Leadership and Management Theories: A Case Study of Marks & Spencer

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes leadership and operational management at Marks & Spencer.

[Management and operations]
2019

Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...................................................................................................................................................4
1. Give an introduction to the organisation you have chosen and its management structure
...........................................................................................................................................................4
2. Define manager and leader and compare their roles and characteristics with special
reference to the organization you have chosen..........................................................................5
3. Analyse the differences of managerial functions and leadership roles by effectively
applying a range of management theories and concepts..........................................................7
4. Show examples of different situations in your organization and examine how the roles of
a leader and functions of a manager apply in those situations.................................................9
5. Apply different management and leadership theories to your chosen organization to
support growth and sustainable performance. You should include many theories and
approaches including situational leadership, systems leadership and contingency
leadership theories.......................................................................................................................11
6. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different theories and approaches you have
stated above. Critical analysis and evaluation of these theories would upgrade the quality
of the work.....................................................................................................................................13
7. Conclude on how managers and leaders make impacts on the organisation and make
recommendations for future improvements...............................................................................15
Task 2.................................................................................................................................................16
1. Introduce operation management of your organization and explain the key approaches
adopted by the organisation........................................................................................................16
2. Identify the roles and responsibilities of managers and leaders in successful
management of the operation of your organization..................................................................17
3. Explain the importance and value of the key approaches to operations management in
achieving organizational objectives successfully......................................................................18
4. Evaluate how managers and leaders could be effective in improving operational
efficiencies to successfully meet business objectives.............................................................20
5. Assess the impact of external business environment factors on operational
management decisions by leaders and managers. Analyse how these factors affect the
business environment and wider community............................................................................21
6. Include critical evaluation of the application of operations management to manage the
factors that impact on the wider business environment...........................................................23
7. Conclude and suggest recommendations for future improvements to be taken by the
organisation...................................................................................................................................24
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................25
References........................................................................................................................................26
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Introduction
Every organisation that has become successful in today’s era has been able to
achieve it by combining all the efforts, resources which is very essential for them to
grow and expand their operations in the business market. These can be possible
when the leaders have the vision about how they would like their organisation to be
and then they guide the people in the right direction and manage the human
resources and the business operations effectively. The managers are the one which
manages the resources that are available with the organisation in the most
significant manner. Leadership is majorly concern with making the people
understand and believe about the vision and convince them to work with the
organisation in order to achieve these goals while managing is more related with
administration and ensuring that the day to day activities are happening as per the
plan.
In this Assignment, we will be discussing about the difference between the leader
and manager and how the leadership and management theories contribute toward
the accomplishment of the organisational goal in the most effective manner. It will
also focus upon identifying the importance of operations management and the
impact of the external environment upon the decisions which are taken on the
operational management by the managers and leaders. Marks and Spencer is
selected for the assignment which is the largest retailer in the UK market.
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(Source: https://news.sky.com/story/ms-reveals-62-annual-profit-slump-to-668m-
11382414)
Task 1
Introduction: The Leaders and managers are different from each other and they
have different roles and responsibilities which they have to follow which ensures that
the organisational goals and objectives are achieved. In this task we will be
discussing about the difference between leadership theories and the management
theories and how it help the organisation to become successful.
1. Give an introduction to the organisation you have chosen and its
management structure
Marks and Spencer Plc is one of the largest British Multinational retailer which was
established in the year 1884 in London UK. It was founded by Michael Marks, after
which he went into partnership with Thomas Spencer in the year 1894. The first store
of Marks and Spencer was launched in Leeds with a slogan which says that “Don’t
ask the price, it’s a penny”. Currently the company has around 32 million customers
across the globe and they have opened 1433 stores worldwide out of which 979
stores are based in the UK market and they employs more than 85000 employees as
on 2017.
A management structure can be understood as how the organisation organises the
hierarchy in the management so that the communication is easy and fast and the
decision can be taken at the earliest. M&S follows flat managerial structure under
which the level of management is very limited among the administrative and front
line employees (Stringfellow, 2017).
The organisation believe in encouraging its employees to be a part of the decision
making process and it focuses majorly on reducing the bureaucracy and ensures
that the employees can develop more skills through authorizing them the
responsibility to make various decisions and because of the lower management level
of communication among the top manager and the front line employees it becomes
easy to inculcate new changes which occur in the business market along with faster
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resolution of the problems. In the year 2016, the M&S boss has further reduces their
management structure which simplifies the organisation pattern of working and
ensures that the employees are working more effectively by speeding up their
decision making ability and increasing focus toward their customers (James &
Hudson, 2016).
2. Define manager and leader and compare their roles and characteristics with
special reference to the organization you have chosen.
Basis of Differences Leader Manager
Definition A leader is the person
which influences a person
or group of people toward
the accomplishment of the
organisational goal.
Michael Marks and
Thomas Spencer had a
vision to offer quality and
brand products to their
customers which has
helped them to lead the
people in that direction.
A manager is a person
which is responsible for
control and administration
of an organisation or the
group of employees.
Approach He is the one who sets the
direction for the people
He is responsible for
planning the activities to
achieve the goals
Attribute Leader has
foresightedness through
which they can motivate
the people
They work as per the
given target and majorly
they are result oriented
Subordinate The people who follows
the leader are called as
followers
The people which follows
the manager is the
employees
Style The style which is used by
the leaders is
transformational
The manager style is
transactional
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Decision A leader is the one which
facilitates the decision
A manager is the one
who make the decision
Aim Leader is the one who
always thinks about the
growth and development
of the organisation.
The manager always
focused about attainment
of the desired result.
Focus They always focus on the
people. The present CEO
of M&S Stewe Rowe has
taken various steps to
improve the relationship
with the people that are
working in the organisation
For example change in the
management structure to
encourage their
employees to have
decision making ability.
The manager is majorly
concerned with the
process and procedure for
the organisation and for its
team
Change Leaders are the one which
brings and encourage
change. Stewe Rowe also
tried to developed simpler
methods of
communication and has
reduced the number of
member in the Board to
ensure that the
organisation can focus on
the delicate and important
things
Managers are the one who
react to these changes
Conflict The leader treats the
conflict as an asset for the
organisation
The manager always tries
to avoid the conflicts
People Leader believes in aligning The manager job is to
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the people with each other organise the people as per
their ability and skills
Strives The leaders strives for
effectiveness
The manager strives for
efficiency (Surbhi, 2014).
3. Analyse the differences of managerial functions and leadership roles by
effectively applying a range of management theories and concepts.
Management Theories for growth of the organisation in present situation:
The current situation in the world is fast moving and all the things changes very
frequently. With increase in the globalisation and the increase in awareness about
the brand in the mind of the consumer, the organisation can never though that their
business is simple and they are working in stable environment. Since now the
business environment has become very dynamic and things changes with very short
span of time it has become highly unpredictable. It is the main responsibility of the
manager to generate the desired results in the fast moving social and technological
time. In order to respond to these changes, several concepts and theories which has
been developed which are as follows:
Chaos Theory: The term Chaos can be understood as the change which is unsure
and it is unpredictable. Chaotic systems can be seen as a combination of order and
disorder behaviour which can be showcase through different ranges of the
behaviour. Chaos theory undertakes the study of various systems under which the
variables are non-linear and are those which can be changed in short period. This
type of theory can be used in combining together the variables which are
unpredictable in the market with different distinctive pattern which are essential for
making the decisions in short span (Cartwright, 1991).
Management by objectives: It is also known as MBO under which the managers
are required to set specific goals which they plan to achieve in future and ask
continuously as what further changes can be implemented. These goals and
objectives are than assign to each and every employee in the team as per their skills
and knowledge by the manager in the initial time (Howell, 1967).
The main reason behind this (MBO) theory is to ensure that each member has the
proper understanding about the objectives and goals of M&S along with the
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attentiveness about various functions and responsibilities which are require
achieving these goals.
(Source: https://www.slideshare.net/bivinjose/management-by-objective-mbo)
The organisation in present business environment, need to ensure that they respond
to the changes continuously and bring innovative ideas to remain competitive in the
business market. In the era of modernisation, it becomes very difficult for the
organisation to survive in the current business market by using conventional
management approach. Even Though, M&S is making changes in the business
practices and trying to bring more diversity in the organisation but yet the
organisation faces various hurdles in changing the attitude and mentalities and
pattern of work for employees. The managers in M&S can implement MBO
effectively which can help the staff to set up their objectives and encourages them to
achieve the organisational goals (Mullins, 2005).
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4. Show examples of different situations in your organization and examine how
the roles of a leader and functions of a manager apply in those situations.
The leadership, management control and commands of the followers or the staff is
highly depend upon the ability to complete the task in different situations, and the
situational context can be applied into both micro and macro level. In situational
context, the maturity of the job which is performed by the employees is based upon
the roles of the leaders and the managerial functions. The various components
which are under situational context require leadership and management style which
should be special and should be reliable and finest. The situational model includes
four style of scale which is in between of scale such as directive and supportive
behaviour. The four leadership and management style which are as follows:
1. Direction: under this the leader or the manger provides effective direction to
their followers or the employees by guiding them what they need to do and
how they are expected to do the task but they provide less support. It is the
responsibility of the top management to identify those employees which are
reliable and to whom they can delegate the work. In the organisation like
M&S, the top management coordinate with the manager for delegation of the
work to the employees.
2. Coaching: Under this leadership style, the leader or manager should be both
directive as well as supportive to its employees. The leader or the manager
tell their followers not only how to perform the task but they encourage them
and support them in every situation. The management takes timely update
and instruct the manager about how the work needs to be done (McKenna,
1994).
3. Supporting or Participative: under this stage, both managers and leaders
are engaged in supporting behaviour through formulation of the two way
method of communication but they provide lesser direction. The top
management requires giving proper time as and when the manager requires
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the support. The best performing employees are rewarded by the CEO of the
company for their excellent performance.
4. Delegation: The leader and manager provide very less support and direction
and the top management keep a check on the performance on frequent basis.
The leader believes in delegating the duties to the employees as per their
skills and abilities to perform the task.
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5. Apply different management and leadership theories to your chosen
organization to support growth and sustainable performance. You should
include many theories and approaches including situational leadership,
systems leadership and contingency leadership theories.
The leaders which are those persons or individuals which are involved in designing
the strategies for the entire system and utilise all the types of companies entities
such as individual, groups, business unit and the organisation as a whole for
achieving constant performance at higher level. These leaders see the system as a
whole and carry out various activities in such a manner through which they can see a
larger picture which replicate the future. These leaders put their efforts to ensure that
their peers are working in the different levels (Fullan, 2005).
This leadership is applicable in both micro and macro perspective which has proper
understanding about the pattern at macro level and how it drives the pattern at micro
level in the organisation. the M&S is also facing financial difficulties in clothing
business which is one of their major business that generates revenue for the
business. Steve Rowe is now working toward restructuring of the organisation so
that they can focus on the essential things that can boost their sales. It is the main
responsibility of the manager to analyse these macro and micro factors which can
impact the organisation to the great extent because of which the employees can
work for the betterment of the organisation and should be able to achieve the M&S
goals and objectives.
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(Source:
http://www.academia.edu/34720503/Leadership_and_Management_Concepts_-
_Starbucks_as_an_organization)
Interrelation between the micro and macro environment under system leadership
Contingency Theory:
The leaders are involved in analysis of the condition under which they are involved
into and then they adapt the style which is more suitable to their environment
specifically. This is essential for the leader to correct their styles as per the situations
that are prevailing in the organisation which they have to face.
This theory was designed by Fiedler (1967) which is majorly based upon three
elements:
 Leader-Followers relationship: The relation among the leader & his
followers are developed upon the trust factor which ensures the
willingness of these followers and how long they can follow the order or
command given by their leader.
 Structure of Job: It includes all the essential details relating to the
procedure and policies which are required to complete the job on time.
 Power of the leader: it shows the position of the leader in the organisation
and the degree which they have to influence the followers by offering
various rewards or through imposing various schemes and sanctions.
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