Individual Case Study Analysis of Sainsbury's Organisational Theory and Practice

This case study analysis examines the leadership style, company structure and culture, entrepreneurial strategy, corporate governance policies, power and influence, conflict resolution, and motivation strategies of Sainsbury's. It provides recommendations to increase organisational performance.

Organisational
Theory and Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Examination of the managerial/leadership style leaders of organisation with the help of
leadership models...................................................................................................................1
Assessment of the Company structure and culture of the organisation in achieving
performance............................................................................................................................3
Entrepreneurial Strategy and Corporate Governance policies followed to enhance the
organisational effectiveness and performance........................................................................4
Effects of power, influence and conflict resolution at the chosen company by the CEO in
managing change....................................................................................................................5
Various types of motivation strategies used at chosen company and their influence on
employees’ performance........................................................................................................6
Appropriate corporate examples and literature to justify your research................................8
Recommendations (strategies) to increase organisational performance................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Organisational theory and practices refers to the study and examination of the organisational
design and its structure regarding various practices that determines its specialisation, formation,
scale of operations, strategies, mission vision etc. For this report, Sainsbury's is taken into
consideration as the second largest chain of supermarkets, established in the year 1869 and is
headquartered in London, UK. It deals in various retail products like food, healthcare, clothing,
daily hygiene, home utilities etc., with its online and physical stores across the UK. It is the
second largest chain of supermarket stores across the UK due to its competitive pricing,
marketing, branding, high brand value and effective management activities. This report will
explain about the leadership styles with the help of various leadership models and will elaborate
the leadership style that is used by Sainsbury's. Moreover, it will discuss the organisational
structure and its culture for improving the performance and creating a higher level of
competitiveness of the organisation. Furthermore, the corporate governance policies, strategies of
entrepreneurs and motivational strategies are mentioned for enhancing the performance of
organisations. Finally it will provide research literature and corporate examples along with
various strategies and suggestions to increase the organisational performance of Sainsbury's.
MAIN BODY
Examination of the managerial/leadership style leaders of organisation with the help of
leadership models
Leadership styles are the specific qualities, habits and skills of a leader that determine what
kind of leader that is. The leaders use various leadership styles that help them in directing,
influencing, motivating and implementing plans for the people to improve their working for
achievement of the organisational goals. There are various types of leadership styles that
determine the success of a leader in achieving the goals of the enterprise (Al-Tahitah and et.al.,
2021). Various approaches and styles of leadership are discussed in consideration to leaders in
Sainsbury's.
 Autocratic leadership: It refers to a form of leadership in which the leaders are the
commanders with full control who provide clear assumptions of what is to be done, how
it should be done and when it should be done. The managers and leaders take crucial
1

decisions for the organisation that helps in developing effective and efficient
performance.
 Democratic leadership: democratic leadership is a form of leadership the team members
are also included in the decision making activities for enhancing their motivation,
engagement and self-confidence for performing the work effectively and efficiently. It is
also known as participatory leadership that involves the employees in decision making so
that best policies can be developed and higher performance levels can be created
(Cardao-Pito, 2021).
 Liaises-faire leadership: This form of leadership is also considered as delegated
leadership which is effective in creating a positive work environment. When the
employees within Sainsbury's are engaged in their work and take responsibility for their
activities this strategy is successful. The managers are less involved in decision making
and only indulge themselves in providing little guidance, which reduces the motivation
among the employees.
 Transitional leadership: This form of leadership helps to motivate the employees by
providing adequate rewards and punishments according to their performance. This is also
considered as give and take leadership which removes the hindrances in the chain of
command for direct supervision of the employees, thus improving their productivity
(Ellis, 2021).
 Transformational leadership: It is among the most effective forms of leadership in
today's world and this form of leader changes their styles according to the situation for
resolving it effectively. Transformational leadership is also helpful for enhancing the
morale of employees by aligning them with the vision and goals of the company.
Sainsbury's leader follows democratic leadership that is among the most effective ways for
improving the employee performance by involving them in the decision making process. Justin
Kin and David Tyler also follow democratic leadership and autocratic leadership for encouraging
the participation of employees and managing the daily operations of the organisation effectively
and efficiently.
2

Assessment of the Company structure and culture of the organisation in achieving performance
Organisational structure provides the basic support to the organisation for achieving its
goals effectively and efficiently by developing the activities strategically and aligning the efforts
for achieving common objectives. The organisational structure refers to the various functions of
the organisation and the division of work within various departments for improving the
efficiency, eliminating duplication of work, faster decision making etc. There are basically four
types of organisational structures that are divisional, Matrix, functional and flat structure.
Sainsbury's has adopted Matrix structure because it is more flexible and helps to provide
greater functioning of the organisation by adjusting in the given situation with the help of
broader knowledge and experiences. During dynamic situations it allows the organisation to
change its approaches, strategies, functions etc. for improving performance (Joerg Dietz, 2022).
This is a highly competitive structure which allows changes in the organisational structure to
stand competitively across different situations.
Organisational culture can be explained as the set of common attitudes, beliefs, behaviours
and values by contributing in organisations emotional and social work environment. It helps the
company to improve its performance and build better work culture for increasing the market
share and enhancing brand image.
In context to Sainsbury's, the company utilises many cultures to improve its performance
by harnessing the talents in diversity conditions that creates effective work conditions for the
employees. Some of the work cultures that are utilised by Sainsbury's are elaborated below.
 Celebrative culture: In this form of culture the ability of staff and the employees are
enhanced by celebrating their achievements that also improves their performance and
level of motivation to contribute towards the organisation. It provides opportunities to the
people and gives greater opportunities to the employees to celebrate their victories and
improve the work environment.
 Creativity culture: The Company creates a better work culture by enhancing creativity
among the employees for benefiting the organisation effectively and efficiently (Kalu
And et.al., 2021). Sainsbury's utilizes creativity culture for increasing the skill and
knowledge among the employees to work better by developing new ideas and innovations
for improving performance.
3

 Well-being of team culture: Sainsbury's focuses on enhancing the team activities within
the organisation for developing better relations among the employees. By utilising
various means of communication and team building activities the organisation supports
the employees emotionally, physically and financially by improving their level of work
and greater benefits for them. The company focuses on utilising many programs like
employee engagement, team performance, team collaboration and team learning activities
for the employees within the organisation.
Entrepreneurial Strategy and Corporate Governance policies followed to enhance the
organisational effectiveness and performance
Entrepreneurial strategy can be explained as the structured plans for achieving the goals
of the organisation effectively and efficiently (McMahon and Patto, 2018). The entrepreneurial
strategy focus is on optimising the activities of organisation and the human resource towards the
achievement of the mission, goals, aims, objectives and vision of the organisation through a
gradual process. Sainsbury's utilises entrepreneurial strategy to secure a competitive position
within the market, tackle challenges and threats, directing efforts and behaviours of human
resource and gaining full control over the activities of organisation.
In context to Sainsbury's, it utilizes many strategies to enhance their market share in
comparison to its competitors and these strategies are elaborated below.
 Better products at reasonable prices: The Company is famous for providing high quality
products at very reasonable prices to its customers. This has helped Sainsbury's to garner
high competitive advantage and cover a larger market area.
 Developing its growth in many segments: The Company holds huge coverage of the
market area because of its coverage in many dynamic fields such as food, clothing, home
decor, daily essentials, grocery, health and fitness etc. Sainsbury's covers various
segments that helped it to expand into the market and gain higher market share and
profitability.
Corporate governance policies refer to the structures, rules, regulations and procedures that
are made to control and direct the activities of the organisation (Murphy, 2020). With the help of
4

corporate governance policies and organisations can regulate their effects on the society,
environment and market. The corporate governance policies of Sainsbury's are discussed under.
 Strategic focus: Sainsbury's focus is on utilisation of latest technology to provide
effective customer services while complying with the government policies regarding their
product and services. It finds ways of reducing the cost and reinvesting the things as the
customers and colleagues for revising the conditions and terms for the best pricing. The
company has changed its ways regarding the payment processing and payment transfers
so that it can comply with the regulations of the government.
 Cultural and stakeholder engagement: company focuses on utilising its unique values
and strategies for developing good culture for its stakeholder engagement (Peñarroja and
et.al., 2019). The company focuses on enhancing corporate culture for developing good
stakeholder engagement with the organisation for improving its performance and
generating higher profits.
Effects of power, influence and conflict resolution at the chosen company by the CEO in
managing change
The power and effects of power helps to develop a reputation of an individual and
enhances their abilities by developing better influence on the people. It has to process the
information by penetrating through difficulties and creating better influence on others (Sethibe,
2018). In regard to sensory power, influence and conflict resolution by the leaders and managers
helps to influence the behaviour of employees towards them and make it easier for controlling
and management. Humans have many emotions and it decides what type of behaviour people
have. With the help of higher power and influential abilities the leaders and managers within the
organisation can easily manage the changes by influencing the employees. By using the latest
technology and machine learning the wasteful activities within the organisation can be reduced
and many other activities within the organisation can be simplified. It can also help to increase
the ability of employees and enhance their effectiveness and efficiency for producing better
results.
 Effects of influence: With the help of influence the organisation can increase the
performance, market share and profitability of the company by many ways. In relation to
Sainsbury's, CEO of the organisation influences their employees and customers to derive
5

better results and provide best products of high quality at reasonable price to enhance the
competitiveness of the firm. It provides high level customer services by improving the
skills and abilities of the employees for handling the customer complaints and feedback.
The managers and CEOs can also motivate the human resource by performing appraisals,
providing work recognition and enhancing employee motivation so that productivity can
be improved.
 Conflict resolution: it refers to the process of resolving the disputes among the
employees, co-workers, the firm and employees etc. who are linked with the organisation.
The CEO can improve the supervision, work culture and problem solving abilities for
identifying the problems and resolving the conflicts easily (Sharma-Wallace and et.al.,
2018). The conflicts may arise due to various reasons like contrasting thoughts, different
beliefs, ideas, etc. of various people at the workplace. CEOs and managers should utilize
various strategies like conflict resolution strategies for effectively handling conflicts and
resolving the problems. The manager should identify the reason for problems and try to
solve the problems as earliest possible so that effectiveness and efficiency among the
work of the employees can be established.
Various types of motivation strategies used at chosen company and their influence on
employees’ performance
Motivation is the process of promoting and encouraging employees to perform better in
order to attain organisational goals. Motivational strategies refer to the plans for improving or
enhancing the willingness of the employees and customers to perform in the goodwill of
organisation. The motivational strategies of Sainsbury's are highly competitive in the UK market
because it provides King Treatment to its customers and employees. In context to Sainsbury's
Motivation is a significant component of an organisation which aims at maximising potential and
calibre of employees through boosting their morale. The Maslow's theory of motivation states
that there are five major needs of individuals and they are willing to work in order to satisfy
those needs (Thuesen and Bekdik, 2019). In order to understand the concept of motivation and its
strategies, Maslow's hierarchy needs are discussed below in context of Sainsbury's.
 Physiological: It refers to the basic needs which are required in order to maintain
sustenance. This mainly refers to bare minimum necessities such as water, food, shelter
6

etc. Sainsbury's ensures fulfilment of basic needs through providing good atmosphere
with all relevant amenities such as restroom, comfort, proper snacks and beverages to
enhance their satisfaction. The enterprise ensures fair remuneration and other monetary
perks so that employees can fulfil their basic needs.
 Safety: It refers to the needs related to protection and security of employees. The
organisation ensures fulfilment of safety needs through building a safe workplace around
them and minimising the risk of any injuries and unfortunate accidents. Also the
company ensures job security of employees through offering stability of employment for
a certain time period.
 Love and belonging: This refers to the interpersonal needs which states friendly and
amiable relations and such needs are crucial to improve satisfaction and engagement of
workers. In context to Sainsbury's, the company ensures inclusive and friendly workplace
where colleagues supports each other and cooperates. Furthermore, their leaders are
engaged in solving and minimising their conflicts and chaos to support their emotional
well-being.
 Esteem: It refers to the needs which are associated with pride and recognition at
workplace as well as in society (Wiewiora and Kowalkiewicz, 2019). The enterprise
ensures that their employees’ feels respected and valued at workplace through
appreciation and recognition of efforts. Moreover, the leaders of the company ensure that
they receive positive feedback and being recognised for their continuous contribution.
 Self-actualisation: The final level on this theory is the need of self-actualisation which is
related to individual achievements and personal objectives. In context to Sainsbury's, the
enterprise ensures fulfilment of such needs through making employees feel valued and
empowered. They promote an inclusive environment where employees feel they are
growing and learning and actually attaining some higher goals in life.
Various motivation Strategies
 Reward system: Sainsbury's utilises rewards and recognition for motivating the
employees along with the customers by their practices. With the help of various rewards
like promotion, bonus, profit share, incentives, gift vouchers, discounts etc.
7

 Building trust: Trust factor is among the most crucial aspects of the organisation to
develop its relations with its stakeholders (Workineh, 2021). Sainsbury's focuses on
developing good relationships with its customers and employees by performing trustful
acts.
 Creating a happy work culture: Work culture is a very important part of improving the
work environment within the organisation. With the help of a happy work culture the
wasteful activities like conflicts and clashes can be avoided that could help in increasing
the efficiency of work.
Appropriate corporate examples and literature to justify your research
Sainsbury's is a leading company and is one of the largest supermarkets based in UK. The
company is maintaining its sustenance in the market from a long time which indicates its
efficiency of operations. The CEO of the company aims at achieving high growth and
development of the organisation through creating high values for the customers as well as for
employees. The higher authorities of the company have invested a great deal of amount in
improving performance of the enterprise and attain high success through engaging loyal base of
customers towards its services. The strategies of the company and corporate governance policies
ensure that their business is operating in ethical manner. However issues arise in establishing
sustainable practices in long run and the production operations of the company raise many
environmental concerns. The company operates in an external environment where it is influenced
by many factors such as political issues, economic aspects, legal concerns etc. The organisation
aims at achieving maximum engagement of customers and thus their managers develops
effective contingency plans in order to deal with uncertainties and implement constructive
changes in potential manner. In many scenarios, companies have always supported their
customers and employees by resolving their problems in very effective manners that have been
raising their popularity among the people across the UK. It has a very good corporate culture that
can be understood by various practices that the company performs for their employees and
customers that are elaborated below. Company creates a high level of satisfaction among its
stakeholders. It develops a very competitive image in the market by encouraging the employees
and satisfying the customers. Sainsbury's encourages its employees to increase their creativity for
gaining higher levels of knowledge and skills for enhancing their abilities at the workplace.
8

Sainsbury's provides flexibility hours to the employees and gives options for working from
home, which motivates the employees towards better performance. With the help of ethical
practices the company also achieves effectiveness and efficiency in reaching its goals. The
organisation develops a positive environment by performing joyful activities, resolving queries
and problems, developing trust, enhancing communication among the employees so that better
work culture can be derived.
Recommendations (strategies) to increase organisational performance
It can be recommended to Sainsbury's that it could utilise certain methods for improving
the organisational performance that are elaborated below.
 Clarifying expectations: Expectation for better performance from the employees is very
important for the organisation to improve the performance of the employees. It is
recommended to the CEOs and managers that they should provide clear information
about what is the desired level of performance their expecting and should provide a good
example of that level of performance.
 360 degree appraisal: Providing performance appraisal is also recommended to the
managers for monitoring and enhancing the performance of employees and providing
feedback so that higher performance level can be achieved by the employees (Zuñiga-
Collazos and et.al., 2020).
 Explaining the consequences of lacking performance: It can create a sense of
responsibility among the employees for improving their performance so that they can
avoid the consequences of poor performance upon them. The managers in Sainsbury's
should explain the consequences of poor performance of the employees in the
organisation as well as the actions that may be taken against them for not performing
satisfactorily.
 Providing advice for improvement: It is the responsibility of leaders and managers at
Sainsbury have to improve the performance within the organisation by providing
adequate knowledge and skills for improvement.
 Implementing change management: It is among the very common methods for
improving the performance of employees within the organisation. Change management
9

model is given that can be utilised by the leaders and managers for improving
performance of the employees.
Kurt Lewin's Change Model
It involves 3 steps of making changes, implementation changes and finalising the changes
within an organisation for improving the performance of employees.
 Unfreezing: It refers to melting the previous behaviours and practices of the employees
within the organisation so that new changes can be brought.
 Changing: It refers to bringing up the new changes and implementing those changes
within the organisation for improving the employee performance.
 Refreezing: It refers to finalizing the changes that are made within the organisation so
that a high level of performance can be maintained by the employees.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded that organisational management is based on the abilities of leaders to
motivate the employees and influence their performance by various activities and methods.
Moreover, the report has been explaining various entrepreneurial strategies and corporate
governance policies that can be followed by the organisation for improving its performance.
Along with it, it has been obtained that it is important for the organisation to maintain a better
work culture and organisational structure for developing a high level of performance. Finally it
had been stated that the organisation leaders and managers should utilise certain strategies for
improving the overall organisational performance of the company.
10

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Al-Tahitah, A. and et.al., 2021. The mediating effect of learning organisational culture between
leadership styles and readiness for change: an empirical study in Yemen. International
Journal of Learning and Change, 13(6). pp.609-626.
Cardao-Pito, T., 2021. Fisher-Modigliani-Miller organisational finance theory and the
financialisation of contemporary societies. The European Journal of the History of
Economic Thought, 28(4). pp.499-522.
Ellis, P., 2021. Leadership, management and team working in nursing. Sage.
Joerg Dietz, 2022. [Online] Available through, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-
science/organisational-theory
Kalu, J. C. And et.al., 2021. Total quality management and its effects on organisational
performance: a study of PZ Cussons Plc. Lagos, Nigeria. International Journal of
Productivity and Quality Management, 32(2). pp.203-215.
McMahon, M. and Patton, W., 2018. Systemic thinking in career development theory:
Contributions of the systems theory framework. British Journal of Guidance &
Counselling, 46(2). pp.229-240.
Murphy, K. R., 2020. Performance evaluation will not die, but it should. Human Resource
Management Journal, 30(1). pp.13-31.
Peñarroja, V. and et.al., 2019. The influence of organisational facilitating conditions and
technology acceptance factors on the effectiveness of virtual communities of
practice. Behaviour & Information Technology, 38(8). pp.845-857.
Sethibe, T. G., 2018. Towards a comprehensive model on the relationship between leadership
styles, organisational climate, innovation and organisational performance. International
Journal of Innovation Management, 22(02). p.1850021.
Sharma-Wallace, L. and et.al., 2018. Adaptive governance good practice: Show me the
evidence!. Journal of Environmental Management, 222, pp.174-184.
Thuesen, C. and Bekdik, B., 2019. The impact of organisational learning and change on offsite
manufacturing. In Offsite Production and Manufacturing for Innovative
Construction (pp. 337-358). Routledge.
Wiewiora, A. and Kowalkiewicz, A., 2019. The role of authentic assessment in developing
authentic leadership identity and competencies. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher
Education, 44(3). pp.415-430.
Workineh, A. C., 2021. Organisational Factors Influencing Strategic Human Resource
Management: An Empirical Investigation from Ethiopia. Journal of Strategic Human
Resource Management, 10(1). p.39.
Zuñiga-Collazos, A. and et.al., 2020. Influence of managerial coaching on organisational
performance. Coaching: an international journal of theory, research and practice, 13(1).
pp.30-44.
11