Organisational Culture, Management and Leadership

The assignment discusses the importance of management, leadership, and culture in an organisation. It highlights the need for an organisation to analyse their management and leadership practices along with the organisational culture prevailing within the company. The impact on the firm's strategies and functions is also discussed, as well as the provision of recommendations to improve management and leadership and organisational culture.

REPORT ON
MORISSONS
SUPERMARKET

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Brief History and Summary of the Business Selected................................................................1
Discussion of Vision, Leadership and Management Practices and Organisational Culture.......2
How Culture and Management Style influence Business Functions and Strategies...................6
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Management refers to the procedure of planning, organising, directing as well as
controlling all the operations, projects and resources within an organisation. Leadership,
however, means the activities undertaken by individuals within a company to effectively lead the
whole organisation towards achieving the set goals and objectives of the firm (Bolden, 2016).
The report below is based on Morrisons Supermarket, which is one of the leader supermarket
chains within the UK. It covers, a brief history and summary of the company and rationale of
choice. Furthermore, the report covers their vision, mission, leadership and management
practices and organisational culture using effective theories. Moreover, it covers how the culture
and management style influence their business functions and strategies. The report also includes
recommendations for the organisation.
MAIN BODY
Brief History and Summary of the Business Selected
Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc, or Morrisons Supermarket is one of the biggest chains
in the retail sector within the UK. The firm's headquarters are in Bradford, West Yorkshire,
England. Founded by William Morrison in 1899, the business was started as distribution of egg
and butter by the owner. Moreover, his son overtook the firm in 1952 and established a small
store at the centre of the city (Mohelska and Sokolova, 2015). It was the first store to provide
self-service in Bradford as well as the first to have prices on offerings at the store. The firm
opened its first supermarket by the name of “Victoria”, in 1961. By 1967, the firm became listed
on London Stock Exchange and became a Public Limited Company.
Since then, the company has been quite effective in relation to earning a massive market
share within the UK and is currently holding 4th position within the overall UK market.
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Illustration 1: Number of Morrisons stores in the United Kingdom from financial year
2009/2010 to 2017/2018
§
(Source: Number of Morrisons stores in the United Kingdom from financial year 2009/2010 to
2017/2018. 2019)
The firm has around 500 stores within the UK in prominent cities and has an effective
customer base within the whole country. Currently, the firm has effective ties with organisations
like Amazon to provide same day delivery for customers and has shifted its working recently on
to providing diversified offerings to the customers within the country.
The reason for which this company was chosen is that the firm has an effective
management structure and is quite experimental in terms of formulating its strategies related to
leadership and management culture (McCaffery, 2018).
Discussion of Vision, Leadership and Management Practices and Organisational Culture
Morrisons Supermarket is quite an effective chain for which, it is very important that
several areas of the firm are appropriately analysed and assessed in order to gain a better
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understanding of operations of the organisations. Several aspects are related to Morrisons
Supermarkets are discussed below:
Organisational Vision
Vision of Morrisons Supermarket is to be an effective Food Specialist for everyone
(Szczepańska-Woszczyna, 2015). Furthermore, another effective vision of the company is to
effectively differentiate itself from competitors within the marketplace through having its own
manufacturing and packing abilities, more individuals working within the company than other
retailers and enhancing more specialised employees within the organisation. All the operations
within the company are associated with essential and effective achievement of vision of the
organisation.
Leadership and Management Practices
It is crucial to understand all the practices and procedures which the organisation follows
with respect to the leading as well as managing the overall organisational operations.
In context with management, the practices adopted by Morrisons Supermarket could be
well explained using a theory which is discussed below:
Classical Management Theory:
This theory reflects different take on management which were associated with distinct
researches by management experts throughout the years. There are different theories under this
which reflect different types through which organisational operations are managed. Some of
these theories and practices are mentioned below:
 Scientific Management Theory:
Developed by Frederick Taylor, this is one of the oldest management theories. This
theory emphasises on the aspect that forcing individuals to perform at their best could be harmful
to achieve optimum results, rather, firms must simplify their tasks in order to enhance
productivity. It works on several principles, such as an organisation must work towards
analysing each aspect of the activity and appropriately select one best alternative to perform the
same. Further, each individual for the activity must be carefully chosen and appropriate training
must be given to them to ensure optimum performance. This theory also emphasises on the fact
that managers must cooperate with each worker to ensure that they are performing as per
standards. Additionally, each responsibility and task must be equally divided among employees
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and scientific methods must be used by management to ensure each individual has a clear
perception about the task and duties.
 Bureaucratic Management Theory:
This theory was developed by Max Weber and focuses on creation of bureaucratic
organisation. It was formed when tradition and politics were basis of acquisition of important
positions. There were several policies which were highlighted by Weber, for example,
employees must be hired on basis of their qualification and training and promotions must be
based on experience and achievement. Moreover, there must be an effective structure for
accountability and responsibilities and tasks must be effectively defined and divided without any
sort of impartiality.
Out of both these theories, Morrisons Supermarket uses Scientific management theories
as an effective part of their organisation. This is because, each organisational activity is
appropriately analysed before being performed and each alternative to perform the task is
analysed on the basis of their feasibility and productivity. There are various techniques such as
Key Performance Indicators and Performance Appraisals, which are used by the firm to monitor
performance of each employee within the supermarkets. Furthermore, work is allocated in an
effective manner so that employees acquire effective training within the company to enhance
their productivity.
Leadership Approaches:
As for leadership, there are several approaches which are adopted by organisations which
are mentioned below:
 Autocratic Leadership:
In this approach, only a few individuals within the company have authority and power for
decision making. It is a one dimensional leadership style in which there is a very limited or low
consultation obtained by the subordinates and all the crucial calls taken by senior management
are communicated to subordinates.
 Democratic Leadership:
Within this type of leadership style, leaders of the organisation undertake employees'
opinions into consideration (Binder, 2016). This type of leadership is followed by companies
where individuals working within the company are quite skilled and effective. Furthermore, there
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is a two-way communication which is established in this kind of leadership in both horizontal as
well as vertical direction.
Both these leadership styles are quite necessary for a company to follow as both provide
the firm with distinct benefits. Out of both these approaches, Morrisons Supermarket adopts
Democratic Style of Leadership. This is evident from the fact that quite recently, David Potts,
who was chosen as the head of the whole supermarket chain, called out the shoppers and workers
to gain their opinion about the working of the company and what best the firm could do to
effectively perform better in future (MORRISONS' NEW CHIEF EXEC: "MY GOAL IS TO
LISTEN", 2019).
Organisational Culture:
In context with the culture which is adopted by Morrisons Supermarket, Charles Handy's
cultural topology could be used as an appropriate theory which is described below:
 Power Culture:
In this culture, the power is experienced and enjoyed by a few people within the
organisation. In addition to this, they are provided special privileges. They delegate duties to
other individuals and employees are required to strictly follow rules and regulations imposed by
their leaders.
 Task Culture:
Within this, teams are formulated within the company in order to ensure solution to
critical dilemmas. People who have common interests form a team together within this culture.
An effective level of innovation is required within these teams to achieve activities appropriately.
 Role Culture:
Specialisation of an employee is considered an effective basis on which roles and
responsibilities are delegated to them. It is up to employees to decide what best they could
perform and thus, they take up different challenges throughout.
 Person Culture:
People within this culture are quite concerned about themselves than the organisation.
Employees within the company merely perform activities for their own interests and not of the
company. Moreover, promotions in this culture are based on favouritism and goodwill among
people. Within Morrisons Supermarket, this culture is effectively adopted and is the basis of
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performance within the organisation. Managers promote employees on basis of favouritism and
employees are hired on basis of their relations with existing employees (Questions and Answers
about Wm Morrisons Supermarkets, 2019).
How Culture and Management Style influence Business Functions and Strategies
It is crucial to analyse the overall impact which culture and management style has on the
company. This is because, each operation, function and strategy which is performed within the
firm are directly influenced by the type of culture which prevails within the organisation and
type of management and leadership structure (Killett and et. al., 2016).
Where management approach is concerned, the firm's analytical working and application
of Scientific Management theories allow the firm to develop effective strategies related to all the
major business functions related to marketing, finance, sales and research and development.
Furthermore, techniques like KPI helps the firm in achieving strategies through setting up several
indicators and working effectively to achieve the same. It also helps the organisation in analysing
the gap through these indicators and through implementing scientific management theory.
However, as per the leadership style is concerned, Democratic Leadership allows the
organisation in ensuring better and collective growth of the company, however, it delays their
decision making process. In addition to this, there is always a risk that harmony of the firm might
get disrupted in case this approach is misapplied. Reason for the same is that there are always
chances that opinions of employees differ, which means implementation of strategies which are
favourable for one party, might not be agreed by the other. However, in case of critical decision
making, Morrisons Supermarket could actually face a downfall, as this approach is quite time
consuming.
Where the culture is concerned, the firm opts out for person culture, which restricts the
company in establishing harmony among its structure. In addition, the culture of the company is
a prominent reason for demotivation among employees. This is because in this culture, every
effective opportunity which an employee experiences is due to their relations with the senior
management. This sidelines the experienced and highly skilled workforce operating within the
company. Thus, due to this fact, the firm's strategies and functions might take a setback as the
organisation would fail to encourage deserving employees to perform well and contribute to the
company's productivity.
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Recommendations
Each organisation functions in a different manner in terms of strategy and functions and it
gets important for the organisation to effectively consider several appropriate pointers or
suggestions, which help them to grow within their respective markets (Macdonald, Burke and
Stewart, 2018). In context with Morrisons Supermarket, the organisation is currently at 4th
position in the market and is yet to overtake companies like TESCO, Sainsbury's and Asda, in
terms of profitability and revenue. Thus, to achieve the same, there are various recommendations
which the firm must follow. These elements are discussed below:
 Instead of just opting out for one leadership style, the firm must focus on implementing
both Autocratic and Democratic approaches depending upon the situation. Thus, if the
organisation requires to take spontaneous and critical decisions, it must opt out for
Autocratic style. Furthermore, democratic style could be implemented by the firm in case
it plans to formulate its organisation structure or modify their strategies.
 As for culture, the firm must adopt Task and Role Culture, which allows individuals to
work as per their expertise, as well as ensure effective teamwork within their company.
This would also help Morrisons Supermarket in maintaining the motivation and
encouragement within the organisation and these cultures prevailing within the firm
could be used as an appropriate and long-term contributing towards it sustainable growth
and development (Maitland, Hills and Rhind, 2015).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded that management, leadership and culture are very important
elements of an organisation. It is essential for an organisation to analyse their management and
leadership practices along with the organisational culture prevailing within he company.
Furthermore, their impact on the firm's strategies and functions as it is important for the firm to
realise positive and negative aspects related to their practices. Lastly, it is very important that
certain recommendations are provided to the organisation through which they could improve
their management and leadership and organisational culture.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management
across borders. Routledge.
Bolden, R., 2016. Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower handbook
of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.
Killett, A. and et. al., 2016. Digging deep: how organisational culture affects care home
residents' experiences. Ageing & Society. 36(1). pp.160-188.
Macdonald, I., Burke, C. and Stewart, K., 2018. Systems leadership: Creating positive
organisations. Routledge.
Maitland, A., Hills, L.A. and Rhind, D.J., 2015. Organisational culture in sport–A systematic
review. Sport Management Review. 18(4). pp.501-516.
McCaffery, P., 2018. The higher education manager's handbook: effective leadership and
management in universities and colleges. Routledge.
Mohelska, H. and Sokolova, M., 2015. Organisational culture and leadership–joint vessels?.
Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences. 171. pp.1011-1016.
Szczepańska-Woszczyna, K., 2015. Leadership and organizational culture as the normative
influence of top management on employee's behaviour in the innovation process.
Procedia Economics and Finance. 34. pp.396-402.
Online
MORRISONS' NEW CHIEF EXEC: "MY GOAL IS TO LISTEN". 2019. [Online] Available
Through: <https://www.managers.org.uk/insights/news/2015/march/morrisons-new-
chief-exec-my-goal-is-to-listen>
Questions and Answers about Wm Morrisons Supermarkets. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.indeed.co.uk/cmp/Wm-Morrisons-Supermarkets/faq/what-is-the-
organisational-culture-at-morrison-s-supermarket?quid=1bl0tkqac9r9hcoc>
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