Evaluating Leadership Styles and Motivation at Marks & Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and employee motivation within Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins by exploring motivation theories, including Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, and how they can be applied to motivate employees during organizational changes. The report then evaluates the leadership style of M&S's CEO, Steve Rowe, identifying it as primarily transactional, and discusses its effectiveness. Furthermore, it suggests the adoption of a democratic leadership style for improved employee engagement and organizational performance. The report also examines different organizational structures and their impact on the company's success, offering insights into how M&S can enhance its performance through effective leadership and motivation strategies.

LEADING BUSINESS
ORGANIZATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LEADING BUSINESS ORGANIZATION...................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
1. The motivation theories which motivate it employees in Marks and Spencer........................3
2. Evaluate Marks and Spencer CEO leadership style................................................................6
3 Analysis the different types of organizational structure and its success to the organization....8
Conclusions....................................................................................................................................10
Reference.......................................................................................................................................11
2

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is an activity of leading group of people within organization or ability to do
this. It involves coordinating and controlling team, providing information and methods to clarify
the vision and establishing a clear vision for the organization (Antony, 2012). The report is
based on case study of Mark and Spencer which is multinational retailer and has its
headquartered in the city of Westminster, London (Marks and Spencer p.l.c. - Company Profile,
Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Marks and Spencer
p.l.c., 2016). The company is famous for clothing's, home products and luxury food products.
The given case study specified that the cited above company appoint the new CEO Steve Rowe
to revive retailer clothing business. The situation is that impacted sales across the clothing sector
due to unseasonable weather. Now the company faced problem of weak sales and reduce brand
worth of M&S. The New CEO revive its fashion after a big fall in clothing sales. This report
includes motivation models and theories which can be used to motivate employees in the above
cited company. Further, it also stresses on an effective leadership style for M&S Company and
the effectiveness of new management structure in the organization. In this report discussion
about different theories which helps to mentioned company to motivate their employees during
change of time. It also evaluates that which leadership style followed by the Mark & Spencer
New CEO Steve Rowe to leading their employees and also which style effective in recent
situation.
1. The motivation theories which motivate it employees in Marks and Spencer
People seem to have different wants and they satisfied by completing those wants. Mark
and Spencer can motivate its employee at the time of change by using theories of motivation.
Every person has certain needs and wants, which gives satisfaction to them (Boxer, 2014). The
change in company is that it has appointed Steve Rowe as the new CEO. The theories are as
follows:
Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory: This theory helps new CEO of M&S to motivate its
employees. According to this theory, lower needs takes priorities. They must be fulfilled before
others are activated (Brennan, Merkl-Davies and Beelitz, 2013). It is a known theory which is
used by most of the organization to encourage their workers. Maslow theory is concerned with
human needs which have classified all its needs into a hierarchical manner from lower to higher
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order. Maslow identified five levels in this theory; the levels are physiological needs, safety
needs, social needs, esteem needs and self actualization needs. These aspects help the employees
to be motivated.
 Physiological needs: This level involves basic needs of human life which includes food,
shelter, clothing, water, air and necessities of life. These requirements are related to
survival of human life. The following company can be motivate human resource through
fulfill their basic needs through adequate wages and stable income. The needs are to be
necessary to fulfilling before higher level need (Dawson and Van Belle, 2013). Once
these requirements are satisfied then it no longer motivates the individual.
 Safety needs: After fulfilling the physiological needs of employees by the following
company, the next needs of employees are must fulfilled by M&S company which is
safety and security needs. The safety needs of workers are benefits, pension, fair work
practices and a safe work environment. This helps the following organization to motivate
their worker. Every employee wants that they have good salary and stable environment in
their organization (de Waal, 2012). If the company fulfilling these needs then employees
gives more efforts at their work place to achieve benefits.
 Social needs:This level includes love and belonging. These needs are important for the
employees so that they do not feel isolated and depressed at the work place. The
following company should encourage the employees to enhance relationship with each
other at work place which is fulfill social needs and also promote to cooperative team
work. The employees encourage the workers by fulfilling needs because the employees
desire to work in those organizations where they are appreciated. So the effective
interpersonal relation should exist in the mentioned company (Fraj, Martínez and Matute,
2013). For example at home family, friends and clubs. In job it includes team, coworkers,
clients, subordinate and supervisors.
 Esteem needs: This level is related to employee’s self esteem and self respect at their
workplace. The following organization should fulfill these needs to motivate its
employee. Under self esteem needs, it includes self confidence, achievements,
competence, knowledge, recognition, high status, responsibility and appreciation at the
work place (Kalman, 2014). Every employee wants to recognition and achievements in
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organization. If following firm gives rewards, respect and recognition at its workplace
then employees will be motivated and give more efforts to achieve their personal goals as
well as the company goals.
 Self-actualization needs: This level includes employee’s growth and development. The
Mark & Spencer firm should provide challenging work for employees, involves
employees in the decision making process and give flexibility and freedom in their jobs.
The company must focus on promoting an environment where employees can meet their
self-actualization needs which can motivate employees (Kroeze and Keulen, 2013).
This level includes employee’s growth and development. The Mark & Spencer firm
should provide challenging work for employees, involves employees in the decision making
process and give flexibility and freedom in their jobs. The company must focus on promoting an
environment where employees can meet their self-actualization needs which can motivate
employees (Minonne and Turner, 2012).
Herzberg’s Theory: This theory also supports the following company at the time of
change. Under this theory, Herzberg's identified two factors which impact the motivation of
workers. The two factors are hygiene factor and motivator factors. The following company
should motivate employees through decrease those things which enhance dissatisfaction and
increase those thing which enhance satisfaction (Mukerjee, 2013).
 Hygiene factor: This includes company policy, supervision, working environment,
salary, status, security and interpersonal relation. The mentioned company ensures that
these factors provide adequate within organization which motivates employees. The
company must provide fair working environment, fair salary and security for its workers
because if not provide in well manner then employee might be not satisfied with the
company. So the mentioned company ensures that the employees not dissatisfied its
workplace (Seethamraju and Sundar, 2013).
 Motivator factors: It includes achievement, recognition, work itself, growth,
advancement and responsibility. These factors help in satisfying the employees. The
mentioned company should motivate its human resource by providing these aspects. With
this, the workers feels encouraged to work in the company (Sharma, Mithas and
Kankanhalli, 2014).
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Hence, the mentioned company follows both the theories to motivate its employee. If Mark &
Spencer apply both the theories at its workplace then employee will be encouraged and also give
more efforts in their work to achieve objectives.
2. Evaluate Marks and Spencer CEO leadership style
It can be evaluated that in recent time, the new CEO Steve Rowe of M&S uses
transaction leadership style. This leadership style involves motivating and directing employees
through appealing to them by their own interest. This leadership depends on the self motivated
people who work well in a structured, directed environment (Thomas and Thomas, 2012). This
leadership style focuses more on result and measuring success according to that system of the
organization with the rewards and penalties. This leadership style has formal authority and
responsibilities within organization. These types of leaders set criteria for their employees. Due
to this, the employees do not have freedom at their work they do their work in the given criteria.
Further, the performance evaluation is done through reviewing work of the employees. This type
of leaders lead best to the employees. It works where all the employees know their roles and
responsibilities and the leader motivate the employees through reward or penalty system. This
type of leader involves their employees in the decision making process.
Under transaction leadership style, the workers perform to avoid punishment and achieve
rewards (Warwick, 2014). In the mentioned company, the CEO does not give any recognition
and praise to employees who meet the expectation. This type of leaders view employees job as a
work for money. In Mark and Spencer, they give rewards for Good performance and improve the
work through punishments. The Mark and Spencer CEO Steve is more customer oriented.
Through this style, in the recent time they have improved the situation of the organization
through this type of leadership. The Steve Rowe is a rigid leader within the company and
believes that the employees do those roles and tasks which are assigned to them. The Steve
Rowe follows hierarchical structure formal communication chain that is top to bottom.
Under this leadership style quick to blame employees when thing are going to wrong or if
any problem create. As once the task is assigned to employees then he is responsible for
completing it task. This leadership style is effective because every individual know their roles
and responsibilities (Barnes and Hunt, 2013). The culture of organization is maintained with the
rules which are strictly followed by the employees. Furthermore, the impact of this leadership
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style can be positive and negative within organization is rewards and punishment exist in
company which motivates employees. A clear chain of command helps in operating the functions
of the organization. This leadership is effective when the leader is confident and is capable for
taking decision themselves.
At this changing time, Mark & Spencer CEO Steve Rowe must adopt democratic style of
leadership because this leadership style is helpful for changing the situations of the company.
This leadership style is beneficial when the company gets best result from workers. Democratic
style is effective for improving the organization performance. In this style, the CEO involves all
its workers and managers in the decision making process (Beynon-Davies, 2013). Due to this, all
employees express their ideas, views and suggestion which assist in improving the recent
situation of company. The democratic leadership is a style of leadership where the employees
can participate in the organization. This style is effective for Mark and Spencer because all the
responsibilities and authorities are distributed to all the members.
If Steve Rowe applies this leadership within organization then they will understand the
employee’s strength and weaknesses and will also identify the skills and knowledge of
employees. To change and improve the situation, they should involves employees because a
team effort s more beneficial for the organization rather than individual effort. Researcher also
found that this leadership is most effective style which leads to efficient and higher productivity
to the organization. It gives better contribution and increased morale of individual and group
within the organization. The strong democratic leaders are inspiration for their employees. The
Steve Rowe supports workers and effectively communicates with their team members which
help to identify the reason behind lack of performance. In the mentioned company, if CEO
encourages employees to share their ideas and suggestions to improve business performance then
it might be better to more creative and innovative solution for problems.
Under leadership style, employees feel more involved and committed to projects and also
care about the result (Bridge and O'Neill, 2012). It can be evaluated that leadership style leads to
higher productivity among employees. The Steve Rowe should provide its employees a better
culture and structure within organization. The CEO gives rewards and recognition when
employees fulfill their expectation. The CEO provides fair environment for its employee where
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they feel confident and comfortable and feel part of the organization. This style helps to reduce
conflict among members and enhance relationship with each other.
Hence, the Mark & Spencer’s new CEO Steve Rowe follow democratic leadership style
because this is style helps to get best outcome from employees and improve business
performance (Cavusgil and et.al., 2014).
3 Analysis the different types of organizational structure and its success to the organization
All managers have two types organizational structure for analyzing the success of the
business. Organizational structure are, one is formal and other is informal. Formal organizational
structure usually adopts job description in a flow of different levels (Rees and French, 2013).
Along with formal organizational structure informal organizational structure is a set of the
relationship between the human interaction in the organization. Formal organizational structure
can be categorized in following ways: Line organizational structure: Line organizational structure has direct and vertical
relationship between different levels of the organization. According to this type of
organization authority flows from top to bottom in a business. In this type of
organization, the line of hierarchy command on communication and coordinating without
any gaps. It promotes the fast decision-making (Craig and Campbell, 2012). It is very
simple structure. For example, Ford motor car company follows this organizational
structure. Functional organizational structure: An organization where members of the department
have authority over the line of employees in small areas of specialization is known as
functional organizational structure (Küpers, 2016). Line and staff organizational structure: Mainly large organization adopts this type of
organizational structure. These organizations have direct and vertical relationships
between different level of the organization as well as specialist responsibility to assist the
line managers. In this type of organization have both department of line and staff
organization. In this structure administrative organization support to their activities with
attached to the line command (Antony, 2012). This activities are attached with line of
command by appointing staff specialists who are attached to the line authority.
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 Divisional organization structure: In this type of organizational structure, the activities
of the business around geographical, market or company organized on divisional lines. In
this, staff members divide the work according to functional activities such as finance,
marketing etc (Boxer, 2014). Project organizational structure: Project organizational structure is the organization
where the activities are arrange into the program and portfolio. This programs can be
implements in the projects. In many projects, work process flow horizontally, upward,
downward and diagonally. Direction of the work is dependent on the abilities and skills
of the personnel in the organization. Project organizational structure can be a temporary
organization to achieve specific goals. Project team is focused on the resources and
results of the assigned project (Brennan, Merkl-Davies and Beelitz, 2013). Matrix organizational structure: Matrix organizational structure is a structure in which
the company reporting relationships are set as a grid or in a matrix. In this matrix
structure, team has specialists from the different functional area in the organization. In
other words employees has dual relationships in term of functional and product manager.
It helps to coordinated across functional department, strong coordination between the
members, improved environmental monitoring, fast response for changing the resources,
flexibility in using the resources, efficient use of the support system. In matrix structure,
functional mangers and product managers have dual aspect of relationship. They are in
charge of specialized resources like production, quality control system etc. For example
Dutch multinational electronic company (Dawson and Van Belle, 2013). Hybrid organizational structure: Hybrid organizational structure has managing
committee who has different types of manager for functional and geographical divisions.
In this structure, subordinate have functional expertise and they are efficient in their
fields (de Waal, 2012). But in some case conflict may arise between the corporate
department and units. They give slow response in the exceptional situations. This type of
organizational structure is used in multinational companies who operate in the global
environment. For example, international business machine USA. This structure depends
on the international factors.
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Informal organization structure: An informal organization structure is the set of relationship and
pattern of employee’s interaction within the organization. Apart from the formal organization, an
informal organization structure consists of informal relationships by the organizational members
at every level of the system (Fraj, Martínez and Matute, 2013). Informal organization has some
characteristics which are as follows:
 In this organizational structure, members come together to satisfy their personal needs for
example friendship, affiliation etc.
 Informal organizational structure is continuously changing because it is dynamic.
 It involves members from various organizations. It is affected by the relationship outside the firm.
Benefits of informal organization
 Informal organizational structure assists in accomplishing the work faster.
 Helps to remove weakness in the formal structure.
 This is helps to effective control over the system of the organization.
 This organizational structure provides an additional channel of communication between
the employees.
 This structure helps to identify the performance by the employees.
 It helps to encourages the performance of the employees (Chand, 2015).
CONCLUSIONS
From the above report it can be concluded that every person have different needs and
wants. They motivate from the theories of motivation because in the organization Maslow's
theory take place to motivate the people. This theory consist the basic priorities of the individual.
It is encourage to the employees by identify different needs and wants of them. Such as
physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs.
Further theory of motivation consist the Herzberg's two factor theory. This two factors are
hygiene and motivator factors. In this two factors are includes which enhance the satisfaction and
dissatisfaction level by the employees. Further the organization follows the different leadership
style for changing the situation of the company. In this democratic leadership style follows to
lead the employees of the organization. From the report for making the successful organization,
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business follows the some organizational structure such as line and staff, line, matrix, hybrid,
divisional and project organizational structure.
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