Ethical Issues and Leadership Challenges: Marks & Spencer Case Study

This report presents an analysis of ethical issues and leadership challenges faced by Marks and Spencer in the 21st century, focusing on the impact of globalization. The research employs a case study approach, examining the company's practices and the challenges leaders encounter in a globalized market. The study explores the importance of leadership in decision-making, employee welfare, and profit maximization, as well as the influence of market forces, leadership competencies, and people issues. The report investigates the role of Human Resource Management (HRM) in addressing these challenges and analyzes the interdependence between leadership and business success. Secondary data analysis is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of HRM practices and to identify suitable leadership theories. The findings highlight ethical dilemmas arising from globalization, cultural diversity, and the need for leaders to adapt to evolving market dynamics. The report concludes with recommendations for improvements, including the adoption of participative leadership styles, effective collaboration with HRM, and embedding change in leadership and HRM practices to enhance communication. The research also acknowledges limitations and suggests future research directions.

To analyse ethical issues and challenges faced within leadership
concept in 21st century: A case study of Marks and Spencer.
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Abstract
The researcher has taken the research work to evaluate the challenges of leadership in 21st
century and described how Human Resources Management helps to solve such problems. In case
of that the researcher divided the whole chapter into five parts.
The first chapter describes the rationality of research work. In case of that the researcher
identified main aim and objective regarding that. In relation the researcher identified some
research question to understand the research topic.
The second chapter is literature review in this research work. The researcher review different
literature of the topic. Many theories and strategies has been analysis in this chapter to
understand the issue.
The third chapter is methodology. In the chapter the researcher explain different methods of
research such as philosophy, design, tools and data collection methods. The researcher selected
interpretive approach and exploratory design. The researcher selected secondary qualitative data
analysis methods. In case of sampling technique the researcher used inclusive and exclusive
methods.
The fourth chapter is data analysis and findings. In this chapter the researcher reviews different
secondary sources to evaluate the situation. In this chapter the researcher tries to link up the
leadership activities with the impact of globalization.
The last chapter and fifth chapter are conclusion and recommendation. The researcher is analysis
all process and findings in brief in this chapter. In addition, the researcher recommended some
solution to improve leadership. Further, the researcher identified researcher limitation and future
scope of the research.
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Acknowledgment
It provides me greatest satisfaction to make the final submission of the research that focuses on
To analyse ethical issues and challenges faced within leadership concept in 21st century: A
case study of Marks and Spencer. I am grateful to various fellow members behind the
successful completion of this research.
I would like to express thanks to number of people who have guided me in preparing this
research. I would like to thank my higher authority, since without their guidance my project
work would not have been achievable. I would also like to thank my peer group members. I
would also like to show my appreciation towards the respondents of the surveys as well as the
interviews, whose co-operation has helped me to incorporate data collection effectively and
efficiently.
Thank you,
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Table of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction...............................................................................................................................7
1.1 Introduction: .....................................................................................................................................7
1.2 Background of the research: .............................................................................................................8
1.3 Research Rationale:...........................................................................................................................9
1.4 Problem statement: ..........................................................................................................................9
1.5 Research aims, objectives and questions: ......................................................................................10
1.5.1 Research aim:...........................................................................................................................10
1.5.2 Research Objectives:................................................................................................................11
1.5.3 Research questions...................................................................................................................11
1.6 Significance of the research:............................................................................................................11
1.7 Summary: .......................................................................................................................................12
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................................................................13
2.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................13
2.2 Gap of the literature .......................................................................................................................13
2.3 Conceptual Framework..................................................................................................................14
2.4 Theories of leadership.....................................................................................................................15
Figure 2.2: Theories of Leadership.............................................................................................17
2.4 Role of leadership............................................................................................................................18
2.5 Different factors that influence effective leadership.......................................................................18
2.6 Issues and challenges faced in leadership: ....................................................................................19
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................21
3.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................21
3.2 Research onion................................................................................................................................21
3.3 Research philosophy........................................................................................................................22
3.3.1) Justification.............................................................................................................................23
3.4 Research approach..........................................................................................................................23
3.4.1) Justification.............................................................................................................................24
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3.5 Research design...............................................................................................................................24
3.5.1) Justification.............................................................................................................................25
3.6 Data Collection................................................................................................................................25
3.7 Sampling method............................................................................................................................26
3.8 Data Analyses plan..........................................................................................................................26
3.9 Time Horizon...................................................................................................................................27
3.10 Accessibility issues.........................................................................................................................27
3.11 Ethical consideration.....................................................................................................................28
3.12 Research limitation........................................................................................................................28
3.16 Summary.......................................................................................................................................28
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSES, INTERPRETATIONS AND FINDINGS.............................................................29
4.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................29
4.1 Primary data Analyses.....................................................................................................................29
4.3 Secondary data analyses.................................................................................................................33
4.3.1) Interdependence between leadership and business success..................................................33
4.3.2) Impact of leadership on business............................................................................................35
4.3.3 Issues face by leaders of 21st century and Suitable leadership theories to deal with critical
situations...........................................................................................................................................37
4.3.4) Role of HRM practices.............................................................................................................41
4.3.5) Effectiveness of HRM practices in organization.......................................................................43
4.3.6) Interdependence between leadership and HRM practices.....................................................43
4.4 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................45
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS..............................................................................46
5.1 Summary of research findings.........................................................................................................46
5.2 Realization of objectives..................................................................................................................46
5.3 Recommendations for improvements.............................................................................................48
5.3.1) Recommendation 1: Adoption of participative leadership style.............................................48
5.3.2) Recommendation 2: Effective collaboration with human resource management..................49
5.3.3) Recommendation 3: Embedding change in leadership and HRM practices ............................49
5.3.3) Recommendation 4: Improvement in communication and implementation of shared
leadership..........................................................................................................................................50
5.4 Research limitations .......................................................................................................................50
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5.5 Suggestions for Future research .....................................................................................................50
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................52
APPENDIX..................................................................................................................................................56
Appendix 1:Gantt chart.....................................................................................................................56
Appendix 2: Purpose of Leadership...................................................................................................56
Appendix 3: Transformational Leardership.......................................................................................58
Appendix 4: Organisational structure in HRM...................................................................................59
Appendix 5: transactional leadership ...............................................................................................60
Appendix 6: Model of Strategic HRM................................................................................................61
Appendix 7: Purpose of HRM............................................................................................................62
Appendix 8: Questionnaire................................................................................................................62
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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Introduction:
The significance of the basic principles and practice of leadership and management is
still been debatable on the ground of new global economy. However, the debates are becoming
much more complex based on the changing roles of the leaders and their versatility
characteristics. Since the beginning of 21st century, globalization predominantly affects the
service market throughout the world. People are becoming more skilled in order to maximize
their utility, benefit and profit. In case of small scale and large scale organizations managers and
leaders are showing their interest to acquire practical skill and essential knowledge aims to
innovate new ideas and senses. However, in order to complying with the raised need of present
world, various issues and challenges are being observed by the leaders and managers of
organization. The present research is aimed on analysing the different issues that are observed by
the leaders of the company which are raised in recent century after certain advancements. The
undertaking will also emphasize mainly on the ethical problems that are created as a result of
modernization. The increased roots of businesses are now developing some major issues in front
of the leaders in performing their leadership practices. These challenges are required to be
resolved soon for the effective functioning of businesses.
In order to accomplish the present research work, the entity is chosen to be Marks and
Spencer. The selected UK-based organization belongs to retail sector and existing on a global
platform. With the assistance of term 'globalization', there are various countries which are served
by Marks and Spencer involving a range of segments to be consider such as culture, religion,
beliefs, geographical locations, etc. The wide reach of the entity results in the raising of antithetic
issues that challenges ethics of leaders. In the present research work, different ethical issues that
are faced by the Marks and Spencer in leadership context as a result of globalization will be
studied.
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1.2 Background of the research:
Leadership is not just a style it is the responsibility to precede with the decision-making,
welfare of employee and profit making. In these decades, an emergence of technologies
accelerates the competition in the global economy. This globalization is undoubted helpful in
increasing the business value of the companies. However, it should be recognize that an intense
pressure is getting applied on the leaders and their practices as a result of modernization. In these
decades leaders are facing several issues in decision making, taking responsibilities and solving
complex problems. Moreover, the leaders are also facing difficulties in research and
development as in most of time they are not getting knowledgeable and potential researcher to
innovate new technologies. It should be further noted that the most of developed and developing
nations are willing to introduce capital intensive goods rather than labour intensive goods so they
need to extracts very skilled labour from overall labour force.
Due to globalization of education, dynamics of business practices and politics,
responsibilities of the leaders become unmanageable in some context. In most of developed
nations, leaders and managers have to be trained in a professional way which makes latent in
order to deal with the employees and the other stakeholders of the organizations. The major
issues that are develop with the modernization of the organizations involves the increment of
ethical challenges. The diversification of the businesses under the name of globalization has
involved employees, customers and other stakeholders from diversified places. This has further
created a challenging task in from of the leaders of firms to pay attention on each and every
factor to avoid issues. However, it is really hard to consider beliefs, cultures. religion, value, etc
of each and every person in the organizational operation. Thus, the absenteeism of it alter creates
ethical issues. The dilemma of management and leadership has become more composite while
employees also are also become concerned about their utility and optimality. In most of the
developing nations, leaders are arranging several training sessions to make the recruited staff
skilled.
In context to the selected company, it has been observed that the entity is existing in
various places worldwide. This reach is making the entity to face various ethical issues in terms
of varied beliefs, values, cultures, religions, etc. All these challenges are putting large influence
on the business operation and their efficiency. Further, the existing practices of the Marks and
Spencer are not much impelling in dealing with the rising ethical issues that can harm it.
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1.3 Research Rationale:
The 21st-century leaders have to deal with the emotions of the employee to make sure
about their performance over time. Apart from that, it is the foremost responsibility of the leaders
to choose the right person for the right post (Mukkelli, 2015). There are many other tricks which
a leader has to adopt in order to control several adverse situations. On the other hand, most of the
21st-century leaders have to face some problems regarding the access information aiming to
assess most relevant information (Theodorakopoulos and Budhwar, 2015).
Actions of the leaders and managers are subject to complete maximum works within
minimum period. As employees are the elementary part of a profit making organisation so
leaders required being more focused regarding the performance of the employee from the very
first day. In order to meet the goal of the organisation, it is important to motivate the employee to
perform for a common goal. According to Olsson, (2013) in the 21st century, people are more
conscious about the using of an internet and cyber crime. One of the biggest challenges for most
of the business leaders is to access the right information and differentiate it from the other
exponentially earliest information.
The major leadership challenges can be characterised into three parts, market forces,
leadership competencies and people issues. Market forces issues would control to drive change
in the small scale and large scale organisations from the macro level (Mau, 2017). This also
involves supply chain and the role of the external stakeholders who are important to create
supply and demand in the competitive market. Another objective of the manager is to assess the
market demand for the respective product and service aiming to meet the demand with the proper
and adequate supply. This also enables the leaders to avoid the extra cost of the inventory
accumulation and thus maximise profit over time (Masood, 2016).
In above issues sheds light on the specific technical expertise that a 21st-century leader
needs to adopt to cope up with the dynamic market structure. Most of the large-scale
organisations use to maintain economies of scale, which involves the market forces (Muyiwa and
Biodun, 2012).
1.4 Problem statement:
The role of the leaders and managers in profit making organisations is still debatable
based on their performance the present consequences. However, in this research, problem
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statement enables the researcher to specify the main issues faced by the 21st-century leaders and
managers while they are involving in the decision-making process (Soliman, 2015). Based on
these issues leaders are expected to choose the right leadership style in their own professional
life. On the other hand, with time being the workforce continues to grow more diverse. People
are more likely to reveal their intelligence and productivity where they might have the
opportunity to earn higher (Landy and Conte, 2016).
As the employees maximise their productivity the performance of the organisation also
increases over time. According to Berman et al. (2016), most of the 21st-century leaders'
disadvantages are they keen to follow the traditional process to motivate the staffs and the other
stakeholders with their capability and power to control. In most of the developing nations, there
sustain a gap between skilled employee and their remuneration. This actually resists the
employee from being employed in the right position (Lussier and Hendon, 2014). Thus, the
leaders require providing proper remuneration in order to attract or retain the best people.
Secondly, leadership issues also affect the modern organisational activities. In these
decades managers become more attentive regarding the stakeholders activities. Thite et al.
(2012) opined those organizations, which are having shares and bonds in the open market are
largely depends upon the stake holder's activities. Leaders required to be rational on the ground
of the profit making where any kind of bias towards any stakeholder might reveal negative
effects. Constant training, job changing, career changes and retraining become the norm in the
21st century (Bush, 2013). After completing 30 years in an organization, and getting a gold
watch might be anachronistic for an individual employee.
1.5 Research aims, objectives and questions:
1.5.1 Research aim:
The major aim of conducting the present undertaking is "to analyse the ethical issues and
challenges faced within leadership concept in 21st century.' This research will be conducted on
the organisation, Marks and Spencer. In addition to this, the research is also focused on resolving
these ethical issues faced in leadership.
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1.5.2 Research Objectives:
 To analyse the role of leadership in Marks and Spencer in context of 21st century.
 To identify the forces of 21st century that creates ethical issues in leadership practices of
Marks and Spencer.
 To assess the significance of identifying the ethical issues faced in leadership practices of
Marks and Spencer.
 To identify different ethical issues faced in leadership of Marks and Spencer in context of
21st century.
 To study the impact of ethical issues faced in leadership of Marks and Spencer in context
of 21st century.
 To recommend the ways in which Marks and Spencer can overcome ethical issues in
leadership.
1.5.3 Research questions
1. What is the role of leadership in Marks and Spencer in context of 21st century?
2. What are the main leadership issues in Marks and Spencer?
3. How ethical issues impacts Marks and Spencer in context of 21st century?
4. What are the recommendations for overcoming ethical issues of leadership in Marks and
Spencer?
1.6 Significance of the research:
Leadership is regarded as the most crucial segment of any business. All the
organizational operations are performed under these leadership tactics. However, the
globalization has raised various issues in front of the leaders especially in context to the ethics.
This increments is now harming the overall effectiveness of the businesses. Hence, the present
research work will assist in gathering data on the causes that foster the issues. The research is
also important to study as the findings from the work will help organizations in framing effective
tools that can assist its leadership. With the help of this dissertation, reader can gain a through
idea of the impacts of ethical issues on the effective business functioning. Evaluation of the
challenges faced by the leaders is not only significant but also justified in order to maximize
profit and minimize cost. There are many renowned educational institutions which are providing
different management education to train the leaders in a right way. However, there is hardly any
scope to detect all the insufficiencies within a business (DeNisi et al. 2014). Therefore, the
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leaders need to adapt certain modern approaches to specifying the issues in a particular field. It is
evidenced that as the profit making organisations are having the tendency to assess the market
demand for the particular good and service so it would be better to speculate the quality
demanded rather than manipulating the business report (Mukkelli, 2015). In these days leaders
are seeking for a skilled analyst to detect the upcoming market price and quantity demanded a
particular product.
1.7 Summary:
The introduction section of the present research is aimed on the rationale and significance
of conducting the work. This section further provide the impact of globalization on leaderships
that is influencing to conduct a research on the same. This introduction section of the dissertation
also covers the aims and objectives that will be gained. Along with this, basic guidelines can be
gained from this which will assist researcher in moving right direct as to accomplish in a
stipulated time. In addition to this, the described part also covers the questions that will be
covered in the undertaken work.
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