academy of Management Journal, 39(4), 802-835Kochan, T. and Barocci, T. (1985) ,Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations, LittleBrownPaauwe, J. (2009) ,HRM and Performance Achievement, Methodological Issues and Prospects,Journal of Management Studies, 46 (1)Pfeffer, J. (1994), private-enterprise(a) advantage through people, Harvard furrow School PressPrahalad, C. and Hamel, G. (1990) The core competences of the organisation Harvard Business ReviewStorey, J. (2007) What is strategic HRM? Human Resource Management A Critical Text, ThompsonUlrich, Dave (1996). Human Resource Champions. The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston, Mass. Harvard Business School Press.