Importance of Transparency and Accountability in Sainsbury's

SUMMATIVE Assignment
The importance of transparency and accountability
in a organisation. A case of Sainsbury`s

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Literature Review.........................................................................................................................4
Discussion of primary and secondary data..................................................................................9
Critical review of the results of the research.............................................................................16
Recommendations and Action plan...........................................................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................24
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................26
QUESTIONNAIRE...................................................................................................................26
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT......................................................................................................27
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................28
Problem statement......................................................................................................................28
Research aim:.............................................................................................................................28
Research Objectives:..................................................................................................................28
Research Questions:...................................................................................................................28
LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................................................................29
Concept and importance of corporate governance within an organisation................................29
Impact of issue of transparency and accountability on the performance of Sainsbury’s...........29
Strategy that would be used by Sainsbury’s for dealing with the issue of transparency and
accountability at workplace.......................................................................................................29
Research Methodology..................................................................................................................30
Gantt Chart.....................................................................................................................................31
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................33

INTRODUCTION
Corporate governance is that system in an organization that the companies which are
directed and controlled for the boards of directors are responsible for the governance of their
companies. This is very important for the shareholder's role for appointing the directors and the
auditors for the satisfaction of the appropriate governance for being able to develop a structure in
the organization. The corporate governance is the factor which influences the organizational
shareholder, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders. In this formative assessment the
selected organization is Sainsbury's which is UK based and is the second largest chain of
supermarket in UK. This organization was founded by John James Sainsbury in 1869. This
company at present is also known as the largest UK retailer of groceries. In this organization
everything including groceries and clothing to homewares, electricals and other. It allows the
business to offer a great range of financial services. This supermarket has 16% of the market
share of the total supermarket industry. J Sainsbury's Plc is public limited company which is
listed on FTSE. This organization is also able to provides Sainsbury's business direct
transactional websites that is helpful for selling the products online. It has been the key towards
the organization's success especially during the pandemic period. Due to the increase in the
organizational operations after the pandemic this company has focused on entering new markets.
For Sainsbury's the focus of the company's board of directors is the primary force that is able to
influence the corporate governance.
For a company a bad corporate governance can cast the doubt on company operations and
its ultimate profitability. Corporate governance is known as the factor which is helpful for the
areas of environmental awareness, ethical behaviour, corporate strategy, compensation and also
the risk management. The major basis of the principles of corporate governance are
accountability, transparency, fairness and responsibilities. Governance refers to the specifically

establishment of the set of rules, controls, policies and resolutions that is able to put in place the
dictatorship of the corporate behaviour. The focus of the company's corporate governance is
considered to be very important for the investors to show whether the company is moving the in
the direction of the business integrity. In an organization the corporate governance is very
helpful for the company to develop their trust with the investors and community. The investors
of the organization look towards the corporate governance practices for investing in their shares.
The issues that the corporate governance of Sainsbury's faces are related to lack of transparency
and accountability. This is related to the insufficient cooperation with the auditors which is
helpful for the business to ensure the compliance of the financial documents. Poor structure of
the boards helps the business to make it ineffective for the incumbents. In this project the
discussion of the key areas of the theory which are applicable for the given case will be
explained through literature. This assessment will provide a critical analysation of the result of
both secondary and primary research. It will also consist of the recommendation with an action
plan for developing the possible solutions for the problem of issue.
The objectives of the project include:
 To analyse the analysis of the corporate governance concept at Sainsbury’s.
 To evaluate the evaluation of the consequence of corporate governance on the
performance, if transparency issues occur, as well as the analysis of a strategy to be used
by Sainsbury’s, in order to effectively deal with the issue.
Below, the project incorporates a discussion of the key areas of the theory, explained
through literature, followed by the provision of a critical analysation of the result of both
secondary and primary research.
MAIN BODY
Literature Review
Theme 1
As per the view of Zaman and et.al., (2022) corporate governance is able to cover both
the social and institutional aspects of the business. This is the system of the organization in
which it is director or managed. Corporate governance has been known to be influencing the
objective of the business for setting and mitigating the risks. Monitoring and assessing of risk is
the part of cooperate governance which helps in optimization of the internal performance. Bhagat
and Bolton, (2019) also added that the corporate governance is the system of principles, policies

and procedure which are defined as the responsibilities and accountabilities that is used by the
stakeholders for the work that is helpful for the inheriting the conflicts of interest. It has also
been known as the interaction between the different participants for shaping the corporation's
performance and direction in which it wants to proceed.
According to Adnan, Hay and van Staden, (2018) the strong and effective corporate
governance is helpful for the cultivation of the company culture of integrity that leads to the
positive performance and sustainable business overall. It can be said that the existence of the
increasing the accountability of the individuals in the team is helpful for the company. This is the
factor that is able to bring accountability in the organization. A company which has a strong or
good corporate governance is able to signify the market which is helpful for the business to
increase its interests towards the management. Aguilera, Marano and Haxhi, (2019) is able to
add that the stakeholders of the organization can provide the company strong competitive
advantage. Hence, corporate governance is very important to be measured in the organization.
Corporate governance is known for all its references to the laws, regulations, codes and practices
which are able to define the company towards the administration of the rights and responsibilities
for the active agents in an organization.
Gerged, (2021) explains that the importance of the corporate governance is helpful for
making an apparent that is helpful for the creation of a positive impact that occurs with the risk
of controlling the organizational procedures and streamline with the consistent. Corporate
governance is able to make the business develop an efficient process that is effective due o the
repeatability and consistency of the tasks that are performed. Visibility of Errors are also known
for the repeatability and consistently helping the business bring new and quick identification of
the nonconformities that are in the process of the growth. Scherer and Voegtlin, (2020) also
explains that the reduction of the costs is able to streamline the companies that can allow the
business to eliminate the waste from the scrap, rework and any other cost of inefficiencies.
Smoother running of operations are known for the regular disruptions that are known to be
inconsistent process of eliminating operations specifics such as either conform or non-conform.
The compliance of the organization is also the culture that is helpful for supporting the corporate
governance for allowing the product to reach the market.
Theme 2

Sofyani, Riyadh and Fahlevi, (2020) explained that the role of transparency and
accountability for an organization has been considered to be the study which is extensively
administered for providing the quantitative evidence regarding the impact of accountability on
the organizational performance. It is the examination of the association between the levels of
organizational performance and accountability which have the three major functions of human
resources. It was also noticed that the level of autonomy perceived by the employees was the
reason for influencing the association between accountability and performance. Agustin and
Arza, (2020) suggested that the accountability is the reason for manifesting in staffing,
performance evaluation and compensation of all positively significant organizational
performance.
Shin and Park, (2019) has focused on the specific roles of the accountability which is the
mechanism that defines. Accountability is factor for an organization which tells its employees
and managers for being accountable for their actions and duties. This is effective for the keeping
the employees attached to the best standard of output and make them responsible for their work.
In this organization the different terms of structure and hierarchy is what allows organization to
position their employees for the achievement of organizational goals and principles. Wadesango
and Nhubu, (2021) explains that for better work-life balance there needs to be a trade-off
between work and life. This is the extra work that is expected from the employees.
Accountability in employees is important for engaging into organizational culture.
Study of Heimstädt and Dobusch, (2020) explains that transparency has been the key
factor which is the top priority for the company. The management of creating openness and
accountability is the right thing for seeking the things which are more clear for boosting the
employee engagement. The issues that has been noticed in an organization with lack of
transparency is development of the blaming culture. In this culture the employees in the
organization find ways of blaming each other. Lyrio, Lunkes and Taliani, (2018) added that lack
of transparency is also the reason for decreasing the trust in the organization. This is also the
factor which can result in cheating and also creates increase in the resistance of the organization.
Accountability in an organization as per Bhimavarapu and Rastogi, (2020) is very
essential and should not have any issues otherwise it can create negative impacts. Lack of
accountability can create the stress and frustration for managers at all the levels within an
organization. This is the current trend for the organization which pushes the decision-making of

the organization that has been able to empower people for being more efficient towards this
department. Ejiogu, Ejiogu and Ambituuni, (2019) explains that the managers are able to find the
most of their efforts for yielding the results that the business is able to achieve. Poor
accountability in an organization can be the reason due to which the organization can have
unclear roles and responsibilities. On the other side, Nikbakht, Weysihesar and Fateri (2020)
said that lack of the transparency can lead the employees to get distracted for the organizational
goals. This can result in effective results which can create the unbothered working performance
in the environment. This type of the non directional and doubtful scenario does not motivate the
employees to get reason for working in the organization which enhances the employee turnover.
It can increase the cost and decline the goodwill of enterprise in market which might affect the
capacity of coordinating with corporate governance.
In the views of Sodhi and Tang (2019) there are various factors that affect the
performance of enterprise so having en effective evaluation is important in turn gaining success
by obtaining competitiveness. The one of the significant reason for the success that is identified
is to develop the proper accountability of organization so that higher level of responsible
working situation can be created. This enables the employees to eliminate the conflict arising
situation by ensuring that they are properly taking the responsibility for the conducted actions. It
can provide the assistance in achieving the positive working environment so that ensuring that
staff is effectively coordinating with the prevailing corporate working culture. On the other side,
Koroleva and Tikhomirova (2021) depicted that in order to eliminate the issue arising
circumstances firm require focusing on building such working culture which is motivating as
blaming and disrespectful circumstances which can decrease the morale of employees. Thus,
employees can get negatively impacted and provide lower productive results so that ineffective
performance of enterprise can be derived so having transparency become essential to offer clarity
of organizational expectation.
Theme 3:
In the views of Ghasmi and et.al., 2019 there are different types of the strategies which
can be taken into consideration for overcoming the issues prevailing in the organization. The one
of the crucial strategy that can be adopted by the enterprise for overcoming the issue regarding
the transparency & accountability which involves creating provision for disclosure of data and
designing an open data policy. This type of the legal provision can provide assistance in gaining

the threat of indulging into complications so that proper functioning by ensuring accountability
can be obtained. On the contrast to this, Santri and et.al., (2022) stated that there are various
requirements of the business which are needed to be adhered by the enterprise in respect to
achieve successful results. The one of the major tactic that can be implemented by the
organization includes. Offering the training & development so that significance of accountability
can b explained. This can permit the firm to get the appropriate responsible working pattern in
turn optimum utilization of the resources can be become possible. The mentioned kind of the
strategy is helpful in giving the competitiveness among the employees so that achieving the
significant outputs of managing and adhering with implemented rules and regulations can
become possible.
According to Schilling-Vacaflor (2021) in order handle the issue of conflict that is
arising due to the lack of transparency which can be resolved by having the employee
engagement in turn better performance can be achieved. Employee management allow the staff
to get opportunity to share their views and opinions with the management in turn goal of firm
regarding building transparency can be developed. This can be helpful for the organization to get
the major competitiveness by ensuring that higher belonging feeling among staff can be created.
In against to this, Sumantri and et.al., (2022) to avoid the situation related with blaming and
disrespectful scenario better emphasis on having employee relationship via ensuring that
significance of their role and outputs for organizational success can be make understood. This
can permit getting positive & successful outputs by enabling employees to achieve job security
so that higher productive & favorable relationship can affect firm in positive manner.
As per the views of Rajala and Kokko (2021) in order to have the effective
accountability in firm the one of the crucial technique that can be used is feedback mechanism.
This can permit the firm to get information regarding the lacking areas such ineffective job
security, cutting off payments, etc so that crucial improvement action can be taken. Having
detailed information regarding the prevailing problems in the firm which is not allowing
employees to have accountability can be improved by offering relevant & reliable solutions to
motivate them. On the contrast to this, Gu, Hasan and Lu (2022) for having effective
transparency and accountability regarding the exiting circumstances of the organization is
building fair performance appraisal technique. This can allow the staff to get the corrective form
of the outcomes for taking the accountability related with the executed course of action and