Management Perspectives: A Case Study Report on Coles Supermarket

This report provides a comprehensive case study analysis of Coles Supermarket, examining its management perspectives through the lens of organizational theory, ethics, and diversity. It begins with an executive summary and an introduction outlining the report's purpose and the rationale for choosing Coles. The research methodology section details the secondary research methods employed, including internet portals and peer-reviewed journals. The report then explores Coles' vision, values, and organizational culture, referencing Morgan's Eight Metaphors to illustrate its cultural system. It delves into the company's commitment to diversity and inclusion, highlighting its programs and initiatives. The report further analyzes organizational theory, particularly the application of Mary Parker Follett's management principles, and examines the company's organizational structure, chain of command, and communication channels. The ethics and diversity section assesses Coles' ethical practices, including its support for the LGBTI community and its commitment to disability inclusion. The report concludes with an assessment of Coles' management, offering recommendations for improvement, and emphasizing the positive impact of its culture and diversity programs. The report is supported by a comprehensive bibliography.

Running Head: COLES 1
Management Perspectives
Student Details

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Executive Summary
The summary of this report is to understand the importance of diversity and inclusion
program which is the case study to understand management skills. The report has provided
various codes and programs of the close group to understand the organizational behavior.
This report provides information on different aspects of employee which influences culture
and values of employees. The major elements of the report are as follows:
• Overview of the company
• The vision and mission of the company
• Importance of diversity and inclusion
• Organizational theories to support the management programs
The report has described the Cole’s diversity programs, Vision and mission statement
to understand organizational structure. The report has described the importance of manager in
influencing employee behavior towards organizational structure and culture.

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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Research Methodology...............................................................................................................4
Vision and Values of the Organization......................................................................................4
Organizational Theory...............................................................................................................5
Ethics and Diversity...................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
This report is about Coles a supermarket which is considered as market leader in
Australia grocery industries. Coles is founded in 1914 in Collingwood. The company has 807
supermarkets across Australia. The company has various employee welfare programs and
providing prosperity to thousands of employees. This report is focused on the impact of
ethics, values, and diversity on the culture of the organization behavior. The Coles has
successful social media strategy. The company’s youtube channel, twitter, and Instagram is
filled with various customer engagement programs. Cole supermarkets also publish various
healthy recipes which is making Coles as successful connecting platform.
The reason to choose this organization is the growing engagement and customer
involvement in the organization. The Coles supermarket is the most loved grocery store
among the new generation due to its creative posts in Facebook and various social media
platforms.
The report covers Cole’s supermarket ethics, policies, and diversity programs. The
report has emphasis on Marry Follet management theory to understand the case study
analysis. The company vision and mission statements are also discussed. The organization
behavior and culture which is influenced by diversity and welfare programs of Coles
Supermarkets are described in the report.

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Research Methodology
The research methodology is the methods used to complete the report. According to
Robert K. Yin defines the case study research method as inquiry which can be contemporary
analyzed with real-time context (Yin., 2014).In this report, the following secondary research
methods are used. Different internet portals, Peer-reviewed journals, and reports are
considered to understand the organizational change.
The three conditions to select which type of research should be included are described as
follows (Yin., 2014):
 Type of Research question
 The extent of control in hands of researcher
 Degree of focus on contemporary research
In this report, the research methods are described and discussed to understand
organizational change with changing values and culture in the organization. The case study
method is implemented by analyzing various codes and policies charter of Cole’s
supermarket to understand the organizational culture and structure.
Vision and Values of the Organization
The Vision and mission statement defines the organizational goals and objectives as
the vision and mission are the bases of going forward in organizational planning and
execution of organizational objectives.
Coles is based on the vision of growing together with their team members. The company
is appreciated for their better together charter which is about policies that Coles want to fulfill
from their employees. The company’s better together concept is based on five major elements
which are:
 Accessibility
 Flexibility
 Gender Balance
 Indigenous
 Pride

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According to Morgan’s Eight Metaphors of organization, The organization can be
metaphorically linked with one of the feature. The company major elements define and
describe Coles Supermarket as cultural systems. This metaphor explains the cultural system
which involves employee beliefs and values into organization goal. The Coles has taken huge
steps in evolving culture diversity in the organization which describes the company is taking
care of the employees concerns and issues. According to the charter commitment towards the
employees can help in focusing the better customer service. Coles has put huge emphasis on
diversity profile. The company has various engagement programs and it also conduct regular
surveys on diversion and inclusion. The company all the leaders promote diversity programs
as the company also has inclusive leadership training (Coles Group, 2019).
The Coles Vision and Mission statement is described as:
“To give the people of Australia a shop they trust, delivering quality, service, and value.”
The company values are described are divided into four major statements and these
are: (Coles Group, 2010)
 The Customers is the king and the organization has to focus first on the customer
engagement.
 The company believes in supporting in the team as whole.
 The company feels confident about their services
 The company focuses on upgrading itself and strive to achieve better results.

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Organizational Theory
The Coles group as studied can be considered as the good example of modern
management. It can be seen that company has great diversity programs. The company also
has various models to improve communication and collaboration in the organization. The
base of all the management studies is Henry Fayol which describes that the employee can
only work if they fear the management which has evolved to scientific management which
states the importance of motivation and esteem needs of the employees (Gready, 2013). The
Coles group has given various examples which show that the company is changing with
changing aspirations of the employees. The company as noted is the first Australian company
to promote LGBT support groups, also the company leaders are involved in all the decision
making of the inclusion programs. The company also has management involvement in
training of the employees (Austin, 2015).
Mary Parker Follet stressed very well that the work can be done by people is only
possible when we understand the feelings and emotions of the employee (Brooks, 2018). She
suggested that the management should work in collaborative manner which implies working
together as team as described in Cole’s supermarket rather than ordering or showing power
towards the employees. Being mother of the management Mary parker Follet emphasis on
art of getting things done through collaborative and friendly methods.
This management theory is used to increase the productivity of organization and
quality of services. The author developed the idea of leadership by creating the focus on
collaboration with solve the organizational problems by compromise. Follett’s theory is very
beneficial to lead a complex organization (Smith, 2016). Because it allows groups or
organizations to use their own ideas and also empowers workers and employees by
acknowledge their skills. As per Follett’s theory, managers must allow employees flexibility
to achieve their organizational targets with their own idea. Instead of developing a strict
hierarchy, Follett supposed that employees should practice power of coerciveness (Peris
Bonet, Peris-Ortiz, & Gil Pechuán, 2011).
The company values and mission statement clearly defines the base of the employee
benefit and welfare. It is seen that company has a huge importance in context of development
and training of the employees towards organizational goals and success (Kitchin, 2017).

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The company has executive leadership team and the chain of command is evident as
collaborative. The company group of executive take decisions on the basis of employee
welfare and customer engagement (Tomkins, 1991). The company leadership board is also
appreciated for Gender balance. The company has 33% of leadership positions occupied by
women. The company has successful communication channel as the company believes in
work together and better together. The company has various engagement surveys which help
in an organization to make a win-win strategy. The manager plays a huge role in
organizational behavior and structure. As a part of implementation of diversity programs, the
company has established formal partnership with various members to work for the local
community. The Manger and leaders help an organization to adopt change and deal with
company’s major health, environmental issues of the organization (Hartley, 2018). The good
distribution channel is the basic requirement for the proper coordination and operation of the
product in the organization (Rosenbloom, 2012). The organization channel consists of
retailers and customers. The company deals with huge supply chain to provide various
grocery items to the customers to deal with suppliers the company supply chain portal which
defines the basic code which need to be followed by the suppliers (Machado & Paulo Davim,
2014).
The company has a great channel of communication as the social media networking
of Cole’s group. The company also has surveys and portals to communicate the concerns to
the management. The organization communication plays a huge role as the organizing
function and controlling the management depends on transparent communication. The
organization theory is based on the modern management which is analyzed to understand the
success of organizational structure.

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Ethics and Diversity
Ethics are the basic pillars of the organization (Brooks, 2018). Business ethics can be
defined as the study of various policies and procedures which help an organization to
potentially deal with the moral and ethical issues like bribery, conflict of interest, fiduciary
responsibilities, insider trading which directly impact the company reputation and working
alignment. The Ethics are based on the major principles of transparency and honesty towards
organization goals and duties towards society as a whole (Bowen, 2019).
The Coles as discussed has employee friendly vision and mission towards the
organization goals. The company has pride in introducing Australia’s first national non-profit
organization for employee support programs of LGBTI workplace inclusion and currently,
the company has hold various awards affiliated by Australian workplace Equity index
(AWEI) which is creating various programs for the support of LGBTI community (Coles
Group, 2019).
The company diversity structure involves various aspects of training the employees
towards leadership as well as the organization has played a huge role in providing flexibility
in the organization The recent team member engagement survey has shown the feelings
supported by the use of flexible working culture. The company has also have programs on
the disable employees. The Coles is appreciated with various awards in this context as well.
Currently, Coles has Gold membership with Australian Network on Disability to ensure the
inclusion of people with disabilities (Coles Group, 2019). Coles has proven that disable can
work in all aspects of business whether it is HR function or finance. The company has huge
benefits in context of disable employee as team members, customers and suppliers. The
company has enhanced its access and proved that how much the company is contributing
towards community.
The company has embraced diversity by involving the employees of the company.
The code of conduct describes that the company follow good ethical practice and the ethics is
the base of the success of the Coles supermarket as the company has disability, employee
engagement plans in place (Katsioloudes, 2012). The Human resource management becomes
easier when company involve employees through engagement surveys (Kehoe, 2017). The
company takes annual surveys to involve employee inclusion and diversity programs.

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Conclusion & Recommendations
In the conclusion, it is evident that company is following its code of conduct and
diversity programs. In my views, the Company management plays a huge role in organizing
the community and company in collaborative way. As the company diversity programs are
the most attractive to the employees. These programs can help employee to grow and
improve performance as the organization success is depended on employee’s individual
performance.
To improve the organization structure, the manager should also measure the results of
the employee on quarterly basis. The company should also make the portal anonymous so
that the employees can communicate freely. The Coles supermarket should also provide
incentives to the employees who are working for the welfare of the indigenous to motivate
them to engage and improve the community.
It can be concluded that the Coles Supermarket has a positive impact due to culture
and diversity programs. The company is following its values towards organization success as
the various stakeholders are engaged with Coles which shows that the organization is
growing with the employees.
Bibliography

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Austin, R. T. (2015). Organizational Theories of Human Learning and Employee
Development Initiatives. Journal of Social and Psychological Sciences, 8(1), 8.
Brooks, I. (2018). Organizational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups and Organization. United
Kingdom: Pearson.
Coles Group. (2010, July). Our Code. Retrieved August 12, 2019, from
file:///C:/Users/SystemJP/Downloads/QoN_Coles_CodeofConduct_rec010612%20(1)
.pdf
Coles Group. (2019). 2023 Better Ctogather Charter Commitments. Retrieved August 12,
2019, from file:///C:/Users/SystemJP/Downloads/Better-Together_One-Pager
%20(2).pdf
Coles Group. (2019). Diversity & inclusion. Retrieved August 12, 2019, from
https://www.colescareers.com.au/why-work-with-us/diversity-and-inclusion
Gready, P. (2013, Sepetember 1). Organizational Theories of Change in the Era of
Organizational Cosmopolitanism: lessons from ActionAid’s human rights-based
approach. Third World Quaterly, 34(8), 1339-1360.
Hartley, S. (2018). Project Management: A practical guide to planning and managing
projects. Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Katsioloudes, M. (2012). Global Strategic Planning. Orfordshire: Routledge.
Kitchin, D. (2017). An Introduction to Organizational Behaviour for Managers and
Engineers: A Group and Multicultural Approach. London: Routledge.
Machado, C., & Paulo Davim, J. (2014). Work Organization and Human Resource
Management. Portugal: Springer.
Peris Bonet, F. J., Peris-Ortiz, M., & Gil Pechuán, I. (2011). Basis for a general theory of
organizations. Management Decision, 49(2), 270-283.
Smith, R. (2016). Organizational Learning: An integrated HR and knowledge management
perspective. Abingdon: Routledge.
Tomkins, C. (1991). Corporate Resource Allocation: Financial, Strategic and
Organizational Perspectives. London: Wiley.

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Yin., R. K. (2014). Case Study Research Design and Methods ( 5th ed.). Thousand Oaks:
Sage Publishers.