Evaluating Leadership's Role in Employee Motivation: Marks and Spencer

This report evaluates the need for effective leadership in motivating employees, using Marks and Spencer as a case study. It explores the aims and objectives of the research, including the different leadership styles employed by Marks and Spencer, such as democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire, and the factors used to motivate employees, such as rewards, work-life balance, and health benefits. The research employs a qualitative approach, including a questionnaire to gather data from respondents. The data analysis reveals that the majority of respondents believe the leadership style at Marks and Spencer is effective and that leadership is linked to employee motivation. The report also highlights the importance of various motivational factors, including rewards, competitive salaries, health benefits, and work-life balance, in enhancing employee performance and achieving organizational goals.

Leadership and employee
motivation

Table of Contents
Topic of the research – “To evaluate the need of effective leadership for motivating employees.
Case study of “Marks and Spencer”................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Research aims and objectives..........................................................................................................3
Aim of the research................................................................................................................3
Objective of the research........................................................................................................3
Research Questions................................................................................................................3
Rationale for the research.......................................................................................................4
Gantt chart..............................................................................................................................4
Literature review..............................................................................................................................5
Different type of leadership styles of Marks and Spencer which are used for motivating
employees...............................................................................................................................5
Factors used for motivating employees..................................................................................6
Research methodology.....................................................................................................................6
Research Philosophy............................................................................................................6
Research Approach..............................................................................................................6
Research Strategy.................................................................................................................7
Research Methodology.........................................................................................................7
Accessibility...........................................................................................................................7
Ethics......................................................................................................................................7
Sampling................................................................................................................................7
DATA ANALYSIS..........................................................................................................................8
DATA INTERPRETATION.........................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

Topic of the research – “To evaluate the need of effective leadership for
motivating employees. Case study of “Marks and Spencer”.
INTRODUCTION
Leadership is an important factor by which the managers of any company have the
ability to manage the way in which other staff and employees work. It is essential for the
organisation to have effective leadership for enhancing the performance of employees.
Leadership and employee motivation is defined as important way of managing the employee
performance (Marks & Spencer, 2019). For any organisation, it is important to manage the
performance of employees. When company motivated employees, it is concluded that work is
done properly for managing the work. A company can provide motivation to employees by
various ways like providing rewards, providing medical insurance, health benefits, etc.
Motivation of employees is very important as this is helpful for achieving the organisational
goals in specified time frame. The company considered in this report is Marks and Spencer. This
is a clothing company of UK. This operates in different countries and M&S deals in different
sectors like clothing, supermarket, groceries, etc. the present research depends upon the
Employee motivation and good leadership within an organisation (Leadership styles.2019). The
managers and leaders of Marks and Spencer are managing their work effectively and providing
all the necessary factors to employees which will motivate them.
Research aims and objectives
Aim of the research
The aim for this research is “To evaluate the need of effective leadership for motivating
employees. Case study of “Marks and Spencer”.
Objective of the research
 To know different type of leadership styles of Marks and Spencer used for motivating
employees
 To evaluate various ways of motivating employees

Research Questions
 What are the different type leadership styles of Marks and Spencer which are used for
motivating employees?
 What are the factors used for motivating employees ?
Rationale for the research
The reason for conducting this research is to analyse the leadership and employee motivation. It
is important for analysing that leadership is an essential factor used for managing the work of
different companies effectively. Marks and Spencer is a big organisation (Traits of leader,.2019).
This is working in different countries. After doing this research, it is able to analyse the value of
having good leadership and employee motivation is helpful for managing the performance of
employees.
Gantt chart
This is defined as the representation of activities and tasks which are involved within research.
The Gantt chart provides help in knowing the time needed for managing the tasks and activities
involved in research.

Literature review
Different type of leadership styles of Marks and Spencer which are used for motivating
employees
As per the viewpoint of Brown, (2012), Marks and Spencer leaders can use different type of
leadership styles. These are democratic, autocratic, laissez faire, etc. there are different managers
in Marks and Spencer who use effective leadership styles for completing the tasks and activities
properly. The main objective of Marks and Spencer is to provide effective strategies for the
company’s management so that employees are motivated towards working in effective manner.
The managers of Marks and Spencer corporate daily as well as weekly audits for identifying and
resolving the issues of the company and performing operational routine that includes process in
delivering standard stores (Types of employee motivation,2020). This is very important for the
company that leadership strategy is important for managing the work properly.
Factors used for motivating employees
According to the views of Cullen and et. al., (2014), Motivation is defined as personal interest
that an individual is having towards attaining something. This is very essential that for the
company that Marks and Spencer has to motivate employees for increasing performance of
company. The different factors that can be used for motivating employees are appreciation of
hard work, sense of achievement, empowerment and responsibility, opportunity for advancement
and sense of enjoyment and challenge. Marks and Spencer used various ways for managing the
work and business activities. There are various ways for motivating employees. Some of these
are providing rewards, managing the work life balance, providing health benefits, medical
insurance, etc (Motivational theories,2020). Marks and Spencer provide motivation to its staff
and employees by involving in various association like working in partnership and achieving
objectives.

Research methodology
Research Philosophy
Research philosophy is known as the set of different values and beliefs which researcher
uses while conducting any research. It is important for the researcher that he has full knowledge
about the research topic. In the present research, it is concluded that employee motivation and
leadership is important for managing the performance of organisation. The different kind of
research philosophy are personal interview, observation, etc.
Research Approach
Inductive approach: This is defined as the process by which researcher is able to
develop and create understanding of the topic. It is essential for the researcher to analyse the way
in which knowledge regarding the topic is focused upon.
Deductive approach: It refers to the approach based on the past investigation done by
researcher in past time.
In context of the present research, qualitative investigation is used for analysing aims and
objectives of this research.
Research Strategy
It refers to a plan of action which help researcher in order to conduct the research in an
effective and rightful manner.
Research Methodology
It is important that qualitative research method is analysed for managing the research.
The research methodology is defined as the way used by researchers for doing the task and
activity of projects (Research methods, 2017). Moreover, quantitative research is defined as the
way of collecting data by evaluating numeric data. The present research is a primary research in
which respondents are chosen and questionnaire is used for collecting data.

Accessibility
This is defined as the way by which information and data is involved in managing the tasks
of research. There are different activities used for accessing all the data needed for completing
the project work.
Ethics
Informed consent – This is defined as the ethical issues and problems in context of research
topic. It is important for the company that all work needed for completing the project must have
informed consent (Research methodology, 2017). The respondents involved in the research must
provide their full consent for using their information provided for completing the research work.
Respect for confidentiality and anonymity – It is important for the researcher to protect data and
information of research. It is essential to protect information provided by individuals given in the
research. It is also important to keep the data given by individuals confidential.
Sampling
Sampling is defined as the way by which researcher is able to collect respondent for
managing the work of research properly. Sampling is the most important for the researcher as
this is helpful for conducting the activities and tasks of research is effective manner. The
investigator is using non probabilistic sampling method for conducting the research. It is useful
for providing interpretation of the data collected by the respondents. Questionnaire is used by the
investigator for conducting the research. The questionnaire for this research is given below –
Questionnaire
Q1) ) As per your viewpoint, is leadership style used by Marks and Spencer strong
enough to work in market effectively?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2). Do you think leadership is linked with motivating employees and staff?
a) yes

b) no
Q3). What is the strategy used by managers of Marks and Spencer for motivating their
staff ?
a) Providing rewards and benefits
b) competitive salaries
c) All of the above
Q4). From the below given factors, which is the most important factor on which
managers have to focus on?
a) health benefits
b) Work life balance
c) Salary and rewards
DATA ANALYSIS
Questionnaire
Q1) ) As per your viewpoint, is leadership style used by Marks and
Spencer strong enough to work in market effectively?
Frequency
a) Yes 20
b) No 10
Q2). ). Do you think leadership is linked with motivating employees and
staff?
Frequency
a) yes 15
b) no 15
Q3). ). What is the strategy used by managers of Marks and Spencer for Frequency

motivating their staff ?
a) Providing rewards and benefits 4
b) competitive salaries 4
c) All of the above 22
Q4). From the below given factors, which is the most important factor on
which managers have to focus on?
Frequency
a) health benefits 10
b) Work life balance 10
c) Salary and rewards 10

DATA INTERPRETATION
Q1) As per your viewpoint, is leadership style used by Marks and Spencer
strong enough to work in market effectively?
Frequency
a) Yes 20
b) No 10
Interpretation – Leadership styles are the way in which managers deal with various situations
related to employees and staff. It is essential for the management of marks and Spencer to work
properly and work in an effective manner. According to 80% of the respondents, the leadership
style used by marks and Spencer is very effective. It is useful for the managers to maintain their

work properly and manage the work. The remaining 10 respondents think that marks and
Spencer has to improve the way of their leadership style.
Q2). ). Do you think leadership is linked with motivating employees and
staff?
Frequency
a) yes 15
b) no 15
Interpretation - Leadership and motivation are two important factors and these are linked with
each other. They are working together for managing the work in proper manner. According to
the above pie chart, it is clear that out of 30 respondents, there are 15 respondents who think that
leadership is linked with motivation. On the other hand, remaining 15 respondents think that
leadership does not affect employee motivation.