Roles of Management and Leadership in Marks & Spencer

This article evaluates the roles of management and leadership in Marks & Spencer, including the principles of management, work-related skills evaluation, competencies demonstrated, and strategic aims of the business. It also explores the contribution of managers to the performance and strategic direction of the company.

Journal

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Roles of management and leadership within an organisation................................................3
Examine the principles of management and critically evaluate the work related skills which is
observed in practice to determine the area for improvements................................................5
Evaluation of Work related skills for management practices.................................................6
Explore the competencies demonstrated and consider how personal professional practice
could be enhanced..................................................................................................................8
The strategic aims of the business and explore within analysis the role of manager addition to
how they contribute to performance and strategic direction of business...............................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES:.............................................................................................................................11
Books and Journals...............................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Leadership refers to the activity, ability and skill of person or group of person to guide,
influence, and lead team members of an organisation (Bislimi and Schnitler, 2020). Whereas,
management has been determined as the process of planning, organising, directing, controlling
and managing business activities addition to workforce to achieve the organisation goal
effectively. Both management and leadership helps a company to increase effectiveness and
productivity in order to get competitive advantage. Marks and Spencer is taken to be considered
for this project which is a multinational retail company situated in London, UK. It was
established in 1884 by Thomas Spencer and Michael Marks to provide variety of beauty items,
clothing, food product, home products and many more to people.
This project covers the evaluation of experiential work related skills linked to
management and leadership roles as well as requirements in an organisation. Further, it
highlights the analyses of the role of manager in contributing to the strategic aims and direction
of an organisation
MAIN BODY
Roles of management and leadership within an organisation
Manager of Marks & Spencer perform multiple activities such as planning, organising,
staffing, directing and controlling the operations addition to human resources in order to meet
desired goal. For this professional have to play various management and leadership roles that are
mentioned below-
Roles of management
There are various roles of management in Marks & Spencer such as informational,
decisional and interpersonal The roles of management in context to Mark & Spencer are as
follows-
Roles of
management
Description
Informational It includes multiple management roles which a manager has to play such
as disseminator, spokesperson and monitor to share information to both
directors or top executives along with employees for systematic working

(Gekara and Thanh Nguyen, 2018). Such as in Marks & Spencer,
management perform all these roles to provide information related to
finance, new technology, change in policy, employee’s performance and
training requirements.
Decisional In this management of Marks & Spencer plays roles of entrepreneur to
search new opportunities for growth and implement new operation process
by using advance technology (Hooijberg and Watkins, 2021). Further,
they perform role of negotiator and resource allocator to complete the
project by optimum utilising resources in right manner. Also, they handle
various unexpected crises and event along with take effective decision to
overcome form crises.
Interpersonal In this management of Marks & Spencer plays all practices of leader,
liaison, figurehead in order to serve as mediator between employees and
top executives addition to external parties also.
Roles of leadership
In Marks & Spencer, leaders play various leaderships roles which increase the productivity
and performance of company that are as follows-
Roles Description
Mentoring It is a role in which leader of Marks & Spencer guide, manage,
develop and motivate new employees in right manner in order to
achieve both personal or company goal (Nguyen, Shen, and Le, 2021).
They provide training to employees and mentor their performance time
to time to increase their productivity so they complete complex task
with efficiency.
Decision making It is most important role which every leader has to play to perform
their practices effectively. In Marks & Spencer, leader have to take
various effective decisions regarding assigning of duty of employees,

performing a task in specific manner, choosing right technology and
tool for complete a task as well as measure the performance of
employees and many more.
Examine the principles of management and critically evaluate the work related skills which is
observed in practice to determine the area for improvements
Principles of
management
Particulars
Henri Fayol
management principle
and theory
Henri Fayol is popularly known as father of contemporary
management which formulated management theory and 14 principle
of management. These 14 principle are discipline, authority and
responsibility, unity of direction, unity of command, centralisation,
remunerations, division of work, subordination of individual interest.
Along with that, order, scalar chain, stability, equality, Esprit de
corps and initiative (Nicotera, 2019). Management theory includes 5
functions such as planning, organising, directing, coordination as well
as control which helps management of Marks & Spencer to solve
various issues related to employees and management.
Scientific management
theory and contingency
management theory
Scientific management theory helps the management of Marks &
Spencer to follow all these principles effectively in order to reduce all
management issues, cost of production, employees turnover and
increase productivity. Whereas, contingency management theory is
the most effective theory by this manager has wide range of methods
which they apply as per the requirements and change old policies or
principles with new Henry Fayol principles to increase overall
efficiency of company. Such as they use initiative and unity of
direction to motivate employees to work in common direction by

giving rewards for better work to achieve goals on time.
Transformational and
trait leadership theory
Transformational leadership theory is most common theory which
every organisation used to maintain good employee employer
relations. In Marks & Spencer, leaders use this theory to determine
the needs for change such as methods for effective team working,
policies to motive employees for improving performance and many
more (Podsakoff and Podsakoff, 2019). Also they use division of
work and discipline principle of management to bring
professionalism among team and working which leads to increase
profitability of company. Moreover, in trait leadership theory, leaders
of Marks & Spencer identify the personal and employees’ trait in
order to increase skills for future development. It helps them to
understand the mind-set, beliefs and value of employees to motivate
them to give best efforts to complete the task.
Evaluation of Work related skills for management practices
Work related skills Good Area for improvement
Interpersonal skills Interpersonal skills include
various skills such as
communication skill, active
listening and emotional
intelligence which allow a
manager to interact with their
employees effectively.
Manager of Marks & Spencer
is good at this skills which
helps them to convey important
information to other members
easily that increase the

productivity of company
(Ramakrishna, 2019).
Decision making skills This skill is related with taking
decisions, make plans quickly in right
manner which helps managers to
complete task on time. HR manager of
Marks & Spencer need to develop or
improve this skill as they take huge
time to take any decision which leads
to delay in work and decline the sale
of company.
Planning skills It is concerned with strategic
planning regarding business,
expansion, employees and
many more activities in an
organisation. Manager of
Marks & Spencer is good in
this skills as they make
effective plan for employees
training, recruiting, policies,
future operations and many
more which increases the sales
of company.
Team working skills It is most essential skills which is an
ability of a person to listen other and
work in a team in such a manner that
helps whole team to achieve common
goal effectively. Leader of Marks &
Spencer need to improve this skill to

work in a team and lead their
employees effectively (Rendtorff,
2019).
Explore the competencies demonstrated and consider how personal professional practice could
be enhanced
As per above analysis, it has been seen that there are various skills such a manager must
develop to perform management practices effectively such as interpersonal skills, decision
making skills, planning skills, leadership or team working skills. As a manager at Marks &
Spencer, I need to improve my Team working skills and decision making skills to complete the
task in effective manner. By using SMART objectives, I can enhance these skills in me that are
as follows-
Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time
Team working
skills
It is measurable
by me to work in
a time and
achieve the target
without any
disturbance
(Shastri, Hoda
and Amor,
2021).
I will develop
this skill by
working with
team, listening
employees ideas,
participating in
workshop and
many more
It is relevant for
me as manager as
it will helps me
to bring unity
among team to
complete a
project on time.
6 month
Decision making
skills
It is measurable
by taking
effective
decisions as a
manager related
to operations and
employees
I will develop
this skills by
taking short term
decision,
researching
about various
It is relevant for
me, by taking
effective decision
I can contribute
in the growth of
company and
increase
4 month

training. method. productivity
(Suárez Arteaga,
and García
Salmon, 2021).
The strategic aims of the business and explore within analysis the role of manager addition to
how they contribute to performance and strategic direction of business
The strategic aims show the objectives, mission, vision and value of a company which they
want to deliver to their target audience and market. The strategic aim of Marks & Spencer is to
play a transformative role in building socially connected communities, enhancing local
environments and supporting local economies to prosper. The mission of company is to provide
best quality product to increase the experience of customers as well as contribute in the
development of people, society, environment and economy (An ambitious customer focused
sustainability plan, 2022).
In order to achieve aims of company managers play most important role such as they
perform various organisation activities. These activities are hire or shape employees to increase
their skills, manage financial accounts, production process, take decision related to rewards and
training for employees, control overall business performance, make business strategy to improve
the interaction with every customer. Further they collaborate with other business and agencies
for marketing, recruitment and other business operations which increases the productivity and
profitability of company. Manager also play role of leader in which they lead, direct, guide and
motivate their employees to give their best efforts to complete the mission of company.
By conducting management practices effectively manager contribute in increase the
performance of Marks & Spencer such as they hire most suitable candidate and direct them
towards the achieve of organisation goal. By motivating, rewarding and providing training to
employees time to time they increase the overall performance of business (Takahara, 2018).. ,.
Also they give valuable information to top management regarding market condition,
competitor’s strategy, new technology, employees working, budget and many more they helped
the direction to take effective decisions for the sustainable growth of company.

CONCLUSION
As per above presented information, it has been concluded that management plays various
role in an organisation such as Interpersonal, information and decisional to meet the desired
goals effectively. The leadership roles are mentoring and decision making which increases the
team working and overall performance among employees. There are various management
principles which manager used for systemic working with in their organisation. It also helps
them to apply management and leadership theories effectively and motivate employees to
increase their performance. Good management practices include various skills or competencies
such as decision making, planning and so on which a manager must develop to perform their job
role effectively. Manager play various roles in order to contribute in increasing the performance
and strategic direction of business.

REFERENCES:
Books and Journals
Bislimi, N. and Schnitler, N.H., 2020. Innovation manager as a director of innovation: a
qualitative study of the role dynamic of the innovation manager.
Gekara, V.O. and Thanh Nguyen, V.X., 2018. New technologies and the transformation of work
and skills: a study of computerisation and automation of container terminals. New
Technology, Work and Employment, 33(3), pp.219-233.
Hooijberg, R. and Watkins, M., 2021. The Future of Team Leadership Is Multimodal. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 62(3), pp.1-4.
Nguyen, T.N., Shen, C.H. and Le, P.B., 2021. Influence of transformational leadership and
knowledge management on radical and incremental innovation: the moderating role of
collaborative culture. Kybernetes.
Nicotera, A.M., 2019. Classical Management Theory. In Origins and Traditions of
Organizational Communication (pp. 89-105). Routledge.
Podsakoff, P.M. and Podsakoff, N.P., 2019. Experimental designs in management and leadership
research: Strengths, limitations, and recommendations for improving publishability. The
Leadership Quarterly, 30(1), pp.11-33.
Ramakrishna, N., 2019. Henry fayol's principles of management and it's applicability in contract
staffing. International Journal of Management, IT and Engineering, 9(3), pp.168-182.
Rendtorff, J.D., 2019. The Principle of Responsibility: Rethinking CSR as SDG Management.
In Philosophy of Management and Sustainability: Rethinking Business Ethics and Social
Responsibility in Sustainable Development. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Shastri, Y., Hoda, R. and Amor, R., 2021. The role of the project manager in agile software
development projects. Journal of Systems and Software, 173, p.110871.

Suárez Arteaga, C.S. and García Salmon, L.A., 2021. The level of effectiveness and efficiency as
a fundamental principle of record management. Revista de Ciencias Humanísticas y
Sociales (ReHuSo), 6(1), pp.87-101.
Takahara, Y., 2018. A management approach to successful international partnerships of
universities: a phase-and principle-based management model and its implications for
companies.
Online
An ambitious customer focused sustainability plan, 2022. [Online]. Available through:
https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/documents/plan-a/plan-a-2025-commitments.pdf