Analysis of Leadership and Management at Marks and Spencer Report

This report provides an analysis of leadership and management practices within Marks & Spencer (M&S), a prominent retail organization. It begins with an introduction to the company's organizational structure, highlighting its flat structure and its impact on employee decision-making. The report then explores the distinct roles of managers and leaders, differentiating their functions and responsibilities, supported by theories and concepts. It examines various leadership theories, including situational, contingency, and system leadership, and how these are applied in different organizational situations, such as conflict resolution. Furthermore, the report discusses the application of chaos theory and management by objectives at M&S and how these concepts have contributed to the company's growth and sustainable performance. The report concludes with recommendations and references, offering insights into how M&S can further enhance its leadership and management strategies. The report also suggests the use of hierarchical management structure, contingency leadership style and application of reward system.

LEADERSHIP AND
MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Project 1...........................................................................................................................................1
Introduction to the organisation and management structure.......................................................1
Roles of both managers and leaders, highlighting the differences between management and
leadership....................................................................................................................................1
Different roles of management and leadership in application to different organisational
situations, supported by theories and concepts...........................................................................3
‘Chaos theory’ and ‘management by objectives’ apply to the organisation and how these have
supported growth and sustainable performance..........................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
RECOMMENDATION..............................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Operation management can be define as process in which different activity and functions
promoted by the enterprise. In this way successful outcome and result can be gain through
effective operations. Present report based on Marks & Spencer which is successful retail
enterprise and deals in different products such as food, milk, arrivals etc. Therefore, the present
report include management structure of the chosen business. Furthermore, it covers roles of both
managers and leaders that helps to accomplish goals and objectives of the business. At last,
report will be discusses about different theories to gain growth and sustainable performance.
Project 1
Introduction to the organisation and management structure
Marks & Spencer is public limited company, established in 1884 in UK. It was founded
by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. It is specialises in selling clothes, luxury food products
and home products. It currently has 979 stores across the U.K. including 615 that only sell food
products (Bolman and Deal, 2017). In 1998 the company became the first British retailer to make
pre-tax profit of over 1 billion. The company also have the strong brand image in market because
of low price offerings products. As the firm is deal at global level and also provide variety of
products such as groceries, clothes, deodorants etc.
Marks & Spencer follows a flat organisational structure. There has limited levels of
management between upper level and low level employees In this organisational structure. This
organisational structure helps Marks & Spencer to encourage employees in decision making
process. This organisational structure motivates the employees to work with more efficiency in
the organisation (Cox, 2015). As the firm follows the flat structure, therefore the decision
making power is up to the manager and leaders and they also consult with their employees in
order to reach at decision power.
Roles of both managers and leaders, highlighting the differences between management and
leadership
Manager- A manager is the member of organisation with carrying out main functions such as
organising, controlling, planning and leading. Manager is the in charge of specific groups or
project and controller of the organisation. As manager are the most responsible person of every
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organization because they are actually support the business and guide them in order to do the
work in effective way.
Role of manager
 A manager has to perform functions such as planning, organising, controlling, staffing
and directing.
 Manager represents the organisation, outside.
 Manger also monitor the performance of their employees and also provide guidance in
order to accomplish the goals of the firm.
 Marks and Spencer also have efficient managers who can even hire and fire the
employees when they did not perform well.
 Also sort out many issues when the employees are facing some issues and because of
having strong communication skills they can easily make new policies in order to smooth
functioning of the firm (Fernandez and et.al., 2015)
 Also provide training sessions to new as well as old employees to increases their
performance level.
 Improve the productivity of organisation through innovations.
Leader- A leader is the person whop charge the workers to follow him/her. A great leader
inspires assurance in other people and moves them to action.
Role of leader
 Team leader is responsible for guiding the group of individuals for complete the task.
 Responsible for developing deadline for project.
 They also support the employees and motivates them for their better performance.
 Leader of Marks and Spencer also have a strong vision so that it will help them to take
the best decision for the welfare of a company (Hawkins and Edwards, 2015)
 Leaders of the company are also developed those strategies which help a business to take
further level of success. Beside this, they also motivate their employees and make
comfortable new employees into the business.
 They lead a team and guide them in order to meet out the goals of a firm.
 Leaders are also had strong vision and communication skills which help them to
convenience their employees to keep raise their production level.
 Transforming information between workers and managers.
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Bases Management leadership
Focus Managers always focuses on
encouraging the change (Tu and
et.al., 2018)
Leaders focuses on bringing
stability.
Formulation of Managers focuses on
formulating principles and
guidelines.
Leaders focuses on formulating
policies and procedure.
Strategy Manager uses proactive
strategy.
Leaders use reactive strategy.
Different roles of management and leadership in application to different organisational
situations, supported by theories and concepts
Situational theory: This theory suggest that there is no single leadership style is best
instead it is all depends upon the situation such that which style is opt at different situation.
According to this theory, the most effective leaders are those who adopt different leadership style
to their situation. In the same case, the Marks and Spencer leaders are also opted this leadership
style in order to get better results (Hibbert and Cunliffe, 2015).
Contingency leadership style: This theory states that the leaders should adopt the
leadership style which actually matches the situation. As per the theory, an effective leader when
they suit the leadership styles into a particular situation. So that it will help them to lead a team
with better results.
System leadership theory: in this organisation structure is considered one of the
complex system in which the organization function are been carried out accordingly. This theory
also helps a business to provide social advantages (Northouse, 2017). Apart from this, the system
also helps a business to or best leadership theory in order to lead a business at further level of
success.
Situation of conflict in organisation
Role of leader-
 In the situation of conflict the team leader understand the reason of conflict.
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 The role of leader is to divide the individuals in different groups
 The role of leader is to prioritize the area of conflict.
 Leaders use their position, expertise ability to exercise control over their subordinates.
In situation of emergency, when there is need to take decision on quickly basis, leaders typically
use the autocratic leadership style to resolve the problem (McCaffery, 2018). On an ongoing
basis, however, to prevent conflict from festering in the organization, effective team leaders take
the time to gather input from employees and refrain from behaving as if decisions represent a
win or loss for subordinates.
Role of Manager
 The role of manager is to talk with the employees and listen them carefully that what they
need.
 Meet with the main person who is the reason of conflict
 Controlling, directing and planning for conflict.
Traditional theory of management considers employee involved in conflict situations as trouble
makers (Nayani and et.al., 2018). Modern theory considers conflict as a natural and inevitable
outcome of human interaction.
Managers use this theory to solve the situation of conflict between employees.
‘Chaos theory’ and ‘management by objectives’ apply to the organisation and how these have
supported growth and sustainable performance
Chaos theory- It is the branch of mathematics which focusing on the behaviour of
dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. Applying chaos theory to
organization allows theorists to take a step back from the management of day-to-day activities
and see how organizations function as unified systems. An organization is a classic example of a
non-linear system. Instead of pinpointing causes in the organization for organizational problems,
the company is better served, according to chaos theory. Managers can understand and support
the organisation through understanding the problems (Morden, 2017).
Management by objectives- It is known by management through result. Introduced by
peter Drucker. It is the process of defining specific objectives within the organisation. The
process helps the members' organisation to complete the objectives and goals. Employees set
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their goals according to the task and through this process the productivity of organisation
increases. Efficiency in the process, helps the organisation to growth and sustainable
development.
CONCLUSION
By summing up above report it has been concluded that Managers and leaders made
impact on the overall performance of organisation. With the good and efficient work of
managers and leaders, productivity increased and it was the reason of profitability. They both
were responsible for the employee engagement and high performance of work. As report also
concluded that the leader of Marks and Spencer should use contingency leadership style in order
to take better decision. They are responsible for decision making through solve the problem of
employees. Leaders used autocratic style to solve the problem of conflict in organisation.
RECOMMENDATION
They have to motivate the team members for making positive atmosphere in the work
environment. They should admire with suitable examples such as dedication to work, time
management etc. They have to apply reward system for every task, it makes the employees
competitive and helps to improve credibility. Marks & Spencer has to increase its online
platform because it has a few online platform which is the reason for low online sell. They have
to do investment on research and development rather than product making. They have to connect
with social media to increase its sell and customer relationship. In addition to this, it is also
recommended to Marks and Spencer to follow hierarchical management structure because it
helps them to take better decision for the welfare of a company. In addition to this, report also
concluded that leader of Marks and Spencer should opt contingency leadership style in order to
fit best style as per the situation. If this is followed by the firm, then it will be helpful to lead a
business at further level of success.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Cox, R.W., 2015. Ethics and integrity in public administration: Concepts and cases. Routledge.
Fernandez and et.al., 2015. Assessing the past and promise of the Federal Employee Viewpoint
Survey for public management research: A research synthesis. Public Administration
Review.75(3). pp.382-394.
Hawkins, B. and Edwards, G., 2015. Managing the monsters of doubt: Liminality, threshold
concepts and leadership learning. Management Learning.46(1). pp.24-43.
Hibbert, P. and Cunliffe, A., 2015. Responsible management: Engaging moral reflexive practice
through threshold concepts. Journal of business ethics.127(1). pp.177-188.
McCaffery, P., 2018. The higher education manager's handbook: effective leadership and
management in universities and colleges. Routledge.
Morden, T., 2017. Principles of management. Routledge.
Nayani and et.al., 2018. Out of sight and out of mind? A literature review of occupational safety
and health leadership and management of distributed workers. Work & Stress.32(2).
pp.124-146.
Northouse, P.G., 2017. Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. Sage Publications.
Tu and et.al., 2018. Breaking the cycle: The effects of role model performance and ideal
leadership self-concepts on abusive supervision spillover. Journal of Applied
Psychology.
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