Business Context of Marks and Spencer: Report and Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the business context of Marks and Spencer, a major British multinational retailer. It begins with an introduction to the concept of business context, emphasizing the importance of factors like vision, leadership, and management practices. The report then delves into Marks and Spencer's history, leadership styles (specifically transformational and participative), and management practices, including the use of administrative management theory. It examines how the company implements these elements and offers recommendations for improvements, such as a balance between employee participation and managerial guidance, and the introduction of new bonus schemes. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings, highlighting the importance of strategic analysis in ensuring the successful operation and long-term vision of the business. The report also discusses the application of leadership and management theories within the company.

Context of Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. History and Summary of the organisation and rationale for choice........................................1
2. Vision, leadership style and management practices of the organisation.................................1
3. The way in which all the above elements are implemented by the company..........................4
4. Recommendations for improvements......................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Context of a business can be defined as the study of different factors of the organisation
which can help to conduct detailed analysis and gather information regarding the business. Under
this process various factors are being analysed which includes vision, mission, leadership styles,
management practices etc. For all the business entities it is very important to monitor all these
elements in order to make sure that all the operations are executed in appropriate manner (Berger
and et.al., 2015). The organisation which is selected for this assignment is Marks and Spencer
which was founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in year 1884. It is mainly established
in London, United Kingdom.
Various topics are being covered under this report such as history and summary of
business, rationale for choice, vision, leadership styles, management practices and strategy
making. Apart form this analysis of the way in which all these elements are implemented and
recommendations regarding making improvements are also discussed in this report.
MAIN BODY
1. History and Summary of the organisation and rationale for choice
Marks and Spencer is one of the largest British multinational retailer company which is
operating its business all around the world. It was established in year 1884 by two people
Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. Currently the business is operated with the help of more
then 80000 employees. It has more than 950 stores all world-wide. The company specialises in
home products, luxury food items, clothing and banking services. Marks and Spencer is also
listed on London Stock exchange. From year 2008 it has started to sale branded goods and more
then 50% stores of the organization only sales food items. It was the first British retail company
in year 1998 which is able to generate a pre tax profits of more than 1 billion pounds (History
and Summary of Marks and Spencer, 2019).
Marks and Spencer is selected to for this project because it is a large company in retail
sector and information regarding it can be gathered easily. Another reason behind the selection is
that it is the dream organisation of researcher.
2. Vision, leadership style and management practices of the organisation
There are various types of elements that are required to be focused while analysing a
business. These are vision, leadership styles and management practices. It helps the researcher to
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gather detailed information of that entity. For Marks and Spencer all of them are discussed
underneath:
Vision: Marks and Spencer has pledged to protect natural resources, safeguard natural
habitats, try to support the replenishment of raw materials and to be the market leaders in retail
sector.
Leadership style: For all the business entities it is very important to follow appropriate
leadership style so that all the tasks can be accomplished successfully. In order to make sure that
all activities are performed in appropriate manner it is vital for leaders to be effective and guide
subordinates effectively. In Marks and Spencer transformational leadership style is followed by
leaders in order to execute operations properly (da Cunha Mattos and et.al., 2014). It helps to
motivate employees as they are asked to provide opinion while formulating decision for
betterment of company. Leaders consider point of view of workers because they have practical
knowledge of field as they directly interact with clients. It helps managers and other top level
executives to form effective strategies for business so that higher profits and revenues can be
generated for appropriate execution of business. This style of leadership helps to fulfil vision
with the help of employees who supports leaders while working on a project.
Leadership theory: Leaders of Marks and Spencer uses participative leadership theory
in which inputs from employees are invited for the purpose of decision formulation. When
company faces an issue then detailed information regarding it is provided to the staff members so
that they can analyse it and provide attractive solutions for the same. Various types of solutions
are gathered from them and for each one voting is conducted so that the right one can be
selected. It enhances participation of leaders in activities which motivates employees and they
work properly for the accomplishment of business goals. Employers in Marks and Spencer make
sure that staff members are not facing problems and they observe such type of situation they try
to resolve it as soon as possible so that they can work more productively. It is also used by
leaders to enhance morale of workers so that they can feel good at workplace and their efforts of
completing a job get enhanced (Lankoski, 2016). They become more active to improve the
negative situation which is resulting in problematic situation of the company.
Management practices: All the methods and innovative ideas that are used by managers
to enhance effectiveness at work place is known as management practices. It includes various
activities such as training to employees, empowering staff, launching new forms of technology
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and introducing attractive schemes to improve work quality of employees. In Marks and Spencer
managers are very much concerned about the management practices as they always try to
enhance performance of whole company. Main role of them is to reduce conflicts that are taking
place between staff and higher authority as it can help to improver work quality of them and also
results in raised profitability (Marlow and McAdam, 2015). Objective behind conducting
management practices is to achieve predetermined goals of organisation so that long term
sustainability and competitive advantage can be attained for future. These are also used by
managers to improve productivity of each employees by motivating them with the help of
attractive benefits such as appropriate bonus, compensation and timely incentives.
Management theory: Administrative management theory which was developed by
Henry Fayol is used by managers of Marks and Spencer to manage all the business activities
performed by staff members. It helps them to plan, organise, command, coordinate and control
workers so that they can try accomplish goals that are set by top authority of organisation. This
theory is segregated in five different elements which are as follows:
 Planning: This component of administrative theory states that managers of marks and
Spencer analyse future condition and then formulate attractive plans so that long term
goals can be achieved.
 Organising: Under this head managers are responsible for the organisation of all the
activities and analyse that all of them are conducted by employees in appropriate manner
or not. They are also responsible for creating an organisational structure which helps to
bring human and non human resources towards the company.
 Commanding: The procedure in which direction is provided to employees by managers
is known as commanding. It helps them to execute all the operation properly in the
guidance of top level management (Möhring and et.al., 2014).
 Coordinating: There are various departments in Marks and Spencer and for managers it
is very important to coordinate with all of them so that operations can be executed
effectively and appropriately. All the divisions try to attain organisational objectives by
putting their efforts.
 Controlling: It is the procedure of comparing existing performance with desired level so
that error in proposed plan can be analysed and unnecessary expenditures can be
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controlled. It helps to make improvements in current plans so that activities can be
operated smoothly in future.
All the above described elements of administrative management theory helps to reach
vision as it helps to organise all the activities and human resource appropriately.
3. The way in which all the above elements are implemented by the company
Vision of the organisation is being achieved with the help of proper execution of business
activities and proper formulation of strategies that are required to reach long term vision. With
the help of proper leadership and management practices vision of Marks and Spencer is being
achieved by leaders and managers which also helps to operate business in appropriate manner
(Sandkuhl, Koç and Stirna, 2014).
Transformational leadership is being implemented by leaders of Marks and Spencer by
pushing the team out of their comfort zone and provide them a level of transparency. It helps to
meet the need of subordinates. Afterwards if they are having any issue then they ask for the help
and make sure that it get resolved which helps to set a good example in front of them. For
example, if Marks and Spencer is planning to increase its profits by 5% in upcoming period then
leaders have to form strategies in which they have to motivate employees to work hard. In this
situation leaders provide them challenging jobs so that their skills get enhanced and provide them
detailed information regarding the business project. It helps to motivate them and enhance their
work quality. While creating strategies they as workers to form decisions in order to make sure
that it can help to attain business objectives.
Management practices are implemented according to requirement of organisations. If
employees are not able to perform all the tasks in appropriate manner then managers can conduct
training program for them. When employee engagement rate is very low then they impose new
and impressive schemes for them so that their involvement in work can be increased. In Marks
and Spencer all of them are implemented according to requirement of situation. For example, if
the company is willing to introduce a new store in a new location. For this purpose managers
have to follow the administrative management theory. First of all they have to formulate plan for
future so that goals can be achieved (vom Brocke, Zelt and Schmiedel, 2016). After planning all
the activities they have to organise them in a sequence in order to attain positive results. When
organisation related activities are completed then managers starts to guide the employees so that
they can work productively. In this process they make sure that all the procedure are conducted
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properly. At the end they control all the activities to ignore negative situations that may take
place in future.
4. Recommendations for improvements
 It has been recommended to leaders and managers of Marks and Spencer to be a little bit
strict with employees because if they are very frank with workers then they probably
ignore to put high efforts to accomplish all the tasks successfully.
 Marks and Spencer should introduce new bonus schemes for workers so that their
productivity can be increased.
 Taking opinion of staff members is good but managers should form strategy by analysing
all the aspects and success-ability of decisions (Wirtz and et.al., 2016).
 Sometimes transformational leadership style also results in decreased involvement of
staff members in their job because they think that leaders are very friendly to them so if
they are not working properly then no action will be taken against them. To overcome
this situation leaders are suggested to be professional with them at workplace.
 Employees of the company are very much dependent upon managers and leaders due to
participative leadership theory so it has been recommended to Marks and Spencer to
reduce involvement of managers and leaders and ask workers deal with little challenges
by themselves.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that there are various types of
elements that are analysed by top management in order to figure out that business is operated in
appropriate manner or not. These are vision, leadership style, management practices and
strategies. There are various types of theories that are implemented by companies to accomplish
business goals and reach to long term vision. Participative theory of leadership and academic
management theory of management practices are two ways that helps to managers and leaders to
make sure that business is executed in proper way or not.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Berger, R. and et.al., 2015. Analyzing business-to-business relationships in an Arab
context. Journal of World Business. 50(3). pp.454-464.
da Cunha Mattos, T. and et.al., 2014. A formal representation for context-aware business
processes. Computers in Industry. 65(8). pp.1193-1214.
Lankoski, L., 2016. Alternative conceptions of sustainability in a business context. Journal of
cleaner production. 139. pp.847-857.
Marlow, S. and McAdam, M., 2015. Incubation or induction? Gendered identity work in the
context of technology business incubation. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.
39(4). pp.791-816.
Möhring, M. and et.al., 2014, September. Classification framework for context data from
business processes. In International Conference on Business Process Management (pp.
440-445). Springer, Cham.
Sandkuhl, K., Koç, H. and Stirna, J., 2014, May. Context-aware business services: technological
support for business and IT-alignment. In International Conference on Business
Information Systems (pp. 190-201). Springer, Cham.
vom Brocke, J., Zelt, S. and Schmiedel, T., 2016. On the role of context in business process
management. International Journal of Information Management. 36(3). pp.486-495.
Wirtz, B. W. and et.al., 2016. Business models: Origin, development and future research
perspectives. Long range planning. 49(1). pp.36-54.
Online
History and Summary of Marks and Spencer. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus>
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