Organisational Theory and Practice

This report discusses the management style, principles and functions of management, leadership style, effects of power and conflict, and types of motivation at M&S. It also includes recommendations to increase organisational performance. The report contextualises M&S, a British multinational retailer, and its CEO, Steve Rowe.

Organisational Theory and
Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Task A - Management style and principles and functions of management by M&S..................3
Task B - Steps taken by CEO to change organisational structure to achieve high performance.5
Task C - Leadership style of the CEO of M&S...........................................................................6
Task D - Effects of power, influence and conflict at M&S.........................................................7
Task E - Types of motivation used at M&S................................................................................8
Task F - Corporate examples and literature.................................................................................9
Task G - Suggestions/recommendations to increase organisational performance....................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Organisational theory can be defined as set of interrelated concepts and definitions that
explain behaviour of individuals or groups in an organisational context. This report aims at
discussing management style and principles and functions of management and will involve steps
taken by CEO regarding organisational structure and culture. Report will also discuss leadership
style of CEO and effect of power, influence and conflict along with types of motivation that is
used at organisation. Followed by this corporate examples and literature will also be discussed in
report and this will be followed by inclusion of some recommendations. This report will
contextualise Marks and Spencer (M&S), it is a British multinational retailer founded in 1884 in
Leeds, UK by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. Company presently is headquartered at
London, England, UK. M&S specialises in selling clothing, home products and food products
and mainly products are of individual label of M&S. Organisation has its presence in 62
countries and operates at 1519 locations in form of its stores. In addition to this M&S also
operates through 44 websites globally. M&S is being leaded by Steve Rowe who is chief
executive officer of M&S and chairman of M&S is Archie Norman and employs 80000
employees.
Task A - Management style and principles and functions of management by M&S
Management style refers to style through which organisation is managed and
management style of M&S is consultative management style.
Consultative management style- Consultative management style refers to style in which
managers in M&S ask for opinion and thoughts of their teammates and employees of M&S. This
is because asking for their decisions help in better and effective decision-making. This also adds
value in employee satisfaction in which considering their opinion and ideas help in making them
feeling valued in M&S (Posadzińska, Słupska and Karaszewski, 2020). In this style of
management final decisions remains with managers on the basis of opinion and ideas of
members. This style is very beneficial and useful in creating and building strong relationship and
trust in management and employees. However making decisions after consulting with can be a
time-consuming method in which fast decisions cannot be made on time.

Principles of management used by CEO of M&S
Division of work- This is concerned with dividing work into workers and employees and linking
their area of work with their specialization. This helps in maintaining and enhancing quality of
work area through specialised knowledge and skills of employees. This will help in increasing
and improving productivity, efficiency, accuracy and speed of workers and employees.
Authority and responsibility- This is another important principle of management that is
adopted by CEO of M&S. As per this principle it is required that employees are required to
provide adequate authority and responsibility. This is because authority facilitates management
to work efficiently and responsibility helps in ensuring responsibility of the work done by
individuals.
Discipline- This is concerned with ensuring that employees follow a code of conduct and their
act are influenced by values of M&S (Bright and et.al., 2019). This results in good performance
and sensible interrelationship within organisation.
Unity of command- This is another important principle and as per this one employee should
follow command of only one boss or senior.
Functions of management used by CEO of M&S
Planning- This is concerned with creating plan including goals and objectives of M&S and
determination of activities through which goals and objectives will be achieved by M&S.
Organising- This involves allocating different activities to different departments and individuals
within organisation on the basis of suitability. In addition to this organisation of daily activities is
also involved in this.
Coordinating- This involves linking activities and functions of different departments and
individuals so that they contribute achievement of organisational objectives and goals.
Controlling- This involves measuring actual results of organisation with standards and goals.
This is to analyse whether goals and objectives have been achieved or not (Jonasson, Lauring
and Guttormsen, 2018).

Task B - Steps taken by CEO to change organisational structure to achieve high performance
Marks and Spencer follows flat organisational structure in this type of organisational
structure levels between management and administrative level and front line employees are
limited. This structure of organisation is very effective while including employees at all level in
decision making of Marks and Spencer. Structure organisational outlines roles and
responsibilities within organisation and also reflects reporting authorities. Organisational
structure includes committees and board within organisation and Marks and Spencer have an
executive committee that consists of 7 members (Madi and et.al., 2018). Board off Marks and
Spencer includes 10 members including executive directors as well as non executive directors. In
order to simplify its management structure some of the changes were made in Marks and
Spencer. Changes were aimed at increasing speed of decision making and moving the business
closer to its customers. Changes in organisational structure of Marks and Spencer included
establishing a new operating committee that will be accountable for day to day functioning of
organisation. In addition to this committee is also countable for development and execution of
strategies. New operating committee of Marks and Spencer also works together to enhance
Marks and Spencer and this starts from fixing clothing and home offers for their customers and
also works for employees along with shareholders.
Organisational culture change and its impact on employees
Concerned with culture of Marks and Spencer it has a customer driven culture in which
company make efforts to enhance elements affecting customer service market research
employing right people and provide providing them best training. Culture of Marks and Spencer
consider human connection as an important element in organisation. This is why employees in
Marks and Spencer are provided best support and guidance across the organisation and it focuses
on mentoring. Building connection is a very important element of culture in Marks and Spencer
this includes changes in individual development and support within organisation (Emery, 2019).
Changes that Marks and Spencer have made include changes in culture of knowledge sharing
and learning to creating a mentoring hub. Mentoring hub in Marks and Spencer offers employees
in organisation opportunity to reach out to someone in organisation to get guidance and that
helps in ensuring knowledge sharing and building relationships. In addition to this mentoring hub

also acknowledges skills and experience. In this artificial intelligence is used by Marks and
Spencer to match compatible matters in organisation with colleagues from every part of business.
Task C - Leadership style of the CEO of M&S
Leadership style refers to style and approach that leaders use so that they can effectively
lead an organisation. Leadership style that CEO of M&S adopts is transactional leadership style.
Transactional leadership style- Transactional leadership style is one that focuses on results,
conforms to existing structure of organisation and success in this style is measured on the basis
of system of organisation related to rewards and penalties. Transactional leadership provides
leader who have formal authorities and also positions of responsibilities within organisation.
Transactional leadership style of CEO also focuses on maintaining routine by managing
individual performance and facilitating performance of group and employees (Khan, 2017). In
other words, transactional leadership style has strong emphasis on performance of employees
and individuals in organisation. In order to maintain high standards of performance transactional
leaders uses means of reward and penalties. This means performances that are upto and above
standards of organisation are rewarded whereas those that is not up to or less than standards and
enhanced with means of penalties. Reward and penalties are also means that are used for
motivating individuals in organisation. Transactional leaders set criteria on the basis of
requirements of performance and performance review is done in common ways to judge and
analyse performance of employees in M&S. There are different benefits and advantages of
transactional leadership style and these advantages include rewards those who are motivated by
reward-penalty systems. In addition to this, transactional leadership style of CEO of M&S is also
suitable and effective for large organisations as this provides unambiguous structure for large
organisations and this is also very effective for organisations and systems that involve tasks and
activities of repetitive nature. With help of transactional leadership style leaders and CEO of
M&S can also achieve short term goals effectively and efficiently. Workers remain clear about
what will be their reward or punishment and with help of this they can focus on their
performance.
Transactional leadership style of CEO of M&S also has some of the disadvantages and
these disadvantages involve that creativity in organisation becomes limited because goals and
objectives for employees are set (Purwanto and et.al., 2020). Another limitation of transactional

leadership is that only practical and measurable elements of performance can be rewarded and
this does not effectively work on behavioural aspects of job of employees.
Task D - Effects of power, influence and conflict at M&S
Effect of Power- Power can be defined as a state in which one can control decisions and actions
of others and in context of organisation this involves influencing and affecting actions and
decisions of employees. There are several ways in which power has different influences and
effect in M&S and these effects are based on sources of power in organisation (Shi, Qian and
Dong, 2017). These sources are-
Legitimate power- Legitimate power refers to power that one gets from their position in M&S
and this has ability to directly influence actions and decisions of employees who report to
particular position.
Expert power- This is concerned with power that comes from being knowledgeable and expert
in one or more areas. Expert power does not require individual to be on a position and respect
source power to individual. This power has positive effect on those who follows guidance and
advice of those in power.
Referent power- This is a source of power in which power is based on identification of a person
who has desirable and required resources and personal traits. In this individuals have power over
people who admire them and this can both positive and negative impact on people and this
depends on individual with power.
Effect of influence
Influence refers to effect and impact one individual or group has on another individual and group
in organisation (Bui and et.al., 2019). This effect and impact can be positive as well as negative
and this mainly depends on intention of individual behind the influence that they have on their
employees or team member. This is also gets affected by power that individuals or groups have
within organisation.
Effect of conflict

Workplace conflict can be defined as conflict that occur between employees in an organisation.
There are different types of workplace conflict and their effect is as follows-
Reducing performance- This is one of the most important and negative effect of workplace
conflict in Marks and Spencer. Workplace conflict course reduction in performance of
employees working with an organisation and this is the result of tension and stress because of
conflict.
Ineffective communication and misunderstanding- Conflict can also have effect on
communication in Marks and Spencer (Pitafi and et.al., 2020). This is because when employees
are arguing or do not have a harmonious relationship with each other possibilities are high that
they do not collaborate well and communicate properly. Ineffective communication can lead to
misunderstandings and they are likely to have direct impact on performance and functioning of
M&S.
Task E - Types of motivation used at M&S
Motivation can be defined as drivers that stimulate individuals and groups to work
towards achievement of goals and objectives. In an organisational context motivation is about
encouraging individuals to work on achievement of organisational objectives. There are different
types of motivation that it are used at Marks and Spencer and these are-
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation- intrinsic motivation refers to motivation in which
individuals are motivated because of their internal desires and the work on something because
they want to work and completion of certain goals and objectives personally reward individuals.
Drivers of intrinsic motivation includes job itself job satisfaction which is concerned with the
feeling of contentment associated with the job and work environment. Extrinsic motivation is
concerned with motivation in which driving factors are external (Locke and Schattke, 2019).
This means that in extrinsic motivation Marks and Spencer requires to create and give reasons to
individuals and groups through which they can be motivated. In other words individuals are
driven by elements that they are given by Organisation in which they are working rather than
motivating because of something that they consider as personally rewarding. Both of these types
of motivation are used by Marks and Spencer how to motivate individuals and teams working
within organisation.

Some other types of motivation that are used by Marks and Spencer can be describe the to
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This theory outlines different types of motivation on the basis of
level of needs of individuals working within organisation. Needs are as follows-
Physiological needs- In this theory physiological need have been considered as need of lowest
order. Physiological needs can also be defined as basic for fundamental needs of individual.
M&S can fulfil these needs of individuals by providing them adequate or minimum salary.
Safety needs- fulfilment of physiological needs lead individual towards safety needs and
individual seeks safety at work and also financial safety. This can be fulfilled by providing them
a safe environment for working in M&S.
Social needs- This is concerned with need of belongingness and need for human relations is also
is known as social needs (Hopper, 2019). This can be fulfilled by providing an environment
where individuals can build relationship with colleagues.
Self-esteem needs- This need in hierarchy is concerned withdesire of individual to be valued and
appraised within M&S.
Self-actualization needs- This is highest order needs in hierarchy and is concerned with desire
of individual to realise their potential and self-fulfilment and to seek personal growth.
Task F - Corporate examples and literature
According to Dadich and Doloswala, 2018 organisational theory can be defined as set of
different concepts and definition that outline different kinds of behaviour of individuals as well
as teams within an organisation. Organisational theory is a study of behaviour of individuals and
teams in context of an organisation. This also includes studying and understanding how
behaviour of individuals get affected in an organisational context and elements influencing
thoughts and actions of individuals in organisation. Different models and theories discussed in
report helps in guiding decisions and actions of organisation while developing required and
suitable behaviour of individuals and teams in organisation.
This report discuss about different elements of organisational theory contextualizing Marks and
Spencer. Analysis and discussion in report was best on different models and theories of
organisational theory and they were related to practices of Marks and Spencer. Key areas of

discussion in organisational theory include management style principles and functions in Marks
and Spencer. In addition to this organisational structure and culture was also discussed along
with a leadership style of CEO of Marks and Spencer. As a part of discussion power, influence
and conflict in organisation and impact of these on organisational performance was also
discussed. This concept was discussed in light of different models and theories of organisational
theory.
Task G - Suggestions/recommendations to increase organisational performance
On the basis of above discussion it can be recommended that Marks and Spencer
consultative management style. There are several advantages of consultative leadership style but
this also include some of the disadvantages and limitations that can have significant impact on
overall effectiveness of management style of Marks and Spencer (Glambek, Skogstad and
Einarsen, 2018). This means that in this style of Management decision making requires a
significant time and this can be reduced by laissez faire management style. Marks and Spencer
can adopt this style and along with this it can implement some limitations so that it is not affect
controlling power of Management.
Another recommendation is that transactional leadership that is practiced by CEO of
Marks and Spencer also has several limitations. This limits creativity of employees which is
highly important in present business environment and in order to reduce this limitation of
leadership style should focus on encouraging creativity and innovation within organisation. This
means that CEO can utilise different strategies and method to increase creativity and innovation.
This will help leader in ensuring that they can effectively work with a leadership style and at the
same time they are able to deal with disadvantages and limitations of transactional leadership.
Concerned with effect of power and to ensure it has positive effect in organisation Marks
and Spencer should focus on expert power (Rheinberg and Engeser, 2018). This means that as
Marks and Spencer culture includes and focuses on mentoring expert Power will increase
knowledge sharing and employees will be positively affected by those colleagues who have
expert power.
M&S is utilizes different types of motivation to motivate and encourage employees to
perform better. Concerned with this Marks and Spencer should have high focus on motivating

individuals with intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation includes undertaking efforts to
increase job satisfaction and making job of employees desirable for them so that they not only
get motivated to work but also become able to effectively engage with their job.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion, it can be concluded that management style, principles
and functions that are used by CEO plays very important role in successful management and
operations of M&S. Later report discussed changes in organisational structure of M&S and
discussion outlines that changes have been made considering external environment and its
changes. In addition to these changes in organisational culture were undertaken to enable
individuals within organisation to deal with organisational changes. Leadership style of CEO of
M&S was discussed and on the basis of that it can be concluded that style of leadership plays
very important role in organisational success and lead organisation towards its goals and
objectives. Later effect of power, influence and conflict was discussed and on the basis of that it
can be concluded that all these elements can have both positive and negative effect on
organisation. Their effect mainly depends on how they are guided in organisation. Types of
motivation were also discussed in report and theory on the basis of which motivation types were
discussed includes Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

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