Organizational Structure, Culture, and Performance at Marks & Spencer

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the modern workplace, focusing on the relationship between organizational structure, organizational culture, and organizational performance. It examines how these elements influence individual behavior within an organization, using Marks & Spencer as a case study. The report explores different types of organizational structures, including functional, divisional, and matrix structures, and discusses how they impact communication and management. It also delves into the importance of organizational culture, emphasizing the need for a positive and supportive environment to boost employee productivity and reduce turnover. Furthermore, the report analyzes various organizational factors, such as leadership, reward systems, and economic conditions, and their effects on employee behavior. It references management theories like Elton Mayo's and Abraham Maslow's, to provide insights into employee motivation and needs. The conclusion summarizes the importance of organizational structure and culture for building a strong company image and increasing profitability. This report is a valuable resource for understanding the complexities of the modern workplace and the factors that contribute to organizational success.

Introduction to
Modern Workplace

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1
MAINBODY....................................................................................................................................1
Analyse the relationship of organisational structure and culture with organisational
performance.............................................................................................................................1
Effects of various organisation factors on individual behaviour...............................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
Books and journals…………………………………………………………………………7

INTRODUCTION
Organisational structure and culture as said be to vital base of every organisation in this modern
competitive and global business environement therefore it has become for every organisation to
make best possible use of the resources in the modern workplace(Kalev and Deutsch, 2018).
Organisational strucuture can be said as the identification of the firm’s system that outline the
and defines the rule and regulation which later help company to generate culture of the
organisation in order to predict the organisational behaviour. On the other hand, organisation
culture defines the values, assumptions where the individuals work and create that environment
which helps them to remain productive. Developing culture in the company is very essential as it
helps to bring more productivity and the turnover rate of the employees is also less. This means
when the employees will find better environment and culture inside the company than they will
not think to move to change their job. Marks & Spencer is a retailer company whose headquarter
is in London, England. The company was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas
Spencer in Leeds. The company basically provides clothing, home products and food products to
their consumers.
MAINBODY
Analyse the relationship of organisational structure and culture with organisational performance.
As the structure of an organization determines how roles and responsibilities are assigned
and how they will be deliberated and the flow of communication between different levels and
sectors, it depends on the goals of the organizations and the manner they want to achieve these
goals. In integrated structures all decision-making powers are maintained at the highest level of
management and all other departments are closely monitored and controlled.
The structure of an organization can be divided into two different sizes, vertical and horizontal.
Standing organizational structures have many different levels of authority and people in charge
or in positions of responsibility who have less or less control space (control time is the number of
subordinates who work under each person) compared to a fixed structure(Mullins and
Panagopoulos,2019). A little control time is easy to manage and communicate with. It also
requires less administrative ability to control a large number of people such as in a wide area of
control. Horizontal organization organizations often have a wide range of control space i.e.
subordinate to more than one subordinate manager or supervisor. Direct structures tend to have
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better communication and are often more expensive for the organization due to the need for more
managers.
Types of Organizational Structure
Companies often organize themselves in different ways according to their needs. “An
appropriate organizational structure depends on a unique business strategy, its unique customers,
its unique visibility of products and services and its management of these resources as they
spread throughout the business. Some of the example of the organisational structure followed by
the Marks and Spncer are as follows-,
Functional strucuture
These are probably the most common type of organizational structure used by companies around
the world. Its popularity is due to its simplicity but functionality. In this structure organizations
divide themselves into a separate department (for example, Research and Development,
Customer Sales, Human Resource Management, et cetera) (Yu and Zellmer-Bruhn,2018). People
with similar skills are grouped together in their departments. This structure helps to bring more
productivity in the organisation but on the same side the leader often faces the issue of
management inside the teams or in the department.
Divisional strucutre
Divisional stricutre differ from functional structures in that they are not favourable to recruiting
people with similar skills from different departments, but rather dispensing them across the
organization where they may be needed. For example in a class building if the sales department
of Marks and Specner has branches in different cities then all cities will have a different
customer sales department rather than one department for the whole company. This structure
helps the employees inside the organisation to know that to whom they have to report and who
are their bosses and what position they hold in the company.
Matrix Structures
This is in some way a combination of both Functional and Distinguished Properties. It is made
up of teams of staff from various sectors of the organization involved in a particular project.
These groups are usually not permanent but are specific to the project (Winschiers-Theophilus,
Zaman and Stanley, 2019). This is the type of structure that works best in most cases. They are
usually led by Project Managers who report directly to the head of the organization.
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An important point to note here is that some companies, especially large companies tend to use
different types of buildings in different departments rather than one building throughout.
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture can be defined as “a set of shared values and values shared by individuals
and groups within the organization and governs in the way they interact with external
stakeholders. Good and friendly environment must be their inside the organisation if they have to
function properly because it will not only increase the productivity of the employees but they
will feel encouraged to come to the job.
The culture of an organization is not always easy to define but it is clear or understandable.
Simply put, the personality of the company.
Effects of various organisation factors on individual behaviour
There are various factors which affects the employees of the business which results in negative
approach towards work and not motivated to achieve the objectives. On the same side it is
important for the company Marks & Spencer to understand the behaviour of the employees
which are employed in the company(Sormani, Bovet and Strebel, 2019). There are various
behavioural management theory which defines the human relations which has to be addressed in
the company. When Marks & Spencer would be able to understand the behaviours of the
employees which includes the motivation factor, conflicts, dynamic nature of employees then it
would give them the idea what changes they have to bring in their company. Some theories are
explained below in context with Marks & Spencer-
Elton mayo theory-
Mayo contributed in the management theory which helped to develop human relations.
His theory is resulted from the observations which he conducted as how employee productivity
has to be identified under dynamic nature of the business. This gave various conclusions to him
providing him the information about the motivation, team building and dynamics of team. He
says that employee not always want the monetary rewards or increment in their salary but they
also wants the friendly atmosphere, good leadership, motivation by the top management. He has
mentioned in his matrix various features which the team when involve will give effective results-
 Team which involves low norms and cohesive is likely to be less motivated which
will not function to achieve company objectives.
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 Team which includes with low norms but high cohesive nature has a false impact as
their co-employees develops in them the negative behaviour.
 Team which have high norms but low cohesive nature are likely to develop positive
impact in them because each member in the team have accomplished something.
 Team which have both the high norms and high cohesive are very much motivated
and have positive impact towards the company objective as each member of the team
motivates the other member for their work.
Therefore, Marks& Spencer has to bring or have to develop the attitude of the employees
to help other employees in their work and to encourage them in achieving the company
objectives.
Abraham Maslow theory-
His theory is the most famous and is important to identify the needs of every human according to
the situational factor. According to him, the person work in the company or in any other field
only because they have some or the other needs to satisfy (Bannerji, 2020). This means everyone
have some purpose because of which they feel motivated to work. The five needs which he
mentioned is explained below-
 Physiological needs- This area of need includes all the physical needs which 8is
important for every person to live in the society. It include food, shelter, cloth. To live a
basic life these three things are very much essential for which the person feel motivated
to work.
 Safety needs- Every person wants to live in that society where they are safe, have
security and stability(Marsick and Watkins,2018). Instability and insecurity will not give
any purpose for the individual to work.
 Belonging and love needs- These are the needs which every individual craves for as they
feel motivated when they are being loved. having good relationships with the people and
friendly nature is the key factor which helps them to feel belonging.
 Esteem needs- Every person who is living in the society wants to develop the status, to
receive fame and glory. These are the factors which gives them self confidence in
themselves.
 Self actualisation needs- This means when all of the above needs are satisfied than the
person automatically feels motivated and purposeful in his life.
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These are the factors which every person or employee of the company wants to have in his
life. Marks & Spencer have good and motivating environment n their company which indulges
the employees in it.
Various organisation factors which affects the individual behaviour-
Marks & Spencer is the largest company offering varieties of products to the customers. To serve
their customers there are number of employees who are employed in the business (Akturk,
Ketzenberg and Heim, 2018). Every person has own character or behaviour . There are various
factors which affects the individual behaviour in the organisation which are mentioned below-
Economic factors- Employment level- In any company it important that employees are satisfied in the
company nature which means they are satisfied with the job. This requires huge amount
of opportunities in the job. Marks & Spencer offers various opportunities to its people in
developing their personality and which also promotes their individual if they like their
work.
 Wage rates- Employees feel motivated only when they feel satisfied with the age rates
which are being offered to them. Marks & Spencer have always satisfied their employees
in terms of monetary benefits which they give including the other perks and incentives.
 General economic environment- These factors may not bother the public or government
sector employees if the country is facing the economic cycle(Anagnost, 2020). But such
factors influence the private sector employees as they are in danger whether they would
be able to receive the salary or not. Marks & Spencer have other policies for such cases
so that nor employee is faces any burden if they face such situation.
Organizational factors-
 Leadership- Leaders are there in any company because they help in motivating
the employees, giving direction and guidance. They play a huge role in
influencing the employees of the organisation for establishing the goals. Marks &
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Spencer have employed motivated and experienced leaders who work with the
employees helping them to sought out any issue which they have.
 Reward system- Rewards in general means appraising the individual for their
best performance in the company(Qiu and Rooney, 2019). Marks & Spencer in
every month rewards the best employee of the month which motivated other
employees to work more harder.
 Structure and design- Theses factors are the ignored factors in the company but
they also plays huge impact for the employees. Structure needs to be flexible and
the design should be understandable by the employees. Marks & Spencer needs to
work on their structure as it is complex for the employees to understand.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that organisation structure and culture is
important for the organisation as this helps the company to build their image in the market
and also to increase their profits. The company is following the structure within the
company which helps the employees to identify their position within the company. The
culture on the other hand have played the most important role within the company as it
helped to develop good relations between the superiors and subordinates.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akturk, M.S., Ketzenberg, M. and Heim, G.R., 2018. Assessing impacts of introducing ship-to-
store service on sales and returns in omnichannel retailing: A data analytics
study. Journal of Operations Management. 61.pp.15-45.
Anagnost, A., 2020. Introduction: Life-making in neoliberal times. In Global Futures in East
Asia (pp. 1-28). Stanford University Press.
Bannerji, H., 2020. Introducing racism: Notes towards an anti-racist feminism. In The
Ideological Condition: Selected Essays on History, Race and Gender (pp. 195-203).
Brill.
Kalev, A. and Deutsch, G., 2018. Gender inequality and workplace organizations: Understanding
reproduction and change. Handbook of the Sociology of Gender.pp.257-269.
Marsick, V.J. and Watkins, K.E., 2018. Introduction to the special issue: An update on informal
and incidental learning theory. New directions for adult and continuing
education. 2018(159). pp.9-19.
Mullins, R.R. and Panagopoulos, N.G., 2019. Understanding the theory and practice of team
selling: An introduction to the special section and recommendations on advancing sales
team research. Industrial Marketing Management. 77. pp.1-3.
Qiu, J.X. and Rooney, D., 2019. Addressing unintended ethical challenges of workplace
mindfulness: A four-stage mindfulness development model. Journal of Business
Ethics. 157(3). pp.715-730.
Sormani, P., Bovet, A. and Strebel, I., 2019. Introduction: when things break down. In Repair
Work Ethnographies (pp. 1-27). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.
Winschiers-Theophilus, H., Zaman, T. and Stanley, C., 2019. A classification of cultural
engagements in community technology design: introducing a transcultural approach. Ai
& Society. 34(3). pp.419-435.
Yu, L. and Zellmer-Bruhn, M., 2018. Introducing team mindfulness and considering its
safeguard role against conflict transformation and social undermining. Academy of
Management Journal. 61(1). pp.324-347.
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(Sormani, Bovet and Strebel, 2019)
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