MGMT6012 - Management Perspectives: A Case Study of Coles Supermarket

This case study report analyzes the management perspectives within Coles Supermarket, an Australian retail company. It explores the roles, functions, challenges, and risks faced by managers, including employee satisfaction and competitive threats. The report also discusses the impact of values, ethics, and diversity on the organizational culture and managerial performance. Furthermore, it examines the methods of working together, comparing Tuckman's and Belbin's team management models, and emphasizes the importance of teamwork. Key areas of management, such as organizational strategies, structure, and culture, are highlighted. Finally, the report discusses the sustainable practices adopted by Coles Supermarket to protect the environment, including CSR activities. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wealth of study resources, including past papers and solved assignments to support students.

Running head: MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES
Management Perspectives
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The report sheds light on the management perspectives that are involved in an oragnisation.
Various challenges, roles and functions of a manager are highlighted along with the impact of
value and diversity. For the purpose of the report, analysis is done on the market of Coles
Supermarket, a retail company in Australia that specialises in online shopping and delivery of
clothes. The method of working together in the organisation is highlighted along with the
sustainability approach undertaken by the company.

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Table of contents
Roles, function, challenge and risks of managers......................................................................2
Impact of value, ethics and diversity in organisations...............................................................3
Method of working together.......................................................................................................4
Focusing on areas of management.............................................................................................5
Sustainable practise adopted in organisations............................................................................7
Reference....................................................................................................................................9

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Roles, function, challenge and risks of managers
Every manager needs to undertake an important role in the organisations so that they
can help it to attain success. In the words of Holden, Linnerud and Banister (2017), managers
play various roles in an organisation. In an organisation like Coles, one such role played by a
manager is that of being a leader. Coles is a supermarket store located in Melbourne
Australia. It is a subsidiary of Wesfarmers and was established in 1914 (Coles.com.au. 2018).
At the same time, other roles include the monitoring, spokesperson and entrepreneurial that
can help managers to adapt to the various challenges they face in the organisation.
The challenges faced by the managers of Coles include the satisfaction of the
employees, threat from the competitors and other external environmental factors such as
changes in the political and economic level of a country. As observed by Le Blanc (2015) the
challenges present itself in the form of threats that can disrupt the organisation and cause loss
of productivity of Coles. Motivating employee can be a challenge for the managers as every
employee have different needs and preferences. Hence, every employee needs to be satisfied
so that managers can get the required cooperation and support from the employees.
Therefore, the functions of the managers can be discussed so that the challenges can
be mitigated. One of the most important functions of a manager is the ability to plan
effectively. Every manager needs to ensure that a proper planning is done by taking into
consideration the factors that affect the environment. This particular function helps in setting
out a blueprint based on which the goals of Coles can be achieved. Other functions include
organising, staffing, leading and controlling the employees so that effective results can be
obtained. However, risks can be involved while carrying out the functions that may affect the
organisations.

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According to Charles Jr, Schmidheiny and Watts (2017), the risks faced by the
managers of Coles can be from the external as well as the internal environment. For example,
improper planning of the strategies may cause risk factors, as the strategies cannot be applied
effectively. Hence, the risk of losing a competitive advantage exists. Along with this, the
biggest risk that managers face is the crisis in the economic factors. Without proper support
from the economy, an organisation faces the risk of a low purchasing power of customers.
Impact of value, ethics and diversity in organisations
According to Carley and Christie (2017), the value of an organisation signifies the
extent to which organisations tend to present itself in the market. The value of Coles upholds
the manner in which the duty of the organisation is undertaken. Every organisation need to
collaborate with the culture and value of the place in which it functions. The functioning of
the organisation signifies the value it needs to develop and follow so that it can conduct its
functions in an effective manner. Therefore, the values of Coles define the manner in which it
presents and conducts itself in the business market of Australia.
At the same time, it can be said that Coles need to be ethical while continuing its
business. The ethical factors include providing proper and fair employment opportunities to
people and treating them without in a kind manner. Ethical issues in an organisation include
abstaining from any type of abuses on the employees. Proper maintaining of the laws of a
country need to be upheld so that the organisations can function properly (Pearce 2014). It
has been seen that every organisation need to display the ethical rules and policies so that it
can protect the employees from any violation.
The ethical considerations in an organisation are important as an organisation consist
of various people from different backgrounds. The diversity in the organisations such as
Coles can help it to prolong its business in different cultures. According to Galegher, Kraut

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and Egido (2014), the presence of people of a different culture and ethnic background
provides organisations with an opportunity to learn about the culture that is present in other
countries. This can help during its expansion in that country and thereby enhance its
reputation. The decision-making capability of an organisation also improves as various
opinions are obtained that help in creating uniqueness in the organisations.
Thus, after analysing the effectiveness of ethics, values and diversity, it can be said
that the roles, behaviours and performance of the managers can also be pointed out. The
managers of Coles need to provide flexibility in the thought process and ensure that every
employee follows the ethics involved in the organisations. During decision-making, the
managers need to include the employees from the various cultures so that uniqueness of the
business can be maintained. Apart from this, the managers need to ensure that the
organisational values display the contents of the organisation and the beliefs it has while
continuing its business.
Method of working together
Teamwork is one of the most important aspects that can help an organisation to
succeed (Gargiulo et al. 2015). Without teamwork, an organisation cannot expect to continue
its good work and thereby the productivity may be hampered. In an organisation with diverse
teams, it is necessary that the employees work together to ensure that the goals of the
organisation, as well as the team, are achieved. Research from the use of quantitative method
indicates that teamwork can be maintained by effectively applying the model proposed by
Tuckman.
Tuckman’s team management model indicates that every team goes through several
processes that bring about ultimate success at the end. The stages of forming a team include
forming, storming, norming and performing. These four stages help in the development of a

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team so that an organisation can continue to work in an effective manner and ensure that
success is obtained. According to Forsyth (2018), the teamwork of the people requires being
done in a manner so that ethical policies are respected and the team develop a sense of mutual
respect for one another. However, criticism has been made about this model stating that the
team bonding by the application of this model takes time.
Thus, the application of a different teamwork model can be applied that can help
employees to identify the job roles that best suit their skills. According to Sherif (2015), the
application of Belbin’s nine-team role model can help employees develop skill sets that are
based specialisation of their work. Every employee can be provided with the task that suits
their personal skills and which can be used to contribute to the development of an
organisation. Thus, it can be said that the application of Belbin's model is effective than
Tuckman's model.
As stated by Ovsiannikov (2014) teamwork can help organisations to maintain
effective productivity and thereby can help in reaching the targets set by the company. Hence,
it can be said that in the case of Coles, the working in a team requires full cooperation and
trust of each member. The loyalty of the team members towards a team and an organisation
help it to ensure that effective team performance can be maintained. Thus, it can be said that
working as a team can lead Coles to success only if the team is guided properly and
collaboration is maintained.
Focusing on areas of management
Organisational strategies: The strategies of Coles include certain planning that is
necessary for the success of the business. The strategies include an analysis of the external
and the internal factors that may cause hindrance in the progress of an organisation. As stated
by Tucker (2017) organisational strategies need to focus on the planning of the organisation

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and the manner in which it can be implemented in its success. The planning need to be
undertaken to keep in mind the risk factors that may be faced by the organisations. Hence, it
can be said that organisational strategies are important as it helps an organisation to define
the area where it wants to be in the future. In other words, it can help Coles in the future
development in the retail market sector
Organisational structure: This is considered as one of the most important
frameworks of an organisation. The organisational structure includes the manner in which
every employee and employer needs to report and monitor one another so that no
communication exists. Usually, the hierarchical organisational structure is followed by most
organisations and it is important that the hierarchy be maintained so that organisational
development takes place (Abdolmanafi, Soroush and Mohamadi 2015). The organisational
structure of Coles helps in the development of the strategies as the ideas can be obtained from
the employees either directly or indirectly. The employers of every department need to ensure
that they priority of the works on an everyday basis so that strategies can be formed based on
the work performed. Working as a team can help employees understand the role they need to
play in the organisation and the people they need to report.

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Figure 1: Organisational structure of Coles
(Source: Abdolmanafi, Soroush and Mohamadi 2015)
Organisational culture: Organisational culture refers to the values and beliefs that are
set in an organisation. The manner in which these values are created shed light on the fact
that organisational culture is one of the most important factors that govern a company. The
culture provides an identity to the type of work done by an organisation like Coles and the
value it represents in the business. As stated by Engle et al. (2017) every organisation needs
to maintain a culture that balances work and relaxation aspects of the employees. Every
employee needs to be given the proper freedom to work and maintain factors that are
necessary for gaining refreshment. However, the freedom needs to be provided keeping in
mind the ethical policies and organisational procedures.
Sustainable practise adopted in organisations
Sustainable practises in an organisation are an indication of the factors that are used to
ensure the organisations maintain a business that protects the environment. In the modern
days, sustainability of a business is an important aspect as it helps in maintaining the
environment from any type of harm. The factors that are necessary for the conservation of an
environment are taken into consideration and it is necessary that the sustainability of the
business is developed by identifying the factors that cause harm to the environment (Halinen
and Jokela 2016).
The conservation of the natural resources is important for the protection of natural
resources for Coles. It is necessary that Coles make a vow of maintaining sustainability in the
environment by following the rules and regulations that direct sustainability. This includes
ensuring that the organisation use more innovative approaches to continue its working. Crane

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and Matten (2016) stated that the sustainability of an organisation could be determined by the
manner in which it involves itself in the CSR activities. The CSR activities can help Coles to
maintain a proper balance in the environment and spread the importance of sustainability in
the society. Thus, it can be said that the case study research of Robert K Yin is an excellent
example of the manner in which sustainability can be maintained.
In this research, it is stated that the sustainability of an organisation can help in the
development of an environment. One of the external threats that need to be accessed by Coles
is the threat to the environment. The society in which Coles works contributes to the
protection of the environment and thereby any type of constraints found can result in the
reduction of the popularity of the organisations. According to Dierksmeier et al. (2016), the
manner in which the environment is protected signifies the popularity of an organisation.
Thus, it can be concluded that the management perspectives that are involved in the
organisations need to focus on its sustainability. Managers of an organisation need to
understand the role environment plays in the success of a business and accordingly make
plans for the success of the company.

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Reference
Abdolmanafi, S., Soroush, H. and Mohamadi, M., 2015. A Study on the Relationship
between the Roles Played by Managers in Administrative System with Organizational
Effectiveness. Asian Journal of Research in Business Economics and Management, 5(2),
pp.215-226.
Carley, M. and Christie, I., 2017. Managing sustainable development. Routledge.
Charles Jr, O.H., Schmidheiny, S. and Watts, P., 2017. Walking the talk: The business case
for sustainable development. Routledge.
Coles.com.au. 2018. Coles Supermarkets. [online] Available at: http://www.coles.com.au/
[Accessed 30 Mar. 2018].
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Dierksmeier, C., Amann, W., Von Kimakowitz, E., Spitzeck, H., Pirson, M. and Von
Kimakowitz, E. eds., 2016. Humanistic ethics in the age of globality. Springer.
Engle, R.L., Lopez, E.R., Gormley, K.E., Chan, J.A., Charns, M.P. and Lukas, C.V., 2017.
What roles do middle managers play in implementation of innovative practices?. Health care
management review, 42(1), p.14.
Forsyth, D.R., 2018. Group dynamics. Cengage Learning.
Galegher, J., Kraut, R.E. and Egido, C., 2014. Intellectual teamwork: Social and
technological foundations of cooperative work. Psychology Press.

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Gargiulo, C., Malandrino, D., Pirozzi, D. and Scarano, V., 2015. Simulation data sharing to
foster teamwork collaboration. Scalable Computing: Practice and Experience, 15(4), pp.309-
330.
Halinen, A. and Jokela, P., 2016. Exploring Ethics in Business Networks: Propositions for
Future Research. In Extending the Business Network Approach (pp. 333-356). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.
Holden, E., Linnerud, K. and Banister, D., 2017. The imperatives of sustainable
development. Sustainable Development, 25(3), pp.213-226.
Le Blanc, D., 2015. Towards integration at last? The sustainable development goals as a
network of targets. Sustainable Development, 23(3), pp.176-187.
Ovsiannikov, L.V.E., 2014. Group analysis of differential equations. Academic Press.
Pearce, D., 2014. Blueprint 3: Measuring sustainable development. Routledge.
Sherif, M., 2015. Group conflict and co-operation: Their social psychology (Vol. 29).
Psychology Press.
Tucker, E., 2017. Engaging employees: three critical roles for managers. Strategic HR
Review, 16(3), pp.107-111.