Marks & Spencer: Analyzing IT's Role, Ethical Issues, and Networks

This report analyzes the role of Information Technology (IT) within Marks & Spencer, a multinational company. It emphasizes IT's importance for efficient information storage, sharing, and communication across the organization, highlighting how IT facilitates global operations. The report then explores the advantages of IT in M&S, including enhanced communication, data management, and customer relationship management. It also delves into ethical and social issues, such as privacy concerns, security risks, ethical decision-making, and the impact of changing customer demands. Furthermore, it differentiates between various networking technologies (LAN, MAN, WAN) and discusses the importance of intranet and internet for business operations. Finally, the report outlines the stages of the system development cycle, providing a comprehensive overview of IT's influence on M&S's success and the challenges it faces. This report is contributed by a student and available on Desklib, a platform providing AI-based study tools and resources.

Analysis of the chosen
organisation

ABSTRACT
This project is based on importance of information technology within the business
organisation which helps the company in proper storing and sharing of information according to
the employees needs and behaviour. But with the increased use of IT has increased the risk of
privacy concerns and security thefts which the hackers manipulates the data for some malicious
purpose. Therefore it is necessary for the managers to take proper action and adopt to proper
tools for securing the information and attains the goals of the organisation in a proper manner.

Table of Contents
.........................................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................4
Literature Review ............................................................................................................................4
Analysis and Discussion ............................................................................................................4
Role of IT in the success or the failure of the chosen organisation ...........................................4
Ethical and social issues that pertains to running business.........................................................5
Identify and differentiate between different types of networking technologies .........................6
Importance of Intranet and internet on your business ................................................................8
Explain different stages of system development cycle...............................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFFERENCES ...........................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is the study as well as the use of systems for storing, retrieving
and exchanging information throughout the globe. It is necessary for the big multinational
companies to adopt information technology as way to to increase communication across all the
store by proper and easy sharing of information (Belvedere, Grando and Bielli, 2013). This
report is based on Marks and Spencer which is a Multinational company that specialises in
selling quality home and food products, headquartered in London. This project will throw
highlights on the role of IT in success and failure of organisation as well as discuss the different
types of networking technologies. In addition to this it will discuss the importance of intranet and
internet and determines the different stages of system development cycle.
Literature Review
Analysis and Discussion
Role of IT in the success or the failure of the chosen organisation
According to KAREHKA RAMEY, (2017). Information technology is concerned to
storage, manipulation and distribution of information so as to help the individual to conduct their
jobs within the business in a effective manner. It is the set of tools which provides right
information to the individuals at the right time Therefore IT plays a important role in the success
and failure of the chosen organisation described as follows-
Role of IT In success of Marks and Spencer
 As M&S have their stores all over the globe, information technology helps in proper
communication among the employees, customers, suppliers and business partners.
Managers within the company can adopt to email service which helps in faster
communication and saves a lot of time and money and brings efficiency in the business
operations.
 With M&S stores all over the globe, it becomes difficult for the company to manage the
data and store huge data in papers. Therefore with the help of IT tool manager at
company can store data in computers and helps in proper data management. It also saves
managers time on taking effective decision within the organisation and communicating it
all the employees at different stores.
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 Information technology helps in proper management information system as storing data
is not the only benefit, it helps the manager within M&S to formulate effective strategy
and takes proper tactical discussions such as helps in proper tracking of the sales data,
expense level and productivity level, thereby helps the manager to take effective
discussion (Bryson, Daniels and Warf, 2013).
 It also helps in maintaining customer relationship management at M&S as when the
customers call at the customer care of M&S, employee at the customer care easily tracks
what the customer has purchased and what is the issue they are facing off. This helps the
employees at M&S to solve customer problems and helps in developing and maintaining
proper relationship with them.
From this it has been analysed that Marks and Spencer should invest in information technology
as it helps to enhance communication and leads to proper storage and manipulation of data which
helps the company in conducting business activities in a proper manner.
Ethical and social issues that pertains to running business
Ethical issues is considered with the situation to choose between the alternatives that is
evalauated as right (ETHICAL) or wrong (Unethical). Their are various ethical issues that faces
problem for the respective company in running the business-
 Technology and Privacy Concerns- This is the major ethical issues faced by the
respective organisation is regarding privacy concerns of their employees and customers.
It is the responsibility of the management to keep the data private of their employees and
should not share personal information of customers with others.
 Security- With the advancements in information technology hackers can easily access to
the internet protocol to collect data and use for some malicious purpose. This associates
the risk of fraud and conflicting interests. Therefore it is necessary for the company to
store the data in the ethical manner and therefore prevents the useful and correct and
authenticated information of Marks and Spencer (Buhalis and Schertler, 2012).
 Ethical Decision making issues- Managers at M&S should conduct their business
activities in a ethical manner so to run their business for a long time period as well as
attracts larger number of customer. In order to raise profitability and productivity within
the respective organisation if the decisions are taken in unethical manner such as rising
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cost of the products to increase their profit margins, this will impacts the sustainability of
the company for a longer time period and will lead to losen its market share.
 Ethical Promotion of Products- It is necessary for the respective company to promote
its products in a ethical manner thereby not using unethical promotional tools such as
using social media as tool to persuade and influence them, it will impact the goodwill of
the company in the global market.
Social Issues- Social issues are the problems that has a influence on the large number of
individual within the society and impacts the running of the respective company proper manner.
Their are various social issues that relates to Marks and Spencer are discussed as follows-
 Changing demands and requirements of the customer- This is the major social issues
which is faced by the respective company as M&S have stores all over the globe, this
causes the company to face the changing demands of the customers in various countries.
This impacts the profitability and productivity of the company in the long run.
 Consumer Criticism- This is the greatest issues respective business is facing because of
the growing consumer concern over social responsibility. Customers in the today's
modern world determines that their business activities should contribute to the well
being of the individuals within the society. Therefore it makes Marks and Spencer to
operates in socially responsible manner by providing decent living wage to its workers
and also avoids child labour (Conger, Pratt and Loch, 2013).
 Identity theft- This is the social issues associated with technology as because of the
easily accessible computers and the internet , consumers data can be easily accessed by
the hackers and can be manipulated for some malicious purposes.
These are the major social and ethical issues which is faced by the respective company in
running their business in the global market effectively.
Identify and differentiate between different types of networking technologies
Their are different types of networking technologies which allows the employees within
the business organisations to connect and communicate with different computers and conducts
their business activities in a proper manner. LAN. MAN and WAN are the major three types of
networks which are designed in such a manner that helps M&S to collect, monitor, store and
exchange information in a proper manner.
Local Area Network-
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LAN is a type of networking technology which connects devices in such a way that
personal computers can properly share data and programmes. This type of network sharing can
be done by IP Protocol and moreover private address of the computer are unique with the other
local networks.
MAN- It is a metropolitan area network which covers larger area that of LAN. In this network
technologies it connects users with the computers in a proper geographical region of the size of
an metropolitan area. It covers a specific geographical area by serving as an internet service
provider. This type of network provides high speed connectivity to the individuals and can be
owned by the respective organisation so that data can be shared, stored and communicated within
short intervals of time.
WAN- It is a wide area network which provides facilities over a large geographical area. Under
this network data rate is slow as because of the increased distance and increased number of
servers and terminals.
It is advisable to respective company to use MAN and LAN as an internet technology
medium to properly share information to its employees so that business activities can be
conducted in a successful manner.
Differentiation between LAN, MAN and WAN.
Basis LAN MAN WAN
Area covered It covers local area
network.
It covers metropolitan
area network.
It covers wide area
network.
Ownership of data It is a private network. It can be private or
public network both
It is generally a public
network.
Sharing of information It allows single pair of
devices to
communicate(Von,
Solms and
VanNiekerk, 2013)
Multiple computers
within the respective
organisation can be
interact and leads in
proper sharing of
information.
In this network mass
number of computers
can share information
at the same time.
Used in It is used in colleges,
schools, hospitals,
This network is
generally used in small
This is a wide network
used in a country or a
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shopping malls etc. cities and towns. continent.
Importance of Intranet and internet on your business
Internet is worldwide system of computer networks which provides access to the relevant
data to the customers and helps the individual to get proper information from any other networks.
According to Zach Lazzari, (2019). Their are various benefits of internet on the respective
business described as follows-
 Internet is the best way for the respective business to connect with various customers and
clients and therefore leads to proper sharing of information.
 Internet technology provides M&S to various communication and marketing tools such
as advertisement in various internet sites as well as on social media platforms encourages
customer to buy company products and thereby helps in maximising sales of the
company.
 With the advancements in the internet technology tools it has increase market presence
online and therefore created ease for the customers to purchase products from any part of
the world. Therefore Internet helps the respective organisation to enhance their brand
image in the market and increase their profit margins.
 Internet within the company helps in building business and customer relationships which
is vital for the business success. As communication by the internet platforms helps the
respective company to attract new and retain its existing customers. Therefore internet
also helps in online conversations with the customers such as when the customer have
any issue or query about the products at M&S, it can be effectively solved and thus
necessary information can be provided to the customers at an appropriate time.
Intranet
Intranet is a private network within the enterprise which comprises of various
interconnected local area networks. Huge and wide amount of information are available on the
respective organisations intranet which is unavailable to the general public. Therefore intranet is
a secure and a private enterprise network which shares data and information through Internet
Protocol. Their are various importance of intranet within the respective organisation discussed
as-
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 Intranet within the respective organisation helps to enhance workforce productivity as
they have easy access to the organisational information at a faster rate. It enhances the
employees ability to perform the job related responsibilities in a proper manner (Ward,
2012).
 The greatful advantage offered by the intranet is the effective communication within the
organisation as there are various departments within the respective organisation and it
leads to proper communication with the help of proper chat, emails and blogs and
therefore conducts the business activities in a proper manner.
These are the various advantage of the internet and intranet within the respective organisation
and helps to conduct the business activities in a proper manner.
Explain different stages of system development cycle
System Development Cycle is also named as development life cycle which describes the
effective procedure of planning, creating, monitoring, testing and deploying the information
system. This system is applied to a range of hardware and software configurations. It consist of
six stages within the system development cycle which is described as follows-
According to Motia Alwan, (2019). System development cycle comprises of six main steps to
develop a hardware or a software system or a combination of both in order to meet the customer
expectations and requirements.
 System Planning- It is the first phase of system development cycle which helps to work
on the stated objectives and overcomes the problems identified. This step is concerned
with ability of proposing and choosing alternative solutions after meeting the employees,
suppliers and clients.
 System Analysis- It is the requirement or the demand of the end user which should be
properly documented and determined according to their expectations with the systems.
Therefore it is very important to maintain strong level of interaction and communication
with the clients so as to have clear vision of the finished products and its functions.
 System Design- This phase is developed and determined by understanding the customer
requirement in a proper manner and also defines the different types of data that goes
through system. Therefore system design helps in deciding and determining on how the
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function will look and will perform in a effective manner. In addition to this system
should be designed so as to meet all its functional and technical requirements.
 Implementation and Deployment- This phase of system development life cycle helps in
understanding system requirement and specifications. Within the life cycle actual code is
written here and if the system consists of the hardware , this phase will contain the
configuration process where the proper and the actual code is written and perform in such
a manner that meets the requirements and the functions. Here the system is ready to use
and installed in employees or individual premises, but cat the same time it requires
training for the end users to get familiar with the system and interprets the results in a
meaningful manner.
 System Testing and Integration- It is considered with bringing different components
and subsystems together in order to create a whole integrated system in a effective
manner. Testing of the system should be done so as to ensure maximum customer
satisfaction and therefore doesn't requires no proper knowledge of coding, hardware
configuration and design. Therefore testing can be done by the real users of the system
and ensures that the actual outcomes are compared and should be equal to the desired
outcomes.
 System Maintenance- In this phase of system development cycle, maintenance of the
system should be ensured that systems should not become obsolete and includes
replacing the old hardwares and leads to complete evaluation of systems performance. It
also leads to providing the latest updates for certain components to make sure that the
right standards and technologies are been opted in order to reduce the privacy issues and
current security threats.
This is the overall system development cycle which helps in proper system designing, analysing,
determining and maintenance so as to work in a proper manner and leads to making use of the
information in a effective manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that adopting to information technology
helps in success of the organisation as it leads to proper storing, manipulating and sharing of the
information in a proper manner. In addition to this there are various benefits of the internet and
intranet which helps in enhancing organisational productivity and attracts larger number of
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customers towards the company. In addition to this there are some ethical and social issues
related to technology which should be overcome in a proper manner and conducts the business
activities in a cost efficient manner.
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