Marks & Spencer: High Performance Work Culture and Leadership Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of high-performance work culture, focusing on Marks & Spencer (M&S) as a case study. It explores various strategies for fostering such a culture, including fair compensation, restricted social media use, and proactive change management. The report emphasizes the critical role of leadership in defining vision, selecting suitable candidates, driving change, and investing in employee development. It also examines the impact of employee engagement, empowerment, and innovation on organizational success. Furthermore, the report evaluates management development programs like coaching and mentoring, highlighting their contribution to staff development and overall organizational performance. The analysis covers the alignment of M&S's mission, vision, and values, along with key characteristics of high-performance work cultures such as leadership as the foundation, employee engagement, focus on development, and openness to change. The report concludes by assessing the influence of management development programs on organizational culture and staff development, ultimately demonstrating how these elements contribute to a sustainable and successful business model. The report is available on Desklib for students.

In the report high performance work culture and their characteristics will be discussed. Light will
be put upon different ways in which effective leadership may contribute to development and
sustenance of high performance work culture.
Also evaluation of management development programs within the framework enhance
organization performance.
M&S is a UK based multinational retailer which is specialized in selling cloths, home and
personal care products, food products etc. it was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas
Spencer.

• High performance work culture can be there in the organisation if the employees are
satisfied therefore giving them fair salary, benefits and perks will enhance their
performance.
• Also M&S can restrict the use of social media, smartphones, emails and other platforms
for creating a high performance work culture. Taking this step will help the company in
maintaining high performance work culture.
• A high performance work culture can be developed by focusing on change and make
provision for the same. This will help the organization to get prepared and create high
performance work culture.
• M&S can achieve high performance by sorting the problems of employees which they
face at workplace and increasing engagement with them.
There are various steps that the organization takes to build a high performance work culture
which are as follows:
• Firstly M&S must understand and leverage their core capabilities like vision, mission,
values etc. this will serve as a roadmap for strategic planning.
• The second thing to do is identify where M&S wants to be and must have a clear strategy
for getting there.
• The third step they have to perform is to ensure that organization's structure, people,
policies and processes are aligned with their strategy.
• Next thing to do is to anticipate the changes if any and also taking corrective actions to
adapt to the changes.
• The last step is to investing in the people and also identifying key performance indicators
to track their progress.

• Leadership is the foundation – The company in which there is effective leadership that
company encounters high performance work culture. The role of leaders is to drive goal
execution and set communication goals.
• Employee engagement and their empowerment – M&S high performance work culture is
also because of their frequent engagement with their employees and also they empower
them to perform better.
• Focusing on employee development and their learning – giving proper training and
making them learn new things help M&S maintain a high performance work culture.
• Open to change – for high performance work culture the company should not be immune
at the constant place they should be open to change.
• Innovation is the key – Innovation is that key that energies the high performance culture
in the organization.
• Rewarding and recognizing employees – Rewarding and recognizing the employees
keeps them motivated to work and this leads to high performance work culture.
• Alignment of purpose, value, mission and vision – The purpose, value, mission and
vision of the organization should be aligned and also communicated effectively to the
employees. Their vision is to provide a standard against which its competitors may be
measured, from customer experience, to care for the environment and community and to
the working environment for employees.

• Their mission is to make inspirational quality accessible to others. Their objective is to
build a sustainable business through consistent, profitable growth and to make sure that
we act responsibly in meeting our accountability to shareholders and wider stakeholders.
The effectiveness and quality of leadership contribute to development of high
performance work culture as
• Leaders first of all establish and define vision which is the most important function in
developing a high performance work culture. If the vision is not clear and specific the
employees will not be able to achieve the target and goals and they will lack sense of
purpose. A strong vision and objective stimulates the employees to performance better
and achieve the goals. For a high performance work culture, the leaders should deliver
the vision, mission and objective to employees with an infectious energy can drive
everyone to perform better and strive for excellence.
• The second thing that helps in developing and sustaining high performance work culture
is the contribution of leaders in selecting the appropriate candidate for the particular job
as per their skills and talent who best fits in.
• The next thing leaders of M&S do is to act as a channelize of change and make efforts to
drive continuous improvement at the workplace by assessing processes and establishing
improvement if needed any. Change is constant and leaders are well aware about this
therefore instead of avoiding change they get ready to handle it and also prepares their

employees to effectively and efficiently strive to overcome it. This helps in development
and sustenance of high performance work culture.
• Effective leadership helps in capturing opportunities as they look at the big picture and
prepare the employees for the same. To work effectively they also provide their
employees with right kind of environment.
• Investing into their people is the key to high performance work culture therefore leaders
arrange training and development programs for their employees to increase their skills
and abilities. This also helps M&S leaders to develop future leader and do succession
planning.
• By taking care of the customers and gathering feedback from them helps M&S leaders to
know about their loopholes and where they are lacking. By this they can fill the gap and
make their customer happier and satisfied.
• Facilitating right culture and establishing a feeling of mutuality at the workplace gives
employees a sense of belongingness and creates trust on M&S leaders. By creating a light
environment and collaborative culture fosters inclusiveness. In this type of organization
employees contributes towards collective success.
• This programme organized by M&S for their managers motivated them and increases
retention rate of employees. It also helps in developing a team of managers that leads to
improvement and innovation.

• Management development programmes helps in gaining competitive advantage and also
promotes management succession planning.
• There are various types of management development programme like coaching,
mentoring, job rotation, conference training and seminar etc.
• The objective behind this program is to make sure that managers are ready to take on the
responsibilities and helps in effective contribution towards organization growth and
development.
• Coaching - Coaching is the methods by which the employees potential is unlocked in
order to enhance their performance. There are two approaches for coaching in the
organization such as coaching expertise and coaching culture.
• In coaching expertise M&S employ coaches which may be internal or external to the
company and they help in developing their key talents which ultimately enhances
organizational performance.
• Under this method of MDP the subordinate is guided by the immediate superior and
makes him aware about various ways and methods and skills to perform the job. The
superior here only guides and does not teaches. Evaluation and feedback is also a part of
coaching.

• They mainly focus at transformational level rather than transactional level and it is
mostly performance driven to improve on the job performance.
• The other one is coaching culture in which rather than coaching to the expertise of
limited aspects M&S are choosing to maximize the benefits by developing a coaching
style in all their leaders and managers.
• Mentoring – It is mainly development driven which means it not only looks for current
job but also beyond that. Proper mentoring enhances organizational performance and
increase the retention rates of the people. They do it by motivating mentee and helps
them increase confidence among them and making them aware about their strength and
weakness and then influencing them to work accordingly.
• Under this methods the senior officer acts as a friend or philosopher or guide to the
junior executive and extend hand for support. The one who provides support is known as
'mentor'.
• Mentors also have an opportunity to expand their repertoire of professional knowledge
and skills and forward the legacy of the organization.
• Conference training- In this process everyone learns something from the other which
helps them to perform better and enhance organizational performance.
• It is a type of meeting which is organized and planned in which members develop
knowledge and understanding by group discussions.

• Organizational culture are the beliefs, values, practices which contributes to the unique
social and psychological environment of the organization.
• It helps in pulling employees and organization's objective in the same direction. Also a
culture of appreciation is established in which people who have contributed in a positive
way are appreciated. Also a culture of trust is established.
• Through Mentoring there is an opportunity to expand the repertoire of professional
knowledge and skills through their instruction and facilitation of others.
The following are impact of management development programme on staff development
processes:
• Management development programme makes employees more valuable to the
organisation by developing and enhancing their skills professionally and personally.
• The organization has the opportunity to further develop and disseminate the wealth of
talent, skill and knowledge of its employees.
• By organizing these types of programmes people feel that M&S care for them and this
increases their loyalty towards the company.

• Various ways were analysed in which effective leadership may contribute to development
and sustenance of high performance work culture such as establish and define vision,
hiring right people for right job, driving change, capturing opportunities, investing into
their people, prioritizing customer service and experience, building an environment of
mutuality and collaboration at workplace.
• In the next part evaluation of management development programme were evaluated
within their framework which enhances organizational performance.
• Lastly the impact of management development programme on organizational culture and
staff development processes were determined.
• It has the following characteristics leadership is the foundation, employee engagement
and their empowerment, focusing on employee development and their learning, open to
change, innovation is the key.