Context of Business Assignment - Marks and Spencer

CONTEXT OF BUSINESS

Contents
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................3
1: A Brief history and summary of the business and the rationale for choice....................................3
2. According to your research, discuss their vision, leadership style and management practices and
the various strategies making use of various theories you have studied as evidence.........................4
3. Analyze how above have been achieved or implemented by this firm giving suitable examples...6
Recommendations for improvements................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Leadership refers to an ability and skills of individuals with the help of which they can
influence the behaviour and perception of others in desirable way. In an organisation, managers have
such kind of skills by which they can get work done from the workers in an effective and efficient
way so as to achieve desired goals and objectives of an organisation. Leaders has perform various
functions such as motivating and guiding workers towards achievement of desired objectives, creating
better relations between workers and organisation through providing them appreciation for their work.
For this, there are various types of leadership styles and management approaches such as bureaucratic,
autocratic etc. which are required to adopt in order to bring efficiency in work of employees. The
present assignment report is based on Marks and Spencer which is engaged in providing multiple
range of products and services including clothing, luxurious food and home products. It was
established in the year 1884 by the Michael Marks and Thomas. The project discusses the brief
history of company, leadership and management styles, vision of firm and their different strategies to
run business more successfully.
1: A Brief history and summary of the business and the rationale for choice
Marks and Spencer is UK-based organisation which deals in wide variety of products such as
clothing, home and luxurious food products. It is operated in multiple number of nations such as
India, USA and many more. Its headquartered is located in Westminster, London and run in form of
partnership between Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer (Amagoh, 2019).
History
Marks and Spencer is globally successful business organisation which was established in the
year 1884 by Thomas Spencer and Michael Marks in the year 1884. In the year 1884, Marks met Issac
Jowitt Dewhirst while doing work. Dewhirst give 5 Pound to Marks to establish his Penny Bazaar on
Kirkgate Market. In the year 1894, Marks acquired a permanent stall in Leed’s market where he
invited Spencer to join his hand and become a partner. From then to now, they both reach their
business at global level by expanding to Afghanistan, Austria, France etc.
Summary of the business
Marks and Spencer is multinational organisation who is more popular in UK due to having
specialisation in selling clothing, home and luxury food items. The company is listed in the London
Stock exchange and named in FTSE 100 Index. M&S is currently operating its business with the help
of their over 979 stores out of which 615 stores are located in UK only. In the year 1998, M&S
becomes the first British retailer to generate a pre-tax profit of over 1 billion pound. The company has
employed more than 80,000 employees who contributed their maximum efforts in achievement of
organisational goals and objectives (Ardichvili, Cardozo and Gasparishvili, 2018).

Rational of the study
Marks and Spencer is well-established and popular in UK and across worldwide whose
operations are running successfully in multiple number of nations. Thus, the company is selected for
the purpose of this study to analyse their different competitive strategies and leadership styles so that
it can educate other small businesses to do the same to achieve growth and success in competitive
market over a period of time.
2. According to your research, discuss their vision, leadership style and management
practices and the various strategies making use of various theories you have studied as
evidence
Vision of Marks and Spencer
M&S has created its vision statement which depicts the growth and development of business
in future period of time. Its vision is to be standard against which other retail companies are measured.
It has to be become benchmark for the companies engaged in similar sector so that better quality
products can be delivered to the people (Chen and Lee, 2018.
Leadership of management style adopted by Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer is an organisation operated at global level in more successful manner
from last so many years. It gets success and growth due to having an effective management who are
more knowledgeable to formulate and implement plans and policies that ensures success in near
future. To drive them in market more successfully on continuous basis, there are different leadership
and management practices which are required to be adopted within an organisation. Here are these
leadership styles and management practices in described manner:
Autocratic leadership or management style:
In this leadership or management style, the managers have an authority and power to take
decisions on their own without getting suggestions from their workers. This kind of managers are self-
confident who believes on their own making plans and strategies. The major disadvantage of
adopting such type of leadership style is that it harms the interest and working behaviour of workers
due to not getting invitation to involve in decision making process and share their views and
suggestions. This will results in decreasing their productivity and damaging working environment at
workplace (Church and Waclawski, 2009).
Consultative leadership/management style:

Under this kind of leadership/management style, the manager invite their workers to get
involved in decision making process and make them feel free to express their views and suggestions
on particular business matter. These types of managers are friendly in nature and have good listening
skills. It increases the retention rate of employees by giving them importance to provide their views
through various ways including newsletter, team briefing or suggestion boxes.
Democratic leadership/management style:
Under this style, the managers gives full authority and freedom to their employees to take the
decisions on their own to execute task allotted to them in an effective and efficient manner. The
managers shows trust towards their employees due to which no interferences are made by them in
their decision making process. This will encourage employees to generate new and innovative ideas to
operate business activities in more profitable manner.
From the above leadership or management styles, consultative style is more suitable to adopt
by M&S as it provides equal opportunities to both managers and employees in decision making
process. It increases the effectiveness of decisions and plans which in results facilitate company in
achieving its vision and objectives within pre-determined time period. For example, Expanding
business in other nation requires suggestions from employees as they are well known about the market
where the demands and needs of the company’s products are more (Hood, 2012).
Different strategies made by using various theories
The growth and sustainability of business are very much depend on the decisions and
strategies made by the management. For this, the management must have an adequate resources to
execute plans without an interruptions. It includes raw materials, capital, knowledge, supplier and
employees’ support. Having an effective management enables an organisation to achieve its desired
goals and objectives within limited period of time. There are several managerial functions such as
organising, planning, controlling and leading. In M&S, the management is mainly focuses on
providing perks, rewards, incentives etc. to their employees with an objective of increasing their
contribution towards achievement of organisational goals and objectives. For this, managers and
leaders of M&S are adopting theory X and theory Y motivational theory to motivate their employees.
Such motivational theory was introduced in the year 1960 by Mc Gregor. It is briefly described as
under:
Theory X
Under this category, the employees are lazy and less dedicated towards completion of
allotted task within given time period. These types of employees gets motivations by receiving
rewards and incentives from their respective managers.

Theory Y
Under this category, the employees are more passionate towards their work and continuing
hardworking to complete allotted task within pre-determined time period. These kind of employees
gets motivation by taking participating in career training and development programs conducted by the
management on regular time period.
3. Analyze how above have been achieved or implemented by this firm giving suitable
examples
M&S can continuing to achieve further growth and success at global level if suitable leadership
and management practices are adopted under considerations of management. The company is well
established and popular in UK market who always supports their employees in execution of their
allotted task. Leadership styles and management practices are more beneficial for M&S to achieve
competitive advantage in rivalry market (Sorenson, 2009). Consultative leadership and management
style is adopted by M&S through which the managers can discuss with their worker before making a
final decision for the betterment of an organisation. This will brings self-confidence among workers to
get engage in business activities and do their best. The managers of M&S adopts X & Y motivational
theory in order to encourage their employees to increase their performance level on regular basis.
Also the judgement made by the managers of M&S are based on such theory.
For example, In M&S, there are two employees out of which one employee is hard worker
whereas the other one is giving less effort to perform its roles. For this, the managers choose such
theory to get work done by them in an effective and efficient manner. By using theory X, managers
can provide rewards and punished workers on the basis of their performance level. For the first
employee, the managers appreciates their work through giving reward and incentives. On the other
hand, for the second employee, the managers provides Training to second employee in order to
increase theory contribution towards achievement of organisational goals and objectives (Bell,
Bryman and Harley, 2018).
The managers can also adopts autocratic style through which the managers can allot roles and
responsibilities to their workers according to the visions and objective of M&S. It is more helpful in
case of complex situations where the decision is required to make within shorter period of time in
order to achieve competitive advantage in market. For example, fluctuations in market trends
decreases the sales figure of M&S. Under this situation, manager should use their skills and
knowledge to make decision on their own and stop manufacturing low demanded products in order to
reduce loss of company.

In M&S, democratic style can also be adopted at the situation when the employees are directed to
complete allotted task within given deadline. This will encourage employees to generate new and
innovative ideas on their own to complete the task without investing time in getting consulting with
the managers.
Recommendations for improvements
M&S is multinational organisation engaged in manufacturing and selling multiple number of
products such as clothing, foods and home products. Thus, it is very important for an organisation to
motivate their workers and increases their participation in decision making process for the betterment
of an organisation. For this, an appropriate skills and knowledge should be acquired by the
management in order to adopt suitable leadership and management styles. Here are some skills which
must be present in managers:
Communication abilities: The managers and leaders of Tesco must have an effective
communication aptitudes so they can impart and cooperate with their subordinates more effectively.
Through this, a healthy environment can be maintained at workplace which indirectly makes positive
impact on the productivity and performance level of employees.
Motivational Skills: Motivation brings maximum contribution from employees towards
achievement of organisational goal and objectives. Thus, management and leaders must have skills
and abilities to motivate its employees which increases their loyalty and performance level
(Lankoski, 2016)
Decisive Skills: The managers and leaders of M&S must required to have decision making
skills so that market opportunities can be grabbed and achieve strong position in market. Having such
skill increases the utilisation of resources which in results increasing cost of business operations and
increase profitability.
The management and leaders of M&S should adopt democratic style of
leadership/management as it supports in creating healthy work environment by encouraging
employees to get iinolved in decision making process. On the other side, X & Y theory of motivation
should be adopt in order to increase performance level of employees which increases the chances of
achieving desired goals and objectives of an organisation (Marlow and McAdam, 2015).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above project report that leadership and management styles
play a a significant role in maintaining healthy work environment. For this, leaders and managers

must have an effective skills and knowledge to implement suitable leadership and management styles
so that organisational goals and objectives can be achieved within pre-determined time period.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Amagoh, F., 2019. Leadership development and leadership effectiveness. Management
Decision. 47(6). pp.989-999.
Ardichvili, A., Cardozo, R. N. and Gasparishvili, A., 2018. Leadership styles and
management practices of Russian entrepreneurs: Implications for transferability of
Western HRD interventions. Human Resource Development Quarterly. 9(2). pp.145-
155.
Bell, E., Bryman, A. and Harley, B., 2018. Business research methods. Oxford university
press.
Chen, C. C. and Lee, Y. T., 2018. Leadership and management in China: Philosophies,
theories, and practices.
Conger, J. A., 2018. Leadership: The art of empowering others. Academy of Management
Perspectives. 3(1). pp.17-24.
Hood, J. N., 2012. The relationship of leadership style and CEO values to ethical practices in
organizations. Journal of Business ethics. 43(4). pp.263-273.
Lankoski, L., 2016. Alternative conceptions of sustainability in a business context. Journal of
cleaner production, 139, pp.847-857.
Marlow, S. and McAdam, M., 2015. Incubation or induction? Gendered identity work in the
context of technology business incubation. Entrepreneurship Theory and
Practice, 39(4), pp.791-816.
Sorenson, R. L., 2009. The contribution of leadership style and practices to family and
business success. Family Business Review. 13(3). pp.183-200.
Whalley, J. and Curwen, P., 2018. Vodafone signals the demise of copper: A regular column
on the information industries. Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, 20(3),
pp.288-290.